'This is all to protect them. This is all for the guild.'
But why does it sound so empty? It's taste in her lips so bland? She would have nonetheless prefer the bitterness in her tongue, yet her senses betrayed her.
'This is all to protect them. This is all for the guild.'
For what seemed like eternity she chanted those words inside her little head like a prayer. And for what seemed like forever, she held her breath as shovel after shovel and pile after pile of earth made its way up on the ground just beside to where she was standing.
"Get a hold of yourself, First,"
She dared not look up, for she would only be able to make out just the silhouette of the man in the dark. His face, she was sure, would not be smirking, and she would find that his jaw was clenched tightly, his eyes glaring daggers at nowhere but the violated grave.
"If what I presume is true, then we need to..."
"The dragon slayers sans Wendy will soon make a move. All we need now is to keep the play going,"
A pregnant silence echoed through the deserted guild hall, minus the occasional clink and clank of the utensils and tankards being tidied up by Mirajane. Mavis, barefeet as ever, curtsied on top of the bar table, and stopped just in front of the lightning dragon slayer who was eyeing the bar maid with contempt. "I know that what I'm asking you to do is not a simple thing, but Fairy Tail needs to stay vigilant and..."
"I know, First," Laxus cut abruptly, downing his drink before slamming the tankard on the table smashing it in the process, shards flying everywhere, some landing beside her dainty feet. "Zeref's not pulling a shit on us and gettng away this time," he growled as he pulled himself up and headed straight for the door. "Fairy Tail is not going to let him have his way this time. I swear to that."
Clank.
The sound of iron hitting metal brought her back to her senses, followed by Elfman's exhausted voice through the deserted side of the graveyard.
"We're here, First, Master," the burly Strauss said as he wiped his brow with his bare arm, standng on one leg and leaning on his shovel, iron plate stuck on the ground just a few inches from what seemed to be a smooth, flat surface slightly glinting from the little light that managed to escape and break through the thick branches of the looming trees.
As though Elfman never uttered a single word or as though his voice was muted by an unknown force, the people around him gave no response, and instead all eyes turned, though hidden by the darkness of the night, to the man who was boring holes with his blazing eyes to the what was now visible part of Juvia Lockser's casket.
Gray.
He felt clammy and nauseated, as if something was suddenly weighing him down, but he brushed if off as he tried to control his dizziness at the back of his head. It was not the time to entertain a sudden tick in his head or to pass out, when just in front of him the answer to the mistery surrounding Amefurashi and it's neardy town lay.
One week.
That was the time Gray had asked to make a decision for the exhumation of Juvia. A time to sort his mind, to calm his storm and to put a leash around his demon. He needed to have a clear and rational thinking to decide what course he is going to take to, either ease his pain and, or wallow in his misery. His fucking seven days.
He was annoyed at first. Why had the decision for that matter fell on his hands? Alone? He approached Gajeel two days afte the visit of Rogue and Sting to ask him what his take on the proposed exhumation,only for the iron dragon slayer to look at him with malicious eyes and a smirk.
"You decide, stripper,"
And then Juvia Lockser's 'bestfriend' walked off, claiming he had more important matters to attend.
Fuck.
Gray wanted nothing but to freeze Gajeel's ass and pound it to smitherins. To hell with that 'more important matters.' Isn't Juvia as important as fuck? Correction: 'wasn't', a mall voice inside of him whispered. 'She's dead. As well as you parents. As well as Ur.'
Of course. She died in his arm. The memory was so vivid it was as though what happened two yeas ago at the war against Zeref was just yesterday. He still could feel the trembling of her body as she pulled in her last breath, and he could still smell her unique scent bathed with blood. Her blood. The blood that drenched both of them and the ground where she went down. The same blood that was now flowing in his very veins. He could still clearly hear in his head her parting words, how he had owned her very life from the day he took her rain away. From the day he took the rain to the day the rain died.
He swallowed the lump in his throat as he watched Elfman and Bickslow slowly pulled the coffin out of the earth below and his stomach gave a very displeasing sensation, and at the same time his mind reeled with endless possibilities.
What will be waiting for them once they open the coffin?
What was he hoping?
