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Chapter 3: Worried about Gray
It wasn't his old smile; the grin that stretched from ear to ear. But it was a start nonetheless. Levy looked over the top of her book from Natsu to Elfman. She had never seen him look happier. Levy smiled to herself, she was very glad that that Elfman had gotten over his insecurities about his battle scars. Almost the entire guild had been marked in some way, but Elfman was one of the people who let it get to them the most. She looked down at the empty left sleeve of her jumper; at the place where her arm should have been. She herself had never been ashamed or embarrassed by her battle injury because she had received it protecting someone she loved…
Levy's Flashback:
In the middle of writing 'cage' in solid script, she felt a painful draining sensation and the halfway completed word vanished. Suddenly Levy heard screams, echoing all around her. What was happening? The man she had been fighting leered at her and lifted his axe above his head to strike. She desperately tried to use solid script again, but nothing happened. 'My magic,' thought Levy in terror, 'it's gone!' She flung herself sideways to avoid the attack. Luckily for her, the man's axe got stuck in what looked like the ruins of the bar counter. Levy took her chance and fled. She didn't kid herself; there was no way that someone her size could win against a man like that without magic. Even if she'd had a weapon, the man's superior strength and experience would surely have trumped her. She didn't know what to do. All around her people were fighting; she ducked and wove through the crowd, maybe if she could find-
"THIS IS IT FAIRY TAIL!" shouted a voice, louder than all the battles raging around her.
She froze, as did all the fights.
"My magic can nullify yours, none of you can use magic and you are outnumbered. Now, SURRENDER!" he ordered.
"NEVER!" came the reply.
"We'll still defeat you!" a Fairy Tail member shouted.
"You'll never beat Fairy Tail!" several voices yelled and all the battles resumed.
The man looked mildly annoyed, "fools, dig your own grave if you wish."
He opened his palm then and a huge black ball of god-knows-what sprung to life in his hands and started to swell. Obviously he as the caster could still use magic. Fairy Tail members were eyeing the ball warily, but could do nothing as they were either already involved in fights or too far away to stop him. The man threw the ball of magic and it imploded in mid-air. The explosion sent Levy and countless others flying in all directions. Members of the dark guild alliance too, the man with the nullifying magic seemed not to care who he hurt. Levy crashed into a pile of rubble. She felt her head and back connect with sharp metal. She lay where she had been thrown, dazed and felt warm liquid running down the back of her neck and back. She coughed and spat out a mouthful of blood. The world was spinning hectically around her.
"Levy?" a voice called, "are you alright?" She could just about make out a blurry figure leaning over her.
She nodded and then groaned as the action made her head spin even faster. "Laki?" she whispered, "Is that you, what happened, where did that man come from? I didn't see." She thought she saw Laki shake her head and wondered dully why Laki had decided to dye part of her hair red.
"We don't know. He just appeared all of a sudden. We think it was because… well… we were winning. Even though there are so many of them, we have stronger wizards…so we were beating them… then that man just appeared out of nowhere and the second he did, all the magic vanished. The good thing is the people from the dark alliance are affected too. But the bad thing is now their numbers really will be a problem… and they all have weapons!" said Laki.
Suddenly the earth seemed to rumble beneath them.
"Levy!" Laki cried, "we've got to move!"
The rest of the Fairy Tail guild; the parts that were still standing were shaking violently. The man's attack seemed to have pushed the building over the limits of its structural endurance! Huge chunks of concrete rained down on the battle now. Laki seized Levy and dragged her to her feet. Levy clung to her and the pair of them stumbled away from the falling building.
"Laki, Levy, HELP!" cried a voice. It was Romeo trapped under the body of some fallen enemy.
Laki looked at Levy. "Help him," Levy whispered, "I'm fine, I can walk, I'll go see if anyone else is trapped" and with that she set off, staggering through the ruins of Fairy Tail.
Laki looked after her anxiously but rushed to help Romeo, picking up a metal pole and felling two dark guild members on her way. Meanwhile Levy was trying desperately to see, well, anything. The building collapse had caused a severe dust cloud to form, making it difficult to see and rendering the situation even more perilous. Through sheer luck did the falling rocks miss the partially blind and barely standing solid script mage. She wanted to collapse, her body was shaking and it was through will-power alone that she remained erect. She wouldn't give up until she had found who she was looking for. Those four people who meant more to her than anyone: Jet, Droy, Lucy and…. Gajeel. Until she knew they were safe, she could not, would not rest. Just ahead of her a little patch of the dust was clearing. She rushed into it and saw Gajeel fighting three enemy soldiers at once. He knocked two back, but then the ground shook again and Gajeel fell, his leg twisted up in pipes and wires. Levy looked up and saw to her horror that there was a huge chunk of guild wall, wobbling, about to fall and crush him! Levy reacted instinctively. Knowing that a push from her wouldn't be enough to free him from the wires, she instead flung her whole body at him. This knocked him free of the rubble and clear of the incoming concrete, but placed Levy in its path instead. The boulder crashed to the ground. For a couple of seconds Levy was aware of the most excruciating agony, before her world went black.
