Chapter 2

"Who's Rin?"

The question seemed to ring in their ears, all of the guild members staring at the bewildered looking ice wizard.

Gray, noticing that all the flabbergasted stares were fixed on him, shrugged helplessly.

"What? I think I was on a job when she came back several years ago. Or that she's not that memorable..." He muttered. Erza frowned at Gray.

"Are you sure you don't remember?" She asked. Gray shrugged, glancing to the side.

"I don't know... I told you, I don't remember any Ikeda Rin..." He grumbled. Erza crossed her arms, tapping a finger to her chin.

"Well, if I remember correctly, Rin would always wear some shade of blue..." She mused. Natsu stood next to Erza, also deep in thought.

"She had an earring too. It was this silver cross with a chain on her right ear, kinda like your necklace, Gray," he added. Erza nodded her agreement.

"She was quite short, the last time I saw her," Macao added.

"She had really pale skin, it was really hard to find a shade matching for a painting... and she left before I could get a portrait..." Reedus said, somewhat sadly.

"Rin had a really slim figure, too!" Mira chirped.

"And she would never get cold, so she never wore a jacket," Happy said.

"And her hair was quite long, up to her midsection," Erza pointed out.

"Yeah, Rin had black and blue hair. You know, the color is kind of like her left eye!" Natsu chirped. Gray frowned at this.

"Her left eye? Why her left? What's with her right?"

"How many questions do you want me to answer, you icy pervert..." Natsu grumbled. Gray leaped from his seat, eyeing the fire wizard with a feverish glare.

"What did you just say to me, you hotheaded bastard?" Gray growled. Suddenly, the tension was immediately ceased as both boys were shoved back by an exasperated Erza.

"Both of you, shut up!" She snapped. Both Gray and Natsu nodded wearily, staggering to their feet.

"Guys!" The trio turned around at the voice, and saw Lucy running towards them, waving a coarse sheet of paper in the air. Plue was stumbling at her heels, occasionally tripping at the Celestial wizard's heels, while Happy was flying behind her.

"We have to go on this job!" She cried, waving the request in the air. Natsu snatched the paper from her hand, and scanned it over.

"What's this?" Erza looked over his shoulder, also reading the request. The pink haired wizard handed the request to Erza, and sat back in a chair.

"Sorry Lucy, I'm not going this time. I promised Rin that I would challenge her once she gets back from this job." Natsu said, his tone a bit regretful. The paper, which was back in Lucy's hands, fluttered to the floor.

"Rin? You mean Ikeda Rin?" She sputtered. As Natsu nodded, the Celestial wizard's face lit up in a bright smile.

"Seriously?! Then forget the job, I'm staying here! I always wanted to meet her, she's just as powerful as Gildarts!" Lucy squealed, the request all but forgotten.

"Then I'm staying too. There's no point in accepting a job if we can't go all together." Erza declared, sitting down on a seat at the counter before continuing. "And besides, I want to welcome Rin home. It isn't often that she comes back to the guild, you know?" Happy raised a blue paw in the air.

"Then I'm staying with Natsu!" The Exeed said, rather proudly. However, Gray stooped to pick up the request.

"I'm going on this job," he said, almost matter-of-factly. The other members of Team Erza glanced at him with confused eyes, and Gray could only shrug.

"Well, the job is in a snowy area. I'll be fine." Gray said. Lucy fidgeted, her face etched with worry.

"Don't you want to meet Rin, though? You said you never met her..." The blonde said, her tone hesitant. Gray shook his head.

"Unlike you people, I have no benefits in meeting this Ikeda Rin."


Gray trudged along the well-frosted path, occasionally glancing around. His surroundings were just snow and ice, with the tall peaks of mountains breaking through the white landscape

Why did I even agree to this job?

His footsteps left deep imprints in the heavy snow, and the hem of his pants were beginning to dampen from the endless stretch of snowdrifts. At one point, he had fallen into a snow-covered ditch. His hands still stung from the encounter with the rough earth.

His job, according to the desperate man who was serving as his client, was to hunt down a pack of Vulcans that were hunting down the people that would pass the area. The pay was high, and the job didn't seem much at that time.

Until he actually came across the Vulcans.

