Note: Kind of a long chapter. But it was almost 11k words before I cut out 2k while editing, so you're welcome lol I thought I might be able to cut out some major chunks, but when I went back to reread it I realized exactly how much foreshadowing and subtle background info is here. Plus there's some setup for later stuff. So you get to read it all anyway :3
Chapter 4
(In which a story is told and Gray is smarter than he looks.)
Their guide was a short, dark-skinned man wrapped in white robes. As promised, he had a large green amulet around his neck that was hard to miss, being almost the size of a man's fist. Lucy and Erza were waiting with him, exactly where Gray had left them a few minutes earlier.
Gray glanced at Natsu and Happy out of the corner of his eye as they made their way over to join the group, briefly wondering what in the world had gotten into them. Then he shrugged it off. It probably wasn't a big deal, and he had way bigger problems to deal with than one fire-breathing idiot and his feline sidekick.
"Oh good, you found them," Erza said approvingly. Gray shrugged and nodded, and she turned to their guide. "Well, this is all of us."
"Ah, hello," the villager said, his speech heavily accented. "I guide you to village. Is two, two and one-half hour walk. Normally I would bring horses so journey is faster, but the, ah, the dark guild has taken them. We will walk, but not now. You have arrived in very hottest part of afternoon. Travel is not good during this time."
"It already took us five hours to get here," Natsu said. He grinned in the way he did when anticipating a fight. "I'm ready to get started."
Gray rolled his eyes. What an idiot.
"You might not have a problem with the heat, but the rest of us are human," he said dryly. "Even among the people who live here, this time of the afternoon is usually reserved for resting instead of work. Not running around in the desert when the sun is directly overhead reduces our chances of heat exhaustion and dehydration."
Natsu still looked skeptical, but their guide nodded. "Your friend, he is right. In desert, it is much hotter than it is here. Better to wait for sun to travel a little farther. In one, two hours, sun will not strike us as directly. Still, it will be hot, but not so dangerous."
"You're the guide, so we'll trust your judgement," Erza said. She gave Natsu a quelling look and he stayed quiet, although he rolled his eyes and looked mutinous. "What do you suggest we do, then?"
"In one and one-half hours, we meet back here and I take you to village," the man said. "Until then, you can perhaps explore the town? There is big outdoor market here, down that street in the, ah, main square. Also, there is food for sale if you are hungry. I apologize for delay."
"It's alright," Erza assured him. "We understand that we arrived at an inconvenient time. We'll go check out the market and meet you here in an hour and a half."
She ushered the team down the street their guide had indicated, leaving the man standing behind them, shaking his head. Gray didn't blame him. Poor guy hadn't even seen exactly how weird they could get yet.
"I want to just go already," Natsu grumbled.
"He represents the client," Erza said firmly. "We'll do things his way."
Gray silently agreed, although he understood where Natsu was coming from. He himself was impatient to get going, mostly because he wanted to get this over with as quickly as possible. Even here in town, outside the perimeter of the actual desert, the sun was beating down and the air was uncomfortably warm. Downright hot, really. And it would only get worse from here.
"Did you happen to catch his name?" Gray asked, hoping to forestall Natsu's inevitable complaints.
"Kind of?" Lucy said, although her tone was uncertain. "Well, he told us what it was, but it was in a different language or something and it's completely unpronounceable."
"Oh well. I think we'll manage without it."
The group of friends turned a corner and found themselves staring at a sprawling nest of colorful tents and stalls. It was crowded and loud, with vendors hawking their wares and potential customers bustling about the plaza as they browsed the selection. Some people were wearing more normal, modern clothing, while others wore traditional clothing that suggested they had traveled in from their native tribes in the desert to trade, or at least wanted buyers to think that they had. Even from here, Gray could tell that there was a wide variety of goods for sale, much of it with ethnic roots, and an enticing aroma of food hung in the air. This was a town with one foot in the modern age and one foot in the traditional past, with modern travelers and townsfolk mingling with people who still followed the old ways.
"Wow," Lucy breathed.
"Indeed," Erza agreed. Her keen eyes traveled over the gathered stalls, and Gray could tell the exact moment she spotted one with a vast array of gleaming weaponry displayed, all of it intricately decorated and wickedly sharp. Her eyes brightened. "Why don't we all split up and explore? Just make sure to meet back at the appointed time and place."
Before anyone could say anything else, she hurried away, making a beeline for the weaponry stand. Gray chuckled and shook his head. Some things never changed.
"I'm so hungry," Natsu moaned. He was looking around with great interest, sniffing at the air. "I'm going to go find something to eat. Come on, Happy!"
Natsu's appetite was one of them. Gray rolled his eyes as the dragon slayer and his Exceed quickly disappeared into the crush of pedestrians.
Gray glanced over at Lucy and raised an eyebrow. "Well, I guess we might as well take a look around, then."
"Yeah. I think I saw a tent over there with magical trinkets and things. Who knows, maybe I can find something cool," she said.
Always fishing for keys, that one.
"Alright, I'll see you later."
