CHAPTER 31: STEEL AND ICE
A/N: A quick content warning. These next following chapters are going to be a bit explicit with blood, violence, and sexual content aka. nudity.
There was a thin line between fear and hopelessness.
Lately, Erza had come to understand that her profound fear for the dragons had been the lack of hope all along. When there was hope, even against the most desperate odds, fear started to subside.
It had happened so slowly she barely noticed it. After the triumphant battle of Kynesgrove, her nightmares started to change. She no longer watched frozen as the dragons burned her home to the ground or minced the flesh and bones of her beloved. Now, she picked up her sword. She stood her ground. And she fought against.
Because now there was hope.
The same nightmares had haunted her since she had been just a girl. Planted into her head by the doomsday preaches of elders of the village, they had eventually grown into constant terror which refused to let her go. Through all of that, only one pledge had kept her sane. 'I'll give you a future where there are no dragons,' Jellal had once promised. But he too had been too young, too naïve to understand what it truly meant. Only a Dragonborn could defeat the dragons, and he wasn't one.
But now, as Erza stood in the company of the Dragonborn, she felt confident. Safe. She drew strength from the hope that Lucy could stop her nightmares from becoming reality. She no longer was powerless and weak, for she knew she could do something. She could play her part. She could fight. All she had to do was to believe in Lucy, this young girl by her side, trust in her strength and valour, and everything would be alright in the end.
Even if it wouldn't, she'd die defending the future she wanted them all to see.
While the Companion sat on a rock by the stream, eating a slice of bread with good, aged cheese, two flame atronachs floated past her. They made her slightly nervous. Since leaving Whiterun four days ago, Natsu had been determined to cause her as many worries as he ever could. The fire mage had decided to teach Lucy to cast a flame atronach, and the results had been disastrous at times. Sometimes Lucy had conjured a pile of embers and set the tundra grass on fire, which they had only barely managed to put out before it would spread. When the conjuration faintly resembled an atronach, it had somehow offended Natsu's one, engaging the creatures into an explosive fight.
Since this morning, Lucy's flame atronach looked so much alike Natsu's, that Erza deemed she had finally perfected the spell. It wasn't just an abomination anymore, but a real creature from Oblivion. Erza still remembered when Lucy had cast her first spell. She had come amazingly far from that point – Natsu had, against all Erza's expectations, been an excellent teacher for Lucy.
About the troubles Natsu had caused her, Erza had decided to watch them through her fingers. He was justified to be angry at her. If passive-aggressive bickering or firebolts flying right past her head helped him come to terms with Erza joining their mission, she had to accept that. Four days had already passed, and she hadn't got a dagger through her throat, which was a good sign. Perhaps he could forgive her, in time.
The atronachs drifted back to their conjurers. This was supposed to be their last stop before heading to the ruins of Labyrinthian, meant for resting and regaining energy, but for those two it meant training. Natsu gathered water from the stream into his bottle, and Lucy welcomed the atronachs while eating an apple.
"I don't understand why you call your atronach 'flame boy'", Lucy said to him. The atronach spun around in the air. A small trail of fire was left behind its movement. "These are obviously female."
"Huh? They're Daedra. They don't really have genders. Have you ever seen a frost atronach? Those are just moving chunks of ice. Go tell which one that is."
Lucy gazed at the creature in front of her. "It's pretty. And shaped like a woman. Wide hips, thin waist, and breasts and all. See?"
"But it… It's entirely made of fire, with some metal scraps as armour. Definitely not a woman."
Erza chuckled at herself. The logic behind Natsu's argument wasn't flawless, but he had a point. The flame atronachs had a feminine, curved shape, but perhaps the shape wasn't exactly how the fire mage told apart male from female. Erza resembled more of a tall cabinet than an hourglass, but it didn't make her any less of a woman. And in all of honestly, Erza had mistaken Natsu for a girl the first time she saw him. It could've been his slender build or his pretty eyes, but gladly the confusion has cleared as soon as he'd talked.
"I think I'll name this one Maiden," Lucy said as she stood proudly beside her atronach.
Natsu rolled his eyes. "Whatever, but mine's still a boy."
They kept arguing whether the atronachs were female or male or something in between for a while. Erza couldn't help but think back to the day she found them on the road right past Riverwood. A beautiful, strong friendship had grown between those two strangers, and witnessing it made Erza happy. Beyond that, she was glad Natsu had changed his mind about joining the Stormcloaks. As the war was now, it would've been a suicide.
