This chapter is laden with flashbacks. I'll say this now, this is a once off, and it covers the events of the spin-off manga, Ice Trail. These events are considered what canonically happened to Gray, between Ur dying and his finding Fairy Tail. None of the characters are OCs. You can find every single one of them on the wiki.
I repeat, this is covering the events of Ice Trail. Or all the important events, at least. If you want to read it, Google 'Ice Trail Manga'. Some websites are different, apparently, so keep that in mind if this chapter doesn't match up that well with what you read. I don't remember which website I used for reference, unfortunately.
Please enjoy the chapter.
XxX
"You can't stay mad at me forever, you know."
Gray scowled, his head shaking painfully he rested an ear against the train window. Beside him, Silver rolled his eyes, his second bento box lying open in his lap. It was difficult to believe, even after a month, that the petulant little shithead he was sharing the bench with was actually him.
"I can, and I damn well will."
"Forever's a long time. Especially when I'm the one with all our money." How his wallet had managed to stay inside a piece of clothing that didn't leave his body that night, he'd never know. Not that he wasn't grateful, but the bells he'd stuck to his shirt and, by proxy, his pants were starting to get annoying. "What did I even do that was so bad, anyway?
"Are you sure you're an ice wizard?"
Gray shot a sour look at Silver, shaking the last of the snow from his hair. It wasn't his fault that his brother had yawned loud enough to trigger an avalanche, but somehow he was the one suffering for it. Story of the last week, in a nutshell.
"Yes, asshole." Gray raised a hand, fully intent oh giving Silver the one fingered salute, before his attention was diverted by a small cough.
"Eh?" Silver raised an eyebrow as he glanced over Gray's head, a brief memory flashing through his mind as the girl before them rubbed her head with a wince. He'd made them take this path for a reason, could this be...?
"Well, well, well. Wasn't that a close one?"
Silver's eyes narrowed as he studied the trio before him, his mouth twisting downwards in distaste. Oh yeah, there had been a reason he'd had them take this path through the forest.
"Why would I be annoyed at you for taking on three darks wizards?" Gray crossed his arms, a dangerous twitch developing above one eye as a piece of carrot bounced off the back of his head.
"Concern for a loved one?" Gray snorted, and Silver decided against throwing any more of his lunch at the boy. He was hungry, after all.
"What a completely hideous building." Silver hefted the wizard he'd dragged along to eye level by his overalls, the man's heavily bruised face twisting painfully at the strain that had been put on his everything.
"It's ruining the entire look of the forest! This eyesore is the Guild?"
The man gurgled, promptly falling back to unconsciousness as Silver released him, his head bouncing against a frozen rock as it hit the ground.
"This is the Guild." Nano Leaf, recently liberated former prisoner of Chrono Noise, confirmed. Silver closed his eyes with a sigh as a tremor wracked the small girl's spine; he had no idea what she'd gone through to escape this place, and now she'd been more or less forced back to their front door.
Not that there was really much he could do about it. He couldn't very well leave a minor roaming the forest on their own, and there was nobody else lining up to destroy this pathetic excuse for a Guild.
"Well, if you say so." Silver shrugged, mist floating from his arms as he fell into his Ice Make stance. "Nano, any requests? Gray, put your pants back on."
"That's why you're pissed?" Silver asked incredulously, laying his chopsticks down before the risk of choking arose. "Because I told you to stop stripping in front of strangers?"
"No!"
"Could have fooled me." Silver muttered, rolling his eyes as Gray punched him on the shoulder. Judging from the twitching that the boy's mouth was going through, the blow had hurt his hand more than it had hurt the area hit. Which wasn't surprising, given the fact that eight year olds were notorious for not hitting as hard as dark Mages, as well as being kind of squishy.
Nano's jaw dropped as the last of the dust settled, turning wide eyes on Silver as the teenager cracked his knuckles.
"Mister Silver... are you human?"
Ah, children. Bless them and the verbal filter they seemingly lacked completely.
"I think I am." Silver shrugged, amidst the various groans echoing from the now destroyed building. "I've seen a lot of things, though. Which way is town?"
Before Nano could tear her eyes away from the menace of architecture, a loud shriek tore the air apart, forcing her attention to the other menace of architecture present.
"WHAT THE HELL HAVE YOU DONE TO MY GUILD!?"
