Heeeeeeyyyyyyyy lol. I'm back with another installment of the story. Just realized I should have done this a while ago. This is to thank all my amazing followers, the readers adding my story to their Favorites list and my amazing reviewers! Thank you all for your continued support!
Special thanks to Ryuu91 and smoleren to make me feel special. You guys truly are amazing ^/^
I won't waste much of your time. Read on, little butterflies! :3 Nah. Never using that phrase again.
Warning: Angst, mention of gore (literally), and lots of angst
Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail and accidental SAO.
Chapter 9
Betrayal
"W-What is this?"
Natsu and Gray ran through the burning streets of Magnolia, crossing the mob of players. Natsu saw a few regulators from their guild, trying to control the crowd, extinguishing the fire and helping the players escape.
"Over here," Gray said, pointing towards the right. Natsu's eyes widened, seeing the Fairy Tail guild hall, or what remained of it. From the distance, Natsu could make out a few figures running around, evacuating people. One of the helpers shone gold and Natsu let out sigh of relief. Lucy was safe.
"Gah," Gray backed away all of a sudden, shielding himself with his arm from the raging fire. "Can't you douse the fire or something?" he asked Natsu, who in turn looked at him dumbly. "You are an elemental player," Gray continued, "You should have at least some control over the element."
Natsu mumbled, "I don't know. I never tried." Gray turned towards him, "Then try!" Natsu glared at Gray, "No need to be so impatient."
"What the-?" Natsu had cut off Gray by the time he could have retorted. He concentrated on the fire around him. The flames licking his armor did not harm him. Slowly, he closed his eyes and concentrated, trying to think of the flames as his own. He took a deep breath. He felt the flames swirling around him. A familiar heat surrounded him, encasing him in a cocoon. "Whoa," he heard Gray exclaim, but he didn't let his concentration falter. Slowly, the heat around him decreased, as if being ebbed away by some magic, his magic.
Natsu opened his eyes, drinking in the scenery in front of him. The flames were gone, leaving mass destruction at its wake. The burning city had been doused. "You… you absorbed it!" Gray exclaimed from the top of a nearby building, and Natsu had no idea when and how he had climbed up there. Gray looked around the city, and to Natsu's surprise, laughed in joy, "I can't believe it. You absorbed it all!"
"No way," Natsu muttered, climbing onto the nearest tall object: a lamp post. Natsu balanced himself on top of it, with a little too much effort. He looked around he city.
Gray was right. Not even a hint of fire remained.
Natsu grinned, licking his lips, "I'm all fired up!" Behind him, Gray laughed again. Natsu looked at Gray. He suddenly realized why he found Gray's behavior odd. He had never heard Gray laugh before. Unless the pinkette was getting teased, that is.
Suddenly, Natsu tensed. He spun around and sent a volley of attacks towards an alleyway. He could feel eyes on him. The silver armored player jumped off the lamp post and went towards the origin of the gaze. He spotted two figures behind a blue barrier: an indigo armored player named Yuka and a silver armored player named Toby.
"Who are you?" Gray demanded from behind him. He looked from the corner of his eye as a spear materialized in front of Gray out of thin air. Gray caught it and spun it around skillfully, pointing it at the mysterious characters. "I haven't seen you guys around here."
"We are not from here, Black Ice," Yuka said. Natsu could hear the smirk in his voice, "And all we want is a small gift from Fairy Tail." He nodded at Toby. Before Natsu could understand what was happening, Toby pulled out a remote and pressed a button on it. Suddenly, an explosion resounded throughout Magnolia, followed by screams. Natsu growled in fury and charged at the two, but rebounded due to the energy barrier, skidding back.
"As I was saying," Yuka continued, "Tell Titania to hand over the treasure," he lowered his voice, "or else, there will be war." Gray gasped. The barrier in front of the two attackers disappeared. Natsu and Gray charged together towards them, but when Natsu's flaming hand was about to come in contact with Yuka, it passed right through him. Natsu stumbled back, "What…?"
