Wow… It's been a very long time, how are you guys? How long has it been since the first chapter of this story, November 2015? That's a long time ago… I was in grade 9 when I first started writing this and I'll be honest, rereading the chapters made me cringe a little. But I'm determined to finish it because it has been eating away at me. I noticed the notes I had made on the other chapters and it made me laugh because I was complaining about exams, I wish I could tell my past self to laugh at them because I've realised how hard ATAR yr11 exams are! This will be the final chapter of this story (I was considering doing a sequel but I don't think it would be worth it, tell me if you'd want one at the end).
Thank you so much for all your patience with this story!
Gray: Umm, what about me?
Me: I will finally put you out of your misery.
Gray: *Gulp*
Enjoy!
If the cold could take a physical form it would be dancing around Fairy Tail's main guild hall linked arms with light. It would fill each corner and crevice and laugh at the pitiful souls still remaining in the room. No noise, nothing.
In the centre of the room stood a white haired figure staring at a dark haired boy. Their eyes were locked as no one dared to move or speak. The deathly still silence was soon broken by a quick thrust of movement done by the older boy's arms, the room became engulfed by light, Erza and the others had to tear their eyes away. With this terribly bright light came a deathly cold, so cold that it challenged the Raven's. The two boys could no longer been seen but something else distracted Erza, Wendy, Mira and Gajeel.
A large crack sound had filled their ears and tore their attention from the light. The ice that had encased Natsu and Lucy had a massive crack in the centre and hairline fractures continued to creep through it. Erza gasped, leaped up and ran towards it, Hajime's words fresh in her mind.
"Careful, one crack could shatter your friends."
When she reached them she desperately looked for something that would help.
"Maybe if I melt it instead of shattering I could save them."
She was feverish as she clawed around the remaining of the bar looking for something, anything that could help her. Mira joined her and Wendy remained with Gajeel, desperately trying to heal his arm as quickly as possible.
"Erza I don't know what we can do, If Natsu wa- "
"Well he's not!" She snapped at Mirajane, instantly regretting it.
"Mira I'm so- "
"No. Don't apologise. I understand."
The girls stared down at the ground, thinking momentarily, they were instantly snapped out of it as another monstrous crack filled their ears and the room continued to fill with light.
They quickly gave up in their search for something useful and returned to their frozen friends.
"There is nothing that I can do, I was too weak to prevent this from happening to Natsu and not quick enough to warn Lucy. I couldn't even help Gray. I failed as their friends." Each word, one after another as Erza spoke became more and more clouded by tears.
"Don't say that Erza! We are all at fault one way or another. We both could have protected them better, Natsu should have thought through it more, actually scratch that, knowing Natsu he was always going to go charging ahead but that's not the point. Lucy was acting from her heart not her head and Gajeel… well he's kind of in the same boat as Natsu, he just charges ahead. If we had looked after Gray more then this wouldn't have happened but that doesn't rest on your shoulders alone. This is all of our faults!"
Erza just stared at the she-demon, eyes glossed with tears waiting to be shed, nodding in silent gratitude. They both turned to the frosty friends and continued to watch helplessly as the ice continues to crack.
With a big bang the massive ice block burst into hundreds of pieces, scattering ice everywhere. However, two figures remained in one piece, very much alive. There were gasps all around as they were freed from their ice prisons.
"Natsu, Lucy!" Erza and Mira both gripped their cold friends and brought them close in a warm embrace.
"We thought you guys were going to die."
"Ss-o di-id we." Lucy replied, her teeth jittering as she spoke.
"What has happened to Ice princess and Ice princess senior?" Natsu quick to return to the issue asked as he strained to look at the ever growing source of light in the middle of the hall.
"Lyon is using Iced shell on Gray but I don't know what is happening. The light just continues to grow and the temperature decreases." Erza spoke wishing that she had more information for them.
"What?! He's using Iced shell?!That basically kills both of them! I know Gray is strong but we could have talked through to him, we have to stopped him!" Natsu desperately tried to stand but fell over his own still very cold feet and face planted to the ground. In his second attempt he tried to claw his way to where is friend had previously been standing but found that he couldn't get close enough before frost bite became a really serious possibility.
"Natsu stop!" Lucy called out to him, her voice cracking with clear signs that she was about to cry.
He looked back to the girls who were all now all on their knees, Gajeel and Wendy had also joined them during his attempts to stand. They all looked helpless, defeated.
"What are you guys doing? We are fairy Tail mages and our comrade is in trouble, our good friends is in trouble! We must do what ever it takes!"
"But Natsu what can we do?" Lucy began talking. "It's out of our hands."
"We have to do something…" Natsu trailed off, losing motivation.
Moment of silence
Natsu punched the ground leaving a crater in the floor, Wendy squeaked in shock but no one made a comment.
"There has to be something we can do." The silence that lasted after was loud enough to break your heart. A guild hall that was once filled with so much joy now just had a couple limp flightless fairies lost in their own minds and trapped behind their own morals.
If it wasn't for the massive explosion of light, then they probably would have just sat there but that wasn't the case. The fairies turned away and desperately cover their eyes, the light filled the room and left nothing but a frosty-blue white.
