I'm soooooo sorry I missed the last update! Things have been so hectic in my drama class that I haven't been able to get this out. Ah well, better late than never right? And I shouldn't be missing anymore updates for this fic so don't worry. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own FT.
When Gray came to his senses, he found himself high up Isvan's mountain range and during a raging blizzard at that. Despite his near perfect eye sight, the raven couldn't see a thing. He brought his hand over to shield his face from the sharp blasts of snow and was taken aback at what he saw. A pure black claw took the place of his hand with dried blood stuck around the fingernails. That's when he started remembering, everything. Right from the beginning when his friends and showed up out of concern. He honestly couldn't blame them. If any one of Gray's friends were in this kind of situation, the teen would be by their side in a heartbeat to help if all possible. They'd even gone as far as to call upon Lyon to aid the group in their search. Lyon. Gray's legs gave out on him at the thought. He could have killed his brother. Heck, he had no clue whether the silver-haired man had made it out alive. He could only trust in his comrades now as there was no way Gray was stepping foot anywhere near another human with the vial demon lurking within his being. Gray continued to pray for their safety as more tears fell from his demonic eyes. Why couldn't everything just stop?
"LYON-SAMA!" Juvia screamed as her comrade's eyes fell shut and his last breath escaped his lungs. She continued to bang on the ice as the limp figure began sinking through the cold water. "NATSU-SAN!" She cried over to the fire wizard who was trying with all his might to stop the tendrils of blood flowing out of the gash on the right of his torso. "NATSU-SAN, PLEASE! LYON-SAMA IS..." She couldn't bring herself to finish that sentence.
After gathering his thoughts, Natsu dashed over to the tearful girl to assess the situation. Igniting his fists, the Salamander sent punch after punch at the purple ice until his fists turned black and blue. "Dammit, dammit, dammit!" He roared. "I can't melt devil ice."
"But Lyon-sama..."
It was at this point the rest of the team joined them, Loke using Cana for support. The brunette scanned the frozen lake until she found a miracle. "Guys, there's a crack in the ice over there." Sure enough, there was the tiniest crack in the tinted sheet of ice. The team scurried over and all bag and bashing at it until a hole big enough to fit a person through was created. Juvia could only think that her beloved must have come back to his senses causing his ice to weaken. Without a second thought, the blunette dived down into the chilly water and swam at the speed of light towards her friend. Lyon's floated lifelessly at the bottom of the lake causing Juvia's panic to increase. Grabbing hold of the limp form, she created an oxygen bubble wide enough to fit the silver haired man's head inside.
"Lyon-sama, please wake up," Juvia murmured, shaking his form.
When the man didn't respond Juvia placed one hand hovering over his nose and mouth searching for his breaths. After feeling none, Juvia rapidly checked for his pulse. There was one. Juvia would have sighed with relief if it weren't for the fact that Lyon's pulse was getting weaker by the second. Pulling him into a warm embrace, the water wizard shot back up to the surface, bursting through the hole in the ice. After landing with a soft thud, Juvia placed the unconscious man down on the soft snow and the others gathered around his form. Lyon's once spiked hair was now tangled and falling down in front of his face which made him resemble a silver-haired version of his younger brother.
"Lyon-sama isn't breathing!" Juvia suddenly yelled towards her comrades.
Cana mumbled something under her breath before kneeling down next to the Lamia wizard and began doing compressions. The rest of the team watched with battened breath, praying with all their might that the man lying in front of them would open his charcoal eyes. Cana continued in her attempt at Lyon. Dammit Lyon, if you die on us now Gray'll never forgive himself, she thought. After another five minutes, a gasp resonated through the snowy plain. Lyon's eyes flew open as he rolled to the side in order to cough the foreign substance out of his lungs.
"Lyon-sama!" Juvia let her tears freely fall at the sight.
"G-" Lyon muffled through harsh coughs. "G-Gray."
"He's gone Lyon," Loke hid his face from view.
"We'll continue the search after we've patched up our wounds," Cana added.
"…Fine," the ice wizard was reluctant to take a break, but he wasn't as stubborn as his younger brother and agreed without complaints. His eyes soon fell shut again as he let the sweet release of slumber take over him.
"C'mon," Natsu instructed. "We'll find an inn somewhere to stay at while we recover. Then, it's back to finding Gray."
The others nodding before following Natsu away from their battle field with Cana wrapping an arm around the blunette for comfort.
The guild doors swung open with a BOOM! revealing Erza and the rest of her team as they stormed over to a table that was currently being occupied by team Shadow Gear.
"Shrimp, we need your help with something," Gajeel called over to his former partner.
"You're back! How did the search go?" Jet and Droy interrupted.
Makarov didn't waste any time in joining the conversation. "Did you find a way to save Gray?"
"We're not quite sure yet," Wendy shook her head in disappointment.
"Levy-chan, we need you to take a look at this book," Lucy mentioned as the red-head paced the book on the table.
"What is it?"
"The Book of Deliora," Happy replied, blankly.
"EH?!"
"We found the book in the same location you said Deliora was last seen," Pantherlily explained. "After looking at the book, we realised that it was empty."
"We think that when Deliora crumbled away eight years ago, only his physical body was destroyed while his spirit still remained," Carla finished.
"Levy, you think you can find a way to seal Deliora back in his book?" Erza questioned as everyone stared the small girl down.
"I'm not sure…" everyone's faces turned bleak. "…But I can sure as hell try!"
"You can do it Levy! We believe in you!" Jet and Droy cried in unison.
"Please hurry Levy," Makarov begged. "We're running out of time."
Aww… Poor little Fullbuster, a voiced mocked inside his head.
"Leave me alone!" Gray tried to yell, however it only came out as a quiet whimper.
