Chapter 08 – The Source

"Why is it that everyone is so worked up about Boozechick?" Gajeel commented when Levy volunteered herself to go with the group to pick up Cana. He looked at her and she rolled her eyes.

"Because Cana-chan is an amazing person. Her being a drunk is only a facade and her escape," Levy said as she smiled softly. "Most of us knew her before she turned a drunk...plus, she always knew what to say and what to do. She watched over us, the younger ones who joined after her, as her younger siblings. She's the older sister we never had."

Gajeel fell silent and remembered the various advices she would shoot at him when he passed by her table. He had to smile a little. He recalled seeing her fight seriously during his time at Phantom Lord. She wasn't the strongest but she had potential.

"So you're going?" Gajeel asked. She nodded.

"I want to see her and she's the one who usually goes to the bookstore with me to pick up a new book."

"Why? I don't peg her as the type to read."

"Cana-chan reads when she's sober," Levy argued.

"Which is never," Gajeel commented. Levy rolled her eyes, not even bothering to correct him.

.::x::x::.

Cana changed and yanked Gray by his collar. "Come on, enough moping. It's the same every year, you build up everything just for one day to let it out. Hey, I'll treat you," she said with a wide smile as she pulled him to sit upright as she stared into his eyes.

Gray wiped his tears and moved closer to her, wrapping her in a tight embrace. Her features softened as she rubbed the top of his head.

"You're welcome, you block of ice," she said softly. He went to the bathroom and freshened up as he glanced at her. "To pay me back, you'll train with me before you hop on the train and go back to Magnolia before they start having a search party for both you and me."

He chuckled and smiled at her. "What am I ever going to do without you, Cana?"

"Mope and become a drunk and depressed chunk of ice." He threw his head back and laughed as she patted him on the shoulder. "They love you that's why they protected you. What Ul-san and Ultear-san did...it's an act of love. Mourn the loss of them but don't feel guilty. Love isn't to blame."

He stared at her before looking down, his eyes filled with emotions.

"If that's the thing preventing you from getting together with Juvia, I'll beat you up," Cana murmured as Gray blushed at that. "I won't make you date her or go out with her when you're not readied. I'm not Erza or Mira; I know you're having troubles with it too. But know this, Gray," she whispered as she tilted his head up to look at her in the eyes. "Juvia deserves your whole heart. Do not go into this halfheartedly or because you're being pressured. If she loves you, she'll wait."

"Laxus is one lucky man." Cana fell silent as she looked at the floor. "He rejected you, didn't he?" Cana's silence made him groan and lie down. "That idiot...," he murmured angrily.

"It's not anyone's fault that he forgot. I don't want him to be with me due to childhood promises anyway," Cana said as she stretched. "I'll make him fall in love with the reborn Cana Alberona."

"Too bad, the old Cana Alberona is my favorite."

"What?"

He got up and tilted her head to face him, staring at her straight in the eyes. "You're changing yourself for a man who rejected you when there are many others who loves the way you are."

"Gray," she whispered.

"I'm used to the old Cana Alberona, I'm not sure if I'll easily accept a brand new Cana," he murmured, pulling away. She giggled and wrapped her arms around him, squeezing him tightly.

"Gray...you're the best."

Gildarts came back in with breakfast since he didn't hear wailing anymore. He stared at the two in an embrace and his mouth dropped. "What is your relationship with my daughter?"

.::x::x::.

"Thank goodness we didn't bring Natsu," Erza commented as the ride went smoothly without Natsu groaning or puking every second.

"That's because we're not going on a mission," Lucy said and she hummed when she saw the town come into sight. "That was fast."

"Our guilds are relatively close to one another, that's why we would spar every so often," Erza said as she dragged her suitcases behind her.

Levy giggled, wearing her backpack as Lucy dragged her suitcase. "How long are we staying anyways?"

"I just wanted to see Cana-chan and hear about her past month."

.::x::.

"So you're only friends," Gildarts said as he stared at Gray. Cana rolled her eyes, pulling out the breakfast and passed some to Gray.

"Yea, we've been friends since my day one at Fairy Tail," Gray said and sighed. "Cana's like an older sister to most of us and the guild...before she became a guild drunk to hide and escape her sorrows."

"HEY!" Cana commented. Gildarts looked down, knowing he was one of the reasons for her sorrows.

"Cana, shall we train for a bit until I leave?"

"Okay! But go easy on my left side, my ankle is still healing."

"Alright," he said, shoving the food down as he got up. She grinned at her dad to cheer him up and waved for him to follow.

.:x:.

"Hey! That's Cana!" Lucy said to her friends.

