So i've been having a bit of a writer's block lately so I wrote this to try and get out of it. Fairy Tail is Hiro Mashima's, and I have no rights to anything of course. This is just a what if story, if Gray had done the iced shell before Natsu could reach him. The idea is that since Bickslow's magic is focused around souls he would be able to see and interact with Gray after everyone forgot about him.
Natsu, Lucy, and Happy moved to the guild, Natsu intending to end this with Zeref once and for all. Zeref had caused so much pain and suffering to those he cared about, but he would end all of that. If it was him Zeref wanted, then it was him Zeref would get. Seeing the guild ahead Natsu gave himself on finale push, intending to run in and punch Zeref in the face before he could even notice Lucy and Happy with him, and promptly slammed into a solid transparent wall.
Natsu fell to the ground with a surprised yell as Lucy and Happy reached him, having slowed down when they saw him crash. The three looked at the entrance to the guild to see the entire inside was full of ice! In the ice, in the center of the guild hall was Zeref. He looked stunned, as if he hadn't expected to suddenly be encased in ice. Lucy moved forward and put a hand on the ice, surprised when it didn't melt at her body heat. "What is this?" she asked. Natsu jumped to his feet and engulfed his fist in flames. Lucy dove out of the way as Natsu slammed his fist into the ice only to let out a loud yelp when his arm nearly broke from the force. The ice hadn't even melted a drop.
"What the hell is this?! It's like the ice from the Sun Village!" Natsu yelled. He recalled how they had to use moon drip to free Atlas and only his flames could melt the rest of the village. Deciding it was worth a try again, Natsu enveloped his entire body in the most powerful flames he had. Both Lucy and Happy made distressed noises at the intense heat. He tried to melt the ice again, but nothing happened.
"You can't melt it." Mavis said, coming up to stand between them. Natsu and Lucy gave her a confused look.
"What do you mean?" Happy asked first. Mavis frowned as she examined the ice. She didn't like what she felt from it.
"It's a spell called Iced Shell. It can't be melted. There's something else to it as well….the lost attribute?" she wondered out loud. Lucy frowned. She had never heard of either of those spells before. However one thing was clear, this was made by an ice mage. There was only one person that came to mind when ice was brought up, but she was sure Lyon was in Hargeon. There was no way he would be able to get from Hargeon to Magnolia is such a short amount of time.
"What is that?" Natsu asked. He had no idea what those spells Mavis was talking about, and he didn't care. All he knew was this strange ice was between him and an enemy he had to beat. What if it melted when Zeref or one of his followers wanted it to? Was it a failsafe by Invel in order to make sure they didn't defeat Zeref until he was ready for them? After all the enemy ice mage vanished when Natsu and Lucy had been separated from Juvia. If Invel got away from Juvia, he could easily have done this to protect Zeref.
"We don't have enough time for me to explain. What I can tell you is Zeref is no longer a threat. There is no possible way he will be able to escape and be a threat again to Fairy Tail. For now our main worry is Acnologia." Mavis said firmly. Lucy gave an exasperated sigh.
"So we're only half way done?!" she cried. Natsu frowned. He didn't like it. This was too convenient. Before he could voice that however Mavis gave him a stern look.
"I will explain everything afterwards. For now we have to protect our friends from Acnologia." she ordered. The three Fariy Tail mages nodded and turned to leave. Natsu tried to ignore the whispers in the back of him mind, the ones that reminded him of what happened the last time someone promised him answers after a battle only to die before he could get them. Mavis meanwhile turned a sad look to the ice. The look didn't make any sense to the three. It almost looked like she was morning, like her heart was broken by what she saw.
"It shouldn't have come to this." she said softly before turning and following them. Natsu swore he would get his answers.
Xxx
The mages in Hargeon were in celebration. They had won, Acnologia was gone and the Dragon Slayers had returned from the other dimension. When Acnologia had taken the dragon slayers, Lucy had proposed using the Fairy Sphere to halt his movements. Mavis had used all the magic in her body to complete it, and now she was gone. Many of the Fairy Tail mages felt a pang of sadness of the loss of the first master, but the relief and celebration at the greatest threat being over took priority. Natsu however wanted answers. Without Mavis to give them, there was only one other source he could turn to.
