A/N: I'm really excited to be posting this. This isn't necessarily my best work, but it's the first multichapter that I managed to write more than 5K of before losing interest! I mean, I have all these ideas, I just never really explore them.

I think the quality might suffer a little as it gets longer, but I guess that'd be up to the readers to judge. It's a little different from my usual style though, a little less introspective and a little more of what could loosely be described as "action."

It's pretty much exactly what it says in the summary: it's an AU where Lucy had run away from home and joined Fairy Tail shortly after Layla Heartfilia's death seven years ago, and where Gray didn't join Fairy Tail after everything that happened with Ur. Instead, he decided to devote himself to figuring out how to undo Iced Shell (which canon!Gray had done too, right up until he met Master Makarov).

Title is taken from E. E. Cummings' poem Dive For Dreams.

As always, the summary:

Fairy Tail's Salamander, Gray decided, had to be the most infuriating person in existence. That said, joining Fairy Tail might just be the key to finally undoing Iced Shell… [Or: an AU where Gray and Lucy switch places, and Natsu meets an interesting (and annoying!) ice mage in Hargeon.]

...

though the stars walk backward

.

Chapter 1

...

trust your heart

if the seas catch fire

(and live by love

though the stars walk backward)

~ee cummings, "dive for dreams"

If he was honest with himself, Gray wasn't really sure why he'd gone to Hargeon. Sure, he'd heard rumors that there were powerful and rare magic books there, but he really should've anticipated them being just that: rumors.

He grumbled to himself as he left the shop—the only magic shop in Hargeon, apparently, and not even one with interesting magic, at that. As though mocking him, the door swung shut behind him, the chime ringing merrily.

"Well, that was a total waste of time," he muttered. Maybe there was a library here? He pulled out his map, but there didn't seem to be one. It was expected, considering Hargeon was a fishing town, but the disappointment still stung.

He was really tired of every lead he got falling short.

Face it, he told himself, it's been years, and you haven't gotten anywhere. The only thing he'd found that was even close to undoing Iced Shell was Moon Drip, but that was utterly useless, because there was no way he was going to use it. It would be as good as straight-up killing Ur. Again. And maybe she wouldn't have wanted him to spend all these years searching for a way to atone for his mistakes and get her back, but… well. She had sacrificed herself for him, for his own recklessness and foolhardiness, and it wasn't fair.

It hadn't been fair to Lyon either. Gray had single handedly crushed his fellow pupil's dreams of surpassing Ur and destroyed a second family in one fell swoop. He wondered if Lyon still hated him. Probably. He'd hate him too, if he were Lyon.

Ten years, and what did he have to show for it? Nothing. Maybe, he thought, it was time to join a guild. He hadn't accomplished anything on his own, but perhaps a guild would have the resources to help him find what he needed. Plus, most of them weren't too uptight about restricting its members, and even if they did care, he could always just leave. At any rate, it certainly wouldn't hurt.

The question was which guild he'd join. Definitely not one back in Isvan; he hadn't returned there in four years, after he'd exhausted the relatively few resources his birthplace had. It'd hurt too much to return. Plus, Isvan didn't really have all that many guilds in the first place, and none of them were particularly good.

Fiore had a lot of guilds, from weak to strong to everything in between. But it would probably be best to join a guild with a lot of connections, so that ruled out most of them. A major guild, then, he decided. Of the major guilds… Blue Pegasus was definitely out; from what he'd heard, they were more of an escort guild than a powerful mage one. Perhaps Lamia Scale?

...Who was he kidding? He knew the only real options were Fairy Tail and Phantom Lord. Both were powerful guilds in their own right, the most powerful in Fiore, each incredibly well-known and chalk-full of possibilities.

He wasn't sure which was better, though. Phantom Lord had a reputation of strength, versus Fairy Tail's reputation for massive destruction (almost entirely thanks to their Salamander). But he wasn't sure he liked Phantom Lord, though he couldn't quite put a finger on why, exactly, that was. He wasn't entirely sold on Fairy Tail, either, but he might as well. He'd just go see what it's like, and if he wasn't convinced, he'd just leave.

