Disclaimer: So, I don't own Fairy Tail or anything. It would be pretty cool if I did though because Gray would get way more screentime and that in itself is a pretty cool thought. If only...
2. Ice-Make: Acceptance
Her comment angered him, but he knew it was simply just out of concern. "Of course not, and I never was upset about it in the first place."
Considering he was usually involved in his guild's constant brawls, it was quite interesting to see them from an outsider's perspective. To put it simply, Gray could now finally understand why onlookers were always so concerned; the guildhall was practically a battlefield.
Sitting alone in the corner shielded him from most of his guildmates' attacks, whether they be magic or fists. Things were flying so fast that he could barely keep his focus on one fight, though the different fights kept intersecting each other anyway. Unsurprisingly, he was able to clearly distinguish the quite literally heated battle going on between Natsu and Gajeel, which likewise attracted most of his attention. Their fight seemed to just keep repeating itself over and over again, one fireball after one iron punch in a constant loop.
Was that how his fights with Natsu always went?
"Never thought I'd see you sit out during a fight."
Gray turned his gaze away from the fighting dragonslayers and looked over at Cana who had just sat down next to him. She had come empty handed, as in no alcohol in sight, and though Gray considered making a joke about it, he ultimately decided not to. After all, it seemed like he was the one being interrogated here.
"I guess I'm just not in the mood."
He wasn't lying. When being honest with himself, he didn't really know why he automatically just passed up the chance to beat up Natsu. Normally, Gray wouldn't even hesitate to join in a fight, so what was so different about today? What made him lose interest?
"Don't tell me you're still upset about yesterday."
Her comment angered him, but he knew it was simply just out of concern. "Of course not, and I never was upset about it in the first place."
"Then what's got you so down in the dumps? There must be something wrong, you've even managed to keep your shirt on until now."
Gray looked down, and just as Cana had said, his shirt was still on. Did that mean there was something wrong? Funny how usually habitual stripping implied that something was wrong, but with him it appeared to be the opposite.
But he didn't think there was anything wrong. He had been feeling a bit out of sorts since they returned from their last job, but he had thought that the feeling would just pass. It hadn't gone away yet, so maybe Cana was right. Maybe there was something bothering him, but what?
"I don't know." He answered while turning back to face the fight. "I've just been feeling a bit off lately. It'll pass."
Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Cana giving him a quizzical look. "If you say so."
He didn't say anything, nor did he want to say anything. He knew Cana didn't believe him, but what was he supposed to say when he himself didn't know what was wrong? He tried to think back to anything that could have made him feel like this, but nothing had happened in the past few days. The only thing that really stood out was his spontaneous ice cube outbreak from his conversation with Erza the other day.
Could it be the heat? Was that what was bothering him?
"Well, I'm getting a bit cold." Cana said, as Gray turned to see her suddenly stand up from her seat beside him. "I'm going to go get a drink to warm me up."
How a barrel of beer was going to warm her up was simply unknown to Gray, nor did he really want to know. What he really didn't understand, however, was the fact that she was cold. It was smack in the middle of July, what could possibly be making her cold?
Why was he trying to decipher her words? Did he really have to overthink everything he or someone said or did? Perhaps it was just an excuse for her to go and get herself wasted, and he was just wasting time by pondering over it. Maybe that was his problem, he just put too much thought into things that don't really have any meaning behind them.
Gray sighed and put his head into his hands. He never thought he'd think this, nor would he ever again, but at that very moment, he almost envied Natsu and those like him with his one tracked mind and simple ways of thinking. He almost began to wonder how easy life would be if he didn't ever have to have these one-on-one conversations with himself trying to figure out what was going on in his head.
As he sat there sulking and contemplating what was potentially wrong with him, Gray began to notice a slight chill in the air. It didn't bother him, but it was definitely there, and quite distinguishable from the current heat engulfing the guildhall.
Was this what Cana had felt?
Gray lifted his head up from his hands and scanned the room. Nothing had really changed much as the brawl was still in full swing, though it had died down a bit, but from the looks of it, no one seemed to notice the slight change in temperature.
Maybe I'm just imagining it. Gray thought to himself as he placed his hands down on the bench he was sitting on.
When his hands touched the bench, Gray immediately lifted them back up and looked down. What was supposed to be a plain, wooden bench had somehow turned into solid ice. It didn't take long for him to recognize it as his own ice, making him wonder how it had happened.
He couldn't remember freezing the bench at all. As he glided his hand across the iced surface, he could tell that it had just been frozen, but why couldn't he remember? Surprisingly, it was quite similar to the incident with the ice cubes. Was there something wrong with his magic?
"Hey, ice block, I haven't fought with you yet today!"
As preoccupied as he was with the sudden frozen bench, he wasn't completely unaware as to what was going on around him. Without much thought, Gray launched a simple blast of ice towards Natsu's incoming fireball, just enough to deter it. He was still examining the frozen bench which had already begun to melt when he heard Natsu's outburst.
"What the hell, Gray? How did you just freeze my fire with that tiny blow?!"
Confused as to what Natsu was saying, Gray looked up and almost gasped at the completely frozen ball of fire now lying on the ground. True to Natsu's word, that had never happened before, nor was it really able to. He normally would have needed a little more than that to freeze Natsu's fire.
"I don't know how that happened." Gray said. He then looked back down at the bench, only to see that it was pretty much just covered in water now. "I need to get home."
He hadn't really meant to say that out loud, as it was mainly directed at himself, but he was positive now that there was definitely something wrong. He had to find out what it was, and sitting around at the guildhall wasn't going to help. He had to get home so he could delve more into it, and try to figure out what was going on with his magic.
Before anyone could stop him or even just say anything, Gray bolted out of the guildhall, leaving everyone else in a state of confusion. Erza, in particular, was quite puzzled by the sudden chain of events, as she began to recall what had happened the day before. She wasn't sure if they were connected, but it was definitely something worth looking into.
"Hey, come back!" Erza snapped out of her thoughts as she turned to see Natsu beginning to chase after him. "You can't just run away like that, Gray!"
"Natsu!" The fire mage immediately stopped in his tracks as Erza shouted his name from behind him. "Let him go. We can talk to him later."
Natsu sighed in annoyance, but she knew it was only because he cared, not that he would admit it, of course. She cared too, but she knew that chasing after Gray just wasn't the right way help him.
"Will he be alright?" Lucy asked quietly, in which only Erza had been able to hear.
"He'll be fine." Erza responded. "He just needs to try figuring things out himself before we try to help him."
If Lucy had wanted to say more, Erza would never know because the doors to the guildhall burst open at that very moment, revealing a breathless and panting Team Shadow Gear in the entrance.
"What's with the grand entrance, Levy?" Natsu asked as the blue haired mage tried to catch her breath. Jet and Droy were busy doing the same, almost as if they had just run a marathon to get there.
"You'll never believe this, guys." Levy began to explain in between breaths. "But we were just on a job in Hargeon, and it was snowing!"
And I'm here with the 2nd chapter (and an almost completed outline for this fanfic)! I didn't really expect 8 followers already, but the more the merrier! And thank you Mnemosyne's (did I spell that right?) Elegy and Manguepassion for reviewing! I really love hearing your comments :)
Also, I do accept constructive criticism because I'm always looking to improve my writing, so if you think there's something I need to work on or my characterization isn't very good, feel free to let me know (politely, of course). But seriously, are they in character? I always get nervous about that...
Well, in any case, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I'd love to hear what you think!
-britishsconesahoy