Chapter 11: The In-Between

Oultilissa

I came into the infirmary with my mom and husband expecting to find an impatient fire dragon slayer, but instead found said dragon curled up asleep against Lucy. Gray was also fast asleep in his chair next to Juvia, their fingers intertwined. They were almost too precious to wake up. Well, almost…

"Will, wake up Gray," I said. "I'm going to wake Natsu."

Which meant unraveling him from Lucy, because there would be no way to wake that pink haired boy without shaking him. And that would just wake up Lucy. So I attempted to pull him away from the blond girl, but Natsu just snuggled closer to her. I stuck a string of water into his ear, hoping to catch his attention without disturbing Lucy. He gave an annoyed huff and waved away my water string.

I sighed, "Natsu… You were the one that wanted to go on a search so badly. If ya don't wake up, we'll have to leave without ya."

He groaned, "10 more minutes."

"No more minutes. Now get your lazy butt up, unless you don't wanna go…"

"Fine," he sighed, obviously unhappy as he removed himself from Lucy and got off the bed. "But Happy will stay."

"Was counting on that," I replied.

"I'm going," Gray stated as he stood from his chair and released Juvia's hand, making the group nod.

My mom added, "I'm going to tag along too. Wendy will stay here just in case something happens. The girls will be fine. They've been improving faster than I thought they would."

I noted Gray's uneasy shift of weight and said, "You know what? Why don't I stay behind and keep an eye on them? I doubt that you'll need me out there since Gajeel and Mira are also tagging along with both teams."

"Thanks," Gray directed to me. I could see he felt better that two friends would watch over the two girls while they were gone on the hunt.

"Alright, go out there and relieve some stress," I encouraged the group, patting Natsu's back as he passed me to leave.

I walked over to my husband and pecked him on the lips, "Protect them for me."

He chuckled and kissed me in return, "At least I don't have to worry about you while you're here. I'll see you in a few hours. Hopefully we'll find some clues as to where to find this bastard."

The group left after that. Watching the girls was peaceful enough. Wendy and Carla joined me, and Happy woke up after a little while to talk with Carla quietly. It was getting pretty late in the night, and I offered Wendy to get some shut-eye, but she said she took a nap earlier so she could watch Lucy and Juvia with me. Happy had napped pretty much the whole day with Lucy so he was anxious to get up and move.

"Happy, would you like to go with Carla for a night fly-over? You can go and check on the search crew if you'd like," I suggested to the exceeds.

"Yes, perhaps that would be a good idea," Carla agreed. Happy gratefully grew wings with his white furred feline friend and they took off out into the night sky from the window.

"Gray's been very quiet about this. And Natsu's been weird too," Wendy observed when the exceeds were far enough away.

"I don't know, considering I'm so new to this guild. I mean, Gray's been very quiet about his emotions so it makes sense to me that he'd be so quiet considering he's just overwhelmed with emotions right now. And Natsu… He's pugnacious and antsy for a fight, but family comes first. Lucy is Natsu's family so Lucy's safety and wellbeing comes first. That's how I see it from the outside at least," I responded.

"That… sounds pretty accurate for as long as I've known them then. I guess it's just weird seeing them act on that. I mean, Natsu and Lucy have always been really close. And Juvia's always been super clingy with Gray. But the whole guild's been up and down with whether Gray felt anything in return or not. He's been putting off telling Juvia if he feels anything for her for a long while."

"Because he's never known what or how to tell her. And same with Natsu and Lucy, too. They just don't know how to say what they feel to each other, which makes things confusing."

"Yeah, that makes sense. I'm glad I'm not older so I don't have to worry about that sort of thing yet."

I laughed at that, "Yeah, boring and confusing adult stuff, huh?"

Wendy nodded in agreement and I laughed even more. Thinking about it, I guess love was never really on my mind until I was a mid teenager. Love is strange to see from the outside. It's because nothing can really define what love is except the ones who feel it. What love means to me is different from what love means to Juvia. But both are endless motivators.

"Well, can't say I didn't have it easy. I sort of always knew Will was the one for me. Even as kids, we didn't know it then but looking back it was always so obvious. He was always my partner and best friend, so of course it had to be him."

Wendy shyly commented, "That sounds like Natsu and Lucy. I guess they just haven't realized that yet."

I thought about this, "I would like to agree with you, but it's not for anyone else to decide. They have to figure it out on their own. If they love each other, they'll know. Just telling them that they should usually gives them the impression that it would make things weird… My mother is guilty of that with these two, that's for sure."

She nodded, slowly understanding my words. She then asked quietly, "What does it feel like?"

I smiled softly, "Got anybody in mind?"

Wendy blushed, "N-not exactly."

"It can feel different for everyone… But for me… It feels like longing when he's not near. Obviously you will miss the ones you care about when they aren't around, but that's the most powerful emotion I feel for him specifically."

