Hello, everybody!
... I shouldn't be here... You know those people with hyperactive imagination? Yeah, I'm one of those and already have a Digimon fanfiction in process of writing so why am I here?!... Oh well…
Okay! On with the babbling about the story!
The first and most important thing I need to make clear is that I had about six stories that inspired me into writing it. Did I copy them? Maybe some will see as that, but I swear I don't mean to disrespect anyone! To prove it, here are the stories that inspired me: One shot (by DreamscomeTRUEEE), Reason For Demise (by darklight1735), Recollection (by darklight1735), What We Should Be (by Unsugar), Worth the Wait (by Wild Rhov) and Ice Prince (which's author I can't remember nor find). If there is any other story that DOES NOT have Lucy or Juvia as part of the main couple, that has any resemblance with this one, then it is possible I have read it and like an aspect or other and wanted to use it. By the way, if you haven't read any of those fanfictions, I do suggest you do. They are awesome and most of them I keep re-reading every time I can.
Second important thing is that I don't like Lucy. I do respect her as a character, I do respect the people that like her, I do recognize her strength, but I just don't like her, at all. So you can expect some Lucy-bashing here though I will try to keep it to a minimum.
Third, as you can already realize, it is a yaoi/boys love story, so if it does not appeal you or insults you, please do turn back and everyone will go their happy way.
Fourth, there is gender-bending here, temporary character-death and lots of OOC. I won't go further into explaining it or I'll spoil the surprises.
And lastly! Disclaimer: Fairy Tail does not belong to me. It's rightfully Hiro Mashima's creation and I take no profit of it. Nor do I own any song depicted along the chapters, they all belong to the rightful artist, company and producers and all that jazz… There may be some minor character that are my creation, but that's it…
For those not familiar with the song of this chapter, here you can take a look at the official music video of it: www. youtube watch?v=IsXB5eRMRno&list=RDIsXB5eRMRno&index=1 (naturally, take off the spaces)
01 – Trap by Henry (feat. Taemin & Kyuhyun)
Ice blocks were falling everywhere. The ice made floor of the cave was beyond walkable, being cracked and moving at every new wave of energy shot from the crater created by the demon. Happy watched helpless from the now closed entrance of the cave as Natsu struggled to get to his feet, fortunately not bothered by his motion sickness. Not too far from the dragon slayer was Gray, whose legs were trapped in the ice blocks from the broken floor and most likely useless at the moment as well. At some more distance from them, was Lucy, who just fell on the ice again, having lost her footing.
Then he yelled.
"Gray! Lucy!"
At the same time, a piece of ice fell from the cave ceiling right onto Lucy and a beam shot from the crater straight at Gray.
On impulse and by logic of who's closer, Natsu shot at Gray and grabbed him by the waist, yanking the ice mage from the ice floor just in time before the beam hit any of them. Recovering from the sudden action, Gray created an ice dome covering the crater and turned to where their female companion was.
"Lucy!" Natsu turned to where the blonde was last seen beneath the ice chunks but turned back to the ice mage.
"But your legs!"
"Just go! I'll be fine!" Gray pushed his friend and immediately the dragon slayer bolted to help Lucy. Happy came flying then and was shocked to see the state his legs were in. Smashed, was the only way he could describe it, smashed and bent in too many places from mid-tight and lower.
"Gray!"
"Happy!" the raven hair looked up to the cat, emergency overflowing in both pairs of eyes. Happy meant to help him up, but Gray interrupted him. "Go see how Lucy is and help her and Natsu out!"
"But-!"
"Go, Happy! I'm the only one who can finish this thing anyway!"
Nodding hesitantly, Happy flew to the pair. Natsu had just finished digging Lucy out and had the girl cradled in his arms.
"How is Lucy?" the cat asked taking a look at her.
"She's alive" he answered. In his arms, Lucy was trying to hold back tears and screams of pain, holding the left shoulder tightly, but still alive enough and pretty much awake. "Possibly only the shoulder out of place of major injury."
"Good. Gray said to get out. He's gonna try to do something about the demon."
"But in the condition he is-!"
"I'm good, flame head!" the ice mage appeared beside the group and did a quick scan over Lucy. At least she was still in one piece, good. "You and Happy take Lucy out of here. The cave is about to crash completely."
"And how do you want us to get out?! If you haven't noticed, there is no way out!" Natsu argued only to have Gray answer with a smirk.
"And when has that ever stopped us?" as soon as he said that, he took a step back and canon blasted the nearest wall, efficiently making a tunnel to the outside world where the sky was still light. "Go!"
Happy needn't be told twice, he flew in a straight line outside. Natsu made sure his hold on Lucy wouldn't damage her more and took a step forward, stopping just as he realized something. "Aren't you coming?"
"I'll be out soon enough. Let me just finish this shit first" the ice mage turned away and faced the crater.
"Do us a favor and don't die, got it, frostbite!"
"Yeah, yeah. Leave it to me."
Natsu then rushed through the crumbling tunnel and caught up with Happy. After they got a safe distance from danger, they managed to make Lucy open her eyes and respond to them, just to make sure she was still there. Then, the cave they were in not two minutes before crumbled completely and a giant spear of ice rose from the cold floor, on its tip was the form of the demon they were fighting. A second later and the monster broke into tiny pieces before falling and be carried away by the wind.
