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The sky, hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa…

LET'S READ!

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

"BOMB STAMP!" Screamed Nez, jumping into the air and aiming his stilts at the currently sprinting Gray, hoping to catching him off guard. Unfortunately, he barely scraped his cheek, the boy giving him a cocky smirk before curling his right hand into a fist a burying it straight into his stomach, knocking the air out of him and sending him hurling back 10 feet onto the ground with a painful 'thud'.

The short man looked up with a glare and saw Gray jump into the air, covering the distance between them with ease. Nez quickly rolled out of the way of Gray's ice covered fist and swiped his feet from under him with his stilts, making the boy grunt as he landed on his back.

"I'll teach you to waste my time!" Nez growled, grabbing the boy by the collar and punching him hard in the face and leaving a bomb mark on his cheek. Grinning statistically at his achievement, Nez rolled away from Gray and watched on as Gray quickly got back up and rubbed said cheek as he realised what he had done. But he didn't begin to panic, instead he just gave Nez a disappointed frown. Which confused Nez ever so slightly.

Then the bomb stamp blew…

Nez watched with a malicious grin on his face. That pesky little boy couldn't possibly survive that, that bomb was one of his best. That bomb had destroyed the densest of metals, the boys body was probably obliterated. He heard Nano scream out the boy's name in abject horror and he quickly turned around to face her, his grin never falling off his face.

"Now, now my dear Nano." He walked up to her quivering form and roughly grabbed her hand. "We still have work to do, and we are now running out of time."

But before he could drag the crying girl to the demon egg, he was quickly blasted into the nearby wall by a cold jet of snow and ice. Nez's eye widened as his head smashed against the iron wall and let out a groan as he fell unceremoniously to the floor. He slowly got back up, staggering as he balanced himself on his stilts again.

"You know..." Drawled Gray from inside the huge smoke screen. Drawing out a gasp from Nano. "From how much you use that attack, I would have thought that would've hurt a lot more than just a little sting on the cheek." This brought out a growl from Nez, Gray got to see his enraged and stumped expression as he walked out, unscathed. "How disappointing."

"H-How are you still alive!?"

"It wasn't too difficult." Gray replied. "After all, I did just say that your bomb had no bite to it..."

"Full panorama bomb!" Nez's shout was followed up by a full armada of spherical bombs surrounding Gray. The Devil Slayer glanced around and his eye widened as he gazed at the multiple explosives. How did they get there?

Suddenly, the bombs exploded, but not before Gray jumped out of harms way, landing on the ground and quickly shielding himself from the blast.

"Ice-Make: Geyser!" Gray struck the ground and heard Nez yell in surprise as his attack froze his stilts and lifted him 20 feet into the air. "Ice-make: Cryo Cannon!" Gray dispersed his icy shield and pointed his shoulder mounted launcher at the bomb mage.

"Chill..." He smirked, shattering the ice holding Nez up before firing. The chunk of sharp ice barrelled straight towards the falling bomb mage and struck him so hard he was instantly slammed against the wall again. 'This is just too easy…'

Gray's next thought was more along the lines of 'Oh shit!' as Nez got back up so fast he could only just track his lightning quick movements. The bomb mage had begun sprinting at him, his stilts becoming pointed. He didn't even know that Nez could do that! He formed a sharp and jagged dagger behind his back out of his Devil Ice and waited…

Nez was within arms reach now, his stilts were practically touching his fingertips now. With that knowledge in mind Gray slashed through Nez's stilts with ease, effectively taking out the mage's height advantage and making him roll across the icy floor, shouting as he continued to roll until he regained his foot hold on the ground again.

"What the-" Nez looked back at Gray, the boy was holding some sort of icicle, a dangerous grin on his face as he held a piece of wood in his other hand. Nez's eyes widened by a margin as he realised what he was holding and instantly looked down to see his stilts had vanished!

And by vanished, it was more like completely and utterly destroyed. The wooden stilts that had originally been under his feet were now splayed all over the floor. Little chips and splinters were everywhere.

"Y-You sliced them off!?"

"Hehe… How astute." Was the sarcastic reply he got. Only annoying him further. What made it worse was that Gray seemed to be trying to keep his laughter in. "Hmhm… Oh dear." He chuckled. "Now I know that I am above average height for my age, but wow!" He then began to laugh hard, the humour finally cracking through his defences. "You're even smaller than my old friend! And she only came up to my chest!"