She woke up, she didn't know how much later, feeling strangely lopsided. She looked down at her left side to see not an arm, but bed clothes stained scarlet with blood and the stump of her shoulder bandaged. Her stomach turned and she threw up a mixture of sick and blood onto the floor. She gagged and would have started to hyperventilate if it had not been from the arm which gripped her shoulder firmly and pushed her back onto the pillows. Gajeel. He explained that her arm had been crushed by the boulder and that they had to remove it. Under his presence she began to calm. He looked awful but he was alive. Because of that one merciful fact she didn't notice that her bed consisted of two pillows and a sheet on the floor, she didn't notice that they were still in the ruins of their guild hall, she didn't comprehend that the battle was over; the enemy gone and she didn't see her fellow guild members, lying severely wounded around her on similar makeshift beds. No, the only thing she saw was Gajeel and the intense look he was giving her.
"That was one hell of a thing to do for someone shrimp," he muttered hoarsely, "even if they are your Nakama."
Levy smiled and a kind of strangled chuckle made its way up her throat, "I didn't risk my life for you because we're Nakama, Gajeel."
His eyes widened and understanding seemed to crash upon him, he looked down solemnly. "I love you too, Levy."
She chuckled again, "stupid Gajeel," she whispered, before once again blacking out.
Levy seemed to leap back to the present. That day had come be known as 'The Day the Magic Died', the day Fairy Tail guild had defeated the dark alliance without magic. After that, the guild had become even more legendary. But the 'defeat' as it was called, hadn't really happened like that at all. They were all lucky to be alive. Levy had not been conscious when the dark alliance suddenly withdrew. Not even Fairy Tail knew why they did, but they did know that if the dark alliance hadn't left when they did, then they, Fairy Tail, would all be dead right now. The battle had had some good effects though, mused Levy. Almost dying had certainly pushed some people together, like her and Gajeel. It had strengthened bonds, making friends, siblings, everyone, closer. But then again, it had torn some people apart. Levy winced thinking of her dear Lu-chan, then roused herself. Focusing on bad things only made you miserable, she and the other guild members had learned this from experience.
While Levy was lost in thought, a new face had approached Neil and Scarlett. She must have been about twelve, had black hair in a long plat down her back, violet eyes and wore tasselled brown shorts, a plain white t-shirt and a huge grin. She dragged with her two children that looked about five and two. They had violet eyes likewise and green hair.
"Hi, I'm Connell Asuka," she said cheerily, "and these are my brother and sister." She pointed at the five year old, "This is Hana," she said, "and Isamu." indicating the two year old boy.
"Nice to meet you," said Scarlett grinning. Her and her brother jumped down from their chairs and Scarlett introduced them. Neil just stood quietly. The guild was so full, he had never been near so many people before and it unnerved him.
"Hey you sure are shy aren't you?" said Asuka, prodding Neil painfully in the ribs. "You would go great with my sister Hana," and she shoved the pair of them together so that they bumped heads. She clasped her hands, looking dreamily into the distance. "Maybe one day you'll get married."
Neither of the promised couple looked delighted at this, on the contrary they took one look at each other and went "err gross."
"Who wants to get married anyway, grown-ups are disgusting," Neil said, looking at Elfman and Evergreen who were kissing in the middle of the room.
"I know," said Scarlett fervently, pretending to throw up at the sight.
"One day you'll be like that too," said Asuka, "and then everyone will get married!"
"I think she's been spending too much time with Mira," said Bisca, looking from her daughter to Mirajane, whose expression was just a little too innocent.
"She's my little protégé!" Mira squealed, cracking under Bisca's gaze and highfiving little Asuka. "Together we will make everyone in the world a couple!" she cheered, highfiving Asuka again, much to the exasperation of the cowgirl's mother.
"You know Mira, we'll have to find you someone too," said Asuka thoughtfully, "your younger brother is going to be married before you."
Suddenly Mira was sitting in a corner of the guild, a depressed aura surrounding her, "my younger brother will be married before me." She repeated sadly.
"You know he doesn't have to be," came a voice. Mira looked up sharply, it was Freed. He reached out to grip her shoulder, but she flinched away from him. He tried to hide how much that hurt him.
"I'm sorry Freed," she whispered, "I can't."
Averting her eyes from his she walked away from him, their little exchange going unnoticed by the guild. Mira was trying very hard to keep her cool. Six years ago, before the battle and unbeknownst to the guild, she and Freed had been dating. Knowing full well that all her matchmaking victims would take every opportunity of revenge through teasing her, Mira had insisted that they keep their relationship a secret. It had all been going so well until that day. Mira cursed the day that had destroyed her life; The Day the Magic Died. Watching Mira's retreating back Freed mentally slapped himself, why the hell did he say that to her? They had broken up six years ago after the battle and she had always avoided him since then. She hadn't given him a reason, just ended it. But even after all this time he hadn't gotten over Mirajane Strauss. He remembered miserably the day of the battle and how it was almost the best day of his life.
