I'm going to be out for most of tomorrow so here's Chapter 4! Thank you to everyone who reviewed!

Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail, Hiro Mashima does!

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"Gray! Gray! Get a hold of yourself!" Erza shouted as she shook the limp ice mage gently. But no matter what she did, the ice mage would not open his dark blue eyes. Erza cursed. What the hell had happened? Gray was by no means a weak mage, so how powerful was his opponent if she could reduce him to this state? She pulled him into a sitting position, her left arm supporting his waist. While she was trying to bring the ice mage back to consciousness, Natsu picked up on a strange scent. He sniffed around, trying to identify the source, when a pained mumble from Gray broke his concentration. He turned back to his rival and his eyes hardened. That Matilda was going down when he saw her next! Suddenly, Natsu's eyes widened in surprise. What was that on Gray's neck...? Before he could voice his thoughts, Erza picked Gray up, ready to bring him to the town for medical attention, only to have Happy float down and offer to carry him. The blue Exceed sagged under the dead weight of the ice mage but did not complain. He flew the unconscious mage into town and Erza requipped in her Flight Armour, following closely after. Lucy and Natsu arrived after they had tied up and arrested all the remaining members of Fatal Falcon.

Erza had taken it upon herself to inform the mayor of the situation while Gray was given medical attention. Lucy, Natsu and Happy waited outside the doctor's room. Ten minutes after Gray had been taken in, Erza arrived. Seeing the worried expressions on her teammates' faces, she didn't even bother asking how Gray was faring.

Another twenty minutes after that, the doctor emerged from the room, taking his gloves off his hands. In an instant, he was all but jumped by the three Fairy Tail mages and the Exceed, all bombarding him with questions about their injured friend. The doctor slowly backed up, putting space in between them. He coughed and cleared his throat, unnerved by the… enthusiasm, he was greeted with.

"Your friend is alright. He sustained some burns to the body, some minor bruising and depleted his magic as well." The doctor shook his head. "He was careless. In any case, he's awake now. You're free to visit him, if you wish," the doctor said as he began to walk away. The three mages and cat piled into the room, eager to see their friend.

They were happy to see their friend sitting up and rubbing his eyes tiredly. He eyed the bandages across his body and raised an eyebrow, only to be reprimanded by Erza to lie back down and rest. Shivering in fear of what would happen if he disobeyed, the raven obediently lied down.

"How do you feel, Gray?" Happy asked. The person in question shrugged.

"I feel fine, actually. Sure, I'm a little banged up, I don't have much magic and I feel sore, but nothing too out of the ordinary," he reported. Lucy sighed in relief and smiled.

"That's good to hear! That means we'll be hunting down those last two mages in no time!" Erza coughed into her armoured fist, interrupting the blonde.

"Actually Lucy, the mayor says that what we have done was fine. He has given us our reward and has asked that we leave soon." Everyone raised an eyebrow at this. That was more than strange. Their mission wasn't finished yet but the mayor wanted them to leave? Nevertheless, they couldn't deny the mayor's request. At that moment, the doctor returned.

"How are you feeling, Gray-kun?" he asked as he closed the door behind him. Gray turned his head to the side to face the man.

"I'm ok. I feel a little sore, but that's to be expected," he informed. The doctor hummed in agreement.

"Well, in that case, you're free to go. I've bandaged you up as best as I can. The only reason we took so long was because we wanted to make sure that we didn't miss anything. I'm no expert in magic but I do know that it's rather unusual to have a mage faint from that extent of injuries." He sighed. "You mages ought to know what's wrong. Nevertheless, make sure you still take it easy for a couple of days," he instructed. Erza nodded in agreement.

"Don't worry. We'll make sure he does," she all but threatened. Gray gulped. There was no way he was going to leave his bed for the next few days.

As expected, they didn't start heading back to Magnolia until a few days had passed. Gray had insisted on being stubborn and had wanted to leave earlier, but due to the rest of his team's insistence, he had stayed in bed for a while longer. The mayor had been apprehensive about it, which puzzled them considering that they had fulfilled the request, but had been more or less fine with it. Gray frowned at the memory but stretched and leaned back. He hadn't felt the sun on his back or the cool autumn breeze for what seemed like years, even though it had only been days.

"Aah, it feels so good to be out of bed!" he said. Natsu scoffed.

"That's what you get for getting hurt, Droopy Eyes." Gray turned to glare at his rival.

"What was that, Slanty Eyes?"

"You heard me!"

"Enough!" Erza yelled. The two immediately stopped where they were, sweating nervously. Erza gave them both a death glare and they both shrank back. Lucy and Happy both sweat dropped, marveling at how they never learned from their mistakes. "Are you two ready to go back?" the redhead demanded. Both of them nodded as they began to walk down the road together, legs swinging up robotically as they faked their cheer. Erza smiled approvingly and Lucy and Happy both laughed. At least things were back to normal. But they didn't notice Natsu staring at Gray's neck, as they walked down the road.