"The North sends its regards," Yuka mocked, with a hint of a smug satisfaction in his voice. Natsu stared in shock as both of them disappeared into thin air. "Transportation crystal," Gray ground out, "I can track them back with the trace of-"
"No time for that," Natsu hurried out of the alleyway, searching for the source of explosion. His eyes sought the guild hall's remains. The explosion had indeed originated from the guild. He turned towards Gray, and Gray nodded. The boys ran towards the guild hall.
Fairy Tail was in utter chaos. The players ran around frantically, trying to save themselves from the raging fire. A few brave guild members helped the injured players evacuate the guild hall. Two blue armored girls were busy tending to the injured. SkyMaiden and SkyGoddess, Natsu remembered, the sky sisters. The pinkette could not find Lucy.
Natsu stretched out his arm, pointing at the guild hall. He concentrated on the flames. The silver armor in his arm turned red. Soon enough, the flames swirled around his arm and were absorbed slowly into his armor. When the last of the fire was absorbed, his armor turned silver again.
A red armored player hurried towards them, "Thank god, you made it!" Erza said, "I am escorting the members to the safe house. And I witnessed your effort, Natsu. That was a tremendous feat you pulled. Good job," she smiled at Natsu proudly, making him blush internally.
Erza switched to her intercom, "No, Lucy, your XP is too low. You have helped enough. I can't have you risk your life." She quickly cut off the connection, but not before Natsu heard a whine.
Erza then turned towards Gray, "Here, connect to us. Both of you," She sent them the AUD request. Soon, Natsu and Gray were connected to the players in the helper circle. "Pinpoint all the bombs in the area. Locate them and disable them. If you can't, steer the players away from that area."
"Got it," Gray said, "And Titania."
Erza turned to him, "What is it? Make it fast."
For a moment, Natsu saw hesitation in Gray's posture. "Stay safe," he said at last. When Erza nodded and disappeared out of sight, Natsu turned towards Gray and punched him on his arm. "Ow, what was that for?!"
"Why didn't you tell her about the two guys from the North or whatever?"
"I didn't want to stress her. If I had told her, she would have been distracted during the escort mission. And by the way, she can protect herself. She has the guild by her side. We can talk to her later." Natsu bit his lip from retorting. "Gray, she had to know about this, now." Then, Natsu said something that was very unlike him, "Or did you not tell her because the enemy thinks that Erza won the quest?" Gray turned to him and glared. And despite himself, Natsu glared back with equal vigor. Gray said in a low voice, punctuating each word, "Natsu, I will forget what you just said to me, just because we have a task to do. And you are going to appreciate it."
Gray walked away from a fuming Natsu. Natsu gritted his teeth. The guy did not even have the audacity to deny it. Blunt and selfish, that's what Gray was. He took a calming breath and followed his partner.
"That was the last of it," Gray said, tucking away the augmented scanner for energy particles. It was already evening by the time they finished swiping the whole city in search for energy bombs.
Gray stepped away from the bomb and fired a lance towards it. The moment the bomb exploded, Natsu dived in and absorbed all the flames.
"To be frank, that ability is pretty cool." Gray hopped off the top of the building. Natsu looked at him warily, "Why would you do such a crazy thing as letting the bomb explode rather than disabling it for good?"
"Look, Natsu," Gray said seriously, "An energy bomb is like a compiled code, yet to be executed. Why disable it and leave it open to be fixed rather than deleting its existence altogether?" Natsu rolled his eyes. This guy's logic was beyond him.
"Let's head back," Natsu said, stretching his arms to mock tiredness. Suddenly, their intercom buzzed. "Gray, Natsu," a commanding voice said. "Aye ma'am!" Natsu said frantically, and then blushed as Gay laughed. "What is it, Erza?"
"Did you enter to the safe zone at the landmark?" The boys looked at each other. "Um, no," Gray said hesitantly, "You idiot!" Erza exclaimed in anger and Gray yelped. "You should have told me before I had assigned you the task! Do it now, and return to the safe house as soon as possible."