Gray headed into the chaotic maze and drifted along for a while, absently looking over the different items for sale, although he wasn't looking for anything in particular. At one point he decided he'd better get something to eat, because he knew from experience that heat killed his appetite and he figured that it would be a good idea to get a meal now, before eating became an unpleasant chore. He bought something called falafel from a food vendor, and slowly nibbled at the fried balls of chickpeas as he pulled them out of the flatbread pocket they were served in. The heat was already starting to do a number on his appetite though, and he eventually abandoned the attempt.
As interesting as Gray found the market, everyone pressing together was making the temperature rise, and the crush of people was starting to make him…not claustrophobic, exactly, but uncomfortable. Walking determinedly away from the center of the marketplace, he finally managed to break free and breathed a sigh of relief. It was still hot, but at least there weren't people pushing in on him from all sides anymore.
Noticing the shops lining the edge of the plaza, he chose one at random and headed inside. He would have to deal with the full brunt of the desert heat later, so it seemed prudent to cheat a little now and get out of the sun for a few minutes. The shop he picked happened to be for textiles, and the shopkeeper was a young woman with dark hair and eyes who was more than happy to tell him all about the different kinds of rugs and fabrics she was selling. For his part, Gray was more than happy to pretend to listen to her. She was nice enough and he occasionally smiled and asked a question so that she didn't feel like she was talking to a wall, but mostly he let his mind drift.
He wasn't sure how long he had been there before the little bell by the shop door tinkled.
"Gray!"
Gray turned to see Lucy in the doorway. The blonde let the door shut behind her, glanced around at all the fabrics lining the walls, and then raised an eyebrow at him.
"Excuse me for a moment." Gray smiled apologetically at the shopkeeper, who blushed and nodded as she smiled back.
"What's up, Luce?" he asked, heading over to his friend.
"It's about time to meet up."
He frowned in surprise. "Oh really? Guess we'd better go, then."
Lucy grinned at him mischievously, and some of the heat-induced torpor he had been experiencing for the past hour or so evaporated into suspicion.
"Well, I mean, if you're quite done flirting," she said slyly, lowering her voice.
"What?"
"Aren't you flirting with her?" Lucy asked, her eyes twinkling impishly.
Gray rolled his eyes. "Hardly. To be honest, I just wanted to get inside and this is the shop I happened to pick. She's been trying to sell me rugs and things the whole time. That's all."
Lucy snickered. "Maybe so, but she's been flirting with you."
"If you say so," he said, giving her a funny look. Remembering the food in his hand, he offered it to Lucy. "Here, do you want this?"
She immediately looked suspicious. "Why? Is it bad?"
Good grief, did everyone assume that every nice thing he did was a trick?
"No, it's pretty good, I guess," he said with a sigh. "I'm just not really hungry."
Lucy's eyebrows shot up. "You aren't hungry?" she asked incredulously.
"I'm not a bottomless pit like Natsu. When it's hot out, I don't always feel like eating. Look, do you want it or not?"
"No, I already ate."
"Alright, then. Let me go say goodbye and then we can head to the check-in spot," Gray said, shrugging apathetically.
Lucy immediately grinned again. "Need to say goodbye to your new girlfriend?"
Gray let out a breath. He was too hot and tired to deal with this right now. He knew Lucy was joking, but honestly.
"She's been stuck talking to me about rugs for an hour," he said. "The least I can do is say goodbye before ducking out without buying anything."
Leaving Lucy snickering behind him, he quickly stepped back over to where the shopkeeper was busily rummaging around in a drawer, pretending like she wasn't attempting to eavesdrop on their conversation.
"I have to go now, but thank you for all the information you gave me. It was fascinating," Gray told her.
She looked up and smiled brightly. "No problem. It was my pleasure."
Gray nodded and began to turn away, before a thought struck him. "Hey, do you like falafel? I'm not hungry and Lucy doesn't want it."
The girl flushed and giggled. "Sure."
He handed over the food in question, relieved to be rid of it.
"Thank you," she said shyly.
"No problem. Have a nice day." Gray turned away and headed back over to Lucy.
"Come back soon!" the shopkeeper called after him as he and Lucy exited the store.
Gray waved a hand in acknowledgement but didn't bother turning around. He wouldn't be back, but there was no point saying that. He grimaced when the heat assaulted him as soon as he set foot outside.
"Aw, you gave her your food. How cute!" Lucy teased as the two friends began working their way around the edge of the square.
"You didn't want it," Gray said, trying to keep the exasperation out of his voice. "What did you want me to do? Throw it away?"
"You could have brought it back with us. Maybe one of the others would want it."
Gray rolled his eyes again. "For one, I'm not going to give Natsu anything after he dragged me out here. He can fend for himself, and I'm sure that he and Happy already ate half the food in town anyway. And Erza will be too distracted by the prospect of a mission to really be interested."
"If you say so," Lucy said with a laugh.
He just bit the inside of his cheek and held his tongue until the crowd thinned out and they arrived at the meeting place. Everyone else was already waiting there.
"Oh good, you finally decided to show up," Erza said, giving them a hard look.
Gray sighed and opened his mouth to apologize for losing track of time, but Lucy beat him to the punch.
"Gray was too distracted building his harem," she said cheerfully.
Gray's head immediately whipped around and he stared at her with wide eyes, his mouth working soundlessly.
"What the hell?" he spluttered finally.
Lucy just smiled back, playing innocent.
"Just what exactly were you doing, Gray?" Erza asked.
