Battle of Crocus Pt. III
Fighting dark mages, going toe-to-toe against demons, facing off against dragons, and surviving all of it was enough to mark one as legendary, but Lucy didn't consider herself like that at all. It's still a wonder to her of how she got through all that in one piece as it wasn't something she had in mind when she joined Fairy Tail all those years ago and yet, she couldn't find it within herself to think of having a different life than that. Running through a warzone is something an heiress never had to do, even former ones like herself although they were most likely not a member of Fairy Tail. She wondered how her old high prestine friends would think of her now since she left that part of her life long ago, no doubt complaining to her for not having a great wardrobe collection like them.
The busty blonde couldn't understand why, but she just felt the need to look back at how far she has come since the day she decided to run away from her unbearable home. Lucy knew her mother was looking over her and without a doubt, never expected this lifestyle for her only daughter and yet she knew her mother always expected great things for her. It was at times like these the spirit mage could never understand how far the scope of her previous life and the one she led now differed greatly, but it was only a momentary distraction for her to drown out some of the chaos that was happening. The situation at hand needed her attention now and she could only afford to be distracted so very little with lives hanging on the line as she focused once again to the ruined part of the city.
Battle torn buildings surrounded Lucy as she ran behind Gray at full speed, Captain Gladiolus and his new batch of men not far behind her as they were the reinforcement squads to help the captain's main platoon. Ever since they made it out onto the streets, the sickening feeling of the dark truths hidden in the streets ahead continuously hounded at her emotions of what remained to be seen. War was never clean, never fought without bloodshed and never forgot to leave its mark on the survivors; all this she knew all too well and there hasn't been a day where she felt the most sorrow then the anniversary of their victory over Alvarez. Lives on their half were not lost, even though just barely, but it tore at her heart to see over an ocean of dark armor that feel like heaps after the master had casted Fairy Law.
This was no different than that war as she had her guild beside her, yet the extra troops did provide even more reassurance of how well equipped they were going into this and still the sorrow she was fending off for the things she had yet to see was there. For the most part, right up until they had to split off and Captain Gladiolus took his men to support his original platoon leaving herself and Gray to continue onwards, things seemed relatively calm and found comfort that the ice mage was there beside her. When facing the darkest descents of humanity that killed each other for one reason or the other during war, a part of Lucy was glad she paired up with Gray while another part of her knew that he was one who'd get past the true sights of horror without a second glance given his history.
Gray on the other hand had already expected the worst to unfold once they made it towards their main staging area, showing how he viewed war or battle of this scale as nothing more than a bloodbath. He couldn't say he was immune to the disgusting nature of this kind of violence as it would be a lie, but he was tolerant of it as he's seen the darkest of things since he was eight. Hell, he buried whatever he could find of his old village by himself with some help from Lyon and Ur all those years ago. So when the heightened sense of smell he had, thanks to his devil slayer magic, picked up the scent of blood he knew that the real extent of this battle was about to be seen.
He signaled towards Lucy in a way so that she could be prepared for what's to come, but even the stench of blood here was barely comparable to the over stimulation he had received when Deliora attacked his village. His running lessened into a jog as the devastation of fighting was becoming even more apparent, but the ice mage could tell that the knights had managed to push the enemy back far enough as hostile casualties far outnumbered the kingdom's knights and a little ways ahead was a resting point where a few soldiers were recuperating with some standing guard.
"We're here to support, what's the situation so far?" Gray said as Lucy caught her breath, although it took a bit for the resting soldiers to actually reply to him.
"Took you long enough, but you're with Fairy Tail so that means our job just got a lot easier." One soldier said, his arm severely bandaged and placed into a makeshift sling while the others made agreeing sounds at his claim. "Everyone here are some of the remaining troops of their old squads that managed to get out of the carnage alive. We're all with the main garrison defending the city once your other guy showed up and, thankfully enough, we've managed to push the enemy back."
"That explains why you guys are resting around here, right?" Lucy asked as she finally regained her breath, but tried to avoid showing signs of disgust as the iron smell of blood was wafting into her nose.
"Right you are little lady, but you aren't the first ones to pass us by." The soldier said as he was met with a quizzical look from the mages in front of him. "A platoon rushed passed us a while ago, seemed like they were sent to help out one of the big shot captains but that's as far as I know."
"What of the main garrison, how they holding up?" Gray asked as the soldier looked over towards another one, his head bandaged around the forehead and a medic working on his leg.