Silver's eye twitched as Nez Booms stumbled out of the wreckage, mismatched eyes wide and manic. The short man's eyes somehow opened further as he took in the puddle of noxious liquid and pile of shattered eggshell, before whirling to face the only Mages outside of the blast zone.
"Nano!" Silver suddenly barked, his expression turning horrified as the girl jumped. "I thought you said this was Chrono Noise! Not the Lollipop Guild!"
Many veins pulsed within Nez's forehead as a dead silence fell upon the forest, every member of Chrono Noise turning pale at the mention of their greatest taboo.
"Do... do you have... any idea... HOW MUCH TIME IT WILL TAKE TO REBUILD EVERYTHING!?" Nez exploded, a fine layer of froth beginning to form around his mouth as he raised a finger threateningly.
"Nope." Silver shrugged, his tattoo slowly spreading from fist to elbow as Gray stepped in front of Nano. "My money's on you at least being a teenager by the time it's done, though."
Nez twitched.
"I never knew a face could cave in." Gray shivered at the memory, his eyes darting away from Silver before it became apparent he was looking. "Even with Deliora, you weren't that... vicious."
"Consider it revenge for Nano and her parents. Besides, did you see that face without my fist? Something had to be done." Silver shoved a piece of fish into his mouth, his words uttered under his breath even as he chewed.
"Besides, he should be thankful he even survived this time."
"What was that?"
"Huh? Nothing, nothing."
"That was some good food." Gray grinned, patting his stomach with one hand as Silver nodded absently. They'd spent the rest of the morning with Nano and her family, having saved a considerable amount of time not having to battle against an entire Guild. They'd had to stop by the Police Station before taking Nano home, unceremoniously dumping Nez and a man Silver could recall being his jailer in another life into the chief's surprised hands.
It had taken the better half of an hour for Nano to tell her story, having been kidnapped for her knowledge of Egg Knock Magic, in a potentially disastrous plan to catapult Chrono Noise into the position of most powerful Guild. It hadn't taken long for a messenger hawk to be sent to the Magic Council, and an officer of the town to be assigned with escorting the trio to Nano's house.
"We stopped searching for Nano a while ago." The police officer, a woman who was Silver's senior by a year at most, had confided. "There was rumours about Chrono Noise, but the investigations always turned up with nothing. Eventually, everyone just decided that she went too far into the forest."
Silver had scowled, his eyes refusing to leave the children a few meters in front of him as Gray abandoned his shirt. He hadn't bothered to stop the sigh as he scooped it from the ground, a feeling of utter disgust welling in his stomach as his thoughts strayed back to the little man he'd left behind, less teeth inside of his head than out.
It was a sad reiteration of what he already knew, Fairy Tail being the exception for members being treated as humans, no matter their species and even amongst legal Guilds.
"So, how long have you been a member of Fairy Tail?"
Silver had frozen at the question, his eyes automatically sliding down his own body. His own shirt had been a ball of bundled fabric in his hand, already slipping through his fingers. Throwing the shirt over his head, he had missed the officer's face reddening, sending out a silent thanks to Nano for inadvertently keeping Gray's attention from himself.
He'd definitely need to buy some bells before leaving town.
"A while." Nano had already sprinted up to a house, banging enthusiastically on the door. Three seconds later, and both boys were being dragged through the door, leaving a confused woman behind as they were more or less forced to join their new friend's family for lunch. They'd had to sprint through the entire town in order to catch the train they needed.
"It was." Silver agreed, his eyes darting through the train. As far as he could recall, this had been the correct train.
"Are you boys here by yourselves?"
Silver smiled as Gray hesitantly answered the man's question, more than happy to see the prison warden once again.
"So did you notice the police woman looking at you?" Gray's lips curled up, his ego inflating enough to suffocate everyone else in the train car as Silver's eyes widened. "Or are you just oblivious?"
"Spell oblivious." Silver fired back, pointedly ignoring his younger self as a tongue was poked. The woman hadn't been looking at him, had she...?
Well, even if she had, It wasn't like Gray would have noticed. He was attentive when he wanted to be, but if it had anything to do with himself...
Silver almost fell off his seat. Oh. Oh, the irony.
"Should I call someone?" Gray inquired, an eyebrow raising as Silver started shaking.
Torch gulped, dabbing a bead of sweat from his face as the last member of Five Bridge Familia fell. Silver blew a lock of hair from his eye, his tattoo fading from his arm. That had actually been a bit of a workout.
Gray finally leapt from the seat he'd been thrown at five seconds into the fight, his arms lowering in disappointment as he took in the destruction.