Gray looked over at her helplessly, only to see that she and the others were fighting not to laugh.
He scowled and turned on Lucy. "I told you, I was just killing time. She was trying to sell me a rug."
"You can't possibly be so oblivious that you didn't notice she was flirting outrageously with you."
Gray rubbed at his eyes wearily, wondering what he had done to deserve this. "I wasn't really paying attention," he said tiredly. "And in any case, how does one girl—a girl that I have no romantic interest in, to boot—constitute a harem?"
"Well, there's also Juvia…"
"Don't remind me," Gray groaned, ignoring her obnoxious snickering. Shaking his head, he looked over at their guide. "Can we go now?"
The man was eyeing them warily, but nodded. Reaching down to the large pack resting by his feet, he pulled out some canteens and passed them out to the assembled mages. "I have brought for you water, for the journey."
Gray slipped the canteen into his pack and, while he was at it, pulled out an extra shirt. Pulling his t-shirt over his head, he paused when Lucy started laughing again.
"What now?" he muttered.
"I know it's hot," Erza said, scowling at him, "but can you not strip in the middle of town?"
Gray stared at her blankly for a moment and then rolled his eyes. Dropping the discarded shirt into his bag, he tugged on the spare one.
"Chill out," he grumbled. "I'm just changing."
Her eyebrows rose, but it was Natsu who vocalized what everyone was thinking.
"What in the world are you doing?" he asked. "I can see why you'd do your stupid stripping thing because it's hot, but why the hell are you putting more clothes on? And long sleeves? Really?"
Gray sighed. "Relax. It's lightweight material, it's white so it will reflect heat better, and the long sleeves will protect my skin from the sun," he explained.
"That doesn't make sense," Natsu muttered.
"No, your friend is wise," their guide interrupted. "You have pale skin, unused to strong sun, yes? Also, it will help prevent dehydration."
Gray nodded in acknowledgment. "Yeah, pretty much."
The first time he had been in a desert, it had seemed counterintuitive to cover up. His first thought had been to strip down because it was hot, but his skin went from white to burned in a heartbeat under the harsh desert sun. The last thing he needed right now was to end up with burned and blistered skin before they'd even found the troublesome dark guild. He would have thought that his skin would be able to handle the sun better with how often he lost his shirt, but his first desert experience had quickly disabused him of that notion.
"I think it's just because he wanted to attract more girls to his harem with his strip tease," Lucy disagreed, her eyes sparkling with mirth.
Gray fought back a scowl. He had had just about enough of that, and he was going to put a stop to it right now. Instead of glowering at the annoying blonde, Gray gave her an indulgent smile.
"I'm sorry, Lucy," he apologized, keeping his voice pleasant. "I didn't realize that you were so jealous. I should have thought about your feelings."
Lucy immediately turned red and tried to backpedal. "I'm not–not…you…I…"
"It's okay, Luce," Gray said kindly, trying to smother a laugh at how easily flustered she was. "I'll try to be more considerate of your feelings in the future."
"She lllllllikes him!" Happy purred, snickering.
Lucy buried her face in her hands. "Oh my God."
Erza, Natsu, and their guide were all staring at the pair with flabbergasted expressions, and Gray finally started laughing as he took in everyone's faces.
"How about I make you a deal, Lucy?" he said, grinning at her as she peeked out at him from between her fingers. "If you stop trying to make me into the Casanova of your latest romance novel, I'll stop teasing you. Truce?"
"Truce," she said gratefully, although she still looked terribly embarrassed.
"Good. If you need a model for your novel that badly, pick on Natsu. He's got pink hair. That's, like, the color of love or whatever. Although you might have to make him into the heroine with hair like that…"
"Hey!"
Gray snickered, pleased to have managed to annoy Natsu as well. It was honestly the least that fool deserved right now.
"I may have spoken too hastily," the guide remarked, eyeing Gray and the others with a mixture of amusement and disbelieving bewilderment. "Perhaps 'wise' was too strong a word."
Gray just chuckled and brushed it off. The guide's interjection reminded everyone of the mission at hand, and the Fairy Tail mages quickly settled back down to business.
"We go now," the villager said.
"Lead on," Erza agreed.
The group headed out of the town. Erza and Lucy were talking about what they had found in the marketplace and asking their guide questions, Happy and Natsu chiming in from time to time. Gray tried to pay attention, but now that his good humor was fading, he was hyperaware of the heat again. It was making him tired and sluggish, so he walked along mostly in silence, although he occasionally offered a comment or two.
The edge of the desert was only a few miles outside the town, and Gray reflected that it was kind of weird how clear and abrupt the shift was. The others crossed it like it was nothing, still caught up in their conversation, but Gray hesitated a moment at the edge, staring down at that line of sand.
If he was being honest with himself, it wasn't only the word 'desert' that had made him have such a strong reaction to this job. The truth was that although Gray had been in a few different deserts before, he had also been in this particular one. This was the same desert he had almost died in a couple years back—the last one he had faced before swearing off of deserts entirely.
It would definitely be different this time. For one, he wasn't on his own. Aside from that, he was better prepared to deal with this desert now, because he had learned valuable lessons last time and wouldn't make the same stupid mistakes again. The only danger this desert held now was bad memories. That was all.