That was a good plan, he decided.

It was then that he realized one crucial flaw in his plan: how, exactly, did recruitment work for mage guilds? Maybe he'd know if he read Sorceror Weekly or whatever more frequently, but those were practically just gossip, and he didn't have time to waste on a gossip magazine. Now, he was wishing he had, just so he'd know how to join a mage guild. His entire plan hinged on him actually getting in, when he had no clue how to do so.

He was a good mage, and he was proud of his magic. Ur had been a good teacher, and he'd worked to improve over the years. It was her gift, the last thing he had of her. But he didn't know what level Fairy Tail expected. Surely a guild as powerful as it was would be highly selective about its members?

He was broken out of his musings when he was abruptly shoved aside. "Hey, what gives—" He broke off when he realized the girls weren't even listening to him.

"It's Salamander!" one of them squealed. He winced at her high pitched tone.

"Let's meet him!" the other said. Gray swore he could see stars in her eyes.

A smirk spread over his face. It seemed luck was on his side for once. Fairy Tail's Salamander was in town, huh? Well, then, he'd just ask him.

He followed the sound of cheers (the original fangirls long-gone) and found himself in a wide square, completely jam-packed by girls, all jostling to get at something—no, someone—in the center of the crowd. That was where Salamander was, then.

The crowd shifted, and he got his first glimpse of the mage. The first thing he saw was the flickering flames ensconcing him, more produced by a snap of the finger. But the flames were relatively weak, he could easily see that much. That was strange; somehow, he expected a mage as renowned as Salamander to be a little more powerful than that.

Then he caught sight of Salamander himself, and he froze.

His heart was thudding in his ears, and he couldn't seem to look away. The rapidly diminishing rational part of his brain was protesting, and he was vaguely aware that something was not right and that he should not be this captivated, but he found it hard to care around the comforting fog in his head. Slowly, he stepped forward, as though drawn to Salamander.

One step, then another…

"Igneel!" A boy with bright pink hair crashed through the crowd, tripping and slamming into the crowd just in front of Salamander, and just like that, the trance broke. As the fog cleared from his head, Gray scowled. What was that? He looked back at Salamander, all the haze gone. A flash of light drew his attention, and he lit upon the rings adorning Salamander's fingers. Now that his mind was clear, he could sense the faint magic emanating from the rings. It was charm magic, which, as far as he knew, was declared illegal years ago.

Just why was a Fairy Tail mage using charm magic in a random port in Fiore on a group of fangirls?

He saw a flash of blue in the corner of his eye, only to have to clamp down on an exclamation of surprise as he saw a blue cat, which, while odd, normally wouldn't have shocked him so much. No, it was the fact that it was talking. Okay, so magic did a lot of weird things, but since when could cats talk?

...And he was apparently called "Happy," judging by what the pink-haired boy (Gray mentally dubbed him "Pinky") was saying. Gray focused back on the conversation as Salamander signed a piece of paper with a flourish before shoving it at Pinky.

God, what a self-absorbed asshole. If this was what a Fairy Tail mage was like, using illegal magic and acting as though the world should worship them, then Gray was suddenly rethinking his decision to join the guild.

Pinky stared uncomprehendingly at the offending piece of paper. "Why the hell would I want your autograph?" he asked blankly. Gray winced as the fangirls let out indignant shrieks, turning on Pinky with murder in their eyes, seemingly more offended by the comment than Salamander himself.

He took a step back as they pummeled Pinky to the ground, his pink hair lost under the sea of flying hair and enraged females.

Salamander said something about a yacht party before flouncing off with an unnecessarily showy display of magic, leaving the fangirls to swoon after him, but honestly, at this point, Gray was just tuning him out. Now that Salamander was gone, though, the fangirls departed, so there was that, at least.

