Disclaimer: The following story is a fan made work of fiction. Fairy Tail and Mahou Sensei Negima! are owned and written by Hiro Mashima and Ken Akamatsu respectively. Please support their official releases.

Chapter 8

Reunited

Gray groaned as he slowly fought his way back to consciousness. He was in a soft but unfamiliar bed, which meant that he was probably in the guild's dorms. Natsu and the others, with the sole exception of Lucy, preferred to camp whenever they were out on a mission. The only times Gray was in a bed were when someone, like Loki, treated them or when they were back at the guild in Magnolia.

The ice user's body certainly ached enough to be in Magnolia. His sleep hazy mind was unable to clearly recall the events of the night before, which probably meant that Natsu and Elfman must have really gotten him good if someone had taken him to the dorms to sleep things off.

Another groan came as Gray realized he wasn't wearing any underwear. He could only feel some sort of odd piece of cloth tied onto his left wrist and his ever present silver necklace around his neck. The charm definitely did not belong to him, and its mere presence raised some serious concerns.

While he lay sleeping, Juvia could have stolen his underwear sometime in the night and slapped some silly love bracelet as a twisted form of recompense. It wouldn't be the first time something like that had happened.

He really did need to set her straight one of these days. She was cute, and he did like the attention, but hewas not a doll to be dressed and undressed at her convenience. He was a grown man, dammit, and his body is my own! Not some toy for her to use and drool over at her convenience.

A surge of pain rain through Gray's head, scattering his thoughts. He raised his right hand to it, hoping to stop the pounding. Why had that pain suddenly appeared? It had only happened after he had thought of dolls. Why did thinking of dressing and of dolls make his heart start to…

"Argh!" Gray cried aloud as he rocketed upright. Memories of the past few days returned in a rush, and the sleepy feeling he had just been feeling evaporated in an instant as adrenaline surged through his body. The sheets feel off of his waist as he grabbed sides of the bed with shaking hands, forcing both eyes shut as he moved.

Then a high pitched voice came from his right that caused his already surging adrenaline to triple in concentration. "No, no, no. Stupid pervert needs to stay still, Master said. The healing process is not yet finished and stupid pervert is no longer allowed to die for now."

It was the voice of the doll who had sliced him across his side. The one which had wielded a giant meat cleaver as it attempted to slash him bit from bit. Gray brought his hands together in preparation of forming a spell and turned his full body to face the tiny monstrosity. Whoever had placed him in this bed had made a mistake in leaving him able to use magic.

Then his plans for revenge came to an abrupt halt as he felt a sharp point of metal dig into his throat. The damn doll was standing on the side of his bed, currently pressing the tip of its over-sized cleaver against his jugular with a wild smile plastered on its childlike face.

"But if stupid pervert really wants to die and tries to resist too much, then Master gave Chachazero permission to make him feel better by stabbing his throat and starting the healing process over again." The doll said in its eerily high-pitched voice. "So. Ya feeling lucky, punk? Are ya?"

Considering the past few days he had just endured and his life in general, then no, Gray was definitely not feeling lucky. Not in the slightest. And although he would ordinarily fight tooth and nail before admitting that to an enemy, this was no time for pride. Not unless he wanted the doll to make good on its threats, and Gray was not confident in being able to dodge its attacks when the thing already had its blade lying on his neck.

Gray slowly shook his head and dropped his hands.

The doll waggled the cleaver in front of Grat's face and sighed in disappointment. "Aw, why'd you have to go and be a good little doggy? I wanted to stab you and make more red liquid gush out. Everyone knows that that's the best part of being a nurse! All of the other stuff just isn't any fun unless you start foaming at the mouth." The thing's sigh deepened before suddenly turning back into a cheery tone. "Eh, oh well. Maybe I can slip a cyanide pill into your food later just to see what happens. In the meantime just lie back down and stay still for awhile. Master told me to clean your room since you have a guest coming along."

The doll drew back the knife and hopped off of the bed. Placing the weapon by the door it then picked up a nearby brush and dust pan and proceeded to starting cleaning.

