Better get this chapter out before EternalFlame401 kills me!
Disclaimer: I still don't own it.
From the moment the morning sun crept over the horizon, the two Fairy Tail teams set off. Knowing that they had a mere few hours to complete their tasks was enough to give them the determination they needed. There was no time to show worry or concern; the only thing that mattered right now was Gray's safety. Erza's team - now including Levy - raced to Hargeon and were on the first boat out to Isvan. They had a long journey ahead of them and only prayed that they make it to their destination in time. Natsu's group returned back to their previous battle field in hopes of tracking down their missing comrade. The once frozen lake was now shattered with large chunks of purple ice still floating in the water. They took this as a bad sign. Setting off in the direction Gray fled the previous day, the group began discussing battle strategies in order to defeat Deliora with minimal amount of damage to Gray.
"Lyon, I know you're gonna hate this idea but it would be best if you didn't fight against Deliora," Cana glanced towards the silver-haired man.
"She's right Lyon," Loke added. "If you use any of your ice magic Gray - Deliora even - will just consume the ice like he did yesterday. You'd only be adding fuel to the fire."
"Once Deliora is back inside the book, Lyon-sama can deliver the final blow," Juvia smiled towards her friend.
Lyon nodded. As much as he hated not having a part in saving his younger brother, what the Fairies were saying did make sense. If Deliora got hold of any more magic it would only speed up the possession process. They all looked over to Natsu who was running quite the distance ahead of the others. What they couldn't see was the pure rage and determination evident in his features. The Salamander's mind never left Gray. He wasn't going to let anything get in his way of bringing his rival home. Natsu thought back to the aftermath of Tartarus last year.
After saying one last tearful goodbye to his father Igneel, Natsu had returned to where the rest of his guild mates were currently located. Each member donned a saddening expression. Wendy was crying her eyes out while Gajeel tried to comfort her, though he didn't look much better. Sting and Rogue didn't look very happy either. Natsu could only assume that he wasn't the only one saying goodbye to his dragon parent. Lucy held a mournful expression as she discussed recent events with Erza, who looked pretty shaken up herself. Porlyusica was giving the antidote to Laxus and the others; at least something good came out of this fight. Gray was sat with his back against a rock, his wounds still bleeding profusely. The ice wizard looked much paler than usual and his breaths came out in rapid pants. Natsu was about to go and question his rival's condition but came to an abrupt halt when he heard Makarov instructing the guild to return to the parts of Magnolia that were still in one piece in order to get people's wounds check out. The crowd of injured wizards soon followed along the beaten path. As Natsu sparked a conversation with his team mates, he began to notice Gray slacking behind. The Salamander decided to fall back to check up on the raven.
"Hey, you alright?"
"I'm... fine," Gray replied through pants. He clearly wasn't fine.
Suddenly, the teen lost his footing and went pitching to the side. Luckily for him, Natsu's reflexes activated and he caught the ice wizard before he could get close to the floor. "You're clearly not fine," Natsu stated. "Your physical wounds look bad enough but you've used up way too much magic today too."
"I'm... fine," Gray repeated, willing his body to move.
Natsu sighed before pulling the ice wizard onto his back, much to Gray's annoyance, to carry him the rest of the way. "Get some rest." He paused. "I don't know how you did it, but thanks for saving me, droopy eyes."
Gray couldn't hide the small smile upon hearing this. Natsu smiled back in return as his watched the dazed black eyes slowly fall shut.
A few hours later Gray woke up to the comfort of his own bed. How did he get here? Did someone bring him here? The raven rolled his head to the side and confirmed his thoughts as he saw pink-spiked hair next to his bed side. His rival was casually stroking a sleeping Happy.
"You finally woke up," Natsu smiled, placing the Exceed on a small cushion.
"How long have I been out?" Gray inquired, running a hand through his raven locks.
"Only a few hours. Gramps told me to take you home after you'd had your wounds patched up."
Sure enough, Gray pulled away the covers to see that almost every inch of his being was wrapping in pure white bandages, with the occasional blood stains here and there. It was as if Halloween came early.
"Listen, what you did earlier..." He was quickly cut off.
"Natsu, I..."
"Gray, just listen. I'm not asking you to talk about what ever happened between you and the Devil Slayer. Just... When you took that Memento Mori attack head on and collapsed. It freaked me out. I thought it had killed you. Don't scare me like that again, okay? I already lost Igneel, I don't wanna risk losing my rival too."
"Sorry," Gray looked away, not entirely sure how he'd pulled off such a feat himself.
"And when we've all recovered from this fight. I wanna be the first one to see how strong your new magic is."
Gray couldn't help but laugh at the statement. "You're gonna have to up your game, Flamebrain. There's no way you're winning against me."
"Hah, you're on, Popsicle!"
Gray jumped out of the bed, his signature smirk showing on his face. The two teens were about to throw down when they heard a soft purring coming from Happy who was now in the midst of waking up.
"Guys, you're being too loud," the feline yawned, rubbing his eyes.
"Sorry Happy," they both smiled down at the petite figure.
"We should probably go back and help the others clear out all the rubble," Natsu sighed. "Feel free to join us if you feel up for it." He smiled a toothy grin towards Gray before running out of the door.
Gray glanced towards the floorboards. His father wouldn't want him to isolate himself in his own misery after witnessing the man's death a second time. Gray quickly changed out of his tattered trousers and into some proper clothes before dashing out the door after his friend. "Wait up, Natsu!"
After following Natsu's nose for at least an hour, they group had been lead to a clearing high up Isvan's mountain range. The fire dragon came to an abrupt stop, causing confusion amongst the others.
"Natsu, why'd we stop?" Loke asked, walking up to the pink-haired teen.