Gray hesitated, before approaching where Pinky was picking himself off the ground, Happy the talking blue cat hovering worriedly next to him. He might not know Pinky, but he supposed he owed him anyway, both for him breaking Salamander's charm spell, and for leaving him to the tender mercies of a crowd of rabid fangirls.

"Oi," Gray drawled.

Pinky's eyes narrowed. "What do you want?"

Gray bristled. He wasn't really sure why, but something about Pinky was seriously annoying him. He shoved it down. He wasn't here to start a fight, he reminded himself.

"Thank you," he said grudgingly, the words awkward and ungainly in his mouth.

Pinky blinked in surprise. "What for?"

Was he really going to make him say it? "That mage back there was using charm magic; you charging in there like an idiot broke the spell," he explained. Don't tell him… yup, if the way Pinky was staring at him was any indication, he hadn't even realized Salamander was using charm magic. Gray wondered if Pinky even knew what it was. He hadn't seemed very bright so far. "I owe you one."

Pinky shrugged. "Eh." A thought seemed to occur to him, and a smirk slowly spread across his face. "Okay, then. You can buy me lunch," he decided.

Gray eyed him. Well, that wasn't that bad. Fair enough, he supposed. "Alright, deal." Although, why was there such a forboding feeling in his mind?

… Something told him he was going to regret this.

Gray winced as Pinky (or Natsu, as he'd introduced himself as. Personally, Gray thought Pinky suited him better) demolished yet another plate of food. He leaned back to avoid the food flying everywhere. Pinky was practically attacking the plates; he didn't think he'd ever seen anyone eat that fast. Just how much food could one person put away? He was at seventeen plates already, and he didn't show any signs of planning to stop soon.

Privately, Gray mourned for his wallet. He didn't even want to think about how much the bill would cost.

"So, what were you guys doing in Hargeon, anyway?" he asked, mostly as a way to distract himself, and partially out of curiosity. "Were you guys looking for someone?"

"Aye!" Happy chirped. "Igneel!"

"We heard there was a Salamander in town, so we thought we'd check it out. Turns out it was someone else," Natsu said around the food in his mouth.

"Aye, he didn't look like a salamander," Happy said.

"What kind of person looks like a fire dragon?" Gray asked incredulously.

"He's not a person. Igneel is a fire dragon," Natsu said casually, as though he were saying the sky was blue.

"A fire dragon," he repeated flatly. He was not listening to this. No one had ever seen a dragon for years… and yet, Natsu looked completely serious about it, and despite himself, Gray found himself believing him. But still… "What, exactly, did you think a dragon would be doing in the middle of a town? Better yet, how did you think it would be possible to miss them? They aren't exactly inconspicuous, you know." Also, how in the world did Natsu know a dragon? And why would he be looking for him? What, did the dragon just up and disappear one day?

Natsu and Happy gaped at him, sitting shock-still, as though they hadn't even considered it. Gray groaned. "Don't tell me you're just realizing this now."

Natsu crossed his arms, almost defensively. "Oh yeah? What do you know about it?"

"Enough to know that a dragon isn't going to show up in the middle of town, which is better than you, apparently."

"Why not? A dragon could totally be in the middle of town," Natsu said mulishly, seemingly arguing just for the sake of being contrary. Gray fought the urge to bury his face in his hands. He was going to lose so many brain cells at this rate.

Happy cut in, apparently hoping to avoid them breaking out into an argument. "So we were looking for Igneel, but what are you doing in Hargeon, Gray?"

"I…" Gray hesitated. How much should he tell them? They were still practically strangers, after all, even if they'd given away their own secrets so readily. Part of him felt like he should reciprocate at least some of that trust, but a larger part of him firmly quashed that thought. He really didn't like people poking their noses into his business; he'd been independent for years, and he liked it that way. It was safer. "I was looking for a rare book on magic, and I was hoping I'd find it here." There. It was kind of true, though it was more that he was looking for the magic to undo Iced Shell itself than a book.

