Chapter: 14 is here. This time it is a platonic one-shot.

This chapter was requested by 'Manguepassion' and they requested a Platonic Gray/Silver or Gray/Lyon oneshot. I chose the former as I find it more interesting. XD

So big thancc for the request and I hope it is enjoyable for you.

Oh, and I apologise that it took this long to get to your request.

This is a heavy AU that requires you to suspend your disbelief.

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

"Ice-Devil: Rage!"

A sudden torrent of freezing snow and piercing Ice flooded the hallway of death in front of Team Natsu, coating the various pendulums, trap doors and spiked walls in an unbreakable sheen of purple ice, keeping everything in the attacks wake from moving until Gray felt it prudent to do so.

"Well done, Gray!" Erza yelled over the sounds of battle, her praise making Gray standing a little prouder. But he quickly regained his wits as he avoided the violent cleave of a skeleton that seemed way too big for it's bones trying to chop in two with a sword the size of Laxus.

"Ice-Make: Trident!" He ground out, narrowly avoiding a deadly swipe at his neck in time for his armada of flying forks to puncture all the way through the weak armour of the draugr to his right and his bony buddy on the left. His grin as he watched them collapse, pinned to the ground by the force of his tridents was wiped away when he saw the rets of the dark creatures piling up the rest of the hallway, making their way towards him and his teammates.

"Shit, Erza! Change of plans!" He growled, catching her attention quickly. "We can't barrel through that the way we are right now!"

"You're right." She quickly cut through an Inferi that was getting too close for her liking before summoning the other over to her with a command.

This job was more trouble than it was worth in his opinion and it seemed that Erza agreed for now, plus none of them was told that this was going to be happening. Calling him over to the rest of the team, all looking to be in various states of fatigue. Though Natsu was clearly in the worst state, being hit with some spell that rendered his body ill within a few minutes, the idiot was barely holding together, leaning against the wall huffing angrily.

Lucy was okay, though her face was covered in sweat and grime and her breathing was a little heavy. Little Wendy was panting, the poor girl.

There was no way that only he and Erza could complete this on their own. Even with his relatively fine condition and Erza's limitless stamina, there were simply too many dark creature for two people to take on.

Though he knew that neither he or Erza wanted anyone to risk the frozen death hall, just in case Gray had to fight off some blasted creatures.

That left the one option, the more horrifying option…

"Erza, I can make a pathway to that hallway, it should get us to the exit quickly!" He said before blasting a group of dark creatures away with an icy uppercut followed by his ice bazooka.

Natsu launched Lucy over the crowd of dark creatures before burning one half of them to ash. Letting Lucy unleash Taurus on the rest. Swearing when he saw the door behind Lucy breaking down, Wendy – acting fast – used her roar against the damaged door, saving the Celestial Spirit Mage from being crushed under the undoubtedly heavy weight of thousands of evil beings.

The situation was quickly getting out of hand…

And Erza knew it too…

"Do it, Gray!" She yelled, the urgency in her voice revealing itself.

"Get the other ready run on my mark and for the love of god don't stop running until your across!" He growled, barely dodging the deadly claws of a random Cerberus only to be stuck by the hilt of a draugr's sword, making him cry out from the sudden throbbing pain in his head.

'Great...'

The strike from the draugr had clearly done some damage, Gray could feel something trickling down his forehead, undoubtedly blood. But it also caused the others to look back and see his situation, luckily Erza launched multiple swords, axes and spears into the gathering crowd before rushing over to him and get him away from his predicament.

"Thanks." His voice was strained, but still genuine.

Erza nodded, though the flash of concern on her face was unmistakable.

Quickly erecting an ice wall between the hallways, separating them from the dark creatures for a little while, he filled the others in on the plan.

Though Natsu was instantly against the idea of retreating…

"Why are we running!? We can take these bastards!" He roared, though he didn't hold the same energy he usually had. "We're not damn cowards!"

"If you want to stay and be skewered by a skeleton then be my guest!" Gray growled back, his annoyance rising with the Dragon Slayer almost instantly.

