Day 3: Alone. I love how Erza and Gray interact with each other. Passionately caring but otherwise act indifferent.
"Are you okay?" Gray whispered to Erza. She had her face buried in her arms with her knees up. They were sitting in a filthy holding cell, after being caught in their latest espacade.
"Yeah." Erza answered shakily. "I just hate prisons."
Gray knew that was a lie. What had Erza so shaken was the fact that there were slaves working in the mansion they were being held in. It must be bringing back bad memories from the Tower of Heaven. And Jellal.
Gray's face twisted into a scowl. The thought of everything that Erza bad went through not only brought a bad taste in his mouth at how he has treated her after her escape into Fairy Tail, but only made him clench his fists in rage.
Gray hated the thought of Erza having to suffer so much. "Gray? Do you have a lighter?" Erza asked tentatively. "I don't like the dark. It reminds me of when..." She trailed off. "Never mind."
"No." Gray protested. He dug into his pockets. He had gotten the lighter when he had started to smoke. Gray had long quit, but carrying the lighter around had become a habit. A habit he hated since it reminded him quite a bit of Natsu.
"Here." He flicked the lighter open and handed it to Erza. "Thanks." She nodded taking the lighter and pressing it to a piece of wood to start a fire. Erza sighed in relief watching the cell light up in a warm glow.
Erza looked at Gray shyly. "I don't like to be alone in the dark so uh, thanks for being here with me. I guess it's better it'd you than someone else."
Gray smiled. "I won't ever leave you alone." She stared at him bemused. "Uh I mean you'll always have my support."
Erza nodded her thanks. "Speaking of someone else, where are Natsu and Lucy? Happy should've told them of what happened to us hours ago."
Gray gave a half shrug. "I'm sure they're on their way." Erza nodded at his words, but she still looked uneasy. It was so unusual to see Erza acting weak and vulnerable, that Gray's heart gave a pang. He scooted over and grabbed her hand.
"I'm here. Okay? And together we'll shut down this guy's operation and free all of these people."
"Gray." Erza whispeed, her eyes shining with unshed tears. Inconsiously the two moved towards each other, their faces drawing closer and closer. Just as their lips were about to meet a voice interrupted them.
"Yo." The two separated so quickly one would think they had to run a marathon. Natsu's bright pink head popped up staring at them cheerfully.
"Natsu be a little quieter!" Lucy scolded. "We're rescuing Gray and Erza, we don't want to be caught ourselves."
"Aye." Happy chimed in.
Lucy glanced at Erza and Gray and immediately ordered Natsu to let them out. With a Fire Dragon's Iron Fist, both mages were safely out of the cell. The prison went through quite some damage however.
"Good." Erza said vehemently when Lucy pointed it out.
After exchanging glances in order to convey Erza's desire to destroy these people who were exploiting innocents, they all marched on to do that very thing.
They picked fights with every single guard until they found the owner. Questrin, sat upon his throne watching them amused.
"You all think you can fight me? Do you all have any idea who I am? I am Questrin..." The Fairy Tail mages tuned out as Questrin began his typical and cliche evil guy speech.
"...And so I am guaranteed to be the victor. And you are flies. Complete trash that cannot hope to reach my feet."
They nodded along. When there was a significant pause Natsu broke in. "Are you done? Like can we start the fight."
Questrin laughed a the thought and summoned his minions. Gray scowled at his attitude and privately vowed to destroy him. "He's mine. Keep the others out of my way." Gray yelled ignoring Natsu and started to fight the bastard.
The sad thing was that they were all pathetic. The fight was over before it started. The minions had fled and Questrin was begging for mercy.
At that point Erza stepped into his line of view. "Like the mercy you gave those who you forced to work for you?" She brandished her sword and using the hilt knocked him out. "You deserve to meet justice. Not to be given mercy."
She sneered at his mere presence in the universe and stalked off. Gray followed her out. Erza was standing outside, and the wind was blowing lightly. Her hair went flying behind her.
"Thank you Gray. You're support meant a lot." Erza told him without looking at him. She was staring out into the distance instead.
"It was no problem after I lo- I mean you're a really special friend of mine. Of course I would support you." He continued to stammer, unknowing of how he should react with the way Erza was acting.
He finally stopped when Erza turned around to look at him. She smiled and pressed a kiss to his cheek. "Still. Thank you."
Gray's heart stopped beating for a moment and he stared dumbly into the distance. Erza's smile widened as she walked past him.
He whipped around and stared after her. It took him awhile to process what happened. Slowly his lips curled into a smile. There was still hope for him and her. For them.