He wasn't sure what made him do it, considering he barely knew Natsu and Happy, but he found himself adding, "And I was kind of hoping to join a mage guild, but I'm just not sure how to go about it."

"Do you know which guild you're going to join?" Happy asked, tilting his head curiously.

"I was thinking Fairy Tail," Gray admitted. At that, Natsu's eyes sharpened in interest. Briefly, Gray wondered why, then dismissed it. It was probably just because Fairy Tail was so well-known, being tied with Phantom Lord as the best in Fiore and all. "But I'm not sure anymore, considering what an asshole Fairy Tail's Salamander was earlier."

"Wait, what?" Natsu demanded, slamming his hands on the table. "Are you saying that guy earlier said he was from Fairy Tail?"

Gray blinked at him. "...yes? How many other Salamanders do you know?"

Natsu turned to Happy. "Have you seen him around the guild before? Because I sure haven't."

"No, you're right," Happy said. "Whoever he is, he's definitely not a Fairy Tail mage."

Gray glanced between the two in confusion, putting the puzzle pieces together in his head. Were they saying what he thought they were saying? "You're a Fairy Tail mage?" he blurted.

"Uh, yeah," Natsu said. "Didn't we mention it earlier?" As if to prove his point, he shifted slightly, giving Gray full view of the red Fairy Tail emblem emblazoned on his upper right arm.

Gray sank down into his chair. Just what was his luck? He hadn't even realized Natsu was a mage, never mind one from Fairy Tail. "No, you didn't. You definitely didn't."

But then his mind caught on the exchange between the two earlier. Wait a second… "So you're definitely sure he's not from Fairy Tail?"

"Yeah, I'd know if he were a guild mate."

So if the mage from earlier wasn't even a Fairy Tail mage, he definitely couldn't be Salamander. Then, who was he, truly? And why would he go around pretending to be a Fairy Tail mage? That, coupled with the illegal charm magic from earlier, was more than a little suspicious. Just what was the fake Salamander up to?

"I'm going to find the bastard," Natsu growled, half-rising. "I'm not going to let him get away with pretending to be from Fairy Tail!"

"You can't just go beat him up!" Gray protested. "You don't even know where he is!"

"Then I'll just find him!"

"Do you have ash for brains or something? You can't just walk up to him and punch him in the face," Gray said, exasperated. "At least come up with a plan first."

Natsu bristled at the insult. "Hey—" he started indignantly.

Gray cut him off as a thought occurred to him. "Didn't the fake Salamander say something about a yacht party or something?"

Gray had never crashed a yacht party before. Actually, he'd never even seen a luxury yacht before; Isvan, cold as it was, wasn't exactly conducive to luxury travel, nevermind by water—it'd be a miracle if a boat could make it through all the ice—and he'd hardly spent enough time on Fiore's coasts to have seen one.

Still, he had to admit the yacht was pretty impressive-looking, looming above all the other ships and drowning the dock in dark shadows, contrasting sharply with the warm glow of light spilling out the glass windows and off the deck. Four giant pillars held up a second deck, banners and decoration draped around them. Laughter floated across the deck, and he could see numerous girls milling about, chatting and drinking glasses of what he thought might be champagne.

He crept along the dock, letting the patches of dark shadows cloak him and hide him from sight. It would've been better if it was a new moon, though; considering that the moon was full, there was practically still full visibility of the docks, which wasn't very helpful.

Why exactly had they agreed to wait until dusk fell again? Oh, right, because that was the only time they could be sure the fake Salamander would be there, and they didn't want to risk tipping him off. By "they" Gray really meant himself, since Natsu seemed ready to just charge out of there at any moment, damn the consequences. It'd been hard enough convincing him not to attack Salamander in the intervening hours between lunch and now.

...During the course of which he and Natsu got into no less than five arguments. And were almost thrown out of the restaurant. God, the other mage was infuriating.