A moment of realization and they ran to the now calm plain, personal pain put aside and eyes focused looking out for their missing friend.
A faint breeze blew through them and brought with it a scent very much familiar for the dragon slayer, but one he didn't like at all, the scent of the first snow fall deeply mixed with blood. Natsu doubled his speed and left Lucy and Happy to catch up by themselves. Arriving at a certain point, he started digging. Just as the other two arrived he found what he was looking for. Or part of it.
Lucy's good hand left her shoulder to go to her mouth. Happy fell lightly to the floor, tears streaming down his blue fur. And Natsu only stared wide eyed, hands shaking.
In the shallow hole, was a pair of pale and strong legs that went from feet to mid tights. The combat boots and ripped pants' legs were covered in blood, quick cooling blood that spread out painting the ice and snow around deep crimson. And nothing else.
"No…" a sob escaped the blonde before she fell to her knees and started crying out loud, Happy joining her.
"You bastard!" Natsu sobbed and punched the bloody ice. "I told you not to die! Are you that stupid?! Can't you even do that?!"
"Who the hell are you calling stupid, retarded ash brains!"
At once, the three wailing friends looked up, stunned by the angry familiar voice.
In front of them, stood Gray, shirtless, hair half covered in snow and blood running down from many shallow wounds all over his body. The pants were ripped little higher than the knees, and the rest of his legs were transparent with a bluish tint.
"Gray! You're alive!" Lucy screamed with tears still falling down her cheeks.
"Of course I am alive! You think that was enough to kill me?" Gray asked, raising an eyebrow at her.
"But your legs!" Happy yelled flying over said limbs pointing at them, fur bristled.
"Ah, that? They were useless after Natsu pulled me out of the ice. And since we had to finish this problem, I got rid of them. This was a trick Ur used when she saved me. Pretty neat, huh!" he said with a grin, like the current situation was the most common in the world.
Then Natsu punched him on the face. "YOU BASTARD!" And proceed to hug the ice mage before he fell, pulling him the closest possible to his chest, burring his face on the dark hair. "Never scare me like that again."
Small sharp eyes blinked quickly and repeatedly. Charlie looked around and got her bearing. She was in the hall of Fairy Tail guild, sitting on the table in front of Wendy, who was talking to Erza animatedly. The other mages were scattered around talking, drinking and being loud like usual.
With a sigh, the queencat dropped her gaze to her lap. A vision, most likely, she thought, and a very gory one at that. At least no one died on it, she reasoned.
Deciding not to worry about it, the cat turned to her best friend and tried to catch up to their talk. But not a minute later, she felt rather than saw, many members stop on what they were doing, frown and continue with their activities. Following their example, she did the same, but still noted which mages had that reaction, they were Wendy, Erza, Kana, Juvia, Gajeel, Master, the Raijinshu and Laxus.
Five days earlier
Gray groaned when waking up, feeling his back and neck sore like after another Grand Magic Games, then he remembered it was just another hangover, as usual. He rubbed his eyes and tried to get up, being stopped by something holding his middle. After another try, he gave up and eyed what has keeping him and stared.
In front of his eyes was skin, lightly tanned and smooth skin covering hard packs of muscles. Feeling how warm it was, he knew instantly who it was, and the possessive yet gentle way the arm draped over him gave it away as well.
"Loke, wake up already. You are stinking of alcohol" Gray murmured stretching as much as he could, somehow resembling a cat, much for the irony of the situation.
In response, the other male grumbled and tightened his hold on the young man and buried his face on the dark locks, finding it too comfortable having a cold body next to him at this summer time to wake up. Gray sighed at the other's attitude.
Loke, who was enjoying his sleep quite nicely, suddenly flew out of bed hugging his chest, where there was a bright red spot from the sudden blow of freezing air. "Gray!"
"Good morning to you too, Loke. And good to see you have at least your pants on" the dark-haired male greeted his friend and sat up, stretching his arms over his head.
The spirit stared at the young man in slight disbelief. "How come you are that energetic this morning if you drank that much last night?"
"To the point I actually let you sleep in my bed with me?" he shrugged and got up, walking towards his bathroom completely nude, not that he noticed nor that he cared. It wasn't like Loke hadn't seen him naked before anyways. "After a while you get used to it, you know."
"That is quite the depressing thought, you know?" the blonde said while walking to the living room, looking for his lost shirt.
"Like I'm not a depressing person" Gray rolled his eyes. Before he closed the bathroom door, he turned back to the spirit. "You going back to the Spirit World?"
"Yeah. Although I'm still good, and I bet my hangover is better than yours, I rather be prepared if anything was to happen to Lucy and she needs me. But Gray… Are you going to be okay?" Loke asked worriedly.
The ice mage looked at his best friend in the eyes and gave him a constrained smile. "Not really, but I'll manage. I always do. Go rest. And thanks for the company last night."
"You know you can always count on me for anything. See you later" Loke gave him a small but sincere smile and vanished to the Spirit World.
Gray turned, closed the door and proceeded with his daily routine, all the while ignoring the pounding in his head. During his cold morning shower, he thought back to the events that led to his earlier predicament.
The night before, he had a date with Natsu, one of those rare and real dates they had lately. They were supposed to meet by the dry riverside at nine in the night. The ice mage arrived ten minutes earlier and laid on the grass, passing his time by stargazing and creating imaginary drawing with the constellations, trying to associate the stars positions to the celestial spirits and how much they didn't resemble one another, at all.