Another thing she admired about them was their seamless teamwork. For the past two months, they had constantly trained with each other, and it showed in a real battle too. Their journey to Labyrinthian had been peaceful until last evening. In search of shelter for a night, they had ventured into old ruins, and quickly realized they had stepped into headquarters of a hostile bandit group. The bandits had no intentions to let them walk out of there alive, but they had no intentions to die either.
The fight had been intense. Erza, the only one of them wearing heavy armour, had distracted most of the outlaws into close combat. With no mercy, she forced the bandits to meet her greatsword. Meanwhile, Lucy shot arrows from the dark with her magical bow, and Natsu cannoned fireballs at them with his flame atronach. A bandit who managed to sneak too close to the fire mage wound up with two daggers to the neck, as if Natsu had always wielded two blades.
One by one, their enemies fell on them, and eventually, the battle was won.
Erza had been beyond amazed by Lucy's progress. When she had first met her, she had barely been able to hold a bow properly, not to even speak about casting spells. Now, she had fought bravely. Even if killing so many bandits had shocked her, she had concealed it well. When the fighting was over, the three of them checked the ruins from any hiding brigands, but there hadn't been any. If anyone had survived, they had fled the place, and never dared to come back. When Natsu had burned the bodies, they settled into the indoor chambers right below the exterior structures.
It had seemed that the bandits were attempting to learn the secrets of the Lunar Forge. Their leader's notes inspected something about the forge which had been on top of the ruins, like trying to reach the moons. Many weapons had been laid out there, and Natsu said they radiated some magic he didn't really understand. They gleamed in faint, green light.
Further studies of the notes taught them that the weapons forged there were indeed magical. When wielded under direct moonlight, they burned their victims like fire. Natsu had been excited about the concept, but Lucy had persuaded him not to take a lunar-forged greataxe with him. He had offered it to Erza instead, but she refused. She didn't trust enchanted weapons, especially if it only worked when the moons were out.
They had spent the previous nights in caves and abandoned watchtowers. The tundra of Whiterun hold was harsh and shelterless, and the cold was becoming unbearable at this time of year. Camping in the wilds would mean certain death. The bandits had made the ruined chambers almost livable with wooden, probably stolen, furniture and many fireplaces. Erza had welcomed the warmth with open arms. Sleeping with Jellal for the last fortnight had made her too used to comfort. This voyage was a reminder of how life truly was. Too much of a good thing tended to make it stale, or at least she told herself so. She couldn't afford to miss him too much now.
During the last passing weeks, Erza had met Jellal more often than they normally did in a year. It was as delightful as it was frightening. Jellal had played his role more than well – even Erza was sometimes deceived, believing he actually was a scholar from Cyrodiil. She hadn't liked how he handled the situation with Natsu, but compared to how he handled his own father, escaped from the destruction at Rorikstead, it wasn't nearly as… bad. It was utterly cruel, heartless, but it had to be done. Jellal himself said so.
As much as she loved him, even Erza sometimes thought he deserved a dagger in the back.
"Hey, Erza, are these atronachs male or female? What do you think?" the fire mage called suddenly. She turned her eyes from the clear skies to him, then glanced at the flaming creature.
"Female," she answered, just to annoy him. "Obviously."
Lucy flashed a wide grin. "See, I told you."
Natsu scoffed and banished his atronach back to Oblivion. Lucy's expired at the same time, and their training session was now done.
"Should we keep on going?" Lucy asked. She gazed into the mountains ahead of them, which just a few days ago had been so far away. "Natsu said we'll reach Labyrinthian today."
Erza rose from the rock she'd been sitting at. "Sure. Unless something unexpected hinders our journey, we should indeed be there today. But we should wary the frost trolls of that area. A lot of them live in the ruins."
Color left Lucy's face temporarily, but she quickly braced herself. "Let's not waste any time, then."
When the Companions had bathed Lucy in Jorrvaskr, she had told them how she got the scar running down her chest. Because Aela and Cana had been there too, she didn't tell where the guardian frost troll was, but Erza knew it had to be on the Seven Thousand Steps. She'd heard legends of it feasting on unlucky pilgrims. Lucy hadn't had any good experiences with trolls to begin with, so that must've brought her dread to another level. Going through Labyrinthian would be tough for her, but at least she got Natsu and Erza by her side.
