Hello once again…

The world is not too happy to have mr floppy socks in charge of the order of doughnuts so I will create a weapon of mass stupidity to counter the sugary sweetness of the Alpaca band…

Good luck deciphering THAT…

LETS READ!

:::-((x))-:::

'Why didn't you help me boy?'

'You could have saved us, but you let us wither away…'

"I-I'm sorry! Please, leave me alone!" His body tightened suddenly, cutting off his breathing and sending a piercing pain through his body as the feeling of his ribs breaking became the only thing he could think about. That and the pain it brought.

The invisible force relented ever so slightly…

'Why do you get to live happily whilst we suffer?'

'Did you want us to die?'

Another painful squeeze around his broken chest, this time harder, driving the cracked ribs through his air starved lungs. His eyes widened in shock as he felt what little air he had left leave him as everything around him became darker.

But as his eyes began to droop and close, he heard a familiar voice resonate from the black void of painful screams and venomous remarks. Suddenly, the familiar face of his best friend filled his vision. He expression being one of pure hatred.

The same from that faithful day on the mountain top...

'You were my friend… But you let them die. You let them all die…'

"J-Ja...de."

Those were his last words, just before he fell unconscious…

"AAAAAAHHHHH!"

Gray's eyes shot open as he recoiled into the rock behind him and hitting it with a painful 'crack'. He groaned loudly, quickly clasping the back of his head with his left hand as he allowed himself to relax before he moved again.

"Fuck..." He breathed out quietly, letting out a calming breath before he looked up and saw the road from last night in front of him. The previous weeks events then came back to him and he remembered why he was here.

"Right… Reenath, got it." Gray got up slowly, holding his now throbbing head and steadying himself on the rock that gave him said headache. "Great, another thing to worry about." He grumbled to himself, he must have given himself a slight concussion. The pain wasn't the problem for him, the dizziness he got from it however, was a different story.

It took him a few minutes, but he finally managed to find a rhythm to keep himself from toppling over as he started his trek to Reenath once more. If their was one thing that Gray could say about hitch hiking, it would be that it fucking SUCKED. It was slow, boring and if you hurt yourself and you weren't able t continue you would have a hard time getting help from anyone.

'Come on now.' He repeated over in his mind. 'Reenath is within arms reach. You can rest once you get their.'

So he persevered, trudging down the desolate road, holding his head and shielding his eye from the intense sun light that was beaming down from above.

"I hate this weather..." He muttered. The heat was unbearable, his forehead had worked up a terrible sweat, causing his hair to stick to his head which only irritated him further.

A few hours later, the Devil slayer finally saw Reenath over the horizon. The bigger building's roofs peaked high enough for Gray to see them. Seeing those buildings filled Gray with determination. He grinned and picked up the pace, his headache forgotten about as he began to run faster and faster towards the town. He was so close.

Perhaps this night he could sleep in an actual bed instead of on the ground…

That would be a nice change.

:::-((x))-:::

Meanwhile back in mountains…

"Not now, Lyon..." Came the morose reply from Ur. Sitting in her chair, her head held in her hands. She hadn't moved or done much for the past few days. Ever since she sent Gray away she couldn't shake the feeling of guilt that washed through her when training Lyon. Just watching him practice and improve made her look over to the empty space where Gray used to train and improve. It felt as if she was missing something. As if a part of her had been ripped from her.

It was effecting her health slightly… She almost fell ill whilst instructing Lyon about full body augmentation. She had to dismiss Lyon for the day as she fought to keep herself from falling ill. She succeeded, but her mind continued to linger on her ex-student. How was he coping? Was he alright?Those questions continued to plague her mind everyday and night.

Lyon wasn't bothered at all though…

He had even stated twice to her that Gray was getting what he deserved for his actions. Especially after he was beginning to warm up to him as well. Both times he said this he got a hard whack over the head and an angry lecture from her about morals and shit.

But he didn't seem to care much when it was about Gray. Was he really that angry with him?

"But master I-"

"I said NOT NOW..." She repeated, deliberately adding emphasis to her words. Like she was talking to a toddler instead of a nine year old boy who had been under her tutelage for a long time. The apprentice in question recoiled from the sudden increase In volume.

Lyon was more than startled by his masters sudden change in tone. She had never spoke to him like that before, even when he and Gray almost killed eachother. But that wasn't the only change he'd noticed, over the past week he had caught his master either crying quietly during the night. He never tried to intervene, he always gave her some time to herself and never brought up the subject since it wasn't much of his business. But he had managed to catch her mumbling out a broken apology to her daughter and surprisingly Gray once.

So in some way, it did have something to do with him…

She had also started acting bizarrely during their training sessions. Either deciding to cut the session short and walking back home or just spacing out and looking over to Gray's old spot, sadness and guilt shining through her eyes as she would continue to stare until he snapped her out of it.

