I have got some time to NOT be inactive so I will be writing this GRAYZA follow up.
I have been brainstorming for the last few days and I am still deciding on how I should do this. XD My brain is dying right now!
But there is tragedy to write so it must be done!
(By the way, Wendy and Romeo are the same age before the time skip. Wendy also didn't take part in the tenrou island arc, thus not being caught in the fairy sphere.)
By the way… ED SHEERAN OWNS THE LYRICS TO THE SONG IN THIS SO DON'T SAY I STOLE! :( Thank you XD.
LETS READ!
:::-(())-:::
All she focused on for those few minutes was his rising and falling chest, as long she could feel him breathing she would refuse to admit the inevitable.
"S-shut up f-flame brain..."
She smiled a very small smile at his words. He was still the same even in the face of death. From what she could tell, Natsu must've had a salty expression on his face from the half hearted 'hmmph' he let out.
It was almost as if this wasn't going to be the last time they were going to be together…
The ice mages breathing began to slow dramatically and her head quickly darted up to his deathly pale face just as it was lying back on ground. The fear that she had been trying her hardest to fight off came back within an instant.
"No, no, no Gray. Gray! Come on, stay with me!" Erza couldn't keep the desperation out of her voice as his breathing became almost non-existent.
"H-HEY! ICE PANTS, COME ON! DON'T YOU EVEN DARE THINK OF DYING ON US!" She heard Natsu scream at Gray. His voice cracking nearing the end.
Normally, the way this would go would be Natsu shouting at Gray who would then shout back at the dragon slayer, making him attack the ice mage and starting one of there usual brawls.
But this time, all Natsu got was silence.
And that fact scared the shit out of him…
Erza could hear Wendy sobbing quietly behind her as Gray finally passed away and could feel her own tears leaking out once more as she gave way to the unrelenting sorrow that had engulfed her. Her form collapsed onto her now dead boyfriends body as her heavy sobs racked her body.
Why did everyone she love just die around her? It wasn't fair! What she done to deserve this curse of a life!?
Then she thought of Lyon and how devastated he would be. The ice mage would definitely hate her guts when the news is given. He had known Gray for much longer and he considered him a little brother as much as he tried to play it off.
After five minutes of pure, unfiltered agony she felt someone gently place their hand on her shoulder, giving her a very slight shake to let her know of the others around her.
She looked up to the broken form of Natsu, he hadn't faired much better than her in anyway. His face was tear stricken, his red eyes showing just how much he had been crying in the short span of time.
"Erza..." He couldn't finish his sentence as he choked up on tears once more.
Neither them or the two girls behind them did anything until they heard the voices of the villagers calling out for any survivors. Erza saw Lucy look up slowly and walk over to the source of the voice.
Which just happened to be on the other side of the rubble…
"Can anyone hear us!?"
After swallowing the lump in her throat, Lucy spoke loud enough to catch their attention. Her voice sounded broken but it got the job done as the villagers responded by saying that they would get them out in a jiffy.
Good. They could finally get out of this shit hole…
:::-(())-:::
(2 days later)
The villagers had understood their need to leave earlier than expected. It wasn't everyday that you lost a dear friend after all.
In fact, they had been more than accommodating towards the four team members. They had offered to not only help them clean up the wounds on Gray but they had also offered to call up their guild to inform them of the sad news. They had decided to tell the guild themselves as Makarov wouldn't be back until tomorrow. There wasn't any point in causing chaos just yet after all.
A measly call would be a horrible way to find out anyway...
Although, when Erza gained her senses they had to get Natsu and another strong member of the village to restrain her from murdering the bandit leader in the most painful way possible…
They understood when they found out why she wanted to mutilate the leader, having a childhood friend die before your eyes because of the person in front of you would spark an intense urge to kill even in the calmest of people…
The team members were wrong of course, but the red head wasn't ready to tell them that just yet…
It wasn't too long after they got out of the remains of the trade tower that they had made their way back. Even though everyone including Wendy tried to talk to Erza but they had no such luck in getting her to even look at them. At night they couldn't find her until she came back in the morning.