Gray could feel his mind starting to shatter as he sat in bead, trying to process what the hell had just happened to him. What sort of god-forsaken place had Warrod's spell sent him? And why wasn't Natsu the one stuck here instead, dammit! If anyone deserved to be punished it was the dragon-slayer!

Keeping a wary eye on the bipolar doll as it moved around the room, Gray thought back to the last thing he could remember before he had blacked out. He tried to reign in his climbing levels of adrenaline, as letting it go now would only tire him out if he actually needed to fight later on. If the thing wasn't there to kill him then the smart idea was to play along with it for the time being. Gray had already tried to fight his way out of the grasp of its master before and had failed miserably. This time he would need to use his head to escape.

The doll's master had had him dead to rights but had spared his life. Why? Her ambush had gone off without a hitch and he had been completely unable to resist her. No, that was putting it too lightly. Trying to resist her had been like trying to resist Erza during one of the redheaded woman's infamous rages. A fruitless endeavor which only saw Gray beaten within an inch of his life no matter how hard he tried to resist.

The little girl had been patient, overwhelming, and utterly ruthless in tormenting him with her minions. Then she had ambushed him, beat him into the ground, and laughed at his struggles. Every indication had been that she was going to kill him on the spot.

Yet not only had he awoken – and in nearly perfect physical health if his senses did not deceive him – but one of her creations, a sadistic monster that had carved into his side like a butcher cut into meat, was cleaning out his sickroom... for a guest?

Things did not add up. No one changed their mind so drastically without a reason, and going from wanting him dead to healing his wounds definitely qualified as a drastic change. Gray needed to know why the situation had changed or else he might not make it out of this crazy place without losing his mind.

He turned his attention to the crazy doll currently cleaning his room. The thing was clearly insane – and possibly in possession of an I.Q. belonging to that of a child – but it was also a possible source of information. Information which could serve as a starting point to figuring things out. The question was how to go about obtaining it.

Gray eyed the monstrosity with a way eye and considered his options. Shrugging his shoulders and giving a rough cough to clear his throat, he tried to start up a conversation with the abomination.

"So what's the deal pipsqueak," Gray muttered darkly. He might need information from the infernal creation, but that did not mean that he was going to butter up to it. "Feel like healing me up before doing round two? Is that how things are gonna go down around here?"

"Ooh, what a great idea! It's been ages since master did that to someone. Would you like to volunteer for that?" The malicious creature stopped its sweeping to give him a wide eyed, hopeful stare.

Gray cocked a single eyebrow and stared at it flatly. "No."

"Aw. And here you got my hopes up, stupid pervert. You're such a stupid meanie. I really hope that master lets me kill you before you die from old age."

The ice user barked out a laugh at that comment. "And I hope that I get another chance to freeze you solid. Right now the score between us is up in my favor, creature. Or did you forget that you lost to me?"

"Nope. You beat me fair and square. But Chachazero is just a minion. Master used me and my sisters to beat stupid pervert nearly to death. Hahahaha. Stupid pervert must be really stupid if he already forgot about that.

"Uh huh. Sure that sounds great, but anyone who hides behind an army of dolls has got to be more than a little scared of the world around them. If your master really is all that tough then she wouldn't have needed you guys to tire me out. It's really kind of sad that she's so weak. It's almost like she got cold feet or something when I told her that I was a part of Fairy Tail."

Gray's words landed on the doll like a lightning bolt hitting Natsu. The thing's entire body went rigid, and its too large head started to swivel around on its neck to face the ice-user. Bingo! Now he was making some progress.

"Nope, I don't think so," it said flatly, "murder doesn't give her cold feet; just the winter and meetings with certain members of Ala Rubra. Same goes for being scared. But this Fairy Tail thing sounds pretty. Is it something I can stab? Is it? Is it?"

Gray blinked at the doll's jumble of strange words. Was its first impulse really to think of stabbing something? "No. It's a wizard guild."

The doll stared blankly at his face. Maybe more explanation was required? "A guild," he said again, this time more slowly as he took care to enunciate his words. "You know what the word means, right? It's an association where like minded people, who are generally mages, gather for social and economic betterment. And Fairy Tail is the best wizard guild there is."

