Yayayay! 5.5k+ words, baby! So freaking proud lol. I actually completed the chapter. Initaially, I wanted to deveide this chapter in half. But then I though nae and wrote the whole thing I planned.
Just saying, This story will have 13 chapters in total, if I go according to the plan. It can increase, though, but I'll probably stick to this number. Ramble over. XD
Warning: Slight angst. Minor fluff.
Disclaimer: I no own.
Chapter 5
Challenges and Viruses
The doorbell resounded throughout the Heartfilia mansion. Natsu fiddled with his Mind Connector to search for the name Fullbuster once again. There was absolutely nothing that pointed towards the existence of any Gray Fullbuster. No link in the world's greatest search engine could provide him with any information even regarding to it as a pseudonym.
The door was opened by Ms Supetto. She smiled at him, "What a pleasant surprise, Natsu-sama! Lucy-sama would surely be glad to see you." She ushered him in and carried away his coat. Then she returned to escort him towards her room.
"Lucy-sama has been so upset since a few days. She wouldn't talk to anyone. She wouldn't go to school. She wouldn't even eat sometimes, though those were the times the meal had something she did not like-"
"Um… Ms Supetto?" Natsu half-smiled at her, "I know where her room is. Thank you for helping me." She was reluctant for a moment but then bowed down and walked away.
He hesitantly knocked at her door. "No, Ms Supetto, I don't need another ice cream."
"It's me."
The moment he said that, he heard a sudden thud followed by an "Ow!" and multiple shuffling and scratching noises. He sighed in annoyance. And Lucy said he was untidy. Suddenly, the door was flung open and Natsu's eyes widened.
"Lucy, look at you! What kind of a hurricane hit your house to make you look like a dysfunctional gorilla?" Lucy cracked a smile through the nest she called her hair. She had bags under her eyes. Natsu instantly felt guilty, knowing this was because of him. Lucy fidgeted under his stare. "I-I'll freshen up. Wait for a little while," she picked up some fresh clothes and rushed towards the bathroom.
Natsu heard the shower turning on. He sighed, running his hand through his hair. So many questions ran through his mind. He decided to clean her room till she showered.
By the time he put the last book into the shelf, Lucy exited the bath, wearing her pyjamas and having a towel wrapped around her head. She shuffled nervously. Natsu thought it would be best to break the silence. "About that day-" both of them started together, laughing after realizing what they said.
"Okay," Lucy said, "I'll start, no hush," she put a finger on his lips, "You will listen to me." Natsu sighed and nodded. After all, whatever Lucy had to say might be able provide him with some answers. Lucy took a deep breath, "Everything started when I first joined the student council of Fairy High." She sat down on her bed and leaned back, supported by her hands, "Loke had introduced me to the game and we were partners," she smiled, "And somewhere along the way, I had fallen for him. Never mind, that's not the point of the story right now.
"The point is that one day; I was summoned by the vice president of the school: Erza Scarlet. I didn't know her. All I had gathered from the students was that she was one hell of a disciplinarian. In addition, she was also rumored to be the strong and fearless Titania from the guild I had recently joined. To be frank, I was wary why such a person would summon me of all people," Lucy laughed nervously, "It was scary." Natsu could totally relate. After all, even he had fallen prey to Erza Scarlet's wrath countless times due to his mischievous habits.
Lucy continued, "I had thought it was due to something related to my performance as a council member. But it wasn't related to school at all! It was about the game, NeuroLink, and to put it mildly, it surprised me.
"NeuroLink is a very reserved game, for obvious reasons. They players are prohibited to speak of its internal matters in public. Furthermore, even the recruiting is also limited to one person per player, so that it doesn't spread as much as it used to, to save the general public from its knowledge and to limit the number of players. But I remember clearly. The moment I stepped into the room, she addressed me as Celestica."