They had no idea about her crying her eyes out for those two nights…
But the worst was to come, the worst really was to come as they slowly trudged into Magnolia with the magically preserved body of Gray in Natsu's aching arms. Erza knew that they weren't the only ones really close to the ice mage. She had often seen him regularly chatting with some of the townsfolk.
It broke her already damaged heart when she remembered him playing with two little children, not even five years old and seeing their happy and smiling faces as Gray hoisted one of them onto his shoulders. The parents looking onward in amusement as the ice mage entertained their kids.
It wasn't only the guild mates that knew him. So did many of Magnolias residence.
That was two days before they had decided to go on this dreaded mission.
"Lucy, you and Natsu take him to your house." Erza's voice cracked as she spoke. "I need to inform the master.". She didn't want to leave Grays body but she had to inform the master of his death.
No matter how much she didn't want to...
She wasn't met with any resistance as the two nodded and walked away towards Lucy's apartment. She felt Wendy hug her arms around her waist as she began to shake from the sobs that had racked through her tiny frame.
The sight of her braking down in front of her eyes destroyed any little resistance Erza had left as she sunk to her knees and hugged the girl back before shedding her own tears along with her.
"I really miss him Erza-san." Wendy choked as she felt an overwhelming fatigue envelope her. She managed to catch Erza's reply just before she gave way to her tiredness however.
"Me too… m-me too."
:::-(())-:::
"Oh don't you dare start about THAT again!"
"Oh yeah?! And what if I want to huh?"
"Then you'll be waking up tomorrow with a fog surrounding your house if you do!"
"Quiet! I need some peace whilst drinking!"
"Since when!?"
"Since now!"
Mirajane couldn't help but giggle at the three as they continued to argue. The three in question were Macao, Wakaba and the resident drink champion: Cana.
The barmaid didn't know what they were arguing about but it was honestly amusing as she had nothing interesting going on since team Natsu left for their usual mission. They should have been back yesterday but knowing the rowdy bunch she wouldn't be surprised if they got held up because Natsu and Gray decided to smash something on their mission.
She almost didn't notice Erza slowly open the door with a sleepy Wendy bundled in her arms, and from the looks of it the little girl had tears in her eyes! That raised alarm bells instantly for Mirajane as she watched the Titania trudge towards Romeo who barely noticed her walking towards him. He wasn't the only one however, Erza had been so quiet and so slow whilst entering the guild that next to no one had even seen her walk past them.
The barmaid had only caught one thing from her but the one thing she caught filled her with unexplainable dread.
"Here," Erza began as she gently put Wendy down next to the boy and laid her head on his lap for comfort. "Take care of her for a bit, I-I need to speak with the master..."
If her voice choking up during her sentence didn't shout out Danger then her poorly hidden shakes and her rapidly clenching fists surely did.
Obviously, Erza had tried to cover up whatever was going on with her emotions by speaking in her usual loud tone, which had caught the attention of everyone In the guild.
"Hello Erza." Mirajane put on a fake smile and tried to start up a conversation. "How did the mission go?" The barmaid mentally smacked herself as she realised what she had said. She obviously could tell that something went wrong but it couldn't be that bad, right?
It obviously was that bad as Erza just froze for a few seconds before she walked past her and towards the masters quarters.
"It must've been bad..." Everyone heard Romeo mutter tensely.
"What do you mean? How could you tell anyway?!" Asked his father.
He didn't reply for a few seconds as he stared at the masters door in slight fear.
"She had been crying."
"Yeah, but Wendy cries a fair amount so what makes this any worse than usual?" Gajeel asked in his usual tone.
The boy looked at him with a glare, he obviously didn't appreciate the comment.
"I meant Erza..."
At that, everyone's eyes widened largely as they knew that Erza never cried. One question was floating harshly in everyone's mind during the silence.
Just what happened on that mission?…
:::-(())-:::
There wasn't a dull day for Makarov. Not ever… Well, maybe with the exception of today that is.
The third guild master was currently staring mournfully at the MOUNTAIN of paperwork that threatened to topple down on his desk.