Hiding one's fear wasn't always a good thing. It didn't make it disappear. Admitting it and facing it eye to eye did. Especially when you weren't alone while facing it.
They walked by the side of the stream. The water's surface was partly frozen, and a thin layer of frost covered the rocks and the dry grass underneath their boots. Winds howled across the vast tundra, a sign of winter drawing near. Over the distance, a group of giants tended a horde of mammoths towards their camp. Even though they were far away, the ground still seemed to quake from their steps.
As Erza was slowed down by her armour, she let the mages wander ahead of her. She couldn't keep up their pace for long before exhausting herself. Sometimes she envied those wearing lighter equipment, but she'd never let go of the safety the steel plates provided her. Her armour had saved her life many times. It had deflected a strike of a brigand's war hammer, a slash of a sabre cat's ferocious claws, and bounced back a rain of arrows aimed at her back.
She couldn't understand how these mages had survived with only enchanted fabric as their cover. It seemed that their defence came from the mind instead. Either it was insane bravery or a naïve belief of being indestructible, they had managed to stay alive so far, even without the steel's protection. Erza respected that a lot.
"Erza, have you heard of how Natsu fell down some stairs in Labyrinthian?" Lucy asked. They had halted for a moment to let her catch up with them.
"Did you?" Erza asked from the fire mage, smirking.
Lucy moved Natsu's hair aside, revealing the scar on his forehead. It vanished to his hairline. He seemed awkward to have her touch him, but it was nothing new. "Yeah," Lucy stated and looked into the mage's eyes, grinning. "You should warn us when we reach that stairway."
Natsu sighed and shoved her hand away from his forehead. "Sure."
"So that's how you got that scar?" Erza asked. "I thought I caused it."
"No, you did this one," Natsu answered and pointed at a smaller cut above his right eyebrow. Yes, Erza remembered punching him there. "And my ribs still hurt if I laugh too hard, all thanks to you."
"I think Wendy at the Temple of Kynareth could take care of that. The scars, too," the warrior said. She was sure that the priestesses could heal older wounds just as well. "But the brain damage might be beyond even their reach…"
Natsu grinned. "Even if they could be healed, I don't want to. They help me remember where I've been, and what I've done, who I've been with. I'll always remember Igneel from the scars I got with him." He laughed a bit, but the tone was sad. "The next time I hit my head I might lose my memory. I've already lost the dreams."
"Lost dreams?" Erza wondered.
"Yeah. I don't really see any dreams when I sleep," Natsu answered. "But since Igneel died, I've dreamt of him for a few times, but… I'm not really sure if they're dreams. They feel more… real."
"Maybe he's trying to reach out to you," Lucy told and smiled gently. "To tell him he's alright. I dream about my parents often, too, but they're just… so obscure that they can't be real messages. Just plain nightmares."
Lately, all Erza had seen in her dreams was the wheat fields of Rorikstead, ablaze on dragonfire. The next day the news had reached Whiterun, Erza had ridden there with Jellal, and the images still haunted her. Jellal's old family farm, which had also been her home, burned to the ground… she'd carry that nightmare to her grave.
The desolation had been complete. Only ashes were left of the people who lived there, shadows of their terror, lingering among the embers. But as she had walked through the ruined streets she'd once called her home, she couldn't help but feel relief that she hadn't been there, that Jellal hadn't been there. They'd been in the safety of Jorrvaskr the night the attack happened, in the blissful comfort of her bed, while every soul of her childhood had been burned alive.
As terrible as it felt, Erza knew that during times like this, one shouldn't feel guilty about surviving. Many would die, but many would not. For those who wouldn't, life would be forever changed. Surviving meant carrying the torch of those who had passed, and in their honour, it was supposed to be carried bravely.
"But yeah, the stairway on the other side of the ruins is treacherous. Especially if it's windy, like now," Natsu told. It seemed like he didn't want to talk about nightmares any longer, which made Erza doubt if he actually had them. "So, watch your step. Don't be like me."
Erza nodded. "Doesn't that go without saying?"
She expected a punch to the face, or a firebolt to the gut, but Natsu just turned away instead. Erza was honestly surprised. Two years ago, he would've picked up a quarrel for any reason he could find. It had been the very reason someone had hired the Companion to beat him up. 'Seems like Lucy's company has been good for him, too.'
"Idiot," he mumbled under his breath.