In the Student Council Meeting Room
"Celestica, isn't it?" Erza said. Her eyes bored into Lucy's, making her squirm. The blonde-haired girl quickly turned around and closed to door. "I hope you have a good enough reason to publicly utter my username," Lucy muttered, slightly glaring at the redhead.
"I apologize for the inconvenience of holding this meeting in the real world," Erza pulled out one of the chairs, "but it was unsafe to do so in the game. I have a task to assign to you. In fact, it is of utmost importance, for both the game and the players. Especially the players who are the victims of the glitch coma," Lucy's eyes widened. Erza pulled out a chair for the blonde as well. She sat down, gesturing Lucy to do the same.
Erza, Lucy observed, sat with a perfect posture, her back straight and her legs crossed. Confidence radiated from her. For a fleeting moment, Lucy deemed that Erza Scarlet did not belong in a school. A mere student council meeting room was out of place for a lady like her. "Due to my position and standing in my organization, I cannot disclose who I represent. And as a matter of fact, this rule also applies to you." Lucy gulped. She was right about Erza, to some vague extent.
"As you know, the original developer of the game, Dr Ivan Dreyar, has been missing since the game had been launched. These consequences have put the secondary developers in a pinch since the moment the glitch coma case has been discovered. Since then, Makarov and Laxus Dreyar, along with their expert batch of hackers, have tried their best to minimize the number of cases as much as possible. Till date, they haven't identified the real reason of the Mind Connector malfunctioning.
"Our expert hacker, though, has pin-pointed a possible solution to the problem: the Ultimate Life. The mission has been set for us to be able to acquire the same."
"But," Lucy said, "What's my role in this?"
Erza smirked, "Right to the point, I see. The player working under us doesn't have a partner. And we need a worthy enough candidate to fill that position. Of course, it was his personal wish to acquire this very player in any way possible as quoted by him," Erza sighed and whispered, "Such a pain in the ass." "What?" Lucy asked.
Erza reverted to the topic, "How are your relations with Salamander?"
"Um," Lucy hesitated, shuffling in her seat. Could she trust this woman? "He… He is a friend of mine."
"I want you to recruit and train him till he reaches Level 4."
"What?" Lucy stood up in exasperation, "You want me to recruit him? Do you have any idea what you are asking me to do?"
Erza stood up as well, eyes scanning Lucy. "I totally understand what I am asking from you," her eyes softened, "Please, the mission has already been set in motion. If anyone else reaches the goal before we do… Try to understand, Lucy. We want to save lives and we are desperate for any method possible to stop the assault. The mission absolutely bars anyone other than partners to take up the quest. This might be our only way to save everyone."
Lucy frowned, "But… but I cannot put his life in danger! If anything ever happens to him, I will never be able to forgive myself!"
"Lucy," Lucy looked at the vice president. Erza looked at her in empathy. "I… I understand how you feel. But please, no one else is capable enough. No one is trustworthy enough. No one even trusts him enough. We are in the same guild and you are the kindest, most trustworthy person I know. Please, you are my only hope. And just like you cannot stand Salamander being used, I cannot stand to see our player being used by any dishonest player from the game."
Lucy didn't know what to do. She knew the game was too addicting for the players to leave it, and too dangerous for new ones to be recruited. That was exactly why she still hadn't left the game. It was as if an invisible, blissful force pulled her towards the world of ecstasy. But somehow, she couldn't shake off the feeling that recruiting Natsu was the right choice. "Fine," she said at last, "But the moment I feel that Salamander is being used, I would not hesitate even for a second to disclose your plan to him."
"Very well," Erza said, regaining her composure, "Your assistance is appreciated. I look forward to working with you in this project, Lucy Heartfilia." Lucy walked towards the door and opened it, "And Lucy," Lucy turned to look towards the redhead. Erza genuinely smiled at her, "Thank you."
"The only detail she left out, accidentally or deliberately, was the fact that the player was Black Ice," Lucy let out a pained sigh, "If I had known that you were gonna be paired up with that suspicious rogue gamer, I might never have recruited you." She stood up and went to her dresser to dry her hair. Natsu was left alone with his thoughts.
