"You ready?" Erza asked. Matty shook his head and his hold on ray grew tighter. Gray glanced over at him briefly.

He gave Matty an encouraging smile. "We'll be okay. Besides," he added, leaning in closer. "The girls think it's part of some healing process thing and they won't let us leave until we do this."

Matty made a face.

They walked inside, Natsu and Lyon sitting in wait outside the front door.

The two passed through the rubble, trying not to smell the bodies that were still lying where they were before.

Gray weaved through chucks of broken wall and floor, for some reason going through the barracks and out into the field.

Both of them stopped, eyes stretched wide.

The Attor were dead. All of them.

Rotting away and shriveled up until they were nothing but brown, they were slumped over on the ground. It gave Gray a feeling of satisfaction.

But he could feel it creeping up on him. That feeling of being swallowed back into the dark depths of his memories. Suddenly, he wanted to break down and cry.

He wanted to go back to the cell he shared with Toby and cry there.

He wanted to go to the spot where Toby died.

He just wanted to cry.

Matty exhaled shakily, eyes slipping closed. "I want to cry," he whispered. Gray looked over at him in slight surprise.

"Me too," he admitted softly.

Suddenly, Matty began to shake, and his eyes grew watery.

Gray was then blinking away the bleariness in his own eyes and trying to swallow past the lump in his throat.

When Matty started crying, most people would be shocked for someone to be crying that hard.

But anyone who knew hardship would understand; would hear that his sobs were filled with an anguish that encompassed the pain of all those years.

Gray heard it, and it resonated with the very sorrow that dwelled within his soul, and within seconds, he was on his knees, weeping uncontrollably.

He cried for the pain.

He cried for his friends.

He cried for Toby.

He cried for himself.

He cried...for everything.

The two former slave workers cried their grief into the very soil where their grief began.


When the sound of crying reached the ears of the two boys outside, they paused.

It echoed softly, whispers tales of heartbreak and agony to the walls that inflicted it.

Lyon smiled, if a bit grimly, taking comfort in the fact that Gray was finally expressing his pain. I had wondered...if Gray would cry.

Natsu, on the other hand, did not take much solace in such a sound.

The girls who came along, Juvia, Lucy, and Erza, all listened intently.

When they heard the two weeping, Juvia immediately burst into tears. "I can't stand to hear him like that!" she wailed.

Lyon quickly took the opportunity to have her cry into his chest.

Which, mind you, only happened because she was too distraught to actually see who it was that was comforting her.

Lucy gave everyone a watery smile.

Erza just smiled gently, no tears in sight.

She like Leon, was happy that pain was being expressed, instead of bottled up and locked away.

It kind of meant that Gray was healing.


"Gray," Matty whispered.

Gray took in a shuddering breath.

"Your...your tears..."

Gray wiped at his face, but the tears just wouldn't stop.

Suddenly, gentle fingers wiped some away. Gray blinked, staring at them in both curiousity and slight concern.

On Matty's fingers, were his tears.

But unlike regular tears, which were clear and shiny, these were a beautiful glittering gold.

Are those...my tears?

Matty smiled at Gray.

They were very beautiful, a shimmering gold as they ran down Gray's cheeks.

It was a bit strange, but it was almost like the tears belonged to the magic of the Atorr, and it was them who was crying for had taken place there.

Matty kind of like the sound of that because, in the depths of his being, there was a sliver of him that wondered if it could be true.

The magic, that had once flowed so intricately in the plants they had cared for, in sweat and blood, weeped for them in return.

He could almost take comfort in that.

In them.

In Attor's golden tears.


All done! Sorry if you wanted more. However, I plan on making a bunch of little one-shots starring Gray and Matty, and how much this ordeal affected their lives.

I might also write a few more little adventures, since I kind of want Gray and Lyon to get a bit more brotherly bonding hurt-comfort done.

And...*sigh* I'm a sucker for Gray whump.

I know, I know, it's awful. But I will continue to write it!

PLEASE READ AND REVIEW!

MAKE SURE YOU LOOK THROUGH MY STORIES FOR MORE ATTOR!UNIVERSE STORIES AND ONE-SHOTS IF YOU LIKED THESE :D