Luckily, he had finished half of the stack and he was about to start on the second half when his door opened and the silhouette of Erza appeared on the other side.
"Erza?" He smiled. "Come in! Take a seat."
If it wasn't for the great opportunity to be distracted from his horrid monster paper mountain he wouldn't have noticed how wrecked she looked. The re-quip mage had a few almost healed bruises on her face, her eyes had some slight bags under them but the worse thing was that her beautiful scarlet hair was really messy and it looked like she hadn't cared for both herself and it for days.
His reaction was justified…
"WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO YOU!?"
He toned it down when he saw her flinch from the sudden boom of noise. But now he was really worried. What was wrong?
"Master..."
"Yes? What is it Erza?"
She took a few seconds to collect herself before she tried to give him the report of their mission.
"T-The mission was a success… and we managed to apprehend the bandits." She spoke up again before Makarov could reply. "B-but something happened during the fight between the bandit leader… A-and w-we had suffered a casualty as a result."
Makarov felt his forehead begin to sweat from fear. But it wasn't the usual 'I no I have to pay for damage repairs' fear, but pure, genuine fear… Now he was certain that something had gone terribly wrong.
"What? Who?" He just managed to keep the fear out of his voice as he spoke.
But before he could get an answer Erza had spontaneously burst into tears. All he could do was look on in shock at what was unfolding in front of him. Erza had not openly cried in front of him ever! Besides Gray, no one had seen her cry.
"HE'S DEAD!" She shouted, completely in hysterics, almost as if she had been holding it in for a long period of time. "HE'S DEAD BECAUSE OF ME! I WAS TOO F***ING WEAK AND MY WEAKNESS GOT HIM KILLED!" She sobbed further into his desk as she spoke.
He froze… Someone died!? His eyes moistened at the thought, but who died? He needed to know which one of his children had perished!
"E-Erza. Please, I need to know! I need to know the fate of my child! Which one!"
Her face changed as she calmed down five minutes later, but the new expression was much more worse than anything Makarov had seen yet. Her face was permanently locked into a sorrowful looking expression as she stared downwards. Her eyes just became hollow but scared at the same time, how he did not know.
She looked at him shakily. The seconds it took for her to speak felt like decades. But finally she spoke.
"He's dead… G-Gray is dead…. Because of me..."
:::-(())-:::
Three weeks later
The guild had not taken too the unfortunate news very well…
Natsu had remembered how his friends and family had reacted when they entered Lucy's apartment to see their friend. Tears threatened to fall when he remembered his nakama's reaction to seeing Gray's corpse.
When Erza had come back she took a seat next to Gray and refused to leave his side, even threatening to cut off his balls if he even attempted to remove her from the room. He could still hear her crying almost silently behind the door even now.
Mirajane had come with Elfman and Lisanna as they had taken a single glance they had to hold eachother as they began to bawl. He heard Mirajane babble something about him helping her or something before falling to her knees and turning into a teary eyed mess.
The three left with Elfman having to carry his elder sister back home, Lisanna trailing behind solemnly.
Wendy had returned after a few minutes of the Strauss siblings departure. But she just went to Lucy's room and cried herself to sleep, unable to cope with the loss of her friend. He had a sinking feeling that she would be almost inconsolable for some time.
He should've expected Cana to act strong, she never really let much effect her too much. But he could more than understand her mumbling to her old friend about 'the good old days' whilst allowing her tears to lightly shed.
It had been the first time in years that Cana had decided against drinking however so you could tell she was not taking it to well.
Natsu had never known about Gray going to the library, so when Levy had come to give her solemn goodbye (Gajeel with her for the sake of comfort) he shocked but saddened even more by Levy telling him about his help in said library when she had calmed down slightly.
"I had always wanted to read some books that were too high for me and then there were times when I was feeling a bit lonely in the library by myself, so when I found out that Gray went there I sought him out and from there we started talking again… It was like the days before he started fighting everyday." She had given him a sad but sincere smile when recalling those memories…
That fact gave him something to think about…
The two had left a few minutes after that very quietly Natsu got up to check on Lucy and Wendy. When he got to the door and quietly turned the handle he sadly smiled at seeing their sleeping forms. It wasn't the most peaceful sleep but they were sleeping so he wouldn't disturb them unless it got out of hand. Nightmares were bound to become a nuisance in these times.