"Yes, ma'am," Gray muttered, opening a dialogue box for teleporting.
"Erza," Natsu said, looking at Gray. Gray nodded, and disappeared. "We saw two people whom we suspect are responsible for the attack."
"What?" Erza asked, surprised, "Why didn't you tell me before? What did they say?"
"Gray said not to tell you because it would have distracted you," Natsu sighed when Erza hummed in agreement, "They said that they want the Ultimate Life and that they are from the north. And, um, they believe that you have the treasure."
"Well, that's fortunate for you. You won't be targeted." Erza said matter-of-factly, with a teasing undertone in her voice. Natsu chuckled nervously, "Well, if you say s"-
"Watch out!" A figure collided into Natsu, sending him flying. Suddenly, an explosion resounded through the area. Natsu's ears rang in an uncomfortable manner. He stumbled and stood up, trying to balance himself on his feet. The ringing slowly subsided, making him able to hear things clearly. He turned around to look at what happened and his eyes widened in shock.
In front of him lay a mutilated body. The player did not move. The golden armor was charred to the core. "LUCY!" Natsu screamed, rushing towards his fallen best friend. The silver armored player looked around, only to find the remains of a lacrima crystal.
A magic bomb.
Another figure lied a few meters away from them. Natsu realized it was Loke. He looked at Lucy again. Natsu sat down beside her shakily. His hands trembled as shook her, "L-Lucy," he said hesitantly, his voice shaking with emotions, "Please wake up." Lucy did not stir.
He checked her XP meter and his eyes widened. It was edging on to being empty. He had never seen an XP so low before. He had never wanted to. He realized in horror that it was Lucy's and Loke's combined XPs after being halved. "What do I do?" He whispered.
A logical voice inside his head told him to open his inventory. His hands robotically opened the dialog box and summoned the healing crystal. He activated it, hoping that it would work. To his agony, the crystal didn't even function. The request was rejected and the healing crystal was returned to the inventory. It could not be used below 10%, Natsu remembered. He sat there, staring at the mangled body blankly, unable to think.
Lucy was dying. And he couldn't do anything about it.
Or could he?
"NATSU!"
Natsu jerked out of his dark thoughts at the sudden scream. "Natsu, where are you?" He could hear the anguish in Gray's voice. "Answer me, dammit!"
"H-Here," Natsu replied weakly. A figure emerged from the dissipating smoke. "Are you okay?" Gray asked, kneeling down.
He then gasped, seeing the figure in front of him. "Lucy? What was she doing here?"
Natsu didn't reply. Gray looked at him and worry, but then straightened in realization, "Magic bombs. Lucy must have detected it using her lacrima detection appli-..."
Gray blabbered on, not even realizing what he was doing. Maybe that was how he reacted to such situations. What baffled Natsu was the fact that Gray appeared calm, despite the amount of gore in front of him. Was this something he had seen before? He concentrated on what Gray was saying, "… they do not have accumulated radiating energy. That was why we could not detect it." Gray bit his lip, "We have to take them to the guild's safe house." Natsu gulped. He did not believe Lucy and Loke could survive till the guild hall.
Natsu quickly opened his inventory, fishing out the item he wanted. He took out the Ultimate Life cylinder and activated it. Suddenly, a hand grabbed his wrist. "Natsu," Gray said slowly and hesitantly, "You don't have to-" he abruptly stopped, seeing the look in Natsu's eyes.
Natsu looked at him with pained eyes, making Gray flinch. Did Natsu hear it right? Gray was trying to prevent him from saving Lucy?
His pain turned into anger in an instant, "The fuck do you mean I don't have to, huh?!"
"Natsu, please listen to me-" Gray gasped, suddenly being blasted away by fire. Natsu's XP lowered to 99%. Before Gray could have recovered, he quickly activated the Ultimate Life. Lucy and Loke were suddenly surrounded by a golden sphere.
