Here I am back with another chapter. So far so good for consistency. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: Don't own it still...
It had been roughly two years since Gray had joined Fairy Tail and things in life had actually started looking up for the young hero. After reluctantly forming a partnership with Cana Alberona, he actually began adapting to the Western Continent's way of life. Sure, there was the intense summer heat that made the Ice Wizard want to curl up inside a freezer until autumn, but the winters were truly amazing. The crystal white snow gave him a sad sense of nostalgia, thinking back to the times he spent training alongside Lyon, not to mention their overly aggressive snowball fights. The brunette had been quick to cheer up his glum mood when she dragged him out into the mountains surrounding Magnolia to go sledding. In all honesty, Gray never really thought he could have fun again, but the amount of times he'd smiled in the past two years was unbelievable! Speaking of smiling, going out on jobs, whether it was with Cana or not – as Makarov had finally been convinced after one year that Gray was more than ready to take it solo – made him absolutely giddy. He'd be practically jumping for joy on the train ride over to his client. And the rewards were incredible! He didn't exactly have the best living arrangements right now; he wouldn't consider an abandoned church just outside the city to be a decent home, but it wasn't like he was actually spending much time at his residence. The majority of his day was spent in the guild hall. Arguing with Macao and Wakaba, having another fortune reading, or even chatting to Makarov about his latest job. There was always something to keep the young wizard occupied.
Recently, a new young wizard had joined Fairy Tail's ranks and Gray was not happy about it. She was about a year older than him and went by the name Erza Scarlet. The red-head was quite a mysterious girl to say the least, masking one eye with a white patch and hiding her chest behind thick metallic armour. Gray was never a fan of change – that much was clear – so having yet another person to get used to wasn't exactly ideal... And it didn't help that the first time the pair had ever interacted Erza had so rudely commented on his not so subtle stripping habit. Ever since then, there had been a flurry of fights breaking out between the pair... Erza won of course, and that only made Gray even more pissed. So much so that he devoted days to intense training, completely rejecting any requests that Cana offered up. The brunette had approached him multiple times, telling him over and over to take a break and relax. But as you would expect, Gray did not quit. He was going to beat Erza, he just had to. There was no way he was just going to let some girl turn up one day and humiliate him in front of his guild mates without getting his revenge.
"Gray!" Cana called from their usual table. "Lemme tell you your fortune!"
The Ice Wizard rolled his eyes. Ideally, he'd wanted to go and challenge Erza to another fight, but from the looks of things, the new wizard was just on her way out to a job. There was no way he'd be able to fit in both. Sighing with a hint of annoyance, the raven trudged over to the Card Wizard and slumped down opposite her. Erza will be back later, he thought as he watched a very eager Cana shuffle through her deck.
"Okay," she smiled, putting the final card in place. "Pick one."
As per usual, Gray just selected any random card that called out to him and turned it over. "Cana it's the same card as I always get. You sure this game isn't rigged?"
"How many times do I have to tell you, it's not a game?!" She pouted. "There must be a reason you keep getting 'The Fool' card. All it's telling you is that there's going to be a big change to your life in the near future. Maybe that change just hasn't come yet or something. The cards never lie Gray."
He huffed.
"Why don't you take another one then?"
Rolling his eyes once again, the raven selected his second card. "Well what's this one then?"
"Ooooooh," Cana's smiled broadened. "The Three of Cups. It stands for celebration, friendship, creativity and community. The three maidens on the cards reach their arms up and is a symbol of their friendship. At the maidens' feet are flowers that symbolise joy, beauty, compassion and growth. The flowers are there to remind us of the good times in life, but only if we open up to its presence. You know what this means?"
"What?" Gray mumbled, only half listening.
"It means that a new bond will be formed in the coming future."
Oh great... Gray grumbled to himself. Don't tell me we're getting another guild member? Aren't these assholes enough?Okay, Gray would admit that Cana wasn't so bad, but he still had beef with Macao and Wakaba... And especially Erza. He hadn't even managed to beat her yet. Gray only hoped that his team mate was wrong. It was just a stupid fortune telling. There was no way it was accurate.
"Okay, well if we're done here, I'm off to train," he dismissed, rising from the bench.
"Ooooooh, can I come?" The girl pleaded. "I got some new battling cards that I want to try out."
"Sure," Gray shrugged, already halfway across the room by this point. He had to beat Erza, he just had to!
That evening, after an extensive training session, Gray charged out of the guild hall in pursuit of his scarlet-haired opponent. It didn't take too long to find her either. Pretty much all of their fights thus far had taken place either at the guild or by the riverbed and this evening was no exception. What was unusual though was that it was usually Erza who came looking for Gray before he initiated the battle. Somehow today Erza had been sat ready and waiting for the Ice Wizard's arrival. Maybe she'd had a feeling that tonight would be the night Gray would finally outmatch her and prove his strength and was preparing herself for failure? However many scenarios the raven came up within his mind, none of them prepared him for what was about to happen.
There was no particular reason Erza was in a depressive mood that evening. It was proving to be too difficult to adjust to the sudden change in her life. It wasn't as if she wasn't grateful for this new change, it was just so overwhelming for the poor red-head. She had been in slavery for what felt like an eternity – though in reality it had only been around one year – and to suddenly have so much freedom, she didn't know where she fit into it all. Of course, it wasn't helping to have the fate of her friends weighing down as a constant reminder that she would never truly be free. The Requip Wizard brought a single hand up to her face and traced where her eye used to be, grimacing when she felt the sickening indent on her skin. The thought of it all couldn't help but bring tears to her only functioning eye.