He walked over to them and gently pulled the covers over them, hoping it would keep them somewhat warm. If they needed him he would be here, he wasn't leaving for anything, not in their moment of weakness.
Despite wanting to curl up into a ball and cry himself to sleep, he needed to be the strong one now. He needed to be there for them all.
Then one thought struck him, one that made his heart clenched so tight it was painful…
Juvia…
He winced at the thought of her barging In here and wailing so loud enough to wake the two next door up. He knew that she was obsessed with the ice mage and if she came in now the house would never recover from the torrent of water she would emit.
She deserved to see him, she was nakama, she had a right…
'Well, Mira told me about her mission… she'll be back In time for the funeral when it's ready.'
Makarov had come in looking close to crying, he managed to fight the urge though and as he walked into the room where Erza was staying (by Gray's side) Natsu could still hear the sniffles from the other side when the door closed.
Minutes went by as Makarov finally exited the room and looked him with pain in his eyes.
"Natsu..." He stared tiredly. "This is a bad time for this but I need you to come with me to the services…" His breath hitched. Why him? "I need someone to help me pay and carry the equipment needed for Gray's funeral. And I believe that Erza needs some time to herself."
Taking the hint, he got up and felt his bones scream in protest. Slowly walking out with Makarov he left the house and slowly closed the door. Engulfing the main room in darkness.
:::-(())-:::
One week later
The weather definitely fit the occasion… Rain.
Heavy rain… It was like the gods themselves were weeping for him. Then again, he was the sort of person who if given the chance can befriend almost anyone so it wouldn't be infeasible for him to have satisfied some divine entity.
It would certainly explain this torrent of water, or maybe it is Juvia. Who knows…
It's not like she really cared right now…
The red head just sat down in the front row, Natsu on one side of her and Mirajane on the other. The latter of the two was already holding her head in her hands and breathing heavily. Not daring to look up at the podium where the master stood in front of the coffin…
From what she could see from when she was walking down the isle to the front, the seats seemed to be in rows of ten on each side and with how many the guild held this meant that their was only around four or five rows. Even those who were nearly never in the guild were present at the funeral. The thought of those appearing made Erza happy in some ways, knowing that these people came for Grays sake. It meant that even though they were never in the guild normally they still cared immensely, as shown when she saw most of them crying.
But then she remembered that they WERE crying, they were greatly saddened by the resident strippers death.
This was real…
He was dead, and he wasn't coming back…
She was brought away from her thoughts from the sound of the masters voice…
"Today, we are all gathered here because we have suffered a great tragedy as a guild." He said, morosely. "He was one of the first in the current generation, the second in fact and he brought so much life and laughter into the guild along with his very strange stripping habit." There were a few sad laughs from those words, she even gave a tiny smile for a few seconds at remembering his infamous habit. "He has also helped those in need when it has counted and also from just being the kind and honest soul he was. His death was sudden and crippling and is certainly a massive loss to not only our guild, but to those he knew outside of his guild life too. He will be missed greatly. Today is dedicated to the life of Gray Fullbuster, if were not for him, our lives would've been immeasurably more dull and hollow."
He ended his speech and walked up to the coffin, before placing his tiny hand on the lid and bowing his head in respect. After him everyone had got up to show respect and love for the fallen ice mage.
First up to the coffin was Lucy, she sniffled before placing what seemed to be the complete and copied version of her novel… From what it looked like it was called 'The life of a fairy: chapter one'. When the celstial spirit mage had placed the book on the lid she got down and started walking away in tears. She was obviously unable to stay much longer as the wounds were still fresh. Even after a whole month.
The next up was Cana. Her little gift of respect was what seemed to be one of her many cards, she had many to spare but she had wanted to give her first friend something special. It was as it seemed that only she knew what it was, maybe Gray knew as well. After she placed the card down she went back to her seat and just folded in on herself, effectively turning into a ball of tears and brown hair.