'Or maybe not.'
As Natsu remembered, the pathway to Labyrinthian was located in a narrow passage on the mountainside. The ruins had been there for thousands of years, and changed very little since he had last been there.
An eerie silence fell among them when they passed below old, arched stone gates. Mountains around them isolated them from the wind. Natsu looked up. Hundreds of black birds roosted atop the gate, stared as they arrived at their territory. If they were expecting a feast, they were wrong. Natsu intended to pass through these ruins alive.
Many others hadn't. Khajiit caravans sometimes went through Labyrinthian to save time, and the remains of their carriages were covered below the snow. Only bones were left of them now, but Natsu doubted the ravens or crows had been their fate. It had to be the frost trolls. They lived there in great numbers, he had witnessed them himself years ago – and running away from them had almost claimed his life at the same. He still didn't understand how he had survived that fall. Perhaps it was the insane luck Lucy kept rumbling about.
But now, the ruins were quiet. No roars echoed on the walls of age-old rock. There was absolutely no sound except for scrunching snow below their footsteps. Natsu didn't like it. In places like this, the silence was always more suspicious. None of them dared to say anything, but Natsu knew they all felt the same. Something was off.
The crows perched atop the gate grew restless. The silence withered as one bird started to caw, the others joining its dismaying, rasp melody. Natsu halted, and Lucy stopped by his side as well. Erza, who walked somewhere behind them, followed their example. All of them turned their gazes towards the birds.
Suddenly, the cluster of black birds flitted off. Their wings covered the blue skies as they flew south, as fast as they could. Endless, deep kraa, kraa, kraa echoed on the mountain's walls, so deafening Natsu couldn't even hear his own thoughts.
The mage had been so enraptured by the sight that he hadn't noticed Lucy clutching his sleeve. A small tug on his arms made him look down to his side. Perhaps instinctively, she sought security from him. He allowed it – he didn't have the heart to shove her away either. There hadn't been an unexpected sound that would've scared off the birds, and single hawks weren't a match for hundreds of crows. A few passing travellers wouldn't have bothered them either. Lucy had all the right to get anxious, and while Natsu felt the fear building up within his chest, he couldn't afford it.
Natsu glanced past his shoulder. Erza stood below the previous gate. He nodded to her, a sign to tread carefully. As much as he despised her, Natsu didn't want to bury her yet. Last night's battle at the bandit camp had proved that she could be useful. Putting her in the front line gave them a cutting edge.
When the crows were gone and their croaking faded, Lucy let go of his arm. They exchanged a confused gaze, as if she was apologizing, and he didn't understand what for. Neither of them said anything. It was time to carry on, not a time for explanations.
The stone gates lead the way to the main entrance of the ruins. Labyrinthian had once been a great city among the mountains. Erza had told them more about the lore behind it, but Natsu hadn't paid so much attention. It had once been a temple for the ancient dragon cult, and a base of operations during the Dragon War in the Merethic Era. When Natsu had last been here, he hadn't thought about it at all. Igneel cared very little about old Nordic legends. To him, dragons had only been a way to frighten unruly children, and believed so until his death. Ironically, he died a mere minute before he would've seen one with his own eyes.
But now, threading through the ancient buildings, gnawed away by the tooth of time, Natsu felt different. As if he could hear old, silent whispers among the stones, of the people who lived there under the rule of the dragons. What kinds of horrors had these monuments witnessed? How much blood had this ground drunk? How many dragons had once gathered here? Had they been just like those crows, hundreds in numbers, perched atop the mountainsides?
Suddenly, Lucy halted again. "Do you see that?"
Her voice was barely a whisper. She pointed towards an opening that could've once been a circular plaza. There Natsu saw the same thing as her. A frost troll lay on the ground with an ice spike poking out of its chest. The ice was melting within the wound, and fresh blood steamed in the cold air. Natsu raised his gaze from the corpse to the area surrounding them. There didn't seem to be any other trolls.
He began to walk to the troll's remains, and Lucy caught his arm again. He let her hold onto him as she followed him. Just because one troll was dead, it didn't mean that the rest would be, or that the thing which had killed it wouldn't be just as dangerous. Natsu stopped near the troll and investigated. Erza caught up with them, but stayed slightly behind.
"It's dead, thankfully. It has been killed just recently, which means we're not alone in here," Natsu told. He glanced at Erza. "What should we do?"