"You couldn't even save one for me?" He whined, crossing his arms with a very visible pout.
"I gave you a chance. You failed. Spectacularly." Silver waved a hand over the last of the dark Mages, thick strings of ice leaving his fingers in favour of the man's ankles, wrists, and mouth. "Welcome to the real world, where getting in over your head is going to kill you."
Gray nodded, albeit reluctantly, at the serious tone as Silver turned to Torch.
"You okay, old man?"
For his part, Torch seemed to be having palpitations, his eyes never leaving the one who had just taken down a powerful Dark Guild singlehandedly.
Silver studied him for a second longer, before shrugging. He was breathing, so everything would be fine. Maybe.
"Whatever. Let's get going; I've always wanted to see what's inside Black Vox."
"You know..." Silver gasped, his laughter finally coming to a stop, "I should really be pissed off at you, all things considered."
"What was I supposed to do?" Gray interrogated petulantly, finding the window to be very interesting as Silver gave him a very condescending glance. "He was about to stab the old man!"
"And you, with your half-decade worth of wisdom, figured that you were strong enough to take on the leader of a Dark Guild?" Silver nodded, tapping his chin as he pretended to mull over the facts. "One who had to be placed in the highest security prison this side of Magnolia?"
Gray decided not to answer.
The jeering from over head was beginning to get more than a little annoying, as cube after cube was opened and prisoners were set upon the world once more.
"OK, seriously!" Silver glanced away from the madman that had just attempted to murder his younger self, his ire directing itself at the many guards present. "You guys have one job! You're even getting payed to do it! Do any of you actually know how to do magic? Because if not, you shouldn't be the last line of defense when it comes to cabin fever suffering dark Mages!"
"Is cabin fever a real thing?" A guard near the back asked, going promptly ignored as Silver turned back to Drum Bee.
"Does it make you feel big? Huh, tough guy? Trying to stab little kids?" Drum Bee's eyes failed to narrow, his mind still trying to process the fact that some unknown Mage was not only holding the sharp end of his lance with approximately zero effort, he was resisting his magic, his magic, as though it were nothing but a minor annoyance.
Silver gave a weary sigh, ice coating his fist in a form of knuckle duster. "I turn my back for two seconds... Thanks for the heads up, Gildarts!"
"Huh?" Was the so very eloquently put reply offered by the undercover Fairy Tail Ace, from his position behind two female guards.
Ignoring the explosion of chatter at the name, Silver broke his weapon over Drum Bee's skull, turning to fire an Ice Devil's Rage at the largest cluster of potential escapees as the mountainous figure behind him fell.
"That was a good battle." Gray leant back in his seat, smiling as he reminisced. It had been the thrill of his young lifetime, watching people fly past his face in various degrees of injury as he fired off spells. "I got three people with one battle axe!"
Silver snorted at the memory, locking his hands behind his head as the outer buildings of Magnolia came into view. That battle had been the most fun he'd had in a while, definitely since he'd come back. He'd even stopped using magic after his first two spells, if only to leave more targets for Gray. Gildarts hadn't even bothered joining in, having used his time to chat with two Black Vox guards. Not that his power had been required.
"Gildarts." Silver nodded at the guards as he passed them, discretely leading the Ace a few meters away from his new friends. He'd never been that good an actor, which was why he changed his game plan the second before opening his mouth.
"Thank you for the telepathic message." Silver jerked his head a fraction to the left, Gildarts' face easily splitting into a grin as he spied the guards from the corner of his eye. He was inattentive, not slow.
"Don't mention it." He said, not quite loud enough for the words to carry over to the opposite end of the platform, where Gray had found himself being bandaged beside everyone else that had been injured in the fight. That hadn't stopped his company to not hear it, though.
Silver laughed, before his face fell into a serious expression.
"What was the bounty on Five Bridge Familia?" His voice was low, hopefully low enough to avoid the conversation being picked up. He didn't need a vindictive S-Class Mage on his ass for the rest of his life.
Gildarts guffawed, laying a hand on Silver's shoulder as though the boy had cracked a marvelous joke.
"Blackmailing me with special attention, huh?" Gildarts' voice had dropped, his other hand - and damn, it was strange seeing him with a whole human body again - coming to rest in his pocket. "What a shitty wingman."
"I only want half of it. Seeing as I'm the one that brought them in." Silver let his head fall to the side slightly, waving a hand vaguely to his side. Best keep the conversation innocent on the surface.
