Chapter Three – Obscuring Footsteps

He knew. He knew this whole time.

"Gajeel, do you have a moment?"

"Mmph?" Swiveling his head, the Iron Dragon Slayer set his glass onto the bar counter with a clank, the screw inside rattling within the bubbling liquid. "Somethin' the matter, master?"

"Just a few questions." Makarov shuffled the pile of papers in his hands, furrowing bushy eyebrows. "It's about the news you gave to Erza's team."

"Titania and her groupies already left, didn't they? I told 'em everything I know."

"No, not about that." Clearing his throat, the aged master of Fairy Tail looked into Gajeel's face with unexpected sternness. "This lead that you found… Your source was from Isvan, you said?"

"Not in Isvan, exactly. Picked the rumor up when Lily and I were at a cheap bar in a village near the border. Why?"

"Humor an old man's simple curiosity. The name of this village?"

"A weird name with a G… Yeah, Glacies. That was it."

"…I see. And who gave you this information?"

"Some half-pint. A kid. Thought she was just messin' with me at first, but then she mentioned Fairy Tail. Must've recognized my mark."

"Ahh, look at all this snow!"

"It's early this year. But it does look rather pretty."

The weather had been cloudy all morning when Lucy had first arrived at the guild, shivering even bundled in her thick jacket and scarf. From inside, she and Erza watched the soft flakes drift down more and more heavily with each passing second, clumping together as the snow piled up on the windowsill.

There was a loud clatter of wood and metal suddenly, and heads turned to see the master standing on top of a large pile of shovels. "Listen up, you brats!" Makarov called grumpily, apparently displeased with something. "Each one of you is to take a shovel and start removing snow from the entrance of the guild at once. It'll be troublesome if we're snowed in."

Groans and complaints immediately rose from the majority of members in the guild. "No objections!" the master snapped, but his expression softened into one of mischievous glee. "If you finish within a certain time limit, I'll have Mira-chan whip up some of her special hot chocolate." The grumbles changed to cheers, and soon enough there was a stampede towards the shovels and then out the door, with guild members tripping over each other and general chaos.

"…Wait, doesn't that mean Mira doesn't have to do this?" Lucy asked a while later, flinging another shovelful of snow over her shoulder. Her back was already burning with the repetitive motions.

"I-I suppose Mira-san is busy making the hot chocolate," Wendy said hopefully. She strained to lift up a particularly large pile of snow. Lucy put her own shovel aside to help, pushing the handle of Wendy's shovel down when there was a whistling sound, and suddenly Lucy was falling backwards, her face an explosion of white.

"W-What was that?!" Lucy shrieked, spluttering the snow away.

"Lucy, you got in the way!" Natsu's exuberant yell echoed. She and Wendy both looked up to see the Dragon Slayer tossing another snowball from hand to hand, grinning playfully. "That was supposed to be for droopy-eyes over there!"

"You've got a million years to go before you can hit me." Gray's voice responded amusedly. Shirtless as usual even in the cold weather, he stepped aside to reveal a large pile of snowballs, taking in the satisfaction of seeing Natsu freeze in brief astonishment. But suddenly, Gray too was flat on his back in the snow with a yelp, snow likewise splattered over his face.

"A snowball fight? Interesting." Erza hefted an enormous snowball over her head with one arm, the size of the snowball casting a large shadow in the vicinity. "I have formed this snowball out of only the highest quality snow," she declared. "None of you can win against me!"

Lucy and Wendy huddled together in terror as other guild members, taking notice of the situation, began to construct snow forts and stockpile snowballs of their own, spurred on by the infectious enthusiasm. Lucy abruptly remembered the pillow fight that had been taken much too seriously by Natsu, Gray, and Erza long ago, and had a very bad feeling.

From there on, it was total anarchy and all-out snowball war. The streets were alive with the supersonic whistling of snowballs and yells of guild members as they bombarded each other relentlessly. It was every person out for him or herself. Shovels lay discarded on the ground with the exception of being used to catapult snowballs, their intended purpose completely forgotten.

"G-Guys…" Lucy began, only to cringe back as snowballs that were no longer merely snowballs, but small objects of mass destruction, narrowly missed her, brushing over the top of her head that she could feel frost melting in her hair. Any attempts to stop them were futile.