"Don't start fighting now, you two!" Erza's command quickly took the fight out of him. He couldn't disagree right now, nor would he ever with her. The next thing he heard was her command.

"Gray get that pathway done." He nodded.

"I'll get as much as I can done!" He looked at the hallway in question with a shaky breath, it was far longer than he thought when looking back from his original place. "Hang in there, all of you."

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

It took him a good 3 minutes, and he could hear the rest of his teammates starting to engage the overwhelming enemy force behind him. But Gray had managed to get the pathway done just in time.

"It's done, guys." He grinned tiredly to the others, trying not to let on just how much was taken out of him from this expedition. "Now hurry up, those walls won't last any longer."

"Nice one!" Lucy beamed at him, though her face was clenched.

Erza took charge once again and led them down the pathway, Gray held back with Wendy to try and keep the following creatures at bay, they were fast, faster than they were for sure and if it wasn't for Wendy, he probably would have fallen to them ages ago. That girl was a lifesaver.

The walls pressed in on them all, cutting them off from any freedom, any fresh air. The creatures thrived in it, the only light that was even there was the light at the end of the hallway, the rest was obscured by the harrowing army of death behind them.

"We made it!" He turned back quickly to see that everyone besides himself and Wendy were safely on the other side of the hallway, under much more solid ground. Hurriedly turning to Wendy, he look at her young face and saw the tension beginning to grow further. She to, was beginning to lose her strength.

"Come on, Wendy!" He swiped the girl into his arms before turning and dashing with everything he had to the other end of the hallway. His legs screaming for him to stop, to give up, but his kind, his heart and soul commanded his faith, his endurance.

After the longest ten seconds of his life, he had managed to get the both of them to safety. Letting Wendy down, barely registering her muted 'thanks' he turned back and dissipated the icy floor, watching in satisfaction as the creatures began to fall into the dark pit below.

He turned back to see the relieved face of his friends, all thankful to be out of the immediate danger.

"Okay, we did it." He grinned, gulping in the biggest amount of air ever and patting Wendy on the head with a tired smile. "You saved my ass a lot back there." He nodded to her in appreciation.

Though when he looked to Erza, her expression suddenly shifted from relieved to shock… to terror?

"Gray! Mov-"

He had heard Natsu shout, but then he was suddenly on the floor, a numbness in his chest and his ears filled with the horrified cries of his team. He was so confused, but also… scared?

Scared… Scared of what? Why was he looking at the floor, why couldn't he feel his chest anymore? What just happened.

His eyes felt heavy, fatigue must have been taking him over. Gray barely took notice of the puddle of red beginning to crawl into his vision as he let his mind take him away…

"GRAY!"

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

The strange sensation of energy was what Gray awoke to when his eyes opened up. Though the even weirder thing was that he didn't recognise the area he was in. In fact, he hasn't ever seen anything like this place. The ground was pitch black, almost to the point where he had to wonder if there was seven a floor to stand on of if he was just in perpetual falling.

Looking up, he could see, dark purple swirls and tendrils everywhere, all of which moved and twisted around one another, though never merging with the blackness he was laying on for some reason.

"What the…?" Try as he might, he simply couldn't comprehend where he was, though for some strange reason he didn't feel fear, not here. If anything, it was…. Comforting?

There were no words to accurately describe the emotions he felt being in this place. Alongside the odd should-be-scary-but-not swirls and the suddenness of his arrival had him on edge, the last thing he remembered was…

Was he dying? Was that why he was on the ground? It would certainly explain the way his teammates sounded like they were about to scream or cry or something.

Standing up from his place on the… ground, Gray dipped his foot onto the ground, half expecting to see the appendage to sink into the blackness like it was water. Though his expectation were smashed rather painfully when he felt his toe make harsh contact with the hard ground. He gave a small yelp of pain and clutched at the now red toe, hopping around and swearing and glaring at everything that moved… swirled.