There was a slight scuffing sound behind him and he jumped in surprise, whipping around to see Natsu standing there, an unusually solemn expression plastered on his face. Gray stared back stupidly, wondering how he hadn't noticed Natsu falling behind him. He must have been pretty distracted.
"Are you okay?" Natsu asked.
Gray couldn't read his tone or expression, and had no idea what his friend was thinking. Well, regardless, this wasn't the time to be having second thoughts. He forced a smile and turned back to study the edge of the desert again.
"Yeah," he said. "It's fine."
Footsteps crunched quietly in the sand as the dragon slayer moved up to stand beside him. Gray glanced over, noticing that Natsu was watching him with that strange, somber expression again. He didn't know what to make of it.
Natsu arched an eyebrow and lifted a foot as he made to cross into the desert. Gray nodded silently, let out a breath, and stepped into the desert alongside his friend.
The journey to the village was two and a half hours of misery. Sure, Gray was more uncomfortable than anything else and the heat wasn't too hard to handle yet, but he was still relieved to see their destination appear.
"I take you to meet our leader," the guide said as they walked up to the little cluster of houses. "He wishes to explain to you our problem and offer you dinner."
Gray nodded absently and wiped some of the sweat off his face, grimacing slightly at the sticky dampness. He didn't get why some people actually liked the heat, if only because sweating was so damn annoying. Pushing aside his discomfort, he let Erza do the talking as he studied the client village curiously.
It was small, with perhaps a few dozen adobe houses and outbuildings. A few dark-skinned villagers bustled about, eyeing the outsiders with a mixture of curiosity and wariness as they were led to a large building at the other end of the encampment. Their guide briefly introduced them to the tall man standing just inside who was the leader of the village, and then ducked back out.
"Hello," the leader said, smiling at the little group. His voice had a slight, lilting accent, but he spoke the common tongue perfectly. "I am grateful that you have come to help us. Please come inside."
He ushered them out of the entranceway and into a larger room where a table was set with earthenware dishes. The mages obediently sat down when he gestured for them to do so, and a couple villagers appeared from another room and quietly began dishing out food. Gray settled back gratefully. There wasn't any artificial cooling here, but the building was built to be functional and it was much cooler than the outside air.
"I would be honored if you would dine with me," the man told them. "We can discuss the nature of our problem over dinner, and then I have had rooms prepared for you to spend the night, since it will be too late to start traveling by the time we have finished."
Gray nodded in acceptance. The train ride had been long, they had been delayed at the town, and then they'd had to walk a couple hours just to get here. All that had taken up most of the day already, and it would be impractical to go chasing after a dark guild at night.
Erza opened her mouth, but Natsu managed to speak up first, making Gray wince slightly since he was not exactly known for being diplomatic.
"Okay, so you're the leader guy," the dragon slayer said. "But can you repeat your name? I didn't catch it when you were introduced."
Thankfully the village leader looked more amused than offended, and good-naturedly repeated his name. It was in the traditional tongue and was just as impossible to remember this time as it had been when their guide had spoken it a few minutes before.
"I don't think I can even say that," Natsu said, pulling a face.
The leader laughed. "Outsiders often have difficulty pronouncing our names," he replied with a smile, clearly familiar with this complaint. "You are welcome to call me whatever you wish."
Natsu immediately perked up, and Gray sensed a moment of epic stupidity coming on.
"Ooh, can I call you Bob?"
Gray groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose. Why did he have to put up with such an idiot?
"No," he said with a shudder. "That sounds too much like Master Bob from Blue Pegasus, and we definitely don't want that."
Natsu pouted, but brightened after a second. "Oh, I know! Why don't we do codenames? I've always wanted to do codenames." He narrowed his eyes and studied their host, who looked faintly bemused. "You can be…Desert Hawk. Yeah."
"Codenames?" Lucy asked skeptically.
"Yeah, it makes us sound cool," Natsu said happily. "I can be Fire Dragon. Happy can be…Blue Jay."
"That's so lame," Happy complained. "How come you get to be a dragon and I'm a stupid bird?"
"Because you're blue and you fly like a bird," Natsu explained patiently. Then he turned to study Gray thoughtfully. "You can be…Puddle."
Gray stared at him. "Puddle," he repeated flatly.
Natsu shrugged. "Well, I was going to say Snowman, but then I thought that snowmen melt in the heat, so in the desert you would be a puddle."
Gray wasn't sure whether to laugh or smack Natsu upside the head, but luckily Lucy intervened before he had time to decide.
"What about me and Erza?" she asked.
"Oh no," Erza interrupted, frowning at Natsu. "I don't want to hear what he comes up with for us. In any case, you're being impolite, Natsu. Be quiet and eat your food." The dragon slayer shrugged and began attacking his meal with vigor, and Erza turned to their host. "I apologize. He isn't our brightest mage, but he doesn't mean to be rude."
The newly-christened Desert Hawk had watched Natsu's antics with an air of amusement, and now smiled reassuringly at Erza.
"It is alright," he told her. "He is just very enthusiastic." He tilted his head slightly to study Natsu. "Just out of curiosity, why Desert Hawk?"
Natsu smirked around a mouthful of food. "You live in the desert and your nose reminds me of a hawk's beak."
