Chapter 4: Something Else
"Have you lost your mind? Look around you, you're up shit creek without a paddle." The demon, Doriarte as he was called, questioned. "Retrogression isn't a magic that grants youth. Strength, speed, endurance, magic power... It simply reduces all of these. In short, you've become like a rabbit I'm hunting. Now, I'll make this quick and painless." Doriarte takes a step closer to the child-sized Gray only to hear something click beneath him. He looks down and sees a ledge made of ice, slowly crumblinbender him. "This...?"
"Didn't you take those steps back a while ago? I was nice enough to make a foothold for you." Gray's voice was cocky as he stood outsmarting the demon. And as a child nonetheless. "But I don't think you need it anymore." The icy foothold colapsed, leaving the demon speechless on a floor of frozen crumbles.
"How did..?"
"Not all of my abilities have been reduced. Right up here." He points to his head and states simply, "The strategic headquarters are still working flawlessly." Doriarte sat there dumbfounded by the child in front of him. Gray looks down over the small cliff an sends a smirk Doriarte's way. "Molding magic was made to utilize imagination as your weapon. Thanks to you, it looks like I've been forced to use creativity again."
"That's ridiculous! You're able to use your imagination and give it form at you current magic level?!" The demon scales the ice cliff in order to get back to where the young Gray had been. "Where'd he run off to now?""You fell for it again... That's another artificial floor I made..." Gray calls from the actually ground beneath the demon and his icy layer. Shattering the ice, Gray sends Doriarte to the sky and awaits him on the ground with an attack in mind. "Ice Make: Hammer!"
"Like that'll work." Scoffs Doriarte at the tiny hammer summoned by the kid.
"Damn it's tiny!" Gray exclaims. " That's okay I'll just ice make that little thing into something else..."
"You can rack that little head of yours around all you want. The magic you have ain't worth crap right n-"
"SHAVED ICE!" The tiny hammer shattered above the demon and became...well, shaved ice. "Sadly this shaved ice doesn't look very tasty..." He almost sounded disappointed, that Gray. "An ice mage that soils himself upon feeling something as insignificant as that? You're not fooling anyone. You're definitely not the one who froze over this village. You don't have that kind of magical power. You can't fight the boss until you've taken down the grunts. Guess that means you're just small fry after all?" Once again, Gray smirks at the now ice covered demon who was now steaming over being humiliated by a human. Not just a human, a human child.
~Flashback~
"Oh Arion!" Mira calls.
"Yeah, Mira?" It's been six months since she joined Fairy Tail. She's gotten a little more comfortable with its members that she actually shows up to the guild and take teams on missions. She even got over Gajeel's iron breath enough to actually have a full conversation with him. That is quite a lot of progress if you consider it.
"You have a package."
"From who?!" Dragon asked skeptically. She didn't know anyone outside the guild to get packages from and she was sure that her guild mates would just give it to her personally... She didn't question it. She just took the box over to the bar counter and opened it. It was a little cardboard box that, when opened was filled with navy paper with something sitting in the exact middle of it. All she saw was a silver chain. Arion picked up the chain and as it rose, the dragon saw a sword and a dragon attached to the chain. It was a silver dragon coiled up in a circle with a little blue gem in the center. The gem was not only in the center of the dragon but, it was also attached to a very familiar looking sword... She couldn't put a finger on it but, Arion had seen that sword somewhere before. She just knew it.
"What was it?" Mira asks leaning over the opposite side of the counter. Blue eyes wide with curiosity.
"It's a necklace." Dragon held it up to show her, earning a gasp in approval from Mira and Erza, who just showed up out of nowhere.
"That's a very nice necklace you got there." Erza exclaims, a curious look on her face. "Who's it from?"
"I'm not sure... It just came for me according to Mira."
"Mmhm..." Mira nods. "Don't you like it Erza?"
Erza nods back agreeingly. "Yes, it's beautiful actually. Whoever found this for you definitely must care about you a lot. Dont you think Mira?"
Once again Mirajane begins nodding back to Erza. "Yes I do Erza." With the amount of nodding these two were doing, you'd think they were bobble heads or something.
"It is really pretty and it smells like chocolate." Arion states not catching on to the obvious scheme brewing just under her nose. "Will you help me to put it on?"
"Yes of course!" Mira takes the necklace and clasps it around Arion's neck, nodding all the while.