"I can check the eastern area, if you head to the western parts."
Natsu nodded to the warrior. He agreed with her plan. "It might be smarter to separate, indeed, in case we'll get ambushed. Easier to help each other out if we aren't all in trouble."
"Exactly," Erza answered and glanced at the dead troll. "An ice spike? Was it killed by a mage? No… Those are definitely sword wounds. Someone who wields both magic and steel."
"Or then it might not be just one person. A group. Only an idiot would come here alone."
"You've got a point. So, prepare for a battle, in case they are hostile. Unless we meet again earlier, let's gather here when the sun is in the middle of the sky. Good luck. Be careful."
Lucy couldn't say anything as Erza left. In utter silence, she stared at the frost troll. Its three, ugly eyes were still open, gazing into the mists of death. Even though it was immovable, mortally wounded, very much dead, Lucy still shivered. Her hand clenched tighter into Natsu's arm, so strong it almost hurt.
"Lucy?" Natsu asked. "You alright?"
She turned her glassy eyes to him and nodded faintly. "Yeah."
Natsu knew it was a lie. There was no need for her to pretend she wasn't afraid, nothing she needed to prove to him. Still, he somehow struggled to tell her that. The words just didn't come. Since the events of Jorrvaskr, every word he spoke to her felt like a lie, just as much as the words he didn't say. He had found himself in a situation where lies bred more lies, and he hated it. Only the truth would stop that wheel from spinning.
But how could he ever confess his betrayal? The night after it happened, he had stayed up for hours. His thoughts had only run on never-ending circles, which all came to the same conclusion – he'd keep it as a secret as long as he lived. He didn't see any other way out of it, for telling the truth would surely destroy everything. Everything he had now.
That night, his thoughts had been brought to a stop when Lucy had suddenly broken free from the cocoon he had rolled her into. He acted surprised the morning when she found out, but he had, actually, been wide awake at that time. Too frightened to move, he had let herself settle snug against his shoulder, arms wrapped around his arm. She had probably just been cold and sought out for some warmth, but it had been… comforting. Soothing. He hadn't really preferred for her to do so, but he hadn't necessarily disliked it either. It allowed him to finally fall asleep. In other words, allowed him to cling to a belief that she didn't hate him… yet.
But the more time would pass, the greater the damage would become when she'd eventually find out. When, not if. Secrets like that were doomed to be revealed, sooner or later. Just as equally, the longer he'd carry it inside of him, the heavier the burden would grow, but he'd carry it all if it meant staying with her. Because he knew that once she'd know, he'd be banished like an atronach into Oblivion. Just as lost.
The only thing he didn't know was what he would do then.
Natsu studied the steps on the snow around the dead troll. Blood had sprayed all around, and whoever had killed the troll, had stepped on that blood. A trail of crimson steps led away from the scene, deeper into the ruins. He couldn't afford to get distracted now, so he tried to banish the distress of his mind. Unfortunately, there wasn't a simple spell for doing so.
Following the bloodied footsteps, they reached the top of the stairs, a platform where one could see over the entire city. There were higher parts and buildings than that, but this was in the middle, providing a good vision into each direction. And right below the stairway down from there, lied another dead troll – no, not just one. There was two of them, piled upon each other like slaughtered cattle.
And just as the previous one, these too had been pierced by ice spikes. Several of them. However, the spikes must've just slowed them down. They had been finalized by a sword. Again, there were only one human footsteps. A suspicion awakened in Natsu's mind. There was one certain mage who combined ice and steel in battle.
By his side, Lucy stood shivering. Her eyes were locked on the dead trolls, as if she didn't want to look at them, but her mind forced her to. But what was going on inside her head, Natsu couldn't tell. Her lips were pressed into a thin line, and it didn't seem like she would speak if he asked. The trolls weren't as large as the one on the way to High Hrothgar, but the same size as the ones they'd fought in the mountain pass between Helgen and Ivarstead. Just as terrifying to her.
"Hey," Natsu started quietly. For a second, he sought out words, but didn't find any soothing ones. She always knew the right things to say. He didn't. "I… I see you don't… like them, and I get it. I wouldn't be so happy to see frostbite spiders either, even if they'd be dead. But –"
"I'm not scared," Lucy snapped, still not looking away from the troll blood on the frozen ground. "Not… Not of them. Somebody stole my change to… to fight against them again, and I…"
"I'm sure there will be some left for you to slay, if we just search," Natsu gave back. He had sounded more annoyed than he truly was. Lucy silenced. Natsu knew she was only pretending she was mad about losing the chance to test her mettle against the trolls. "Better keep moving. I have a bad feeling about this."
