Lucy fluttered her deep brown eyes open as she felt someone nudge her. She took in her surroundings. There laid a shirtless Gray next to her sleeping soundly. "Lucy its your turn," Erza informed the blonde as she went to the other tent to sleep next to Natsu. Lucy sighed as she glanced over at Gray and exited the tent. She stretched out her arms as she took watch over her comrades and camp. The sun slowly rose, waking everyone one by one. All of team Natsu were awake and getting ready to get back on the road. If they were lucky they could reach the town by nightfall.
XXXXX
Hours have passed since they have been on the road but not a single person uttered a word. Lucy glanced over at Gray who was walking around shirtless again. "Gray your clothes," both Erza and Lucy muttered. The Ice Mage acted surprise as he put his shirt back on. Natsu snickered as his embarrassment. Lucy stopped suddenly as they entered the village. Gray looked over at the blonde as a smile reached his lips.
"Finally! We can actually rest in a real bed tonight," Lucy squealed as she ran ahead of the group towards a nice looking hotel. Everyone smiled as they followed the blonde. The sun had started to set and they weren't supposed to meet with the client until tomorrow. "Lucy and Gray will share one room. Natsu and I will take the other." Natsu started to protest but was stopped as Erza pointed her sword at him. He sighed as he followed Erza Into their room. They smiled as they said their goodnight .
Lucy and Gray entered their room not sure how to handle this situation. Erza purposely chose them to share a room together. Lucy blushed as she sat on the edge of the full sized bed. She wasn't sure how to make things easier. Gray took off his shirt and placed it on the floor. He glanced over at Lucy and saw her face was red and she seemed nervous.
"There's no need to be nervous. We are a team. We have a mission to do," he assured her as he flopped down on the bed beside her. She smiled softly and placed her hand on top of his. He blushed and averted his eyes.
"Gray..there's something I must confess. Ever since Natsu started dating Lisanna I felt lonely.."
"Lucy I have a question. Do you love him? Do you love Natsu?" Silence took over the room and neither knew what to say. Gray sat there waiting for a response. He couldn't hold back anymore. He wanted her to be happy and he would do whatever it took to achieve that goal. Lucy sighed softly trying to calm her racing heart. "Honestly I thought I did. He is the one that brought me to fairly tail after all but here lately I realized that I'm not in love with him. I care for him deeply but that's all." She looked up as she confessed her feelings but not a word was said. Gray smiled as he leaned in and kissed those cherry red lips of hers. The words she spoke gave him hope. He pulled back and rested his forehead against hers not wanting this moment to end.
Suddenly the door flew wide open as Natsu and Erza walked in. Erza smiled as she looked over at her friends. Her hunch was right. Natsu on the other hand was furious. "Hey pervert what the HELL ARE YOU DOING TO LUCY!!"
Natsu's voice filled the room followed by a right hand punch coming in contact with Gray's face. Gray narrowed his eyes at the dragon slayer and jumped off the bed. He was ready to fight when a small yet gentle hand pulled him back.
"Natsu stop it…Gray didn't do anything wrong." Lucy tried to reason with him. Erza acted quickly and punched Natsu in the back of his head, knocking him out cold. "Gray please take care of Lucy. He may not approve but I certainly do. You both deserve to be happy and I won't let this one stop you," she spoke as she motioned to Natsu. The couple smiled as they watched Titania drag the dragon slayer out of the room.
"That went a lot better than expected," Gray said as he pulled Lucy close to him. He smiled and claimed those lips of hers yet once again. She returned the kiss enjoying the warmth that was building up inside of her. He slid his tongue softly over hers engaging in a battle which of course he won by a long shot. "G-Gray," she stuttered out of breath. Her face was a crimson red as she looked at the man before her. She loved him and she no longer had anything holding her back. She wrapped her arms around his neck pulling him closer to her body. He looked at her causing her mind to get fuzzy.
"Lucy I'm sorry. It's just I've had feelings for you for a while and I hope once this mission is over with we can discuss some important things," He stated as he sat next to her, taking her hand and intertwining their fingers. She smiled and placed her head on his chest, listening to the beat of his heart. The celestial mage slowly started to drift off to sleep as the ice mage ran his fingers through her silky blonde hair. Gray smiled as he too slowly drifted off to sleep holding the one that mattered the most in his arms.
XXXXXX
Team Natsu met with the client who informed them of the situation with the dark guild that was threatening their once peaceful town. The client was paying them 100,000 jewel upon completion of their mission. The dark guild, Succubus Eye, was hold out at a 2 story ran down house located in the middle of the town. "We need to finish this up and get back home," Natsu stated as he glared at Gray. No one had talked about the events that unfolded the night before. He stopped walking as they reached the ran down house. A smirk crossed his lips.
