Just realized it had been a month since I updated this story, and I just wanted to say I'm really sorry. I am just super busy right now, especially with the holidays. Anyway, thanks for sticking with me, and huge shout out to my beta. Deathsembrace137, you are an epic friend and a bad ass beta! Love ya!
Hiro Mashima owns Fairy Tail.
CHAPTER 10: ONE STEP FORWARD, TWO STEPS BACK
Lily flew high above the town of Hollow, all of his senses on high alert, searching for any sign of Lucy, Wendy, and Charle. They were his friends, and the thought that they had been on their own for a week, with one of them very sick, worried him to no end. He hated this. He wanted them back home where he knew they'd be safe and sound.
Lily was determined to find them, to save Lucy before it was too late. But this trip was a roller coaster for him, his expectations high with the start of every town, and his faith taking a dive with every town left behind. There was a crushing sense of desperation each time he failed her, and it didn't matter that he was doing his best. He knew she was worsening every day, getting weaker, and that was unacceptable to him.
His partner however was painfully nonchalant about Lucy's return, and that disturbed Lily. He wanted him to be concerned. He should be concerned. She was the man's mate, after all. Gajeel had prepared Lily for the eventuality of The Mating, had told him everything about the custom so he'd understand what would happen. And now, Gajeel was rejecting everything he'd been taught.
Lily couldn't quite fathom why the man was reacting this way. By Gajeel's own admission, the Mating was flawless in its pick for the slayers. He'd known going into it that there was no dictating who would be chosen for him, and yet, here he was throwing his intended mate away. Why? By the dragons' own traditions, Lucy had already won Gajeel, had already earned the right to stand by his side. Plus, she was a wonderful woman – kind, caring, beautiful. So, why would Gajeel not accept her?
He had considered for a brief moment that it was because of his girlfriend, and though Lily knew that Gajeel cared for Levy, he'd watched them long enough to see that it wasn't love for his best friend. In fact, Gajeel seemed to be under the impression that love was for fools. He had wanted no part of it, instead using his time to plan out his life by what would make sense.
The Exceed had been around Gajeel long enough to know that he was simply comfortable with Levy. She was safe. Obviously, she mattered to him, and their relationship had turned physical, but it had never crossed the line into real romantic love. They got along well, but Gajeel wasn't in love with her, wasn't in love with anyone actually, so why fight so hard for the right to choose Levy?
He shook his head sadly. The whole thing was a big mess. Levy was surely hurt by the way things had turned out, but he hadn't seen her since everything had begun. Gajeel was angry at having his choice made for him, and Lucy was simply gone. It was the worst possible way things could have played out, and he hated it for all of them.
Still, Gajeel had taken a hard situation and made it significantly worse in so many ways. He'd refused his mate, he'd left her completely ignorant of what had happened, he'd forced Lucy to take responsibility for something she'd had no control over earning her a tongue lashing she hadn't deserved. The list of Gajeel's sins against Lucy was seemingly endless to his mind, and Lily felt his stomach lurch. What if they didn't find her in time?
He had thought, foolishly it appeared, that someone would have come across her trail by now. With the sheer number of people out looking, it had seemed impossible for them to fail, yet every day that passed was a reminder of just how wrong that notion had been.
Lily sighed as he made a final sweep of his half of the town. Not a single indication that Lucy, Wendy, or Charle had ever been there. There was simply nothing. Once again, the dejection hit him hard. He'd hoped this would be it, that he'd finally found them, but no, it couldn't be that easy. Still, there was a chance that Gajeel had somehow had better luck.
Feeling his heart lighten at the thought, he flew towards the center of town, to the statue in the middle of the square where they'd decided to meet. But Gajeel wasn't there. It was strange, because he had been the first to arrive in every other town they'd searched thus far. Where could he be?
Lily waited for another 15 minutes, steadily growing more and more worried until he decided to go look for him. Spreading his wings, he shot into the air, flying low enough to catch his friend's scent. It was some time before he caught a whiff of Gajeel, and he quickly followed it all the way to a building at the edge of town.
It was strange to find him at any sort of establishment in town, because that would mean interacting with people, which Gajeel most certainly wasn't fond of lately, but when Lily looked up at the sign, it all began to make sense. A bar...of course. He should have thought of that first. Gajeel had scarcely been sober since he'd gone through The Mating, choosing instead to wallow in alcohol and self-pity.