"Hey, Lyon!" he called, getting a few of the nearby people's attention. Lyon turned from his team, giving Natsu a confused look. It wasn't that Natsu never talked to him, rather Lyon couldn't figure out why Natsu wanted his attention now of all times. "What did you do to the Guild Hall?" Natsu accused. Many of the Fairy Tail mages now turned their undivided attention to the conversation. After all they had rebuilt the guild hall so many times they were all nearly professional construction workers at this point. Lyon gave him a confused look.
"What the hell are you talking about Salamander?" he asked. Natsu's accusation made no sense to him. He had been in Hargeon since this whole mess started. In fact he hadn't been to Magnolia in over a year, so why did Natsu think he did something to their guild hall?
"Natsu, we don't know it was him." Lucy reminded him. Natsu huffed, knowing she was right.
"Our entire guild hall is frozen." he explained. Some of the other guilds were listening now, curious. Lyon turned his head to the side slightly, trying to think of what Natsu was saying but unable to wrap his mind around it.
"What do you mean?" he asked. Lucy put a hand on Natsu's shoulder, telling him she will take over. Natsu nodded and Lucy turned to Lyon.
"When we went to the Guild Hall to face Zeref, the entire guild hall was frozen solid from the inside, and Zeref is in there." she explained. A sense of worry fell over the group. Was this fight not over?!
"So Zeref is still out there?!" Elfman yelled. Lucy winced, not having wanted to worry anyone but also knowing this was a very important matter.
"Not exactly. The first master told us that Zeref will never be able to escape. She said it was a spell called Iced Shell with the lost attribute so we thought Lyon cast it and…" Lucy didn't get to say anymore. Before anyone could even react Lyon had rushed forward, grabbing Lucy by the front of her shirt. Many horrified and surprised gasps sounded around them, but Lyon didn't' care. His mind was frozen on one thing Lucy said.
"What the hell?!" Natsu yelled, grabbing Lyon's wrist to pull it off of Lucy.
"You didn't mistake it?! She said it was Iced Shell?!" Lyon's voice quivered as he asked and Lucy and Natsu were stunned. Lucy gave a small nod, confused and a little afraid by Lyon's reaction.
"Lucy, did Mavis really say the lost attribute as well?" Makerov asked from Laxus' arms. Lucy looked over at the guild master and nodded again. He looked so sad at her confirmation. Lucy, Natsu, and all the mages present were confused. Judging from their reactions the spell Mavis described was very bad, but no one was explaining why.
"Lyon…" Yuka started, moving to stand by his teammate. Lyon let go of Lucy and stepped back.
"I need to see it." he announced. Erza moved to stand by her teammates.
"Of course. I think we all ned to." she agreed.
Xxxx
The entire trip back to Magnolia had been without answers. Because of that Natsu's mind was working overtime trying to come up with what these spells could be. When Natsu, Happy, Lucy, Erza, Wendy, and Charlie arrived at the guild hall they could see most of the others had already arrived. Lyon, Laxus, Makerov, Mirajane, Yuka, Toby, and Shelia were already at the entrance to the guild hall, looking over the ice.
"It really is Iced Shell." Lyon said. Natsu was tired of the cryptic responses. He wanted an answer and he wanted it now.
"What the hell is Iced Shell?!" he yelled. Hibiki and Rufus looked at each other before turning to Natsu.
"I remember it being mentioned once long ago. It is an incredibly powerful Ice Magic spell." Rufus said.
"According to my archive it cannot be melted by any normal means. In fact the only method I can think of is the moon drip." Hibiki explained. Lyon clenched a fist.
"Your Archive isn't fully up to date. That is all true, but Iced Shell isn't just any ice. It takes the body of the caster and turns it into ice." Lyon said. A few of the mages were confused by Lyon's words, while a few gave him horrified looks as they realized what he meant.
"What the hell does that mean?!" Cana hissed, not liking what she was imagining.
"It means the ice that is filling your guild hall is the body of the caster who did this." Jellal explained.
"The caster didn't walk away from this fight, this is their grave now." Minerva elaborated. Many of the mages were horrified at that. Natsu glared, that explanation made no sense to him.
"So your telling me that some random ice mage just came across our guild, saw Zeref inside, and gave their life to seal him in there?!" Natsu yelled. The others looked sad at the idea.