A snowy terrain stretched beyond the horizon, a cold grey sky covered it with star like freckles as far as the eye can see. There were no trees, no shrubs, not a single fleck of grass. No birds danced in the sky, no animals played on the ground, nothing. The only thing that could be seen was a small boy, no older than 6 with raven hair and a pair of silking navy-black wings. Each feather shifted as a small breeze tickled through, tiny snowflakes hung to his hair and wings, as if someone had sprinkled icing sugar on him. His mix matched eyes were set on a little piece of metal resting in his hands.
The little piece of metal took the shape of a small sword with a tiny little white gem in the middle. The little boy just sat, looking deeply into the stone. A tiny little picture of a young child with his mother and father appeared inside it and a voice could be heard faintly, very faintly.
"Gray, my precious child."
"I'm so proud son."
The picture flickered away almost as quickly as it appeared, however the voices changed, became deeper and no longer human. No longer faint but louder and louder till it causes the poor boy so cover his ears and rest his forehead on the snow in front of him. It screeched and screamed and continued to cause him pain.
"Make it stop! Please make it stop! It hurts!" The boy screamed out hysterically.
It wasn't for a few minutes until it finally zoned down and the boy could rest his raw throat.
"Gray." A voice caused him to look up at a small white haired boy, only a years or so older that he was.
"Lyon? What are you doing here?"
"I wish that I could ask you the same thing but I think I already know the answer."
"Oh, well I don't so fill me in."
"You might not remember exactly now but you will, I'm not sure if there is any point in me telling you. Not only that but it will make you feel worse in the end."
The dark haired boy looked up to the older boy in front off him, eyebrow raised.
"What could you possibly mean by that?"
"Uhh, well, because w-" The boy was broken off by a massive gust a wind that went between the two of them, picking up and picking up some of the snow. When it calmed now the boys were no longer 6 and 7 but 15 and 16. The sword's gem was no longer white but a beautiful royal blue.
They avoided eye contact and Lyon was considering continuing but stopped.
"This is going to be hard for you to understand but you just have to bare with me okay?"
"Yeah?"
"Well your wings should be a big enough clue as to what was happened, I assume it was that flame brained friend of yours that broke your necklace."
Gray drew back into his memories and tried to recall it, all he could get was a fuzzy unfocused images, but when a pink head of hair popped in it seemed to become more clear.
"Oh… Yeah it was." Gray replied.
"Thought so. Well basically your identity was revealed to the guild and it took them by surprise, they looked after you the best they could but even they struggled. So they called me and I came to help, I helped you gain 'control' but you went running off so it wasn't really worth it. Well I guess the council found you but I don't really know what happened after. Basically they took control over you but turns out that it was never the council but some annoying dark guild. I'm going to be honest, this has become way to confusing, I miss the good all days."
"That all sounds… straight forward-ish. But where are we now?"
"You tell me; I assume this is all in your head." At this Gray paused for a minute, contemplating.
"Why would I imagine you though?" Lyon scoffed and replied.
"I should be offended by that comment but I'm going to ignore it because firstly, I'm flattered that you remember me more than your friend Natsu and secondly, you're not going to like my reason for being here."
"Spit it out frosty."
A second gust of wind went by but neither of the boys stopped looking at each other. Instead of 15 and 16 they were 20 and 21. Gray could tell that Lyon was avoiding something and he knew that he wouldn't like it so he turned his attention back to the necklace.
The royal blue stood proud against the silver but the centre started swirling again. It wasn't a specific image but rather a swirl of different colours. He could see pink and light blue clashing and mixing aggressively but then the light blue was swapped out with yellow. Royal blue and red and whispers of white replaced them then the entire stone turned white.
To anyone else this would just look like a pretty stone but something about it filled Gray's stomach with dread. A little voice was starting to creep over his shoulder and into his ear telling him thing, terrible things, things that he had done.
"It's your fault."
"You wont get to apologise."
"You'll never see them again."
"They will remember you as the freak who destroyed the guild hall."
Faces and names started to blur and Gray couldn't take it.
"Stop, stop, stop, stop!" He grasped his head and pulled at his hair, crying in between gasps for air. Lyon sat next to him and took the younger boy in his arms trying to calm him down whilst he ran his hands over the poor boy's wings, hushing and humming. It took a few minutes but when is grew quiet they sat there knowing that there was no need for words.
The wind settled and the only movement to be seen was the tiny sprinkle of snowflakes. Neither knew how long they had been there but it was Gray who spoke first."
"You used the spell didn't you?"
No response…
"I'm not going back am I?" Gray asked.
"No unfortunately."
"Is there anything I can do to change that."
"You know that there is nothing."
The boys remained there in each other's arm contemplating what they were going to do.
"Can we stay here?" Gray continued to question his senior.
"I don't think so."
More silence filled the area, no one brave enough to suggest another idea. Gray looked up at the grey sky that surrounded them and held out his hand to catch a snowflake. When he brought his hand down there was a small pink snowflake resting in his palm. He showed it to Lyon and he huffed.