The weary cat dropped to the ground, changing to his large form, and headed for the door, hoping his friend wasn't already so far gone that he had turned belligerent. Unfortunately, Gajeel could be seriously difficult when he was drunk, and Lily was far too tired to deal with it at the moment.
He tried to remind himself again that Gajeel couldn't help how angry he was right now. Lily knew that his separation from Lucy was causing a great deal of havoc in Gajeel's mind. It was screwing with his emotions in a way he had no control over. That was just the way this dragon tradition went.
Lily knew all that. He honestly did, but he was finding it hard to continually deal with the slayer's indifference to Lucy's plight. It should matter to Gajeel if Lucy was in pain. It should bother him that she was out there, slowing wasting away because he hadn't done the right thing. The man should be working his hardest to find her, to make her safe once again.
But from what Lily had seen, that wasn't going to happen. He wasn't going to suddenly wake up and decide to give a damn. He just wasn't, and no amount of pleading from Lily had made any difference. Nothing could convince Gajeel, because he was still refusing to accept reality.
Lily pushed through the heavy door, scanning the room and immediately finding the sullen dragon slayer at the end of the bar. He watched as Gajeel tossed back a shot of liquor, then signaled for another. The Exceed sighed as he headed toward his friend, shouldering through the slight crowd before he came to a stop beside Gajeel. He showed no sign of acknowledging the Exceed's presence, nor did he offer any sort of greeting.
Apparently, it was going to be one of those days, Lily thought, as he looked down at his friend. The man was scowling once again, his dark countenance a warning to all to keep away. It seemed the expression never left him anymore, only changing with the rise of his fury. It took almost nothing to get Gajeel riled, and if he so much as heard Lucy's name, it was like throwing gasoline on a fire.
He would snap, pouring his rage out upon whatever unfortunate soul had brought the woman into the conversation. He was downright hostile lately, nearly always on the verge of losing control of himself, and Lily had begun to wonder how long it would be before Gajeel was completely lost to the volatile emotion.
"Gajeel," Lily called, approaching the topic as gently as he could. "Did you already finish searching your half of the town?"
The dragon slayer sat there, ignoring the question as he downed another shot and calling out for more. The only sign he showed of hearing Lily's words was a slight tightening in his shoulders, and Lily tensed, seeing that Gajeel was going to force him to ask again. Why couldn't the man just stop fighting him, stop running from his destiny?
He hated that Gajeel was pushing him away, doing everything he could to put them on opposite sides of this problem. It saddened him to lose him best friend this way, but he'd never stepped back from doing the right thing, no matter how hard it was to do.
"Gajeel, did you already-"
The dark-haired man turned his head with a growl. "Yeah, I did. Shit, can't you shut up about it for once?"
"I just wanted to make sure we had searched the whole town before we move on," Lily explained, keeping his voice as calm and unassuming as possible so Gajeel would have no reason to get angry.
"Yeah, whatever. Now leave me the fuck alone."
Lily sighed, knowing things were about to go down hill, but still trying to be diplomatic. "Gajeel, we need to get going. We don't have time for...this."
Gajeel slammed the small glass down onto the bar and stood to his feet in one fluid movement. The action was done so quickly that it stunned Lily, causing him to stumble back a step at the sudden presence of Gajeel in his face. How had he moved so fast after drinking so much?
"Who the hell are you to tell me when to leave?" the man snarled, shoving at the Exceed's chest. "I'll go looking for your precious Lucy whenever the fuck I feel like it!"
He spat the words at Lily, not caring how the cat flinched at his harsh response. He simply dropped back into his seat, dismissing Lily with a sneer. "Now, fuck off."
Lily turned aside, shaking his head sadly as he made his way back out of the bar. He was losing his friend, and for the first time since this journey began, Lily wasn't sure he'd be getting him back.
The air flowed around Gray in great swirls of white as he moved into the stance Ur had taught him. He panted, his body worn from the long fight with the dark mage, but he was determined. This guy was just one more thing in his way, one more thing blocking his path to Lucy, and he would take him out just like the ones before.
He glared across the meadow at the red-haired man, as he formed a fist over his other hand, molding a massive bow. He lifted it, pulling back on the string with a shout, "Ice Make: Arrows!"
The arrows shot into the sky like icy missiles, more than a dozen of them heading straight for Gray's unprepared opponent. The dark mage scrambled to call out his magic, but he simply didn't have time. The projectiles crashed into him, one after the other, striking with precision. The man fell under the icy assault, dropping back with a loud thud.
