Author's Note: these oneshots are dedicated all to [soul . fairy] (please excuse the spaces).
Disclaimer: Hiro Mashima owns all.
Prompt: Fear / Attack On Titan AU
Other: contains (indirect) manga spoilers
"Fear does not shut you down.
It wakes you up."
—Divergent
Like a mere child's splatter picture, the sky was stained with a blood red—beautiful, but adhering in its foreboding of danger. The sun was slowly progressing in setting, but, behind the loveliness, everybody within the populated walls of refuge, Wall Maria, knew better than to relax their perpetually-tensed muscles and lower their heightened senses. Among these people were that of a lone squad, each member on horseback, galloping at full speed through a forest filled with gargantuan sequoia and redwood trees down a single mud-and-dirt path that had been beaten down by the hooves of pacing horses and other means of transportation over the previous years. The wind around them whistled as they sped through the brush.
Seated precariously on a snowy white stallion, a brunet, clad formally in Scouting Legion uniform, wavered; his mind was clearly set on other things. Uncertainly—while the path spreading out before and behind them like a sandy ribbon remained empty, except for he and his group—the man's head swiveled around continuously. His gaze darted to and fro, and he continuously cast his eyes backward, much to the chagrin of his squad leader—a stern-looking redhead conveniently taking the lead in their specific traveling formation.
"Gray! Focus on the road! Everybody, full speed ahead!" their captain, Erza Scarlet, chided sharply, and said person snapped his head around apologetically to set his sights on the plain, flat ground ahead of him. His eyes were solemn and downcast.
"Yes sir... I mean, ma'am." His quell came out hurried and mumbled.
Beside him, on a steed the color of a mahogany desk, a pretty bluenette glanced at him as she clutched onto her reins. Cautiously, she reached over and laid a reassuring hand onto his back. "Gray-sama?" She lowered her voice to a barely intelligible whisper. "Sweetie? Are you alright? Tell Juvia what's the matter." But Gray only laid his own palm atop the back of Juvia's delicately, like she was a porcelain doll, and managed a small smile at her. "I'm okay, Juvia," he replied softly.
Previously, Juvia had admitted to Gray that she was currently infatuated with him—yes, infatuated; those were the exact words she had used—and Gray couldn't have thought anything otherwise. Juvia was gorgeous, determined, and strong in countless ways; she was exactly his type, in manner of speaking. But she expected an impending answer to her ambiguous proposal, and he was conflicted inside about the matter.
Nervously, he retracted his hand—he couldn't bear to look at her—and shifted his gaze back to the empty dirt flowing behind them. He felt strange and void inside; something was definitely off.
Suddenly, as if eerily on cue, a flare signal sparked, leaving a trail of bright, smoldering smoke in its wake, and Gray stiffened as he noticed what squad area from which the alarm had manifested. His grip on the reins tightened considerably—his knuckles were a pallid white with shocking realization. An involuntary shiver traveled down his spine.
A call of distress... Titans? Titans.
Without a second's further hesitation, he cried out, "Captain! The flare! The troops on the righthand side are in trouble!"
Stoically, Erza's features were of mild distaste and discomfort as she barked aloud, "Continue!"
"Wait, Captain Erza!" On Gray's other side, whose horse was pressed flank to flank with his own in the heat, his best friend—the only one who had insistently remained at his side with consistent measure, despite their numerous quarrels and heated brawls—Natsu Dragneel ran a worried hand through his rosy salmon locks distressfully. He tugged violently on his own reins, and his dappled ride whinnied with exhaustion and immediately decelerated. "We have to help them!" His pleading yell was catalystic, and Erza whipped her head around furiously. For emphasis, Natsu pointed at the narrow patch of sky—now tinted with shades of smoke from the trailing signal—hailed above their heads. "They gave us a signal for a reason! Do you hear any backup? We're supposed to aid them! They're risking their lives for us!" Sweat beaded on his forehead.
Erza wheeled her horse around with a graceful gait, skidding to a halt, and paused momentarily, but her eyes shone fiercely. She brushed her bangs out of her eyes. "Natsu Dragneel, Gray Fullbuster," she growled. Her irises glinted threateningly, and she unsheathed her sword with a clean zing! of ease. Before anyone could react, she had gripped Natsu's collar in one fist and aimed the pointed tip of her blade at his Adam's apple. It grazed his neck ever-so-slightly, and he fought the urge to gulp.
"Let me make this clear." The tone in the redhead's voice was piqued with a soft menace that neither of the duo could not quite place. "You do not waste my time. We are on a mission for the sake of humanity. We are in uncharted territories, overrun by beings that could snap your bones within a millisecond." Her blade drove deeper, and Natsu valiantly inched backward. "You chose to join the Survey Corps. Make your limited time here its worth. And, just remember..." Erza's face was dark. "Just because you are a Titan Shifter, that doesn't mean that you're strong. You're a weakling in comparison, and I'm not saying that out of intentional abrasiveness. Are you willing to lay down your life for humanity?"