With that said, Gray slammed his head against Nez's nose, he heard a satisfying crack and the pained yell emanate from the bomb mage. The Devil Slayer followed up by kicking him in the gut, forcefully knocking him to the ground. He froze Nez to the ground when he tried to move away from him. Gray finally arc his fist over his head and into the ground and along with his fist came a bigger, ice covered fist. The fist in question was the one that slammed into Nez's face, making a crater in the ground.

Nez managed to get back onto his feet with great difficulty, he stared at the boy in front of him, he felt a small twinge of fear within him. But almost instantly, he flattened that feeling as soon as it came up. He wouldn't let this prepubescent worm destroy all he had worked for!

Especially after said worm took the piss out of his height…

"Do you know what?" Gray's eyebrow raised as he heard Nez speak, his voice sounding malicious and taunting. "Just because you have been wasting a lot of my time, it doesn't mean that you are the only one responsible. If little Nano behind you only did what I told her too, she would have been keeping me on schedule." This was where his face took on the same sadistic undertone his expression showed. "In conclusion, not only will I make you pay with your life, but Nano shall too pay the same debt." He then laughed, his bitter hatred seeping through his voice.

But within the span of three seconds, he was grabbed by the throat and lifted off the ground, he felt Gray squeeze his neck, making him flail his arms uselessly in an attempt too remove the hand from his neck, the thick disc around his neck doing nothing to protect him from the increasing pressure. Nez managed to force his head down far enough to see the boy's angry gaze staring back at him. The hair on his head creating a heavy shadow over his eyes, making him look dare he think it, creepy?

"You try to lay a single digit on her head and I will make you suffer..." Gray growled to the helpless bomb mage. His hand tightened even further around his neck, making Nez choke from the sudden increase in pressure. He then threw him back into the crater and stalked up to the mage once more. But as soon as he went to throw a punch, Gray let out a half growl and half yelp as Nez caught him off guard, sending a punch to his face and making him reel back in shock. He then dodged the next attack by jumping back a few feet, silently thanking his enhanced strength for the needed boost.

"Not before I make you suffer, you little shit..." Nez brought his hand up in front of him, clamping it into a fist, grinning madly as he did. "Full panorama bomb!"

Not a second later after he shouted this did his bombs begin to spawn around him, he watched with glee as they began to spread further and further.

Then his glee turned into horror as he saw a huge dome appear around him, completely enveloping him and trapping him inside with his own bombs. He felt his stomach drop as the reality set in. He couldn't get out, he was going to literally blow himself up! He looked up at Gray frantically, feeling the fear creep up on him when he saw the dark smirk appear on his young face.

"It's an ice-kamakura… Very cozy and warm wouldn't you agree?"

Gray simply stood there, uncaring about the unfiltered dread appear on Nez's messed up face as the ticking started to get to him. He watched as he began banging helplessly on the ice in a poor attempt to free himself from his impending doom. After a while, he finally walked up to him, he was on his knees at this point. "So, how does it feel to be completely helpless hmm?" He asked, crouching next to the kamakura, his taunting and smug expression reminding Nez of his own face when he punished his inferiors. "How does it fell to know that no matter what you do, in the end it will all be in vain…?"

"LET ME OUT YOU PATHETIC WORM!"

All that did was make the boy laugh. But it was humourless…

"That won't make me release you will it?" Gray wagged his finger in front of Nez, a grin spreading across his features. Then his eyes looked up at one of the spherical bombs, his face then relaxed into an emotionless husk. He got himself back up, walked a few feet away from the kamakura, turned around and raised his fingers. He looked Nez in the eye and flashed him one last grin before snapping his fingers and watching the bombs detonate.

The screams could be heard from the other side of the kamakura. The Devil Slayer still stood there and let out a little huff of breath, he hadn't realised how much energy he had wasted just playing around with the stupid git.

"Gray-kun!" He turned around a just about caught Nano, who had quickly tackled him with a big hug. "That was amazing! I can't believe you actually beat Nez!" She mumbled into his shoulder, He had to strain his ears to actually hear her words but he got the message, Gray finally managed to escape from the grasp.