Gray sighed in relief at the man's still form. It was finally over, another job completed. That meant more money for Lucy, but first he had to get the bastard to the proper authorities.
Thirty minutes later, he was heading towards the local inn, reward in hand. It had been a long, tiring job, but it offered a great deal of money. And Lucy could use every bit he could get for her. He just wished he felt like he was closer to finding his friend. It had already been a week, and he had blown though 2 jobs already and just as many towns.
He felt like he was making hardly any progress, like time was just flying by. He hated it because he could almost feel Lucy's time ticking away. He couldn't lose her. He'd lost so many people he cared about. He couldn't handle losing any more, and especially not Lucy. She meant far too much to him.
No, he refused to even entertain the idea. He was going to find her if he had to kill himself to do it.
Gray headed straight up to his room, intending to shower and go right to bed. He wanted to be out the door and on to the next town by 6 in the morning. This would be his last stay in an inn for quite a while, so he needed to get as much rest as he possibly could. He was going to need it if he wanted to get through the jobs even quicker.
Dropping his bag on the bed, he moved into the bathroom, rushing through his shower so he could get to bed. He was exhausted. He'd been going strong for the last 5 days, barely stopping to eat or sleep, and still he felt like it wasn't enough. He felt like he should be doing more, moving faster.
And why hadn't Loke been back to see him? He hadn't seen the Lion Spirit since the first time. Gray wanted to hear how Lucy was doing. Did the fact that he hadn't been back mean that something had happened? Everyday that passed with no word from his friend made it harder and harder not to freak out. He knew Lucy was getting worse, but without Loke's visits, he had no way of knowing just how bad it was.
He sighed, trudging out of the bathroom, only to find the man he'd just been wondering about. "Loke! Damn man, I was about to lose my freaking mind! I thought something had happened."
"Sorry Gray. It's been a long week," Loke said tiredly.
"What's going on with Lucy?" Gray moved closer, his mind already going to the worst possible scenarios.
Loke held up his hand and shook his head. "Nothing big has happened, at least not in the way you meant."
"But something is happening..."
The Lion Spirit sighed softly, then nodded before answering, "She's lost her appetite. She's still eating, but I'm pretty sure it's just because we hound her about it. She knows we're all watching her, so she's trying to appease us, I guess."
"She doesn't want to eat? Shit..." Gray said, sitting down wearily on the bed, dropping his head into his hands. "I can't believe this is happening."
"I know. I keep wishing I could wake up, and it would all be the way it was before."
Gray lifted his head, fixing his friend with a stare, as he asked, "Can you tell me where she is...please?"
"Gray, you know I can't. I would if I could, but that would be going against her...and I can't do that to her, not after everything that she's been through," Loke answered, his voice a plea for understanding.
Gray sighed, slumping again. It was so unfair. Lucy was going to get worse, and there was nothing he could do. All their hands were tied - his, Loke's, Wendy's, Charle's. If she'd only let him come get her, he could bring her home where she'd be safe again.
Natsu had said that would make her better. Of course, he also said she needed Gajeel, and that thought soured in his stomach like milk curdling in the carton. That bastard shouldn't be allowed to come anywhere near her, and yet, if that's what Lucy needed, he knew he'd step aside and let it happen. What she needed was all that mattered now.
But how was he going to find her if Loke couldn't tell him where she was? He'd be so certain he'd find her when Loke had first told him to go east, but now, he was beginning to realize how big an area that was. It seemed so daunting, and though he would never give up looking for her, he was haunted by doubt.
If only Loke could tell him something...
His head whipped up with the sudden solution. Loke couldn't tell him what town Lucy was in, but maybe he could give him more direction, like he had the first time. Standing to his feet, he rushed to his bag, tearing through it in search of his map.
"Gray? What are you doing?" Loke asked.
Finding the folded page, he hurried back to Loke, waving him over to the table behind him. Gray dropped into a chair, then spread the map out and turned to his friend. "Okay, I know you can't tell me where Lucy is, but you can give me another hint, right?"
"What do you mean?" Loke's brow wrinkled in confusion as he leaned over table beside the dark-haired man.
Gray pointed to the map, explaining, "Okay, this was the first town I went to, then this one, and now we're here. Am I at least going the right way?"
Loke's eyes widened as he realized what the ice mage was getting at, a triumphant smile on his face. Taking a longer look at the map, he lifted his gaze to Gray and assured, "Yes, keep going that way."