It continued to stare blankly at him. "So... can I kill it? Does it bleed if you cut it with a knife?"

Gray threw his pillow at the thing's face. This was just getting ridiculous. "No!" he yelled at the stupid creature. "It's a special group of people who can use magic that mages and non-mages alike contact for jobs and assignments. Get it now, you dunce?"

The doll stopped his thrown pillow with one tiny hand and shook its head with an annoying 'tsk'. "Oh, you mean those old things still exist? I thought they ended when magic users created that whole separate world thingamajig, and then later when this world's mages started going over to join them a couple centuries back. Seriously, who'd a thunk that they were still around. How have you lot not been turned into ermines by now?"

Silence fell between them as a terrible, hollow feeling began to grow in the pit of Gray's stomach. The pain in his head started to increase as well.

The creature's words made no sense. They couldn't make sense.

It didn't know about Fairy Tail? Magic guilds were gone? There was a separate world for magic users? People could be turned into ermines?

Gray's mind blazed at a million miles an hour as he reviewed everything he had learned since arriving at this strange place. Possibilities were viewed and discarded as he began to assimilate and piece the various bits of information into the picture of a horrible puzzle.

Maybe Warrod's spell had really messed up and tossed them so far into the future that Fairy Tail had been forgotten. Mavis' spell had cost the guild seven long years and that had only been when a dragon had attacked. Zeref's magic could have made an already bad aftereffect even worse. For all Gray knew everyone who had been present at the hot springs could be scattered across both time and space.

But no, he did not know that for certain. He needed to examine the situation logically. Panicking would only cause his still exhausted body to pass out. If the doll was telling the truth, then all he really knew was that he was somewhere or sometime where they did not know of Fairy Tail and where wizard guilds no longer existed. Maybe the blasted thing was lying, and this was some kind of trick to mess with his head.

Gray tried to add in other nuggets of information he had uncovered. The dolls had spoken some sort of strange language when he had first encountered them, a fact that had been corroborated in his short interaction with their master. But after a while Gray had been able to understand them and the initial issue had fallen from his attention.

It was possible to do that with some forms of magic. It would probably be a cinch for a powerful mage like the little girl. The language issue also added credence to Gray being in a different time or place from the one he knew.

But something else the little doll had said bothered him. Creating a separate world for magic users? That was an impossible feat. No mage could do something like that. Not even Zeref. Creating pseudo worlds was possible with certain types of spatial magics, but creating an entirely new world? Something like that was impossible and went against the magic's fundamental laws as Gray understood them.

That thought caused his eyes to widen. Gray had forgotten to ask a very important, and very basic, question. A question which, considering a previous experience of his, might actually be relevant to his current situation.

With a shaking voice, Gray gave voice to the question whose possible answer he most feared. "So, out of curiosity, where in Earthland are we? Is this Fiore?"

The doll's chirped reply sounded in his head like a deathknell. "Nope. Never even heard of it. Welcome to Mahora Academy, Japan, you ugly foreigner piece of shit."

Gray started panting, his breaths coming in heaving gasps as things began to add up. Not knowing Fairy Tail. The odd language the dolls had spoken. The girl's insanely powerful ice magic and army of dolls.

There was only one explanation. He was once again trapped in a world far away from the one he had known. Separated from his friends and loved ones. And he had no idea where he needed to begin to make his way back home.

As he sat in the bed trying to wrap his brain around that terrible idea, the door to his small opened with a slam. It impacted against the nearby wall with enough force to shake the bed. A pink blur shot through it. Shortly followed by a booming, idiotic voice which Gray had never before found comforting but was now beyond thankful to hear.

"Oh thank you Igneel, thank you! I'm not alone after all."

The person's piercing voice filled Gray's ears as a pair of arms started squeezing the air out of his lungs. The momentary feeling of comfort was gone, and Gray found himself instantly irritated.

Yep. This could only be Natsu.

"It's only stupid Gray, and I may wish Happy, or Lucy, or Wendy, or Erza, or Carla, or even Warrod were here instead, but at least I'm not alone!"