Not a chance when I'm on the verge of breaking you, the voice continued.
"Leave me alone," Gray repeated, even quieter than before.
I can feel it too you know. Your body is far too weakened to keep you going like this. It won't be long until your time finally comes.
"Leave…me alone."
Your energy's being drained even as we speak. Not to mention your magic's running on empty.
"Shut…up."
How does it feel knowing you've killed your own brother?
"I-I didn't."
Oh, but you did Gray. You've destroyed your only connection with the past… Well, that's not entirely true. You still have me.
"Leave me…alone."
Why do you fight me so, boy? You're only going to make this harder on yourself.
"I… told you… I'll… never stop… fighting you."
Stubborn even to your last breath, I see. This will make things far more satisfying when I kill off your pathetic guild.
"You… wouldn't…"
Yes, I would, but you'll be long gone by the time that happens. You should be grateful, I'm allowing you to reunite with your friends in the afterlife.
"No… you won't… My friends… are far… stronger than… I am… They'll kill you!"
Now I wouldn't be so sure about that. Would your friends want to risk damaging your body? Not that I blame them, this form is the perfect vessel for any demon. And I must tell you how glad I was that your pathetic excuse of a father gave you Devil Slayer magic. The demon particles in your body have only sped up the process of gaining complete possession over you.
"How dare… you talk… about… my father… like that…"
I can't be the only one seeing the irony in this. A year ago you're met with your supposedly deceased father only form him to tell you that he was possessed by the great Deliora. And now just look at the predicament you're in. I found it rather amusing watching you fight against that so called 'Deliora' as if you had a chance to beat me. Be honest with yourself, boy. You've been losing ever since you met me. Everyone you care about; you lose them all in the end.
"Sh-shut u-up," Gray choked out as barely a whisper. Deliora did have a point. First he loses his parents, then Ur, Ultear, Silver for a second time, and now he had possibly lost Lyon and was at risk of losing the last thing he called family.
As Levy – with the help of Erza, Lucy and Wendy – researched through every book at her disposal, Makarov was sat beside them with a Communication Lacrima placed in front of him. He was hoping to get in touch with the other group as after he went to check on them earlier, every one of them had vanished. He didn't think much of it at first but now his apprehension had grown. The tiny man had already tried to contact the wizards twice, each time with no response. This didn't bode well for them at all. Thankfully, on his third attempt, he was greeted with a pair of brown eyes with matching hair.
"Cana, thank goodness. How are things at your end and where are you?"
The girl in question finished downing her drink before responding. "We're in Isvan. Gray ran off so we picked up Lyon and all followed him here. The bastard's insistent on staying out of everyone's way so he doesn't hurt anyone."
"Typical Gray, he needs to stop trying to run away from all his problems," Erza sighed from the other side of the table.
"So where are the others?" Makarov asked with a worried expression adorning his features.
"Juvia's helping them patch up their wounds."
"Wounds?" Everyone questioned.
"Yeah… about that… While we were trying to talk Gray into coming home he kinda got possessed by Deliora and started attacking us."
"It wasn't like the other times, Gramps!" Natsu ran over to the Lacrima as soon as Juvia has finished wrapping his bandages. "This time when Deliora possessed him those black marking from his Devil Slayer magic came back. His hands turned into black claws and he had horns growing from out of his head."
"Things are escalating far quicker than we thought," Makarov pondered. "By the sound of things the full possession is almost complete. We cannot let that happen or else they'll be no way to save Gray."
"Levy, have you found anything?" Happy ran up to the girl, pleading.
"I… I think I do!" Levy suddenly jumped up from her seat. "There's an incantation written in one of my books. It's used to get lost souls back to where they belong so it should also get Deliora's soul back inside the book."
The rest of Natsu's team gathered around the Lacrima. "That's perfect Levy-san!" Juvia cried tears of joy.
"There's one problem. If Deliora's soul is strong when it's put back into the book, the writings in it will reappear."
"What do you mean?" Gajeel inquired.
"It means that if what Master says is true and that the full possession is almost complete, putting Deliora's soul back inside the book straight away means that Deliora can regain his physical form."
"We can't let that happen! My master sealed away that demon, there is no way we're bringing it back!" Lyon roared, joining the Fairies around the Lacrima.
"Levy, is there anything else we can do?" Loke queried.
"The only solution would be to beat Deliora – or Gray – in a fight. The pressure of battle will weaken his strength and we'll be able to destroy the book without Deliora regaining his true form."
"That also means harming Gray-san," Wendy mentioned.
"Plus what if the full possession is complete before we can beat him?" Carla added.
"I'll do it." Natsu stated.
"Natsu are you sure you can do it? You can't melt devil ice," Erza pointed out, remembering their job at the Sun Village.
"No, I can do it. I told Gray that if Deliora took control of him again that I would snap him out of it again."
"This also means you'll have to harm Gray-sama," Juvia clasped her shaky hands together.
"If it helps us get Gray back, I'll do it."
"Okay then everyone," the groups directed their attention towards their master. "Erza and the others will travel over to Isvan with the book and the incantation. Natsu, your group needs to find Gray. Please be careful and hurry. We're in a race against time."
How about we make a deal, Gray.
"Wha-what do you… mean?"
You give up now and I'll let your precious friends live.
Gray went silent for a while. "You… promise to… leave them… alone."
You have my word.
"Fine… I give up…
You win, Deliora."
Gray NOOOOOOOOOO! Teehee!
The anime is getting sooooo close to Natsu & Gray vs Mard Gear and I'm way too excited! Even after that, we have the friggin' Avatar arc and we'll get to see Gray be even more badass!
Thanks for reading as usual.
Have a nice day everyone! ;)