This was it! This was finally his moment to defeat Erza once and for all. He could just creep up behind her and knock her out – that would technically be a victory – but that would take all the satisfaction out of it. Gray wanted to see the dismay in her face when he tackled her, to hear her voice quiver as she admits defeat at the hands of the almighty Gray-Sama. And so, he charged. "Alright Erza, bring it on!" He roared as he skidded down the hill to the waterside. "You're the one going down this time!" He watched as the red-head slowly turned to face him, bracing himself for whatever attack she threw his way. However, this particular attack was something Gray was incredibly weak to...
Tears
The floodgates had opened for Erza, a glimmering trail of tears sliding down her left cheek. Gray instantly halted in his tracks, eyes gaping at the sight. Was Erza, the Erza, actually showing some signs of emotion? Impossible, right? The raven backtracked as his face turned a flushed red. He opened his mouth to initiate some sort of conversation, but no words managed to come out.
"It's you again," Erza quickly regained her composure and pushed herself off the ground. She rapidly wiped away her tears, though she knew that it was practically pointless at this point. "What is it with you? Haven't you learned your lesson? Alright, give me your best shot."
"Uhh... Well... Uhh..."
"What's the matter? You're not chickening out are you?"
Gray sighed, his drive for a fight washing away with the river. "Tell me something. How come you're alone all the time?"
The words struck Erza like a baseball bat. "I prefer to be alone," she mumbled, averting her gaze from the Ice Wizard. "Because I get nervous around other people."
"Oh yeah? Well you're alone now, so why're you crying?"
A heavy silence weighed between the two, both taking a moment to let those words sink in. Gray had honestly been surprised that he'd said that. The words just kind of formed on their own. Normally, he would have agreed that there was no better company that your own, but now it just felt so wrong. Even the thought left a bad taste in his mouth. He watched Erza's expression change from one of shock to a more saddened, understanding frown. There was clearly some history behind those scars, if it wasn't obvious enough already. Gritting his teeth, Gray strode over to the girl's side and dropped into a sitting position, feeling a mixture of hatred and sympathy. Why did this god forsaken world have to be such a bitch?!
"So you're not going to fight me today?" Erza remarked, surprising herself when a small smile formed.
"Well it's my choice!" Gray yelled, defensively.
The pair remained in silence after that, so they just stared out into the river, watching the azure stream flow across Magnolia. Both were more than content to leave the conversation at that, but for some reason the raven felt inclined to say something. Not something big, just some words of advice or reassurance. Erza had had a look of pain and torture in her eye since day one. Gray knew that look; he was met with that look every time he looked in a mirror. There was clearly some story that Erza wanted to leave behind in the shadows of her past, but sitting alone at sunset and crying was definitely not the way to go about that.
"You shouldn't suffer alone Erza, it doesn't do anyone any good," Gray mumbled. He was thankful that Cana wasn't around or he would have just sounded like the biggest hypocrite in all of Fiore.
Erza's smile dropped. "Is that what you do?"
"Not really..." He chuckled, thinking back to his first days with the guild. "But I've found that no matter how hard you try to avoid it, people will just keep coming into your life and offer help. You can try and turn it down, but trust me; they'll find a way to get through to you."
The mini-speech brought tears to her eye, but this time they weren't necessarily tears of sadness but ones of gratitude. The red-head was honestly surprised that this stubborn, reckless brat could have a softer and more supportive side. The girl pulled on her sleeve to once again wipe away the tear tracks stringing down her face. "You know, you're not as bad as I thought Gray."
"Guess I'll take that as a compliment," he rolled his eyes, chuckling again. "We should probably head back to the guild. You didn't turn up after you finished your job. Grams will worry like hell if you don't let him know that you're home safe." He shoved himself off the ground and began making his way back up the grassy slope when he paused. "Are you coming or are you gonna completely disregard everything I just said?"
Erza couldn't help but crack a smile at that. This was the Gray she was more familiar with. "Yeah... Let's go."
The following day was just like any other day at Fairy Tail. People were drinking, laughing and generally having a good time. Gray and Cana were sat at the usual table munching away on breakfast when the Ice Wizard sparked up a little chat.
"Well looks like that little fortune you gave me yesterday didn't come true did it? No new members, no 'new bonds being formed.' I told you those things aren't accurate."
"The cards don't lie Gray, how many times do I have to tell you!"
This argument, like any other of their disagreements, could have spanned over days. If it wasn't for Erza slowly approaching them, the duo would have probably ended up in a full blown magic fight.
"Hey..." She fumbled around with her skirt to distract herself from their puzzled gazes. "Do you guys mind if I sit with you?"
"Not at all," Cana smiled, gesturing to the seat next to Gray. "Gray was just saying how he doesn't believe in fortunes."
"Because they're never accurate!" He retorted before turning to Erza. "The other day she gave a fortune saying that it would be my lucky day. You wanna know what happened?" He didn't even bother waiting for confirmation. "I fell in a ditch and lost my wallet. Wouldn't exactly call that lucky."
The Requip Wizard sat and watched the pair battle it out once again, but was stunned into silence when they seemingly wanted her opinion.
"Well... Why don't you give me a fortune telling and then I'll decided whether they work or not."
"Don't waste your time," Gray complained, despite Cana's hurt expression. "You'll probably just pick 'The Fool' card. I swear she has like fifty of them in there."
"Oh please," Cana laughed. "No one is a bigger fool than you are. In more ways than one!" Both girls giggled upon seeing the betrayed look on the boys face.
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?!"
Cana shrugged. "You'll find out soon enough."
Whoooo! Another chapter done. Just a pre-warning, next chapter's gonna be a long one so be prepared! ;)
See ya in the next one!