Laxus had quickly given his respect by placing his hand on the coffin lid, it was almost invisible but you could see his tears prickling in his eyes as his face fought to keep it's calm expression. The dragon slayer had a mixed history with Gray, his first team was composed of him, Gray and Cana, Erza had even heard Cana tell Natsu one of her stories form when she and the other two used to be the original 'team Natsu' which she had dubbed 'the great three'. He retracted his hand slowly and went over towards Cana and hastily wrapped his arms around her in comfort. The two just sat their as the others went through with their respects or gifts.
Although, Erza thought that Gray would say something like 'Why the hell are they giving me something that I wouldn't be able to use? That seems fairly stupid.'. She couldn't help but agree.
After Laxus was the Strauss siblings… She honestly felt a little sad when Mirajane quietly laid down her head on the lid, she obviously couldn't control her emotions well at the moment. The other two put one hand on their sisters back and the other on the coffin lid. Elfman had gave Gray the speech about him doing the most manly thing ever, to which he didn't specify but it was fairly obvious what he was implying.
The line continued to get shorter and Erza was soon behind only Natsu and Lyon, who had come after receiving the news of his surrogate brothers death.
The other apprentice of Ur laid his hand on the lid like everyone else and had ended up ranting to himself and cursing Gray for leaving him when he had just got him back. His rant ended up with him walking briskly back towards the guild with his breathing hitching every now and then.
Natsu was more emotional but it was effectively the same thing… Happy followed him but not before giving her a little hug.
Now it was her turn…
She slowly walked up to the coffin with reluctance, being behind everyone she had at least some shred of confidence to go through with this, but now the coffin was in clear view and then the memories came back for the millionth time since the incident.
It was her fault, despite what her team told her…
If she had not been so pathetic maybe she could've beat the bandit leader and prevented Gray from even getting in harms way because of her incompetence. But she had to get hit by his fist, dropping her on her back and leaving her open for him to impale her. But Gray had to get in the way and save her cursed life at the cost of his own!
She placed her hand on the lid and steeled herself. Keeping her flaying emotions at bay. The smell of the wet wood invaded her nostrils and she took her armoured hand away from the coffin and was about to run away to her dorm room but then a hand rested on her shoulder and her reaction was justified.
In her mind at least…
She retracted her fist and smacked it straight into the face of Natsu. Sending him two feet back and on his ass.
"Ouch… I forgot about that..."
"Sorry..."
Instead of whining, he surprised her by just waving it off. "It's fine, I knew that it could've happened yet I still did it..."
It became awkward for a few seconds until Natsu gave her a slip of paper. "Gramps told me that Gray wanted this to be given to you… Not sure what ice princess has in that but im sure it has something dumb like him in their." He ducked her half-assed punch and ran off to check up on Lucy.
A letter?
She had been looking at the letter intently, it was written nice and neat so it wasn't Gray's but the masters. But it had an item inside so it could be something from Gray.
She didn't know that she had been drinking up the letter as much as she could. In fact she had ended up at the river where she and Gray became friends for the first time.
How bloody ironic…
She took a single glance at the flowing water and felt weak at the knees. She fell into a sitting position and opened the letter and let the item drop out.
Imagine her shock at seeing Gray's necklace…
She just stared at the cross necklace with a flummoxed expression before gingerly picking the necklace up and taking the letter out.
It read:
'Dear Erza,
I am sure you are reading this after my demise and if I know anything about myself I have most likely got myself killed saving someone. Yeah, yeah beat me to a pulp later.
Know that I probably did it because I had wanted too save someone close to me from death so I hope that the saved one doesn't feel guilty because they probably didn't have a chance to change the situation.
But I am getting ahead of myself.
Master Makarov had asked me about what I wanted in life and it got me thinking. What if I wasn't around tomorrow? I don't know where the hell it came from but the thought struck me.
Then you came into my mind…
I thought, 'well, I think I would give her my necklace, she is the closest to me.'
See where i'm going with this? Gramps was freaking out when I gave him this letter. I forgot it sounded like a will.