The Salamander failed to respond. Allowing his senses to be he guide, the male scanned the surrounding area.
"He's here right," Cana assumed, placing her hands on her hips.
After another few seconds of silence, a funnel of ice and snow was sent straight in their direction. Luckily for the group, Lyon put up a shield that just about managed to keep everyone safe from the blow. When the attack ceased, Lyon made sure to dispel his shield.
"What? Was the first beating not enough for you idiots?" The demon mocked, striding towards the group.
"Gray-sama," Juvia muttered.
"If you're thinking that you can shout a few words to bring the boy back, you're out of luck. The idiot already gave up," Deliora gave a heartless chuckle, showing his fangs.
"No... No he wouldn't!" Lyon yelled, his frustration growing by the second.
"There's no way Gray would give up!" Natsu roared. He'd known the raven since they were kids and the guy had never given up on anything before, why would he start now?
"Oh, but he did... And it was all to ensure on his family's protection, how sweet," Gray's head tilted as an innocent looking smile appeared on his face, but his eyes begged to differ. He brought his fist to his palm, ready to begin his assault on the fairies.
It was at this gesture that Natsu charged forward. "Guys, leave this to me!" He called to his team mates. After seeing them all nod in agreement - all be it reluctant - Natsu turned back to face his rival and ignited his fists. It was either now or never.
Being trapped in the depths of you mind was definitely a strange experience, or that's at least what Gray thought. There was no colour, no sound, nothing. He couldn't move, couldn't talk, he was just left to float around in darkness. He couldn't even turn to his own thoughts to provide himself with some sense of security; his mind was a complete blank. So he just floated there, feeling nothing. Suddenly, he heard a noise. It sounded like some sort of spell that had been casted, a spell that sounded familiar to him. The voice sounded similar too. Almost as if he'd known that voice his whole life. The next thing Gray knew, blurs of colours were merging together to create an image, it was almost as if he was watching a Movie Lacrima. As the images finally cleared, the raven noticed four figures all standing behind a green tinted sheet of ice. Wait a minute! He knew that ice... And that voice. Everything became so much clearer at the sight. They were his friends. Gray willed his voice to speak out to them, letting them know that everything would be alright, but he couldn't. He just floated around in his mind, watching the events outside take place. He began to hear a voice taunting the group. That's right. Deliora had possessed him. Everything would be alright, though. Deliora promised to leave his friends alone if Gray agreed to give up, so his friends would be fine. Everything would be fine. Right? Slightly muffled voices continued to talk until Gray watched Natsu charge towards him. He wanted to roll his eyes at the act. Natsu tended to over react from time to time. Doesn't he know that everything is alright? Completely out of the blue, Gray felt his magic activate of its own accord. This is when things started to change. The ice wizard continued to watch the screen as he saw Natsu ignite his fists and charge straight for him. What was that pyro doing now? A fist swung down and came to contact with what Gray could only assume was his cheek, but he had no sense of touch so he really had no idea. He then watched as Natsu bounced back to dodge several ice lances directed his way. Wasn't that his magic. Gray didn't want to attack Natsu though.
"This isn't right," Gray muttered, shocked that he could actually hear his own voice for once.
As if on cue, a figure materialised in front of him. This figure took a similar appearance to himself, but it was different. This person had black claws that matched with the black horns on his head - not to mention that the dark markings of his devil slayer magic were also present on the man. "Someone seems to have found their tongue," the figure laughed.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?! You promised!"
"Oh, poor dear Fullbuster. Promises are meant to be broken."
"You said you wouldn't hurt them," Gray roared, getting into his battle stance. Unfortunately for him, he wasn't exactly in control of his magic right now.
"You never learn do you?" Deliora laughed. "I've almost taken full possession of you, boy. But don't worry, you'll be with your parents soon."
The doppelgänger created a sharp blade made of purple ice and lunged at the raven. Gray - having no means of defence - did his best to leap out of the way of the oncoming attack. The teen clenched his fists and sent a punch at the others face. Deliora's reflexes activate and he rapidly grasped the fist with his bare claw and grinned. The ice wizard was stunned to feel a sudden pressure in his chest which sent him tumbling the the ground - if there even was any ground.
"Confused, dear Gray? Allow me to elaborate. With each passing second your soul becomes weaker and weaker, while mine becomes stronger. Pretty soon you'll start to fade. This will be your final battle. Your story will end the way it began when I, Deliora, took everything away from your pitiful being!"
Natsu skidded to a halt as the lances ceased to exist. This was going to be a tough battle. Dammit Natsu, he thought, grow a spine already. You've fought with Gray before and gone all out, why can't you now? Of course, he already knew the answer. This was far from what Natsu would call a fair fight. The Salamander glanced behind him to see the worried faces of his guild mates and Gray's surrogate brother. They were counting on him. Natsu had assured them the previous day that he would save Gray. There was no point worrying about the severity of injuries that his fire magic could cause his rival, Gray's life was on the line and that's all that mattered. Hazel eyes flared with anger, he will save Gray.
"I'm all fired up!" He yelled. "Let's do this, droopy eyes!"
This fic is almost over! *sobs*
The final chapter will be coming out next Monday so look forward to that!
So what are your guys thoughts on them animating FT Zero? Personally, I'm happy but also annoyed that the Avatar arc is gonna be put off for a while and we won't get to see badass Gray. :( I wish they'd animate Ice Trail too!
Also, me gets the feeling that Zeref is gonna drop the brother/E.N.D. bomb pretty soon. Which sucks 'coz that means FT is almost over, but I still can't wait for Gray to find out that he promised his Father to kill his best friend.
Adios Muchachos!