Gray was some kind of a star player in a secret organization. The organization was managed by the Dreyars and Gray and Erza played an important role in it. But it still did not answer so many questions. Lucy just told him about stuff he already knew! He had to come to the point.
"Did she mention any Gray Fullbuster?"
"Gray…? Who is that?" Lucy turned towards Natsu with widened eyes, "That is Black Ice, isn't it?" Before Natsu could stop her, Lucy had already searched for his name. Natsu stood frozen as Lucy went through the links.
"There's… there's nothing on him," Lucy looked at him skeptically, "He even told you a fake name? Natsu, I cannot trust this man. I wouldn't stay with him even for another second-"
"Lucy." Her chocolate eyes slightly glared at him. "Let me decide for myself," Natsu said, "what to do with this arrangement. Let me judge him myself." Then a foreign smirk plastered on his face, "I can always leave him with nothing if he lies to me. Till then, give me Erza Scarlet's address." Lucy reluctantly nodded and forwarded him the address. And all the while, Natsu wondered if he would ever be able to what he said.
"No way," Gray said, stopping his stride through to forest, "You actually… I can't believe it!" Gray laughed, clutching his stomach. Natsu huffed in annoyance. "Hey, I am serious, okay? I didn't know it was her office!"
"You didn't know your school's student council room? Oh my… I can't believe you actually stole Titania's cake, of all things!" He stood up straight, puffing out air, stopping his laughter. "She never lets anyone have it, and has been known to pulverize half of her guild mates in the process of protecting her precious cake. Oh man, she must have been mad."
"Mad?" Natsu's eyes widened. "That's clearly, no, more than an understatement!" A shiver ran down his spine, "She was a devil incarnated in front of me!" Gray let out another chuckle, patted his shoulder in mock sympathy, "You were lucky to get away with a mere detention. Oh, I remember when I had once accidentally blended her manga in the mixer. Hey, don't laugh. I swear it was accidental." Natsu felt a punch on his head, "She nearly killed the landlord, suspecting him to be responsible for it. There are still blood stains on her walls," he whispered in horror, "Oh, I am lucky she still doesn't know who did it."
Natsu smiled at him, surprised at how fondly Gray spoke of Erza, no matter how much he badmouthed her in the process, "You must be really close to her, eh?" Gray froze, as if trying to contemplate a fitting reply to that. "U-um… I guess…"
"Indeed, he is," Both the guys jumped and hugged each other from the bone chilling voice. The lady clad in red armor, none other than Titania, stood in front of them. Behind him was her blue armored partner, Seigrain. Due to Natsu's in-game friendship status with them, he could see their faces behind the masks. "Nice to meet you again, Black Ice," Erza said. Natsu observed that her voice note was slightly distorted towards the end. This was the game's mechanism to protect the identities of the players from the unknown by replacing even the accidentally uttered names by the respective usernames.
"I-I didn't expect to see you here, Titania," Gray muttered nervously. If the situation hadn't been so heavily tensed, Natsu would have laughed at the almighty asshole's wavering voice. "Oh, didn't you?" Erza smirked, striding towards the boys. "If I remember correctly, you were the only person in the guild aware of the fact that I am also a part of the quest."
Natsu's eyes widened, "You are here to challenge us?"
"You cannot do that," Gray protested, "We just started the quest! Are you bullying my noob of a partner?"
Behind Erza, Jellal laughed, "Black Ice-kun, we just came over to say hi," He grinned and winked at Natsu. "But of course, a challenge is in tow," Erza smirked and pointed her sword at Gray, "Today, I'll let you go. But if I meet you during the final showdown, I won't show you any mercy. That's my challenge to you, Black Ice."