About an hour later, Gray decided to look for the fire dragon slayer and give him a little lesson about punctuality. He went to the other's house first and found him there alright, and in a situation he had imagined as an option before. The house was unusually cleaned. Happy was nowhere to be found. And Natsu was in bed with Lucy, with all the lights out and very concentrated on their current activities.
Gray bit down his lip to hold back any other external reaction and watched the couple for ten seconds before turning his back and heading back home. When he arrive at the stony way to the front door of his house – a pretty nice three store building, large enough to occupy two thirds of Fairy Tail's guild area with the best playground/park like backyard at the outskirts of Magnolia – he picked a small sphere-like silver device he always kept with him and pushed a little button on it.
Five minutes later, he had his living room table prepared with three bottles of different liquors, two clean scotch glasses and two shot glasses ready and filled with an alcoholic drink, this time's choice being one of his favorites vodkas he only drank with either Lyon or Loke. The lion spirit arrived to that scene and raised an eyebrow to his friend's position half sitting half lying on the floor by the couch's feet.
"Sorry for calling you on such short notice and for something as stupid as a drink's night to cover another of my depression fits. But would you terribly mind making me company?" Gray had asked and Loke accept.
They drank the shots of vodka, a bottle of whiskey and a glass each of the other two bottles. In the middle of the drinking, clothes were lost and the males stumbled to the bed. No real intimate contact made at all, constrained by sheer self-control from both parties.
Yes, that was pretty much it. What a ridiculous situation, Gray thought.
Gray has been in love with Natsu for way too long now and recently (in their perspective) Natsu decided he wanted someone else but kept Gray around, in his ignorance keeping the ice mage tied to him. Then when it became too much for Gray to take it quietly, he'd call either Loke or Lyon or both for a night of drinking until he was too numb to feel his heartache.
After getting dressed and ready for the day, Gray first stopped by the back of his house, the part of the building he had reserved to make an orphanage for all kind of children and teens until they were eighteen and if they chose to stay around they could work there as housekeepers and helpers and teachers for the young kids. That was one of the projects he had with Kana and Erza and was supported by Master Makarov, though the three of them took care of it by themselves with the employees of what has been dubbed The Icy-Steel-Card House.
On his way, the young man greeted the people going on about their routines until he came out to the backyard. There a group of small children was running around playing happily. Standing watch over them were two middle-aged ladies. He walked to them calmly.
"It always amazes me how they can be so energetic and cheerful so early in the morning" he said and greeted the pair, who chuckled at him.
"Gray-kun, it is ten in the morning" one of them replied laughing.
"Exactly! It's too early still."
They chatted for a couple minutes and then the ice mage said his good-byes and headed for the guild.
As usual, the Fairy Tail hall was blusterous with laughs and cheers for whatever reason those crazy mages could find. He easily spotted Wendy sitting with Kana, Charlie and Happy on a table close to the bar. Natsu and Lucy were sitting a little away from the other four at the same table, giving off waves of cheesy love, not that Natsu himself understood the concept. Gray ignored the couple and went to the girls and cats, sitting beside Wendy and putting an arm over her slim shoulders.
"Morning. Wendy, the ladies at the House asked when you are coming next. They said the kids miss your visits."
"Good morning, Gray-san. I will try to stop by one of these days" the young Dragon Slayer said smiling. Happy started to talk to them then and from time to time Lucy commented something or another.
It was some minutes later that Master Makarov came to the hall from his office and walked to their table. Clearing his throat, he addressed them.
"Gray, you have a new mission" the old man said calmly and the young man looked at him and smiled. A nominated mission now would probably mean a challenging quest, which would request a lot of his attention, which would take his mind away from Natsu and Lucy for as long as the mission took.
"Well, what is it about? I could use a hard mission at the moment."
"Well then, here are all the details about it", Makarov handled him a thin file, which the ice mage started to read right away still listening to the master, "but to sum it up, the request came from the Northern Country and is asking for a mage capable of defeating a demon that has been messing with the weather over there. And they specifically requested an ice mage."
"I'll go right after lunch then" Gray nodded and Master nodded back, accepting the younger's conditions.
The little man walked away and the whole table approached Gray while he was still going over the request's details. When Lucy looked, her eyes found a very nice and interesting number written before the word 'Reward' followed by some other things. She nudged Natsu on the ribs and pointed that to him, both developing suspicious glints in their eyes.
Some hours later, after lunch and Gray leaving a message at home, he stood dumbfound at the train station staring at a fire dragon slayer and a celestial spirit mage, both with a traveling bag each, waving at him. Happy flew over to him before any mage said anything and floated in front of him.
"I tried to stop them, but Lucy was really insistent" the blue cat whispered. The ice mage sighed and turned back to staring at the other two humans.
"If you are hoping to get any part of the monetary reward by going, don't even bother. Unless you are anyhow useful, you are coming along for free" he deadpanned and turned to the right train stop.
"Like that is the only reason" Natsu rolled his eyes and followed. "Jii-chan said they requested a powerful mage to defeat a demon. So it's only natural I have to go."
"Yeah, right, like you will be any help here. And what is your excuse, Lucy?" Gray asked not bothering to face her.
