Summary: The sounds of battle fade into a thin whine in his ears. Gritting his teeth, he rushes towards the man, his palms out and ready to cast a spell when needed, but before he can take another step forward, the man shouts and sudden metallic hands wrap around his chest and arms. Fingers dig into his open wound, stretching the skin further apart and tearing the muscle.
A/N: I should really stop reading the manga over and over – because this is what happens! Ahh~ anyway, if you read further into this, there will be things that might relate to the manga…? But I have a great explanation! Well not really, but this is what happens! Sorry? Anyway the metal monsters during the dragon vs Natsu arch (where Spoiler Gray dies –if you didn't know well sorry (?)) ya I kind of took those and made them sexier, oh-la-la! And have you noticed Gray hasn't had any power ups, well excluding the new chapters? Well here we are! Those were the two things that made me throw my hands up and flip my table. This story needed to be written, if not for your sanity then for mine! And why not write this story? Why the fuck not, hmm?!
Warning: Cussing, maybe a little OOC-ness (I hope not), and there might be slight grammar and spelling errors
Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail :(
He's starting to think that the world is growing up too fast. He thinks it's just deciding to grab its bags and walk out the invisible door, leaving with everyone else – except him.
He's learned to defend himself. Put up a good fight. Defend when someone is barreling down on him. Strike when he has an opening. But he only fights when he understands his opponent. He's not going to get up and smack someone on the ass when they are down. He understands the rules of a good fight, and he wants to live by those rules.
But he always feels left behind.
Though he tells himself that he's just as strong as they are, but he doesn't truly believe it. He never has.
When he joined the team with Erza, he always thought he was the third strongest – and he believed it. Lucy was weak and had damsel in distress written on her chest. He knew she was weak and he knew he would have to watch over her, despite Natsu's unexpected care for the girl. Natsu was always second strongest. His heart was full of passion and his strength was unexpected at times. Gray would pick fights with the asshole, just to see how strong he was compared to the Dragon Slayer. Erza would always stop them before they would get too far into the fight. Despite their bickering, he always believed Natsu had a different reason for fighting. Erza was always the strongest. She has been the strongest of the three since they were little.
But now, Lucy, Erza and Natsu have grown. They grow stronger each day.
He hasn't grown that much. He's defeated enemies and talked sense into those who are plain idiots. But he hasn't grown. He believes he is the weakest now, dragging everyone down by clinging to their legs like a child who wants attention. He's ready to let go now, let them race to the finish line and become the strongest mages the world has ever seen.
But he doesn't want to let go and watch them leave him behind. He's afraid to see them zip ahead and leave their backs facing him, becoming a wall he can never vault over.
He's starting to think the world that the four of them live in, is about to shit him out and leave. The world they created together, by the hands of laughter, strength, and friendship, is about to pack up and leave.
The rain is cold and stings when it drops from the sky and meets his skin. It's odd because he knows he should be used to the cold – but these rain drops are entirely different. They make the ground slick and freezing by the constant drone they make when they hit the concrete surface.
The town in the distance is bright and warm compared to the area surrounding the four of them.
But the warm inviting wave of care is cut off by the cold glint of metallic arms and eerie lifeless silver eyes that are coming down on them from the heavens. He can hear the pull of metal and the churn of gears behind him.
Anxiety, he's felt it before. Though this time, this feeling of nervousness is skin crawling and stomach churning.
The stinging rain washes blood down his skin in pools. A bite from the metallic humanoid jaw is gorged into his shoulder, chunks of muscle and bone gleaming in the pale, hidden moonlight. Scratch marks littler his arms, bare chest and back. His teammates don't look any better.
Lucy and Erza are pressed against his back; the three of them are surrounded by thousands of the woman shaped machines. The robots jaws are snapping and their long sharp nails are slicing through the air, but the machines are waiting for a command.
Natsu is in the distance fighting against the robots master. Lucy, to his right, is panting heavily, a key in her grasp, ready to send out another spirt – despite already having two fighting along her side. Erza is quiet, her armor shrunken down to flaming red pants and a thin sword placed out in front of her.