That sounded vaguely insulting, but thankfully the village leader didn't seem offended. All the same, Erza seemed prepared to step in and distract him just in case he changed his mind.
"Would you like to tell us about this dark guild?" she asked, clearing her throat to get everyone's attention.
The leader nodded and began talking, and Gray absently picked at his food as he listened. The temperature was starting to cool off a little as evening drew closer, but it was still hot and he didn't have much of an appetite. It seemed rude not to eat anything, though, so he methodically worked on choking some of it down.
"It was perhaps three or four months ago when the dark guild moved into our desert," the leader explained. "At first we did not know what they were doing and they did not bother us, so we left them alone. Then, about two months ago, they began raiding our village. They take our food and water and horses. We are a peaceful people and none of us have magic of our own even if we wanted to fight back, so we tolerated this behavior for a time.
"Then, a few weeks ago, they began taking our people. They took many of our young men, and also our…ah, I am unsure what you would call her. A wise woman, perhaps? She is learned in the old ways—storyteller and healer both. We have tolerated the raids until now, but I cannot allow these outsiders to kidnap my people."
Erza frowned, abandoning her meal to tap her fingers thoughtfully against the table's surface. "Why would they want your people? And what are they doing here in the first place? Your request mentioned something about a lost city and an amulet. How do those fit in?"
The man grimaced faintly. "There are stories among many tribes of a great city that once ruled this land but has long since been lost to the sands. The people of this city laid claim to a good deal of gold and jewels, which were lost with the city when it was swallowed by the sands. It has been a draw for treasure hunters ever since. The city's location is unknown to most, but this dark guild somehow received a tip that it was nearby. They have been excavating this area, but were not having much luck until a few weeks ago.
"They had an interest in us only because we are the closest village—an easy source of supplies for them to take at will. However, they must have learned that we know where the city is, and that is when they began the kidnapping. I believe they took our wise woman because she is the keeper of the old ways and knows all about the legend. I cannot imagine that she told them the location because it is a very taboo place to us, but somehow they found it anyway. They have been taking our young men to force them to help dig up the ruins. One of those men escaped and told us that the guild has discovered the city and is currently uncovering it in their search for the amulet."
Lucy nodded slowly. "What exactly is so special about this amulet?"
Gray gave up on eating and surreptitiously transferred the remainder of his food to Natsu's plate, since the dragon slayer had already wolfed down his meal and looked like he was considering asking for seconds. Natsu frowned over at him and raised an eyebrow in silent question, but Gray just shrugged and turned his attention back to the story being told.
"To understand the power of the amulet, I must tell you the legend of the city," their host said with a sigh, leaning back in his chair to find a more comfortable position. "We were once a nomadic people, as many desert tribes are. Long ago there were fewer permanent villages, and most tribes roamed the sands. One of these tribes was particularly warlike and worshipped a fearsome god that controlled the winds and sands of the desert, using his powers to kill and destroy as he wished.
"At first the tribe was not bothered because they believed they had some immunity because of the worship they gave this god, but then something changed. Some of the stories say that they just got greedy and power-hungry, while others say that their god turned on them and sent desert storms to destroy them. Whatever the case, they decided that they needed a way to control their god. This god had a book, a large tome of spells and enchantments that he drew power from. The tribe set out to hunt down this book and eventually found it, stealing it right out from under their god's nose.
"This gave them some control over their god, but it was not enough for them." He sighed again and frowned contemplatively at the table. "They got greedy for power, realizing that with the power of their god behind them, they would be unstoppable. So they created the amulet. It was made of a large ruby that their magicians layered with binding enchantments and used to seal their god. They found a way to channel the god's power through it and used it to subjugate the other tribes, forcing them to pay tribute and work in the mines of gold and jewels that were discovered in the sands.
"They became very powerful and built up a colossal city in which to hoard their wealth, abandoning their nomadic lifestyle. For many years they ruled the desert, but they became complacent. The binding spells on the amulet were not permanent, and the seal began to weaken. One day it cracked, and the damage to the stone was enough to let the god trapped inside lash out. He unleashed his wrath on the city and its inhabitants, who were buried under the sands. Everyone there died and the storms raged for days, but in the end the seal was not weakened enough for the god to escape completely and he fell silent.
"The amulet is buried within the city, and it is very dangerous still. If the dark guild finds it, they could perhaps use its power to further their own dark ends. Alternatively, with the seal weakened, it is also possible that the amulet would be uncontrollable and unleash enough power to lay waste to the entire area. Neither outcome is ideal, which is why I am asking you to stop these people before they uncover a magic too dangerous for them to handle."
Silence fell over the gathered mages, who exchanged uncertain glances.
"How much of this legend do you actually believe?" Lucy asked finally.
"All of it," the leader replied solemnly. "The city is real and we have known of its existence for a long time. It is a forbidden place to us, and my people will not set foot there willingly. Do not underestimate the power of the amulet. It is dangerous."
Gray remained quiet as Erza asked a few more questions. None of the questions were important enough to really catch his attention, not when something else about the story had unsettled him. He was so distracted thinking about the oddity that he barely noticed when the meal came to an end and they were pointed down a hallway to where rooms had been set up for them.
Once they were out of earshot of their host, they began discussing the situation quietly.