Gray felt his right eye twitch as he tried to pull air back into his lungs. Natsu had just named every single other person who had been at the hot springs other than him. The pink-haired bastard preferred Warrod over Gray. Warrod! The senile bastard with the terrible sense of humor who was probably responsible for them being stuck in this godforsaken reality in the first place!

"Gray! Stop being a lazy bum and get your dumb ass up and help me out already, or I swear that I'll punch you in the –" A preemptive punch to Natsu's face shut the man up and sent him flying to the floor.

"Goddammit Natsu. Shut up, stop trying to squeeze me to death and let me speak already!" Gray yelled at his obnoxious guild-mate. The ice mage glared at the dazed dragon-slayer lying on the floor. "You don't fling people around in bed when they're just recovering from being beat just short of death, moron. Show a shred of decency for once or I'll kick your ass so hard even Wendy won't be able to put it back to normal!"

Natsu lifted his head and glared up at Gray from the floor. Then he sniggered and pointed at Gray's midriff. "Ha! Maybe you should put some clothes on before telling someone else to be decent."

For a moment Gray froze in that familiar feeling whenever someone pointed out that he had undressed. Then he flung himself off of his bed and on top of the fallen dragon slayer, lack of clothes be dammed. Gray had been hunted by blood-thirsty dolls for two days, beaten unconscious by a sadistic little girl, and was now apparently trapped in a strange land with only Natsu for company. The dragon-slayer's remarks were the final straw to Gray's tattered patience.

"Argh!" he yelled out as he flung punch after punch into the other man's body. "This. Is. For. Every. Stupid. Thing. You. Ever. Did!" Natsu tried to fight back, but Gray kept breaking through the other man's blocks and misdirecting the few punches which came his way. "And. For. Every. Damn. Doll. That. Made. Me. Bleed!"

Gray smelled a hint of sulfur and saw Natsu's throat begin to bulge. Oh no, he would not be pulling that trick off this time. Faster than Natsu could form and release his fireball, Gray brought his hands together and cast his own spell.

"Ice Make: Hammer!"

Several dozen hits and multiple cries of agony later, Natsu lay quiet as Gray staggered to his feet and stared down at him triumphantly. "That's what you get for messing with me, bastard."

A pleasant feeling of triumph flowed through him as he stared down at the other man's unmoving body. It was almost as much fun beating him in a brawl now as it was when they were kids. Then Gray paused as he recalled his current situation. Oh dangit. What if Natsu had been there to rescue him? Could Gray have just ruined his friend's rescue attempt?

"Well, shit," Gray muttered to himself. He had done a pretty thorough job on Natsu. The dragon-slayer would probably be out of things for at least the next five minutes. "Now what do I do?"

"I'd recommend getting dressed as a start," spoke a sharply sweet voice spoke from his left. "Then you can follow me for a discussion that will be taking place with some of my other guests, and your presence is non-negotiable."

Adrenaline shooting through the roof once more, Gray swiveled his eyes to look at the source of the voice. Sure enough, standing in his doorway as brazen as could be was the little girl who had thrown an entire iceberg at him. Great. Now things had really gone downhill.

Ready for trouble, Gray assumed his casting stance and stood over Natsu's body protectively. Pounding Natsu with a hammer until he blacked out was a fun way to pass the time. Letting an enemy kill the man was entirely different. Even if Gray's chances of stopping the enemy were close to nonexistent.

The little girl watched him move with a clear look of disdain. She gave a haughty sniff and strode into the room with a cocky swagger to her hips, motioning for the demented doll to leave the room with an airily wave of her hand.

Her sultry black dress from their battle was gone, replaced by some kind of uniform with rips and patches where it had been recently burned. As Gray looked her over he saw all of the usual telltale signs of someone who had gotten into a fight with Natsu. The singed hair and smell of sulfur were always a dead giveaway.

Gray mentally kicked himself for knocking Natsu out cold. Now it really was looking like the pink-haired idiot had fought the girl on his way to break Gray out of this place.

The sound of a closing door caused Gray to look at the entrance to his small room. Another one of the puppets, one that appeared more dangerous than any of the others Gray had fought, had just entered and closed the door behind it. More metallic, and cast in the shape of a teenage girl instead of a child's plaything, the newest abomination moved with a deadly grace to its footsteps. Its clothes and body also showed the signs of an encounter with Natsu, making the possibility that he was here on a rescue mission even higher.