"I'm the latest guy here from there and we were doing fine for the most part. Most of the fighting was pretty bad until a new wave of the enemies blindsided us and we had to fight them off as best we could. We got lucky when that platoon showed up when it did, most of the troops I was with are still there fighting and I got instructed to fall back because of these wounds." The new knight said as Gray took this all into consideration, knowing that the missing reinforcements became their first task on their list before heading for the line.
"Alright, take it easy guys. Fairy Tail's got this battle in the bag already." Gray said with a confident smirk before running off in the direction of the main battle on this side of the city, with Lucy smiling reassuringly towards the wounded troops before following after Gray.
The ice mage was trying to piece together the information he had gathered from the wounded soldier's at the palace to correctly locate the missing troops, using Laxus' lightning strikes as a focal point to go off by. If Captain Aster's platoon went in this direction to support Gladiolus, then he and his men went eastward to stop the enemy's advance after they somehow got past Laxus. Making a hard left, Gray swung around the next street corner as this was most likely the direction Aster was heading off to. As he ran, his senses were going haywire and the stench was growing far worse with each passing second until he came to a skidding halt right as he exited the current alleyway he was using as a short cut.
Lucy for the most part understood where Gray was leading them as he must have thought exactly like her and believed Aster's group went in their current direction. What she didn't understand was why the ice mage stopped as soon as he made it near the end of the alleyway until she could feel the air around her instantly drop in temperature. The blonde knew it was Gray's doing as the walls around her began to be blanketed in ice and she could see his fists tightly balling up into fists. She quickly placed a hand on his shoulder to settle him and in that instant he seemed to be coming back from his anger induced haze and curiously gazed at him as he stood facing her with a stern gaze.
"Lucy, I know you've seen a lot travelling with Fairy Tail and Natsu, but I need you to hold yourself together through this next part." Gray said as he placed a hand on her shoulder, the look of pure anger not wavering from his eyes and the blonde could tell he was restraining it as best he could.
"After Alvarez, I don't think much will get to me." Lucy said, hoping the confident tone she thought she said it with was convincing enough.
"No doubt we've all been through a lot because of that, but you haven't seen the things I have and everything past me could only make up a fraction of it." The celestial spirit mage knew that her tone didn't work on him and the gaze he was giving her told her enough of what little she knew about the darkest bits of bloody combat.
Gray stepped out onto the main street as Lucy followed close by and she immediately shot a hand up to her mouth to hold back the bile that was forming in her throat. Bodies laid askew on the ground, some overlapping each other while others with severe damage dealt to them were barely recognizable. These were merely the bodies of both factions fighting each other, what really set Lucy on the edge and have the formation of tears at the corner of her eyes were the lifeless bodies belonging to the innocent people caught in the crossfire. It was heartbreaking watching the unmoving bodies of children resting in the arms of their mothers, their fathers' bodies barely a few feet away in what would mostly have been them trying to defend their families.
The spirit mage knew that lives were going to be lost, but killing the innocent was a commonly understood topic that should not be exercised as they were allowed to live; they had no part in their conflict and thus not justified as a hostile opponent. Lucy weeped sorrowfully as the sight of a mother holding her daughter in her arms captured her attention, especially when the the weapon that had killed them both remain plunged in the little girl's body and stretched into her mother's chest. She knew the enemy had no regard when it came to fighting the royal army, but attacking the innocent was unbearable to comprehend and a new feeling swelled into her heart.
A pure unadulterated anger blazed within her as the sight of every dead non-combatant filled her gaze, the feeling of wanting to take revenge for what the enemy had done to these poor people and their families. She was brought out of her anger when she heard a crash nearby and looked over at Gray as he lifted a destroyed stand off a middle aged man, but she could see the severe wounds he sported. Even if Gray iced his wounds, she could only pray that the man would hold out long enough until he received proper medical attention and that only fueled the rage burning in her as even they were helpless in rescuing those who need it the most.
"Hey old man you'll be alright, just hang in there." Gray said as he pulled the man out of the rubble and leaned him against a nearby wall, preparing to ice over his wounds until the injured man held his hands away from him.
"Thanks for trying kid, but I know I won't make it... I'm already feeling cold.'' He said as he dropped his hand away from Gray's, leaving a trail of blood on his arms although he cracked a smile as he saw the guild mark on the young man's chest. "I knew Fairy Tail would show up to stop this mess."
"You're going to make it so shut up alright, and you're cold because I'm an ice mage." Gray retorted as he froze over the areas where blood seeped much more openly, hoping some of their allies would be able to find him once they left. "What happened to you?"