Freed's Flashback:
Before the guild had invaded, The Day the Magic Died had been just like any other day at Fairy Tail. But for him it was going to be a very significant day. He and Mira had been dating, albeit secretly, for almost 9 months. It wasn't long but he just knew she was the one. The only person he cared about more than Laxus. He was nervous. Mira wasn't at the guild yet. His heart was racing as he stared fixedly at the entrance to the guild. Typically for him, she came in the back entrance putting him all in a fluster as she just popped up behind him. He went bright crimson in the face and started babbling about front doors and other nonsense. She just laughed charmingly at him. He was going to do it now, before he chickened out.
"Freed I need to tell you something," she said, completely disarming him. Her face was all flushed and she was fiddling with her skirt nervously.
"Me too," he said.
She smiled, "You fir-"
CRASH
The guild seemed to rumble.
"What in Mavis' name is that?" someone shouted.
Suddenly the front of the guild was blown apart and hundreds of men and wizards were charging into their guild, declaring war. Before he knew it everyone was fighting. And he had missed his chance.
He would have tried to ask her again, if she had not ended it the first time they met after the battle. She hadn't given him a reason. He had thought over that day a million times, analysed their conversation a million times. At first he had guessed that the thing she was going to tell him was that she had found someone else. But she hadn't dated anyone in six years, he was sure of that. Not that he had been following her or anything. Eventually he gave up on that theory; his new one was that he must have done something very wrong. It was the only thing that would explain her behaviour, why she always flinched away from him like she was repulsed by his touch. He longed to know the truth, but more than anything he longed for her to be his once more.
During this time, Scarlett had wandered over to the mission board away from Asuka and the others. Her attention span rarely lasted longer than 30 seconds and she certainly wasn't interested in conversations about love or any other disgusting things like that. So she went to explore, dragging her nervous brother with her. She stared at the all the requests. She looked at Nab, who was as always hovering by it, never to actually choose a request. Not that Scarlett knew this of course.
"Mister, how do you know what mission to take?" she asked, tugging on his elbow.
"Oh I wouldn't be asking him," said Wakaba sauntering over, "here kids; I'll lay it out nice and simple for you. You pick the one which is written best. You see a job request should be like a mini skirt, long enough to cover everything but short enough to keep it interesting-"
"I hope you're not putting indecent ideas into these children's heads Wakaba," said Erza, casually unsheathing a sword.
"N-no, of course not, I-I," he trailed off under Erza's terrifying glare and ran to hide behind Gildarts.
"Erza," squealed Scarlett happily, she hadn't noticed before that Erza had followed them from the bar.
"Erza, we-" Neil looked at his sister, she nodded at him. He took a deep breath. Deciding out of the blue, that this was as good a moment as any to ask what he and his sister had planned to ask since the moment they set off towards Fairy Tail. "We've been wanting to ask for a little while, if it-if it would be alright if we joined Fairy Tail?"
Everyone in the guild went quiet yet again. The master jumped down from his seat and walked over to where the children and Erza were standing. Neil's question had surprised everyone, but the master most of all. After the battle, Fairy Tail had had no new recruits. Although they were admired and respected, people only had to look and the scarred members of the guild to decide they wanted to join somewhere less impressive and safer. No one had asked to join in six years, until now.
"Okay but why do you want to join Fairy Tail, children?" he asked.
The children looked at each other again, "Because it's the best guild ever!" they yelled smiling.
And no one could disagree with that.
The mood of the guild brightened even more. Lisanna sprinted off to get the guild stamp and master got all tearful during the stamping (in other word's the official introduction) of Fairy Tail's new recruits. Neil asked for a green stamp and Scarlett a red. But Natsu noticed with a jolt that both the children wanted it on the back of their right hand. The same place that Lucy had hers.
That reminded him. Just where the hell was Gray? If he had found anything, Natsu needed to know as soon as possible.
"Where is Gray?" Natsu demanded loudly, "I thought he was due back yesterday."
"Worried about me?" came a voice from the doorway.
Everyone in the guild turned to look. It was Gray leaning heavily on the side of the door. His clothes were torn and bloody and he looked badly injured.
"You look like shit Gray," said Gajeel.
"Yeah well I was attacked, what your excuse for looking like that Metal-face."
Gajeel hissed but restrained from springing at Gray because of the state he was in. The rest of the guild stared at Gray. Erza walked towards him, she looked anxious and questioning. Gray sighed and hobbled inside the entrance.
"That's right," he said, "I was attacked."
Please Review gang, reading them really makes my day. (And a TON of love to you people who have reviewed more than once, you know who you are!)
So we still don't really know what happened to Gray, sorry about that. And whats Mira's problem with Freed? Stay tuned to find out.
This chapter is named after 'Worried about Ray' by the Hoosiers.