Hey guys! I'm here with chapter 11! I'm going to change things up and put the name of the next chapter at the bottom from now on :) Hopefully it ups the ante.
Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail, Hiro Mashima does.
Read and Review!
Gray looked up as the door to his room in the infirmary flew off its hinges, revealing an angry Dragon Slayer, a livid Titania and a worried Lucy and Happy. Gray raised an eyebrow as his two childhood friends marched in unison up to his bedside. Under the intensity of their glares, Gray inched backwards a bit. Erza was the first to break the silence.
"What's this about having two days left, Gray? And don't tell me you don't know because we all know that's a lie." Gray gulped. How had she found out? He turned to Natsu. No... he had never told Natsu anything about the time limit. So how...
"Matilda showed up," Natsu reported bluntly. Gray's eyes widened.
"Shit." Gray covered his face with his palm and slid it down as he looked each occupant of the room in the eye before sighing. "Can you put the door back, Lucy? I don't want the others to hear this."
"So we have two days, including today, to figure out how to counteract the spell, right?" Erza confirmed after hearing everything knew about the time limit. Gray nodded. Erza's armoured fist clenched with an audible clank. The temperature in the room spiked and Natsu let out an animalistic growl. Erza slapped the Dragon Slayer upside the head and the temperature returned to normal. Gray sighed and let himself fall back on the bed. He turned so that he was facing the wall opposite to his friends.
"Sorry guys... but do you mind leaving? I kind of want to be alone right now..." Lucy opened her mouth to protest and Erza opened hers to say that it wasn't like him to request that of them, but to their surprise, Natsu simply nodded and left the room wordlessly. Shocked by the uncharacteristic show of behaviour, the rest of them followed Natsu and closed the door behind them. Gray sighed and rolled over so that he was lying on his back with his forearm covering his eyes. He thought back to his encounters with Matilda.
"You are going to be the main instrument in your own guild's demise,"
"You're going to be my trump card in my assault on Fairy Tail."
"Damnit... Am I really going to kill them?"
Outside, in the middle of the guild, Erza was scolding Natsu while the rest of the guild members watched in fear.
"Why did you leave him, Natsu?! We all know that that's the last thing we should be doing right now!" She grabbed a hold of Natsu's beloved muffler and yanked him closer to her. She wouldn't let the likes of that Angel Slayer get a hold of her younger brother. Not if she had anything to say about it. Natsu grabbed onto Erza's wrist, laughing internally with nostalgia when he realised that this was exactly how he had confronted Gray back on Galuna Island.
"This is for his own good, Erza. Trust me." Erza let her grip on Natsu falter and eventually let go of his wrist and Natsu in turn let go of hers. The rest of the guild was silent. They had wanted to ask about what was going on with Gray since the three mages and Exceed had exited the guild roughly an hour ago, but now everyone was afraid to ask. Lucy had her hands covering her mouth, shocked that the two childhood friends were fighting, even more so because Natsu wasn't shaking in fear of the great Erza's wrath. Natsu turned and walked out of the guild, Happy flying awkwardly beside him. Erza scowled as she too exited the guild, a terrifying expression distorting her beautiful features. The rest of the guild turned towards the room where their ice mage was supposedly resting. Anyone who knew Gray knew that he didn't like to be kept down for long. So it was with a creeping fear that Lucy gently knocked on the door that she had closed not minutes ago.
"Gray? Can I come in?" she asked softly. When she was met with no response, she panicked and slammed the door open. When she found a lump of raven hair resting on the pillow, she breathed a sigh of relief. She sighed and closed the door again. Immediately, Gray threw the covers off of himself and moved the chair next to the bed so that it was under the only window in the room. Turning back with a final glance at the door, he whispered,
"Sorry, Lucy."
The sun had just started to set when Natsu and Happy and Erza returned to the guild. All laughter and conversation in the guild died slowly as the two of them walked up to the bar and sat down next to each other. The tension between the two mages was obviously still there and had not decreased in the slightest. Lucy came up to the two almost fearfully and tried to help patch things up.
"Come on guys. You're both looking out for Gray's well being. Erza, Natsu can see more than us and he knows better than anyone what Gray's condition is like right now," she paused and turned to Natsu, "Natsu, Erza is just doing what she thinks is best. We're at a disadvantage here without your eyesight. Come on you two, make up." Erza sighed as she placed a hand to her temple before turning to the Dragon Slayer watching her actions.
"Lucy's right. My apologies, Natsu. You know best in this situation." Lucy smiled in Erza's direction then glared in Natsu's as the pink haired mage had yet to reply.
"Yeah... I guess I should have told you why I was doing what I did. I'm sorry too Erza." Lucy beamed with joy. Erza brought Natsu down for a hug, only for his head to clang painfully against her chest plate. The rest of the guild visibly relaxed when they found that all the tension between their Salamander and Titania had dissipated. When Erza had released Natsu from her "hug", Natsu sat up and turned to Lucy.
"How's Gray?" he asked. Lucy put her finger to her chin.
"I'm not sure actually. I checked up on him right after you guys left. He was asleep." She turned to face the other members of the guild. "Has anyone checked on Gray?" It was Cana who spoke up.
"No one's gone in there except for you and Gray hasn't come out at all either." Natsu and Erza stood up from their barstools.
"He's slept for the majority of the day. It's time for him to wake up," Erza said as she approached the door and turned the knob. She was surprised when it didn't budge. She rattled the knob again, only for it to break off from the rest of the door due to her immense strength and her impatience. The onlookers sweat dropped. Finally, Erza kicked the door down and Lucy and Natsu moved away from her in fear. Erza looked straight up demonic. And no one thought it possible, but right after she took a glance at the bed and the open window, Erza seemed to grow even scarier. Lucy shivered. She swore she could see hellfire rising up from behind the requip mage. Poor Wendy hid behind Romeo, who blushed at the thought but then remembered his fear. Erza spoke quietly, despite her rage.
