CHAPTER FIVE, PT. 1

Hunter

POV Gray

-Agh..!- Natsu complained out of pain while he landed on the floor.

-And that is how you knock down an oponent. Now, put yourselves in teams of two and try doing what I just showed you- Gildarts said.

-Wanna practice with me, little brother?- Lyon smiled at Gray.

-What are you doing here, Lyon? I thought you were supposed to look out for the gates- Gray asked him while preparing himself to attack his step-brother.

-It was temporary. Just until they could find someone with better shooting skills than me- He attempted to attack Gray just as Gildarts had showed them. Gray evaded him and tacled him to the ground. -Ouch- Lyon grabbed Gray with his legs and turned around to make him fall.

-I see you two are practicing hard- Gildarts mentioned while he passed right next to them -Keep up the good work-

As their mentor said, they kept on practicing some attack and defence possitions while moving around. Suddenly Lyon jumped and tried to kick him but Gray was ready and put his arms in front of his head covering the kick -What was that..?-

-Oh... I may have exagerated a bit... Sorry... Nothing personal...- Lyon apologized with an embarrassed smile.

-You sure?-

-...Eh?-

-Nothing- Gray moved fast towards him and attacked him with the same movement, but this time it perfectly matched with Lyon's head.

-Agh!-

-Sorry. It was nothing pertmsonal though-

-Well done everybody! Let's move on with the next exercise- Gildarts caught their attention. Gray went towards Lyon and extended his hand to him but Lyon didn't take it and stood up by himself.

-Don't get too cocky, little brother...-

-The next step is learn how to evade an attack.- Gildarts put himself in a defensive position -Natsu run towards me and try to attack me- Natsu did as he said and ran toward his teacher and tried to hit him, but Gildarts was faster and avoided every single of his attacks. After making some demostrations he made the crew tried it with their partners.

Lyon ran towards his brother, this time with a serious expression, and tried to attack him. Gray was fast and succeet at avoiding the punches until Lyon spoke up -What's going on between you and Juvia?- Gray lost his focus when he heared her name and failed to block one punch.

-So that was it, huh?- Gray cleaned a little bit of blood from his lips.

-I saw her today in the morning... coming out from your room- he seriously said.

-Nothing happened. We just drank with Natsu and Lucy but then she fell asleep. That's all-

-...- Lyon tried to punch him again and Gray managed to dodge him -You didn't do anything stupid, right?-

-Of course not-

-...- Lyon punched him in the stomach leaving Gray without air -You better don't-

-...-

-Well done everyone!- Gildarts clapped -Lets have a ten-minute break- Gray and Lyon panted while staring at each other.

They spent the rest of the morning learning until it was lunch time. It would be two weeks of hard training and after that they would be put in teams of two depending on their habilities and would go out of the walls in order to start hunting those things. Gray finished his training and went straight to his room to take a shower. On his way, he met with Lucy who was carrying some heavy boxes. -Hey Gray! Done with training?-

-Yeah, what are you doing?- Gray asked while taking one of the boxes of her hand.

-Oh, I'm taking these books to the library! I've been assigned to teach the kids inside the camp. Since there are no longer any schools left, its impossible for them to keep on learning, and since my major was literature I think Erza thought that was enough...- she laughed.

-I see- he smiled and walked with her until the library's door. On the way he saw far away how Lyon was talking to Juvia. He looked happy and looked kind of charmingly. He still looked as if he hadn't had a shower after the training yet.

-Oh! Its Lyon and Juvia!- Lucy noticed -Lyon looks kind of sexy while sweating- she pointed out, making Gray frowned. She noticed this and decided to tease him -What happened, Gray? Are you mad that your sexy-looking brother is hitting on your girl~?- she playfully said.

-Shut up- suddenly they saw how Lyon extended his hand an removed Juvia's hair from her face and placed it behind her ear. Gray held the box even tighter and kept on walking -Tsk.- Lucy laughed and walked behind him.