"That's what it seems like." Kagura confirmed. Natsu turned back to the ice glaring. That wasn't acceptable. Makerov however sighed.
"What is it Gramps?" Laxus asked. Makerov looked up at the ice.
"If only it was. Unfortunately the situation is much worse." he said. Many of the mages gave the old man stunned and confused looks. What did it mean it was much worse!? How could it be?! Someone had already died to save them and seal away Zeref.
"What do you mean by that?!" Erza asked, dreading the answer.
"Mavis said the Lost Attribute was used. The lost attribute is a lost magic that multiplies the power of a spell exponentially, but at a cost. It removes any trace of the caster from the world. All the memories of them, their entire existence, is taken and used as a boost to the spell." he said. Another confused silence fell over the group.
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?!" Gajeel yelled. Juvia and Levy looked at each other, not liking what they realized he said.
"It means that whoever did this was someone we all knew. They were a comrade of ours that we forgot." Meredy said. Natsu and a few others felt an extreme rage at that.
"So someone went and erased themselves from our memories so they could seal Zeref?!" he yelled. Lucy looked down.
"They could have been anyone. A guild member to any of our guilds, someone's mother, father, brother, sister, child, lover…oh." Lucy chocked on the emotion she was beginning to feel. The entire group felt a feeling of loss, but also anger. They didn't' know who they lost. It was even worse that it could have been a person that would have been one of the most important people in their lives and they would never know it!
"What kind of bullshit is this?!" Natsu yelled. No one spoke, but nearly all of them felt a similar sentiment. Lyon however was having a hard time keeping himself together. The person was an ice mage! An ice mage who had been in one of their guilds. Meredy seemed to be having the same problem. Ice mages weren't unheard of, but they certainly weren't common in Fiore. Most of the ices mages that they had met had some connection to them. It was highly likely this Ice Mage was important to Ur and Ultear. By extension that meant they had a major part in Lyon and Meredy's lives. It was a confusing and frustrating feeling, to realize you lost someone important but have no idea who it was!
Then it began to rain.
Xxx
It had been one year since the defeat of Zeref. Lucy had become a famous author, having won an award for her first novel. Hisui became the queen and pardoned Jellal and the others of all their crimes, making them free. The Fairy Tail guild hall had been rebuild after the magic council had taken the ice containing Zeref away. It was hidden somewhere only the council members knew, but they weren't too worried about it. With the lost attribute having been used they weren't sure even moon drip could be used to undo such a spell. That also left the question of how to remember the nameless ice mage.
Eventually the guilds had decided to make a small monument. There was a debate on where to hold it. After all the mage died at Fairy Tail, but they were an Ice mage meaning they likely had some connections with Lyon and Meredy. The other guilds also brought up that there was a chance the nameless mage had been in their guild. In the end a small monument was made in a central location where all the guilds could easily go visit it if they wished.
Bickslow was currently at the monument. He wasn't sure why he came today, probably because during their revealing event of it he kept seeing glimpses of a young man with black hair. He didn't recognize the man and wanted to find out who he was. He hadn't told anyone what he was doing, not wanting to make a fuss if it turned out to be nothing.
"Why would they do something so stupid as this?" Bickslow turned back to the memorial at the unfamiliar voice to see the strange man at the base of the memorial, one hand resting on the ice. Lyon and Ultear had been insistent that since it was an ice mage, the memorial should be made of ice. Bickslow could only see him from behind, but he didn't look all that old, late teens or early twenties at most, with black hair. He didn't have a shirt, just wore black pants.
"Oi, who the hell are you?" Bickslow called, a little offended that the stranger said their memorial to the nameless mage was stupid. The boy didn't react and Bickslow got more annoyed. "Hey, I'm talking to you!" he yelled. "Talking to you! Talking to you!" his soul dolls repeated. The boy still didn't react. Bickslow was ready to attack him just to get his attention. "Do you even know what that monument is that your touching kid?" Bickslow called.
The young man actually jumped, as if realizing Bickslow was talking to him. Slowly he turned around and Bickslow was surprised. He wore a silver neckless and had a few prominent scars. There was two on his torso, one nearly matching the scar Juvia had in almost the same place. However what caught Bickslow's attention was the Fairy Tail Guild mark over the boy's chest. "Are…are you talking to me Bickslow?" he asked. Bickslow was stunned. The boy knew who he was!