Was he hoping that upon pulling the lid open the water mage would just jumped on him, peppered him with 'I miss you Gray-samas', wailed like a baby for being left behind to rot alive six feet under, then after that, chant an endless "I'm sorry Gray-samas' for dying two years straight? Even if that, Mavis forbid, could happen, wouldl he easily forgive her for the hell she had put him through?
In those years, everything Gray ever valued seemed to have lost their meaning and importance. Even his life left him on its own accord. He would beat himself by going to missions after exhausting missions just to keep his mind off track and from straying and dwelling to unwanted, hopeless thought. He needed the distraction. He busied himself by overdoing simple jobs and he tried going to pubs and once, he went to a brothel out of desperation, only to end up freezing the woman he payed for the night when she attempted to touch him, fearing for her life because a jealous Juvia is a dangerous Juvia.
'But she's already dead,' it occured to him, as he watched in utter annoyance the woman frozen from her waist down squirm, trying to free herself from the harsh ice but to no avail. At that time, Gray realized that his mind had began playing tricks on him into thinking that the water mage would just appear out of nowhere branding the prostitute as love rival, and after tossing a decent amount of jewels on the floor, he left the room cursing himself, not even bothering to free the woman who was then screaming profanities at the top of her lungs. This is all Juvia's damn fault.
So, would he forgive her?
Or she can just stay dead, and at the thought of it, Gray felt a heavy blow in his chest, and he sighed, as he now watched Bickslow trying to wrench the tight lid of the coffin. Juvia Lockser can stay dead and he will continue to wallow in despair and self loathing. He will continue in building his walls so high even the mightiest and the strongest tsunami wouldn't be able to break. He will build it without a door, and he will not let the same fate befall those still around him. He wil stay away from them, distance himself. Gray Fullbuster will not let another Ur, Ultear, and Juvia happen again in his live. This was the last for him.
And lastly...
They can open the goddamn coffin and find no Juvia at all.
"Bullshit.'
"Gray..?"
From beside him, hidden in the darkness came the voice of one Cana Alberona, who sounded too sober for her own. Her stare was, as Gray can put it, was mixed with pain, confusion, uncertainty, but too bad, he was not really in the mood for her crap of lessons, so he just spat at her.
"What?"
All the card mage did was just stare at him, clearly making it a point for Gray that she's not giving even a tiny fuck in his harshness, making Gray tore his gaze from her. Out of irritation, perhaps? Whatever it was, Cana just shrugged all of it and put a comforting arm around the ice mage's shoulder, an act he accepted halfheartedly, and two years ago he would've blasted into oblivion the owner of the offending arm.
Cana knew the stress and toIl Gray has been taking from the past years, and now, an alarming news about the dead mage's scent circulating around Fiore has triggered the bitterness, hurt, longing, and self loathing Gray had successfully buried into the deepest ice, the same time the water mage was lowered to the earth to have eternal rest. Yes, he buried them deep, but the pain was still eating him whole. He isolated his emotions, and his cold demeanor made him the foe not even Natsu's flame could melt. Sure, he would sometimes indulge the flame dragon slayer but it doesn't mean that he really did it because, hell, it was supposed to be that way, even way before. But he did it to feel pain, to remind him that he's supposed to feel pain. That pain is all he could ever have. And she wanted to reach out to him. But she doesn't really know how and where to start.
Should she give him a smile? Or share him her alcohol? [no, scratch that.] Or rather go out of her sober way and comfort him like big sisters do to their younger siblings? Does she need to offer him some kind of assurance? If yes, assurance of what? Whereas the only damn thing they are sure of right now is that at the time the coffin was opened they will see her rotting corpse, and she will remain dead, just like two years ago. And hell, yes, Cana was sure that just like two years ago, Gray will break.
God knows she wanted nothing [at that time] but to snatch Gray out of that blasted place and hide him somewhere safe, with no one and nothing to hurt him. Mavis, he had suffered enough! Looking closely, she noticed [not that she didn't before] that the bags under his hooded, lifeless eyes became wider and darker and he seemed to have lost some weight. His messy hair, lacking the luster it used to have and which had been unkempt since he started beating himself by going to jobs after jobs had grown a few inches, and Cana grimaced at the thought that with the way things are going, it would just be a matter of time before her adoptive brother turned himself into an unfeeling, stripping furball.