He was about to reply to her, but his ears suddenly picked up the hideous sound of something cracking and squelching. His eye widened as he quickly realised that the demon egg was still intact. It had remained untouched!

"The egg!" He exclaimed, horror reflected in his eyes as he watched the egg tremble, knowing that a demon would soon pop out from the egg and destroy a multitude of lives! The worse thing about that fact was that the egg was within seconds of hatching!

He could hear Nez's tired and cracked voice gleefully state that victory was his. But a smoldering glare from him shut him down quickly. Gray turned to Nano, who looked mortified about the egg's current hatching and grabbed her shoulders and turned her around to face him.

"Nano… Listen to me." He Commanded, his voice almost breaking from the fear he felt himself. "Does your magic work the opposite way around?" After she shook her head in response he quickly let go of her and rushed towards the egg. Unintentionally releasing the shocked and fearful members of chrono noise as he did so.

"What are you planning you little shit!" He heard Nez scream as he ran towards the egg. He turned around and glared angrily.

"I'm going to kill the worthless demon before it can cause any harm!"

"What!? Don't you even dare touch that egg!"

"Too late!" Was Gray's loud reply before he clenched his fist and sent it straight into the black egg's shell. The egg began to shatter and crack as the sound of Gray's punch resonated throughout the huge room.

"I-I-IT SHATTERED!" Nez screamed, his voice sounding like he was a kid having his favourite toy taken away from him.

Everyone in the room continued to stand in shock for a few more seconds until they heard a bubbling emanate from the inside of the egg. The sudden sound drew their attention over toward the huge object, Gray suddenly let out a pained yell as he drew his hand out of the slowly crumbling shell. When his hand came out of the shell Nano gasped as her eyes caught the deep orange goo that dripped off his now charred fingers. She could even see the light plume of smoke form from the blackened appendages.

"Fuck, the hell!" Gray hissed, his right hand hand went rigid and numb as the stinging sensation on his right hand had finally set in so he coated it in his devil ice, it was the only ice cold enough to numb the pain.

But a few seconds later the egg began to crack and shatter even more, pieces of the shell started to fall off onto the ground and the orange magma that was on Gray's hand began to leak out of the egg. The guild members began to back away from the room when the magma hit the floor. Gray's eye widened in fright as the liquid sizzled and popped.

It was literally melting the floor…

"Shit!" He turned around, running towards the crowd and Nano, which started them off. "It's melting the bloody ground! Get the fuck out of here!"

When everyone heard 'Melting' and 'ground' in the same sentence they all booked it even faster, the entirety of the crowd started pushing and pulling at eachother to get out of the room. But no one bother to go back for Nez.

"Hey!" Gray and a few other heard his desperate plea. "Help me!"

Gray turned his head back to face the paralysed bomb mage. "Sorry, we don't have the time to spare!"

"W-What!? N-No, help me now!"

All Nez got as a response was the turning of heads and the many footsteps becoming quieter and quieter as the bubbling and cracking of the lava behind him. He began to panic, screaming as he tried to move a part of his body. Tears began forming in his eyes as the magma drew closer and closer.

Finally, the lava had surrounded him, he had no way of escaping and through the tears and smoke from the embers below Nez could see the malformed face of the demon within the egg. The being he had tried so hard to bring life too, was staring at him with the utmost sadism as it fell apart before his eyes.

"No… No Get away from me!" He yelled, pure, unfiltered terror washed through him as his voice cracked and scratched his last sentence out.

And as the deadly liquid finally covered and devoured him, everyone in the building could hear the blood curdling scream that emanated from Nez Booms. It was nightmare fuel for certain.

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

Gray finally managed escape the chrono noise guild, he caught Nano when the forceful blast knocked her into him, he looked over her head and his eye gazed upon the falling embers of the dome-like building as it continued to sink further into the ground. He was mesmerized from the sight, the trees and shrubbery began to block his view of the destruction but he still managed to see the final slab of metal disconnect from the wall it was attached too…

"Oh god." He got Nano up onto her feet before hunching over, breathing heavily. "Can we get to the village now? I feel a bit tired."

"Sure… Gray-kun?" She looked over at the ice mage, smiling as he looked over to her.

"Haah… Yeah?" He asked. "What is it?"

"Thank you..."