Gildarts nodded, his grin lowering into a friendly smile, his hand leaving his pocket to be shielded by Silver's own body.
"This is the first time this has happened. Good job, kid." Silver caught the rather large stack of jewels before it got to his waist, smoothly sliding it into his pocket.
Allowing a smirk to play across his face, Silver shot an inconspicuous glance over his shoulder, confirming what both female guards were paying attention to. Well, he may as well do his best to finalise the deal.
"My brother owes his life to you." He allowed his volume to rise, fighting down the urge to roll his eyes as Gildarts gave him a discrete thumbs up.
Silver cracked an eye open, catching sight of the too large to be completely innocent grin Gray had quickly wiped from his face. The train lurched once more, the grating squeal of brakes almost making the Ice Devil Slayer cringe.
"So..." Gray began.
"No, I still haven't forgiven you."
"What do you mean, you don't really know how to fly this thing?"
"I mean I don't really know how to fly this thing. I can't make it any simpler."
Silver groaned as the car dipped without warning, leveling out mere inches above the treetops just as suddenly. Gildarts screamed outright, the noise causing Gray to slam the steering wheel to one side.
The enormous, flying car, which had formerly served as a headquarters of sorts for Five Bridge Familia, had been claimed almost immediately after the fighting inside Black Vox had died down. Though the car could technically be considered evidence, and as such, property of the Magic Council, none of the guards honestly wanted to be the person that denied the man who'd knocked someone unconscious by punching somebody else's tooth into their forehead. The tooth had even been connected less than a second prior. And it had been done without magic.
After all, what was the Magic Council going to do with an enormous, flying car?
"Then how did we get up here!?" Gildarts demanded, his face turning slightly green as the floor suddenly became the roof.
"I don't know! I just started pushing buttons!" For his part, Gray seemed to be enjoying himself quite a lot, adjusting the steering wheel even as he dangled from it.
"First stop, Mone." Silver announced, his face pressed against the window. Not that he had much of a choice. "Bring her down nice and-"
Gildarts screamed again as the car started piledriving itself. Somehow he was regretting giving Gray the keys.
"Think of all the things I could have done with a flying car." Gray opened his mouth to comment, his eyes snapping open as a hand clamped across the bottom half of his face. "I wouldn't have had to buy that train ticket. We'd already be in Magnolia by now. Traffic? What traffic? I have a flying- oh no wait my eight year old brother just crashed it into a tree. The only tree big enough for my flying car to be destroyed by. And then he crashed it into the ground."
Deigning to not mention the fact that they were pulling into Magnolia's Station, Gray's eyes gained a dangerous glint, Silver being familiar enough with the look to have to actively convince himself to remove his hand. If he didn't, it would be licked. He knew himself.
"But then you might not have ever met Amelie!"
"This is the place?" Gray lowered his crate of empty bottles, staring with some trepidation at the bar Mary had led them to. It looked nice enough, well lit with well dressed patrons, but one glance at his brother's dark expression told him all he needed to know about the place's inner workings.
"Yep!" Mary chirped, not showing even the slightest amount of resentment as she approached the bar that had stolen her and her sister's lives away.
Silver lagged behind the two children slightly, his load not weighing him down, despite being twice what the two in front of him were carrying. He could remember, clear as day, the events that had transpired today. And he'd made it his job to keep the kids out of the firing line.
The window in front of him burst, almost causing Mary and Gray to drop their crates as they spun around to look. Silver didn't bother sparing a glance for the unfortunate waiter - Gildarts didn't throw people through walls for no good reason - placing his crates on the ground carefully as he moved to grab his company.
Seconds later, Gildarts had appeared in the window, a young woman in a cocktail dress slung over his shoulder... his foot catching the bottom of the windowsill in his attempt to jump through.
Silver darted forward without hesitation as Gildarts landed on his face, making a mental note to never drink on a mission as he moved to intercept Amelie's fall. Just as the girl impacted against his chest, his foot slid against a stone, his arms instinctively encircling his passenger as he fell backwards.
Silver blew a strand of hair - one far too long to belong to him - from his face, his slightly narrowed eyes meeting Amelie's widened orbs. Retracting his arms, Silver moved to sit up, only serving to bring his face closer to Amelie's as he finally acknowledged the fact that she was effectively straddling him in the middle of the street. And she wasn't moving. At all.