-So you like her-

-I don't know what you are talking about-

-Oh you perfectly do-

-No I don't-

-You like Juvia, right?-

-No-

Lucy tried peeking at his face but he kept on looking to the opposite side trying to hide it. -You do, and that's why you are jelouse of Lyon-

-No I'm not-

-Come on... I've seen how you two look at each other... If you ask me, I think she likes you back-

Last night's kiss came to his mind and how Juvia looked so pretty -There is no point even if she liked me. I can't love. Not any more. I simply can't-

-What do you mean?- Lucy asked confused.

-Hm?-

-...- Gray placed the boxes in front of the library's entrance and went back to his room without saying anything else.

-Ha... guys are so complicated-

Girls were so annoying. Always interested in other's lives and gossip. He walked through the same spot were he had seen them but they were not there any longer. Why did he want to see her so baddly? He just hoped she wasn't with his brother. Gray arrived to his room and went straight to the shower. The training had been exhausting and all he wanted to do now was to rest. He just let the water ran through his body while he closed his eyes and tried to forget everything, but Juvia's lips came back to his thoughts. They were soft and sweet. Her scent was addicting and her touch could make anyone feel calm. Her deep blue eyes and her light blue hair were hypnotizing and everything he wanted to do now was have her in between his arms. He quickly opened his eyes and turned the cold water on...

POV Lucy

Lucy walked into the library and started arranging the books in the shelves. There were a lot of them and all she wanted was to stay all night up to read. After some minutes she noticed a familiar blue haired girl coming inside -Juvia!- she greeted her.

-Hey Lucy...- she looked pale and had an expression of have seen a gost. Lucy ran towards her and with worry asked her what was wrong -Erza assigned me my new job today-

-Hm?!-

POV Gray

It was amazing how some people still managed to keep their spirit high despite of all that happened. Some kids were running, playing with each other outside while their parents looked out for them. Other people were doing their normal life inside the walls such as gardening and studying. Did they really believe things would become normal again? He couldn't be the only one thinking this way. Right?

Sometimes they would hear the gate keepers shooting a dead one, which sent everyone in silence for a few seconds until everything was cleared out. Other times you wouldn't hear anything at all. Sometimes they would bring one of those things inside to kill it and run some experiments. At that time everyone has to be locked up in their rooms until that thing is completely dead and taken to the laboratory.

Not many things were found though. The main and most important one was: in order for to die completely, the head muat be destroyed. But that wasn't a very new update. What they were still trying to figure out was why there seemed to be no sight of them in the afternoon.

Gray shook his head and tried to forget all of these questions. He closed the curtain of his window and went ouside. Soon it would become night, which meant those things would start to make their appearence. Everyone was supposed to be locked inside their respective buildings with their lights turned off in order not to attract any of those things, so he decided to go out before that.

It was good to feel the automn wind touching his skin. It felt refreshing. Everything seemed so peaceful. So unreal. A few weeks ago his main goal was to win the baseball match against his brother's team, and now, they main goal was to survive. Everything he knew changed in a matter of seconds. There was no electricity, no communication, no society, no nothing. Just a bunch of people inside some walls made out of wood and iron bars trying to stay alive. Water was provided by some tanks that had to be filled with water that a group of people brought every week. But how long until water was not enough? How long until they ran out of food and gas? How long until those walls were destroyed by those things? Gray walked towards a bench near his bulding and sat there.

He was scared, and he couldn't understand how the others were pretending that everything was alright. Maybe that was the point. Just pretend. Now, the second problem was Juvia. Everything seemed to revolve around her. He hadn't heared of her since he saw her with Lyon and that, somehow, bothered him. He would feel relaxed if he had her under his sight the hole day. But he couldn't do that. He couldn't control her. Gray was pretty sure Juvia would get mad just by the thought of it. Because despite being the sweetest and quiet girl he knew, she was very independant and free-spirited. She was everything he wanted to be. Free from all the pain. And that's why he loved her so much.