"...and Gray," Erza said with a frown, watching them come out of the hotel. Gildarts was right behind them as they went to a clearing, the three girls followed sneakily to see what the three were up to.

"Cana, where are your cards?"

"Right here," she said smugly as she patted her furry blue bag that she refused to change. Gray eyed it, seeing the tears on it.

"You should change bags soon."

"Nope!" She said as she looked at him. "You start first."

Gray rolled his eyes but charged towards her. "Ice Make: Lance!" The flurries of ice spears hurled her way made her smirk, it was so easy to read him - it was his favorite wide range attack and usually first move. She swiftly pulled out her nunchucks, swinging the ice spears away. Gray stared at her with his lazy eyes wide for once and his jaw dropped a bit.

She locked it together and charged at him with her bo staff, fighting him with pure force and strength.

"I believe for a situation like this, I would be your best training partner," Erza said as she reequipped her outfit into her Robe of Yuen. She twirled her bisento and Cana smirked.

"Why don't you all attack me at once? It won't be training if I don't work my ass off."

Lucy hummed, whipping out her keys and called upon Leo – the Lion, or Loke. He fixed his glasses before staring at Cana. His jaw dropped and she spun around, glancing at him.

"Like what you see, Loke?"

"Shit," he murmured as he swallowed obviously. She laughed merrily at one of her best friends who she partnered up with back in the days. "And you're training, I'm shocked."

"A girl needs an evolution every so often," she said before smirking. "Not all girls are damsels in distress."

"I sure as hell never thought you were one after the first punch you threw at me," Loke reminded, rubbing his stomach with a grimace. She winked playfully as she looked at Levy expectantly.

"My training for you is for you to accompany me to the bookstore."

"Nah, don't worry about it. It's sitting at the hotel room, get Gray to carry it back for you," Cana said with a soft smile. "I never break my promises."

"Then okay," Levy said cheerfully as she pulled out her pen. She got readied to attack as well.

.:x:.

Gildarts looked at the stopwatch in his hand, watching as Cana took on the four at their full force. She was faring pretty well and was sober for the past month with him. He was proud of his daughter and watched as she twisted and slammed her leg into Loke's face. He lost balance, flying back before he crouched forward and steadied himself.

Lucy wrapped her whip around Cana's bo staff and Cana smirked, swiftly unlocking it to turn it into a nunchuck as she hit her hand with the other end. The whip loosened from her grip and Cana tossed it aside before hiding her nunchucks/bo staff in her holster and swapped for her baton in less than a second.

Levy was panting but learned some hand to hand combat from Cana and Erza. Cana never imagined herself fighting strong mages from their guild since she always thought of herself as weak. She put her baton back and pulled out her cards, showing them that she wanted to get serious. They were all prepared.

However, she never expected her power to increase tenfold from all the extra training she got during the month. Her eyes widened and Gray gave her a grin.

"This is what happens when you're sober and train."

"Wow...," Cana whispered breathlessly, looking at her hands.

"You are really Cornelia's daughter," Gildarts said proudly as he hugged her tightly. "Do you want to return back to the guild?"

"Not yet, I have yet to hand Bacchus' ass back to him on a silver platter." Gildarts burst out laughing and patted her head. "You can go on your mission. I'm fine by myself, dad."

"I want to spend a couple more days here with you and make sure you're alright."

"Just two more, you'll start getting clingy and annoying again." Gildarts grinned.

.::x::.

The other Fairy Tail members stayed for the next two days as well, hanging out and shopping with Cana as Gray only groaned but lightened up when Cana treated him to his favorite, which was surprisingly tempura udon. He didn't find it so bad until Bacchus and Semmes joined in. Bacchus still had the bag of jewels Gildarts gave him for Cana's new wardrobe change and Gray could only stare in shock and horror as Semmes dragged the girls into a shopping frenzy.

Cana laughed merrily and stared at her friends before feeling her eyes water. Her heart felt warm and fuzzy as she stared at her friends. Their laughter made her happy and she was going to miss them when they left for Magnolia even though it was her who refused to go back so soon. She didn't want to admit it but she was alone. Ever since she joined Fairy Tail, she had never been alone for more than a few hours when she went home to sleep. There were times when Laxus slept with her when they were younger or when she went to party with Levy or Bisca and crash at the dorms. Her eyes focused on the girls and Gray as they got snacks and drinks while she watched the bags since Semmes forced her into a pair of stilettos before having to go check in with the guild. She didn't even notice her tears coursed down her cheeks.

"Cana?" Gray called as he came jogging back with a bubbly drink. She jolted out of her thoughts and stared at him with her eyes wide. He didn't say anything as he extended his hand with the drink to offer it to her but she spun on her heels and darted off.