Apparently this sight was too funny for whatever spiteful God watching him to let end, as he felt hands resting against his pectorals. His bare pectorals.
When had he... how hadn't he heard his bells?
"...He's drunk, isn't he?"
Red exploded across Amelie's cheeks, the former slave nodding rapidly as she sprang to her feet. Locating and throwing his T-shirt over his head as rapidly as he could, Silver pressed himself against the ground, unintentionally gulping as Gildarts leapt over him.
"You move fast, huh?" The man called over his shoulder, the shoulder Gray was going ignored from as he demanded to be put down. "Pick her up and run, man! Bald, fat and ugly ain't gonna stand around and let us get away!"
Taking a moment to worry about their safety - something Mary probably wasn't planning on doing any time soon - Silver turned to Amelie, sweeping the former female companion into his arms bridal style before setting a brisk pace after Gildarts.
"Sorry, but I can probably run a lot faster than you."
Amelie nodded, strangely mute, as Silver sprinted down the many streets of Mone.
"You agreed to never bring that up again." The train had finally entered the largest building in Magnolia, slowly gliding to a halt. "At least until I had to reference it when you start puberty."
"Why would you have to reference it?"
"Oh, you'll find out." Silver tittered ominously, moving to collect their luggage from overhead. "You'll find out..."
Silver watched, utterly bemused, as Gildarts tore through the city's streets, teetering every which way as he ploughed directly through another small building. The portion of the army that wasn't guarding Cappuccino - whom he'd so graciously gone back across the river to arrest for turning everyone in the town into some form of slave labourer - were hot on his heels, not even their odd carriage being fast enough to gain ground on the fleeing man.
Mary waved at the Crash Mage's retreating back, the man little more than a speck on the horizon at that point. Amelie's lips rose into a smile, her face lighting with the change, as she turned to Silver.
"Thank you. For everything." Her eyes were lowered slightly, her hands fidgeting with the hem of her dress. Silver couldn't help but laugh lightly; she hadn't even so much as made eye contact with him since meeting him. Not that he could honestly blame her.
"Don't thank me yet." Silver shot a glance at Gray; the boy was rather preoccupied with a game of tag. Amelie's eyes softened as they moved to watch the scene.
"Why wouldn't I thank you?"
"Because you may not like me for much longer." Silver slipped a hand into his pocket, snagging Amelie's wrist with his other before guiding it closer to him. Before she could say anything, something relatively heavy was resting in her palm, her eyes widening exponentially at the stack of jewels.
"You...what...I can't take this! It's too much!"
Silver chuckled quietly at her display, digging his hands deep into his pockets as he the money was thrust back towards him. Time to prove how subtly manipulative he could be. For a good cause, of course.
"We've both got siblings to take care of." He said, giving the girl pause. "I'm strong. Like, really strong. I'm taking my brother with me, so we can join a Guild. I'll be able to provide for him. Actually, he'll probably be able to provide for himself." Definitely, seeing as he'd done it before. "Do you or Mary have that kind of assurance? Besides, It's not like I've got anything I need to spend money on."
A shirt floated through the wind that had picked up at that very moment, Silver sighing as a sleeve drifted lazily into his open mouth.
"Except maybe clothes."
Amelie stared at the money in her hand, lifting her head to follow as Mary swiped at Gray's arm, her face stretched into an enormous grin. Gray dived out of the way, full blown laughter leaving his mouth as Mary dived after him eagerly.
Silver wasn't surprised when he felt arms wrapping around his shoulders, his hands leaving his pockets to pat Amelie on the back in a manner that hopefully wasn't awkward. Because damn, he really wasn't a hugging person.
"Thank you." Amelie mumbled against his shoulder, not showing signs of letting go any time soon.
"I'll...er, we'll walk you home." Silver offered somewhat lamely, signaling the two children over with his free hand. "Where are you going to be living?"
"It's alright to say that you didn't want to leave." Gray snorted, successfully ducking under his backpack as it was hefted at his head.
"Let it go." The words wouldn't have any effect, Silver knew that, but uttering them aloud made his feel slightly better. The way flipping off a torturer would make the victim feel slightly better, before his hand was cut off and mailed to his relatives.
"Fine." Gray swung his bag over a shoulder, shoving a hand into the pocket of his jeans. He'd lose them sooner or later, but he may as well look cool in the meantime. "Why didn't we reminisce about that last town we were in? I was having fun."