Natsu sincerely hoped and Gray would tell her off and walk away, but alas, he was mistaken. Beside him, Gray stood proudly and declared, "We accept the challenge." Natsu had a sudden urge to face-palm. This guy had way the hell too much confidence. Erza nodded in satisfaction. She summoned the teleportation crystal from her inventory and gave one to Jellal. They dissolved into thin air. But before she teleported fully, she said, "I will remember the manga."
Beside Natsu, Gray went completely stiff. "Fuck," he uttered in complete horror. "I am so gonna die a premature death," he slowly turned towards him, "It was nice knowing you, Natsu."
Natsu scoffed, circling his arm around Gray's neck, "Don't worry, she will leave you alive to kick your ass in the final showdown."
"Not. Funny."
"Oh," Natsu gave him a shark-like grin, "But it is."
"Why you-" Gray's threat was interrupted by a ping resounding through their directory. Gray removed Natsu's arm and opened the map. "Ah, it has successfully been downloaded. Look," Gray pointed at the red trail on the map of Fiore, "This is the area that has been covered by Erza. If they did not find it in these locations, we wouldn't either."
"Whoa, wait. How did you download their map data?" Gray turned towards him to flash what Natsu guessed was a smirk. "I have loot in my directory, m'boy." Natsu raised an eyebrow at his newly gained cringe-worthy nickname. Gray pointed at the map again, "Look, the blue trail is ours and the red is Erza's. The green one was of Zancrow and Rustyrose but I doubt they would have discovered any treasure, even when it had been hanging in front of their faces."
Gray removed the green trail and pointed at the blank area towards the eastern part, "This is the area left uncovered by both the teams. In other words, we are heading here," Gray looked at him, as if expecting an approval. Natsu nodded, and the next thing he knew was being dragged forward by a suddenly enthusiastic black-armored player.
That night, Natsu stood in front of a shabby apartment complex. Fiore Apartments were the oldest apartments in Magnolia, situated on the outskirts of the town. Anyone living here was either poor or… probably a junkie. Natsu wondered what someone as refined as Erza would be doing, living in a rundown place like this.
He reached the second floor of the building. There were two doors on the floor. Room 201 had a KEEP OUT sign written in comic sans. Natsu looked at it warily. Well, the sign would totally be successful in keeping people away, considering the questionable choice of font used. Natsu rolled his eyes and proceeded towards the other door: Room 202. Natsu deeply inhaled and rang the doorbell. The pinkette remembered Erza's devilish aura when he had been caught red-handed during school. He waited anxiously, just thinking what she might do when she would realize why he was here.
"What are you doing here?" Natsu gave an unmanly yelp, quickly turning around and backing away towards the door. Erza Scarlet was standing behind him with grocery bags, and she did not look happy. The redhead stared at him, stunned, as if she didn't expect to see Natsu anywhere around the entire apartment complex.
"Natsu Dragneel, I asked you something. Or are you too deaf to hear?" Natsu gulped, "I-I…" he then stood up straight and cleared his throat, "I need to talk to you, Titania."
Erza was taken aback. Somewhere in the corner, Natsu heard a shuffling noise. He turned around to look at the other room, when suddenly he was yanked harshly into Erza's house. She quickly locked her door and activated sound cancelling application. Natsu gulped.
"What the hell are you thinking, shouting out my username like that?" The red haired gamer, livid, screamed at Natsu. "I j-just wanted to ask about Black Ice," Natsu cursed himself for trembling under the menacing gaze. "Besides, you also used Celestica's name in public."
"That was different! I had the people cleared and the cameras deactiva- how do you know?" Her face morphed into that of realization. She took a deep breath and walked to her kitchen counter, placing the groceries on top of it. She then turned around and gazed at him, "Lucy told you, didn't she?"
"Yeah, she did," Natsu said, "And that is why I am here. I want to know more about Black Ice, more about Gray Fullbuster." Erza looked shocked the moment she heard the name, but that expression faded away as quickly as it had appeared, leaving Natsu wondering if he had actually seen it. "Who is this Gray Fullbuster? Why isn't he anywhere in the official directories?"