"Bastards rushed the streets and went after anyone they could get their hands on," the man replied as he cough harshly and hissed as the ice spread through his wounds, "I saw those creatures that came with them tear through all these people with no remorse and we tried fending them off until the soldiers would arrive."
"That stall must've collapsed on top of you during the fighting then. What about the people they were trying to grab?" Lucy asked as she kept look out, but the sounds of fighting still seemed pretty far away from them.
"Can't say, too much going on for me to focus on them without losing my life, but please do me this favor." He sifted through his pocket before pulling out a picture from his wallet and handing it to Gray. "I know they took them, they took my family and I want them back. Please Fairy Tail, get my wife and daughter back from these scumbags."
"We'll get them back and the others too, bet on it." Gray said as he helped him up and placed him inside a broken into home for his safety.
"When you find them, tell them Cullen sent you. Just so they know that I made it out of this massacre." Both mages nodded to the man before continuing on their destination, Gray handing the photo over to Lucy in case he lost it if he ever stripped his pants.
It settled it for Lucy that this enemy is the worst kind to ever exist, from attacking with no real provocation to kidnapping innocent people for some ransom no doubt once they lose the battle. The blonde knew that once the others got word of this, powerful justice will befall the enemy and the captives will be rescued by any means at their disposal. Mavis knows how they'll treat them until they make their demands and Lucy hoped Fairy Tail will be able to save them before that ever happens. She glanced over at Gray and knew that there was a cold fury brewing in him, she knew of his story so the knowledge of a father wanting his family back is motivation enough for him to push himself. She left her musings when the ice mage abruptly stopped and turned to her, but the spirit mage didn't understand why they did as they hadn't found the missing platoon yet.
"There's fighting in the next street over, but it'll take us some time before we can even get there so we're taking a short cut." Gray kneeled down and slammed his hand onto the pavement, instantly creating a column of ice beneath them to jump onto a nearby roof.
Once they landed, they began crossing a few more roofs before coming up on the fighting with a bird's eye view and grimaced at the sight. Fiorean soldier bodies lay everywhere in the street as a small force was in a circle in the middle, surrounded by enemies at their sides and no real means of escape. The circle consisted of perhaps two and half squads with shields raised as it was no doubt their final stand and at the center was a woman shouting at her men.
"This is it men! Our comrades lay before us, slain for protecting the country they love and giving us just a little more time to live!" She shouted as she looked at both ends of the street that were filled with armored soldiers and monsters. "We won't let their deaths be in vain! This is our final stand and we will all die fighting to the last breath, taking as many of them with us as we can!"
She was met with a collective cheer as the soldiers hardened their stances, Gray noticing the twitch of shield here and there from those preparing for the end. Luckily they now have a pair of reinforcements just as strong as an entire battalion's worth. The ice mage quickly instructed Lucy to head for the other end of the street to deal with that half of the enemy as he went for the other. He noticed that a few soldiers were better adorned then others and there was no doubt in his mind that the one riding the horse further behind was supervising these men. Target priorities he had to take into account, but the large congregation of enemies was a good enough chance of any for him to test out an area of effect attack he was developing after seeing Natsu do similar ones for a while.
He found a good middle ground amongst all the soldiers and calculated as fast as he could how much time he had before the enemy would react and fight him off, the element of surprise gave him all the time he needed to take down over half these guys swiftly. Gathering his magic and ethernano in the air, Gray jumped incredibly high into the air to get an effective area and as luck would have it, the soldiers had a row between them just for him.
"Ice Repulse!" Gray shouted as he landed harshly in the dividing row, the ethernano and ice magic exploding violently around which sent dozens of enemies hurling through the air in all directions.
The sudden force sent the men holding the line at the front to fall forward in surprise and watched as their allies fell from the air right in front of them, many of which had no idea what had just happened. Orders were being shouted from one mouth to the next and amidst all this chaos, one lone figure stood at the center with his hands clasped together before numerous spears were flung at them. They all believed to have met their ends when they made contact as sharp pains wracked their bodies, but they only felt cold numbing pain and failed to find the strength to get back up. One imperial soldier watched in awe and fear as a shirtless young man no older than himself fought his comrades single handedly with nothing more than his fists and an ethereal blade of ice to simply parry any blade coming at him. He couldn't believe his eyes to see any form of warrior go into battle with nothing more than pants, but he knew it was hopeless to fight him once he saw what he did next.
