A loud crash, followed by an angry roar as fire and metal collided. Natsu Dragneel had challenged his fellow Dragon Slayer, Gajeel Redfox, to a fight, and the Iron Dragon Slayer wasn't one to turn down such a tempting offer. Bets were made and the fight began, both slayers giving it their all. Gray watched from the sidelines, not really interested in the fight. He was more interested in why the hell his lighter was missing.
An unlit cigarette was clamped between his teeth, and he dug through his pockets for the damned thing, before giving up with a sigh. He must have forgotten it at home. Almost as soon as he gave up, an off shoot of Natsu's fire caught a tree near Gray, and with a shrug, he used it to light his cigarette, before icing the flame over to put it out. Taking a long drag, Gray turned his attention to the fight with a smirk.
"Hey Gajeel! Don't beat him to badly, leave some for me!" He called out, and the Large man responded with a loud "Gihihihi! No promises!" Before punching Natsu in the face before the other dragon slayer could turn his anger on Gray. The ice mage chuckled, taking another drag off his cigarette.
"Do you always have to antagonize him?" Lucy groaned from the other side of the tree Gray was leaning on. "And I thought you said you'd quit smoking."
"What can I say, flame-brain's just easy to rile up." Gray shrugged, flicking the ash off the end of the cigarette. "And I said I'm in the process of quitting, I've cut down to two a day."
"You went through a whole pack three days ago"
"I was stressed three days ago."
Lucy sighed. "Gray…."
"Hey I think the fight's almost over." Gray was quick to change the subject. He knew she was just worried, but if he wanted to fill his body with toxins, he was gonna fill his damn body with toxin's. Though, sure enough, as he and the Celestial Mage turned back to the fight, Nastu was finally knocked down and Gajeel placed a foot on his back, 'Gihihi'ing while Natsu raged.
Gray took a final drag off his cigarette, before dropping it and snuffing it out with his heel, heading back into the guild after Cana gave him his winnings. Lucy just sighed and went to help Natsu, rolling her eyes at Gajeel's triumphant laughter.
Said Iron Dragon slayer could also see a certain blue haired bookworm collecting her winnings from Cana, and he grinned.
It wasn't long before everyone was back in the guild hall, laughing and talking, while Lucy attempted to cheer up a grumping Natsu. Gray leaned his head on his hand, sighing. He felt restless, like he needed to just, run. Run and run until he couldn't anymore. He tried to push the feeling back, but it was still there, tingling just beneath his skin….. He needed to take a job, he needed to DO something.
"G-Gray-sama! Your clothes!" Juvia's face broke him out of his thoughts, and Gray looked down to find that he had, indeed, stripped his clothes off at some point. He cursed, ignoring Juvia's red face and the way she swooned as he pulled his clothes back on. Natsu laughed.
"Hey, maybe if you get lucky, Juvia'll pay ya for a private show!" The pink haired menace grinned.
"Don't give her any ideas bonehead." Huffed the ice mage, already seeing the blue haired Girl's face get redder as she stuttered out what sounded like "Gray-sama" and "Private show?", Before a passing Mira had to catch her to keep her from hitting her head on the floor when Juvia fainted.
Gray sighed heavily, heading over to the request board and looking them over. Nothing looked good enough to help him with this restlessness. Damn it! He huffed, fingers itching to reach for his pack of cigarettes instead, but he stopped himself. He was trying to quit. Gray flopped back onto a bench, putting his head on the table with a soft groan.
Just as he was about to sit up again, the doors to the guild swung open. He looked up, as a few others, and Gray's eyes widened at what he saw.
Freed Justine limped into the guildhall, blood dripping from a wound on his face, rolling dow his chin and falling onto the blood stained collar of his shirt. His clothes were tattered, Jacket torn and shirt soaked with blood. His usually neat and smooth green hair was tangled and clumped with dried blood, and there were fresh bruises around his neck, like someone had been chocking him. The injured runes mage teetered, looking at the room with his visable eye, gaze glassy and unfocused. The word Wolf passed through his lips, before he stummbled, falling to the floor with a dull thud.
Gray's blood ran cold. Carved into the side of the green haired male's face, was the image of a wolf howling.