The sincerity in her voice as well as the expression of happiness on her face stunned Gray, it had been a long time since he had seen such a genuine look of happiness on anyone's face. It took him by surprise and it felt like his body was unable to move.

Had he actually made someone happy?…

If he didn't know better, he would have played off her thanks as a prank of some sort. But after everything that had transpired in the last hour he had many dots to connect. And connect he did. He met Nano in the forest, she had been running away from the Chrono noise dark guild, he got roped into the mess and he ended up destroying a demon egg and making the one behind it all pay with his life. He hadn't forgot the lack of any reaction from hearing the guy's dying screams and it scared him to some extent. He had seen some much pain and death in such a short time that he was desensitised to the concept, only certain souls got a reaction from him now.

It helped somewhat that Nez deserved every second of pain he endured before expiring…

"Gray-kun?" He reeled back slightly at seeing Nano's hand wave closely in front of his face. Almost tripping over himself and making the girl jump from his sudden motion. "You okay?"

"Y-Yeah, i'm fine. Just tired." He shook his head, ridding himself of those thoughts for the time being… "Let's get out of this forest shall we?" Getting an enthusiastic nod of the head from Nano, the two began to make their way towards the her home village.

"Hey, Gray-kun." Gray looked over at Nano, almost instantly did he regret it as her hand shot out and bopped him straight on the noggin.

"WAHH!" He moved away from the offending hand and regained his balance before glaring at Nano. Or where Nano was previously standing.

"You're it!" She giggled playfully, running away from him as he stood there dumbfounded for a second before he suddenly smiled back and took off after her. Nano didn't expect him too zip in front of her and wrap her in a big hug, completely capturing her and preventing her from escaping. She let out a cute squeal from his quick actions and laughed as she attempted to get out of his grasp. "Hey, that's cheating!" She laughed.

"Yup." Gray smirked. She stuck her tongue out at him in response. "Oh and one thing." Nano tilted her head quizzically, her puzzled expression turned into one of shock when he bopped her head in a similar fashion to how she did him. "You're it..." Within an instant Gray released her and sprinted off away from her before she could react.

"H-Hey, come back here!" She shouted, her competitive spirit kicking in as she pushed past the bushes and branches in an attempt to catch up to her new friend. "I'm gonna get you back Gray-kun!" She made her way up a hill in front of her, she could clearly see Gray standing at the top, he seemed oblivious to her approaching footsteps. She felt a devious grin form on her face, she was going to scare him good.

A few seconds later, after making her way up to Gray, Nano took a deep breath and got right up to his ear. But just as she was about to scream 'it' in his poor ear, she felt the breath leave her as her eyes gazed across the familiar sight of her home village.

"aahhh..." She could no longer hold her breath any longer. She was quickly reward with the funny sight of Gray jumping high into the air and yelping in a high pitched voice. She almost forgot that he was here! "Sorry!"

He looked at her, fright flashed in his eyes for a moment. 'What is it with people scaring the shit out of me?!' "S'alright!" He caught his breath again and looked out towards the village. Staring at it as if it was a piece of candy. He looked over at Nano and realised that she had begun walking quickly towards it. "Looking forward to seeing your parents again?" He asked, gaining her attention. "I mean, after everything that has happened I am assuming that they will be glad to have you back."

"Oh yes, definitely!" She chirped. But she then turned away from her friend confusing him, wasn't she supposed to be happy in this situation? But before he could ask her what's wrong she turned back to look at him, all traces of joy gone replaced with a freakishly serious expression. "Can I ask you a question?"

"Yes?" Gray frowned.

"A personal question..."

"..."

He thought it over, it really depended on what the question was.

"What's the question?"

"Well… Where are your parents?"

'Oh… dammit…' So THAT was the question she wanted to know…

Gray's face fell dramatically, a brief flash of his fathers burnt corpse popped up in his mind, he remembered the one traumatic memory he had pushed away for a long time of a women holding a huge, sharp knife up to his face at a very young age. Other horrible memories followed those two, Deliora, his injuries, Ur, Jade…

Nano, instantly regretted asking that question as she watched her friend shake slightly, scared and sad for her friends reaction, he seemed to be struggling to hold back tears, if the scrunching of his eyes was anything to go by.

"Y-You don't have to answer that."