Gray frowned as he turned his gaze back the little girl while watching it from the corner of his eyes. He did not know if he could take on the girl, let alone them both of them at once, but he would be dammed if he gave up before a fight even broke out. The other monstrosity had said that he was being healed, but until Gray could verify that it was not for some ulterior purpose he would treat the current situation as some kind of trap. It would not be the first time that one of their enemies had done something like this to them as part of some more elaborate plan.

"What's your angle, puppet girl?" Gray baited. If he could push her buttons, then there was a chance she might let her guard slip and create an opportunity for him to grab Natsu and escape. "Did Natsu kick your ass before making it to me? Or did you just feel like going for round two?"

Up close the girl didn't look any older than ten years. But appearances could be deceiving in the world of magic and Gray knew better than to underestimate her. The girl's magic was the real deal, while those eyes of hers did not belong to any child he had ever met.

No, Gray considered as he locked stares with her, those eyes did not belong to any ten-year old. They were the eyes of someone who had killed before, and who was now trying to decide whether they would kill again.

At their feet, Natsu began to stir. The man's ridiculous durability to ice attacks was finally useful for a change. Gray just needed to stall for time while the dragon-slayer roused himself. To do that he would need to keep the girl talking and focused on him.

"So, kiddo, did my warning come true?" Gray taunted, knowing the absurdity of his words before they even left his lips, She had already ignored his first taunts with a nonchalant gaze at him, but maybe he could also get her to underestimate his intelligence by placing him in the same box as Natsu. "Maybe my warning about Fairy Tail gave you get cold feet when it came time to kill me. Seeing as how you're looking a little toasty at the moment, Natsu probably kicked your ass before coming to find me."

A dark look crossed the girl's features. Gray knew that he was close to provoking her as soon as he saw it.

A hint of malice crept into the girl's voice as she replied. "Cold feet? And me, getting defeated by the fool lying before you? You don't know how wrong you are on both counts, little ice mage. You are no longer my prey and hardly were in the first place. Two facts for which you should be eternally thankful."

The girl tucked a stray lock of hair behind her right ear as she moved closer. Her eyes flickered lazily between Gray and the prone body at his feet. "Our little fight from before was merely a minor incident. One that I have corrected by healing your body – through no small expense to myself – and by providing you with the means to understand my speech via the charm attached to your wrist." Sitting down on the side of the bed, the little girl crossed her slim arms over her chest before continuing to speak. "Now stand down thank me for my generous grace before I take your bait and reduce your shaking body to dust. I may be immortal, but my patience is not unlimited."

"Say I believe you," Gray said slowly as he stared at her narrowed eyes. "And that you and I are not actually enemies, despite the fact that your dolls hunted me for two days, tried to kill me, and despite you yourself beating me unconscious and nearly killing me. Tell me this: why do you have Natsu's burn marks all over your uniform?"

Her eyes flashed such an intense shade of red that Gray almost froze her on the spot. "The reason why I am burned all over, little ice mage, is because your fool of a companion had the temerity to pick a fight with me in my own home just like you did."

For a moment Gray could have sworn that her hair formed a golden halo of power behind her head as she hissed her reply. Maybe he should have asked a different question. But he was given no time to reply as she continued to speak.

"On my way to fetch this… this idiot and a few acquaintances of my own so that they could meet you, the pink-haired moron at your feet blew down the door to my home and assaulted my servant." The girl bit every word out as though hoping to draw blood. "Furthermore, when my servant and I tried to restrain him, he then started a brawl which leveled half of my house and destroyed over a dozen pieces of my personal collection. Pieces which I had spent centuries collecting."

The hair on the back of Gray's neck to stand up. He had misheard her, right? She had only been kidding about being immortal before, right? Sure he knew not to underestimate someone who looked young, like Wendy, but the girl in front of him could not be centuries old. It was impossible.

"Centuries?" He muttered as he looked closer at the girl. "But you look like you're only –" he cut off his words as the girl threw back her head and laughed.