"How the hell do you know my name?! When the hell did you join Fairy Tail!?" Bickslow asked. The idea of a stranger knowing who he wasn't wasn't too surprising. Bickslow had been making a name for himself with his jobs, and he was a member of Fairy Tail and a former member of Blue Pegasus. Sorcerer Weekly had run a lot of articles on them. However someone wearing the guild mark without another member of the guild knowing them was unheard of. If this had been eight years ago he would have assumed he was looking at Mystogun.
The young man looked away. "I guess it's not surprising, you have Seith magic. I forgot about that." He mused. Bickslow pondered that statement for a moment. So the boy was a soul? Then that meant….
"You're an ice mage aren't you? The one who sealed away Zeref." Bickslow didn't have any doubts about his identity now. The young man looked shocked and suddenly vanished. Bickslow cursed. He vowed then and there he would learn just who exactly this boy was.
Xxx
"I was wondering if you would ever show up." Bickslow said, approaching the soul in the guild. It had been over a month since he met the young man at the memorial and Bickslow had been looking for him ever since. "He showed up! He showed up!" the spirits coursed. The young man turned to him in surprise and Bickslow realized he was about to bolt. "Don't try it. I will hold you here as long as I have to." Bickslow said, pulling off his hood so he could use his eye magic. The young man sighed.
"What do you want Bickslow?" he asked. He knew there was no point in fighting.
"For starters how about your name?" Bickslow asked. The young man looked at the ceiling.
"Gray." he said. Bickslow nodded.
"Gray Vastia or Gray Milkovich?" he asked. Gray gave him a confused look.
"What the hell kind of question is that?" he asked. Bickslow crossed his arms.
"That ice mage from Lamia Scale is Lyon Vastia and he told us his magic teacher was Ur Milkovich. Apparently this Ur woman had two students, one was her daughter and one was that Lyon kid. So I'm figuring you have some connection to them. So, which is it?" he asked. Gray actually chuckled at him!
"Neither, it's Fullbuster. I was Ur's student along with Lyon though." Gray admitted. Bickslow nodded to show he was listening.
"So you were in Fairy Tail." Bickslow said. Gray scowled.
"I'd say that much is obvious." he said, putting a fist over his guild mark. Bickslow scoffed.
"Well if you hadn't erased all of our memories we wouldn't have to play this game of twenty questions." he said with a shrug. "Twenty questions, twenty questions!" the souls repeated. Gray glared at them.
"Will you shut them up?!" he asked. Bickslow raised an eyebrow, as if trying to remind Gray he wasn't in a position to be making demands.
"Why'd you do it?" he asked. Gray paused at that. He knew exactly what Bickslow was asking, but he didn't want to answer. The fact that Bickslow even knew his name was messing with his plans. "Why did you kill yourself and erase the memories of us along with you?" Bickslow asked. Gray glared.
"You should really do your homework better. First, I'm not dead." Gray said. Bickslow laughed.
"Sure could have fooled me. Why don't you try saying that if your not a soul!" he challenged. Gray glared at him.
"Iced Shell doesn't kill you exactly. It takes your body and uses it as the ice. Your soul is still alive. I guess it's kinda like being between life and death. I only just figured out how to get away from that ice that makes up my body. It's kinda like what was going on with the first master." Gray said. Bickslow shrugged what he said off. It didn't really make much sense to him, but he did know one thing, Gray was purposely maneuvering around his question.
"So why'd you do it?!" he asked. "Why?! Why?!" the souls echoed. Gray looked over the guild. He could see Mirajane and Lisanna brining trays of drinks of Macao, Wakaba, and Romeo. He could see Elfman, Max, and Warren in a heated conversation as Evergreen watched nearby, paying special attention to Elfman. He could see Laki and Reedus talking and Makerov and Cana sitting on the bar drinking together. A small smile came across his face.
"For them." he said. Bickslow looked over the guild too. "You all should know by now that Natsu was E.N.D. If Zeref died then Natsu would too as one of his creations. I couldn't let that happen. If Natsu wasn't here then Fairy Tail couldn't exist." Gray said. Bickslow turned back to Gray.
"So you and Natsu are close huh?" he asked. Gray rolled his eyes.
"I think I said more than enough." Gray decided. Bickslow shook his head.