"Okay," Lucy breaths out, "can we take five?"
The machines crackle at her request. He feels Lucy shiver next to him.
"I just need to catch my breath," she adds, adjusting her foot placement.
Erza shoots a look towards Natsu. Blood covers half her face, a cut running across her forehead. "We need to finish up here and help Natsu."
"How?" He asks, "There's got to be at least a hundred of these things."
He hears Natsu cry out in the background.
"Someone has to go help Natsu," Lucy quietly agrees to Erza's statement.
No one replies at first, and it is then he notices the two girls are looking at him from the corner of their eyes. He sighs; this was not a great idea. Though he knew he was the best option for the request. If Erza went he and Lucy would not have a great chance with defeating the robots. And if Lucy went, Natsu would pay too much attention to her safety to do much damage. So he nods in agreement to their silent plea. At least Erza thought he was strong enough to help the Dragon Slayer.
He places his hands on the ground and wills his magic to life. The ground beneath him cools, the pools of rain that surround him harden and ice shoots out from his fingertips. A large pillar of ice grows out from the ground and lunches him into the air. He's flying in the air, the rain begins to sting his flesh again and his shoulder wound screams in agony at the sudden air pressure. But he lands perfectly, the puddles of water splash away from him and the crazy man passes him a questioning glance.
Natsu takes this opportunity and lands a flaming punch to the man stomach.
The man crumbles forward, his arms quickly curling around his midsection.
Natsu turns and his face brightens as a grin grows across his lips. "Nice timing, Gray."
He grins back, "Couldn't let you have all the fun, now can I?"
Natsu opens his mouth to reply, but quickly shuts it when a hand latches onto his arm. He looks down and finds the old wrinkling man laughing. This man tips his head to the side and whispers something into Natsu's ear. The Fire Mage's eyes widen and he prepares to shout something but the man lands a loud ear cracking punch to the side of his face, and Natsu flies backwards and crashes into the ground.
The man shouts and behind him he hears the machines move, and Erza calls out a command, racing forward. Frowning, he locks eyes with the old man. The shouts of battle, clash of swords against metal, and snap of robot jaws all fade into a thin whine in his ears. He launches forward, but he soon notices his movements have slowed by the stinging rain and loss of blood. His attack was quickly predicted by the old man and he tenses two odd metal arms out, ready to slice at the oncoming Ice Mage. To everyone's surprise, Gray ducks and sidesteps, catching the old man off guard. He dives to the old man's side and extends his hands, light suddenly floods the dark raining area and large ice arrows shoot out from his hands. The attack catches the old man off guard, hitting him square in the chest. The old man flies backwards and crashes at Natsu's feet.
The Dragon Slayer smirks, a bruise blowing up his cheek, he throws his fist into his palm and watches the old man's eyes widen. "I told you so, old man."
Gray watches the two exchange glares, but soon realizes that the old man is still laughing silently. Gray doesn't know if Natsu knows this or not, but he suspects the dumbass hasn't noticed yet. Gritting his teeth, he rushes towards the man, his palms out and ready to cast a spell when needed. But before he can take another step forward, the man shouts and sudden metallic hands wrap around his chest and arms. Fingers dig into his open wound, stretching the skin further apart and tearing the muscle till blotches of blood sprout to the surface. Gray lets out a surprised yelp and he loses his balance. He crashes to the ground with metal women clashing their jaws as if hungry to taste his blood. Their nails split open his skin and rip into muscle. He can't stop a scream from ripping past his tightly shut lips.
He hears his name being called out in the distance, but the world is still a high pitch buzz and his vision starts to cloud.
Suddenly, an unsettling shriek explodes into the air, and the metallic women cease their assault. He takes this chance to blink the pained clouds from his vision and his hands land on metal arms and the women above him freeze in an instant. His arms fly upwards and the robots soar into the air only to have the ice snap their wiring and the androids armor cracks. Their limbs break into pieces, falling to the ground with his ice.