"Oh no, my poor little ice mage. I did not misspeak in the slightest. I am far older than I seem." The girl gave him a look which no little girl should ever have on their face. Gray instinctively recoiled from it before managing to regain control of his body. Her look had just sent his danger instincts screaming, and Gray knew better than to ignore them. He had pushed one hell of a button by accident, and the worst thing he could possibly do in this situation would be to show any sign of weakness.

"You see, mortal, I am a vampire. I don't know if you have them in your world – and yes, I am aware that both you and your friend are not from this world – but I have lived for centuries in this one. The inhabitants of this world call me the Dollmaster, Queen of the Night, Apostle of Destruction, or the Dark Evangel. There is no one in either the mundane or magical worlds with a higher bounty on their head than I. And none who have sought to claim the bounty have lived to tell the tale."

She hopped off of the bed as she spoke, circling Gray's position until she came to stand next to the two Fairies.

"Yet this impudent fool not only destroyed my home and assaulted my servant," she said darkly. "He then had the utter gall to repeat the same with myself. And unlike your ignorant self he did so in full knowledge of who I am Me! Evangline A.K. McDowell! And as such, little ice mage, he owes me a great debt. One that I intend to collect at the earliest convenience."

A slim hand reached out as she crouched by Natsu. It fluttered over Natsu's aorta with deadly grace. Gray almost reacted to it, instinctively readying himself to cast a spell to forcibly separate her from Natsu's unconscious form. He held himself back with a force of will, hoping that the girl was only trying to prove a point.

The groaning fire mage shifted slightly at her touch, seeming to sense a threat even in his blacked out state. The girl's fingers slowly traced a vein in his neck, fluttering lightly as she spoke.

"Oh yes, you little bastard," she purred darkly as a rime of frost spread across the floor from her feet. "I will collect on what you owe. You can count on it."

Gray watched the girl's every movement as she stood over Natsu. Gears were continually turning in Gray's head as she spoke. Assumptions and hypothesis were examined and discarded as he thought over every word and gesture she had made since coming into the room.

While antagonistic and possibly threatening to Natsu, there was nothing immediately hostile in either her words or her actions. Actually, her story about Natsu blasting into her home and tearing it apart made too much sense for Gray to disbelieve. The pink-haired man was a complete idiot, one seemingly created for the sole purpose of fighting and causing collateral damage. The girl's wrath was not only understandable but quite logical.

The part of her being a mythical vampire of all things… well, Gray was inclined the believe that as well. He was pretty sure that they did not exist in his own world, but this was not Earthland. Who knew what sort of strange things went on in this place that they all thought to be normal. For all Gray knew, someone could have raised a tame dragon and named it Puff! Alternate worlds were weird places, and the less he thought about what made them weird the less they would hurt Gray's head.

Not everyone could be like Natsu. And the fact that the man's usual level of cheerfulness had been there as well, instead of the grim faced man Gray had encountered shortly after being freed back in Edolas, was also a key part of the puzzle. And with that piece the rest of the puzzle began to click into place.

If the man had been on his game then there was no way Gray could have knocked him out so easily. It was only when they were in a relaxed atmosphere, like when they were at the guild, that Natsu ever went down so easily. While somewhat scuffed, the dragon-slayer had seemed to be physically alright. Something which would not be true if the man had fought his way through the same puppet horde Gray had faced.

Not unless he had take the stealthy approach, and the possibility of Natsu sneaking around a stronghold full of powerful enemies was flat-out impossible. Gray would sooner say that Lucy was normal or that Gajeel was his best friend before the day came that Natsu ever avoided a fight.

These thoughts led Gray back to the conclusion he had drawn shortly before the dragon-slayer's entrance. Something had gone wrong with Warrod's spell and resulted in them longer being in Earthland. When combined with the girl's own words, it all made sense.

Gray and Natsu were in another world from their own. In this new world, the two of them would need all the help they could get.

Even if it came from a creature who had almost managed to kill him.