Lucy let go of his sleeve again when he set forth, but stayed close by. The collapsed buildings aside of the street had once been homes or storages for war contraband, and now proved as excellent hiding places. Natsu kept an eye on the windows and doors in case someone would charge from them. More dead trolls littered the place, killed the very same way as the previous ones. It became clear that they'd be facing off with a person instead of a beast – but if someone had taken down all these trolls by themselves, they had to be one kind of a beast as well.
The ruins weren't called Labyrinthian for no reason. The streets were, indeed, like an old maze, labyrinth to get lost into. When Natsu looked back, he wasn't sure where he had come from. The sun had still some time to climb to the highest spot of the day, but he doubted they would find their way back to the meeting place. Losing Erza into the maze didn't sound like a bad idea at all.
After wandering aimlessly for a good while, there was finally a clue – a sound of a living troll. A low growl, accompanied with a grunt, and a war cry of a human.
Lucy halted when she heard the sound. This time, Natsu tugged her from the wrist, leading her forward. She couldn't be paralyzed by her fear now. Natsu stayed close to the shelter of the stone walls, and followed the noises. When he reached the corner, he stopped and peeked past it.
'Gods be damned.'
Out there, on the lower district of the ruins, a man fought against three trolls at once. Blood sprayed from the beast as he thrust a steel sword through its neck, while his other hand cast an ice spike and threw it to another's chest. Natsu squinted his eyes to see better through the blinding bright snow which surrounded the battle. The man had nothing to cover his nakedness with, except for troll blood, which flowed down his bare skin.
And in that instant, Natsu understood who it was.
"Uhm... You might not want to see this," Natsu sighed. He shielded Lucy's eyes with his hands when she tried to get a look too. "It's, well…"
Lucy resisted. "What? Who is it?" Out of curiosity, she moved his hands away. She shrieked as she saw it, and pulled them back to her eyes. "By Ysmir, it's Gray!"
Muffling a disgusted laugh, Natsu shook his head. They were at a small distance away, and Gray hadn't noticed them. He was absorbed into the intense battle. With a wide slash of his steel sword, he ripped apart a troll's belly. Green, steaming intestines dropped to the ground with a wet thud. Bile rose in Natsu's mouth.
"Should've guessed," he muttered and tried not to throw up. "What in Azura's name is he doing out here?"
"I don't know, but why is he butt naked!?"
"Because he loves to show off his dick to these frost trolls before killing them. And seems like he's enjoying it a bit too much. I don't even want to know what he does after –"
"Don't tell me more!" Lucy screamed, and the naked, fighting man turned his head towards them.
'Great,' Natsu cursed. Just when he had hoped to avoid meeting this flasher, Lucy had caught his attention. Gray finished the last troll by jumping into its back and thrusting the sword directly through the back of its head. The troll fell lifeless to the ground, and Gray leapt beside it. He stood there, gazing at them, as if waiting for them to come. Both of them owed an explanation, whether they liked it or not.
Reluctantly, Natsu led Lucy down the stairs. She still held tight on his hands which shielded her eyes. Gray met them on the halfway, and Natsu was, in fact, very happy to cover Lucy's eyes.
Dark crimson blood flowed freely the man's bare body. An ugly graze adorned his chest, but all the blood couldn't be his. His skin gleamed in sweat as Natsu's gaze passed down to the half-stiff manhood hanging between his legs. Drops of blood dripped down from it. It had been a while since Natsu had seen anything as disturbing. Like that, Gray looked almost… barbarian.
"Well, well," Gray started. Exhaustion made him pant. "This one cannot help but stare."
Natsu grimaced and tore his eyes away from the vulgar display, looking to the dead trolls instead. "Didn't know you were so happy to see me."
Lucy, unfortunately not understanding what they were talking about, attempted to peek between his fingers. "Huh, what?" she wondered, and managed to steal a peek. She screamed again. "Gods, why… why is it… like that…"
"Sorry," the naked man said, not a hint of a sincere apology in his voice. "The rush of a battle can do this to a man sometimes. The blood, it just… flows wherever it wants to."