Little changes like that had begun to have a negative on not only her, but on him to. Paranoia had become the normal emotion for the young mage as the days went on. Always wondering if Ur would suddenly burst out crying or if she would even come out at all. He was confused, if not slightly angry. Gray was gone, he didn't have the chance to murder either of them now. The distraction was out of their hair so Ur should be pleased, happy even. Right?

But as the week began anew, it dawned upon him as to why Ur was slowly self destructing…

She wanted Gray back. She wanted Gray, the kid who took up room in their home, who ate their food (Helping them make it didn't matter), who was rude and mean to the two of them to come back into what 'should' be their happy life.

That realisation filled Lyon to the brim with anger. As if a fire had suddenly ignited and try as he might, he was unable to put it out. He whirled around sharply to face Ur. Her expression turning into one of confusion and slight frustration.

"It's him isn't it?..." He clenched his fists, hoping it would grant him a window to keep himself in control. "You want the bastard back after what he did!"

"Lyon, don't give me this right now, we have t-"

"I DON'T CARE!" His sudden scream drowned out her calm and even tone. Surprising her and making her step back from where she got up. Lyon quickly realised what he did and took a deep breath to calm himself down before looking at his frozen master with a less intense glare. "All that he has brought us is anger, pain and frustration. You cannot even defend him from that, as much as you probably want to." His distasteful and bitter tone floated around the room, carrying a ton of tension around with it as it filled the room. He sounded so disgusted and sad that Ur almost forgot what he had said.

"Excuse me, young man?!" She retorted with a glare of her own, hands on her hips and her form leaning over her apprentice as she continued. "I do not have any favourites, you and Gray got the same amount of attention from me. And you are still to young to acknowledge why he was so disconnected!"

"Pfft, whatever." Lyon waved off her words as if they held no weight to them. His eyes never leaving hers. "He had his village become a huge piece of roasted ash and most of his left side got Kentucky fried as well as losing half of his sight from the same side. He became some sort of shy yet dark and angry emo bastard who thought he was good enough to learn how to wield ice-make like we could, he clearly couldn't and he left because he got so angry about it that he took it out on me! I think I know what there is on the matter..." He finished up his statement with a smug sneer and awaited his master approval of the situation, expecting a nod of the head to show that she knew he was telling the truth.

What he got was the complete opposite of what he thought…

He hadn't realised the cool wisps of air float around the living room until now. The temperature had plummeted to an all time low and Lyon watched as the air whipped around the area angrily as his eyes looked upon his master.

She was just looking at him, her eyes wide and disbelieving as she slowly shook her head. Her face contorted into one of anger, a burning anger, one that she had given him that one time he'd brought up Ultear after Gray had ran off after their spar.

The two stared at eachother for a period of time, neither saying anything or doing anything. They barely realised that time was a concept until Ur opened her mouth slowly, revealing her gritted teeth.

"I think you should go to your room… Right now..." Her voice was but a whisper, a whisper so quiet Lyon almost didn't catch it. She had made him listen without him even knowing.

"Not until y-"

"GO TO YOUR ROOM!" Ur's sudden shout had quickly turning on his heels and sprinting towards his room in shock and fear. He got to his door and slammed it shut before hiding in his closet, hoping that she would find him.

But Ur hadn't even moved after he fled…

She stared at where her student had just been standing, shock, sadness and anger all hitting her at once like a colossal barrage of emotions that had knocked her off her feet instantly. Her little family was falling apart. She had committed a great sin in deserting Gray when he needed them, she began slacking during the training sessions with Lyon and now Lyon was angry with her and was baring a great hatred towards his fellow student.

How did it all go so wrong?…

She was losing another family, and she didn't even know it. She had already deserted one of her students and that altercation between her and Lyon had begun to already effect him, she knew it just by how he reacted to her responses.

But he knew what he and Gray meant to her, she had told him as much. He should have known that she would be feeling terrible about her decision and that it was wrong. But he didn't, he believed that Gray was no better than the demon that moulded him into the stoic and sarcastic boy he was when they took him in.

But then Gray was not completely innocent either, sure his personality and outlook on everything he did had a more than an understandable reason for the way they were, but he had rarely showed any thanks or respect for the her and Lyon. He taunted and wound Lyon and sometimes herself up to the point of hitting (or in Lyon's case, fighting) him and he was always so Nihilistic and disconnected from them that it made it so hard to help and/or defend him when he needed it. He really didn't help himself or them to much. Of course she knew that he really did care (or used to), the night he found her crying was enough evidence for her.

But Lyon didn't know that…

In a way, this outcome was inevitable. With Lyon's jealousy and arrogance as well as Gray's rude remarks and his other flaws sort of destroyed any chance of them being a family… Well, as much as they could be at least.

She hoped that she wouldn't have to put another item of Gray or Lyon in her room for memory sake… The fabric scarf she found in the snowstorm was already enough for her.