"Like hell! You barley said anything." he said. Gray glared again, and then he was gone. Bickslow cursed. Next time he would actually use his powers to force Gray to stay and give him the answers he wanted.
Xxx
"How's it going?" Laxus greeted as he, Evergreen, Freed, and Bickslow approached Natsu, Happy, Erza, Lucy, Wendy, and Charlie at the train station. To say Natsu's team was a little surprised would be rather accurate. After all while they got along well with Laxus and his team, they hadn't expected them to go out of their way to greet them.
"What brings you here?" Natsu asked, curious. Laxus shrugged and gestured at Bickslow.
"One of my team members was pretty insistent that we go on a job with you guys." he explained. While Laxus himself didn't understand why Bickslow wanted to go with them, he was rather fond of his team and willing to go along with their desires. Bickslow had been rather earnest in the request, so Laxus gave in rather quickly.
"May I ask why?" Erza asked. After all Laxus' team had never really gone out on a job with another team before. It seemed a rather sudden change. Laxus glanced back at Bickslow and the seith mage shrugged.
"I'm trying to find someone, and right now the best lead I got is to be near you guys." he admitted. He hadn't seen Gray again for nearly the last three weeks. During that last conversation Gray had mentioned Natsu specifically, giving Bickslow the impression they were rather close. If Gray wasn't going with Natsu's team to watch over them though his next bet was Lyon or Meredy. Natsu frowned.
"What does…" he started but Erza held up a hand. Everyone had reasons for doing things, and if that was all the further Bickslow wanted to explain for his then she wouldn't pressure him to tell them more.
"That sounds acceptable." she agreed. Natsu grumbled and Lucy and Wendy smiled. Bickslow glanced around and frowned when he saw no sign of Gray.
Xxx
The first day of their joint job drew to a close and the other members of the group were asleep. Bickslow however was very awake and waiting. Gray appeared next to Wendy, smiling down at her. Bickslow acted before Gray had a change to realize he was there, using his eye magic to trap Gray to the spot. Gray realized what happened and looked over in a rage at Bickslow.
"What the hell do you think your doing?!" he growled. Bickslow glared right back.
"I want some answers and you aren't running away this time." he said. He looked around the room again. Natsu, Laxus, and Wendy were his main concern, but all three seemed fast asleep. As long as he kept his voice down he and Gray could talk.
"Bickslow…" Gray started, but Bickslow wasn't about to let him try and talk his way out of it.
"Do you have any idea how selfish you're being?!" Bickslow asked. Gray looked confused and angry.
"Selfish?! I'm trying to make it so no one had to be sad!" he snapped. Bickslow scoffed.
"Yeah?! And this is worse! Everyone knows they lost someone, but they don't know who! How would you feel if you realized you could have lost a brother or a friend without remembering who it was?! What if you had a wife or a girlfriend in the guild? How the hell is that fair to her?!" Bickslow hissed. He saw Gray's face turn slightly red.
"You did didn't you? At the very least a girl you liked. Who was it?" Bickslow asked, a sly smile spreading on his face. Gray refused to look at him. "Let's see if I can guess. Cana? Mirajane? Lucy? Erza? Ever? Juvia?" he paused there, seeing how red Gray was getting. "Juvia huh? I can see that. She has that weird stripping habit when she fights that no one knows where it came from. She started doing that after our year of being disbanded. The only other one I've seen do that is that Lyon kid. You tow also have matching scars." Bickslow said, gesturing to the particularly large scar on Gray's abdomen.
"I never said we were dating." Gray hissed. Bickslow chuckled.
"No, but you clearly care about her. So what's the story?" he asked. Gray huffed.
"When the guild disbanded for a year, Juvia and me went off together. We lived together for a while and trained together, that's probably where she got the stripping habit, by copying me when we trained." Gray mused. Bickslow nodded.
"And the scars?" he asked. Gray winced.
"During the fight against Zeref one of his men, Invel, captured Juvia and me and were going to force us to fight each other to the death. Neither of us were willing to hurt the other so we attempted to take our lives at the same time." Gray admitted. Bickslow was actually shocked by that. "Invel had planned on using me to kill E.N.D. because he knew how much I hated it, but he miscalculated." Gray explained. Bickslow frowned. Gray just said he hated E.N.D. but he had died so that Natsu wouldn't.