With a swift swing, Erza's sword arced backwards and slashed slightly into the side of Natsu's neck; the mark promptly began bleeding, and the latter yelped and cupped his palm over the wound with an astonished cry. Gray remained rigid in stark silence, surprised beyond comfort. The redhead sheathed her sword cleanly, and wheeled back around with a pointed look at the two.
"Natsu Dragneel," she resumed her speech with ignited passion lighting her every word, but even so, every word spewed out of her mouth was bitter and cold as ice. "Know that we are doing this mission for you. You are the catalyst for humanity's comeback. That is our current objective at hand: protecting you. A few lives lost will be of little importance in such a drastic matter."
"You're just saying that these lives don't mean anything," Gray interjected boldly. "With all due respect, Captain Erza, but your logic is flawed beyond reason. Commander Makarov specifically gave out orders for assistance when a step in the plan is disrupted. Every step is important, just like every life lost or gained."
"Gray Fullbuster, that is not what I meant. They will be remembered as martyrs who fought for us all, and they will be remembered." Erza's penetrating gaze dared him to say more, but he was unfazed at the moment. His boldness dizzied even himself, but Erza merely frowned him off and commanded loudly, "We have lost much time. Continue ahead, full speed! No interruptions, whatsoever."
"No." Gray's objection pierced through the monochromatic air hovering about them, and Erza went deathly silent, stilling. He took that as a hazardous cue to continue. "I won't. I don't care if you all leave me behind in the dust right this minute. I'm going to help. I'll defeat all the titans myself if I have to."
He galloped off without a second thought, weaving through the bushes until he was out of sight and hidden within the folds of foliage in the dark forest, and Natsu took off wordlessly after him towards their designated target spot.
Lucy...
A solemn blonde with sparkling brown eyes, seated upon a speckled grey steed, bit back a frustrated sigh as a multitude of fifteen-meter class titans burst through the clearing and into view behind her squad of twelve, exclusively. As thunderous footsteps sounded behind them, gaining speed surprisingly fast, she coughed, reached for the small gun stowed snugly into the side of her belt, and slammed her finger down firmly on the trigger. The red-hot smoke of the signal spewed from the holster, hurtling itself far into the small patch of sky above them. How could this happen? Wasn't there a group preventing titans from entering the forest?
The seconds dragged on into endless minutes, and the captain cleared her throat, preparing to fire a second shot, when a fearsome-looking comrade with long, pin-straight aqua hair next to her suddenly glared at her back and yelled, "Lucy! What the hell are you doing?"
"Firing a second shot, Aquarius," replied said corporal; her hand remained on the handle of the flare gun. "I don't think they noticed the first." The other member shook her head indignantly, her blue hair flying behind her, and pulled on a burst of speed, advancing until she and the blonde were parallel, side by side. She laid a hand reassuringly on the barrel of the gun, and offered her a crude, encouraging smile.
"Don't," she coerced. "We can take these guys on ourselves, right? We can fight. We aren't in the strongest squad of the Survey Corps for nothing."
At this, Lucy glanced her way, contemplating her suggestion for a moment, before exhaling deeply. Setting her jaw, she averted her gaze. "Right..." she muttered.
"Don't give up now." A ghost of a smile could be seen on Aquarius' face. "We can stop them."
Lucy bit her lip in compliance, and shouted, "Everybody! 3D Maneuver Gear! Go!"
She watched as those behind her, on command, began popping out of their saddles one after the other in a tidy fashion and jettisoning high into the air, away from the harmful clutches of mankind's enemy. As the last of her crew soared away from their horses, she shoved the gun back into its original location, and, promptly, a set of iron grappling hooks shot out from the metal machinery hanging at her hips, and Lucy jetted off of the back of her ride, swinging onto the branches of a large Sequoia. High up from the ground, she glanced down at her retreating steed and closed her eyes, head now raised towards the heavens. Her gaze immediately sought out that little patch of red hovering above the leafy green canopy.
I hope that everyone will live this time.
Her hasty musings were interrupted by Aquarius' snapping. "Lucy!" By now, the horde of titans had already gathered at the bases of the trees in a frugal attempt to climb and reach their breathing objectives.
"You guys know what to do." She nodded, face set and hardened into that of an expression worn from war, and leapt from the sturdy branch, spiraling in a speedy descent towards the enemy, ordering loudly, "Attack!"
The blonde surged towards the mutated sea of faces below, and spared a quick look behind her to see her squad members flying not too far behind her. An ambiguous sense of pride niggled at her deep down inside, and her eyes glinted. A weathered leather pouch full of jingling golden keys, strapped securely against her hip, burned into the side of her leg in foreboding, and anger and hatred bit down upon her like a deer trap. Anger that this was the current state of their society. Hatred for titans. Hatred for their existence and their ways, their tendencies.
