15. Ice-Make: Trust

"They'd trust me with their lives. They have no reason to doubt my words."

"Fairy Tail is on your trail."

The ice mage in front of him didn't look the least bit concerned as he spoke those words, leaving Pelphides to wonder if Gray had betrayed him.

"You told me you would buy us time."

"And I will." The ice mage folded his arms and leaned back against the stone walls of the forest hideaway. "I have a plan that will get them off your tail, but I'm going to need your help."

Pelphides glanced over at Lena hovering in the corner. Her blue eyes rose to meet his gaze, silently pleading him to hear Gray out.

She still has hope in him. The thought amused him and if Gray hadn't been in the room, he would have laughed. She still believes he'll do the right thing.

"I'm listening."

"Good." As the ice mage began to relate his plan, Lena gave him a small smile. The action only strengthened Pelphides' urge to laugh at the girl's naivety. "I'm taking them with me to Isvan-"

Good, you'll be right where I need you. "You're going to Isvan?"

"Yeah, how else can I be sure the spell reversal worked? I also have to make sure you lift the Eliftis when all this is done."

"Do you not trust us, Gray?" He asked, expressing his fake disbelief. Lena looked away as he did so. The girl never was a good liar. "I told you, we just want to save our friends. Unfortunately, the Eliftis spell is the only way. Once we reverse the freezing spell our guildmates are under, we will lift the Eliftis. I can promise you that."

"Whether I trust you or not doesn't matter, I'll be there either way. Otherwise, our deal is off."

How he hated taking orders from one of Ur's disciples. Though, on the flipside, Gray was the key to getting what he wanted. For that reason and that reason alone, Pelphides figured he could endure it.

"Very well, then. What would you have me do?"

The Fairy Tail mage didn't answer right away. He was hesitant about something, that was for sure. Was he reconsidering their arrangement? Pelphides couldn't have that, he needed Gray to be completely on board with the Konungaris Legion.

With him.

"I'm going to tell them your guild cast the spell. I will then lead them to your frozen guildmates and that's where you'll come in." The ice mage paused in his explanation. Pelphides got the feeling he still wasn't one hundred percent sure about this. "I need you to pretend you froze them after finding out they were the culprits, and you were unaware that they were needed alive to break the spell."

So that's why he was so hesitant to go forward with it. He was betraying his guild, leading them to think that lifting the Eliftis was hopeless.

He can't just be doing this for me, er, us. He wants in on the Eliftis' power, I know he does.

Even if he doesn't know it himself yet.

"And you think this will work? They'll believe you?"

A smug smile adorned the ice mage's face. "They'd trust me with their lives. They have no reason to doubt my words."

Oh, how far you've fallen. How I wish your master could see you know.

"So, will you do it?"

Oh, Gray, you have no idea what you're walking into.

"Of course. Anything to get our guild back."

Natsu wasn't completely oblivious to other people and their feelings. He saw the signs, heard their tone of voice. He knew when his friends were in distress.

So when Gray suddenly changed his mind about the whole Eliftis thing, Natsu knew something was up.

Despite all their fights and disagreements, Gray was his best friend. He knew exactly how to rile him up, what angered him and what softened him, his likes and dislikes. This whole crisis they were facing was an absolute dislike and being ordered to stay out of it by the Magic Council was guaranteed to trigger Gray's resentment.

So why didn't it?

"Hi, guys!"

Natsu swapped the frown on his face for a smile as Lucy approached him and Happy. "Hey, Lucy! Sure you packed enough stuff?"

Lucy dropped her two suitcases onto the snow covered platform. "For your information, I packed very lightly for a trip that could very well take a week in normal weather. Just think of how long it could take now with all these delays."

"We're gonna be on that train for over a week?!" Natsu looked over at the snow covered tracks. Why hadn't he thought this through?

"I don't think Natsu will make it."

"Shut up, Happy!" Oh, he was so going to make it. He had to.

"Are you sure, Natsu? I think everyone will understand if you don't want to go."

Of course he wanted to go. If Gray was right about this, then this could be their chance to lift the Eliftis and return summer to Earthland. He couldn't miss out on that.

"Lucy, I'll be fine."

"If you say so."

Natsu spotted Erza trudging towards them, dragging her trademark oversized luggage behind her. He looked over at the small bag swung over his shoulder and wondered whether he should reconsider his packing list.

"Oh, good, you three are already here." Erza said, releasing her hold on her luggage. She raised an eyebrow as she caught sight of Natsu's single pack. "You really should have packed more, Natsu. This trip will be a long one."

"Nah, I've got what I need." He really just wanted to board the train already and get this dreaded ride over with. They couldn't do that though because someone was missing. "What's taking Gray so long?"

Erza shrugged and looked around the train station. "I don't know, but you'd think he'd be here on time after he made this trip sound so urgent."

"Yeah, speaking of which," Lucy said. "what do you think Gray knows? And why didn't he tell us right away?"

"He said he knows who the caster is." Happy said.

Erza nodded. "Right, but I wonder how he knows."

Natsu sighed and looked around the train station again. Still no sign of the ice mage, though, it was getting hard to see with all the falling snow blurring his vision.

He just wanted some answers already. This wasn't like Gray, he didn't leave things like this for other people to take care of and he certainly didn't hide information from his friends. Gray said he would explain it all to them, but Natsu knew there was something he wasn't telling them. The ice mage hid things from them all the time, so it was quite obvious.