Natsu watched in fascination as the battered bodies of his comrades slowly healed. The missing parts of their mangled avatars slowly regenerated. Their XP spiked up in front of his eyes, and he realized with surprise that the meter itself doubled in capacity. All this while, Gray stared at him in disappointment.
Gray was slightly guilty, but at the same time, he was distressed by the fact that Natsu didn't even give him a chance to speak. One out of the three precious Ultimate Lives was gone in front of his eyes and he hadn't even the chance to decode it.
Natsu glared at him darkly and Gray frowned. He sighed and stood up, activating his teleportation portal. "I am going to the guild," he informed, looking at Natsu. Natsu turned away and sought out Lucy and Loke's healing forms. Natsu gritted his teeth, watching from the corner of his eye as Gray faded away.
The night had fallen. He intently looked at his friends, desperately waiting for them to wake up, when suddenly, he heard shuffling. He panicked, wondering if he could defend them all from a possible enemy. He tensed up and checked his XP, and wondered when it was replenished. It must have been due to the Safe Zone thing or whatever. He waited in worry, when, suddenly, Erza appeared at the top of the building. The pinkette let out a sigh of relief.
"What happened?" Erza asked worriedly, "I heard the explosion and the intercom became static on your side. I rushed out as soon as possible." She rushed to Lucy's side, beside Natsu. "What happened here?" she whispered, "How did she get caught in the explosion?"
"She pushed me out of the way and saved my life." Erza frowned. "And how did you manage to heal her?" "I, um," Natsu hesitated, "I used the Ultimate Life."
"Oh," she said in a small voice.
The bright sphere's dissipated. The particles from the sphere floated back to form the original cylinder and the cylinder vaporized. Lucy and Loke lied on the ground, completely healed. Loke sat up, rubbing his face. He looked around the area and spotted Lucy. His face suddenly hardened and he logged out, leaving Natsu perplexed. Then, Lucy stirred. She blinked her eyes open, rubbing them slightly to adjust her vision.
"Natsu?"
"Lucy," he breathed out a relieved laugh, hugging his best friend. Lucy chuckled and said, "Thank gods you are okay."
"You are worried about me? You scared me, Lucy!" Natsu whispered shakily, "I thought I had lost you." Lucy smiled, rubbing his hair soothingly. Lucy then pulled away, checking a notification. "Loke needs me. I'll be back. Go to the guild." Natsu nodded in understanding. Lucy then thought for a second, "Did you try to save me?" Lucy asked, tapping on the Log Out button.
Natsu shrugged, "Of course I did! I used the Ultimate Life." Lucy looked at him in surprise, "But why…" but before she could complete the sentence, she disappeared. Behind him, Erza sighed. We will talk of this later, with Gray. Let's go to the safe house before someone tries to blow you up again."
Natsu nodded blankly, unable to fathom Lucy's reaction. He sighed and followed Erza's lead.
The guild safe house was located deep inside the Magnolia West Forest. The path through the forest was extremely complicated. He realized that he would have been lost without Gray's handy NeuroWorld Map application. Erza trudged ahead; helping him set his own guideline to the hideout. He checked the map, realizing the Kardia Cathedral was towards the south of the forest area. An impending thought originated into his mind, but he quickly shoved it away.
"We're here." Natsu's eyes quickly sought out the building in front of him. The building was skeptical, visible to him only when he concentrated on the building. Erza had told him that only the guild members could see the guild's safe house.
The silver armored player stepped inside the guildhall. Many members cheered at his entrance, but he noticed some of them looked at him warily. He smiled faintly at the members and answered their questions. His eyes wandered to search for Gray. He had to talk to him.
Natsu found his partner and made his way to him, when suddenly, he heard a voice, "You made this safe house?" a guy named Droy said mockingly, "Then it is unsafe for us to stay here even for a second!"
"I don't know what search engine you are referring to," Gray retorted coolly, "but ironically, safe houses are meant to keep people safe."
