A/N: Hey minna! If you guys read the Author's Note when I last 'updated', you'll notice that I kept my promise! :D So here I am, updating the same day I posted the other update~ Now, I will try to stick to the 2-week update as much as I can, but school is really a pain in the butt -_-
BUT without further ado, here is the long awaited Chapter 2! :D
****************The sound of fist hitting wood resounded throughout Magnolia's East Forest. If one were to walk, they would be able to feel strong magic coming form a clearing. Blue flashes of light were visible over the trees, and the temperature had dropped considerably.
Gray punched the now frozen tree with such frustration, that the tree cracked into little pieces. The ice mage looked down at his hand when he noticed a terrible stinging, and was shocked to see blood flowing from his knuckles.
He immediately winced upon discovery, and held his hand close to his chest. Gray sighed and left his hand alone for the time being, and sat on the ground.
As he sat there, his thoughts drifted back to when he was at the guild earlier.
*Flashback*
"Gray?" Lucy questioned. Erza had also wondered over when she noticed her teammate on the floor. The requip mage now stood next to celestial mage, and looked down at her fallen friend.
"Gray, stand up. Loosing to Natsu isn't the end of the world!" Erza scolded.
"Erza..."
"Shut up."
Lucy gasped when Gray muttered those words. He had just told Erza to shut up. She truly feared for his life now.
Erza wasn't looking much better, as she had summoned her sword, and had a look that could murder someone on her face.
"Gray..." she hissed. "Stand up this instant and look at me!" she yelled furiously, trying to keep her temper down.
By now, the rest of the guild had heard the commotion, and looked at the two childhood friends. They had never seen Gray disobey or even argue with this much vigor at Erza, and they were shocked. Cana had even stopped drinking to see it.
"Shut up!" Gray yelled angrily.
Silence was heard after.
The only sound you could hear was everyone gulping, fearing for their favorite ice-make wizard.
Lucy was the first to break the heavy silence.
"Gray, whats the-"
"I said to shut up!"
Lucy took a step back from her friend looked at him in confusion.
"Gray!" Erza's sharp tone barked at Gray.
When the raven-haired teen looked up, Erza's eyes widened. She had never seen her friend this terrified or confused in all her life. His eyes held such sadness, that she felt her heart breaking at the sight of her strong friend this weak looking.
"You don't know anything about losing the person you care about at all!" Gray yelled, and tears started to spill from his dark eyes.
Gray's eyes were the darkest any of them had ever seen, and the tears didn't stop.
After his outburst, the teen abruptly stood up and raced out of the guild. Everyone in the guild was shocked. All that they could think is that for some reason, their nakama is hurting.
*End Flashback*
Gray buried his head in his uninjured hand, and felt guilt wash over him. Of course he knew that Lucy and Erza know the feeling of losing someone close to them. But he had been so confused, so terrified, that his mind was playing tricks on him when he heard 'her' voice.
"Dammit... I've really screwed up..." he whispered to know one.
He really didn't want to go back to the guild, mainly because he didn't want to face any of his friends. He sighed when he realized that it was getting late. 'How long have I been out here?' he thought as he stood up.
He picked up his discarded jacket and through it over his shoulder, and started to walk through ice covered clearing to the dense forest ahead of him. The setting sun cast a shadow over the forest, and it made Gray smile slightly. He really did love Magnolia.
His smile though, quickly disappeared, and his eyes widened.
'Gray...'
"Who's there!" Gray spun around looking everywhere. The once pretty forest didn't look that friendly anymore.
'Help me...'
"Stop it!" Gray yelled and grabbed his head with his hands. He ignored the throbbing pain in his left one though.
'Help me, Gray...'
Gray blindly ran through the forest, and didn't stop running until he got to his apartment. He slammed the door shut and leaned against it, breathing heavily. The teen took the time to catch his breath, and take the time to notice the throbbing had increased tenfold in his hand and he hissed in pain.
He also noticed that his legs were shaking from all the running he had just done. He pushed himself off his door and went to go find the first-aid kit he kept.
When he got to his hand, he winced when looking at the mangled thing. It was black and blue from the repeated hits it took when he was venting his frustration in the forest. The bleeding still didn't seem to stop yet, but it did lesson a lot.
He got up from his couch and filled up a bowl of cold water, and without hesitation, dunked his hand in. Hissing with the pain that followed, he quickly took it out and dried it, before applying the procedures of a injured hand.
Once he was done, he checked the time and was surprised to find it around eleven o'clock at night. Deciding that it was time to turn in for the night, he quickly washed up, and with the dreadful thought that he would have to face his guild tomorrow, he went to bed.
But he didn't get any sleep last night.
***************
"Did you do it?" a voice asked.
"Yes Master. The job was successfully completed without any interruptions." another voice responded to the first.
A maniac smile lit up the 'Master's' face, and he started to laugh.
The other four people in the dark room with the 'Master' stayed silent and watched him laugh. After a minute, it finally died down, and a serious look replaced the madness from before.
"I can count on you to help me win this...project, correct?" 'Master' questioned, glaring down at his subordinates.