"Look," Erza sighed, "Under the guidelines of our organization, you are absolutely barred to speak that name out loud in public. Moreover, you are never to speak of our arrangement to any of the outside parties as well. The…" Erza made a dejected sound, "The only thing I can tell you about Black Ice is that no matter how much of a stuck up asshole he might be, he is not a bad guy. He can be trusted and you should give him a chance."
Natsu bit his lip, unable to comprehend what to reply to that. "Also," she said, "He has been through dark times. He has faced betrayal and has suffered great losses. Furthermore, the scrutinizing he is subjected to everyday in the guild is disheartening. So please, don't…" Erza rubbed her forehead.
"I… I understand," Natsu paused, "I just wanted to know about Gray Fullbuster and…"
"And why he isn't listed anywhere?" Erza looked at him dead in the eye and said, "Well, the reason is obvious, isn't it?" Erza forcefully ushered him out if her apartment, "The only thing that you need to remember is that there is no Gray Fullbuster."
As Natsu walked out of the apartment, Erza looked at him through the window. A voice scoffed behind her, "There is no Gray Fullbuster. You might as well have told him Gray Fullbuster is a fucking celebrity." Erza glared at the speaker, moving away from the window and taking the seat instead. "What else was I supposed to say to him? I need that boy to trust Black Ice and you're just sitting here, least bothered to help!"
"Meh, we don't need his trust. All we need is a pawn-"
"You are the last person who believes in that statement," Erza glared, "He means something to us; he means something to you, Gray. That was the reason why you told him your real name."
"I told you, that was an accidental slip-"
Oh, that's bullshit." Erza gritted her teeth in exasperation. "Why would you keep secrets from him? Give him a chance. Don't let him slip away so easily."
Gray looked away dejectedly, and Erza took it as a chance to talk, "The moment you met him, you changed. I have never seen you talking to people, actually enjoying yourself, not since the-" Erza faltered at his gaze, "Look, I care for you, okay? And that's why I want you to accept him."
"And how exactly would your mighty plan work with you giving him that address?"
"How did you… never mind." It started to rain. Gray walked out of the kitchen. The raven-haired male wore a tank top with cargo pants. He approached her with two white mugs in his hand, handing one to Erza. "Look, Erza, I… I'm trying okay?" Gray bit his lip, contemplating whether or not to say more. "But sending him there… it's not wise. He might discover them. He might leave m-"
"No, he won't," Erza said with confidence. "If he truly is what I saw in him today, he would never leave you." She looked at Gray's saddened eyes. "I don't want him to know…"
"If you really want to gain his trust, you will have to let him in," Gray closed his eyes and walked out of the room. Erza once again looked out of the window at the cascading rain.
"How do you know Erza?" Natsu asked abruptly. The boys had camped in a clearing. Gray had to sort and manage their inventory and make area coverage plans, so they had decided to halt and rest.
Gray looked up from the archive, surprised by the sudden question. "I… I met her in this game, in the guild. She was a new member. Gramps had personally recruited her."
"Gramps as in… Makarov Dreyar?"
"Um," Gray was clearly hesitating to talk now. Natsu was getting irritated by his hesitance. "Y-yeah, that's him."
"Why did he recruit Erza?"
"I told you, she was strong. She was lonely and depressed, so I befriended her. She is my only friend from the guild, apart from gramps, of course."
"Makarov Dreyar knows you too?"
Gray shut down his archive and sighed, "Yes, he knows all the survivors of the war. He had supported them during the dark times. Anyway, that was a long time ago, so-"
"Don't you work for him?" Natsu's eyes bored into Gray's, making him uncomfortable under the gaze. "That's none of your business," Gray said, standing up and stretching. "I'm done planning. Let's head out towards the-"
"Gray, I hate it when you claim that you trust me and then go ahead, hiding things from me," Natsu finally snapped, furious by the black armored player's desperate attempts to change the topic. "I know that you work under him and are on some secret mission to save the world. But now I am a part of it. Why would you hide important things from me?"