"Why was he so sure you could kill E.N.D.? I get that your an ice mage and all but..." Bickslow trailed off. Gray gave him a small smirk.
"I'm also an ice demon slayer." he said. Bickslow was mildly surprised at that. He had never even heard of demon slayers before, but he figured if god and dragon slayers existed, then there was no reason demon slayers didn't exist either. However that wasn't the only part of Gray's explanation that caught his attention.
"So wait, do you hate Natsu or not?" he asked. Gray gave him a shocked look.
"What are you talking about? Natsu is Natsu, and E.N.D. is E.N.D. Just because they share a body doesn't mean they are the same person. I hate E.N.D. but Natsu is my friend and rival." Gray said. Bickslow nodded to show he understood.
"So why do you hate E.N.D.?" he asked. Gray was getting aggravated again, but both of them knew there was nothing he could do. Bickslow wouldn't allow him to leave until he was satisfied with his answers.
"I hated all of Zeref's demons. Deliora destroyed my entire town and my family when I was eight, then my master Ur used Iced Shell to destroy Deliora. My father's body was used by another one of Zeref's demons, a necromancer, for nearly seventeen years." Gray said. Bickslow was even more surprised. The kid had one hell of a life.
"Is that why you killed yourself? To destroy Zeref and get revenge for those who died?" he asked bluntly. Gray ground his teeth together.
"We've been over this Bickslow, I'm not dead." he hissed. Bickslow waved the statement aside. "And I told you, I didn't want Natsu to die." he said.
"So you're close to them. This was your team wasn't it?" Bickslow asked. Gray nodded as he glanced around the room. He missed them a lot, wanted to talk to them and spend time with them. But he was happy. They weren't sad, they were safe, and that was all Gray wanted for them. The others seemed to move on from his loss. After all, they didn't really know him so they couldn't be upset over him. Only Bickslow was stuck on it, and that was because he could see him. Gray had decided already that once Bickslow let him go he would never allow Bickslow to catch him again.
"Did we get along?" Bickslow asked, suspecting he already knew the answer. Gray shrugged.
"We didn't hate each other. We were guild mates, so we got along for the most part. I never really spent much time with you guys before the Fantasia mess a few years ago. During Laxus' game you beat me during a fight. After that we got along pretty well." Gray said nonchalantly. Bickslow frowned. Gray didn't look all that much younger than him, then an idea occurred to him.
"You were in the S-class trial weren't' you? The one where we were Fairy Sphere for seven years." he said. It wasn't really a question but Gray nodded to confirm it anyway. That made sense to Bickslow. After all if Gray was strong enough to seal away the black mage himself then there was no reason he wouldn't have been in the S-class trials.
"I've answered all your questions. Can I go now?" Gray asked after a few moments of silence. Bickslow frowned. He had a feeling if he let Gray go it would be much harder to find him again in the future. Yet he coudln't think of any reason to keep holding him at the moment.
"I wonder if we can find a way to let you be visible at the guild, like how we could all see the first master." Bickslow mused. Gray chuckled, surprising Bickslow.
"Then that kinda makes everyone forgetting me pointless." he said. Bickslow hummed in though.
"Not if we tell them about you." he suggested. Gray shook his head.
"It's better this way. Now will you please let me go?" Gray asked. Bickslow wasn't surprised that the moment he released Gray, he was gone.
xxx
"Master, do you know how the first master made it possible for everyone with the Fairy Tail guild mark to see her?" Bickslow asked Makerov. They had just gotten back from their job and Bickslow wasn't' about to waste any time. There just had to be a way that Gray could interact with his team again, with Fairy Tail, and with the other mages. Makerov gave him a confused look and neither of them noticed that Natsu, Laxus, Wendy, and Gajeel were giving the two their undivided attention.
"I'm not sure, why do you ask?" Makerov asked. Bickslow didn't know how much he should tell the master. After all if there was no way for anyone to see Gray then there was no point in getting anyone excited for nothing.
"No reason, I was just wondering." Bickslow said. Makerov thought hard for a moment.
"If there is a way to do it, it's probably in the guild library somewhere. Unfortunately I'm sure it had more to do with Mavis' abilities specifically as well as Fairy Heart." he explained. Bickslow frowned. That was not the answer he wanted. "You seem disappointed." Makerov said. Bickslow smirked.