"Hai!" four voices chorused. As soon as the 'Master turned around, the four disappeared and he allowed a satisfied smirk make his way on his face.
'Soon.' he thought 'soon.'
***************Gray awoke with a start and sat up, breathing heavily. He didn't know what woke him but it wasn't like he was sleeping that well anyway. The entire night had been torture for him. His dreams had been plagued by the memories of when he was with Ur. The one thing he kept dreaming of over and over was her death.
He stopped his thoughts from wandering any further in that direction and got ip form his bed and stumbled into the bathroom.
After a quick shower, he made some toast, and got dressed. When he was putting his shirt on, he remembered why he was so hesitant on going back to the guild. He froze when he thought of Erza.
' Oh crap. Erza's gonna be pissed at me..' he thought ' I should definitely apologize though. Maybe that might help me some.'
He quickly finished getting dressed and noted that his hand still hurt quite a bit, as well as his legs, and pretty much everywhere else on his body ached. He winced when his hand caught on the door to his room, and decided to redress the hand before he went to the guild.
Once that task was done, he hurried out the door and started to jog to his guild, hoping to get their before Erza did.
His dream was crushed, along with his soul, when he entered the building. Before, the guild was as lively as ever, but as soon as he stepped foot in his 'home', everything went silent. All the conversations were stopped and stares were trained on their ice-make mage.
Gray stopped and put his head down in guilt and shame. At least until he heard a angry voice shout from the other side of the room.
"Gray, you bastard!" Natsu shouted as he lunged at the teen. He managed to punch him in the face before Lucy was upon him, yanking him away from Gray, who just sat on the spot that he had landed when the dragonslayer punched him.
"Natsu, calm down!" Lucy tried to reason with the hothead, but he wouldn't listen. An angry look adorned his usual playful and happy face.
"But, Lucy he-"
"Natsu. That's enough." an authorative voice said.
The fire mage froze upon hearing that tone used by the requip mage behind him. It also didn't help that she had a hand placed on his shoulder.
Natsu immediately backed off, and Erza released her grip on her shoulder. She took a step forward so she was in front of the raven-haired teen.
The sound of something being summoned resounded throughout the silent guild, and soon Gray had a sword being pointed at his throat.
The guild gasped, and Cana called out "Oi, Erza! What the hell are you doing!"
The scarlet ignored her guildmates cries to stop, and used her sword to lift the mage's, in front of her ,chin.
"What you did yesterday was uncalled for, so don't expect me to forgive-"
"I'm sorry."
The woman was taken off guard when she heard a soft voice interrupt her.
"What?"
Gray looked up at her, and her breath caught when she saw the amount of guilt swimming in the dark eyes of her guildmate.
"I said I'm sorry. To both of you" Gray said a little louder. "What I said yesterday was totally uncalled for, and I'm sorry. I know both of you have experienced loss, but I..."
"I forgive you." Lucy interrupted.
Gray looked toward her sharply and saw her smiling at him.
"You were just upset that you lost to Natsu."she explained.
Gray looked a little caught off guard that she brought up the fight against Natsu as to why he was upset yesterday, but he hesitated before nodding at the celestial mage.
Erza's sharp eyes caught the hesitation and surprise that flickered across Gray's face before nodding to Lucy. The scarlet narrowed her eyes at him, and she ex-equiped her sword, since it was no longer needed.
"Well, even though I'm still pissed at you, if Lucy can forgive you, I guess I have to too!" Natsu grinned as he put his hands behind his head.
Gray smiled a bit and stood up,wincing as he put pressure on his legs, which were still sore from yesterday.
The mage then turned to his S-class friend, and faced her, the guilt still there. Erza just stared back, and after a minute, she finally said that she forgave him.
Gray let go of the breath he didn't know he was holding, and let a grin make his way over his face. The guild started right back up and soon laughter filled the happy guild again. Just as Gray was going to follow Lucy and Natsu, who had wondered over to Wendy, he heard Erza call out to him.
"Gray, may I ask what happened to your hand?" she questioned.
The ice-make mage turned towards his friend, and desperately tried to think of an excuse, but couldn't, so he said the first thing that came to his mind.
"Nothing"
Erza narrowed her eyes further as she trained them on her teammate. He was hiding something, but she didn't want to jump to conclusions just yet. If there was something wrong, he would tell us, right?
Gray was just sitting down when Natsu shouted to him that they were taking a job that had a big reward. Apparently, it was decided earlier that morning, and the train was to leave at two o'clock sharp.
That gave him about an hour to pack his stuff.
Gray sighed when he realized that Erza's eyes were following him as he exited the guild to go pack. 'Oh well, she'll get over it' he thought to himself as he strolled down the road to his home.
But he couldn't shake he feeling that something was going to happen.
Something big.
A/N: Who would have thought that I would have updated the same day I posted the author's note, eh? I even shocked myself with this! :D Anyway, I would like to thank you all who stuck with this until this update, which was about 5 months? :D I would love some reviews and feedback, constructive criticism is welcomed!~ So I will definitely update within two weeks from now, and if I don't, feel free to spam me~