The blonde huffed before replying. "Ever since the Grand Magic Games we haven't gone in a mission together as a team. I think this is the perfect opportunity" she said in a know-it-all manner.
"And that is why you didn't mention it to me or Wendy before nor waited for Erza, right? Whatever you say, don't get in the way" the ice mage finished and entered the train with Happy flying by him, leaving Lucy to deal with a motion sick Natsu behind.
During the three-day ride towards the North, Gray could only ask himself what he had done to deserve this. He woke up in a bad mood, changed it after talking to the caretakers of his house and now, when he thought he would have a rest from the 'unofficial' couple, they just had to tag along uninvited. Really, just great. At the very least, he got the satisfaction of seeing Natsu miserable from his motion sickness and a pissed off Lucy because of the dragon slayer's attitude.
They arrived at the station in a small town and after asking for some directions, the team proceed into the endless plains of snow. Natsu had a large coat over his usual attire and Lucy had probably four layers of winter clothes on her. Happy was gladly snuggled into Natsu's coat collar enjoying the natural warmth the dragon slayer gave off. Within two hours they arrived at the first village of the Region of Kotek, found an inn, settled their bags and went for a little information hunting, or rather, Gray and Happy went while Lucy and Natsu stayed at the inn, the girl stating she needed to warm up and the pink-haired guy more than happy to help her.
So ice mage and exceed walked around the village and the neighboring ones and soon towards the white plains, looking for their targets.
When they asked, the villagers said they had asked for help before, but none of the other mages that came could do as much as land a hit on the demon, but fortunately nobody has died, yet.
Almost everything about the target has been found out already. It was an intelligent monster capable of human speech. It went about 10 meters high and was large, body that looked like icy rocks with long arms and sharp fangs. It was living in a cave made in the half mile thick icy floor and once inside the demon's lair, not one type of magic used by previous mages proved useful, which turned out to be most kind of elemental and non-elemental. One could say that the whole nature has been tried on, from fire to water, earth and air, light, shadow, poison, take-overs, re-quips and spirits. Everything was tested. Except ice magic.
Records stated that the magic was useless not because it didn't affect the demon. It wasn't nearly as good as that. What happened was that the closer a mage got to the monster, their energy literally left their bodies and got absorbed by the creature. Their magic just wouldn't work, not even the most basic of spells, the mages stated it was like having lost your magic completely to the point you won't even feel it within, like you never even had it to begin with.
Therefor trying a last shot, a mage capable of powerful and experienced ice magic was requested. And so it came to the current situation.
Walking apparently aimlessly, Gray and Happy had but snow and ice and rock surrounding them on and on and on. The cat had buried himself into Gray's coat and the mage mindfully kept his clothes on. They looked around and had yet to find anything to indicate the cave the demon resided in.
"Nah, Gray" Happy called quietly, still keeping his eyes out for anything that could pass as a cave.
"What is it, Happy?" Gray asked almost absentmindedly.
"Are you mad we tagged along?"
The ice mage took a moment to answer, which made the cat look at him. "I sincerely hoped to use this mission as a time out from those two, yes, but I don't mind you."
Happy beamed and returned to his task, helping his friend. "We could always just kick Lucy out of her clothes and leave her out here."
"Nah, that would be mean, even for us" he snickered and went on searching.
A while later, they found it: an opening in the snow ground large enough for six grown men to pass comfortably. The pair smiled at each other and went into the hole. Entering just enough to see what was inside, they found the cave bare of anything. Literally. The place consisted of only ice walls, ice floor, a big hole in the middle of the floor and nothing more, it was like a big hall empty of any decoration, including the usual stalagmites and stalactites were absent. Wanting to make the most of this trip at once, Gray also tried his magic, after all, what use would he have here if his magic didn't work either. So he did a basic ice shield form and was delighted to know that yes, ice magic did work here. Seems like the opponent being an ice demon cancelled all magic but ice natured. Well, good for him.
Satisfied, he and Happy turned and went back to the inn they were staying at, taking their time at doing so.
They arrived at the inn late in the night and expected to find both Natsu and Lucy asleep, but were surprised to meet the dragon slayer awake waiting for them in their room. After the door was closed, Happy flew to the bed unoccupied by the young man and fell asleep in two heartbeats, leaving Gray and Natsu alone in the night. The ice mage half ignored his friend and went to change clothes, aware of the other's stare on his back.
"If you want to say something, just do it" Gray said tiredly still facing away from the other.
"It's about that night. I'm sorry I didn't come. Something urgent came up and I totally forgot about it at the time" Natsu replied looking away from the other mage and sounding as apologetically as he could, which, in Gray's ears, wasn't all that convincing, but that may be because he knows the dragon slayer too well.
Having finished changing into a simple pair of sweatpants, Gray turned to look at Natsu, face blank except for a raised eyebrow. "And you expect me to be mad at that? I already knew your burnt pea brain wouldn't remember our date. So don't even bother apologizing."
Immediately, Natsu rose to the provocation and flared his fists. "What the fuck, ice block! I'm trying to apologize with all my heart and you go brushing it off like nothing!"
With all your heart, really?, Gray thought and hold back spitting the words. "Like I said, Natsu, don't even bother. Besides, don't you have your hands full already with Lucy?"
"Tsc. You are really stupid, Gray."
