Chapter 8: Gray vs. Arawn
"You've forgotten my gift," Arawn smirked. He held up another rope, spinning the top portion like a lasso as ice appeared at the top, molding itself into an icicle so sharp that it was almost a harpoon.
"I haven't forgotten," Gray assured him. "But a copy-cat like you can't possibly beat the real thing."
They stood glaring at one another for a moment before Gray grabbed his shirt and jacket, throwing them to the side.
"Don't undress," Arawn called. He threw out both his hands as if to block the view, but released two ropes heading towards Gray.
"Ice-Make Wall," Gray called, creating a small wall of ice in front of him. The ropes bounced off of it and speed back to Arawn, who smirked amused.
"Fine," Arawn said. "Have it your way."
With another flick of his wrist fire covered the rope that rushed towards the wall, burning through the ice wall before Gray could move. The sharpened ice point scraped Gray across the chest and he hissed in pain as the sharp coldness cut him, quickly followed by the hot flames.
"He can use fire and ice at once," groaned Gray, leaping from behind the wall. That complicated things. He'd have to be faster.
Moving out of range, or what Gray hoped was out of range, he called out spells in quick succession. "Ice-make hammer! Ice-make cannon! Ice make arrow!"
Pulling back the bow he released all three attacks at once at Arawn, resulting in an explosion of dirt and dust as they made impact. Before the dirt cleared he reset his stance. "Ice-make Prison," he called. A large square cage appeared, slamming down on the spot Arawn had been. Gray panted from the barrage, but didn't have time to rest. As the dirt settled he found his prison cell was empty.
A searing pain hit him across the back as a rope slapped him, a small tornado whirling about it and creating the sensation of thousands of ropes hitting him at once.
"Too slow," called Arawn. Gray looked up to see he was sitting on a branch. Gray let out a growl of frustration. He was not going to be undone by some stupid rope tricks!
In a flash two ice blades appeared from both of his forearms. In two swift movements he cut the tornado rope in half. It fell down to the floor as any regular rope would. Then, he charged at the tree. With seven rapid strikes, he leveled the tree and was again face to face with Arawn.
"You're clever, I'll give you that," admitted Arawn. "I respect a mage who needs to be creative to use his spells."
He threw out another rope, but Gray didn't wait for an impact this time. He covered his own hands in ice and grabbed hold of the rope, tying it tightly into a knot before changing the ice on his right hand into a dagger and cutting it through.
The rope fell to the ground, harmless like the other. He'd have to destroy all the rope. That was easier said than done, though, because Arawn seemed to have an endless supply. The more rope Gray cut, the more rope seemed to appear.
They went on like this for some time with Gray just narrowly dodging a few sharp attacks, one of which scrapped against his arm, cutting one of his blades to pieces. He could feel himself getting tired, but so was Arawn, who was panting and gazing upon the growing pile of useless rope. How much rope did this guy have anyway?
"I'll finish this," Gray said and he lunged forward. "Then we'll defeat the corrupted king!"
Arawn stepped to the side and Gray felt a rope wrap around his hand, knotted in place before he could move away. The rope pulled him down to the ground with almost gravitational force, slamming his face into the dirt.
"You idiots believe a child's story," Arawn laughed. He moved his hand new, hidden ropes began to tighten around Gray. They surprised Gray with their speed and before he could cut them through with his free hand, they were wrapped about him like a snake. This was the technique that took out Natsu, so he'd need to act fast.
"If the story isn't true, why were you looking for a unicorn." Gray demanded.
"We weren't looking for the unicorn," Arawn snapped. "We were looking for the King. The unicorn bewitched him, drove him to the brink of madness. He would abandon all of us just to protect it! What sort of creature would do such a thing and be considered good. It has to die so the king can return to his post."
"Couldn't you have talked to him," asked Gray. He inhaled deeply. With his exhale he blew down on the rope, encasing it in a layer of ice. A crack appeared. Perhaps he'd frozen it through? The ice shattered revealing the rope still in place. Damn.
"We tried, but the pull of the unicorn was too strong," Arawn replied. He moved towards his fallen ropes, collecting them bit by bit and wrapping them into spirals. "Compassio even tried to expel the goodness from his heart, but it didn't work. From the moment he left, our duty changed to destroy that unicorn and bring back the King, no matter what- for our kingdom and our father."
The ropes were hugging Gray tighter and tighter, cutting off his circulation and his breath.
"But why," he gasped. "Why take Lucy?"
"Lucy," Arawn asked peering up from his inspection of his last cut rope. "The girl? We don't care about her. We should thank her. When we our men found the unicorn it turned to stone and we lost it's trail until she woke it. Once woken the creature is bound to you and the unicorn is bound to her like our father is bound to it. We need her to lure them both in-the creature and the king. We'll give her back when the unicorn is dead."
"Give-her-back?" Gray's air way was becoming very constricted and there seemed to be a bit of Natsu's fire left in it because it was getting hot.
"Well, I would," Arawn smirked. "But I'm not the one in the forest with them. Compassio will be the one to make the final call. Perhaps the cabin will be her eternal home."
"That's-it?"
Arawn shrugged, standing and rolling up the rope, tucking it into his pocket for repair later. "That's it for the story of the unicorn and of Gray from Fairy Tail."
