Chapter 11

Lyon joined the gimme with a solemn grimace on his face. By now the surreal quality of the ordeal was lost on Gray. The bowl of water that the older ice mage carried only earthed Gray; more so then his vulgar leg did, and more so then Erza did.

The red head had bitten through her lip numerous times already, now the skin around her chin was inflamed and tiny flecks of blood stained her armour. She was tried so hard not to let it show but she was worried. Years of knowing her allowed Gray to see past the iron barriers that Erza put up and into the real woman underneath. By now their whole team could.

Right now, however, Gray didn't want to.

Thinking on it, the black headed mage figured that Erza's bravado would be a great comfort. It would reassure him that everything would be alright, that he didn't have to lose his leg and that the group would get to Lamia Scale on time and his leg would be healed and he would walk on flesh legs again. As long as he saw through that bravado those thoughts would never be allowed to take root. Because of that there had been a bone crushing twisting within Gray. He wanted to throw up.

"Gray," Erza whispered, forcing her voice to remain cold and dispassionate. Gray shook his head against it. He could see past the falseness of it, so she shouldn't bother.

Once the injured ice mage gave her the okay her voice, eyes, relaxed, her eyebrows tilting up in unrestrained worry. "Gray," she tried again. This time her voice cracked with emotion. "I need you to lie down okay? This will be over as soon as possible."

"Yeah! You'll be walking again in no time."

Gray looked at Sherry. Her mouth was pulled in a half smile. Her optimistic attitude had no place here, and though she was trying to help Gray couldn't stop the bitter, choked laugh that rose in his throat.

"Sure, walking." Pressing the back of his hand into his eyes, Gray allowed his body to drop to the ground. The stones that dug into his back were a small comfort. "Just hurry up and get it over with."

Erza gave a sharp nod and then everyone was moving; Lyon dropped to the ground next to Gray's waist, hauling up his pants leg, and Sherry landed somewhere beyond his head, out of sight. The red head herself positioned above Gray's calves, her feet on either side of his as she summoned up a blade.

What Erza called from the other dimension was a katana. The hilt was a rich red, its bindings outlined in black, and with flecks of gold down the length. What truly caught Gray's attention, however, was the blade. Almost four feet in length, he estimated, amazing himself that he was in the mind to even comprehend such a thing, the sharpened edge caught the light of the moon and reflected it back into the injured mages eyes. The thing screamed deadly, but all Gray could thing about was how easy it would be for a weapon like that to cut through his joint.

Before Gray had a chance to left his head – morbid curiosity willing him to watch his teammate slice off his leg – Erza had the blade lifted. For a brief second Gray caught his reflection in the metal. How pale he looked in the light of the moon. Dark bags took refuge under his eyes and once tanned skin had morphed into something white, green, and clammy. His black hair had turned lifeless, the healthy sheen it had before taking on this task had vanished under dirt and sickness. Then he blinked and the moment was lost.

"I am so sorry," Erza said. Her voice cracked as the sword fell.

The motion was not quick. The slice was not painless. It hurt bad and it lasted a lifetime.

If the ordeal had been surreal then maybe it would have been quick, over in the blink of an eye, before the mage had the chance to process a thing. It hadn't been any bit dreamlike. As it was, Gray felt the skin bend and break underneath the force of the cut, like the blade hadn't been sharpened in decades. He felt the vessels burst and the blood flow up around the metal, around his flesh. Before it rain down his leg the sword cut past a tendon, tore through the bone, and ripped through the rest. He even felt the ground kick up when the katana dug into it, decorating the wound with brown.

Halfway through Gray shrieked: choked, throaty, gut-wrenching. He clawed at the ground, went to thrash but Sherry stopped him, wrapping her arms around him and pulling him into her lap long after the blade had brought up in the earth and blood began staining the ground. The fact that he couldn't control himself, the fact his body was this weak, ashamed him.

Then it was over, the weapon cast aside and Lyon mopping down his wound. Each time the clothe brushed against his wound, no matter how light Lyon attempted to keep the strokes, Gray's wound hissed.

Unable to help himself, Gray pushed up into a sitting position, hoping to get a better look at the still bleeding wound.

"What do we do with... you know," Sherry croaked. Gray had to pull his eyes away from the wound he had, that was inflamed and blood covered and dirt ridden, all of which Lyon was quickly amending. On the ground lay his discarded leg.

Even though the skin had already begun to lose what colour it had left the ice mage could still pick out the pussy green tinge of risen veins, the vulgarity of the skin had broken open - each of which oozed as viscus, unidentifiable liquid. The foot was thrown at an awkward angle. Beneath it the ground was stained black.

Everywhere the ground was stained black.

His leg was gone. His leg was gone.

He couldn't-

Gray spun a quick left, feeling his stomach heave, and vomited the few contents of his stomach to the ground. It was painful – why did everything hurt? Tears sprang to his clenched eyes, and though Erza was there to wipe them away before anyone else seen the strike to his pride still occurred.

The red head continued her sympathy administrations, brushing his hair, rubbing his back, coaxing the heaves – now dry, making it feel like it stomach would crawl out in the food's stead - away. They finally did subside, but Gray didn't sit up. It was all he could do to keep himself out of the pool he'd made. Lyon had finished dressing the wound. Blood didn't seep any more. Yet the young ice mage still didn't feel any better.

Strong hands guiding him into Erza's lap, then continued to comb through his hair, he relaxed into the touch a little. Surrounded by the scent of blood and puke, complete relaxation was impossible.

"Gray," the other ice mage started, his voice truly hard and dispassionate, for which Gray was thankful for. "What do we do with your leg?"

Gathering air, Gray glanced from his discarded leg to what remained attached. "Take of the shoe, and... Throw it away." The own distance of his voice shocked Gray, but he shrugged it all. That would fade in time.

Somewhere to his right Sherry gave a shocked whine. "Y-You want to just... throw your own leg away?! But-"

"Yes!" he snapped. Gray felt Erza's grip tighten. He couldn't care less. "It's useless now. Just a leg. What would you have me do with it? Fucking bury it in the ground and weep over the loss? Throw it away."

Much to his thanks, Lyon was already moving. The look of disgust that flashed across his face was satisfying to say the least; to be fair, Gray would have probably made the same face too if he had the energy to do much of anything. Nevertheless, it earned the older ice mage a soft 'thanks' before he slung the leg into the trees. Lyon looked, like Gray most likely did, all too happy to get the thing out of sight.

"Gray?" Erza said. Her hands were still moving. For a warrior, she could be so soft when she wanted to be. "Try and get some rest. We won't be leaving until morning."

Gray was thankful for the order, her voice still stern as it soothed him to sleep. It was a small semblance of normalcy even as the rest of the world seemed to turn on his head.

The last thing Gray saw before slipping into sleep was Lyon turning toward him, a grim smile plastered on his face. "I guess this is just one more way you're like Ul."

Again, thank you Sora for you review. : ) You're a doll and I hope you continue to enjoy this story.

This is the last chapter I have written and intersession is approaching fast so my time will be consumed wholly and utterly with our film. Hopefully I'll be able to get a lot of everything done over reading break. . .

Reviews are always very welcome, keeps me procrastinating. :3