AN: So i just realized that i didn't post last week...GIANT APOLOGIES! (lol what is with me today?) but i'm sorry, i thought i posted, but i didn't, but i thought i did...anyways, here is the long awaited chapter! Thank you and read on! ~Alice

Gray froze. How was this possible? Her father had done this, to summon some evil to raze the world? He swallowed, trying to stomach the fact that Alexei was just some twisted experiment to commit a greater evil.

"Did you not read the prophecy? Her wings will be her freedom? Her father gave her wings hoping he would invoke this prophecy!" Grim exclaimed in annoyance.

"But why did her mother name her Alexei?"

Grim's face darkened, and the shadows around her began to creep up the walls and furniture. "Vera didn't know what she was thinking. Besides, Alexei doesn't know what really happened. She just told you what she thinks happened, not what actually did when her mother disappeared." Grim sighed in disappointment. "It's funny what the mind will do to forget something," Grim wryly commented, a bittersweet smile gracing her lips.

"Well damn. Who can give me the real story? Is there anyone in the loop who can honestly tell the truth?" Gray sarcastically spat back. Frustrated with the lack of information, he ran a hand through his hair, trying to cope with all the information he was being given.

"Do you even know why she forgot? You couldn't possibly understand."

"My parents were killed by one of Zeref's Demons when I was young. Don't decide what I don't understand," Gray growled.

"I didn't know," Grim softly replied. "Was it Deliora?"

Gray stiffened at the mention of the demon, but slowly nodded. Looking down, he clenched his fists. "I went down the wrong path, trying to defeat it. But if it didn't exist, I wouldn't have met my master, Ul." Looking down at his clenched fists, he scowled. "If I hadn't been so rash, she would still be around."

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have judged so quickly." She smiled. "Alexei always said that I never bothered to listen. I'll tell you what really happened." Gray sighed in relief as Grim began to fill him in.

"It wasn't her father that killed her mother. Her mother killed herself. Vera was losing her mind, and she took it out on Alexei before she…killed herself. Her mother had never been named Veronica, because she abandoned the Elemental Aurae to be with Alexei's father. Alexei was so scared that day…I found her that day, curled up next to Vera's corpse. What I did next was unforgiveable." Grim put her head in her hands. She spoke quietly. "I told her father. And he came in, and…thought that Alexei had killed Vera. And he lost it. Her father loved her mother so much; he hated the only remembrance he had of her. He attacked Alexei, which triggered her instinct to use elemental magic. And so he found out that Vera had been hiding something from him. And he locked that something in a dungeon deep below."

"Is anything else different?" Gray asked hoarsely, feeling an intense emotional pain for both Grim and Alexei.

"Nothing else. I realized, years later, the Alexei's mind had subconsciously created a denial system. It was the only way that she could ever keep going," Grim replied. "I'm tired of telling someone else's story. Why don't you just ask questions from now on?"

Gray thought for a moment, before hesitantly asking, "What is your role in the prophecy?"

"Isn't it obvious? I'm the shadow that traps energy," pausing to gesture around herself, "in the labyrinth of stone. I have a store of magic energy in my body, just like any other mage. But while you would need to have some magic-boosting item to replenish it when you run out, I can take power from here. When I have extra magic energy after battle, or when I'm not using much magical energy, I store, in the form of aspects in Elsewhere. The nature and mountains that I had here got used up while I was under Vladimir Blade's influence. The couch you're sitting on? I think it has enough energy for me to perform one or two draining spells when I'm running on empty." Gray shifted uncomfortably as he tried to come to terms that the plush cushions that he sat on could be turned into magic.

"But, a downside is that if I bring mages here, Elsewhere tends to absorb their magic. Magic depletion is not good for any mage, but this place seems to take a huge toll of maker mages. I think it's the whole 'giving magic a physical form' thing. You've probably noticed that you're really tired right now." Grim sighed. Gray suddenly felt a large wave of fatigue wash over him.

"So this dimension, is like a safe?" Gray asked tiredly, leaning back on the couch.

"It's more like home really. I used to spend most of my days in here when I learned about this part of my magic. I hid Alexei in here once, when her father wasn't looking. Needless to say, he was very angry when he found her a day later." Grim smiled at memories of a younger, more innocent time. "It looks like she's really has feelings for you. You've changed her in ways that I can barely understand. She used to never tell anyone a single thing about herself. It's funny how fate is such a bitch sometimes. She falls in love, only to set the prophecy in motion."

"So what happens to Alexei?" he mumbled as he started to close his eyes.

"She goes with what fate has given her. She doesn't have a single constant in her life besides that prophecy. She's too intertwined in that destiny, and you just tied her in an inescapable knot." Those scathing words were the last words Gray heard before he fell asleep.

"Gray, wake up." Opening his eyes, Gray shielded his eyes from the sunlight flowing in through the window. Wait, sunlight? He thought as he suddenly jerked up. Looking around, he realized he was in the guild infirmary. He was sitting in a chair next to Alexei's bed.

"Do you think that she hates me?" Grim asked, looking at Alexei's sleeping figure. "I always felt that I had to be near her. But now she has you and Juvia to protect her. Where do I go now?"

"You don't have to stay by her side. You can protect the world in other ways. You can be a free-lance mage. Just travel the kingdoms, and try to find a way to save Alexei. That can be your way of protecting her now," Gray replied.

"Will you tell her that I said goodbye? I want to hit the road before any authorities get here."

"Sure."

"Take care of her, Gray. Or so help me, I kill you myself." Grim gave a mocking salute before sinking into the shadows.