But whatever the case, the dragonslayer knew they could trust him. Gray would never betray Fairy Tail, Natsu could swear upon that.

He just wished Gray would trust them.

"Hey, there he is!" Happy said, causing Natsu to look up.

Compared to the others, Gray walked easily through the snow. While Natsu and the others were dressed in heavy winter garb, the ice mage simply wore a light jacket. However, despite his seeming comfort in being surrounded by his element, Natsu could see that he was anything but.

"Sorry I'm late. I had to take care of something."

"Don't worry about it. The train won't be here for another fifteen minutes, anyway." Erza said, reading the train schedule. "All the trains are delayed due to the weather."

Natsu crossed his arms and glared at the ice mage. Gray didn't see it though, as he was obviously trying to avoid meeting any of their gazes.

"Well, I suppose I should then fill you guys in on what's going on." Gray suggested. He gave a small laugh to lighten the underlying tension, but it did little to lessen Natsu's suspicion. "I left you on a bit of a cliffhanger back there."

Lucy snorted. "That was way more than a cliffhanger!"

Happy nodded. "Yeah, Gray. You can't just tell us you know who the culprit is and then run away."

"Sorry, my bad." Gray shifted the bag on his shoulders. He still hadn't looked any of them in the eye. "I just had to make sure my facts were right before I gave you any specifics."

Erza nodded her head in understanding. "Well, have you confirmed your information?"

"Yeah, so here it is. The Eliftis wasn't casted by one person, but rather by a whole guild. Well, part of a guild. You see, they're called the Konungaris Legion and they are, or rather they were, a prominent guild in Isvan."

"Hey, wait a minute." Lucy interrupted. "Isn't that the guild that guy we fought back at the museum was a part of?"

"His name was Alvaro." Erza said. "And you said you didn't think they were a dark guild.

Gray nodded. "Yeah, well it turns out I was right. The Konungaris Legion isn't a dark guild. Two years ago, some wizard cast a permanent freezing spell on most of its members. The spell is irreversible unless one has the power of the Eliftis."

"So they're just trying to get their friends back, right?" Happy asked, putting two and two together.

"Exactly." Gray said. "The Eliftis is so powerful that it can reverse any spell. It's power is so great that one of them alone can't cast it, so all the remaining guildmembers are casting it. Once they gain enough power, they'll reverse the spell and then lift the Eliftis."

Natsu believed every word Gray had just said, but he still had one question. "And you know this all, how?"

For the first time, Gray looked Natsu in the eye. "I met one of their members. She told me what they were planning."

Gray shot a quick look at Erza as if she knew something they didn't. "Was it her?"

Before Natsu could ask any questions, Gray nodded and quickly continued. "She said I could go to Isvan to make sure her guild follows through and lifts the spell when the reversal is done. I'll be honest, I'm kind of opposed to what they're doing but considering that they'll be able to reverse it by the time we get there, I say we should just let them see it through."

"They'll still need to be brought before the Magic Council for casting a forbidden spell." Erza said.

Lucy nodded. "Yeah, what they're doing is still wrong."

"I completely agree." Gray said. "We'll have to make sure of that."

Despite finally hearing the truth, Natsu was still curious about Gray's recent behavior. Why did he seem so hesitant to tell them? Was he afraid they wouldn't trust him? Natsu would never admit it, but Gray was one of the only people he trusted with his life. Surely he knew that.

And if not, then maybe this would be an opportunity to show that.

"Here's your reward money, sir. We really appreciate you coming out here in this weather to help us."

"My pleasure."

Lyon pocketed the jewels and began to trudge through the snow towards the train station. His client hadn't been far from Margaret Town but with the current weather, the trip had taken him almost three hours. Needless to say, he wasn't looking forward to the long ride home.

The small town seemed almost empty as the ice mage passed through. If there was anyone else bearing the cold then Lyon wouldn't have known: the blizzard made it impossible to see in front of him. Normally, Lyon wouldn't mind his impaired vision. He would even marvel at the beauty of the falling snowflakes as the sky painted its white masterpiece.

But despite being surrounded by his element, Lyon couldn't bring himself to marvel. The bare trees, the frozen river, the icicles hanging from the buildings; none of it was natural. Something was going on here and he had a small hunch about what it was.

He could vaguely remember his master lecturing him and Gray about something like this; a spell that could bring on a sudden winter. She had called it the Eliftis spell and made it pretty darn clear that it was to be prevented at all costs.

Had someone cast it? Lyon wondered if Gray remembered it at all. Maybe he should go ask him about it because if this was due to the Eliftis spell, then he and Gray had a responsibility to stop it. It's what their master would have wanted.

"Lyon Vastia, ice mage from Lamia Scale?"

Lyon turned around at the sudden calling of his name. Strange, he hadn't heard anyone coming up behind him. "Yes, that's me. Can I help you?"

Before he knew what was happening, two guards, of whom he recognized to be from the Magic Council, swiftly handcuffed him with magic cuffs.

"Lyon Vastia, you're under arrest for suspicion of being affiliated with the casting of the Eliftis spell."

So I realized that I haven't really focused on Natsu at all yet, so I decided to write that scene over there in his perspective. This whole chapter is really in POV's I haven't done yet.

Thank you all who are still reading this and hopefully enjoying it. Feel free to leave a review, they're always appreciated.

Have a great weekend!

-britishsconesahoy