The shirtless young man clasped his hands together again and a chain shot forth from his palms that flew as far as where his captain stood on his horse and it wrapped around him effectively. The chain wielder pulled strongly on it and with such strength that his captain's face literally flew into his palm before being forcibly slammed into the wall of a nearby home. Worse still was that it had been enough to shatter his helmet completely and he didn't know whether he was still breathing after an attack like that, but he wouldn't want to be the one to find out unlike others who blindedly charged him with no strategy. The soldier rather take his current pain on the grand as a defeated man rather than gain this beast of man's ire and suffer a similar fate like his captain. He wondered how his allies on the other side are fairing, it would have been a slaughter with their forces together, so it would be simple for just one side to defeat what remained of this world's army in the area.
He regretted all those thoughts as he painfully turned his head to see past the circle of hostile shields to the other side of them, but he swore his eyes were deceiving him as a scantily clad woman with a whip destroyed the ground before her with a single stomp. His comrades on that side lost their balance, some even falling onto their hindquarters from the force of it although the soldier feared that woman just as equally as even her punches sent his men flying. Even those who hid behind shields yelled in terror as she broke through them like parchment, but it didn't stop there as she commanded her very own great axe wielding minotaur that was easily cutting through their ranks just like her. The fallen soldier felt complete terror at the awesome might these two individuals possessed, but next to it he felt utter humiliation as the soldiers they once surrounded before cheered them on and no longer feared for their lives. Some even sheathing their weapons in satisfaction and it was enough to show him that they were put to shame by two people and feared what it would mean for his fate and the Empire's if there are others like the shirtless young man and the scantily clad blonde woman.
It wasn't long before the enemy soldiers had all been defeated by Gray and Lucy's hands, the ice mage picking his shirt back up and cracking his knuckles as he merely thought of these men as a small workout since they didn't compare as much to the soldiers of the Alvarez Empire. It was an interesting situation to say the least as the Fairy Tail mages hadn't expected the disarray of troops once they started their attack, like they hadn't thought about being attacked from behind and above them before. As for the Fiorean soldiers, they were all grateful for seeing the Fairy Tail guild mark in their moment of need and sent personal prayers of thanks that they came when they did and towards their queen for bringing them. Many of which went off to regain their senses and take a moment of rest while the woman who was commanded them began walking up to them.
She had short dark hair with a braid starting from the back of her head, going around the top and back to where it began, sharp brown eyes held a subtle sense of gentleness and complete set of royal knight armor with minor accents of rose made up the rest of her look. Once she finally came up to them, she bowed her head in respect and gratitude for their timely rescue. She had yet to say anything, but both mages knew she had her own personal fears of the situation had they not arrived when they did.
"I'm captain Lelianna Aster and on behalf of what remains here, I thank you for coming to our rescue." She lifted her head once again and let out a shaky breath that she had been keeping in for who knows how long. "That whole thing spelled the end for us and even I had shaky legs to come face to face with the end."
"Well Captain Aster that's all over with. Fairy Tail's here to put an end to all this." Lucy replied confidently, but she was busy trying to avoid stepping on anything that used to be on the inside of a person, as morbidly as that sounded, else she'd throw up whatever was left inside her stomach. "We know about your situation and Captain Gladiolus has already been able to get more reinforcements when he went to the castle."
"Tatsumi's gonna grill me for not getting to him, but our attention was here and what was happening to the civilians." Aster replied as Gray had decided to speak up this time, mostly to get this conversation over with as they still needed to push the advance.
"Speaking of which, there is a survivor on the next street over that we tended to. He needs medical attention and says that the enemy's been dragging people away while the attack is underway." He watched the puzzled look the captain had as if she was thinking of something before letting the thought go.
"I hadn't seen abductions happening before, but I have seen them slaughter innocents with my own eyes. As for his wounds, we can help him back to a medical tent." Aster replied as she knew these mages couldn't stay in the area any longer since they are most likely needed somewhere else. "Sorry I can't assist you on your push forwards, but I don't have any more men with me and this lot deserves some rest after all we've lost.
"It's fine, we couldn't ask for you guys to push yourselves after being surrounded like that." Lucy replied as Gray began to move towards the sounds of explosions coming further south. "Good luck and stay safe everyone!" The blonde called out as she ran after Gray whose steps seemed to be filled with purpose.