Though the Ice wizard had encountered the occasional Vulcan, none were this tall, this massive, and this... frightening.

There were about 40 of the beasts, all equally massive. One spotted him, then another, then another, until the entire pack had their glinting eyes on him.

Gray fought the temptation to run, and instead, maintained what he hoped to be a casual expression, all the while ignoring the massive maws of the first monster in his way.

"I'll teach you bastards a lesson." His voice was lost in the blowing wind, but Gray couldn't have cared less.

"Super Freeze Arrow!" He yelled, and a large magic circle formed in front of the wizard. Shards of wickedly sharp ice launched themselves at the pack of beasts, and Gray's vision was engulfed in blowing snow as each arrow hit their target.

However, when the snow cleared, one third of the Vulcans were down. But the others were perfectly fine. Staggering, yes, but standing. Gray forced the dry sensation in his throat down, and prepared another attack.

"Ice Make... Cannon!" The large cannon in his hand gave blow after blow, and he seemed to be making good progress.

Then they began to attack.

Gray knew little of what happened next. He remembered his cannon shattering into shards around him, then a blow caught him from the back. They were pummeling him from all directions, his body snapping this way and that, in a horrible dance in time to their torture. He gave of a strangled noise as he hit the ground with a sickening thud, his head spinning.

20 or 30 Vulcans, he could take on easy by himself.

But 40? No, not that much.

A Vulcan stepped in front of him, fist ready for another blow. He was too tired to do anything, it seemed as if the energy had all but left him. After all, he hadn't slept well last night, or had an easy journey to get to the client's residence.

One hit after the other came, and Gray felt scream after scream escape his lips. He felt so weak without his team; he couldn't do anything. He was a disciple of Ur, yet he couldn't do anything against a pack of freaking Vulcans.

Then it all stopped.

There was a shadow in front of him. Another Vulcan? No, this form was too petite, too delicate.

Too humane.

It was a girl.

As Gray watched with his foggy vision, the girl held a sword in her hand, the shape almost like Freed's. But this girl's sword swirled with a substance, clear and transparent.

Water?

Maybe I'm just delirious and imagining this girl...

Then everything went dark.


Gray awoke in a snowdrift.

When he sat up, his head still throbbed, but less so. When he looked down, his arms and hands were all bandaged, the gashes concealed behind the pristine white cloth. Although, Gray noted, that he was wearing an unfamiliar

"Who?" He blurted out, examining his fingers and the cloth that bound them.

"Me," Gray jolted; he hadn't been expecting an answer, and especially one with that cold of a voice. He turned around, and was quite pleased to find that there was almost no pain in doing so. His eyes landed on a girl, leaning against the snow covered cliff. Her back was turned to him.

She was the same person who had saved him.

Gray analyzed the girl for a moment. From his view, she was wearing surprisingly little for this amount of cold; a sleeveless navy blue tunic with a white skirt, while white boots encased her feet, the edge meeting with the gold trim of her tunic. Choppy blue-black hair brushed her narrow chin, and a black satchel rested on her back.

But what caught his eye was the blue Fairy Tail mark on her right arm.

"Who are you?" Was Gray's first question. However, when the girl turned around, Gray immediately jumped to his feet, eyes wide.

No... This girl was much too tall for his friend's descriptions, and her hair was cut much too short to be even considered long for a millisecond.

But everything else was there: The earring on her right lobe was exactly the same as Natsu's description, down to the thin silver chain that suspended the cross in midair. The shade of blue-black hair was the same, according to Natsu's description, despite the shortened length.

She was pretty, in a cold, fierce way―disturbingly similar to a bird of prey. An aura of cold tension hung around her thin frame, as if she was radiating power itself.

And her right eye... it was concealed in a white eye patch, similar to the one Erza had donned when she had first arrived at Fairy Tail. Her left eye scanned his face; searching.

"My name is Ikeda Rin."

That confirmed it...


How was this chapter mina san? Boring? Confusing? Good? Please tell me! :DD (Yes, our Rin has a bit of a cold heart xD)

Oh and thank you to the people that already followed/favorited/reviewed :DDD Luv ya all!

Ja ne! I'll see you guys soon~