"Reminds me of a certain pink haired fairy in your guild."
"I was just thinking that." Gray watched it melt due to his body warmth. It was at this moment that something caught Gray's attention.
"What are you guys doing?"
Confused, Gray asked if Lyon had said something but was met by a shake of his head.
"We are fairy tail mages!"
At this Gray stood up and looked down at Lyon as he shuffled to his feet.
"I'm sure I heard something that time! It sounded like Natsu I'm sure of it!" Gray turned around and scanned the horizon for his best friend but no luck.
"Natsu? Are you there?" He called. Lyon put his hand on Gray's shoulder.
"I can't hear anything." Lyon said and searched with Gray.
"Our friend is in trouble."
Gray was now becoming frantic and started running in the direction he though he could hear the words from, Lyon tagging behind attempting to calm his brother down.
"Gray I don't think there is anyone out here other than us." At this Lyon gripped Gray's hand and stopped him.
"We ca- "
This time a voice could be heard through out the vast planes of snow by both ice mages.
"We have to do something."
"Natsu," they both said. Only seconds later Gray started to glow, his skin was bright like the reflection from the sun on freshly fallen snow. His hair was no longer a dark navy but a cobalt, his odd eyes shone like the first rays of sun light over the horizon. Both ice mages shared a look of shock and terror on their faces.
"What is going on Lyon?"
"I'm not sure but I think you might be going back to where you belong. To fairy Tail."
Tears started to sneak towards Gray's eyes as he took his older brother into a hug.
"I wont leave you! I promise!'
First it was a smack of light, then a high pitch noise then a pit of white nothingness.
The light started to dim and the fairies could finally sit up and look towards the centre of the hall. The temperature finally returning to normal.
Nothing…
Not a single soul stood there, not a feather in sight or any evidence of ice. The fairies got to their feet and just stood, none of them knowing what to do.
The sun could be seen through the giant hole in the wall. Other members would be returning soon, how would they tell them that they've lost two great mages, one of them being a family member. Lucy was the only one that broke the silence.
"I can't believe they are both gone. Where is the ice?"
Mira and Wendy didn't say anything, too scared that they'll jinx something. Erza was deep in thought, trying to wrap her brain around the idea of the missing ice and Natsu was blank faced. Lucy tried again to fill the silence.
"We'll have to tell the master when he gets here. And organise a funeral…"
The sudden realisation hit Natsu in the stomach like a bus, he collapsed to his knees and screamed out. He trashed his hands on the ground and howled like he has never done before. Lucy came next, she fell back, her legs no longer able to support her. Tears poured down her cheeks as she completely broke down. Mira sat on her knees, her face covered by her hands. Erza held Wendy in her arms as the small girl sobbed, Gajeel turned away so that no one would see him.
Each one of them breaking inside, the fairies that could no longer fly.
The sun was bright and proud, not what you'd expect on a terrible day of mourning. Fairy Tail and Lamia Scale mages stood by two delicate handcrafted stones both with delicate snowflake details resting on a lone grassy hill in Magnolia.
Gray Fullbuster: A loving brother and forever in our hearts.
Lyon Vastia: Talented and one of a kind.
Very little was spoken at the funeral because everyone was still in shock from the loss. Hajime had gotten away but they had managed to track down his guild and catch the master and a new magical council was created, Makarov being apart of it. A statue had been created and placed in the both guild halls, it featured a sleek bird standing on the guild's emblem. It wasn't very big but it spoke more words than anyone else could.
It was a new day in the Fairy Tail and things life were starting to return to 'normal'. Team Natsu minus one were heading off on a mission, some dark guild was troubling a little village somewhere. They tried to smile at the idea of an adventure but they all knew that it was slightly forced. Being short their ice mage had really knocked them down and they knew that it will never be the same but they promised them selves to celebrate Gray's life.
"Guys, I'd like to change our team name." Natsu spoke "I think we should be called team Raven."
"I really like that idea Natsu." Happy said as he sat on his friend's shoulder and Lucy grabbed Natsu's hand.
"I agree too." Lucy said with a smile. Erza nodded in agreement.
They walked down the path from the guild, contemplating their first mission since the incident but had they been paying attention they would have noticed two little birds on a nearby branch following them from a far. One bird, completely white without a drop of colour perched on the branch whilst the second, a smaller navy blue bird so dark that it could almost be black fluttered around.
Once the fairies were further away they both took flight and followed, set on having their own adventures.
END
YAY! It is finally finished; I feel like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders. I think this is my longest chapter ever! Well this adventure has finally come to an end and I feel much better and less guilty. You can imagine that this story has been sitting in the back of my head has been eating me away.
I understand that some of you were hoping for a slightly happier ending but I really liked the idea of it being a little sad. I apologise if it felt rushed but I wrote this chapter in one day and I just want to get the story done. Please tell me what you guys think and feel free to leave a review!
Thank you all so much for your dedication and I apologise that it took me so damn long to finish!
P.s I was wondering if anyone would notice that I cut Levy, Jet and Droy from this chapter (they were there last chapter) and changed the fact that Makarov's location is no longer in his office.
Oops.