He shook his head slightly.

"No, no… I uh-" Gray struggled to find the words he was looking for, like he knew what he wanted to say but he couldn't vocalise them. "Damn it Nano, I-I will tell you what you need to know. My father Is dead and my mother tried to kill me a long time ago. I don't want to say any more than that."

"Oh, i'm sorry. I didn't mean to-"

"It's fine, you're question just took me by surprise is all."

"Oh, right well… should we get going then?" She asked hesitantly.

Gray inhaled deeply, calming his nerves and his mind before looking at the worried face of Nano, he shot her a reassuring smile and nodded lightly. "Let's get you home..."

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

(10 minutes later)

The two kids were walking through the silent streets of Nano's home village. Gray didn't know the name of the village he was in but it had the normal aesthetic that every northern town had. The building's were a mix of white chiselled stone houses and huge wooden manors that had no pattern to there placement.

The thick layer of snow had ABSOLUTELY nothing to do with his completely genius guess…

Gray looked over to Nano and was about to ask her where she lived, but before he could she took off, literally bolting down the long street, making a bee-line for the white house in front of her, tripping over once before getting back up and running even faster, if that was possible…

"Hey, Nano!" He exclaimed, trying his best to keep his voice down. "Wait up!"

His words fell on deaf ears of course, he ended up having to sprint using his magic to speed him up to catch up to her, she made it that far away.

"Mama! Papa!" She ran to the front door and knocked hard and fast. She continued to bang on the door until two people opened up, looking like they were about to shout at someone for waking them up at night. Then they looked down and their faces went from annoyed to shocked, then finally to outright joy.

"Nano!" The pair screamed, wrapping their daughter in a tight hug, holding on to them as if she would turn into dust if they let her go.

The women broke into tears, but her face showed anything but sadness. "You're back… You're still alive, thank god!" Anything she wanted to say was subsequently drowned out by her overwhelming need to cry.

The man, presumably the father didn't say anything, he just held his daughter and sniffled as he tried to control his flaring emotions.

"Mama… I missed you..."

"Hey, what about me!?"

Nano and her mother let out a laugh at the exclamation. "You too papa."

"That's better..." He gave a teary grin.

The mother then turned her daughter around to face her. Her expression turned serious. "What happened?" She asked. "Where have you been?"

Nano looked at her mother, the expression looked like would blow up if she didn't get answers right away. The tears in her eyes didn't make it any less hard to keep it from her. But before she could respond she heard Gray shout out her name.

"Nano! Damn it where'd you go!?"

"Hmm?" The father looked up to see the figure of a young boy, around Nano's age, looking around like a lost chicken, it was almost humorous if were not for the fact that the boy knew Nano's name. Suddenly, Nano shifted out of their grasp and made her way over to the lost looking boy.

"Nano, I am not a bloody tracker dog! I don't know my way around here!" Gray no longer cared about disturbing the population, now he just wanted to find nano and complain about her sudden behaviour.

"Gray-kun! Over here!" His ears perked up and he turned around to see nano waving her arms at him, jumping as she tried to get his attention. Behind her he could see two figures running up to her, he was about to warn Nano but then they stopped just 2 feet behind her.

The one on the left was a women with white hair that fell down to her jawline. She was around roughly 5, 9 in height and she wore a dark red gown. She looked at him with a confused yet guarded expression.

The other one was a male. He had a hair similar to his fathers with a short yet sharp beard that laid under his chin. He wore the same colour gown as the woman but he looked at him like he was an enemy.

Creepy…

"Nano?!" He ran over to her, stopping just a few feet from her. "Where in the hell did you go?!"

"How did you lose me when I ran in a straight line!?" Was her reply to his question. She almost face-palmed when he looked at her in confusion. "you're like that Zoro guy in that manga." She giggled as he glared at her.

"I do not get lost once a minute thank you very much."

"Yeah, right..."

Gray refused to answer her…

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

"Okay, so you were abducted by this Nez character and forced into incubating a demon egg. You then tried to escape and you came across this… boy." He ignored the glares from Nano, Gray and his wife when he referred to Gray in that manor. "He then fought and beat Nez and destroyed the egg and you both made your way here. Am I right?"

"I can't confirm the first half." came the sardonic reply from Gray. "But the rest, that is pretty much how it went."