Gray made a sound of annoyance and turned away dejectedly, "You already know the stuff I was supposed to tell you from Erza and Celestica. I would have told you when it would have become any of your business."
"To hell with my business!" Natsu fumed, "So you know about that too, which leaves me the only person in the dark," Natsu fumed. Who was Gray to decide when to disclose anything to Natsu? Natsu was his partner! If Gray didn't even trust him with such basic information, how could Natsu survive this arrangement, knowing that things were being hidden from him?
"Natsu, I-" Gray tried futilely, but was cut off by Natsu again, "Tell me, Gray. How can I trust you when I don't even know your real name?" Gray stood there, motionless. Natsu was secretly glad to be able to render the ice player speechless. What he didn't expect though was when Gray said. "That… That's my real name, Natsu." There was a dark undertone in his voice, unsettling Natsu.
"What do you mean?" Natsu asked, stunned. There was no way it was possible, "I couldn't find you anywhere. That could obviously not be a name of a living person!"
Gray clenched his fists and looked down, "That's none of your busi-"
"Don't you dare-"
"I am Gray Fullbuster, believe it or not. There's a reason why you can't find me online, offline, anywhere at all, Natsu. And that's because-" Gray suddenly stilled, as if stopped by some external force. "That's…" He gulped, "That's none of your business."
Natsu was stunned. What had just happened?
Before he could lash out his anger and disbelief on Gray, he turned around and walked away. He did not want to risk their XP.
Natsu punched a tree, breaking it in half. What was with this guy? One moment, he looked like he wanted to tell him everything, anything. And the next, he backed off, suddenly switching to being cold and distant again. Now Natsu even considered a week's time of partnership with that guy too long for him to endure.
He was angry, he was livid.
He was so livid that he had completely ignored the glowing eyes following his form.
"Scanning area for viruses"
Natsu gasped at the mechanical voice and turned around, searching for a possible source. Somewhere far away, he could see two adjacent floating red lights. As the source neared him, he could see the violet armor, shining in the sunlight, with flame-like patterns on it. Natsu could see its resemblance to the logo of the game itself.
"Virus found"
Natsu tensed, getting ready for a fight. The alien entity fired a bright beam towards him, binary codes floating around it. Natsu suddenly froze. As the beam neared him, he knew that he could not shield himself from it. It was created to absolutely pulverize its prey.
"You idiot!" Suddenly, Natsu went thrashing into the ground, a heavy weight on top of him. He groaned, but was suddenly hauled up again by his savior.
"RUN," Gray commanded, pulling him from his hand and dragging him ahead. "It takes at least 5 minutes to recharge the cleansing attack. We can't risk being caught again. Fuck, I can't believe I let my guard down-"
"Gray, you're hurt."
"Those idiotic machines… If only I could get my hand onto their programming codes-"
"Gray," Natsu said firmly, grabbing him back to stop him. "We are far enough. That thing can't find us here," Natsu leaned towards Gray's shoulder, eyeing the wound in disdain. "Don't worry. It just touched and missed."
"Stay still," Natsu frowned. The remnants of the beam were melting Gray's armor away. What kind of an attack was this? "What was that thing?"
"That was an Anti-Virus program in the game. It senses glitches and programs foreign to the original game program and eliminate them. It's apparently faulty these days… attacking… the players…" Suddenly, Gray collapsed. Natsu caught him before he could touch the ground. "It's spreading," Natsu said, panic rising within him. The black armor was dissipating, leaving behind a pixilated form of a white fabric. It reached his neck, exposing creamy white skin. But before Natsu could register what was happening, Gray pushed him away with a pained gasp.