Admittedly, though, Gray had rather enjoyed himself. Verbal sparring could actually be quite fun, and it'd been a while since he found someone who could give as good as he got. Didn't make Natsu any less annoying to deal with, though. Idly, he wondered how Happy could put up with him practically every day. How had the cat not gone mad?

They'd agreed that Happy would fly Natsu up to the ship—and hadn't that been a surprise? A talking cat who could fly. Gray kind of wanted to know just where Natsu found Happy—and Gray would find his own way to sneak aboard the ship. It shouldn't be too difficult, so long as no one saw the flash of light that accompanied his magic.

Ten feet away from the boarding ramp, Gray paused, watching as a pair of teenaged girls drifted up it, skirts fluttering as they walked. The security guard barely gave them a second glance… too busy playing cards with another guy with a ridiculous hairdo.

Well, if they wanted to make his job easier by not paying attention like their job demanded, Gray wasn't going to complain. Still, even if they were distracted, he was pretty sure they'd notice him walking right up that ramp. Instead, Gray shifted slightly, then made a dash for the side of the yacht.

No one sounded an alarm. That was good; they hadn't seen him, then. Quickly, he created an icy staircase leading up the side of the boat and dropped himself over the railing, dismissing his magic as he did.

He glanced at his surroundings. It seemed luck was on his side; he'd landed in an area devoid of partygoers, but still close enough that any noise wouldn't be suspicious. Now, where were Happy and Natsu?

A rustle of wings made him look up as Happy dropped Natsu to the floor and landed himself, wings fading away. Natsu made a retching sound and fell over as soon as he touched the deck.

Gray scowled down at Natsu's prone form, eyeing the way his face seemed to be tinged green with something mildly resembling concern. "What the hell is wrong with him?" he demanded.

"Natsu is really bad with transportation," Happy said. "He gets motion sickness."

"The boat isn't even moving!"

"Really bad motion sickness," Happy amended.

Gray sighed. "And you didn't see fit to mention that until now?"

"...Oops?"

"Nevermind." Clearly, Natsu wasn't going to be much use like this. The mage in question made some sort of unintelligible noise, but made no attempt to pick himself up off the ground. Gray poked him. Natsu batted weakly at his hand, but mostly missed. He looked kind of pathetic, actually, and it was so different from his loud self that it almost threw Gray for a loop.

Gray doubted Happy would willingly leave Natsu like this, so he guessed that meant he'd have to do this himself. "Wait here with Natsu," he told Happy. Then, without waiting for a response, he slipped away.

Only a couple meters from where he was standing, there was a massive door in the middle of the deck, but there was no way he could get in through there. It was too conspicuous, brightly-light and smack-dab in the middle of the party.

Instead, he continued along the deck, following the railing until he reached what he assumed was the middle of the ship. Rumbling began under his feet and he whipped around to see harbor shrinking as the ship pulled away from Hargeon.

Great, just great. Gray hadn't counted on the ship leaving the harbor—though in hindsight, it was obvious considering this was a ship. There goes any chance of an easy escape, Gray thought. He'd have to find some other way to get back; he didn't think Happy could carry two people at once, and he had no way of knowing just how far they were from shore by now.

Oh well, there was really nothing he could do about that at the moment. He turned his attention back to the windows in front of him. Light was pouring out of them, so it was probably safe to assume that someone was in there. He peeked through one of them.

Jackpot. The fake Salamander was lounging across an expensive-looking couch, cape draped over the back of it and sipping a glass of some fruity orange beverage. At his back, there was a light-blue curtain, blocking Gray's view of whatever was beyond it. He thought it was in the direction of the main deck where the party was taking place though.

Speaking of the party… Maybe it was the wind or the distance, but Gray couldn't hear anything from it. There should be laughter or talking, but all he heard was the wind rushing in his ears. Huh, did something happen?

Although, now that he thought about it, why had the fake Salamander decided to throw a party and invited what seemed to be every girl in Hargeon to it? Especially when he'd been using charm magic at the time?

Just what was he doing?