"Me? Nope. Rather I have an idea. I'm going to make my seith magic even stronger so people can see the souls I interact with." he announced. "Stronger! Stronger!" the souls around him echoed.
xxx
Many of the guild members had noticed how much Bickslow had been studying lately. To be honest, Bickslow wasn't entirely sure why he was putting so much effort into it himself. Maybe because Gray was a comrade of theirs, even if they had no memory of him. Maybe it was because he was becoming fond of Juvia and Natsu and wanted them to have that missing piece of their lives back. Maybe it was because he was starting to view Gray as a friend, or maybe it was because he understood how lonely it felt to have almost no one else to acknowledge you.
"Bickslow, what is going on?" Laxus asked, sitting down beside him in the library. Bickslow looked up at him to see he wasn't alone. Evergreen and Freed had come to.
"You've been acting strange for a while now. You insisted ongoing with Erza's team to talk to someone, but we never met up with anyone. Then the moment we got back you asked about making souls visible to others, and ever since then you've spent every free moment you have in the library." Freed said. Bickslow thought for a moment. This was his team after all, he could trust them.
"Alright, you caught me. The truth is I met a soul that I think everyone should be able to meet." Bickslow said. Ever leaned forward, curious.
"Oh? A girlfriend perhaps?" she lightly teased. Bickslow shook his head.
"No, the ice mage who sealed away Zeref over a year ago." he said. The three other members of his team looked at him in surprise. They had never expected to learn anything more about the mysterious ice mage, and now to learn Bickslow had met them was a huge change.
"Who is it?" Laxus asked. Bickslow wondered just how much he should tell them.
"He was a Fairy Tail mage, his name was Gray. He was strong enough to be an S-class candidate." he said. Freed hummed in thought.
"A team?" he asked. Bickslow nodded.
"Erza's." he said. The other three nodded to show they understood. Bickslow expected them to leave now that they're questions were answered but was surprised when Laxus pulled one of the books toward himself and opened it. Seeing the stunned look on his friend's face Laxus smiled.
"We're a team aren't we?" he asked.
xxx
After two months of researching, their group had grown. When they first hit a wall a week after working on it as a team, Laxus had called in Hibiki. They figured with his archive magic he could drag up something. Then Hibiki called in Rufus, hoping that with his intense memory he could recall something. After a while they began delving into more ancient books, all indifferent languages. That brought Levy into the mix. They never explained why it was so important they find this information, and the others didn't ask. Hibiki was a former guild mate of the thunder god team's and Levy was a current guild mate. They trusted that the others needed it for a reason.
It was Levy who finally found a way to do it, in a battered ancient book written in a language long forgotten. Because it was easier to learn a new spell with assistance, Bickslow had enlisted the help of the only other seith mage in the guild, Nab. Nab worked with animal souls and Bickslow worked with human souls, but after nearly a month of training and working, they two had managed to allow selected souls to be seen by others. Now only left one problem, Bickslow had to find Gray.
He had been right when he thought Gray would disappear the moment he let him go. After all, he hadn't seen Gray in the last three and a half months since the joint job. He had followed around Erza's team, Juvia, and even branched out to Lyon, Meredy, and Ultear. There was only one place left he could think to check.
xxx
"I didn't think I'd actually find you here." Bickslow said in awe. Gray was sitting on the porch of an old run down cabin. It had taken him a lot of begging to get Lyon to admit to where Ur's old home was. Bickslow had been banking on the idea that Gray was a sentimental person and would go to a place that would hold a lot of important memories that no one would disturb. Gray turned to him, only mildly surprised.
"I didn't think you would ever come here." he admitted. Bickslow moved to the bottom of the porch. "Are you ever going to leave me alone?" Gray asked. Bickslow smirked.
"Let's make a deal. You come to the guild hall next week during the Harvest festival just before the Fantasia Parade and I won't hunt you down again." he said. Gray gave his a disbelieving look.
"Really?" he asked. Bickslow nodded.
"I promise." he said. And he meant it. After this everything would be up to Gray after all. Gray thought about it for a moment.