"T-The healing p-potion," Gray gasped out, turning away from Natsu, hiding his face that was slowly being exposed. "O-Our XP…" Natsu took a quick glance at Gray's XP meter and his eyes widened. It was slowly edging towards 50%. He quickly opened the inventory and dug out the healing potion. There were just three more left. He had to keep that in mind.
Gray was panting in pain when Natsu started healing him. As much as he tried not to, he could not help but stare at his partner. He had an unruly mob of raven hair. His skin was pale, contrasting with his wild hair. He was lean, with a hint of muscles on his biceps. One cobalt eye glared through the fingers hiding his face. "Stop staring." Gray muttered. Natsu smirked at him.
"For someone as dark as his armor, you look quite… promising," Natsu grinned his shark-like grin, seeing the spluttering raven. The healing pinged to completion. But the fun hadn't ended yet. "S-Shut up," Gray muttered, sitting up and activating his archive. He worked with one hand, hiding his face with another. His fingers effortlessly strummed the keyboard.
Natsu smirked and crept closer to the raven, "Oh, you have really soft skin," Natsu muttered, caressing Gray's hand. The raven jerked his palm away. "Why you…" If glares could kill, Natsu would have been a pile of ashes, blown away to the other side of the continent. Natsu chuckled. Gray quickly typed something into the archive and his black armor reappeared. The black-armored player cleared his throat. "Thank you for saving me," Natsu smiled, eyeing the raven.
"Y-You're welcome," Gray murmured, staring down. Then as if gaining his composure, he said, "I-It was useless anyway. I was careless for not camping in a town instead of a forest. Our XP is as much affected as it would have been if you had been injured instead. So it was kinda… what are you staring at?" Natsu's eyes sparkled. One moment Gray would make him hate his guts, and the next, he would do something so endearing that Natsu couldn't help but wonder how he could even think of being angry at the raven in the first place. This guy was full of surprises. "I can't believe you are a tsundere." Gray spluttered for the second time. "I-I'm not, baka!"
"Are you some kind of a computer nerd?" Gray looked at him, his hidden eyes confused. Natsu suddenly realized. This guy wasn't aware of his ADHD-level randomized mind-wandering. Even his doctor was confused by his level of instability of his mind but not any actual diagnosis of a disorder. He chuckled.
"I'm sorry for my random out-of-the-blue questions but that's how I am," Natsu smiled at Gray. "Y-Yeah, I figured," Gray said slowly.
"So, are you or not?" Natsu said again.
"What?"
"A computer nerd. I mean, that armor is clearly not default."
"Oh, yeah, you can say that," Gray sighed and sat down, followed by Natsu. "Look, I'm sorry for not being able to tell you much, but those are my orders. I cannot really disclose confidential information so easily."
"It's alright," Gray looked at Natsu, as if analyzing his answer, finding any hidden meanings in the response. He sighed again, "Lemme tell you from the beginning-"
Suddenly, a roar resounded through the air. Both of them stood up, looking towards the source of the bellowing. Natsu looked at Gray, who nodded at him. Together, they walked towards the cause. Suddenly, a dark shadow passed overhead, making Natsu snap his head up. And what he saw made his eyes widen in amazement.
"Wait!" Gray said, but Natsu trudged forward. He could already see the edge of the thinning forest, sunlight passing through the trees, calling him towards the bright land. He ran forward and then stopped, gasping at the magnificent scenery.
"They're beautiful," Gray whispered in awe. Majestic beings trudged throughout the landscape, wings spread and scales shimmering.
Natsu grinned at him and exclaimed in joy, "Dragons!"
TBC
Wheeeeeeee. #turnt? Idk I had SO much fun in teasing Gray. Such a precious piece of shit he is :')
Manga: [SPOILER ALERT!]
Anyone else laughed when God Serena aka Hybrid Theory was KO'ed as fuck by Acno the bitch? I did lolololol. Anyone? No? Hehe *people judging writer's sanity*
Oh well ;)
Don't forget to read and review!
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