"I still don't trust you," Gray told her as the girl continued to softly stroke her nails along Natsu's neck. Her predatory gaze was unnerving, but if she was not actually an enemy then it was something he could handle with ease. "But I believe your stories about Natsu and about yourself. So with that being said, I think that I need to ask you some questions about this world as well."

Her eyes flickered to his own. Unlike his first time meeting her, they were now a pure emerald green. But regardless of their color they were still colder than the coldest ice spell Gray had ever created. He could feel himself being weighed and considered by those frozen orbs, and knew that he had reached a pivotal moment with her.

After a moment of thought the girl's eyes turned away. She shook her head as stopped stroking Natsu's neck and stood up. "Not here."

Gray crossed both arms over his chest. Great. They had reached an impasse.

"Then we're stuck," he said. "I don't exactly trust people who tried to kill me a short time ago. Especially when they claim to be powerful, century old vampires."

Tension filled the room as she locked stares with Gray. Neither of them were budging, and the girl's doll merely stood quiet at her place by the door. Unless something changed, Gray felt like he would soon be cross spells with the girl once again. The tension was broken by the return of the idiot.

"Kya! Gray you bastard, where did you go?"

Natsu picked himself off of the floor, shoving aside the tiny vampire so forcefully that her body went crashing into a nearby wall. The dragon-slayer looked at her twitching form for a moment before he turned his head to locate Gray.

Upon finding his fellow Fairy, Natsu shoved his face into Gray's with a growl. "Hentai bastard. Take this!"

The man's fist buried itself in Gray's stomach, sending the air flying from his lungs. Another punch connected with Gray's face and the ice mage swore that he saw stars burst into being within the room.

Woozy from the hit and his still healing injuries, Gray tried to stay standing but fell against his bed instead. His body may have been better but he was far from recovered from his two days of constant battle.

The dragon-slayer stomped over and stood over Gray, arms folded beneath his chest. "So, Gray, did that get your attention?"

Gray scowled at the man and took a swipe at Natsu's face, growling when it missed. "Shitty flamer. Can't you pay attention to the mood in the room?"

"Nope. 'Cause some idiot who can't even dress himself knocked me out!"

"Oh shut up. It's not my fault that you're so weak that even Lucy could knock you out."

"What did ya just say? Are you trying to get me to beat you unconscious?"

"You can try it anytime you like, dragon fodder. Just not right now. It's seriously a bad time."

"Iceprick."

"Smokebrain."

Natsu snorted as their brief argument came to an end Then a serious look came over his face, and he offered Gray an arm to help him stand. "Well, you're probably right for once. We've got a lot to go over, Gray. You've probably already figured it out but we're not in Earthland anymore. So put some clothes on and hurry up. We need to get started on finding the others, okay?"

The ice mage looked at his friend's face as he stared at the man's proffered arm. Natsu wore a look Gray most closely associated with the fire mage's failed quests to find his dragon father. It was a look which contained hope in the face of a world which would deny him. One that was resolved to never stop trying, but possessing doubts as to whether he would ever succeed. Or if success was even possible.

It did more to convince Gray that they were in over their heads than anything else. He grabbed Natsu's arm and hauled himself up. "Yeah, we were just about to start talking about this whole Edolas type situation when you woke up and started fighting me again."

Gray shot a look towards where he had last seen the ancient girl. He could feel the vampire's anger from where he stood and it was starting to make him edgy. "But, before we get back to there, I think that you might need to go some else before… never mind. It's already too late."

The girl had managed to regain her feet and was now glaring daggers at Natsu with her eyes. Her hair askew, and with a tiny bit of blood dripping from her nose, Gray could feel the icy power bubbling within her small form.

He shook his head and backed away a little. Leave it to Natsu to piss off an ancient and insanely powerful vampire in her own home. Then do it twice in one day. Gray backed away from Natsu, making sure that she would be able to hit the dragon-slayer with a spell without catching him in the effects as well.

Backing his friend up in a fight to the death was one thing. Gray would do that anytime on any day. But helping the idiot handle issues that were the man's own fault? Nope. That was none of his business. Even if it was with a centuries old demon of the night that had nearly killed Gray a few days earlier.