Finally Lucy gave up, and she and Wendy sat back well out of range, simply watching the free-for-all and trying not to think about what would happen when the master noticed everyone shirking their work. They were only going to get killed if they tried to continue shoveling the snow like this. Wendy eventually excused herself to go into the guild and distract the master from discovering the disaster outside.

To Lucy's surprise, Gray ducked out of the battlefield to join her a short while later, panting and covered in snow. Nevertheless, there was a wide, silly grin on his face coupled with an expression of absolute joy.

"I didn't think that you of all people would get tired so fast," Lucy commented, patting the empty spot on her other side. Gray took it gladly, falling backwards so that he was splayed on his back, staring up at the cloudy sky that was still pouring down flakes.

"It's not that," he mumbled, closing his eyes. "All of this right now, it's just really…" he appeared to be searching for the right word. "…Nostalgic."

"Nostalgic things make you tired?" Lucy joked with a smile, and was rewarded with Gray scowling in irritation.

"I told you already, it's not that. Everything that's happened today so far, I remember doing all that stupid stuff as a kid. Having to shovel snow, snowball fights with people, and a bunch of other things." He was silent for a while, eyes still shut, and Lucy wondered if she had said something wrong. "It's just bringing up a lot of… good memories."

A snowball whizzed over Lucy and Gray's heads. "Oi, stripper!" Natsu shouted furiously in their direction, already aiming another projectile at them. "What're you doing lazing around?! Get back here and fight me properly! Or are ya admitting you lose?" Gray's eyes snapped open at once and he sprang to his feet with a characteristic snarl in anticipation of going another round with the Dragon Slayer.

"Try saying that one more time, ashtray!" But no sooner had the automatic retort spilled out of his mouth, Gray burst into laughter, laughing long and hard with no signs of stopping. Natsu and Lucy could only gawk in stunned surprise, and Natsu lowered his arm, raising an eyebrow in confusion.

"What's so funny? Don't tell me you've finally lost it."

"Ahaha… Aha… Ha, my bad," Gray managed to choke out, wiping at the corners of his eyes but still grinning. "Having a snowball fight like when I was a brat… I didn't know I wanted to see this again. It's really… stupid."

Lucy stared. "Gray?"

He moved away as if he hadn't heard her. Glancing up, Lucy drew a sharp intake of breath as he passed and walked back towards the battlefield of snow.

There was an expression of utter contentment on Gray's face she had never seen before. He looked calm, so calm, with a small smile playing at the corners of his mouth and snowflakes melting in his hair. And then she heard his quiet mutter, words drifting so softly over the wind and shouts that she thought she might have imagined them after all:

"…And… it's really nice… to be alive."

…

"…-cy…"

"…Lucy."

"Ah?!"

Her eyes snapped open as she jolted awake, and Lucy found herself looking up into Erza's concerned face. The armored hand that had been resting on Lucy's shoulder withdrew.

"We're here," Erza said softly, casting a glance to the adjacent seat where Happy was trying to stir a barely conscious Natsu. She leaned down a little, scrutinizing Lucy's face with furrowed eyebrows. "What's wrong?"

"Hm?" Lucy blinked confusedly, and was startled when something warm rolled down her cheeks. "This-"

"You're crying."

Reaching up, Lucy scrubbed the back of her hand across her face, puzzled as she saw the clear streak across her fingers. "Oh… That's weird."

The expression of concern lingered in Erza's eyes. She looked around and through the train window where masses of people exiting onto the station platform were visible. "Did something happen?"

"I don't know." Lucy rubbed the rest of the involuntary tears away, not yet quite back to full awareness. Her mind was hazy with vestiges of flashing images. There had been white, a lot of white, and a strange feeling that ached painfully in her chest. "I think I was dreaming about something." Something… Something important. She couldn't remember. Why couldn't she remember?

"It was really… nostalgic."

"You Fairy Tail mages again, eh?"

Lamia Scale was a bustling guild as always, though the members were known to be more restrained than Fairy Tail, seeing as this guild had never been charged for wide-scale property damage and other minor misdemeanors.

Spinning her arms furiously, the elderly master of Lamia Scale glared irritably at the team. Happy made very sure not to go anywhere near her; objects and people alike were known to be caught up in Ooba Babasaama's rapidly circling motions. "Keep coming here and I might just snatch you brats out of Makarov's hands."

"Please excuse us for visiting so often." Erza inclined her head slightly. "We're very grateful for your hospitality every time."