"I was asking my daughter boy..." The man rudely replied. Only to receive a whack to the head from his wife.

"Hisao, be quiet… Our own daughter has just stated that this boy saved her life! Not only that but he also helped her come home! Show some respect!"

"But he is a boy Yuki!" He whined. Earning a scoff from his wife.

"Don't start that again, you have already embarrassed Nano enough with the last male friend she had."

"But- but he-"

"No."

"B-"

"No, don't make me say it twice."

"Honey I-"

"That's it, go upstairs." Demanded Yuki.

"EH!?" Screeched Hisao. "I'm not a child!"

Yuki smirked at him. "You could have fooled me..."

Nano giggled, but Gray noticed the small blush on her cheeks. Her father must be a huge man child. Soon Yuki managed to force Hisao upstairs, telling him off all the way up.

"You parents are definitely… unique Nano." Gray stated as blunt as he could. Earning another giggle from Nano. "Although your father doesn't seem pleased that I exist."

"He is always like that. Mama will sort him out soon enough, he never argues against her when she tells him off." Nano replied. But soon after Gray began to feel his fatigue catch up to him. It was at this point where he now fully regretted pissing around Nez.

"You okay?" He heard Nano ask, he glanced at her and smiled. "Yeah, I just really regret playing around with Nez. I should have just finished him off right away."

Nano gasped. "You were only playing around!?"

He nodded. "People like him don't deserve my full attention… They don't deserve anyones."

He got a nod in response and when she moved over to sit on the same couch as him Yuki came back in to talk with them. She sat down on the empty couch and looked over to Gray.

"Okay, Gray is it?" He nodded. "Okay, um… What are you going to do now? I mean, you must have been doing something before you found Nano here."

He shifted on the couch. "Yeah, I was heading west." At this her eyes bugged out of her skull.

"What? Why are you going west!? That is literally miles away!" She caught herself before she shouted. Hisao was asleep.

"My master once spoke about a guild in the west that had strong mages in it. I want to get as strong as possible." He answered.

"But we have a guild here! In this village." Yuki stated. "You don't have to go to the west when it will take you so long."

"I need to get out of the north any way. It holds some… Undesirable memories for me." His voice got quiet for a second, raising alarm bells for Yuki, she noticed however that Nano, didn't react too much too her new friend fraction of distress.

But speaking to the boy she knew that she wasn't going to be able to get him to stay. He was driven, determined even, to fulfil his goal. He was going to have a lot of trouble getting to where he needed to go but she could help make the journey a tad easier for him.

"Okay, you made you're point. But please let me help you, a thank you for helping return my daughter to me and Hisao." At this she got up and made her way upstairs again. Leaving the two children on the couch.

A sombre silence fell over the two of them. Gray caught Nano staring at him sadly, it confused him so he met her gaze and held it. "What is it?"

"Are really going?" Was the instant reply he got. Her face fell a bit when she asked though, like she knew what his answer would be.

"I have too." He looked away. "My future lies there, I don't deserve any happiness, but that doesn't mean I'm not gonna fish for it."

"But will we see each other again?"

He didn't have a response… He looked at her blankly for a period of time and she got sadder and sadder the longer he stayed silent. Gray mentally cursed himself for not having an answer, but he gave her a small and reassuring smile.

"Maybe, if you are ever in Magnolia look for the Fairy Tail guild. Chances are I will be there." He finally managed to answer her question. He didn't know why it took so much effort to say but he didn't concentrate on that.

He instead concentrated on the massive hug he received from the girl…

"One day… One day..." She repeated over to herself, but she knew that Gray could hear her. She would be sad for some time. She didn't have many friends and she literally grew close to Gray within the two hours they have known eachother. But she would move on soon enough. And Gray had told her where she could find him if she ever wanted to find him. She would have to plan a vacation away to Magnolia when she could. But perhaps when she was old enough.

Right now seemed a bit silly…

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

(3 hours later)

Yuki had definitely helped him out…

In fact, she had basically set him up for a full and easy trip to magnolia…

After the teary and heartfelt goodbye to the Leaf family (Even Hisao) Gray departed and made his way to the train station. He grumbled a bit about waiting a full hour for the train but he had no problem with it when it finally chugged into view. He entered and walked through the narrow corridors until he found an empty compartment.