"We'll see." and then he was gone.
xxx
"Why were we called here?" Lyon asked as he and his team came into the Fairy Tail Guild hall. Lyon was surprised to see they weren't alone. It was Fairy Tail's Harvest Festival, so for once the entire guild, including Gildarts, was around. Blue Pegasus, Mermaid Heel, Quatro Cerberus, Sabertooth, Crime Sorciere, and a handful of other people were scattered around the guild hall.
"I think we all have that question." Jura said. Lyon smiled, glad to see his old mentor even under such odd circumstances.
"Laxus asked us to come, so of course we rushed over." Ichiya explained.
"I must admit, this is a strange group to call for your town festival." Anna said. Ultear nodded, smiling in her place next to Meredy and Jellal.
"Where the heck is he?" Bickslow whispered, wondering what was taking Gray. For a moment he was afraid Gray had decided not to show up.
"Who are you talking about? Everyone we know is here." Erik asked from across the room where he was standing with his girlfriend Kinana. Laxus, Evergreen, and Freed offered Bickslow an encouraging smile. Internally Laxus was trying to come up with something to save the situation when Bickslow breathed a sigh of relief.
"What's going on here Bickslow?" Gray asked, sounding a little annoyed. He had expected to see the guild gathered, but he wasn't expecting to see all the guilds gathered in the hall. Bickslow grinned.
"Glad you came to join us Gray." he said. Gray gave him a furious look for announcing his arrival like that even though only Bickslow could see him. Many of the others were looking around in confusion, wondering who Bickslow could be talking to. Bickslow pulled off his hood and used his eye magic. Gray was annoyed. Was Bickslow pinning him down again? He could Bickslow had done something, he could feel the magic affecting him. However he could still move. So Bickslow wasn't pinning him down.
"Who...is that?" Erza asked. Gray looked around to see everyone was staring at him.
"He just appeared. Does he have teleportation magic? Like Mest?" Lisanna asked.
"He has the Fairy Tail Guild mark. Do you know him?" Droy asked. Jet shook his head.
"Not at all." he admitted.
"A new member? Bickslow seems to know him after all." Max said. Laki frowned at that, it didn't make much sense to her.
"I take it as this is your doing?" Gray accused Bickslow. Laxus laughed.
"It wasn't just us. Hibiki, Rufus, and Levy helped." he said. Gray scowled as Levy, Rufus, and Hibiki put the pieces together.
"He's a soul...that you wanted all of us to meet. That's why you wanted to learn that magic so much." Levy realized. A few confused mumbles filled the hall.
"Why did you want us to meet a soul?" Lyon asked. Bickslow smirked.
"You want to tell them Gray?" he asked. Gray's scowl only intensified. Erza looked between them as an idea occurred to her. He was a deceased Fairy Tail mage that even Warrod and Makerov looked confused over. If a founder and a person who had been in the guild for the majority of it's existence didn't know who he was then there was only one individual this young man could be.
"This is the ice mage. The one who sealed away Zeref." she announced. Laxus nodded.
"The spell I casted allows anyone to be able to see you." Bickslow announced. He decided to leave out the drawbacks of the spell for now. Gray sighed, a small smile on his face. He was angry that Bickslow made it so they can all see him but at the same time he was touched. Bickslow had to have done a lot to learn such a spell and ensure it could happen. Gray could also see the people he cared about again, almost as if he hadn't given up his body.
"So, you were a mage of Fairy Tail." Lyon said, wondering how he fit into this. Gray turned to him and nodded.
"I am a student of Ur and a mage of Fairy Tail." Gray said. Lyon was a little surprised. Then Gray turned to Juvia. "Juvia..." he started. Juvia looked at him in surprise, not knowing where he was going with his words. Something about him called out to her though. "Juvia, I'm sorry." he said. No one knew why he was apologizing or what specifically for, but Juvia felt like she knew. Juvia smiled.
"Juvia is just glad you can spend the Harvest Festival with the guild." she said.
To be honest they all knew things would never be fully the same. No one would remember the person Gray was, but in a strange way this wasn't terrible. It was like having a new member to the guild all over again. It was strange how he knew all of them, how he was so familiar with and comfortable around them while they knew next to nothing about him. Questions would be asked, accusations made, and feeling sorted out. However all that would come later. For now they had a parade to put on for the city of Magnolia and for the first time in nearly a decade, Gray Fullbuster was going to get to be part of it.