As they continued to run, they noticed the singed ground around them and knew that Natsu hadn't been in the area as these seemed more controlled compared to his wild flames. It didn't sit right with either of them as this was a populous area and large amounts of people come through the area a day so it meant many negatives with little to no positives for the people here. They had stopped taking in their surroundings as a shadow flew over head, Lucy believed Happy came to look for them but fell completely silent as a small purple dragon flew by them again. This time she managed to see a rider on its back and couldn't believe that they had a means of controlling the air with small dragons.
"Gray do you see that!"
"I sure do and it's coming down now!" Gray quickly formed an ice bow, lead the tip and took aim; knowing that dragon scales were tough he strengthened his ice arrow as much as he could and released his shot. He scored a direct hit on the wing and the small dragon came crashing down with its rider who got to his feet all wobbly before steadying himself.
He drew a dagger from a small sheath on his hip and charged Gray, the ice mage easily dodging his attempts before he disarmed the armored man though it didn't stop his assault. He tried to go hand to hand, but it was no use against the ice mage as he effectively pummeled him into submission until the soldier couldn't stand on his own feet anymore. As for the dragon, both mages were surprised when they came up to it and found out that not only did Gray's arrow hit, it also pierced a wing and severely wounding a leg that must've gotten worse in the crash. Lucy watched as her companion created an ice sword and aimed it at the dragon's heart, at first she watched him struggle before his sword began plunging into it until it was deep enough that the beast stopped moving entirely.
The raven and blonde haired duo continued their way towards the south with all the explosions while Gray began to explain to Lucy that he was wondering what was the threshold those dragon scales had before his ice sword could go through. He had actually been surprised that it was pretty moderate in comparison to what he initially thought it was and it reasoned why his arrow did so much damage as it was at full power when he fired it. The spirit mage was actually interested in that as she would've thought they had stronger scales for being dragons, but it looked like some of their magic and weapons can bring them down. Though it also drew on the fact that whoever their enemy was had access to lesser dragons, as she was calling them for now, and had enough time to train people to ride them so this attack had to be in the making for a while. Lucy couldn't continue her thoughts as screams filled her ears, not just any but dozens of men crying out in agony and in serious pain not very far from them and that was when another explosion came.
Lucy and Gray had managed to find the direct source and the blonde brought a hand to her mouth in hour as Natsu unleashed a dragon's roar against enemy soldiers, effectively immolating them into a crisp while those not in the blast range screamed their lungs out as their armor began melting into their skin. There was a gleam on the dragon slayer's face as he fought off those brave, or stupid, enough to face him head on and all were punched away by a fiery kick or fist. More screams followed as he sent a wing attack at a group looking for cover, then began charging another roar towards a number of them who were defeated earlier before Gray and Lucy's arrival. As for the ice mage, he had enough and jumped in front of the defeated soldiers with an ice shield in play. It came none too soon as Natsu unleashed his roar and the ice shield, with Gray holding it together, managed to deflect all the flames that came their way although it wouldn't deflect Gray's anger to what he just saw.
"What the hell are you doing Natsu!?" Gray yelled as he marched up to the pink haired slayer, slamming his forehead against Natsu's with a challenging glare to match his emotions.
"What does it look like ya ice bastard!? I'm doing what we came here to do, aren't I!?" Natsu yelled back as Lucy look aghast at his words and wondered if he truly understood what he was doing at the moment they arrived.
"You are, are you!? Then tell me why are you killing all these people!?" Gray glared daggers at Natsu as this wasn't how they conducted themselves before and he didn't believe they were going to start to now.
"These aren't people Gray, they are lowly monsters! Have you seen what they did to the people here, have you seen what they do to a woman that didn't fall in line!?" The pink haired slayer cried out as he tried to get past the ice mage to deal with the last of the enemy soldiers in the area, but Gray wasn't going to let him pass as he shoved him back.
"I may not have seen what they do to them, but I have seen what they do to the civilians. I know how angry you are Natsu, trust me I feel the same, but we can't go off killing them all like we want to!" Gray reasoned as Natsu shoved him back, this time giving each other enough space to see each other entirely instead of just each other's face.
"I've done it before, so why do you think you can stop me now!?" The dragon slayer challenged as he barred his teeth, his eyes filled with righteous fury for the justice on the behalf who have fallen to the injustices of this random enemy. "These bastards need to pay, they need to pay for what they put these people through!"
"But Natsu you just can't go killing people like that, enemy or not they are still human beings!" Lucy interjected this time before Gray could get some more words in as life was precious and both she and Gray did their best to spare the lives of the people they fought earlier. "If we lose sight of caring for lives than you become no better than a dark mage."
