Gray: You haven't updated in ages!
Me: ...Yeah, I know.
Matty: They're not going to e happy with you...
Me: B-But I'm sick!
Gray: You weren't sick five days ago!
Me: Yah, yah...I'm working on it now...Jeez.
Sorry about not updating, I really am. I've been holed up in my house because I'm sick with a 103.7 fever, and I figured I could spend some of my alone time on fanfiction :P Well, I'll try and write what I can before I start feeling worse again.
I apologize for the poor quality of this chapter.
Enjoy :)
"Hey!" Gray paused, turning his head to look behind him. He raised an eyebrow questioningly as Kate came skidding to a stop in front of him, face pink either from exertion or embarresment.
"U-Uh, um..where are you going? Who was that man? W-Why did he want me to give that to you?" she questioned. Internally, she was berating herself. What was she doing? She didn't know this guy!
Gray blinked. "Why do you care?" he asked. Kate froze.
"I-I don't really know," she admitted quietly, "I just feel like something important is going to happen, and t-that it's going to happen w-with, um...with you."
Gray blinked again, once, then twice. "Look," he began, "This is kind of personal, and it's something I really just want to put behind me, so I"m going to do what I have to, and then I'm done."
Kate shook her head. "I know, and I'm sorry, b-but this feeling- I can't help it, I feel like I have to go. P-Please let me come with you. I can help."
Gray looked skeptical. "No offense, but what could you possibly help me with?"
Kate frowned. "I'm good at things, like sneaking around and cooking."
Gray sighed, eyes falling shut as he pinched the bridge of his nose.
"You know what; Fine. Whatever. Do what you want," he sighed, and Kate smiled.
"T-Thank you."
"Don't mention it."
Kate fell into step alongside him, a bit too nervous to look him in the eye. "W-Where are we going?" she asked timidly.
Gray replied smoothly, "Whitebridge."
She blinked, the corners of her mouth turning down in a frown. "R-Right now?"
The ice mage scoffed. "No. Going to Whitebridge means we'll have to journey deep into the mountains, and neither of us have supplies for a trip like that."
He veered into another shop, where he snatched a leather knapsack and purchased it. "I'll get what I can here and then I'll have to go back to my guild for something."
Kate briefly glanced at him. "D-Do they know about this?"
Gray slowed down for a moment. "No," he said eventually. "And they aren't going to know. Not until we're far enough way so they can't do anything about it."
"I-If this is a secret, then why are you going back?"
"I need something."
"Badly?" Kate ventured.
Gray nodded. "You could say my life depends on it."
The two met up on the outskirts of town late that night, Kate with the knapsack full of the supplies Gray had bought and left in her care, and Gray with seemingly nothing more than himself.
"W-What did you go back for?"
Gray's hands unconsciously curled around the golden disks stuffed in his pockets. "It's not important right now. Let's go."
Kate frowned, but nodded, and followed her new travel partner down the path towards the mountains.
The warmth of day was quickly overcome by the night chill, and Kate shivered.
"Are you cold?" Gray asked quietly, breaking the silence between them, save for the crickets that chirped from within the nearby bushes.
The redhead looked at him. "A-Aren't you?" she asked slowly, confused.
It was almost the middle of winter practically everywhere but Magnolia.
Gray shook his head. "I don't really get cold," he told her, and at her continued confusion, he explained, "I'm an ice mage."
Her eyes widened. "Like, magic?"
He nodded. "Yeah."
She wasn't as surprised as she thought she'd be, only because he seemed like the kind of person who would be a mage.
Gray's flickered back and forth, constantly aware of their surroundings and on edge, as if he expected an army to come and declare war on him personally.
Kate couldn't help but quickly look him over while his attention was elsewhere.
At first glance, Gray didn't seem like anything but a ice mage, young and full of energy.
But looking closer, she could see the scars littered all over his body, and the weariness in his steps.
He's no stranger to hardship.
She glanced up to see Gray looking at her, and her face went pink.
Gray didn't say anything, just cast him eyes down and look away, his lips turned down in a frown.
They kept walking throughout the day, only stopping to camp the next night.
"Has anyone seen Gray?" Matty asked nervously, wringing his hands and shifting from one foot to the other.
Lyon raised his head, glancing around before his gaze finally landed on Matty. "Hmm? Looking for Gray?"
Matty nodded. "I haven't seen him all since yesterday, and there's something Mirajane wants to talk to him about."
Lyon raised an eyebrow. "Really? I haven't seen Gray either, now that you mention it. Did Mirajane say that it was important?"
Matty nodded again, slipping his hands into his pockets. "Yeah. If I can't find Gray, I'll just talk to her."
Lyon rose from his seat, brushing stray dirt from his pants.
"You should look for Gray," he said, "I'll talk to Mirajane. I'll tell you what she says later."
Matty pursed his lips. "Yeah, okay," he said quietly, already glancing around.
The two moved in opposite directions, Matty towards another group of people, and Lyon towards the girl behind the bar.
"Hey, Mirajane," he greeted, sitting down on one of the stools.
Mirajane smiled sweetly. "Hello, Lyon. Did Matty find Gray?" She stacked a pile of plates and placed them on a shelf.
Lyon shook his head apologetically. "Sorry, no." He blinked. "I was wondering if you could tell me what you were going to tell him."
The girl paused, and she carefully set down the glass she'd been cleaning, tucking the rag away under the counter.
"Come with me," she said.
She led Lyon to the back of the small medic ward, into a small section that was blocked off from the rest by a white curtain.
Mirajane opened the cabinet on the wall, and pulled down a large rack of vials, all filled with blood.
"This is what's concerning me."
She selected the vial in the first row on the very left and handed it to him.
Lyon frowned and observed the dark red liquid in confusion.
"What?"
Mirajane pointed to it. "That's the very first sample I ever took. It looks like normal, healthy blood, right?"
Lyon blinked. "...Right," he said slowly.
She scanned the others and picked another, handing that one to him as well.
"Compare the two," she encouraged.
Lyon peered at them, trying to discern any difference between them, but all he saw was thick, red blood.
Just when he was sure there wasn't one, he caught it: a slight, but distinct shimmer.
"Wha..?" He looked up at Mirajane. "What is that?"
She liked her lips. "Gold."
"Gold?"
"Yes. The Attor disks, as it turns out, aren't just healing him. They're changing him."
Lyon frowned. "What does that mean?" he asked, a bit sharper than he meant to.
Mirajane gently took the vials from Lyon's hands and put them back in their spot.
Then she took the third vial from the very last row and held it out.
"This is from yesterday."
In the midst of the blood, was a bold stripe of gold, glittering and shimmering in the light.
Lyon's eyes widened.
"Oh my god," he whispered.