The last of my Angst Week fics. Well...maybe. I may do the last bonus day but I have nothing in waiting. This one's about Gray.
Enjoyyyyy
The cold ate at his bones, seeped through the layers and layers of clothes froze his toes, his fingers, and his face. He didn't know how long he'd been walking. Didn't know how long it'd been since he'd left the ruins behind. No one was left. Everyone was gone. Everything was gone. Tears froze to his face, a face he could no longer feel as the harsh, bitter wind sapped the life out of the small boy.
Not even fear of the monster, of Delioria, could cause his heart to beat any faster, could heat his cold body. Everything he'd ever known was buried under the rubble of his village, slowly being erased by snow. There had to be somewhere to go. Someone to help him. He could no longer feel the pain from the bruises and cuts he'd gotten in the village's destruction. Nothing seemed real anymore, and he couldn't remember what it was like to be warm.
"So…cold…" He stuttered out, his own voice a comfort in the desolate landscape that was his home. There was no sound but the whipping wind, and the crunch of snow beneath his feet. His lips were chapped and cracked, and the cut on his side on stopped bleeding because the blood had frozen the wound closed. Each step was agony.
Each step was numb.
Night had fallen, and he refused to believe that he was the only one to survive. He had to get help. Someone…his parents…had to be alive.
He couldn't be alone in this frozen world.
People needed help, and he needed to get it. That had been reason to keep moving. That had been his reason to not simply close his eyes under the rubble of his home and let the cold take him. His friends…his family…had to be someone to save. He couldn't be alone. He didn't know how. He'd always had someone there. How did anyone live alone? How did anyone live after all they loved was gone.
They're not gone, he told himself, not everyone. I can't be the only one to have survived. I can't.
He blew on his red, stiff hands. He couldn't feel them anymore…were the tips of his fingers starting to turn blue? He shoved them into his pocket, trying to get them warm. Nothing was warm, not anymore. It felt as if even his heart, which was pounding so loud he could hear it, had turned to ice.
He walked two more steps, forcing himself to move, telling himself the next town couldn't be all that far away, when his body simply gave out. He fell into the cold, painful snow, and curled into a stiff ball. His body could no longer shiver, though it tried. His determined thoughts faded as the cold lullaby of the wind lulled him. Snow piled around him, making yet another small hill in the landscape. A part of him knew that if he didn't stand up, no one would ever see him. No one would find him.
He felt sleepy, and he could no longer feel his body. His mind felt attached to nothing.
He drifted off to sleep, dreaming of a warm embrace.
Ur sent Lyon to look on the other side of the village for survivors.
The truth of it was, she'd spotted something, and hadn't wanted her young student to see. Striding over to the field that ran along the town, she headed towards the dark blue spot in the white, white landscape. A small boy, no older than Lyon, was curled into a ball. A thin layer of ice and snow covered him, dusting his dark hair with white. His face was as pale as the freshly fallen snow. She touched his neck, knowing there was no way he was alive, but knowing she wouldn't rest easy unless she checked.
Nothing moved under her fingers, and his skin felt like ice. He wasn't far from the village…there was no way he could've frozen so quickly. He must've wandered in the snowstorm, Ur thought, gotten turned around, and ended up dying a stone's throw from his home. She imaged he'd been trying to get help or run to safety. Instead…she sighed.
"Is he dead?" Lyon asked. She should've known he wouldn't stay away from her long. She'd lingered by this boy for too long.
"Yes," She said standing up. "He froze to death."
"He's my age," Lyon observed something like sadness darkening his eyes.
"Yeah," Ur said and on impulse plucked the boy into her arms. He didn't give easy. The body had frozen to the ground, and gave with a great crack as Ur yanked him up. She held the boy close.
"What are you doing?" Lyon asked. He'd never seen such sadness on his teacher's face, not unless she was in that room in her cottage, holding onto small, girly clothes.
"Giving him a decent burial," Ur replied. Lyon had to jog to keep up with his teacher's long strides. "I think he got lost in the storm, trying to find help. It's a noble way to die. Besides…I think, if he'd survived…he would have been destined for something…great."
Lyon said nothing. The boy hadn't had a chance, not in the cold, disorienting snow. Ur had been teaching Lyon how to handle the cold. While the cold didn't bother him as much as it had before, the snowstorm last night would have been too much for him. Ur walked to the entrance to the village, where an arch still stood, the doorway to destruction.
She placed the boy gently on the ground, and Lyon stood a ways away, wondering what his teacher could be planning.
"Ice Make: Grand Burial," Ur intoned. Ice flowed from her hands, slightly rosy and glittering in the pale sun. It formed a small, rose shaped coffin, enveloping the boy until only his pale face was visible. It set with a hard glitter that Lyon had never seen before. Above the grave, an ice arch formed. Written in the ice was:
Here lies a boy whose name I do not know. He died trying to find help for his doomed village. He died bravely. May all remember him, and the village that lies behind this grave of ice.
Ur let out a breath, turned on her heel and walked away from the frozen ruins and the grave. Lyon had questions—a million of them, about the ice she'd used, but he said nothing. He bowed at the grave quickly, and then ran to catch up with Ur.
Just my ideas about what might've happened if Ur and Lyon hadn't found Gray in time. Not only would Fairy Tail be missing a fantastic Ice Wizard, Galuna Island would have never happened, Ur would probably be alive (Who knows though?), and Ultear probably would have never defected to the 'good' side on Tenrou Island. A thousand other things would be changed as well. After all, how many times has Gray saved Natsu and the other's ass? who knows what would be goin' on in FT if THIS had happened.