"It's of no trouble at all," Jura said warmly, standing next to Ooba with his hands folded neatly within his sleeves. "We would do the same for one of our own. And…" The Wizard Saint glanced around, apparently checking for something, and lowered his voice. "I think it does Lyon good to see all of you as well, though he may appear indifferent on the surface. Thank you for that. He shows little interest in much else these days."

"Ha!" Ooba scoffed, spinning around even faster. "That missing brat of yours is spinning the performance of one of my top mages down the drain. Hurry up and find the Fullbuster boy before I hold Fairy Tail responsible!"

"W-We're doing our best," Lucy replied, chuckling nervously. "Where is Lyon, by the way? Our master sent word that we were coming."

"He stepped out of the guild a short while ago, saying he had some minor business to attend to," Jura answered. "I'm sure he'll be back soon."

Natsu's ears suddenly pricked at the distant sound of footsteps no one else could hear yet, listening at full alert as the steps clicked closer and closer to the room. "No," he spoke up for the first time, turning his head. "The ice prick's back now."

An involuntary pang shot through him at the insult that had slipped out automatically. The right name for the wrong person…

The door swung open and there stood Lyon Vastia, resident ice mage of Lamia Scale, whose eyes flickered in apparent surprise at the group of Fairy Tail mages gathered in his guild. "…It's been a while," he said at last, shutting the door behind him and nodding curtly in greeting. "There's only one reason that all of you would visit."

"I received a letter from Juvia as well, yes," Lyon said, showing Lucy the envelope with familiar handwriting on it. "She's as dedicated as ever." He looked fondly at the letter.

"No less than any of us," Lucy agreed, smiling softly. "Anyway, Erza can explain…"

"Missing ice mages?" Lyon repeated thoughtfully a short while later, as Erza relayed the same news that Gajeel had reported to them the previous day. He crossed his arms, leaning back in the wooden chair. "Interesting."

"Is that all you have to say about it?" Erza asked.

The ice mage ran a hand through his spiked silvery hair, almost as if in boredom. "I'm not sure what you expected me to say. There are certainly some uncanny coincidences, but frankly, that's all I see them as. Gray," A brief, pained grimace crossed Lyon's face. "…went missing a year ago, and he was the single case of those circumstances. Such a long time discrepancy between then and now can't possibly have any meaningful connection."

Lucy visibly wilted. "But this is happening in Isvan. That's where Gray went. And it's only ice mages that are disappearing. How can you say it's not connected?"

"It's all circumstantial," Lyon said dismissively. "One or two similarities don't necessarily make it related."

Indignation burned in her brown eyes. "I can't believe you're just brushing off even the tiniest chance that it could be related!" Lucy cried out. "How many times did we come here to tell you about a new lead we found, and you said it was a good idea? How many times did you tell us about another place we could search?"

Lyon retorted coolly, "And how many times have we gotten any sort of results from those futile investigations?" His face was infuriatingly expressionless. He glanced at the clock for a split second and back, glaring at the rest of them. "You're free to go on all the wild goose chases you like," Lyon snapped suddenly, getting to his feet and pushing his chair away with a harsh scraping sound. "But I won't waste my time with it."

"Are you giving up?!"

Lyon gave a scoff. "I said nothing of the sort. If that's all you came here to accuse me of, then by all means leave."

Natsu stood up as well, his fangs bared in a snarl. "It sure as hell sounds like you're givin' up to me."

There was a flash of real anger in the older ice mage's eyes now. "How dare you," he hissed venomously, towering over Natsu. The temperature in the small room was beginning to drop, and Natsu swore he could see mist circling around Lyon's boots, wafting in streams just above the ground. Nevertheless, Natsu did not back down.

"Is it that you think he might be dead?" He spit the word out like it was a curse. "Don't you trust him at all?"

"Of course I do."

"You've got a funny way of showing it."

"Don't presume to speak of things you don't understand."

"Gray trusts you!" Natsu shouted, grabbing Lyon's collar with both hands. "He trusts you as much as he trusts us, even after you pulled that crap on Galuna Island! I haven't forgotten what you did to him, or what you made him think he had to do." An almost imperceptible flinch. "But he still trusts you! Hell, he might even trust you more than us sometimes. So we have to trust you too. And that means trusting you won't give up on that stupid ice-brain, ever!"