"Uh..." 'Because I ran in, knocked a thief unconscious before he could actually steal anything, decided to steal something and plant it on the guy as evidence, and then literally threw you onto a train because I saw Lucy's dad and my opinion of the guy is about as low as it can get?' "Dunno. But why dwell on the past?"
Deliora probably just rolled over in its grave.
XxX
Silver couldn't help the smile that spread across his face, his eyes shielded from the sun with one hand as they drank in the sight of the Guild. Gray stood beside him, rather impassive about the whole thing in comparison, not seeming to understand why his brother was so happy to be standing in front of this weird building.
Silver took a deep breath, a large smile spreading across his face as he started ascending the stairwell. Yes, he was about to see his family once more, even though the ones he was really close to had all yet to join. But even more importantly, after today he could finally take his shirt off without repercussions.
His bells rang at the thought, and Silver quickly ripped his hands away from the hem of his shirt. It probably wouldn't go over well in any Guild, to have a complete stranger walk in through the door sporting the Guild mark.
Turning to his miniature version - he was testing out new nicknames, sometimes train rides got really boring - he put his hands on his hips, schooling his expression into one of seriousness.
"Best behavour, got it?"
"Yes, mother." Gray rolled his eyes, pushing the doors of the Guild open in a way that was completely boring, no buildup or fanfare whatsoever.
Gray strolled through the open doors, and after taking a second to ensure his shirt was still on, Silver followed.
The interior was just as he remembered it being so many years ago, before even the Grand Magic Games. Simple benches and tables, with a bar housing more types of alcohol than could be consumed in one night by a normal person. Too bad Fairy Tail didn't do normal, that's where most of their budget went.
A few members close to the door turned to watch as the brothers walked in, most turning back to their drinks as soon as their interest ran out. If they were new members, then they could make an effort to learn about them at any time. If not, then what was the point? Fairy Tail mentality.
Gray's eyes traveled around the building, snapping back to his brother as the older boy poked him in the forehead.
"I need to talk to the Guild Master. Go make some friends or something."
"Uh..." Silver strolled off casually, leaving his little brother among the drinking masses of people like it ain't no thang. Deciding that this wasn't the best place for him to make a scene, Gray scanned the Guild hall once more, stopping once his eyes landed on a girl his age, the only other child he could see in the room.
Gray shrugged, swinging his pack onto one shoulder as he made his way towards the table. No point in finding a bench for himself, he'd been told to make friends.
XxX
Silver kept his breath steady as he traversed the Guild hall, nodding cordially towards anyone that caught his eye. He recognised a few faces, people he'd grown up around, but the sheer amount of Mages that hadn't been here by the time he was old enough to remember reliably was impressive. Then again, his shitty memory wasn't really his own fault. He'd had a lot on his mind back then.
Silver reached the bar, forcing his face to remain neutral as he took in the small form of Makarov Dreyer. The only person, aside from Ur, that he'd been happy to respect from the moment he met them.
"Master Makarov." Silver bowed slightly, he wasn't a Mage of Fairy Tail yet. Technically. "I'm looking to set myself and my brother up with your Guild."
Makarov cracked an eye open, sweeping his gaze over Silver, before switching to Gray. His other eye opened, both widening marginally, before he climbed to his feet.
"Of course. Care to accompany me to my office? I can tell you what Guild life is like."
Makarov hadn't really asked a question, and Silver knew that the Guild Master didn't think he'd taken it as one. Nodding once and tacking an, "of course," onto his actions, Silver followed behind as Makarov turned to leap from the bar, shooting a glance over his shoulder at Gray.
The boy had situated himself at Cana's table, the conversation they were sharing seeming pleasant. Or, at the very least, not violent.
Silver sighed, nodding at a teenage Laxus before he entered Makarov's office. The door shut behind him without prompting, the expression being worn by Fairy Tail's Guild Master grave.
Not that it really mattered. He'd been planning on telling Gramps from the beginning.
XxX
There isn't going to be any more chapters like this one. This is a one off, heavy with flashbacks.
I'm not skipping to Natsu bringing Lucy to Fairy Tail next chapter, that's still a ways away. I'm planning on doing a chapter for every couple of years or so past, and I'll introduce a new Guild member that joined after Gray in the timeline that's on the wiki, among other things. Next chapter will be Erza's arrival. Wonder how that'll go now that Gray has someone to guide him. Or smack him over the head when he inevitably does something stupid because he'll be ten at that point.
See you all next time.
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