"There's no way you would create something to keep us safe," a random voice spoke up. Natsu noticed as Gray clutched the edge of the bar he was sitting on tightly. The black armored player whirled around, "I made this safe house for the master. If you have a problem with it, either talk to him or leave."
"Of course we have a problem with it. How can we trust anything created by some filthy traitor?"
"Go back to Sabertooth and make safe houses for them."
"That's enough-" Erza started, but was shut up by the uproar.
"Stay out of this, Titania."
"You claim to be a Fairy Tail member, boy." a man named Macao taunted, "You pretend as if we are family. Why should we trust the guy who killed his real family?"
"I said that's enough." Erza commanded louder. The loud chatters turned into low murmurs. Natsu stood speechless, torn between making the guild mates stop and knowing more about what they thought of Gray. Natsu looked at Gray, who had tensed up. Had he really done that? Had he really killed someone?
"You don't know anything," Gray whispered, "Don't act like you dictate my life and leave me alone-"
"Oh, I do know stuff," another guy named Wakaba spoke up, "We were one of the people who saw your little spar with that Lyon boy. Who knows what that poor thing is doing nowadays?"
Lyon. There it was, that name again. It was right there, at the back of Natsu's mind. But he wasn't able to fetch it. "You even changed your armor," Natsu's interest perked up, "I don't know how but you changed your armor into that filthy dark color. That was clearly a sign that you changed, and not for the good."
"Yeah, Jet is right! He can't be trusted."
Multiple murmurs rose up from the guild, blaming him for one thing or another. From the corner of his eye, Natsu saw Erza glowing in fury. "I said THAT'S ENOUGH!" the guild instantly shut up, wary of her wrath. Natsu knew that half of the things the guild blamed Gray for were baseless. But the fact that he killed his family…
Gray stood up shakily, "Be it your way then." To Natsu's astonishment, he removed his chest armor and ripped open his shirt. Natsu wondered what he was up to, when he saw it.
Gray's guild mark.
Gray put his palm over the mark and it disappeared. The whole guild quieted down. Erza gasped. Gray made his way across the room, passing Natsu without even a second glance. He turned to look at Gray, who had opened the gate to walk out.
"Gray, where are you going?" An aged voice said, entering the hall when Gray opened the door. It was the guild master, Makarov Dreyar, "I'm leaving," Gray whispered and walked out, leaving the master baffled. "What have you done?" Erza seethed, "Do you guys have any idea what he has done for the betterment of the game?"
No one responded. Natsu stared at the guild door. "I saw him," the healer girl, SkyGoddess said. "SkyGoddess, please, don't," SkyMaiden, her shy partner, whispered, but the words fell into deaf ears. "I saw him with Salamander-san when he was trying to save Celestica-san. Black Ice tried to stop Salamander-san from healing him." Some of the guild members gasped. A murmur rose within the guild, badmouthing Gray in any way outrageously possible. Natsu had had enough. He went to the door, when he heard SkyGoddess speak to him, "Don't go to him." Venom dripped from her voice, "He doesn't deserve you."
Natsu exited the guild. He heard the timid SkyMaiden girl scream at her supposed sister, "SkyGoddess, you idiot! He stopped Salamander-san because she was already in the safe zone!" Natsu turned around to see her run out of the guild hall, in the opposite direction in which he was going. After her, Erza walked out, looking livid. She looked around and her eyes quickly locked onto his. "Find him," she conveyed the message, and logged out of the game. Natsu activated his map and walked towards the direction pointing towards his partner.
Natsu climbed up the hill, towards the valley at the edge of the forest. Right underneath the valley were the Fairy Hills, the beginning of the city of Magnolia. Natsu could see the Kardia Cathedral at a distance. The black armored player sat at the edge of the valley, legs dangling down. He looked down at the once beautiful city.
"Why are you here?"
Natsu gulped. He had thought Gray was sad. But for some reason, Gray sounded fine, even relieved, after leaving the guild. And he was reconsidering multiple times what he was about to do, for Gray's sake. He felt annoyed by Gray's relief. 'Blunt and selfish, that's what Gray is,' he reminded himself.