"Enough!" Lyon wrenched Natsu's wrists from his clothes, flinging them away. His voice came out in a low and furious warning. "You're treading on thin ice, Dragon Slayer." He turned his back to Natsu.

"I'll smash right through it if I have to pound some sense into you," Natsu spat. "We're bringing Gray home whether he likes it or not, but we need you to trust us to find him. We won't give up."

The final word rang in the echoing silence of the room, save for Natsu's labored breathing after his emotional outburst. He glared stubbornly at Lyon, whose back was still facing the rest of them, hiding his expression from view.

The silence began to settle like an oppressive weight on their backs, until Natsu's sharp ears caught Lyon's nearly soundless mutter.

"..Maybe it's time."

"What are you mumbling ab—"

"Eight years." Lyon whirled back around to face them, seemingly composed as ever. "Eight years ago, Fairy Tail disappeared, and I waited. I didn't believe he was dead then, and I don't believe that he's dead now. I never will. Don't put words in my mouth, Natsu Dragneel. I haven't given up either."

A vein on Natsu's forehead twitched in outrage. "Then what the hell was all that talk about our searching being no good?"

"Because where you're searching is no good, as you so succinctly put it." Diverting his gaze to the clock again momentarily, Lyon sat back down at the table with Natsu following suit. Lucy and Happy breathed out in a sigh of relief at the dissolved tension, while Erza observed the pair with her usual calmness. "As I mentioned before, the only basis for your search in Isvan again is this incident about the ice mages, isn't it? What exactly do you expect to find there, after you've told me you've repeatedly and thoroughly searched the area many times over?"

"We haven't been able to cover all of it yet," Lucy said persistently. "It's a whole country, after all. There's plenty of spots we could've missed."

"Actually, the reason we came to Lamia Scale rather than proceed directly there was to ask you a few questions," Erza cut in. "We need to know if there could possibly be a reason that Gray would stay in Isvan, or other places that Gray likely might have visited there."

"I believe we've gone over this before," Lyon frowned. "I'm from Isvan myself, as you know, and we both left for a reason, without any intention of ever returning permanently. That much… I'm sure of. And I've already searched such locations on my own. You know I would have contacted Fairy Tail if I had found anything of note."

"It doesn't hurt to check again." Reaching for the rolled up map of Isvan they had brought with them, Erza spread it neatly over the wooden table top, indicating the marked spots to Lyon. "You have the advantage of knowing Gray before he joined Fairy Tail, after all."

"Very well," Lyon sighed, scanning over the paper. "I don't pin my efforts on false hopes. But if it pleases you…"

They waited with restless anticipation for Lyon's conclusion, barely daring to hope that he could tell them something-

Finally, Lyon tore his gaze away from the map and lifted his head to survey them all. "This seems to be all well and good. But I have to wonder why you haven't selected one of the most obvious locations to search." His finger tapped a stretch of blank space in the middle where no annotations had invaded.

Erza peered at the spot. "Why? What's there?"

"You don't know?" Though he furrowed his eyebrows in puzzlement, hesitation seemed to seep into the older ice mage's actions before he explained, almost reluctantly, "This… is where Ur's house is."

"Ur?" Lucy's own puzzlement was apparent as she tilted her head to the side. But suddenly, her eyes snapped wide open. "Y-Your teacher?!"

"In other words, you're saying that Gray is likely to have gone there. Is that right?" Erza looked unruffled as ever, but the way she leaned forward told the others that she was just as startled at this new revelation.

Lyon nodded slowly. "Yes. That idiot's always been too sentimental for his own good," he said wryly. "But the house is still standing, if in very poor condition. I wouldn't be surprised if that was where Gray had decided to stay while he was training."

"Why didn't you tell us before?!" Natsu yelped.

Lyon looked genuinely surprised. "You never asked. I assumed that you already knew, or that Gray had already told you at some point."

There was a collective groan from around the table, mostly from Lucy and Natsu. The celestial spirit mage thumped her forehead against the map-covered wooden tabletop. "We could have had this information a year ago," she mumbled, clenching her fists in frustration.

"There's no use complaining about it now," Erza replied, but her own vexation was obvious. "That'll be our first destination then."

"I already said that I searched several such places in Isvan," Lyon interrupted. "Did you think that checking Ur's house escaped me? There was nothing there."

"Nevertheless, we'd like to take a look at it anyway. With your permission, of course," Erza added, her gaze softening at the slightly uneasy expression on Lyon's face.