"Even more importantly, that's a pretty good fucking reason to keep pants on!" Natsu shouted at him. "Please. Put on some damn clothes already, like the civilized folk do!"
Shamefully absurd, he felt almost devastated to call this perverted man his fellow apprentice. He couldn't understand what was wrong with Gray. Either he was completely crazy in the head, or supremely confident. He should be locked up for strutting around like that – especially in front of innocent Lucy, who couldn't bear to see such obscenity.
Gray only chuckled mischievously. Lucy turned her back at the frost mage and whimpered from embarrassment. Gray crouched down, picked up a handful of fresh now and began to clean the blood off his skin. As he did so, he cast a healing spell on the wound on his chest. The bleeding stopped and the pain disappeared from his eyes. Relieved, the man rolled naked on the snow, leaving bloody stains on the whiteness.
When he was done cleaning himself up, he headed to the pile of clothes left on a rock near a stone pillar. To everyone's relief, Gray dressed up in his robes, even though he looked uncomfortable to do so.
"So, what the fuck are you doing here?" Natsu asked him. Lucy finally dared to look at Gray, but the hot blush didn't leave her cheeks.
"Should I ask the same from you?" Gray answered.
"You tell first," Lucy demanded. She appeared like she'd cry and laugh at the same time.
"Well, the short answer is that I came here to train," Gray said. He cleaned his sword on the snow before securing it on the seath on his belt. "The long answer is that we found a strange artefact from the ruins of Saarthal. We brought it to the College, but no one really knows what it is. So, I came to visit my mother in Morthal, if she'd know anything. And as I was passing by, I felt like fighting. Now's your turn."
Natsu bit his lower lip. It seemed that the man was speaking the truth. If even the Companions had heard of the findings of Saarthal, it had to be true. Natsu knew Gray's adoptive mother lived in Morthal, which was just nearby.
Natsu glanced at Lucy. Previously, they had managed to come up with a suitable excuse, but now nothing came to his mind. He waited for Lucy to figure something out. Whatever she'd decide to say, Natsu had a feeling that Gray wouldn't believe it.
"We… We are going to Solitude," she told, her lie way too obvious for any fool to understand. "My cousin is getting married, so… we're going to attend the wedding there."
Gray gave them a long stare from below his raised eyebrows. "That's quite a lot of horseshit. Nord weddings are held in Riften," he said. "Honestly. Why are you here?"
Lucy fell silent. "Well… We…"
The clanking of steel interrupted her. Natsu glanced back, and saw Erza arriving. Gray noticed her as well. His grey eyes widened.
"Natsu, Lucy, I counted a few dead frost trolls. How about you?" the Companion asked, but then saw the stranger in front of them. "I bet you found their killer, too."
Gray studied the warrior in silence. Her steel armour and Skyforge steel greatsword left no doubt of who she was. "What are you doing here with a Companion?" he wondered, the weights upon certain words emphasising his doubts.
Natsu and Lucy glanced at each other again. If there was a magic spell to read one's mind, it would've been the most useful now. Neither of them said anything, but gladly Erza came to speak in their stead.
"They're assisting me with the research of the dragons," Erza told him. "We came into these ruins to investigate the dragon-slaying methods of the ancient Nords. They've survived the dragon attack at Helgen, so I hired them to work with me."
Gray didn't seem to swallow that. "You're being missed at the College, and this is what you're doing? Gathering dust and turning old stones?"
"It's really important to me," Lucy defended, her tone more confident now. Erza's explanation hadn't been a lie, and it had saved their hides now. "The dragons killed my parents, and burned my home. I want to fight them before I can fully focus on my studies of magic."
Slowly, the frost mage nodded. Whether he accepted the explanation or not, Natsu didn't know, but at least he finally shut up. Gray didn't need to know why they were here. He didn't need to know Lucy was the Dragonborn, on a very important mission.
"Do you know each other?" Erza asked.
"Unfortunately," Natsu answered, grimacing. "He's Gray, from the College of Winterhold."
"I see," the warrior answered. "But, I should thank you, Gray, for clearing out these trolls for us. It allows us to study the ruins without exhausting our energy in a battle." She turned towards Natsu and Lucy. "Should we head to the first catacombs? I found the entrance, right behind that corner."
Natsu was more than relieved when she said that. The briefer the encounter was kept with Gray, the better. They could move on, and in time, he could perhaps forget what he had seen. The image still burned his eyes.