In that instance, Gray felt his body go back to normal He also noticed a more rabid, animalistic Doriarte. "What are you?" This version of Doriarte charged at the now full-sized Gray. "Is this what happens when you lose your cool and your magic spills out? How typical." Using an enlarged fist, the beast slams Gray into the ground. "A demon?! Like Mira's Satan Soul? No it feels like...magic...from the book of Zeref." Doriarte once again charged for Gray and with a roar, Gray is once again transformed into a child. "I'm a kid again..." he sighs. This was honestly getting tiresome. Screams come from the sky as Gray is thinking, followed by a blue and a white blob hitting the ground. "Happy! Carla!"
The two pull themselves from the ground, dusting themselves off. "Just like that, we aren't able to fly anymore..." Happy states calmly.
"What's more, you're tiny!" Carla says. "And Gray is too. What happened to you? Did that thing use it's magic on the entire village?"
"If I don't stop him here, then everyone will be put at risk!" Gray summons some magic power and gives all he has two Doriarte, not affecting him one bit. "I'll stop his mobility by freezing his feet!" Doriarte instantly breaks Gray's ice "No good either!" Gray soon finds himself trying to get off the ground after Doriarte lands a solid kick to him. "Wha-what the hell... From a single blow... And to make matters worse his magic power is increasing." Grays thoughts were scrambling. He didn't have the strength to move. Gray wouldn't be able to dodge the next attack he was hit with at this rate. Doriarte readied his blow and swung for Gray. He braced for impact.
Goodbye princess.
~Flashback cont.~
"Gray!" Arion called skipping over to the table where he sat with his usual team.
"Yeah?"
"Look what came in the mail for me today!" Arion held out the new necklace for him to get a better look at it. "Isn't it nice?"
"Ooh, Arion! That looks so nice!" Lucy says...nodding...
"Yeah... Do you have any idea who its from?" Gray asks raising a curious brow to the dragon.
"Nope!"
"You seem awfully excited about this mystery gift."
"Yeah but, it won't be hard to figure out who it's from once this smell wears off, I can figure it out." Gray nearly fell from his chair. She couldn't figure out that the necklace was from him. "A-are you sure that's necessary?"
"Yeah. I want to show my gratitude."
"Gray!" Happy yelled as he and Carla swooped in in just enough time to keep Gray from being smashed."
"Thanks Happy, Carla!" They put him down and he took stance, they didn't know what he was planning on doing but, hopefully it would help. Once again, Doriarte charges at Gray. With one hand on the ground and the other as a fist awaiting impact, Gray is ready. He had planned to use his body as a vessel to send the magic of the ice that froze the village to stop this demon. As said demon makes contact with the fist of the ice mage, He shoots of into sky like before when he touched the ice and Gray, Happy, Carla anyone else were transformed back to normal.
"Gray are you okay?" Happy and Carla ask him. "What did you do?"
"ku ku ku." Doriarte laughed as he reverts back to his original form. "you're the ones who opened up hells gate. It can't be undone and-" He's eaten by some strange giant, one-eyed, bird thing before he can finish his statement.
Wha-what happened? The last thing... "Gray! Gray! Gra-"
"I'm right here. Calm down."
"Oh my god! Are you okay?!" She hugs him tightly around the neck, nearly causing both of them to fall over, only to realize that she was normal size again which meant... A blush spread across her face as she slowly pulled away from the hug. Did he...dress me? She didn't know why she had felt embarrassed by Gray...
"My eyes were closed..." and just like that, Gray was a mind reader.
They sat in heavy silence. "So... What I miss?"
"We defrosted the Eternal Flame that actually turned out to be a Atlas Flame."
"I missed Uncle?!" She interrupted with a sad whine. Gray just laughed at her earning him a very pitiful looking expression. "Where are the others?"
"They're still with the giants."
"Let's go meet them th- ahh!" Arion begins to stand only to be met with a terrible pain in her ribs and head. She looked like she'd fall over.
Gray quickly shoots to his feet and catches her before the impending fall. "Are you alright? How are you feeling?"
"I'm fine. I'm fine honest."
"Don't try to be tougher than you are. I can help you." holding her tightly, foreheads almost touching, Gray whispers softly to her.
"T-the blood..." She whispers back. "I smell the blood. It- it burns, Gray."
Gently laying her onto the ground, Gray grips the bottom hem of her shirt. "Do you mind?" She shakes her head no and Gray rips off a strip of the fabric swiftly, cleaning the blood away. "It'll probably scar..."
"T-thats o-kay..." As she spoke a white cloud left her lips.
"Your breath is cold."