"Is it just me finding it weird that Gajeel isn't here?" Gray flatly asked, not letting his gaze off of Juvia's coffin. "She...she's her bestfriend, after all." His voice shook, but he knew better than to show them that he's scared. He's confused as fuck, and at the same time he wanted to entertain the faint glimmer of hope that maybe, just maybe, she might still be alive. His heart gave a little jump and he balled his hands into fists to contain the little excitement that managed to settle at the bottom of his stomach. Fuck butterflies.
"...already said we wanted to keep the party as small as possible." Laxus huffed, arms folded across his bare chest in the chilly night.
"But Gajeel is a different story, and I know that you know what I even mean. Hell, everyone knows that that walking piece of iron shit will bite everyone's head off just to be here, Master." Cana couldn't help but replied scathingly in Gray's stead, earning herself a deadly glare from Laxus, but that didn't even made her flinch. "And also," she drawled, annoying their master in the process, "not that I'm complaining but I never expected myself to be included in the list of the party, with the First, and this two dicks."
They would've heard a chorus of 'manly' and 'dicks, dicks, dicks,' had Mavis not gave Elfman a pointed look and had Laxus not instructed Bickslow earlier to disposed off his handy, but most of the time, annoying babies.
"It is my decision, and I deeply apologize for putting you in this situation." Stepping forward, Mavis looked straight to Cana, eyes boring holes, and the card mage winced. She then look to Gray who just stared at her looking disinterested, but at the same time provided her his ears. "But I have my reasons, and I know I'm not ever gonna regret putting you altogether..."
"And the Graveyard Team is born," Bickslow snickered.
"...and as for Gajeel, he's with Natsu heading to Amefurashi Villag..."
"What?" Cana asked in disbelief. "Just what's going on, First? Laxus?" She pulled her arm off the ice mage's shoulder and rested her hand on her hip, foot tapping the grounnd impatiently, looking at the two masters with a raised brow. "Spill it, blondie,"
""Cana," Laxus growled, a spark of electricity escaping his fingertips, which didn't go unnoticed by Elfman, who quickly shielded Can using his body, and Bickslow, taking his place beside his leader, dolls appearing out of nowhere.
"ENOUGH."
One pissed ice mage roared, catching the attention of the other mages. Cana was about to protest but he cut her off by throwing her a sharp look. "I don't really care where that iron piece of shit went or who's with him." Dammit, the memories of that damn village was beginning to eat his patience away, and he knew he needed to get out of that place, far away from them as soon as possible as he felt his dark side awakening. "Just...let's just get this over with."
"Damn, you did took your time, bastard," Laxus sneered, looking down at the card mage with a triumphant grin in his face in which he received a middle finger and silent asshole before signaling Bickslow to drag the coffin open., before looking at the fairy tactician.
Minutes later Gray was nowhere to be found.
#
"It's getting stronger," Natsu remarked as he continued walking around the deserted village, sniffing the air. "This is definitely Zeref's."
"Aye,"
"But, this place really feels off. Like there's more involve." Rogue sniffed also but grimaced as the strong, unidentified scent permeated through his nostrils. "There's no mistaking for the abnormal rain."
"And Fiore's in drought for two fucking years," Sting scowled, pinching the bridge of his nose while cursing under his breath, "and this village is turning into a fishground."
"Whoever is messing with us again ain't gonna get with this unscathed," Gajeel spat.
The mission was driving the four of them nuts. Damn Laxus! They were scouting the village for a couple of hours. One time, all dragon slayers were running to where a very strong magic presence was felt, and the next they found their attention diverted as they felt another wave of magic presence plus an all too familiar scent coming from the opposite direction, and it was pissing him of. He knew that if the funny smell of the idiot flame dragon slayer's brother was detected, then nothing good will come out of it. But without a second thought or a single comment he accepted to do it rather than to find himself on that irksome graveyard with Gray.
He would've let out another set of his choice of profanities when a blinding light and a magic similar to one stripper coming up ahead of them caught their attention.
#
He was so fucked up to believe that she could be alive, and he felt all the air inside of him got sucked out of his lungs; in front of him lay the rotting corpse of the water mage. Dead as hell.
#
'This is all to protect them. This is all for the guild.'
And Mavis must make sure to keep Juvia Lockser dead.