.Heyy guys!*raises hands in the air in defensive form* oh no- I'm so sorry for taking so long with this chapter. Don't worry though, I intended to do that because I decided to spend my time writing in advance and then typing it to my computer and then voila! Publish it like usual.. Nuhohohoho! I'll try to encode the future chapters as early as possible before my dreaded exams D:
As for this chapter, I tell you this is gonna be long. Finally, Jellal and his team will show up in this chapter, too! Hurray for major story development! Really, i visioned this story to be shorter but while I was writing the next chapters, it got complicated and reaaallly long. I figured it will be too much dragging-but I'll try to change it and- I apologize(to all GrayZa fans out there)that there will be more JerZa chapters in the future.. And Gray, well I'll emphasize his feelings about it. Then- then-wait, I'm already telling the story-*sigh- thank heavens I haven't told you the WHOLE of of it:) Hang on, dear readers!
So for my dear reviewers,
Raikiri80: Glad you found that out. You'll have to stay tuned to find the answer yourself. Hehe. Thanks dor reviewing AGAIN!yay!
Milafox12: Finally! The next chapter is here! Ahhh- I really want to learn Kung fu badly. Hahha. Good luck kicking butts with your new found skills!:)
Guest(guest): thank you for the suggestion, you helped a lot! I think i have an idea now! Thank you so much! Hope you're still into this fic:)
Iceboy(guest): Wow, what a name you got there, bro! Hehe. I say you're a good reader, too. Well, what do you think? I finally made Jellal's appearance here. You'll find the answer here, too. Of course, if you're an obsevervant like you were before. Hehe. I could give you a cookie for a good guess like that!:D
Grayza fan(guest): yay! You read Gray's actions easily.(did I state the obvious on the last chapter?) hahaha. And here's another chapter! Hope you'll still like it even though there's roughly a GrayZa scene here, just Jellal's debut appearance in here:)
AnimeLuver1885: owhhh, I'm so touched because you reviewed 2 times! Thanks for reading and I'm glad you liked it- true, this story doesn't get much not I'm not really affected much-especially because I have all of you who appreciate my work! It makes me fuzzy and warm inside. Thank you! Thank you, everyone! I'll try my best to not disappoint you and make all of you happy! I'll be looking forward for your story, too! Yay for GrayZa!
So I'm guessing that makes all of it.. Disclaimer pleaseee!
Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.
Chapter 3: The wait is over
Lucy, dusting off her hands,mentally congratulated herself for successfully letting her pent up rage towards his boyfriend(Well, let her be this time, okay? It rarely happens. After all, she's the only one who could put up with a hardheaded dragonslayer like Natsu) as she walked back to the table. Like a snap of a hand, another glass of strawberry parfait was sitting on her table, while Mira smiled cheerfully going back to the counter to finish her job of wiping utensils.
Out in the middle of what's left after their heated fight, the two youths didn't even bother to look at each other despite working their muscles to fix their mess—Natsu was still angry, and Gray was still silent. Natsu wanted a fight, while Gray wanted this kind of peace, silence over his mind to at least get rid of his problems.
" My, my. What kind of mess is this again?" A mature female's voice echoed from the guild's entrance. She seemed to have company out from the shadows, outlined by the gleam of light blocked by their figures.
"Ahh—I wouldn't be surprised about it, Tear-san." Said the younger female beside her.
"Well, this is Fairy Tail we knew." The only man in the group spoke.
Everyone's eyes locked on them-surprised at the familiar voices that reminded them of their glorious past—the Grand Magic Games.