Then Natsu tackled the ice mage down and dragged him onto bed. They started kissing and soon clothes were thrown away and the males were engrossed in a heated session of sex, not once keeping their sounds low.
All the while, Happy slept like a rock beside them.
The next morning, Gray awoke to a cold bed. Not thinking about it, he went through his daily routine and found his three teammates having breakfast at the cafeteria. As expected, Natsu and Lucy were snuggling together and Happy was munching on a fresh fish delighted. He ignored the slight pang of pain that shot through his chest and joined them, telling them the plan for the day and about his and Happy's findings the day before. He suggested the three of them stay at the inn, but the idea was shot down immediately and Gray simply didn't have the energy to argue with them against their suicide wish.
Within some hours, then, the whole group was out on their way towards the demon's lair. Gray with Happy nestled in his coat's furred hood was walking ahead. Natsu and Lucy were some paces behind, the girl practically needing to be dragged by the Dragon Slayer while she shivered under her layers of clothes. Between Lucy's complaints and Natsu's bickering with Gray, they arrived at the same place the ice mage and exceed found the day before. Once again Gray told the others to stay back, but their stubbornness was too strong and they went in the cave first.
The dark-haired mage sighed and followed them, preparing his magic to shoot anytime. He saw Natsu and Lucy preparing their magic as well and only waited for when they would realize their magic didn't work in this place. It didn't take long.
The group hadn't taken five steps into the cave and a blizzard started. Happy and Lucy started to scream immediately and Natsu and Gray braced themselves for anything, the fire mage, only then, noticing how his flames wouldn't come out. For a split moment, he forgot the situation and that they were about to face a demon but then the immediate danger hit him and he sprung into action.
"Get out, filthy humans! Just leave me alone!" the demon screeched, but was ignored by the mages, by Gray at least.
He charged towards the form coming out of the center on the cave, ice blades ready while he left Happy and Lucy's safety in Natsu's care, knowing that at least his quick reflexes and raw strength were still intact and useful to keep them alive for a while. For a while, he successfully landed many hits on the demon, but the monster didn't just stand there, even if his attacks didn't hit the ice mage or any other, the cave took the damage and was starting to fall apart.
Soon the floor no longer was plan. It had cracked and started to move, like rouge pieces of icebergs about the sea in a storm. The ceiling was in no better shape, with pieces of it falling every time either Gray or the demon attacked.
In a surprising lucky strike, Happy found out he could use his aerial magic, and was flying around, dodging all potential harmful things coming his way. Lucy and Natsu, on the other hand, had long lost their bearings and balance, hardly avoiding falling into icy holes or being covered by frozen rocks.
Meanwhile, Gray made sure to keep the demon's attention on him only. It was bad luck that Natsu suddenly landed some meters behind him when the monster was throwing another wave of ice blades, forcing the ice mage to create a shield in front of them both and pray that Lucy was down on the floor and not impaled by any of the projectiles. Unfortunately for him, the force of the impact made the ice he was standing on give in and break so suddenly Gray didn't have time get away, thus making him fall into the crack. And just as suddenly, the ice crashed back together and not only trapped Gray in its middle, but smashed his legs.
The young man felt the instant pain shot through his body from his legs and couldn't help but let out a painful roar, drawing Natsu's and Happy's attention.
With ice blocks falling everywhere, Happy watched helpless from the now closed entrance of the cave as Natsu struggled to get to his feet, fortunately not bothered by his motion sickness. Not too far from the dragon slayer was Gray, whose legs were trapped in the ice blocks from the broken floor and most likely useless at the moment as well. At some more distance from them, was Lucy, who just fell on the ice again, having lost her footing.
Then he yelled.
"Gray! Lucy!"
At the same time, a piece of ice fell from the cave ceiling right onto Lucy as a beam shot from the crater straight at Gray.
Acting on sheer impulse, Natsu forced his legs to work and shot himself at Lucy, managing to cover her with his body just in time before the ice hit her. The girl noticed him and he made sure she was alright, but he didn't see a laser beam pierce Gray's chest over his heart or the sequential ice spear hitting his head, going through it and turning his head to the scene of a safe Lucy and barely scratched Natsu taking care of each other. It was only after Happy's desperate yell the pair turned to their other teammate.
When Gray felt the shot go through his chest, the feeling of déjà vu hit him and he remembered that one minute Urtear had given the world back, when those small dragons killed him. When the first spear went through his head, there was no pain, not physical at least, but the sight of his friends unharmed and safe gave him a contradictory sense of relief that they were safe and of great betrayal that after the last night, Natsu still gave him certain death over Lucy's possibly grave injury. The following six stabs weren't felt, his fading conscience was glued to his friends. When a large beam encased his whole body, he didn't have any more conscious thought, but something in him snapped and felt like was awakened. This strange something merged itself with the demon's body and imploded before exploding and sending a massive wave of energy at all directions.
The only thing Natsu and Lucy saw was Gray's silhouette fading inside a large beam before a large explosion blew everyone and thing away.
When Natsu came to, he was half buried in snow. Sitting up, all he saw around him was endless plain of snow, Lucy in the same state of half-burial beside him and Happy and Loke and Virgo looking around, searching for something.
"Loke? Virgo? What are you guys doing here? Is Lucy-"
"Hime is fine, she is just unconscious" Virgo answered in her monotone voice. "Both Leo-sama and I came here using our own magic" she said and turned to dig around the snow again, not giving Natsu a second to reply.