"What the hell is this place!" His shouted filled the eerie silence, echoing loudly in a way that haunted his ears the more and more it went on. It was like his voice was being tossed around and distorted as it continued to glide through the air like an unsettling verbal boomerang. It was disorienting to the Ice Mage which only served to set alight the dormant anger within his chest.

But before he could say or do anything else, his ears caught another sound…

Short but sharp, evenly paced and consistent, deliberate. This wasn't the noise of the quiet whispers just low enough to make him strain his ears to listen, nor was it the hollow, endless sounds of the world around him, barren, lifeless yet filled with something not alive or dead, but clearly there.

For a second, Gray thought his mind was playing tricks on him, his body tensing up at the thought of his own mind losing grasp on reality. But when he turned around, his eyes caught something… or someone he never expected to see again..

His mind HAD to be playing tricks on him. There was no way that he was actually there…

"D-Dad?"

He inwardly scolded himself for sounding so weak and pathetic, but it was too late to hide his shock. His father – Silver Arcturus Fullbuster – was walking towards him, slowly but very surely. His confident yet stern gaze locked onto his son as he watched him tense up even more, Gray's baffled expression didn't seem to faze him at all. He obviously had expected it.

"Hey there, Little flake." He returned, giving his son the biggest smile he could muster.

Gray's eyes were as wide a saucers. Little flake…

That was a nickname his mother and father gave him when he was three years old. He had always managed to get outside and come back covered in little specks of snow. Given how cold and snowy Brago was, being in the far north geographically the nickname made sense and was something he fondly remembered beyond the bitterness of everything he had lost.

But to hear it now? From him of all people?

His expression twisted into an angry scowl…

"You don't get to call me that anymore… Not after what you did." His words were full of venom, his tongue almost burning from the anger boiling up in his body. Gray saw his fathers face fall from the reaction, he didn't expect this it seemed.

Good… He was in for more surprises as far as he cared.

"Son…" Silver began, only to feel his voice break off as he tried to figure out what to say. His heart clenched in frustration. He had rehearsed everything he was to say to Gray, his dearest boy. He knew the avenues of discussion he wanted to take, the things he wanted to express. How sorry he was, that he wished that he could take what he did back. How he wished that he didn't have to make Gray suffer like he did.

But he was here now, and all words left him…

What could he say to make things better? He deserved this vitriol from the boy he cherished.

'Some father I was.' He thought bitterly, upset with his own lack of ability to make Gray feel better. Angry at what his lack of strength had caused for his own damn kid.

Gray seemed to agree, his hand clenching into a fist as he marched over and grabbed his father by the top of his chest-piece. Blazing eyes boring into his fathers more solemn pair.

"You don't get to say anything, not to me." He ground out. "Do you want to know everything that your decisions led to? What they turned me into? Because if you did, you would realise what a monster you had created for the past nineteen years!"

His son was starting to breathe a little heavier. He could see it in how his chest was rising and falling faster with hesitation. The background of black and multiple shades of purple and dark pink began to make his head spin.

But Gray wasn't done yet…

"Listen. To. me."

Gray could see that he had his fathers full attention, though he had to blatantly ignore the way his face morphed into a regretful frown of shame.

"You left me, you bastard. You left me with nothing, no home, no family, no future… No. Hope." The way his voice seemed to calm down only served to make the older man wince, the pain he could feel in hi son was palpable. "All I had left, was what you and that fucking demon left me with, all I had for the next few years of my life was hate. So much hate that looking back it makes me sick to my fucking stomach just recalling it."

"I never wanted to leave you, Gray… Nev-" he was cut off when Gray roughly shook him, making him grunt from the suddenness of the action.

"Don't you dare speak! You have to know what I am before you have ANY right to speak to me again. This is what you turned me into!" His yell was just as sudden as the his shaking, making his father jump.

Everything seemed to be pouring out of his son at once, leaving him unable to cope.

"Do you want to know what that hate led to?" His voice cracked, and when Silver saw the flash of hurt overtake his sons brimming eyes he realised just how broken he was.