"I'm here to talk," Natsu started, "about us."
Natsu walked up to Gray, who looked up at him. "You claimed you created the safe house."
"Yeah, I did. So?"
"You are a hacker, probably the company's best one, and I hadn't heard this from you when I should have." Gray looked at him strangely, not being able to comprehend what the pinkette was trying to say. "Yes, I am. And it was necessary not to share it. That information is sensitive and it would do you good not to spread it." Natsu gulped thickly. He debated for a second, but then and opened his menu. It was now or never.
A message popped in front of Gray, making him gasp. He frantically stood up and his shielded eyes sought out Natsu's. "What is the meaning of this?" he asked, worry laced in his tone.
Natsu nearly flinched, hearing Gray's voice, "I don't know your name." he started, not letting himself falter, "I don't know you how you look like-"
"Natsu-"
"I don't know anything about your family, your friends, while you," he pointed at Gray, "you know everything about me." Natsu inhaled furtively, looking at Gray's eyes, "And now, you don't belong to the guild anymore. It puts me in a pinch, frankly."
"What do you mean?" Gray's voice shook, "I told you about myself. I told you the truth about my life and-"
"The second problem is," Natsu said, not being able to look into his eyes anymore. "I don't trust you."
"What?" Gray whispered in shock.
"I," Natsu bit his lip, "Since the moment I met you, you have lied to me. You lied to me about the partnership agreement. You lied to me about the Virus Scanner. You even tried to stop me from helping my dying friend." Gray gasped at that point. "You have lied to me so much I cannot even fathom what the truth is anymore." Gray didn't say anything. He stood there, still, looking at him blankly. Strange, Natsu thought. He could not see Gray's eyes anymore.
"I stopped you from saving Lucy," he finally said slowly, "because she was in the safe zone. Her XP would have replenished, Salamander." Natsu winced, hearing the scornfulness in Gray's voice at the last syllable. An instant guilt wracked his heart. He remembered how Lucy and Erza reacted. He recalled SkyMaiden's words of how Lucy was in the safe zone.
Suddenly, a hollow voice dripping with venom whispered into his mind, "He doesn't deserve you." Natsu's gaze hardened. It was right. Natsu did not need a lying distrusting partner for a player… right?
"But if this is what you want," Gray continued, looking at Natsu. Natsu opened his mouth to say something, but steeled himself. Gray let out a shaky breath, "then you are no different from the rest of them." Natsu flinched at the disheartening tone of his partner.
Gray nodded blankly, and reached out to the message in front of him. It was as if the time slowed down. Some eerie force made Gray's hand drag in the air, deliberately slowing down the inevitable. Natsu opened his mouth to stop Gray, but no sound came out. He watched in shock as Gray clicked on Yes.
Partnership Disengaged
Natsu stood frozen, staring at the message in front of his eyes. "Our week of partnership has come to an end," Gray logged out of the game without another word.
A single doubt: that was all it took to make him end it all, a doubt that originated from something Natsu couldn't even recall. The doubt, the urge, had spread into Natsu's thoughts like wildfire, plaguing them, making him question everything Gray had done. And inevitably, he ended up doing the needless.
The worst part was that he did not even know what urged him to do it.
You are no different from the rest of them.
For some reason, instead of feeling satisfied with his decision, he felt empty. It was like a part of him was gone from his life, detached from him forcefully. His mind showed him flashes, of Gray's laughter, of his embarrassment, of his strange antics. The pinkette frowned and tried to put away these thoughts. He berated himself, telling himself that he did what had to be done.
But what he tried to steal away from was the fact that Natsu felt guilty. For the first time in his life, he regretted his decision. And no matter what he did, he knew that he had lost Gray forever.
TBC
Not guilty. Lol. *hides from oncoming attacks*
Thank you for reading!
As always, feedback makes me happy.
Kori