He shrugged her weird attitude and kneeled beside Lucy.
"Hey, Lucy, wake up or you'll die of hypothermia. Come on, wake up already!" he kindly turned her to face down, heated his hand and put it on her butt. The response was immediate. She shot up and slapped the dragon slayer.
"What the hell, Natsu! What was that for!" she shrieked, but soon got her bearings. The empty landscape sent a shiver through her that had nothing to do with the cold. The frantic way Happy and Loke were looking around made her even more anxious… Wait. Loke? "Loke, what are you doing here?" she asked raising her voice and walking towards the spirit with Natsu.
The ginger haired man turned to look at the pair for a moment but soon turned back to his searching, still he answered before walking away, "We are looking for Gray."
Those words hit the pair hard. They remembered in a sudden flow of images the last thing they saw before losing consciousness and joined the others in the search for their missing friend.
They spent many minutes shouting out for the ice mage and digging randomly around. It was Virgo's shout that changed the mood.
"Leo-sama! I found something!"
Loke, Happy, Natsu and Lucy bolted towards the maid spirit's voice and found her in a hole that she probably dug herself. Joining her, they quickly took notice of some parts of the ice that had red spots in it and small torn pieces of what looked like clothes, a dark pieces of fabric, more precisely, at the exact color of the pants Gray was using before.
While Natsu, Lucy and Happy looked around confused, the pink-haired spirit approached her leader and extended her hand, holding on her palm a small silver sphere. "Leo-sama, this is what I found actually. It's the bell you gave Gray-san years ago, right?"
The lion spirit froze then and there. Gray never left that sphere behind. It was one of the most curious facts about the ice mage Loke knew. No matter how much the guy stripped, he never once lost the object since the lion gave him it the year before Lucy joined Fairy Tail, when he made the promise to be Gray's partner at the S-Class Promotion Exam. Which could only mean Gray was not around anymore.
Loke took the silver piece and a familiar sad voice echoed in his mind.
I'm sorry. I wasn't strong enough.
Gripping the sphere impossibly tight and with his face down, Loke addressed his friends, "Go home. There's nothing else to be done here."
Both Natsu and Lucy snapped their heads at the spirit's words and stared at him wide-eyed. Happy just sat on the snow atop the hole's opening staring at nothing with ears flattened to his head. Natsu narrowed his eyes dangerously suddenly and steam started to come off his body. Grabbing Loke's collar, he raised him a little, wanting to look him face to face.
"What the fuck do you mean with that! Are you saying we should just forget about Gray, leave him behind and head back home to Magnolia?!" Natsu shouted at the top of his lungs. "Answer me, you bastard! Have you forgotten the meaning of nakama? Have you forgotten the meaning of Fairy Tail?! Huh!"
"Have you?" Loke replied dangerously quiet before raising his face to look Natsu in the eyes, and the dragon slayer was taken aback by what he saw.
The Celestial Spirit was biting down his lip so strongly the skin broke and a thin trail of blood ran down his chin. Fat tears were coming down his blue eyes and his eyes just screamed 'frustration and lost'.
"Face it, Natsu, he isn't around anymore. If he was, you would be able to smell him. Can you?" Loke asked him coldly.
Natsu released his friend and turned to sniff the air. There was the faintest trail of Gray's scent around them and he noted it must have been the blood in the ice from when the black-haired man got himself trapped by his legs. He got out the hole and sniffed some more. He knew that even under some layers of snow, he would still be able to smell somebody's scent. What he found sent shivers down his spine. There was nothing. He got trails from the wandering Lucy, Happy and Loke did and even Virgo's digging, but there was nothing from Gray.
Slowly he turned back to his friends, noting Virgo wasn't with them anymore, probably she was back at the Celestial Spirit World. Loke helped Lucy up and then turned to Natsu. The two males stared at each other before the lion spirit looked away and just disappeared. Then Lucy and Natsu looked at each other.
What could they do now?
For the next four days, the two mages still tried to search for their missing friend. That day, when they went back to the inn at nightfall, they told the people in the village what had transpired and everyone agreed to help as appreciation for their work at getting rid of the demon. Still, they didn't find anything at all. Loke refused to be called and whenever Lucy tried, one of the other Elliptical Zodiac Spirits would appear, saddened and only to deliver the message that "Leo-sama doesn't want to talk. If he is needed to fight, he'll know" and disappear.
At the end of the fourth day, the villagers told the mages to go back home. No one could survive any longer in the snow but they would continue to search some more and if they found anything, Fairy Tail would be the first to know. Very reluctantly, they agreed. The reward was practically shoved onto their hands, but they agreed it would go entirely to the guild, after all, they did nothing there, it wouldn't be fair on Gray if they took what was rightfully his for themselves.
The trip back to Magnolia was a very silent one, except for Natsu's gurgling. When they arrived home, the weather was awfully bright, it was a perfect day for a trip to the beach. It was all wrong. They quietly made their way from the train station to Fairy Tail and hesitated for a moment before entering the guild's halls.
As usual, it was energetic and full of merry mages. The trio heard Mirajane's greetings, but they didn't have the energy to answer her. Instead, Happy floated to the table Charlie was sharing with Wendy, Panther Lily, Kana and Erza, and flopped beside his fellow exceeds. Lucy numbly walked to the same table and dropped herself on a free spot. Lastly, Natsu ignored everybody's staring just as his partners and made his way towards Master, who was a table after the girls and cats.