Then all of a sudden, it hit her…

The two had flaws, sure, they fought and began to grow a slight distaste for eachother, of course. But did she even try to stop it? Did she even make an attempt to help them become friends?

No… No she didn't…

All she did was wait around for them at the specific time, hoping that they would be laughing or joking with eachother. At least not having a fight or an argument constantly. She never really intervened until it got on her nerves.

Lyon made those remarks about Gray being the only thing on her mind, that he was just a secondary attachment (not his specific words) in a way. But she never helped Gray control his magic, even if she had no clue about Devil slaying magic at all. Maybe she could have helped Gray prevent the episode he had from happening at all.

But she didn't…

Lyon… Lyon was her first student, her first real hope of ever getting back into a normal life routine again after Ultear. She taught him what she could and was still teaching him now. But she never mentioned about how their were stronger mage's than her out their, or how they could take her down without much effort. She in a way lead him into believing that she was the most powerful mage in the world. That no-one except him and Gray could beat her. Even if she didn't intend for it to happen like that. She could have told Lyon to be humble and that their would always be someone out there who was better than you.

But she didn't…

"Oh god..." Was the only thing she was capable of muttering, as if all basic motor functions had just been sapped from her body. Her eyes slowly moistening. "What is wrong with me?"

She would have to talk to Lyon, try to save what remained of their tattered relationship. Then she would give him some time to warming up to having Gray back before she set out to find said Devil slayer. Ur Milkovich was prepared to go to the depths of hell and back to save this bond between her students…

But it was late out, she had enough time to talk to Lyon in the morning. She guessed that he was sleeping now, she wouldn't blame him.

"Just let this day be over' She sat down on the couch before leaning over to switch on the radio. She felt the need to turn it on tonight so she gave in to the temptation.

She didn't expect what she heard though, secondly; any time she thought she had was suddenly cut into tiny pieces and thrown into the hottest fire in the world.

"Reports on the Rosemary village abductions are soon to come as we move on to the next topic..."

Ur frowned, another village had been hit by those evil kidnappers? How despicable…

"The flames of destruction, more commonly known as Deliora, one of the nine demons of the dark mage Zeref has been spotted precisely 200 miles away from it's estimated destination. The town of Shanak. After the demon was last spotted near Brago almost a full year ago, no one has been able to find since until yesterday. Stay tuned for more information after we cover the death of the Heartfillia matriarch..."

The radio had no chance to project anything else before Ur had jumped at it and quickly turned it off with a harsh click. She stood frozen to her spot as she tried to comprehend what she had just heard…

Deliora was back, and she knew that as soon as that news was seen by a certain Devil slayer he would instantly try to fight and kill it. She didn't realise it until she looked down that her hands were shaking violently from the sudden rush of fear that had swept through her like the coldest of winds.

She knew that Gray could kill the demon, he was more than powerful enough, but the demon has also proven itself to be intelligent. It had killed the previous Devil slayer (who she found out was Gray's father) with little effort and was the considered the most armoured demon out of the nine. Gray could kill it yes, but would end up dead too? Yes!

Talking to Lyon could wait. She needed to help Gray, she would not let this darkness turn him into ash, she would seal it away, even if that meant she had to give her life for it.

"We'll talk soon Lyon..." She whispered to herself. She was having a hard time convincing herself about that but it was all she could think of to say.

With that being said, she quickly bolted towards the door and out into the cold outside…

:::-((x))-:::

It was amazing just how stealthy he could be sometimes…

"we'll talk soon Lyon..." Was what he heard his master say before she took off faster than she had ever seen her run before. And it was for that evil demon brat again. Typical…

"Oh we will talk." Lyon muttered to himself. "Once scars is dead, either by my hand or the demons hand we can talk about how I was right about him being just as horrible as the demon was. You may be losing your mind a bit, but I don't want to lose you." He smirked hesitantly towards the door, making his way to it. "After all, you need to see me become stronger than you right? You need to know how I do..."

Just like his master, Lyon flew out of the door, closing it quickly before running towards the nearest town for transportation to Shanak…

"Just you wait Gray, I will not let you harm anyone like you did to me ever again..."

:::-((x))-:::

Okay, so I struggled with this, having pains in my shoulder and my computer deciding to become as useful as a buffet is to a man with no stomach not included…

I plan to wrap this arc up next chapter and I am sorry for how late I am with this. My assessment sort of got the better of me. But me and my group managed to impress the higher actors with our play so I think that we are in the clear. XD

Also… Banana….

PHRASES OF AWESOME!

1: 'Poo monkey fart.'

2: 'I met a mysterious moose, he said his name was anonymoose.'

3; 'Whip and nea nea literally mean My little pony BDSM and bondage in my opinion.'

Thanks for reading and stay cool,

-viperhat