Chapter 2 - Wrong Decisions

Beta-read by Applegirl3223. Thank you so much!

Thanks to the people who reviewed, favorited or followed.

Disclaimer : Fairy Tail does not belong to me. I gain no profit from writing fanfiction.

Pairing(s) : One sided (?) GrUvia, LyoVia and LyoRay

Rating : T (as of yet) for minor cursing

Warning(s) : Mentions of Shounen Ai ( BoyxBoy)

I'm being followed, but why?

Gray kept his face neutral, having enough sense to not show any signs that he knew someone had been on his trail for a while. Since the Forest of Big Trees, if he wasn't mistaken. Quite a few someones actually, judging by the uneven footsteps. Whoever they were, they weren't exactly doing a perfect job of staying unnoticed. Gray fingered his necklace, his eyebrows knitting.

Gray's mission had been to travel by foot to a secluded area at the very outskirts of Magnolia. The little village wasn't well known, in fact, Gray didn't even know it existed. According to the request, magic was scarce there thus the requester wanted one Mage to introduce magic to the villagers. Gray had deduced that they probably just want the little kids to see magic in front of their eyes, poor souls. And poor they must be, for the reward was very unrewarding, a low sum of 150J. Had the place been accessible via normal transport, the reward wouldn't even have been able to cover that.

However, it had been perfect. Just the mission Gray had been searching for. It was solo, long distance, and his position was unable to be tracked by the fixed take off times of public transportation. Plus it seemed easy and safe. Even if somebody found out which mission he took, nobody would know exactly where he was nor when he would arrive, and nobody would worry over him either. Except maybe Juvia. So he could actually do something meaningful while having some alone time.

Which brings him back to why he was completely baffled at his trackers. He wasn't going to attack any dark guilds, and he wasn't getting in anybody's way. He hadn't even stripped, so no one could have seen his Fairy Tail emblem. Hell, he didn't even seem like a Mage, since he hadn't used his ice magic once since setting out. So why? Gray was pretty sure that he didn't look rich enough to be robbed.

Just who was following him, and for what purpose?

Gray took a deep breath. Better not attack them right off the bat, what if they had no ill intentions? That's exactly what stupid Natsu would do and would only ensure them that he was an enemy. Plus taking out a few thieves should be a piece of cake. So he continued to walk, leading the unknown people behind him to the village he was headed to - The Village With No Name.

Night fell, and Gray pulled out a sleeping bag and some food. He knew that he shouldn't exhaust his food resources when there was easy food nearby, but he was simply too tired. It had not been an eventful day, but the journey through small woods and a large forest had been tedious. As it was, he was very satisfied with how far he had come. He grudgingly bit into Juvia's home-made "Juvi-bread" and "Gray-bread" (seriously, she must have given him a month-long supply of them), and wondered how his fellow disciple of Ur was doing.

I bet that a day without me feels wonderful to him.

As he chuckled humorlessly, his vision blurred and his eyelids started to feel unbelievably heavy. Just before he passed out, he saw a tiny squirrel a few feet away scoot closer.

Lyon hated when Juvia concerned herself over Gray for the smallest things. Yes, her kindness and compassion were one of her best traits, but when it was over Gray Fullbuster, it became an entirely different matter.

So when Juvia started fretting over Gray's whereabouts, even though the boy hadn't been gone for one freaking day, Lyon took it upon himself to find out where his troublesome friend/rival had gone. He wasn't worried, of course he wasn't, the boy was a student of Ur. He just really wanted to get Gray off Juvia's mind. And it's not like he didn't care for Gray, he saw Gray as a stubborn little brother who gave people headaches more often than not.

But somehow his plan backfired.

"Juvia doesn't trust this mission!" Juvia put her foot down. "Now that Juvia knows where Gray-sama is headed to, Juvia is going after him."

"But, Juvia-chan, there's no need to!" Exasperated, Lyon tried to talk some sense into the girl beside him. "Can't you see? His mission isn't dangerous at all. Here, it says that any Mage would do, even a weak one with no combat abilities, and Gray can fight. It's a simple mission with no chances of casualty whatsoever."

Juvia frowned. "There's still the place. The Village With No Name? It sounds suspicious."

"No it doesn't, it just sounds long and stupid," was what Lyon wanted to say but he held his tongue. Instead, he calmly spoke a sentence that felt a little mean but had to be said.
"Do you really think that Gray would welcome your presence?"

However, Juvia did not back down. "Juvia believes that she can be of help."
"Gray has pride. Pride as Ur's disciple, pride as a Fairy Tail Mage, and pride as who he is - Gray Fullbuster. He will not want your help. He will not want to be seen as someone who couldn't even handle a simple 150J worth mission."

"Don't you trust him?"
"Juvia trusts Gray-sama with all her heart."
"Then don't go."
Juvia finally nodded stiffly. "As you say, Lyon-sama. Thank you." And she left without another word.

And Lyon didn't know, that one day he would regret his words. That one day, he would insist that Juvia search for Gray or better yet, he would make the trip himself, had he the power to turn back time.

Gray awoke to a short but unmistakably sharp blade centimeters away from his throat.
A voice hissed, "Tell us, boy. Where did you get that necklace?"

Hi guys! I finally squeezed a chapter out. The Bet isn't on hiatus or anything, I just thought I might as well update this since it hasn't been updated since June, and regrettably, the reviews for the previous chapter is still only two. Two is better than none though, so thank you! Please continue to read and review.

Oh and a little warning. Things are going to get disturbing here in a chapter or two.

-Dreams.