Makarov eyed curiously how his three children looked dead. He was even more curious when the dragon slayer put his backpack down and took a package out of it and silently handed it to the old man.
"Natsu, Lucy, Happy, where is Gray?" Erza asked confused, looking at her three friends after a moment when she realized Gray was not going to come through the doors late. "You guys went with him at that mission, right? Where is he?"
There was a pin drop silence following her question and dread filled her and many other mages, Master among them. The little man then looked Natsu's face carefully and only found the young man in an automatic state. Understanding he wasn't going to get much more from him, Makarov decided to open the package Natsu handed him. It was the full monetary reward from the mission he sent Gray to twelve days before. Dread settled in, he slowly turned to the fire mage and asked firmly, "What happened?"
Natsu didn't answer. Lucy flinched before starting to sob. It was Happy who answered in a very small voice.
"It happened really fast. One moment we were trying to stand up and the next Lucy almost got crushed by a falling part of the cave's ceiling if it wasn't for Natsu covering her and Gray was trapped by his legs and a beam shot at him. Then he was gone. The only thing left of him was some drops of blood on the ice. Not even the demon's cave was there. Gray is just gone."
X781, December – Magnolia, Fiore
Unceremoniously, Kana dropped a barrel of beer and three mugs in front of Gray and Loke, who were sulking and reading a notebook respectively, before taking a seat at the other side of the ice mage. At the other side of the table, Laxus sat with Freed, Bickslow and Evergreen, each with a cup of their preferred drink.
"First, cheer up, Gray, or your face is going to be permanently twisted into that frown if you continue. Second, what is Loke reading?" the brunette girl said, filling the three mugs and handing one to each boy and keeping one to herself.
"First, if my face hasn't twisted from me training in a blizzard, it won't ever, Kana. Second, Loke insisted on reading my scribbles" Gray answered his best female friend and took a sip of the alcoholic drink. "Also, I'm sorry it didn't happen this year either. I know how bad you want to be S-class."
At his words, the girl smiled sadly and tapped his mug with hers. "Well, it couldn't be helped. Not only were we against a she-demon, literally, but we also had the monster Erza and this stupid spark-head here as opponents on the way."
The dark-haired boy smiled at her and they drank, ignoring the twitching eyebrow on Laxus' face and the snickers from his three 'bodyguards'. "Fair enough. But I promise you, I am going to help you become S-class even if I get there first" he grinned and waited for her reaction, which came right after.
"Like a brat like you could become S-class before me!"
"We have the same age, you crazy girl!"
"Yeah, but don't you know, us girls do grow up far before you guys do, you cold ass!"
"Like hell you do!"
"Oh, come on! Stop that already and drink up, kids!" Laxus exclaimed from across the table and wacked them both on the head, earning glares and stunk tongues from the dark-haired pair and laughs from his three followers.
Before a three-way discussion started between the group of friends, Loke spoke up, putting the notebook down and taking his beer. "You should give life to these pieces soon, Gray. They are really good!"
"We told you, Gray!" Evergreen happily said pointing to the boy.
On the other hand, the ice mage looked away from them and murmured behind his mug something like 'It's not that good' and 'I would look ridiculous' that his friends shook their heads to. Kana took the notebook then and started to read the last written pages, raising her eyebrows in the process.
"Damn, Gray, this new one is pretty awesome. Quite heavy too. Even after these three years you still fell like this?" Gray just shrugged in response to her questioning. Over him, Kana saw the frown on Loke's face and sighed herself along with the Raijinshuu. These boys were a lost cause.
She then looked away from her sulking friend and took in the rest of the guild. Everyone was partying, celebrating Mirajane's promotion to S-class Mage. Her siblings were extremely happy for her. Erza was picking a fight with the she-demon. Lisanna was with Natsu on stage, performing a lovely winter song together and looking all lovey-dovey, though the pink-haired boy probably didn't even notice it from how dense he is. Kana sweat-dropped before having a great idea.
"Hey, Gray" she called and all seven mages looked at her. "You want to make it up to me from this year's failure?" her cheerful tone put Gray on edge immediately and he even slid away from her and towards Loke behind him, carefully eyeing her.
"I don't like the way you put it and what do you have in mind?" he asked, already regretting he didn't take the most logic option of running away.
"This" she tapped the notebook, "perform this and I'll let you off of drinking for the whole night with me."
Loke felt Gray's body stiffen and he start to sweat, of course with him wearing only pants it was very easy to see, but his increasing breathing was becoming a little worrisome. Just a little. "I agree. You should perform it and kick that happy couple out of the stage. They got boring already."
"See, Gray" Freed said and the boy turned to him so quickly he wondered if he didn't snap anything in his neck, "we all agree you should perform your compositions. What's the use of you writing them and never bringing them to life?"
"Don't know. I just do them to relax and relieve myself from some stress and frustration."
"Just go up there and perform, Gray" the masked man said, threatening him to take the headpiece off and make him.
"Besides, I bet you'll get a lot more frustration and relief from performing than just creating them" Laxus added and Gray just knew he was cornered and his six friends would gang up against him until he complied.
"Fine, I'll do it. But don't expect anything good!"