The year 3 years past had been a memorable one for Fairy Tail. That year, their patient waiting for 7 years had paid off when Natsu and the rest of Tenroujima team came back safe and sound. Their participation to the annual Grand Magic Games with the sole purpose of regaining the lost pride of their guild had resulted to one of the usually unusual troubles they'd get into. Lucy being chased by the kingdom itself for the completion of the Project Eclipse, the dark enormous presence hovering over the tournament, the summoning of the terrifying Acnologia, and Zeref's unexpected appearance became the highlighted parts of the supposedly annual battle of Fiore's guilds. Team Natsu once again took action and had been the culprits for some head bashing with the kingdom's respected officials and upper-ranks, a direct confrontation to Queen, and together with the revealed Crime Sorciere, caused some rampaging feats to finally snap the kingdom into their senses, and then face the terrifying Acnologia being unstoppable…AT FIRST. Add the alliance of the dark guilds and Iwan Dreyar's evil plans, all participating legal guilds had no choice but to engage in battle, too. Finally, with the first Master of Fairy Tail's strategies and the unexpected temporary alliance of all the guilds present resulting to a massive assembly of magic in just one spot, the battle was won, all thanks to the leadership of Fairy Tail.
But despite the contribution of Crime Sorciere for having just saved the whole world of magic, the fact still remained that they were still fugitives who had spent years hiding away from the Council and posing a threat to them. The council never put this aside and never considered, and so with them taking appearance that day, they took the opportunity to finally catch them. Being satisfied with the chaos finally put into an end, the independent guild decided that maybe, this will also be the most perfect time to atone for their sins and surrender completely to the authority. Since then, they were never seen by any of their newly-found allies.
Not until now.
Three years have passed, they weren't sure if they can still be accepted into the world that left them behind the rails. Standing in front of the guild who took them as comrades since that day, it was awkward being met with wide-eyed awes and surprise.
"I-Is t-that really them?"
"T-they had returned-it is really them!"
"Welcome back, minna! I'm glad you returned safe and sound!" Mira pitched in with a warm smile and a happy tone, perhaps one of the happiest tones she had.
"The Council finally set them free! I can't believe it took them that long! Those bastards never-" Cana's plan to insult the Council was instantly cut off. For two additional figures had come out behind the three revealed mages. Soldiers.
"A—Anyway…. We're glad you're back, guys! It's been a long time since then!"
The merry sound of greetings, heartily laughs, messages of missing them, stories waiting to be told, and the excitement and gratefulness were all conveyed on their smiling faces as all of Fairy Tail's mages ran to them, crowding them in circle and asking them with lots of questions along with the warm words of welcoming. The reluctance in the three mages' eyes faded away as they saw how everyone was pleased to them again. It was all the same back then when they were eagerly accepted into the group and fought alongside with them. The same warmth that they longed to feel again behind those bars now welcomed them back to the real world.
" How are you guys? Did they tortured you in prison? Did they do terrible things to you?"
"Stop that already! What's important now is that they're finally free! Yay!"
"I agree for the first time with you, Macao!"
"You sure to have grown thinner, Ultear, Meredy, and Jellal too!—I'm sure you guys are hungry."
" You look lively as ever, Ultear!"
"Kawaii, Meredy-chan!"
" Wait—what the hell are those guards doing here?!" a certain fire dragonslayer blurted out pointing at those soldiers.
"Watch your mouth kid!" one of them said.
"Oh, yeah? Well how about-" Natsu's desire of smacking the soldiers was cut off by Jellal.
"I'm sorry, but we might as well save our explanation for later. Anyway, Natsu wild you be kind enough to tell me where Master Makarov is?" he said in a modest, respectful tone.
"Owh, Come on Jellal. Don't have to be formal you know." Lucy smiled cheerfully.
"Lucy's right, Jully with the big head tattoo! We've known each other!" Natsu said grinning. He had to admit that he actually liked him to be his friend even before the Grand Magic Games. They made a good team, too. His issue with Erza is an entirely different topic.(Weird ,right?)
"It's Jellal, you jerk! And stop making names of people!"
" Right, right.. I forgot."
Jellal sweatdropped seeing the two mages in front of him.
"Well, Master is just behind that door and I believe he's waiting for you guys for some urgent matter so-" Mira happily pointed.