"I guess my luck is changing. An empty compartment for me?" He grinned to himself. "Don't mind if I do."

And the rest was history. He had been sitting here, in this dull looking train, waiting for Magnolia make itself visible. But that wouldn't be happening for some time… perhaps if he continued travelling for the entire day he could make it before nightfall.

But he had a sinking feeling that he wasn't just going to be sitting down and slowly dying of boredom…

"You sitting here by yourself?" Came a wispy voice. Effectively making Gray jump out of his seat and land on the floor painfully. He looked up to see an old man sitting on the opposite seat to him, looking at him with a glint of humour in his eyes.

'Again… Jump scares…' Gray looked at the man and got back into his seat, shrugging at the question. "Yes, I am." His voice sounded dry, he mentally groaned.

He needed some damn water…

"Oh?" The old man chuckled. "Look who's all grown up..." Suddenly he brought out a bento and looked at Gray kindly. "Do you wanna have breakfast with me? I only have bread and milk though."

"Sure, why not. I didn't want the rice anyway." Gray said. He reached over and handed the old man his unwanted rice, who took them hesitantly.

"Are you sure?" He asked warily. "I don't want to be stealing food from a minor."

"It isn't stealing if I gave to you willingly, have it." With that said Gray took a bite out of his bread loaf. Sighing contently as the food satiated his hunger.

"Enjoying th- ACCKK!"

With no warning the train suddenly began to rock and lurch all over the place. Throwing Gray off of his seat and sending his food onto the floor as he got tossed around by the sudden force. He caught on to a broken railing and held on like there was no tomorrow.

Finally, the train came to a halt…

Gray felt himself for any injuries and sighed in relief as he found none. Then he looked over toward the old man and rushed over to him. Checking him over.

"You okay old man?!"

"I'm fine..."

The two didn't get the chance to feel relived however, the doors on the far end of the corridor were suddenly flung open and 13 identical men with their eyes covered made their way inside. They all wore the same navy blue robes with black stripes, they all had dark and long hair that was tied around the top of their heads.

They looked really weird yet intimidating…

The one in the middle of the group began to speak.

"I apologise for our lack of subtlety." He spoke clearly and articulated his words masterfully as they rolled off of his tongue. "We are the 'five bridge family'. A dark guild that..."

Before he finished, the old man suddenly let out a pained grunt as he was lifted into the air by an unseen force. Gray looked at him for a second with a wide eye before turning back to face the men.

"Councillor Endebar-san I presume? I have a little favour to ask of you, perhaps you wouldn't accompanying us into town?"

Gray looked at the man, then back to Endebar. He saw the fear and anger in the old mans eyes and he knew he had to help out somehow. With that thought in mind he stood up fully and glared at the intruders.

"Put him down..."

The man looked at him. "What was that?"

"You heard me..." He spat, clenching his fists and forming ice around his hands. "Put him down..."

He didn't know where this trail would lead him, nor did he know if he would be able to help this old man. But with the five bridge family now blocking his way to Magnolia and with his feelings on evil bastards like them. Gray knew what he had to do.

He would fight…

No matter how hard his enemy may be…

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

Okay, writers block hit me like a fucking train this week.

Okay, I will be honest with you. I hated this chapter. I doesn't feel to good to me and I feel like I have missed out on many opportunities here. But I hope you guys enjoy this eitherway.

Nez's magic is so hard for me to write out… I am not looking forward to writing out magic similar to it.

Lastly, I don't think this is a mini-arc. Come on, the chapters are going to be around 13 if I continue to write this out from the start of the manga chapter to the end of the manga chapter.

Also, the reviewer from the last chapter. , made a good point. Not just about a harem story of the ice trials girls being with Gray, but I thought about it being more individual. Maybe I will try to make a one-shot with those pairings.

But apparently Ice trials is so obscure for some reason that the characters from it aren't even on the site's databases… Dammit fandom!

PHRASES OF AWESOME!

1: "Do you want some french fries with that salt kid? Jesus…."

2: "I'm more lost than fucking Zoro..."

3: "I'M A FUCKING SHEEP BAAAAAAHAAAHAAAHAAAA!"

Thanks for reading this, I will try to update faster, but it depends on the writers block. It has been BAD lately.

-viperhat