"Okay!"
Growling, the dark-haired boy got up and walked towards the stage, doing his best to ignore his friends grinning faces. He talked to Lisanna to let him have a few minutes on the stage, almost started a fight with Natsu before the white-haired girl dragged him out and he stood facing his guild mates, all looking at him expectantly. Embarrassed, the boy scratched the back of his neck before addressing them.
"Okay, so… I'm not sure how well it'll be, so don't expect much. Also, I was forced to do it by those nasty friends over there" he pointed to the table he was sitting and received whistles and catcalls from them. "And lastly, it's just a little something I wrote on my free time."
Taking a deep breath, Gray focused on his magic and murmured "Ice make: Stage" and the whole stage was covered by ice. Some of the mages whistled impressed but they were silent, waiting. The boy walked to the back of the stage, almost out of it to the side and created a grand piano there. Positioning himself on the ice bench, he took another deep breath before pushing down on the keys. The following sound got everybody's undivided attention.
After a few seconds, an ice piece appeared on his face, from his right ear to his mouth, looking like a microphone, except it wasn't connected to anything, but had some holes to let the wind go through. And he murmured a single line before the other instruments on stage started to play by themselves.
I'm trapped
Faceless ice clones were formed around the piano and started to dance to the music's beat. Gray also got up on the piano, joining in the dance and the instrument continued to play by itself.
I can't move, why am I getting heavier?
As I'm inside of the corner of your heart, yeah
I want to touch you but I'm in this black darkness
I keep settling down in this same place, in that place, yeah
I'm getting more and more forgotten inside of you
Inside this love that always lingers
Oh I'm trapped, I'm trapped
The clones danced perfectly with the mage, like they were other people doing a thoroughly rehearsed choreography, and not once, despite the steps did Gray's voice falter.
I'm getting tired, I guess I'm dreaming alone
Will you strongly shake me and wake me up, wake me up?
I'm trapped, I'm trapped
I'm losing myself, I can't even remember my name without you
Now will you let go of me from inside of you, let go of me?
I'm trapped, I'm trapped
I'm trapped, oh
I'm trapped, oh
You and I, we are becoming more different
In your endless greed, greed
I am an abandoned bird inside a small birdcage called you
I can't even fly away, yeah
I am getting more and more weak inside of you
Inside of this love that always lingers
Oh, I'm trapped, I'm trapped
Somehow, the public noticed, Gray's voice got an echo effect and a double tone.
Most of the mage didn't notice, but his closest friends, the six he shared a table with plus Erza and Makarov saw the subtle changes on the stage's ice, how it would create some channels and how it would affect the sound waves. All in all, they thought the ice mage took too long to use this talent of his.
I'm getting tired, I guess I'm dreaming alone
Will you strongly shake me and wake me up, wake me up?
I'm trapped, I'm trapped
I'm losing myself, I can't even remember my name without you
Now will you let go of me from inside of you, let go of me?
I'm trapped, I'm trapped
I'm trapped, I'm trapped
I'm trapped, oh, I'm trapped yeah
I want to forget you (I want to forget you)
I want to fly away (I want to fly away)
I want to let go of you (I want to let go of you)
I want to be free (I want to be free)
I'm getting tired, I guess I'm dreaming alone
Will you strongly shake me and wake me up, wake me up?
I'm trapped, I'm trapped
I'm losing myself, I can't even remember me name without you
Now will you let go of me from inside of you, let go of me?
I'm trapped, I'm trapped
I'm trapped oh oohh
Gray finished his performance slowly. One by one, the clones dissolved into thin air. He walked back to the grand piano and slowly the ice covering the stage melted. And until the last note, the piano stood strong like a crystal piece instead of ice. But as soon as he finished, the whole guild erupted in cheers, surprising him beyond belief.
Among the many compliments shouted at him, Kana's enthusiastic and drunk shout stood among all others.
"That's our Icy Fairy!"
N/A time!
When I started writing this chapter (at the beginning of this year or last year, I believe), I never thought it would be this big. Seriously. There is the possibility of the next chapter following this length but it is also possible they will be smaller, I have no idea. Also, I don't know how often I'll be able to update due social life (yeah, I still try to have it) and writer's block whenever it hits me. So if I suddenly stop for too long, please bear with me. One day I will come back were it to happen.
About Gray's performance, try to imagine him and a bunch of ice clones with him, as well as him singing in the original language; I just put the lyrics translated here because I think it makes it more dynamic and easier to read, not to mention that would make a little more sense that everybody understands what's being sang. I had this idea ever since I read 'Ice Prince' (and I can't find this story in this site (yeah, I did read it here) for the life of me. I didn't like the story itself, I found it weak, but that is my opinion and I'm not saying it's bad. What I did like about it was the concept of Gray being an idol. And since recently I got myself entranced by this weird and marvelous world of K-pop, well, you probably already figured I'll use a lot of K-pop songs here.
Another point about these songs, if there is anyone out there reading this story that knows Korean and sees anything weird about the translations, please do PM me and tell me about it and I'll correct it ASAP. And just for the record, I took the lyrics from youtube fanmade videos and this site: www .kpoplyrics
Any other doubt, please to ask in reviews, and if there isn't any, just review either way because it's nice and writers always like to know what their readers think about their creations! ;D
~Atsuko Uehara, 23/November/2014.