"Sure," Lucy nodded. "And well, Gray… Try not to freeze to death."
Natsu scoffed. "Fucking hope you do."
"Sorry, fire mage, but the cold won't ever hurt me," Gray said with a wicked grin. Then he looked at Erza again. "But why is a Companion researching into the dragons? Isn't that more of a scholar's work."
"I work for a scholar," Erza answered harshly. "That's all you need to know. Goodbye, now."
Erza turned around and began heading in the direction where she had come from. Natsu set off to follow her, but Lucy froze suddenly. For a brief moment, it looked like she was startled by something, something which Natsu couldn't hear or see. Another troll, perhaps?
Lucy lifted her head to the skies. While they had talked, the azures had been hidden behind a veil of grey clouds, hanging low like a fog. Lucy's eyes sparkled like frightened stars. Her hands started to shake again, and then she turned her gaze to Natsu.
"Do you hear that?" she whispered.
Natsu held his breath. He stood perfectly still and tried to catch whatever she had heard, but didn't hear anything except his own agitated heartbeat drumming in his ears. First snowflakes fell on his hair and his black cloak, and for the briefest moment, the world seemed to slow down to a perfect still.
Then there was a deafening, hitch-pitched screech that pierced through a mind, and made the earth tremor below his feet.
A dragon emerged from the clouds.
It was gone before Natsu fully understood what it was. The strike of its wings sent all of them off their balance. Lucy caught his robes as they fell to the ground. On the edge of his vision, Natsu saw a white creature flying to the mountains. Elegantly like a swan, it turned around in the air and screamed – then it charged again. Faster than a bolt of lightning, it flew past them once more and perched atop a ruined tower. Rocks fell to the ground from the force of the impact.
Natsu cursed in his mind, cursed so much the words slipped from his lips. Though his limbs nearly froze from terror, he forced himself back up. He grabbed Lucy from the arms and upon his first instinct, he dragged her behind the nearest stone formations, even though he knew they wouldn't shelter them against a dragon. There had been no signs of it before it appeared out of the blue… or had there?
Could it have frightened off the crows?
They peeked behind the rocks as the dragon inhaled. It was different from the ones they'd seen before, as if its body was entirely made from snow and ice. Its shape was more slender, its neck longer and wings larger. Natsu couldn't see where Erza had gone, but Gray stood up in the middle of the plaza, eyes locked with the dragon sitting at the top of the tower.
Then the dragon breathed.
A storm of frost and wind emerged from its throat with a powerful screech. The air around them grew colder in an instant, bit deep into his bones with the wrath of winter. His heart dropped to the bottom of his stomach. Natsu watched as Gray disappeared into the blizzard, but then he had to crouch, curl into as small as he could, or the storm would catch him too.
The dragon closed its mouth and flit off again, but the blizzard within its wake persisted. As it flew through the air, it left a trail of snow and frost behind it. With widened, terror-struck eyes Natsu gazed at it, and the storm where his fellow apprentice had just stood.
Slowly, the cloud of snow subsided. And from the snow, emerged Gray, unscathed by the storm. A layer of crystalized frost covered his whole body, and his hair had turned white. But he was alive. A damned, wicked smile appeared on his lips, and the ice crackled on his cheeks. 'That man is insane,' Natsu thought, but couldn't help but grin.
"Come at me, dragon!" Gray shouted to the flying beast, as loud as he could. "No frost will ever hurt a Nord!"
There were so much Natsu wanted to say, but all he could do was to look at Lucy. They exchanged a brief glance, gathered a moment's courage in each other. This time, they knew there was hope. They could fight that thing. They could bring it down, and kill it. They just had to.
No matter what.
A/N: Hi guys, hope you enjoyed the chapter! Our heroes are in a dragon-sized trouble again! Did you see that one coming?
Sorry if Gray's appearance was a bit explicit. I just had to do that, but I'm very excited about bringing him back to the story, especially at this point! I've so much epicness planned for the very next chapters, so stay tuned! Thank you for all the support and love!
And an answer to savwafair's review last time: Thank you for pointing out Lucy's marriage age. Lucy is at the moment 17, but I think her parents would've married her off a bit later. There isn't really much information about Skyrim's marriage age in the game, but it's based in the medieval Scandinavia, so you're right about women marrying around age 15. But I think Lucy's parents would've waited for her to be around 20 years to have her mature fully. She was their only child after all, and maybe her mother had her side here.