"How much of this story do you think is actually true?" Lucy asked.
Erza shrugged. "It seems like the villagers believe it all, and although I think that some of it might be fiction, the legend is probably at least based on fact. We shouldn't take anything for granted."
"Except that there's a god trapped in an amulet," Natsu said dryly.
Gray looked up. "A god seems unlikely. I don't believe in that. But that doesn't mean that this amulet isn't dangerous. It's possible that it's nothing more than a folktale, but it could also contain powerful magic, god or not. But there's also another possibility…"
He trailed off for a moment, frowning at the floor again. "Did you notice that he mentioned that this 'god' somehow got his power from a book? That sounds less like a god and more like a demon."
There was a collective intake of breath, and he suspected that he'd see some pretty interesting expressions if he looked up.
"I didn't even consider that the book might be important," Happy muttered.
"It might not be." Gray shrugged. "Honestly, the whole thing is probably a fake. The chances of it being a demon are very low, but…it seemed like an odd coincidence."
"The tribe did supposedly worship this entity as a god," Erza said slowly. "A demon by any other name…Well, you're right that it's unlikely, but we can't dismiss it out of hand."
"Would the sealing thing work if it was a demon?" Lucy asked. "I mean, a demon of the Books of Zeref would be very powerful, and it sounds like the tribal mages just used a few spells. I thought that sealing such a powerful demon would have to be more…"
She trailed off and Gray flinched. Glancing up, he saw that a horrified look had crossed her face and she had clamped a hand over her mouth as she stared at him with wide eyes.
"Sacrificial?" he suggested tightly.
"I'm sorry," she said quickly. "I didn't mean…"
He waved her off and smiled wanly. "I wouldn't know since I only have experience with…with one type of sealing." He pursed his lips and returned his gaze to the ground. "Most spells with the power to seal something of that magnitude have at least some kind of sacrificial component, though. Perhaps there was a sacrifice and the details were lost to history. On the other hand, perhaps the reason the stone cracked in the first place was that the sealing ritual wasn't powerful enough. Then again, there's no real proof that this is a demon at all. I just thought I'd point it out as being a possibility, however unlikely."
There were some halfhearted nods and Lucy apologized profusely a few more times before disappearing into one of the rooms with Erza. Gray pushed his way into the other room, Natsu and Happy following behind him. The room was sparsely furnished with only a couple low beds and a door that presumably led to some kind of restroom accommodations.
He was about to lay claim to one of the beds when Natsu shut the door, grabbed his arm, and spun him around. Gray made a surprised sound, his eyes widening slightly as he took in Natsu's grim expression. The dragon slayer had been unusually quiet for the past few minutes, but apparently he was ready to say something now.
"What–?"
"I don't know if this is a demon," Natsu said. He leaned forward to stare at Gray, something cold and hard glinting in his eyes. "But if it is, you will not even think about using iced shell, or I will kill you myself."
Gray stared back at him for several long seconds, too startled to move, and then swallowed thickly. He had no intention of using a spell like that except as a last resort, but if there was no other way to save his friends, then he would use it without a second thought. But that wasn't what Natsu wanted to hear.
"Of course not," he said, averting his gaze. "I don't want it to come to that any more than you do."
Apparently satisfied, Natsu released Gray and immediately reverted to his normal, energetic disposition. "Oh, is that a bathroom? I'm going to go check it out. Maybe there will be something to clean off with," he said cheerfully.
Gray stared after him as he disappeared into the other room and shut the door. Natsu had been acting strangely since… He wanted to say since after the train ride, but he thought that maybe it had gotten worse after they had all split up to look for the guide. And the only thing that would have changed since then…
Gray turned back to look at the small blue cat standing by the door. "Did you tell him something? He's been acting really weird."
Happy shifted uncomfortably and looked away. "He asked about the 'snuggling' stuff and I told him some of it," he said evasively.
"How much did you tell him?" Gray asked suspiciously.
Happy hesitated. "The truth. I told him about how often it happens and why you put up with it."
Gray groaned and rubbed at his face. "And after I thought I'd defused the situation." A thought struck him and he frowned at the little feline. "You told him before he asked me how often he did it, didn't you?"
Happy nodded and Gray let out a breath. What a mess.
"Why would you do that? I thought we had an unspoken understanding to keep him in the dark about that."
"I thought that maybe it was time for him to know," Happy mumbled.
Gray sighed but pushed aside the mix of emotions that came with that revelation. It was something he'd have to address later, but he hadn't missed the fact that Happy was still trying to avoid telling him something.
"What else did you tell him?" he asked. Happy opened his mouth to protest, a look of practiced innocence on his face, and Gray hurried to forestall him. "That might explain some of his behavior, but not all of it. It doesn't explain why he's suddenly looking at me like I'm made of glass, or why he was so happy to drag me on this mission but then offered to call it off. What else did you tell him?"
Happy wavered a moment longer before he flattened his ears and gave in. "I told him that maybe choosing this job was going too far, and that he needed to be more careful next time because you're always a lot more careful."
"What do you mean, I'm more careful?"
"You know, how even when you try to annoy him you're still very careful about choosing jobs that won't hurt him or cross the line. He's just not that careful. And he's so oblivious that he never even notices what you do for him, and I thought that maybe he should know some of it."