"We have the power to protect the people, like this scum had the power to take and abuse them as much as they wanted!" Natsu's anger seemed to flare as he continued to think back to the darkness he could call the lowest point of humanity that he saved the innocent from. "This is war Lucy, it's either kill or be killed and I'm making sure my people and guildmates live to see the next day." He said the last part more in turn to Gray who brushed off the slight accusation with a follow up argument he had for Natsu's statement.
"But we are not soldiers you idiot! We are a guild, a guild that believes in Fiore's laws even if we break them, that knows life itself has to be cherished and that we have a responsibility to do what is right!" Natsu growled at that as he was no idiot to what the guild stood for beside being a family, but why couldn't those two see his side on this and that what he was doing was justified.
"Then maybe we should be if it'll make it easier on you to live with the fact of me killing this lowly scum. Ask any of the others and they'd all agree with how I'm handling things!" Lucy could see that it was going nowhere with two bull headed guys like Natsu and Gray when it came to strong beliefs, so it meant that she needed to calm Natsu down from his fury as his body was alight without his own realization of the fact.
"You have your view on this Natsu, but you must understand that we have great power at our fingertips and you especially have to understand that. You alone count for an entire army, so it means we need to have greater responsibility to not use our power without proper cause." She needed Natsu to see reason as it hurts a lot more to know that her best friend hadn't much averse to killing an enemy than she had first thought. "We have to show that even if we are power houses on our own, we can show mercy to them once they are beaten."
"I know that just like you do, but you're not getting it Luce, if you saw what I did and that happened to you than I would've burned the entire country these guys came from on my own! I'm dishing out payback for the lives that were ruined and monsters like them deserve an early grave!"
"You hot headed moron, calm down for a second and see her reason. We are Fairy Tail mages; we uphold true virtues and killing others, even if you think it's justified, isn't the answer we strive for!" Gray was getting aggravated with Natsu and the more he spoke, he hated to admit this, the more his words started to make sense to him and he felt the need to deal his own justice. "We are leagues above these guys to think that killing them is our only option!"
"Then what if instead of Deliora destroying your life, it was these guys? You'd still want to get revenge on them for what they did to you and your life would still end up just as messed up as you are now." Natsu sneered although he realized too late that it was a low blow and got the message quite clear as he saw Gray's eyes widen slightly at his claim. "I might've gone too far, but my point still stands."
"No I get it, I get what you are trying to say Natsu. No need to hold back on my behalf, I'm a grown man and I can take it." Gray merely said as he shoved passed him, kicking the face of an armored soldier as he was beginning to regain consciousness and knocking him back out again. "But let me you tell you this Natsu; I might've ended up the same, I might've lost everything again just because I was selfish and saw what I was trying to do as righteous justice for the people I lost, but it wouldn't change what happened. Even if I got rid of them like I'd set out to do, the scars will still be there and they won't go away."
Natsu stayed silent as a bit of his anger at the current situation petered out, slowly understanding that he might've hit a very sensitive nerve with Gray and it was one that everybody knew not to mess with. It bothered the dragon slayer that he was being calm about it when compared to the old times where he'd fly off the handle on anyone that spoke to him like that.
"But I learned to change, like Lucy said; I have power at my fingertips and I've learned when to deal retribution without killing someone. You have your way of doing things and I have mine, but you should learn how much those ways will affect you before it's too late. I've learned the hard way, so I'll try saving you the trouble and say "I ended up just as messed up" as I am now." Gray concluded as he turned his back and stalked away from the two, Natsu speechless to his advice and Lucy incapable of putting what just happened in words. "Let's get moving you two, the flaming moron's already cleared out his part of the city so that means we're clearing enemies out of everything up to Laxus' position."
Lucy followed along shortly as Natsu lagged behind and she could only wonder how much that was boiling beneath her pink haired best friend's heart concerning Gray; summing it up for quite a while for how long those had been friends for. The blonde has seen Gray hurt before, but the way he handled this just didn't sit right, the least he could've done was yell back but he only calmly spoke back to Natsu and that was bothering her. Judging by the slayer's behaviour at the moment, she knew it was affecting him too, but Lucy could only place it under letting your emotions go too far. Though she had to admit that the pink haired slayer was right, this was war like those times before although Gray made it clear that they needed to uphold all that they stood for even during this unsettling time. This could very well be war in Lucy's eyes now and it's only bringing undue stress on her friends and she had no clue how much this could go on for any of their sakes before bridges start burning. A subtle pun if only to brighten her mood just a little bit, but she knew it wouldn't be enough for those two if she told them.