"Hmph. It's just the empty shell of a house. I have no attachment to it," he said with disdain. "So I have no reason to refuse either."

"It'll be like we were never there!" Lucy promised.

"I suppose I'd be marginally grateful for that." Lyon's eyes flicked to the time yet again, and abruptly he stood up. "In any case, I'm afraid I must take my leave. I have something to do."

Natsu scowled. "Hah? You're not gonna come with us?"

"I don't have any interest in getting tangled up in this string of disappearing ice mages. I have my duties here as well, at my guild. And last but not least, let me remind you; I don't pin my efforts on false hopes," Lyon repeated flatly. "If I thought that Gray was still in Isvan, I assure you, I would be one of the first ones out there. But he isn't, and I have no doubt about it. You won't find him in Isvan."

"We'll prove you wrong."

"We'll see about that." With no further comment, Lyon spun around and strode towards the exit of the room, pausing just as his hand turned the brass handle. "…I hope you do," he added quietly, pushed the door open, and was gone.

"I guess that's that." Lucy pushed her chair back and stood up as well, stretching her arms. "…He really does care, doesn't he?" she asked softly, glancing at the now closed door.

Erza smiled a little thinly. "That's why we'll find Gray. For his sake, as well as our own."

"But you know, didn't it seem a little like Lyon didn't want to talk to us when we showed up?"

"Yeah, you're right!" Natsu jumped in, puffing his cheeks out in annoyance. "What was up with that rude ice bastard today?"

"You were pretty rude too, Natsu," Happy chirped up at last. He'd listened quietly to the discussion the entire time, finding that the best way he could contribute was to sit on Natsu's lap and keep him calm. And it had worked. …Mostly.

"Whatever!"

From a side street, Lyon watched expressionlessly as the Fairy Tail mages walked out of the Lamia Scale guild building, going the opposite direction and no doubt bound for the train station. He turned then, having already sensed the person he was waiting for arrive.

Narrowing his eyes, Lyon commented, "It's rude to eavesdrop, you know."

"You gave them too much information."

"On the contrary, I don't think I gave them enough."

There was a hiss of exasperation. "Don't push it. We had a deal."

"I think you'll find that what I told them is well within the limits of our deal," Lyon said pointedly. "You're in no position to argue."

"You were supposed to lead them off from going to Isvan. Especially now."

The ice mage let out a sharp laugh. "They would have found out eventually. You can't run away forever. Fairy Tail will find you, and they'll stop you. Do you know what I told an enemy once? When the members of Fairy Tail are trying to accomplish something they really care about… they're unstoppable."

"Tch. Why don't you just stop me right here and now?"

A bitter smiled played at Lyon's lips. "I don't have the right. Need I remind you that this is… what do they call it, 'blackmail'? I recall that it was your idea. But it's not too late to give it up, you know."

"Screw you," came the caustic response. The figure whirled around angrily, as if about to storm off. "I didn't come here to be lectured, or to have you interfere. Fairy Tail has no idea what they're dealing with."

Lyon sighed, running a hand through his hair. It seemed that things were going to be more complicated than ever after all.

"If I thought that Gray was still in Isvan, I assure you, I would be one of the first ones out there. But he isn't, and I have no doubt about it. You won't find him in Isvan."

"…I might have to eat my own words."

A/N: Hello, it's been a while again! Thank you to everyone for being so patient, really. I'm embarrassed to be such a slow writer when there are lots of people anticipating the next chapter. In any case, most of the exposition is over now, and I hope everyone will find the next chapter more interesting. Actually I shouldn't get ahead of myself; I hope this chapter was interesting too! Lots of little things revealed, a mystery person, and the appearance of Lyon! I have a soft spot for him, so hopefully he wasn't out of character here. And Natsu too, when he and Lyon had their little confrontation.

Speaking of Natsu, Natsu is turning out to have even more of a main role than I thought, to the point where I added him to the character list for this story. Don't worry, he won't hog all of the spotlight; this is still very much a Gray and Team Natsu-centric story. Or rather, a Team Natsu-centric story about Gray. …There's no difference, you say? I dunno.

By the way, I'll just restate that there is no romance intended in this story. Above all, this is a friendship story, but you can see parts as romantic if you'd like, I suppose. Just remember that they were not written with the intention of being romantic.

Thanks for reading!