He stands shakily as the world tips to the side and his stomach churns. His world is shaking at his feet but he blames it on the blood loss.
He soon realizes that the scream came from Natsu. The Fire Mage lays on the ground, an ugly claw mark ripped into his chest, he appears unconscious. To his left, the girls' lays unconscious at the old man's feet, blood pooling around them.
Gray looks back towards the old man and growled as the man crackled with delight. His anxiety vanishes into something else. His friends lay at this man's feet, unconscious, hurt and bleeding.
Gray shoots forward.
The man sees him coming again, but Gray is much faster now, driven by rage and determination. The man races forward, his footsteps slamming against the concrete. The two meet halfway and Gray wills an ice sword to mold in his grasp. With only one thought racing through his mind, Gray digs the gleaming sword into the old man's stomach and feels the sword slice through the man's stomach like a hot butter. The tip of the sword breaks the concrete beneath their feet and pins the man to the floor.
The old man screams, but Gray doesn't hear it – the world is still buzzing loudly in his ears.
He takes a step back and his fingers unlatch around the hilt of the sword and tremble in the air. He looks over his shoulder and sees the robots catch up; they are racing forward as their jaws open and close with loud and unsettling clashes.
He looks over himself, unconsciously forgetting about the androids rushing towards him. He looks towards his shoulder which hadn't hurt during his fight but now stings with uncanny agony. The bite mark is deep, blood is pooling from his other cuts but this one is much worse. Blood is dripping off his fingertips, and staining his already blackened pants. There is a trail leading back towards the man, and despite the heavy, cold stinging rain, Gray's blood stains the man's shirt.
Before he can look back up, a force slams into him from his left side. Him and the form crash to the ground, but Gray doesn't care about who just saved him because he's watching the metallic monsters jump onto their master and tear at his skin. Their strong jaws tear through his skin and break his bones. The man's stomach is ripped into and guts are thrown into the air by the metal women.
A scream crashes against his skull, and the ringing in his ears stops and sound explodes into his eardrums.
His head is heavy and the world beneath him is still tipping, he feels as if he is about to slip off the surface and fall into the darkened sky and lose sight of everything. His stomach rolls and his feet feel lifeless at at his thoughts.
He looks away from the disturbing sight of the man being ripped to shreds by his own creations and finds Erza's concerned glare above him. Gray blinks away the rain that still stings his skin and feels like burning acid against his open wounds. Erza shakes his shoulders, forgetting the torn wound beneath her fingers, until Gray shouts and pulls away from her grasp.
"Gray," her voice is too loud from him to fully focus on her. "Get up, get up and help me with Natsu and Lucy. I know you're in a lot of pain, but I can't carry all three of you." It's then Gray notices her right arm is hanging lifelessly next to her.
He then forces himself to nod, but his neck is stiff and he can feel a migraine coming.
Once he gets to his feet, he knows that moving is a bad idea. He should have sensed it before hand, but now he can feel his limbs shake, stomach churn, and nausea set in. He opens his mouth to warn Erza, but fails to inform her before he finds himself kissing the pavement.
"Gray," her hands hover above his form
His vision is slowly darkening; he's floating in and out of consciousness.
He's done something terrible, he knows that, but no matter how much he thinks about it – he can't recall what he's done. Shouldn't he remember something about what he's done? Shouldn't he feel something?
But he doesn't feel anything. He doesn't feel anxiety, fear, or the nausea that he felt moments ago. He feels nothing.
A/N: So this is a two-shot, nothing special. I actually found this hidden deep in my computer files a few weeks ago, and when I've been having time off, I type a little here and there. Oh, and my computer is super old and super buggy, so my mom is going to rebuild my computer. I don't know when she will be done but here to hoping for tomorrow!
So anyway, for my other story, 'People who Change Our World', the next chapter should be coming out soon, but I don't know when. I have started college and a job so I really don't have time to come home and type. But when I do have days off, I will try and type the next chapter for this short story or my other one. I am trying my best, so please bear with me.
Thanks for reading! :D
Follow
Favorite
Review