Gray waited, but Salamander didn't seem to be doing anything suspicious—well, more suspicious than he already was. He was just idly flipping through a copy of Sorceror Weekly and drinking his champagne. Just as he was contemplating whether or not to break in the room and demand answers from Salamander—not the smartest strategy, but Gray was getting impatient; he didn't like how far they were getting from Hargeon—the blue curtain was ripped aside, revealing a group of thugs, each of them carrying an unconscious girl.

Inwardly, Gray cursed. That definitely did not bode well. His fears were confirmed when Salamander remarked, "Good. They should fetch a fine price on Bosco's slave market." He spoke casually, as though he were talking about produce and not human lives.

Gray's blood boiled over. Human trafficking. That was all the confirmation he needed to know that Salamander definitely needed to be stopped, preferably with a lifetime jail sentence.

A quick punch shattered a window and Gray slipped inside. He didn't care that he was outnumbered; from the looks of them, the thugs were just that—thugs. The only one in the group that seemed like they could use magic was Salamander, and Gray was pretty confident he could take him. The only real disadvantage he had here was that the thugs were still carrying the girls, and he couldn't risk hurting them.

He didn't wait for them to react to his sudden intrusion. "Ice Make: Lance!" A flurry of ice pinned most of the thugs to the walls by their clothes, though he was careful not to hit the unconscious girls they were carrying. He froze the thugs to the walls before they could think to pull away.

The girls dropped to the ground, and Gray winced. Oops. Maybe he should have waited for the thugs to put them down first.

That was five down, two to go, including Salamander. Gray ducked under the last thug's clumsy punch—too much force, not enough finesse, he noted—and the thug overbalanced, clearly expecting his punch to have hit. Already off balance, it was the work of a couple seconds to knock the guy's feet out from under him and knock him unconscious. Six down, which just left Salamander.

The mage himself was just standing there, ever-present smirk still on his face. He didn't appear particularly worried, despite the fact that Gray had just wiped out all of his goons. "A creation-type mage, huh?" If possible, the asshole's smirk just widened. This bastard, Gray thought, was seriously beyond arrogant; he was going to enjoy wiping that smirk off his face. Then, Salamander just had to go add fuel to the fire. "Such pathetic ice magic should be no match for my flames."

Fury bubbled up in his chest. Oh, it was personal now. There was no way he was going to let a slaver insult his magic, Ur's magic.

Of course, Natsu chose that moment to make his entrance, bursting in from the ceiling and scattering wooden splinters everywhere. He landed, managed to look fierce for all of two seconds, then promptly turned green and collapsed.

Gray glanced up. Happy was hovering in the air near the hole; it seemed the blue cat had the bright idea of flying Natsu away from the ship so that he wasn't afflicted with nausea, but Gray could just imagine Natsu demanding to join the fight, completely ignoring his motion sickness.

Gray scowled down at Natsu. "What the hell are you doing here? This is my fight."

Natsu pulled himself back together long enough to glare back. "I told you; I'm not going to let him get away with pretending to be from Fairy Tail!"

Gray made the mistake of letting his guard down to glower at Natsu, caught up in the argument. A wave of purple fire slammed into him, and the air in his lungs was knocked out as he crashed into the wall, leaving him dazed for a couple seconds.

By the time he'd blinked the stars out of his vision, both Salamander and Natsu were gone. Where was— oh. The fake Salamander (and Gray really needed to come up with a better name for him or figure out his real one) was standing on the second deck, firing his magic at Natsu… who promptly swallowed the flames? Gray blinked. Okay, what kind of magic was that? Happy was carrying Natsu again, and both were hovering in the air a couple feet in front of Salamander. From here, he could just barely make out what they were saying, but it sounded like Natsu was complaining about the fire's taste.

Natsu sucked in a breath. "Fire Dragon's Roar!"

The resulting stream of fire made the very air boil with heat, and Gray was embarrassed to admit that he let out a yelp as he realized the fire was headed for Salamander, yes, but also him and the girls, seeing as they were directly behind the mage. Hurriedly, he constructed an ice shield to block the blast, pulling the girls behind him.