"Yes, thank you Mira-" Meredy hanged up for the moment, not sure if calling her-san, will not offend her. The time skip really did the thing of confusing ages with numbers.
"Awwh—call me Mira-nee if you want, okay?Besides, I don't really mind."She curved a warm pleasing smile before the pink-haired girl.
"Mira-nee…." She stuttered, slightly embarrassed of how she might sound ridiculous.
"Me too! Call me Lisa-nee! Remember me? I'm Mira-nee's younger sister!" Meredy was surprised to hear another white-haired girl's reply.
Ultear who was getting separated by the crowd, worried about Meredy, but seeing her blending with the guild's atmosphere so quick and with that smile on her face, she pushed aside her 'motherly' instincts.
She's all grown up now.
Out in the corner of her eye, she finally saw the man he was currently looking for. None other than his mother's former student and the guy who brought her senses back, Gray Fullbuster. He was smiling with the crowd, joining from behind them. But she saw his eyes were different from the normal lively ones she was used to. Finally, the ice mage noticed her stare and smiled, half-heartedly.
" So you're finally free, huh.. Welcome back, Ultear." He smirked with one of his signature ones as he makes his way towards his teacher's daughter.
"Still acting older than me all these years, aren't you Gray? Guess you'll never learn to count the difference of our ages." She said meeting him with a smile.
"Oh, yeah? If I do that, it'll only make you older that what you look like. You wouldn't want that, would you?" he pulled off. A vein popped into her head and stared at him with annoyance.
"Relax. Just a joke." He immediately took it back although he never regretted it, seeing how she easily fell for that.
"What's with that ugly look on your face anyway? I've come out of the prison only to meet your negative vibes." She said, trying not to sound directly that she was figuring him out.
He paused.
"W-Well whatever it is, it is definitely not something you should know about or worry over." He refused to look at her in the eyes. With this, Ultear knew he wasn't going to tell her about it. A part of her worried about him although he denied it was something to get worked up about. But she understood anyway.
"Well, I hope so. Because I'd personally tell my mother to haunt you at night just to scare that gloomy aura out of you and I'll gladly see how uglier can your face get." She chuckled a bit. It was her way of showing concern to the younger ice mage, having considered him as his younger brother along with Lyon. She felt the responsibility to take over her mother's task to look after them.
She was met with a surprised look from the mage. Maybe, he wasn't used to Ultear casually talking about her mother, Ul. It was a good sign. He smiled truthfully at that.
"What?" she said, freaking out of his sudden expression.
"Nothing."
A voice cut them off.
"Oh, well. See you later, Gray."
"Yeah."
And so the rest of the group finally entered Makarov's office. In the mean time….
"Minna! I say we have a special celebration tonight for our friends! Who's with me?" Mira announces to the guild. Everyone raised their hands, shouting gleefully. And within a minute, the guild became festive and upbeat.
If I made any mistake here, please do care to tell me. Haha. I made this on my mobile so I can't see much. Oh, and I wanted to ask you guys- while writing this, many ideas suddenly popped into my mind and wrote it down. Now, I don't know what to publish first so please leave review for your choice among the following:
The sleeping beauty- a short multi-chapter of GrayZa. This is story about a scarlet who fell into a deep sleep while her friends are struggling to live and protect their home, and her in the midst of war. Then, there goes her closest friend who never failed to visit her and never lost hope that maybe, just maybe one day she'll wake up again.
Lullaby- Gray is sick, you'll never know how a certain scarlet will worry.
What I've done- Mainly Gray in focus. He wakes up one day, not remembering anything. Even his past, except for a certain name 'Erza'. As he tries to recollect all the fragments of his past, another yet adventure and surprising revelations will await him. But why are his friends hiding something from him?
A not-so-ordinary day-Oneshot. One day, Team Natsu decided to go on a mission when they meet a mysterious 6year old girl on the way. Definitely not an OC story. Just a humor-mystery fic with carnivals and parks as setting.
Now, do tell me! Till next time!