It was a rule as old as the guild itself. Fairy Tail mages handled their own stuff unless special circumstances were involved. As this was not currently one of those special circumstances, it was time for Gray to disentangle himself and get away from what would likely be ground zero for the third fight between the girl and his friend.

"We'll put our stuff on hold until later as well, vampire. But in the meantime I'd be grateful if you could hook me up with some clothes so before I go to that meeting you mentioned." Gray grabbed the sheet from his bed and wrapped it tightly around his waist. "I'd like to have some sort of clothing before meeting with other people."

The vampire turned her head ever so slightly in the direction of her doll. All without breaking her steadfast glare in Natsu's direction. "Chachamaru? Please escort this man to the wardrobe section and see that he is properly outfitted. I will take Natsu to join the others myself. We have matters to discuss before the meeting begins." A cold smile graced her features as the dragon-slayer frowned.

She then took a step forward towards Natsu, who finally seemed to sense that he was actually in danger. The pink-haired man locked gazes with the girl, his formerly relaxed position moving closer to that of his battle ready stance.

The tall doll whose name appeared to be Chachamaru took a step towards Gray. She gestured towards the door. "This way, Mr. Gray. You may follow me to your destination."

Moving silently, the automaton exited through the door and turned left. Giving Natsu a roll of his eyes and the vampire a parting glare, Gray tightened the sheet around his waist and followed the doll out of the room and into a giant stone corridor.

He made sure to hang back from the doll as they walked. Although he felt that they were not going to try anything at the moment, his trust in the things was less than zero. If it tried to pull a fast one on him then Gray would be ready.

A sharp series of booming blasts echo throughout the halls just before he left the doorway. Dust fell from the stone ceiling for a moment, and a blast of intense heat followed by a chilling cold slammed into Gray's back. Swearing under his breath at the dragon-slayer's impatience, Gray poked his head back in to take a look.

The room was in shambles. In the second that Gray had been out of it, parts of it were covered with ice while the bed was covered in a blazing fire. But instead of being locked in combat, a completely different sight greeted Gray's eyes.

Natsu was running around the room with his head and hands encased in a single block of ice. The fire mage ran around the room for several seconds before going to a nearby wall and starting to bash his face against it. Meanwhile, a cloud of smoke and a string of furious curses coming from beyond Gray's blazing bed told him where Evangeline was located. The girl's tiny form soon came into view as she was rolling on the floor, slapping her tiny hands onto her fiery clothes.

After spending a few seconds staring at Natsu and the girl as they tried to free themselves from the other's magic, Gray verified his earlier conclusion that whatever was going on between them was due to more to stupidity rather than actual hostility. Thus it was well within Fairy Tail's defined 'personal stuff' rule and was worth neither Gray's time nor his attention.

He closed the door and gestured for the doll to start walking. "Lead on already. Let's get out of here."

END

A/N: This is the second part of the previous chapter and is one of the reasons why 5 chapters morphed into many more. Rewriting it took hours and hours of effort but boy did it need to be done. Hopefully I was successful and you all can enjoy the read. Also, I am very much liking my shorter A/N's. The one I put in chapter 6 had a lot of information in it but was way too long for my tastes. But with this chapter I am all caught up and can get back to my Friday releases.

Go vote in the poll! Your votes matter :-)

And ouch. No comments at all? Not even a flame? That one stung a little bit. Comments definitely help me (and most writers) stay motivated. They are like fuel for us.

Only one comment for this chapter.

Chachamaru: Everyone's favorite gynoid will definitely be one of the Negima girls who will be receiving screen time in this fic. It won't be in a leading role, but given her connections to both Eva and Chao it is something that I cannot ignore. While I have a definite fondness in my hear for both her and androids in general (long live Commander Data!), writing her does leave me scratching my head at times. Trying to nail down her emotionally driven emotionless is quite the balancing act. I'm not sure if I succeeded, but I gave it my best try and will keep on trying to improve in the future.

Recommended Reading: This time I would like to recommend Flower Shop Romance by Yojimbra. It is a simple slice of life fic in which a young Naruto and Ino are unwillingly forced to interact with one another and forced to bond over gardening. It is a great fluff piece for an off the road pairing.

Until next time,

Elsil