"Me and Erza will take the top floor as long as you two can handle the bottom floor." He wanted to be far away from the ice mage. He felt betrayed and wanted to be back home with Lisanna as soon as possible. Natsu and Erza took of heading towards the top floor as Lucy and Gray took care of the members that dwelled on the main floor. Gray began dropping enemies left and right using his ice make magic. There seemed to be no end to them. He had hoped to make this quick but it was taking longer than expected. He couldn't see Lucy due to the enemies and a feeling of panic washed over him.
"OPEN GATE OF THE BULL, TAURUS," Lucy screamed as she fell into a hole that was created by the enemy. Her loyal spirit began taking down enemies , trying to protect anyone from harming Lucy. Gray noticed Taurus and together they cleared the main floor. They walked over to the hole and Taurus disappeared as his gate closed. Gray jumped down in the hole without thinking. When Lucy fell she had injured her leg badly. When Gray took in the sight before him, he started to panic. All she could do was smile as if trying to calm him down. Her ankle was swollen and was starting to bruise. Her leg had a deep gash from her knee to her ankle and blood was dripping onto the ground.
"We need to get you out of here." The house began to shake as the fight upstairs was starting to come to an end. Gray picked Lucy up as he made stairs with his magic. He carried her in his arms until they were safely out of the house and sat her down softly on the grass. Natsu and Erza escaped the falling house and joined their friends. Natsu was filled with rage as he laid eyes on Lucy. She was hurt and it was HIS fault. He would pay. Natsu stormed over to Gray and pulled him by the front of his shirt. "You got Lucy hurt? Look at her!! You can't even protect her? You make me sick!"
Gray pushed the dragon slayer off of him and punched him straight in the face. He couldn't stand to hear the words that came out of his mouth. Anger took over his body as the two began to fight. Erza sighed as she quickly hit both boys in the head, forcing them to behave.
"Look it doesn't matter what happened. The mission is finished. Natsu, you and I will collect the reward and return to the hotel. Gray, take Lucy to the hotel and tend to those wounds of hers. We will come check on you guys when we ar finished with the client." Erza dragged a very upset Natsu towards the clients home.Gray carried a wounded Lucy to their hotel room. He hadn't said a single word on the way there. Natsu's outburst still stung in his mind and he was having a hard time shaking it. He placed her gently on the bed and disappeared into the bathroom to fetch a first aid kit. He put some antibiotics on her scrape and wrapped her leg in bandages but refused to say a word or even look at her.
"Gray don't beat yourself up. It's not your fault. I was careless. I should have," Lucy was interrupted as the door flew open and Natsu stormed in followed by Erza. Natsu walked over to Gray and pushed him away from his friend. "This could have been avoided if you would have protected Lucy. If it were me I'd be able to protect her. Her getting hurt isn't something that should happen," he growled through his teeth as he got face to face with the ice wizard. Gray shrugged his shoulders and refused to look at him.
"Your right. It's my fault she got hurt. While you two were taking down the guild master we had to fight all of the other members. We got separated and by the time we found each other again it was too late." Nastu got even angrier hearing what he had to say. He balled his hands into fists and fire rose from them. He was ready to fight and no one was going to stop him this time. He grabbed gray by his collar and dragged him outside. Gray pulled away from the dragon slayer. He turned to leave but was met with a fist straight to his face. He sighed and used his own magic landing a hit on Natsu.
"Flame brain cut it out. The mission is over with and I'd like to go home." Natsu wouldn't budge. He kept landing hit after hit on the ice mage, refusing to stop. The anger deep inside of him kept him going. He was getting ready for another attack but was met with a familiar face. Loke, also known as Leo the lion of the 12 zodiac.
"Loke! You of all people should understand my anger. He let Lucy get hurt but your stopping me from beating him into a bloody pulp? This isn't right and you know it GOD DAMMIT!!!" Leo smiled as he pulled Natsu away from Gray. He knew what happened but Lucy wasn't severely hurt so this fight needed to come to a end. "Lucy is okay. She's a little scraped up but she will be fine. This fight can wait for another time. You need to focus on getting back home so she can rest and heal up properly." Natsu sighed as he watched the lion shimmer and disappear as his gate was forced shut. Lucy ran right past Natsu towards Gray but was stopped as the dragon slayer grabbed a hold of her wrist. He didn't want her near that man and he would do whatever to protect her.
"I think it's time we head back home. Luce I'll carry you so you can get some rest and heal up." No one protested as he picked up the celestial mage and began their journey back home. No one was prepared for what would happen when they finally returned home.
