4. Ice-Make: Regret

"He had been able to say goodbye while Lyon hadn't, and that obviously bothered him."

Erza's initial shock of the summer snowstorm in Hargeon slipped to the back of her mind for a second as she took in the sudden appearance of Lyon standing in the doorway.

"Lyon," she inquired towards the newcomer. "what are you doing here?"

Levy stepped to the side as Lyon walked through the door, his composed expression indecipherable in response to Erza's seemingly blatant question.

"I came to speak to Gray about something," he replied. "but I couldn't help but overhear your conversation just now. I was actually just in Hargeon, and I have to say that what Levy is telling you is true."

Levy smiled in triumph. "See, I told you, guys."

Erza now had two reliable sources telling her that it was snowing in Hargeon in the middle of summer. While it was most certainly difficult to believe, she realized she didn't have much of a choice.

"So do you think it was just a mistake in the weather, or someone actually used magic for this?" Natsu asked the ice mage.

"Definitely the latter." Lyon answered.

His response intrigued Erza. "And why do you say that?"

"I could sense the magic energy. There's no way it was natural."

He sounded very sure of himself on that, and Erza couldn't help but believe him. This, however, led to many other questions. The obvious one being why would anyone want it to snow in the first place? What could they possibly accomplish with It?

"We were thinking a snow mage did it." Lucy said. "Do you agree?"

Lyon shook his head. "While I'm primarily an ice mage, I also use snow magic, and I can tell you right away that wasn't done by any snow mage. That was created with ice magic, though I have no idea how."

"Ice magic?" Levy asked, though they all had the same question. "Is that even possible?"

"I said I don't know." Lyon repeated. "In theory, an ice mage should only be able to manipulate and create ice. I know that my ice magic isn't capable of making a snowstorm, especially like the one in Hargeon."

Erza really wanted to see this snow for herself. Perhaps if she went to the scene of the crime she would be able to find some clues about the whole incident. It was a long shot though, considering the fact that Lyon and Levy had been there and had gathered practically nothing on the matter. Nevertheless, Erza was determined to figure out who was behind all this and why.

"I'm going to Hargeon now to see this with my own eyes." She said. "Natsu, Happy, Lucy, are you coming with?"

Natsu shrugged. "I guess so."

"Aye."

"Sure," Lucy said. "but don't you think we should wait for Gray?"

"Why wait for him when he's already here?"

As if on cue, they all turned around to see Gray standing behind them.

"Gray!" Erza exclaimed. "Perfect timing. How long have you been standing there."

"I just got here, so I have no idea why you wanted to wait for me." Gray said. He then noticed Lyon. "Why are you here?"

A look of displeasure crossed Lyon's face. "Why are you all so suspicious of me coming here? I just came to talk to you about something, Gray. It's rather urgent and I'd like to get it over with already. They can fill you in when we're done."

Gray turned to Erza and the others. "Can you guys wait a few minutes?"

Erza nodded. "Sure. We'll explain it all to you when you guys are done."

To say that Gray was just a little curious as to what Lyon had to tell him was an understatement. He came all the way out to Magnolia just to talk to him, so therefore Gray assumed it had to be of some importance.

"So, what did you want to talk about?" Gray asked his former fellow student. They were sitting outside the guildhall with the sun beating down on them, and Gray just couldn't help but feel a sort of resentment towards its burnings rays.

"I came hear to ask you about your magic." Lyon answered. He was looking straight ahead, though not at anything in particular.

"What about it?"

"Has it been, how to I put it? Somewhat out of control lately?"

Gray was glad Lyon wasn't facing him because the look of shock that came upon his face at that very moment was a clear giveaway that there were some truth to his words, but how did he know? What did he know? Did he even know something, or was his timing just a coincidence?

Gray decided to play it safe and not give a straight answer right away. "What do you mean by that?"

"I only ask because my magic has been acting up over the past few days." Lyon explained as he finally turned to face him. "I've been freezing things unconsciously and my magic somehow feels a bit stronger."

So they were in the same boat. A part of Gray felt relieved that it wasn't just a personal problem, but at the same time he just felt more confused. Was it just him and Lyon, or was this happening to ice mages everywhere?

"Yeah," Gray said. "I've been experiencing the same thing."

"You have?" Lyon asked, his face lighting up with interest. "So it's not just me?"

Gray shook his head. "It's not just you. Have you told anyone else about this?"

"No, you're the first."

He wasn't sure if he should feel honored by that, but he figured it really wasn't the time to worry about that. Another thought crossed his mind.

"Something similar to this happened before. Do you remember?"

Lyon nodded. "We were still students under Ur, but she never explained it to us."

"Do you think this is the same?"

Lyon remained silent as he considered it. "I'm not sure. Last time it went away, didn't it?" Gray nodded. "Then maybe it will pass."

What Lyon said made sense, but Gray wasn't satisfied with that solution. Even if it was only temporary there still had to be something causing it. They couldn't just ignore it.

"I guess we can try waiting it out for a few days." Gray suggested, though he wasn't too fond of the idea.

Lyon, however, didn't seem to mind. "It's a start. If it goes away then we probably don't have to worry about it, however, if it doesn't then we'll deal with it then."

The two ice mages remained seated, though none of them spoke. While Gray hoped that Lyon was right, and that it was just a temporary phase, he still thought that they should look into it. Was it a normal thing for magic to just spiral out of control for a bit, or was their case just special?

"You know, you're lucky, Gray." Lyon said suddenly.

Gray turned to him in surprise, as the remark was quite random and completely unrelated to the matter at hand.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You were there when Ur died." Lyon said, though it really didn't explain his previous comment.

"So were you."

"Yes, but I didn't see it. You were the only one who witnessed it."

He was still confused. "Okay, but I still don't see how that makes me lucky."

Lyon sighed in frustration as he realized that he'd just have to spell it out for him. "You got to see her one last time before she died. I don't know what happened then, but I do know that you had the chance to say goodbye. That's why you were lucky. Have you ever thought about that?"

Gray didn't really have anything to answer. Lyon was right, he had never thought about it like that. That little difference in their experiences of their master's death had never occurred to him in such a way, but now that he actually thought about it, he realized that he was rather lucky. He had been able to say goodbye while Lyon hadn't, and that obviously bothered him.

Unknown to the two former pupils of Ur, a lone man shielded by a dark cloak stood camouflaged amongst the adjacent trees of the forest listening intently to their every word.

"So only one of them actually witnessed it. That narrows down my options significantly."

Satisfied with the information he had obtained he turned back into the forest to depart, his dark cloak flapping behind him in the wind, and a small, perfectly frozen snowflake lying in the grass he had formerly been standing on.

Sorry this was a bit delayed, but you can blame it on strep, a broken wrist, and midterms. This really wasn't a good month for me, to say the least :)

Anyway, so the plot thickens, I hope. I hope I'm doing a good job with this, and I'd really love to hear what you all think. One of my main worries is about keeping everyone in character, but I hope my worry is for nothing :)

All the feedback so far was amazing and this story already has 17 followers! Thank you guys! I really appreciate It!

-britishsconesahoy