Chapter 1: The Ice Chamber

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN FAIRY TAIL OR ANY OF ITS CHARECTERS.

ALSO, PLEASE FEEL FREE TO COMMENT AND REVIEW, CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM IS ALWAYS WECOME

The Ice Chamber

'How cute', Grey thought before he could stop himself as he looked down Natsu, who was curled up against a wall of ice, shivering, as he tried to conserve heat. 'Wait... what was that? Natsu isn't cute at all.' He thought, shaking his head. 'Why at all would he be cute? He's just sitting there, helpless and useless.' He sighed.

He and Grey were stuck in a small chamber of ice, maybe 10 feet long and 6 feet wide. "You cold?" Grey asked Natsu with a slight smirk on his face.

"N-No! I'm p-p-perfectly f-fine!" Natsu retorted quickly, but he was obviously lying by the way his teeth chattered. "W-Why would you t-think that?" he asked, barely able to talk because his was shivering so hard. "I-I'm a f-f-fire wizard! The b-best of th-them all! I d-don't get c-cold!" He attempted to yell, but failed, instead settling for a dark look with murder in his eyes.

It was pretty cold, even by Grey's standards. The only reason that they weren't out and kicking that stupid ice wizard's butt was because he had enhanced his magic with a dark artifact, so the ice couldn't be melted or destroyed by either of them. Erza would be the only who would be able to get them out, but she was probably still on a beach with Lucy, celebrating her first noticeable victory, destroying Lullaby, and saving all the guild masters. It had gone something like this...

Lucy practically jumped into the guild hall, ecstatic with joy. "We beat Lullaby! We beat Lullaby!" She proclaimed to the guild proudly.

"Well that's great and all," said Natsu, trudging in besides Grey, too tired to fight with him anymore that day. "Except we destroyed the friggin' building, so we don't get a reward, AND the council is pissed at us."

"He is right, Lucy," Grey said with a yawn. "In the end, even if we did save that old geezer, I'd say we lost more than we gained."

Ezra walked in, beaming at Lucy proudly. "Even if we destroyed the building and the council isn't happy with us, I think you did an amazing job, Lucy." She said, dropping the handle to her giant wagon of luggage in the entrance to the guild hall, effectively blocking the entrance for anyone trying to enter or exit. "Chances are one of us are going to be arrested for a while though..." She thought aloud

"Wait WHAT?" Grey and Natsu exclaimed together. "I don't wanna go to jail!" They glared at each other.

"Lucy, I think we should go to a resort, on a beach somewhere far away from the council." She said, her eyes glittering.

"But what about the flame-brain and I? What if we get arrested?" Grey asked, slumping down at one of the benches across from Natsu.

"I think you two should go on another mission again." She said cheerfully, with a giant smile on her face. "You two work well together."

"What? I can't do another mission with that moron!" They said together in perfect time. They glared at each other. "Hey! Stop copying me!" They glared at each other once more.

"I think you two should go on a mission to pay for Lucy's rent while she and I go on a vacation."She said, her voice leaving no room for discussion. She walked over to the request board, and after a couple seconds of looking, picked one off the board. "How about this one. Apprehend a rouge ice wizard who's been causing trouble near the mountains, and bring him to the city council. And there is a reward of 100,000 J. That's enough for Lucy's rent, and both of you will get 15,000 J."

"Aw, alright." Natsu said tiredly, putting his head down on the table, too tired to try and fight with Ezra, futile as it would be.

"No way." Grey said stubbornly, propping his head on his hand.

Ezra walked up to Grey menacingly. "Grey… you will go on that mission with Natsu, or so help me…" She said, her angel armor re-equipping, swords hanging in the air, all positioned at Grey.

"Uhh…" Grey gulped, sitting up. "Alright FINE! But I know I am going to regret this."

"I'm glad you see it my way," Ezra said with a smile on her face, her regular armor appearing with a flash of light. "You two will get going tomorrow. Make sure you're all rested up."

"Wow Ezra! You're amazing!" Lucy said happily as she walked out of the guild with her.

Grey and Natsu just groaned at the prospect of having to do another mission with each other.