Gray closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. Letting out a breath, he picked Happy up off the floor and sat down on the nearest bed, depositing the Exceed in his lap.
"I appreciate the sentiment behind what you've done, I really do," he said. "But…I wish you hadn't done that. I pick lots of jobs to annoy him. Yeah, I'm more careful about it, but this is nothing new. Natsu should be having a good time laughing at me right now, not worrying that he's done something wrong. When this is all over and done with, I'll pick out a job to annoy him and the cycle will continue. What he's done here is normal, alright?"
Happy hummed noncommittally and Gray sighed again. Yes, Natsu probably should have realized that he was more opposed to this job than normal and picked something else instead, but it's not like the dragon slayer really knew why it was an issue. It was irritating, but that was the point. Gray would be annoyed for a while, but then he'd get revenge and everything would be okay again. Having Natsu worry about this was discomfiting and unnatural.
"Okay, but I really think that it's good for him to start realizing some of the things you do for him," Happy said. "I mean, it's more fair to you if he understands."
Gray was already shaking his head. "If I really wanted him to know all that stuff, I would have told him. Besides, it's not like I always go out of my way for him—I just follow the rules of common courtesy, and I do it for everyone else too. Happy, I don't do those things because I want anything from him, gratitude included. I do them because I want to, because he's my friend. And anyway, he does lots of stuff for me too and you know it."
"Yeah, maybe one day he should tell you about some of that stuff too," Happy said with a sigh. "Maybe it would be better if you both knew the things you do for each other."
Gray laughed quietly. "I'm sure that I don't know all of it, but I'm not as oblivious as you seem to think I am. I already know quite a bit of it, even if I don't acknowledge it."
"Like what?" Happy asked, tilting his head curiously.
"Well… For example, I know that this isn't my original necklace," Gray said, tugging the chain out from beneath his shirt.
Happy actually recoiled in shock, and then a guarded look settled over his features. "What do you mean?"
Gray rolled his eyes. "You know what I mean, but since you're fishing to see how much I know…" He shrugged. "A couple years back, the clasp of my necklace broke and I lost the damn thing. Searched for it everywhere, but couldn't find it. Natsu brushed it off like it wasn't a big deal, but I know he was looking for it. You know it's true, because I saw you with him."
Happy hesitated but nodded. "Yes, we looked for it. We were the ones who found it, remember? Yeah, we pretended that we just randomly stumbled across it without looking, but I guess you weren't fooled by that."
Gray's smile turned predatory and he leaned forward to look Happy in the eye. "You were the ones who found it, hmm?"
"How much do you know?" the Exceed demanded.
"Well, you two gave it back to me and said you just happened to see it glinting under some bushes near the guild hall. That was already a little suspect because I'd searched all around the guild very thoroughly, but I believed you. For the first thirty seconds, anyway. I could tell that it was a different necklace as soon as he handed it to me. I'll give you credit because it was a very close replica, but the weight was a little different, the chain was a little thinner, and some of the details on the pendant were just a little off."
Happy's mouth opened and closed soundlessly, and Gray chuckled. Natsu and Happy really had never even suspected that he might have figured it out.
"I'll tell you what I think happened, and you can correct me if I'm wrong," Gray said conversationally. "My necklace was lost for nearly a month, I was upset over it, and you and Natsu couldn't find it no matter how much you secretly searched. So you decided to go to a jeweler or a metalsmith and have them make a replica, which you then tried to pass off as the genuine article because you thought that it would make me happy again. Am I close?"
Happy remained flabbergasted for a moment, but finally managed to choke out a question. "And you weren't mad?"
Gray snorted and shrugged. "Nah. It was kind of sweet, although I don't know how you thought you'd explain yourselves if the original ever did turn up again. And it did."
"What? You found it?"
He nodded. "I did a job for a woman who sold magical trinkets. One of the things she had was a seeking charm, which could lead you to a missing object if you had enough of a connection to it. I already knew that you'd given me a fake, so I asked her for one and she gave it to me as part of the reward. I used it and found the necklace in Hargeon, of all places. Must've lost it on a solo job or something."
"You found the original and never said anything," Happy said stupidly, trying to wrap his head around that one.
"Sure. It's sitting in my apartment as we speak."
Happy's head snapped up and he frowned at him in confusion. "The original is in your apartment?" Gray nodded. "You're wearing the replica?" Another nod. "Why?"
"Objects aren't usually important in and of themselves," Gray said with a sigh. "They're important because they have a connection to something you care about. The necklace was mostly a reminder for me, of… Well, it was…important." He swallowed and dropped his gaze. "And it's still important. I still wear that one instead sometimes, depending on my mood and what I most need to be reminded of that day."
He rubbed the pendant between his fingers and stared down at it sightlessly. "But not all the time, because this one is important too, even if it's important in a different way. It's a reminder of the friends and family I have now, and of how much they care. That was a pretty elaborate scheme you two pulled off, considering that planning isn't exactly Natsu's forte. I usually wear the replica instead of the original because even though it isn't the same, it's important to me because you and Natsu gave it to me, and because it reminds me that you cared enough to do this for me."