"Don't-count- on-it," Gray gasped.
He closed his eyes and focused his energy within. The black markings on the boys arm were moving, sliding up across his arm and shoulder, up his neck and across his face. Was this some form of death Arawn had not witnessed? He got closer to look, fascinated by this new untimely end.
Gray's eyes opened, one dark blue and the other a strange pink or red. Gray flicked his wrist at his side sending a shot of pink ice from his hand. Before Arawn could move away the ice hit him, freezing him in his squatting position, face frozen into an expression of surprise.
The ropes fell away from Gray and he sat up, rubbing his neck and inhaling deeply.
"You took forever to get to the point," Gray told Arawn's frozen face. "I was starting to get worried you'd never spill the beans."
"Gray!"
Gray turned to see Erza, Wendy, and Carla running towards him.
"You look a bit worse than last time I saw you," Gray teased.
Erza smirked. "You don't look much better if I'm honest."
Wendy was peering at the squatting ice statue of Arawn. "You defeated Arawn," she said. She tapped his forehead. It responded with a quiet ping!
"I take it you also won," Gray said, not even attempting to hide his pleasure at his handiwork.
"Erza defeated one of them," Wendy confessed. "But Compassio got away. We tried to follow him, but lost his tracks. Then we saw you."
Gray looked at Erza, who was watching him carefully. "You know something," Erza observed. "Something about this Compassio."
"I know that Lucy's not in that castle, that's for sure," Gray said peering up at the turret before them. "But Natsu is and-"
As if on cue there was an explosion from the turret. Smoke poured out of a window as Happy and Natsu appeared half flying, half falling. Happy caught Natsu more securely by the shoulder and they charged to Erza, Gray, Carla, and Wendy. Just as they were about to touch down, Happy let go of Natsu's shirt and he barreled right into Gray, knocking them both to the floor.
"You made it," Natsu said with a toothy grin, looking around at his team.
"Do you mind," growled Gray from beneath him.
"Oh Gray," Natsu observed, a tone of disappointment. "You're here too?"
"GET OFF OF ME!" Gray pushed the dragon slayer onto the ground as he sat up.
"No Lucy in there," Natsu told them, his tone turning serious. "Just some big dude who wouldn't share his lunch."
"The fifth son of Imperium," asked Wendy.
Natsu nodded. "Yeah, and boy did Vindizel talk a lot."
Happy snickered behind his paw before doing a strange imitation, "my siblings and I are dedicated to do what is best for this land and to bring the king home."
"Yeah, that fits with what I learned as well," Gray confessed. He filled them in with all he'd learned from their now frozen opponent.
"Back in the forest," Natsu whined. "We were just there!"
"When we find Lucy, let's tell he we went all over the place," Happy recommended. "Then she'll feel bad and get us dinner!"
"True," Natsu agreed. He looked over at the forest, his face serious again.
"Happy & I can take Natsu and Wendy above to find the cabin," Carla suggested, wings appearing as she spoke. "You two can follow below. It will speed up our search."
Gray and Ezra nodded and without another word the exceeds took hold of their dragon slayers and began to rise. Erza was quiet as they jogged, eyes watching Wendy & Natsu, but clearly deep in thought about all they had learned.
"What can we trust," Erza said finally. "We've heard a good number of stories. Is the king corrupted and murderous or is he protecting the forest despite his children's wishes?"
"If it's the second one," Gray reasoned. "He's not a danger to Lucy, if anything he might protect her."
"But if the first is true," Erza replied. "She's in more danger than we can possibly know. Not to mention we don't know what the unicorn may have done or will do to her."
"You think she could be corrupted," Gray asked.
Erza was quiet, watching as Natsu & Wendy took a slight right. They followed behind.
"Maybe, he protects the unicorn and the unicorn kept him hidden," Erza considered. "Maybe he was corrupted and is the mastermind behind all of this trouble. Either way, Compassio is still out there and that makes another factor we can't predict."
"We'll figure that out when we find Lucy," Gray said.
"Yes," Erza agreed. She fell silent again. Please let us find Lucy soon, she thought. She watched Natsu laugh at something Happy said. She didn't want to see Lucy get hurt, nor did she want to see what Natsu would do if something did happen to any of them, but especially if something happened to Lucy.
...
In the cabin kitchen, Baselius put down his mug, eyes glancing out the window suspiciously. Lucy was explaining her keys to him, but he was only half listening. The forest had changed. It was subtle, almost unnoticeable, but a change all the same.
Someone was here to threaten them and the forest. To threaten the girl? He couldn't yet tell. Then, he recognized something in the change. He'd felt it before.
"They've finally found me," he sighed, pushing his chair away from the table and running a hand across his beard.
"Found you," Lucy repeated.
Baselius' eyes went blank, though he was staring at Lucy, he didn't seem to see her at all. There was a stirring in his heart that he hadn't felt in years. A darkness that had long been forgotten- ambitions, kingly duties, war councils, and desires for power.
"Baselius," she asked moving forward. She touched her hand to his shoulder, which began to shake.
He turned his head slowly to her and spoke, with a strained tone as if every word was an effort, "Run...away...now..."
Then Baselius fell forward onto the table.
It's all coming together! Thanks for reading & don't forget to review!