The room became quiet. I didn't interrupt the silence. I could tell Wendy was thinking. She's only 12 but that never stopped her from being mature for her friends' sake. Carla's influence certainly helped as well. The two girls were both more grown for their age than normal kids would be.

We sat in silence for a while until Happy and Carla returned without news. Their hunt wasn't going well. They found crime scenes, but no evidence to lead them on. It was a wild goose chase. My gut told me that's exactly what this monster wanted, too. He wanted us to find no trace and get frustrated.

It was working. The search crew returned late, nearing sunrise, with bags under their eyes and low spirits. I managed to convince everyone to just go to their homes and sleep to prepare for the guilds' gathering after noon. Even Gray and Natsu agreed, admitting to both needing showers and a change in clothes.

That next evening, Lucy and Juvia were both awake and waiting for the guild masters' meeting to be taking place in less than an hour. Natsu and Gray had returned after taking a well deserved rest and stood by idly as Mother checked over the girls. I couldn't help but feel a sense of dread as the girls were being healed. How could something so terrible have ever happened? Was it our fault for coming from our world to theirs?

"Are you alright? Do you need help to stand at all?" Mom asked Lucy, giving her a hand as the blond stood from the medical bed.

"I'm okay, thanks," Lucy replied, shifting her weight off her bad leg.

"Great," the ravenette nodded, accepting Lucy's condition as Natsu offered his arm for Lucy to lean on him. Her expression changed, however, to a more serious note. "There is something that needs to be said now that all four of you are together and awake."

Lucy asked surprised, "What is it?"

"First, it was not either of your faults for running into that bastard. So don't either of you ever blame yourselves for what happened, or what will be happening when we find him. It's no one's fault for what happened. And second, Juvia was in much worse condition than we let on to you, Lucy. I apologize to you for that."

This made Lucy gasp, "Wh-what do you m-mean?"

Juvia spoke up, "Juvia doesn't want you to worry, Lucy. Juvia's fine."

But Natsu didn't accept Juvia's interruption with a dark and dangerous tone, "That thing touched her."

Lucy stammered, "Wh-what?! L-like… Touch touch her?"

Sadly, my mother replied, "Yes. Everything will be alright now. You both are near guaranteed to make a full 100% recovery. You need not to worry. Again, I apologize for not telling you sooner."

I could see the pain seep into Lucy's face. It hurt my heart to see her grieve for her friend in such a way. Even when Juvia reassured Lucy that she was fine and couldn't remember anything. A slow resolve found Lucy's eyes. That vampire will pay. Even such a sweet soul like Lucy knew the stakes were dangerous and called for terrible revenge and justice.

"The meeting of the guild masters will come very soon. I'll go over how the meeting should go with you so that you know what to expect."

The briefing wasn't long, though Natsu grumbled here and there. We could hear when the last guild, Lamia Scale, joined the gathering in the main hall. Gray told me to go find Lyon, so I went out into the crowded main hall in search of the ice wizard brother.

Blue Pegasus, Quatro Puppy, Sabertooth, Twilight Ogre, Mermaid Heel, and now Lamia Scale were gathered together causing a commotion with rowdy wizards fighting over not knowing what was going on. I looked around for any person resembling Gray or ice magic, but gave up quickly to instead find someone who knew what they were looking for. The first person I found was Erza talking with an orange haired cat-girl.

As I joined their conversation, I continued to scan over the guild. Mira's bar was packed, but a white haired man in a green and blue cloaked outfit had the barmaid's attention. Something about the man stood out to me and I listened closely.

"Hey, Mira. It's nice to see you again."

"Hi Lyon!" Mira greeted. So the white-haired man was the one I was looking for.

"You know where Gray is?" Lyon asked.

Mira thought carefully of her response, "Well, he went with his team and our new members on a search mission 'til late last night. He's probably sleeping. I'll tell him you asked when I see him."

I excused myself from Erza and the kitten, Milliana, and approached the ice wizard, "You wouldn't happen to be Gray's brother, would you?"

He nodded, "I am. I don't believe we've met."

I took his cool hands into mine, "In that case, follow me. Gray sent for you, right?"

His cheeks blushed at my haste in pulling him away from the crowded main hall, "Yes. What's happening here?"

"Gray will explain. I'm a new member of Fairy Tail. Name's Oultilissa, and I'm a water mage."

"He wasn't attacked… Was he?" Lyon choked, noticing our direction was towards the infirmary.

I let him figure it out on his own as I pushed him inside the infirmary doors and closed them behind us. Gray, Natsu with Lucy clinging to his arm and Happy on his shoulder, and Mom stood centrally in the infirmary. Juvia was blocked from view.

"Could someone explain to me what the hell is happening?!" Lyon exclaimed, obviously confused as Gray was perfectly fine standing in front of him.

"Lyon!" Gray gasped, half surprised at his brother's sudden outburst.