"I-I n-need f-fire. N-Natsu. Q-qui-ick."
"Alright, hang on." The ice mage picks Dragon up bridal style, latching her arms around his neck for security. Her skin felt ice cold and he could feel scales forming.
"G-gray..."
"Just hang in there. I'll get you some fire and anything else."
"T-Thanks." He looked at her, her eyes still devoid of their vibrant color. Scagain continued forming, as did her tail as Gray walked on with her in his arms. He would make sure she got better.
~Flashback cont.~
Gray was on edge. What if she found out it was him who gave her the necklace? What would she think? 'A dragon and a human? You're joking, right?' Would be what she'd say to him. 'Never in a million years!'
He leaned back in his chair at one of the guild's tables. The legs squeaked as he uncontrollably rocked back and forth. It had probably been around 2 weeks since the necklace "mailed" to her and she hadn't stopped sniffing it since. Every 5 seconds it was sniff sniff "damn it still smells like chocolate!" Gray had a plan. It would involve quick wits, speed and agility but, he promised himself that he wouldn't fail. He wouldn't be outsmar-
"Hey Gray!" Speak of the devil. Arion snuck up on Gray causing his chair along with himself to hit the ground.
"Shit- ouch. Hey..."
"What're you thinking so hard about?" She asked curiously.
"N-nothing..."
"Hmmm...are you lying to me?"
Yes. "No..."
"Alright... Anyway you wanna go on a mission?" she asks enthusiastically. She couldn't wait for her next mission. She had conquered a chimera, captured some bandits and even preformed a couple of plays. She had found a mission earlier that day that read 'Mages Wanted. Help Save Sun God.". It was for 400,000 jewel and she needed a partner.
"Can't today. I promised Juvia that I'd go with her yesterday." Juvia... Arion gave him a slightly sad nod as she slumped away to ask someone else. Seeing this, Gray couldn't just let her walk away sad. "If you want, I can tomorrow..."
"YAY! Thanks Gray!" She shouts, running back to hug him tightly. Damn that pitiful face! "Also thanks again."
"For what?"
"My necklace."
"You knew?"
"No."
"Then how-"
"Who else has this kind of sword dangling from their necks. When I realized it...I just had to make sure." "Plus, sarcasm is my friend, Gray."
"Smartass..." He huffed under his breath.
"And yet you're still my best friend! What doesn't that say about you."
It says that I fell for a smartass... "Whatever..."
"Don't be so pouty." She kissed his cheek playfully and then runs off to somewhere he was toodazzled to see. Gray, whose bright red cheeks we possibly making the air in the guild heat up, nearly fell out of his chair again. This girl was definitely something else.
She wasn't any better, though. She just ran off to catch her breath. Her heart was nearly jumping out of her chest. She just kissed THE Gray Fullbuster on the cheek. It may seem like something trivial to you but, for her... for her it was game changing. Yeah, she was most definitely something else entirely.
"She just needs rest"
"How long?"
"A couple of weeks. When that demon you spoke of threw her, she broke a couple of ribs and had some minor head trauma. Had she not been a child at that moment this wouldn't have been such an issue." The pink-haired lady continued. "She was sent to the stage in a dragon's life where she didn't have her tough scales to protect her. Just a few doses of water, fire, earth and sky magics a day and she'll be fine." Porlyusica gathered up her things and started towards the infirmary door. "I'll be taking my leave now. Too many humans here for my liking."
When Porlyusica left, Gray sat in his chair staring at drag all-to-stubborn dragon girlfriend. Why did she always have to protect everyone? If she'd just worry about her self more often... "Gray..." her soft voice was music to his ears.
"Yeah I'm here."
She offered him a weak smile as she rested her hand on his forearm. "Why do you always think so hard?"
"Why do you worry me so much?"
"I have nothing else to do..."
They both laughed in unison. When their laughter dies down, Gray stands from his chair and simply states "I'll be back tomorrow"
"Promise?" She asks eagerly.
"Yeah I promise."
She sticks out her pinky to him and says "Pinky promise?" She looked at him with her best puppy dog face. He couldn't say no.
"Pinky promise." He wrapped his pinky around her smaller one and pulled her up slightly. He swiftly wraps his arm around her waist and softly hugs her, placing a kiss to her forehead among release. "Now get some rest."
"Okay. I will."
"I love you."
"Love you, too, Ice Boy." he left the dragon to herself. After the door had squeaked to a close, Arion had reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out the gift from all those years ago. The silver still shined as it did back then. That boy was definitely something else. Entirely