"Gray is missing." The guild's members all jolted at that. Gray was missing? In his condition? Natsu was out the door in a minute with Happy flying after him. Lucy summoned Loke to help with the search and once they were informed of the situation, the two headed out to look for the ice mage in earnest. The rest of the guild quickly followed and spread out, using Warren's telepathy to guide them in their search.
Lucy leaned down and rested her hands on her knees as she tried to catch her breath after looking for Gray for hours. The sun had long since set and no one had even an inkling as to where the raven had disappeared to. Lucy straightened as she felt the telepathic link surge to life again.
"Has anyone found Gray yet?" Erza's concerned voice resounded in her mind. A chorus of negative responses flooded her mind and left her ears ringing for a bit, especially when a boisterous Dragon Slayer screamed that he was going to "flay that idiot Ice Princess alive". With a sigh, she felt the telepathic link fizzle out into a dull hum again and she continued running down the path that she was on. Where could Gray be? With all the members of the guild searching Magnolia, there was no way that one of them hadn't found him yet! Lucy stopped in her tracks. Magnolia? What if Gray wasn't in Magnolia anymore? It would make sense that no one could find him. Quickly, she strengthened her link and tried to control the volume of her voice.
"Everyone! What if Gray isn't in Magnolia anymore?" She was met with a tense silence from everybody. Loke's voice cut in as he seemed to realise something.
"Lucy! I'm coming to where you are! I think I might know where he is!" The rest of the guild demanded to know where it was that the two of them were headed but Erza's voice cut in.
"Enough! We don't know if Gray is really where Loke thinks he is. If he's not, then what's the point of having everyone gather in one area?" The others fell silent. No one could argue with that logic. Just then, Loke arrived. Lucy let out a cry of surprise and another as she was scooped up in Loke's arms. She pounded on his chest while a deep red blush settled over her face.
"Loke! What are you doing?!" she demanded, flustered. For once, the playboy's signature smirk when he carried her like this was not on his face. Instead he was grim. Lucy stopped hitting him just as he started to run through the street.
"You're tired aren't you, Princess? This way, we'll get to Gray faster," he explained as he dodged several pedestrians and continued out of Magnolia into the forest. Lucy watched the tree pass by in a blur and looked up at Loke's expression. The lion spirit was barely keeping his composure in front of his master and Lucy remembered that the two had been close, even before she came to the guild. Lucy tightened her grip on Loke's suit jacket. Loke looked down in surprise.
"We'll find him, Loke. Don't worry." Loke smiled as he continued to run, now nearing where he thought Gray might be.
"Yeah."
Finally, the two of them reached a clearing in the forest. As Loke suspected, there, standing in the middle of the clearing, staring at the star filled sky, was none other than Gray, albeit shirtless. Loke carefully let Lucy down. He opened his mouth to speak when Gray cut him off.
"Should have known you'd find me, Loke," he muttered without turning around. Loke scoffed and narrowed his eyes.
"After all these years of knowing you, do you really think that I wouldn't know where you enjoyed hiding?" he asked, his tone accusatory. Gray grit his teeth and whirled around in rage.
"I'm not hiding, Loke!" he snarled. The playboy simply glared.
"That's right, Gray. You're not hiding. You're running. Running away from us, your family! Have you lost it?! The Gray Fullbuster I know doesn't run from his problems; he faces them head on and defeats them!" Lucy watched the exchange fearfully. She knew better than to interfere, this was a moment between two best friends, but with the way this was going, she might have to step in and calm the two boys down. Gray bowed his head, his bangs casting a shadow over his eyes. His hands that were until now calmly at his side were now clenched tight into fists and shaking with rage beside his body. He kept his eyes down as he responded,
"You have no idea. If you knew then you would want me to leave too!" Loke and Lucy were taken back. They had never seen Gray so despaired and bitter. Lucy steeled herself and took a step forward.
"Gray... there's no way we would ever want you to leave. We're your nakama, your family! I don't know how to counteract the spell yet but we'll figure something out." She walked forward, step by step until she was an arm's length away from Gray. When she reached out to touch him, Gray flinched and moved away from her.
"N-No... stay away Lucy!" he shouted putting his hands in front of him to try and maintain some distance. Lucy tried to mask her hurt and continued to advance. Gray moved away from Lucy, still trying to keep her away from him. His deep blue eyes were terrified and darted around nervously. Lucy took notice of this and slowed down but did not stop moving. But Gray's fear did not quell in the slightest. Lucy placed her hands on her hips.
"What are you so afraid of? We both know that you won't kill anyone!" she demanded. Gray shook his head furiously and backed away.
"Stay away! I don't want to hurt you!" he pleaded. Lucy frowned as she continued to press forward and Gray continued to avoid her. Until he bumped into something soft behind him. He whipped around in horror as he realised that Lucy had advanced in such a way that forced him to bump into Loke. Before he could get further away from the pair, he felt a sudden impact on the back of his neck and slumped forward, only to be caught by Loke. The strawberry blond sighed as he propped Gray onto his back so that he was piggybacking him. He shot Lucy a grin and a wink.
"Mission accomplished, Princess."
Well that's chapter 11! 6 more chapters to go guys! Thanks for sticking around and I hope you guys are enjoying Heavenly Vengeance so far! Leave me some reviews!
Next Time: Attack