She never cried soberly in front of anyone other than Gildarts and she was scared. She didn't want to look weak in front of her friends, her diminishing happiness. She ran. Her legs carried her away from her friends, carried her away from her happiness as she plunged into darkness when she slid and tumbled down the mountain.

"Gray!" Erza cried as she caught up with Gray after he just darted off with Levy and Lucy far behind her. "What happened? Where's Cana?"

"She was crying and I called out to her…she ran and…," he managed to get out as he wheezed. He had chased Cana; who, sober or drunk, was a pretty decent runner.

"Where did she go?"

"She ran that way, up the mountain but I heard it was unstable after the monsters were cleared. I'll go check. Lucy, Levy, get Gildarts and Quatro Cerberus for a healer," Gray said as Lucy and Levy arrived. He made a snowboard-like platform out of ice while the two darted off.

"I'll stay here and get the rescue equipment readied," Erza said as Gray nodded and kicked off.

.:x:.

Gray wove through the trees and his heart froze. "Cana!" Her face was tearstained, her face scratched and her blood flowed from her gashes. "Cana, please be alright," he pleaded. He pulled her into his arms gently and she opened her amethyst eyes that were filled with tears.

"Gray…it hurts," she whispered tiredly.

"It's okay, help is on the way."

"No, Gray…my heart. It hurts. I can't forget what Laxus said…I'm not good enough for him, am I?"

"Cana, you don't have to be good enough for anybody because you're amazing as you are, drunk or not, the whole guild loves you."

"Gray…I don't know what to do anymore. I thought it'll be simple to get over him. He wasn't in my life after his promotion anyways, so why is it still so hard?"

"Because you've been sober," Gray pointed out and Cana let out a laugh before wincing in pain. "Easy now, help's coming."

"You said that already, Gray. Your fights with Natsu are making you stupider or maybe you're having amnesia…," she trailed off and sighed, looking out at the forest. "What do you think happened?" He looked out at the mutilated forest but he knew she wasn't talking about the forest. He sighed as he relaxed against the tree trunk as he held her carefully to his chest.

"All I remember was that when the Strauss siblings came back without Lisanna, Laxus went out to talk to them and then, he was out for a few days with a concussion and Mira back to normal."

Cana fell silent and stared at him before connecting the dots. "Mira used Satan Soul on him…," she whispered before letting out a wry laugh. "She beat him, made him lose his memories and yet, he still falls in love with her."

"Cana…," Gray whispered. "Will it scare you if I said I love you?"

"Yea," she confessed before looking up into his eyes. "I never felt any love from you in any romantic way."

"Yea, that's because I didn't mean it romantically, idiot."

"You're forever my family, Gray," Cana murmured before closing her eyes. "So I won't forgive you if you don't get me out of here."

He laughed at her fiery response before watching as she fell asleep. His grip tightened around her as he clenched his eyes shut. He forced the tear back. He didn't want to even think of the possibility of losing her even if he wasn't honest with himself. Something brushed against his hair and he opened his eyes. He saw a rope fall in front of them and he grabbed on, letting her lie on the board as he eased her up.

"Shit, she's in a horrible condition," Bacchus commented before looking at the healer to check up on Cana. The healer immediately did.

Gildarts looked at Gray before sighing. "Gray, stay with her. She needs you."

"I promised her to bring Levy's book back for her," Gray said as Levy smiled sweetly.

"The bookstores here are larger, so I decided to stay a couple more days anyways. Lucy and Erza will be returning first though."

Gildarts sighed in relief. "Thank you, Levy-chan."

Levy smiled at that as she looked at Cana's pained face. She reached into Cana's bag and pulled out a lightning card, placing it in her hand as she slowly relaxed.


Author's Note: A new development? Well, Fairy Tail looks out for each other. I'm sure they'll do this especially if someone who has been in the guild for so long takes a break from the guild without a word. Gray isn't weak, he's just human. Even the strongest human breaks down and I believe the reason why he's strong is because he has someone there for him regardless of how he acts and he knows.

Personally, this is one of my favorite chapters. I love Gray in the manga/anime and writing him always hurts because I feel like I'm not giving him enough justice. But I know Gray is a dependable guy and he looks out for his "family" but feels guilty about Ul and Ultear. That's why, I had him wailing - it's not a sign of weakness but a sign that he trusts in Cana and feels comfortable enough with her to do such a thing in her presence.

And this chapter, by far, is my longest chapter! I'm so happy about it! I focus primarily on short stories, so I'm not sure how this story would turn out but each chapter had lasted around 1,000 words and the ideas just kept flowing, so I'm going to continue until I run out of ideas or the ideas lead to some sort of closure. Once again, thank you for those who reviewed and to those who followed or favorite! Much love and gratitude!