The next day, the two of them boarded the train at Magnolia station, moving to opposite sides of the train so they wouldn't destroy it. After about an hour of riding the train, Grey got off the train as Natsu stumbled after him on to the platform.

The town of Flerzem stretched out before them. The houses were nice, the air was cold and crisp, and the people seem friendly enough. But that wasn't their concern. The two mages headed off to the east, where this ice wizard was supposed to be hiding. They walked slowly, with no hurry in mind. Eventually, they reached the edge of town, upon which they stocked up on some food and other supplies, not knowing how long it would take them to find the wizard.

"Alright," said Grey thinking. "We have food, water, medical supplies, coats, and some matches. Do we need anything else?"

"I don't think so." Said Natsu, his pack already mounted on his shoulders. "Alright let's get walking!"

Grey grabbed his shoulder as he walked by. "No way I'm walking twelve miles to where he is. We are getting a car."

Natsu's eyes got big. "No! No please Grey! Don't make me get in one of those torture devices again!" He said, obviously scared.

"Too bad. I'm going to get one, you stay here." He said, and before Natsu could protest, Grey froze his legs, his hands behind his back, and his mouth shut so he wouldn't be able to escape or use magic.

Natsu struggled to get free, to no avail. After a half hour, Grey rode up in a car pulled by an ox. "Get in." He said gruffly, unfreezing Natsu from the middle of the road. Natsu angrily climbed into the car, not saying anything.

(Skipping all the travel)

Eventually, Grey and Natsu arrived at their destination. A large network of caves that ran through the eastern side of the mountain. The ice wizard was supposedly doing something in the caves, but no one knew what, only that the town kept freezing over during the night.

Grey climbed out from the car, Natsu falling out after him.

"Thank you." Grey said to the driver, handing him the J for the ride. "I will send you a message when we get out. Please come pick us up again."

"Sure thing mister." The driver said. "I'm just grateful you're finally getting this wizard out of here." The man drove off.

Natsu stood up quickly, pointing his sensitive nose towards the cave. "Grey, I smell dark magic." Natsu said gravely. They looked at each other, then ran into the caves, Natsu leading the way.

It only took them about ten minutes of running until they found the wizard, Natsu's nose leading them there faster than anyone else in the guild would have been able to. They came into a large chamber and saw the ice wizard, who had his back to them.

"Seems you finally found me." The ice mage said, his voice low and gravely. "But it's too late! You see, the only reason that I'm in this pathetic excuse for a town is for Frostbite!"

"Frostbite?" Grey asked confused. This was supposed to be some weak, low level ice wizard, not an artifact quest.

"Yes, Frostbite." The man said, chuckling. "You see, the great Zaraf constructed a dark artifact for ice, which makes the user have almost infinite magic power for ice, and, their ice is unmelt able and almost indestructible." The man turned, holding up a small stone staff with a blue crystal in the top, the staff twisting around it. Even Grey could smell the darkness from it.

"Ugh!" Natsu said as he collapsed, holding his nose. "I can hardly breathe with that thing around."

"Well, well, a dragonslayer!" The man exclaimed. "Let's see how a fire wizard stands up to the greatest ice magic on the planet!" He raised the staff. "DEEPFREEZE!" The man yelled as he brought the staff down to the cavern floor. A solid wall of ice radiated from the cane, turning the inside of the cave to an ice block. Natsu raised his hands and let fore roar, trying to fend off the ice.

As all of this was happening, Grey was quickly compiling a magical letter for Ezra, containing where they were, what was happening, and how to get through the maze. As the ice and fire washed over Grey, he fell to the floor unconscious.

He woke up a few minutes later with Natsu leaning over him, worriedly calling his name.

It had been over six hours. Grey had lost his shirt. He and Natsu had paced, thought, tried to melt the ice, tried to destroy the ice, but they couldn't do anything. Now Natsu was out of energy to heat himself with, and was curled up against the wall, with Grey leaning against the opposite wall.