Wait... No. He couldn't love her. He just couldn't. He promised himself he wouldn't cause and wouldn't feel the same pain again. Not again. Not like with Ultear.

-You seem to be quite deep in thougts... May I sit with you?-

-Sure- he kindly replied when Juvia approached him. Dammit. There was that feeling in his stomach again.

-What were you thinling? You seemed to be really concentrated on something- she looked at him with a curious expression.

-Nothing important really. Just wondering how everyone else looks so unbothered by everything happening-

-I don't think they are 'unbothered'. Maybe they just want to escape from reality and that is why they act as in nothing's happening-

-I guess you might be right-

-Of course I am. I'm always right- she jokingly said. Gray looked at her with a gentle expression -Anyway... how was training today? I heared Gildarts van be pretty strict sometimes-

-He surely made us train until our bodies couldn't resist it any longer-

-It must be hard to be in the Hunter team- she said and then looked away with a terrified expression.

-Is everything alright, Juvia? You suddenly look pale-

-Its just... today Erza told me what would be my job-

-...- Gray looked at her with a serious expression.

-I'm in the scavanger team-

-What?! That is almost as dangerous as a Hunter-

-Yeah... usually hunter go with two people. Scavangers go alone to look for things faster-

-Do you want me to talk with Erza? That is a really dangerous thing to do...-

-She won't change her mind-

-Maybe I could ask her to go with you-

-That would be good, but I don't think she will--

-There's no way I'm letting you go out alone!- he found himself raising his voice with anger, which surprised Juvia.

-... sorry-

-Its fine- she smiled -Maybe... we can ask her...-

-...yeah- he replied embarrassed. Juvia stretched her hand to reach for his, but suddenly stopped -I'll talk to her-

-I saw you today wirh Lyon-

-Hm? Ah! Right- she laughed -I was supposed to give water to the people training, and Lyon spotted me-

-...What did he tell you?-

-Nothing really- she said while thinking -He just asked me how was my feet doing and-- she couldn't finish her sentence because an alarm went out. -What is that?!-

-I don't-- but suddenly, a scream interrupted him. -What the hell?!-

-A DEAD ONE!!!- Someone screamed fro. far away.

-A dead one?!- Juvia repeated -Inside the walls?!-

-What the...- They saw how people started to run and how one of them was acting weird, moving from one side to another one while holding his head and veins becoming more prominent.

-H...el...p- he tried calling out for help, but no one would get near him. He started moving towards them, every step becoming faster and more dead one-like.

-Juvia we gotta get out of here now- Gray held her hand and started running in the opposite way.

-How did this happened?!-

-I don't know! Everyone here is checked before getting inside..!-

The person turned fast and there was no time to run. Gray pulled Juvia behind him and blocked the walker with his arm on its neck and tried pushing him away, but it was too strong. He didn't have any weapon to fight against it. -Gray!- Juvia screamed. The dead one was strongly pushing against him coming closer and closer to his face. He was drooling blood which ended up in Gray's face.

-Agh..!- Erza came running from behind the building and since she wouldn't be able to reach there on time she threw her gun at Juvia. She catched it and shooted the dead one on the head. His head exploded

leaving traces of blood everywhere. Gray let the body fall into de ground and started panting. Juvia went towards him and hugged him tightly. -That... that was close...-

-Are you alright?! You weren't bitten, right?!- she started checking his arms and touching his face with concern. He shook his head and pulled her close. Erza came running towards them desperately and ordered the body to be taken immediately to the laboratory.

-What the hell happened?! How come a dead one entered here?!- she asked with concern.

-I don't know... we were just sitting here when out of nowhere everyone started running and that thing attacked us- Gray explained.

-The gate keepers said no one entered inside the walls- Erza explained -Anyways... good job on killing it. Go with Levy and make sure you two are okay- and with that said she made her way to the laboratory.

At that moment they realized, not even inside those walls was safe.