Though now, Gray was clearly rambling, no longer was he looking at his father, it was like he was looking through him, into what he saw instead of what was actually there…

Even through the whirling emotions that Silver did he damnedest to keep in, he still recognised how Gray hadn't bothered questioning everything else, this place, why he was there, why he was here. Maybe it was because he knew, or maybe it was because he didn't care anymore. Maybe his appearance had broken something in his son.

"All of what you left me, it led to more death. Just to rectify my own mistakes, my own cursed life… The people who found me ended up being torn apart from one another because of me, and by extension you! I hurt people, pushed them away, bullied them and isolated myself because of what I am, because how you left me. Do you know what that's like? Separating yourself from everything you used to love because of what you lost? I really hope not, even after what you've done to me, I truly hope you've never experienced such tremendous loss to the point where all you can do is stitch yourself back together with anything you left inside you. And since you left me nothing but what I've lost… I-… I-"

He was shaking, trembling, his body was shivering so much that his voice began to fall into a broken up mix of slurring and sharp breathes. He was no longer clutching his father by his clothing, rather he was leaning both hand on his shoulders, using him to keep himself upright.

Though Silver wasn't paying attention, all he could see, all he could sense, was the shattered image of his beloved boy breaking down into a fit of sobs and small, but pained growls, like he was desperately trying to hold onto his anger like it was the last thing he had, but he was clearly failing.

"Oh Gray..." He sent a silent plea to whatever heavens were listening in to send his suffering son any salvation they could give him. To forgive him for the life he had led because his fathers actions, to allow him the chance to live his life free of the pain he was slowly drowning in all this time. "My little flake… I'm so sorry…"

Slowly, he let his arms wrap around his boy, and after a brief hesitation, Gray returned it, holding onto his father tightly as if he would disappear into dust if he allowed his arms to let up on their squeezing.

He didn't care if this was all just some fucked up concoction of his failing mind, or if he was actually whisked away into an alternate world where all that existed was him and his father from his happier childhood.

"If I could have stopped this from happening to you, I would have fought tooth and nail to do that." Silver didn't know what else he could really say, nothing would make it better, all that pain, all that time festering in such negativity and raw, unbridled and self destructive emotion. All he could do was offer any semblance of comfort and serenity he could give, that was all he could do.

Gray needed to know that he shouldn't have to go through this anymore. He had lived through enough.

His son breathed in deeply…

"I'm always told by Erza that I am not a bad person, that my past doesn't have to make me… I- I want to believe her, I want to believe her so much it hurts my head when I battle my own thoughts, my world..."

He looked up to his father, all the hatred gone, the anger gone. All that remained was a desperate and pleading boy, begging his dad to whisper those caring and comforting words of reassurance in his ear, telling him that everything will be alright, that the monsters won't take him away again.

He answered it all with a gentle hand on the back of his head…

And he continued to hold him until he fell asleep again, nothing else needed to be said. All was conveyed to eachother in this small encounter. He loved his son, and his son just wanted his dad back.

And although he couldn't deliver that want, as much as it pained him, he knew that his guildmates, his family would help him more than he ever could. After all, everything Gray had done for them was going to stick with them forever. If he thought he was a bad person, a curse on the land, a blight on his friends and families happiness, all he had to do was look around.

The world began to grow dark, the purple swirls losing their colour as the black began to shroud them, overtaking the colour with its overbearing presence. He knew that the connection of the Devil Slayer Magic was fragile at best, but he was grateful for this time, as much as it hurt, it was also invaluable.

Soon enough he found himself being swallowed by this darkness, knowing that it was nothing terrible, he allowed it. Though not before giving his resting son one last wan smile.

"Time to go back, little flake. I hope you have the best damn life imaginable..."

The darkness crossed over his face, his last thoughts being kind in the way only a father could carry.

'That is what you deserve afterall, my son.'

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

I am okay with this. A little ambiguous and one-sided, but I feel like this conveyed everything I wanted to convey.

Well, I am hopeful to your enjoyment of this being to your standard, everybody.

-Viperhat