Grey couldn't help notice how Natsu's cheeks were a light pink, how he looked so cute he looked hugging his knees, how his eyes were big and…

'Ugh! Why can't I stop thinking about that moron like this?' Grey thought angrily. He watched Natsu some more, the cave silent except for the chattering of Natsu's teeth. '… Maybe I should try and warm him up ..?' He thought as he started pacing. 'No, I'm cold as it is in here, I'd just make him colder.' He got to the end of the cave and turned around, looking at Natsu for a second before continuing walking. 'But it couldn't hurt, could it?' Grey walked back and forth in the cave, his thoughts waging a battle in his head.

"Grey?" Natsu asked with his head still down, resting on his knees, shattering Grey's train of thought. "Are we going to die?" Natsu looked up, his eyes big, and filling with tears.

Grey stopped, shocked at this strange display of emotions from Natsu. Grey knew Natsu had a fear of being left alone, after what had happened with Igneel, but this was more than Grey had ever seen from Natsu.

Finally he couldn't take it anymore. He squatted down by Natsu, and slowly, awkwardly put his arms around him. Natsu was frozen, shocked that Grey, his rival, had just come and hugged him. He could smell Grey, the minty-freshness of his ice magic, the slightly soapy smell from his hair, and the sweat from all the running. Natsu's cheeks flushed a bright red, not from the cold.

"No, Natsu." Grey whispered into Natsu's ear, stray stands of hair tickling his face. "We're gonna be just fine; Ezra should be here any moment, and there's no way in hell that I'm gonna let you freeze to death."

Natsu smiled slightly, and slowly put his arms around Grey, and let his forehead rest of Grey's shoulder, Grey following Natsu's example. They sat like that for a couple minutes, absorbing each other's warmth. Natsu was painfully aware of the fact that Grey wasn't wearing a shirt, and that Natsu could feel the entirety of Grey's chest. They sat like that for a couple minutes, until they both pulled their heads back so they were looking at each other, their faces mere inches apart; both of them blushed. Grey slowly started to lean his face towards Natsu's while tilting it slightly to the right, watching Natsu's face closely for any reaction. The entire cave was totally silent as they both slowly pulled their faces together. When their lips were hardly an inch apart, they both heard a rapid series of cracks, and they both jumped away from each other, facing away from each other, hoping the other didn't see the blushes in their faces.

A crack appeared in the ice, and they both turned towards it. It quickly widened, and broke open, to reveal a very tired looking Ezra in her full angel armor that she had used to force Grey into the mission not a day earlier.

"That ice was hard." She said wearily, leaning against the cave wall.

"Ezra!" Natsu and Grey said together happily, rushing over to help her. Their hands touched, and they both stopped for a moment, blushing slightly. "How'd ya find us?" Natsu asked.

"It wasn't that hard." She said, looking at Grey. "I could tell that message was in just a few seconds, but it was very detailed." She stood back up to her full height, letting her armor change back to what it normally was.

"But what about that wizard?" Grey asked worriedly. "He has Frostbite! That thing is strong."

"Don't worry about him," Lucy said, jerking a thumb behind her at Toros, who had the limp body of the ice mage over his shoulder. "Toros took care of him." She shivered. "Let's get out of here."

They turned around, Toros leading the way, followed by Lucy and Ezra.

"Told you." Grey said quietly, causing Natsu to look back at him and smile. "Thanks Grey." Natsu said. "I don't know what I would of done without you." Natsu continued out of the tunnel, leaving Grey blushing.

'How is he able to do that so easily to me?' Grey asked himself bitterly. He followed Natsu out of the network of caves back to the world above.

In the end, the team completed the mission without destroying the town. They got the full reward, but Ezra took the extra 30,000 J, saying that the mission wouldn't of been completed without her, plus Grey and Natsu probably would of froze to death. They had no choice to agree with her.

Grey and Natsu never really spoke of what happened in the cave, but every once and a while on a freezing day, on a mission or in Magnolia, Grey and Natsu would look at each other and blush, smiling, as they remembered the events of that mission.

THANKS FOR READING, PLEASE REVIEW AND COMMENT. IF THERE IS ANYTHING YOU WANT ME TO WRITE ABOUT, PLEASE TELL ME. ALSO PLEASE POINT OUT ANY MISTAKES OR THINGS THAT I DID BADLY, THIS IS MY FIRST STORY.