You know, technicalities…
But I think you are the closest to me despite being in the Fairy Tail guild. Think of it as a way of me being there for you even though it is just a necklace I wore when my parents brought me it…
But yeah, I don't know what else to say other than goodbye.
I guess i'll be seeing you on the other side,
-Gray Fullbuster'
She got to the end of the letter and she was choking on her own tears when put it down, Gray had gave his necklace, something he once froze the entire guild over to her? She still felt a powerful despair, but when she looked at the necklace owned by her would've been boyfriend she felt like he was still with her, as he said. Like he wasn't completely gone.
Then she realised that he would never be gone, not when she and the guild had their memories of all the good times they shared with him, all of the tears shed with and by him and the relationships he had formed over the years.
No… He would never be truly gone…
Never…
That thought had brought the first genuine smile to her face as she looked over the river and into the distance over the buildings and into the noon sky that had cleared up and was now giving off a beautiful red and yellow hue.
The a song struck her mind… She didn't know if it really expressed her feelings on the situation but she loved it eitherway and it felt right to her…
She remembered the songs writer…
Ed Sheeran starlight…
(I don't own this bloody song...)
Loving can hurt
Loving can hurt sometimes
But it's the only thing that I know
When it gets hard
You know it can get hard sometimes
It is the only thing that makes us feel alive
We keep this love in a photograph
We made these memories for ourselves
Where our eyes are never closing
Hearts are never broken
Times forever frozen still
So you can keep me
Inside the pocket
Of your ripped jeans
Holdin' me closer
'Til our eyes meet
You won't ever be alone
Wait for me to come home
Loving can heal
Loving can mend your soul
And it's the only thing that I know (know)
I swear it will get easier
Remember that with every piece of ya
And it's the only thing we take with us when we die
We keep this love in this photograph
We made these memories for ourselves
Where our eyes are never closing
Our hearts were never broken
Times forever frozen still
So you can keep me
Inside the pocket
Of your ripped jeans
Holdin' me closer
'Til our eyes meet
You won't ever be alone
And if you hurt me
That's OK, baby, only words bleed
Inside these pages you just hold me
And I won't ever let you go
Wait for me to come home [4x]
Oh you can fit me
Inside the necklace you got when you were 16
Next to your heartbeat
Where I should be
Keep it deep within your soul
And if you hurt me
Well, that's OK, baby, only words bleed
Inside these pages you just hold me
And I won't ever let you go
When I'm away
I will remember how you kissed me
Under the lamppost
Back on 6th street
Hearing you whisper through the phone,
"Wait for me to come home."
(I don't own this bloody song…)
She smiled in content as she got up and gave the river a single glance before she started walking away.
"Goodbye… Gray."
She would not come back to this place too much anymore, the pain would be a bit too much for her to handle, but as she finally put his necklace around her neck and looked up towards her mourning guild she would forever remember that Gray would be with them no matter how bad things got.
She would make sure they remember that…
And if they didn't?
Well, she wasn't the Titania for no reason…
:::-(())-:::
3 weeks…
3 bloody weeks…
I am soo sorry, I have been juggling this along with homework which is very difficult. I originally had 12,000 words down to say sorry but the plot was absolutely ridiculous and WAY too OOC for my liking so this was the product of me just saying "Screw it, I am starting over...".
But after the next chapter I will take a slight break to chomp down on home work and to regain my writers juice.
TRIVIA TIME!
1: If you could make your own superhuman, what powers would he/she have? What side would they be on and what would be their name?
I would call mine 'Absolute Zero' Az for short. He would be sort of both good and bad but more towards the good and he would control and manipulate ice in every manner.
His name would be Vali. When the mask isn't on…
2: What is your favourite name?
Vali or Midori…
3: Do you forgive me for being late with this?
I wouldn't XD
But thanks for reading and DON'T FORGET TO SEND SUGGESTIONS THROUGH EITHER REVIEWS OR PM'S
Also here are the current couple's I have done so far…
Grayza (Gray/Erza) 2
GrayMi (Gray/Mira) 1
GrayNa (Gray/Cana) 1
GrUltear (Gray/Ultear) 1
So once more, thanks for reading and stay cool,
-viperhat