Gray looked up and smiled tiredly at a stunned Happy. "Natsu is oblivious. That's just the way he is, and that's fine. I don't need him to know everything I do for him, and I'm aware of a lot of the things he does for me, even if he thinks he's being sneaky about it. He's oblivious and I'll pretend to be oblivious for as long as I need to, and that works for us. He doesn't need to feel bad that I do so much for him, because the truth is that he does plenty for me too, even if he doesn't always realize it."
The two friends stared at each other in silence for a few seconds before Happy found his voice again. "Gray… Can I ask you something?"
"Sure."
"Natsu picked this job to annoy you and you were really upset about it at first, but today you've been…nice. Why aren't you angrier?"
Gray let out his breath in a deep sigh and leaned back. "He's annoying as hell and I'm not happy that he picked this job," he said bluntly. "And I'll probably stay annoyed until we're out of the damn desert and I get to drag him up Mt. Hakobe for payback. But… He's still my friend, Happy. I'm not going to let him suffer when I know that I can do something about it. Because ultimately, no matter how stupid or infuriating he is, he's still my best friend."
Happy studied him quietly for a few seconds. "Yeah…I think you're nicer than he sometimes gives you credit for."
Gray laughed softly. "He's exactly the same way with me, you know."
"I guess so." Happy hesitated, then leaned forward and lowered his voice to a whisper. "You do know that with his hearing, Natsu can probably hear us?"
Gray sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "I know."
Happy blinked in surprise. Apparently he had thought that the ice mage might have overlooked that, but Gray had been friends with Natsu for a long time and was very familiar with the dragon slayer's abilities.
"But then why…?" Happy trailed off in confusion.
When Gray responded, he also kept his voice quiet enough that an eavesdropping dragon slayer wouldn't be able to hear it.
"Maybe for the same reason that you didn't bother reminding me of it until now, even though I'm sure you were aware of it from the very beginning." Happy's ears flattened in embarrassment and he glanced away, confirming Gray's suspicions. "I'm never going to come out and tell him this to his face, but maybe it's something that he needs to know anyway, hm? Really, Happy, you thought I'd forget about his hearing?" He shook his head and smiled faintly. "I'm not as oblivious as you all seem to think I am. Shh… It'll be our little secret, yeah?"
Pressing a finger against his lips in the universal gesture of silence, Gray winked conspiratorially at the cat in his lap.
Happy smiled a little. "Alright."
"Not that you have a great track record of keeping things to yourself."
Happy's ears flattened again. "Sorry. I thought it was the right thing to do."
"It's alright," Gray said, standing up and scooping the little cat into his arms. Crossing the floor in a few quick strides, he deposited Happy on the bed he would share with Natsu, and then returned to sit on the bed he had claimed for himself.
"Well, I'm tired and it's going to be a long day tomorrow," he said, raising his voice back to a normal volume. "I'm going to bed."
"Goodnight, Gray," Happy said.
Gray considered slipping underneath the coarse blanket for a moment, but decided against it. The air had cooled off considerably since nights in the desert could get downright chilly, but he didn't want to risk overheating before they'd even started on their trek. Settling himself on top of the blankets, facing away from where Natsu would be sleeping, he tugged off his shirt and closed his eyes.
A couple minutes later, he heard Natsu emerge from the other room and quietly pad across to the bed he would share with Happy.
"'Night, flame brain," Gray mumbled past a yawn. The heat always made him tired and sluggish, and he was dying to get some sleep.
"Goodnight," Natsu said quietly.
There was a strange quality to his voice that let Gray know he had overheard the earlier conversation, but the ice mage didn't acknowledge it. Instead he stayed quiet and tried to sleep, although he found himself awake long after his friends' breathing had evened out. Despite his physical tiredness, Gray's mind was wide awake.
Part of it was that he was worried about the next day and nervous about how this job was going to go. Part of it was because the possibility of facing down another demon disturbed him, no matter how remote it might be. He had never had much luck with demons or deserts, and he didn't look forward to mixing the two.
It took Gray a long time to fall asleep, and even once he did, his sleep was restless. He spent the night plagued by fragmented nightmares filled with swirling sands and bloodthirsty demons that bore a striking resemblance to Deliora.
Note: My inner snark-brat wanted to call this chapter "In which Gray is smarter than he looks and tries to talk some sense into Happy", but I compromised and kept part of the original descriptor. Also, I have a bad habit of setting things up really far in advance...
And seriously, life would be so much easier if Gray and Natsu would just talk to each other like normal human beings so that I didn't have to go to such convoluted efforts to make them communicate ._.
emmahoshi: Ha ha, don't worry, a lot of the later chapters are longer. Yeah, I'm not used to the alternating POVs either, although it got better the longer I wrote this. And yeah, the guide uses broken English and I did mention that he had an accent, so I'm glad you're reading it that way XD Ah well, people will start getting suspicious about Gray's extensive knowledge soon enough :3 It's okay, I had no idea where this story was heading either, for a while. And I suddenly up and changed the plot after chapter 10, so...lol The "neckless" strikes again XD Makes me laugh every time. Yeah, I could use a talking cat middleman too—I'm not that good at communicating with people either x.x And who said anything about running water? :3 There actually isn't any, although that's a super minor detail. Ha ha, yeah, gotta give Happy some credit sometimes.