"We're back!" the team sang as they burst into the guildhall. They were greeted cheerfully by the rest of guild. The four smiled as they went off in their own separate directions, each greeting different people.

After a while, Mira came up to them.

"How was the mission?" she asked sweetly. Natsu scoffed.

"It wasn't anything much! Frost Breath over here held us up for a few days though!" Gray glared.

"Shut up Ash for Brains! I heard from Lucy that you weren't so hot either! How could you get hit by that stupid water attack?" he accused. Natsu growled.

"I only turned around because..." he trailed off as he scowled. He wouldn't say it. He wouldn't. Gray noticed the change in Natsu's demeanor but decided to push the matter nonetheless.

"Because what, Natsu?" he pressed. Natsu's black eyes darted around, looking anywhere but into Gray's deep blue ones. After a tense silence, Natsu finally gave in.

"Because I was worried about you damn it! I heard Erza from behind me and you just collapsed on the ground..." he muttered. Gray's eyes softened.

"Sorry," he said. Natsu sighed and slapped him upside the head.

"Idiot Snowflake," he scolded.

Just then Makarov entered. He raised a hand in the air in greeting.

"So you brats are back!" he said cheerfully. The team grinned. Natsu suddenly adopted a serious expression.

"Jii-chan, I need to talk to you about something." Almost collectively, the entire guild raised an eyebrow. What had made Natsu serious? Makarov coughed into his hand.

"Yes well, let's go into the back then."

"I wonder what Natsu is talking to the master about," Lucy thought out loud. Gray and Erza shared a look. The raven shrugged.

"Whatever it is, it's probably important. Natsu just doesn't get serious like that without a good reason." Erza nodded in agreement, eating a piece of strawberry cake that Mira had given to her a few minutes ago. They all sat down at the table, wondering what Natsu was worried about.

"So Natsu, what's bothering you?" Makarov asked. Natsu's eyes darted around nervously, watching in case someone was hiding and eavesdropping on what he was about to say. Makarov sighed. "Don't worry. This room is sound proof and no one is here besides you and me. Now, what's troubling you?" he repeated seriously. The dragon slayer sighed as he looked his grandfather figure in the eyes.

"Jii-chan... I think there's something wrong with Gray." The master of Fairy Tail looked taken back. There was something wrong with one of his brats? Natsu took a breath before he continued. "I can't prove it to you since no one has said anything about it and Gray himself and doctor didn't say anything about it, but there's a magic circle on the base of his neck. I've never seen it before and I don't know what it does." Makarov held his chin in his hand.

"What does this magic circle look like?" Natsu frowned. He grabbed a piece of paper lying around in the room and recreated the magic circle to the best of his ability. It wasn't amazing, but he got the gist of it. Makarov stared at the drawing.

"I don't recognise this circle..." he said as he studied it. This circle was intricate, with a set of feathered wings in the centre. The middle ring of the circle looked jagged, in contrast to the rest of the circle, which looked fluid and gentle. The master of Fairy Tail looked troubled. "But it bothers me. Since I don't know what it is, I think it's safe to assume that it's a Lost Magic of some sorts. Maybe you should bring Gray here so that we can get some more information about his opponent." Natsu shook his head.

"I don't think that's a good idea. Gray probably doesn't know it exists and I don't want him to worry about it. It might not be anything serious," he claimed as he began to walk out the door. Makarov nodded, respecting Natsu's feelings and turned his back to the door, making a mental note to watch Gray for the next few days. He sighed. Hopefully Natsu was right and the magic circle was nothing to worry about. How naive they were at the time.

"Gray, what's wrong?" Happy asked as he flew up to the raven. Gray was holding the base of his neck, an expression of discomfort on his face. He turned to the Exceed and forced a smile.

"It's nothing, Happy. But I think I'm going to go home for today..." he said as he bade everyone farewell. Erza and Lucy offered to accompany him to his house, much to the chagrin of Juvia, but were both turned down. As he walked out of the guild, he didn't notice two pairs of eyes watching him carefully, both of them filled with concern.

So Natsu thinks that something's wrong with Gray. Is he right? And if he is, what is this magic circle and what does it do? I've got to keep you guys in suspense somehow! See you all next time!

To the Guest who taught me a little more about the Orthodox religion. You didn't use an account so I have to answer you here, sorry.

Thank you very much for your input! Unfortunately, I can't change Matilda to a Devil Slayer. I did think about it at first but I wanted Matilda to have a very unique type of magic and to have her as a Devil Slayer doesn't really coincide with where I want this story to go. Maybe I'll have a Devil Slayer antagonist in another story, but not this one. Thank you for your input though!