Natsu's magic was powerful, and Gray found himself reluctantly impressed. One of the thugs he'd frozen to the wall (which he'd almost forgotten about) gasped. "T-that's the real deal! That's Salamander!" he exclaimed.

Wait, what? Natsu was Salamander? ...Actually, Gray had no trouble believing it. Salamander was known to be a fire mage, after all, and Gray could definitely see Natsu wreaking havoc across Fiore. He didn't strike Gray as someone who understood the concept of "restraint" very well.

When the fire finally let up, the fake Salamander had collapsed, and Happy and Natsu had come to hover just a few feet away from him. "Oi," Gray snapped. "Watch where you're aiming that thing!"

"Yeah, yeah, I took him out, didn't I?"

"That roar was complete overkill!" The Fire Dragon's Roar had torn through two walls and collapsed several of the pillars holding the second deck up. Honestly, Gray was surprised the yacht was still functional; it was more rubble than boat at the moment. Happy didn't seem to find anything wrong with it. It was sad that Gray was the voice of reason here.

Natsu crossed his arms. "You wanna go, Ice Princes?" he challenged. Wisps of smoke curled up from his fists.

A corner of his eye twitched. "What did you just call me?"

Natsu seemed gleeful. "Why, you scared, Princess?"
Calm, Gray reminded himself. Now wasn't the time to get into a fight, no matter how infuriating Natsu was. If they damaged the boat, they'd never make it back to Hargeon. That said…

"Once we get back, I'm going to kick your ass, Ash-for-brains."

It didn't take too long for the boat to limp back to port, and Gray watched in grim satisfaction as Rune Knights clapped handcuffs on the fake Salamander (whose real name was apparently Bora?) and his band of thugs. The girls had all woken up and decided fleeing was the better course of valour, so all that was left on the beach were the rune knights, the newly-arrested Bora, and the wreckage of the ship, which had imploded upon reaching Hargeon, the weakened structure apparently unable to hold it together anymore.

Some of the rune knights started in their direction. Natsu's eyes widened. "Crap, let's get out of here!" Natsu grabbed him by the arm and started running, Gray trailing awkwardly behind him.

"Where are we going?"

Natsu twisted to look at him. "Fairy Tail, duh! You said you wanted to join but weren't sure because that guy was tarnishing Fairy Tail's name, right?" He didn't seem to be waiting for an answer. "Well?" he said impatiently, "Come on! The sooner you join, the sooner I get to fight you!"

"...Okay?" Fairy Tail, huh…

Maybe, he thought looking at Natsu, vibrant and bright despite the pale moonlight, they just could help him after all.

A/N: And that's a wrap! I know the meeting goes a little differently, but that's intentional. Gray isn't Lucy, after all, and his and Natsu's dynamics are quite different from Natsu and Lucy's.

There's going to be some differences between this Gray and canon!Gray too. The first can be seen already in this chapter; having not grown up in the crazy that is the Fairy Tail guild hall, he's a little more level-headed and mature than canon!Gray, and less prone to punch first think things through later. As such, he and Natsu butt heads just a little less.

Plus, Natsu and Gray's dynamics are going to be a little different anyway, considering the differing circumstances. I headcanon that Dragon Slayers possess some draconic instincts, considering they have a dragon's sense of smell and other features, so I feel like part of Canon!Natsu's protectiveness of canon!Lucy was that sense that he was the one who brought her to Fairy Tail, and dragons are pretty possessive. Thus, this Natsu and going to be a little less antagonistic towards Gray and a little more… well, protective isn't quite the right word, but something like that.

I'm not entirely certain I captured Gray's voice—I haven't actually been in the Fairy Tail fandom for a while, but I'm delving back in and in the process of rewatching the anime.

Anyway, feel free to leave me a review and let me know what you think!

~ Silver Snowblossom