Lucy allowed this heat encompass her as she flipped in the air, her center tilting sideways as the grappling hooks flew and embedded themselves into the meaty neck of a slightly larger titan with a seamy mouth and tufts of untidy black hair. Amidst the ripple of noise around her, she growled in a feral manner as she swung past the titan's nape, her hooks releasing, and heaved her two razor-sharp blades into the back of its neck.
Its gargantuan hand reached backwards, as if it was considering the notion of swatting a fly on the back of its neck, wavering slightly in midair. Enraged at the possible analogy, the blonde flew towards the open palm—also taking the chance to slash at its one vulnerable spot—and scissored cleanly through the center of it. Satisfied, Lucy's eyes narrowed as the being collapsed into a large pile of skin, blood, and ichor, before seeking out her next target.
"That one can be Lamy," she decided. The captain had taken it to be a favorable pastime that she name her slain enemies, in order to keep every lesson each kill had taught her fresh in mind. "One hundred and eleventh kill."
Her ever-watchful eyes settled upon a group of preoccupied titans gathering and crowding around what Lucy assumed was a soldier, and she zigzagged skillfully between each large being in her path, attaching her grappling hooks to the nape of one's neck and hurtling towards her designated target spot at breakneck speed. Slicing it, she leapt to the next one, only to spot her two pink-haired members, Aries and Virgo, in a tight spot as they valiantly fought for their lives. Seeing their lives on the line, Lucy dove in, slicing past a trio of large prunes, and butchered the outstretched hand of one attempting to sneakily ambush Aries from behind.
"Lucy!" the curly-haired lamb—her incredibly soft personality had garnered her that nickname a while ago—gasped in relief and gratitude, and the blonde winked at her.
"Careful where you look, Aries," Lucy reprimanded gently. As she zipped past, she felt a forceful tug on her steel hook lines, and she rolled her head backwards to examine who her new opponent was, before flipping into a complete somersault and giving in to gravity's demands. Three impatient titans awaited her arrival.
"Hn," the blonde grunted absentmindedly, and picked up speed with a speedy burst from her maneuver gear towards the trio. Suddenly, however, one collapsed with a thunderous thud onto the packed dirt beneath them, and the silhouette of a certain ginger with glasses and spiky hair emerged from where the titan was once standing. The other two directed their attention his way. In replacement of his glasses, however, Leo's face was adorned with a pair of ridiculous-looking goggles.
"God, you look stupid with those, Loke," Lucy remarked offhandedly, whizzing around the temple of a titan. A stray strand of its greasy hair almost slapped into her, but she dodged awkwardly. Said person blinked, superficially hurt.
"Augh, Luuuucy!" he whined childishly, before his manner turned melodramatically flirty. "You know I still look gorgeous in them, love." He aimed a coquettish wink her way, but the blonde rolled her eyes in response.
"Huh—crap!" Her eyes suddenly widened as she took in the sight of rough bark incoming, and she collided with the trunk of a tree. Immediately, her hooks grasped around the trunk's circumference as she steadied herself with a wince.
"Lucy! Are you okay?" Leo yelled worriedly, but the blonde shook her head.
"I may or may not have overestimated that distance," she berated herself under her breath with a curse, and glanced at her right ankle stoically. "... Crap."
A concerned voice neared, and Lucy could make out the yells of Aquarius as she screeched, "Lucy! Down below!"
With a jolt, Lucy pushed herself off of the tree with her good leg just in time to miss the large incisors of a big-headed titan leaping up at her. She shivered at the proximity of the resounding snap of its jaws as it slammed its mouth shut, barely missing her leg, and she attached herself to its back. The titan swung back down from midair, and its spindly long arms slapped down towards her, and, again, she dodged the blow only by a hair's length. Unfocused, she noticed Aquarius swinging in her direction.
"The hell, Lucy?" she called, flying in an upwards arc towards the nape of its neck, "Why are you so unfocused?"
The blonde blinked in that instant, and jumped off the titan, but her train of thought had already been thrown wildly off track by the jarring pain in her ankle. Seeing her condition, Aquarius frowned, changed directions sharply, and grabbed Lucy. Dangerously close to the ground, the bluenette dashed with incredible speed, winding her way between titan feet and tree trunks, when a loud cough and sputter suddenly sounded from her own maneuver tank. Aquarius gulped audibly, and fought the urge to curse.
Astonished, Lucy said, "Don't tell me that you've run out of gas..."
"About that..." Aquarius began, when the tank wheezed out its last breaths unexpectedly, and she desperately aimed a turn for the base of a tree in order to secure a safer landing. "Shit." Her face was a deathly shade of white.
"I—" There was came an abrupt stop in their course, and Aquarius let out a strangled cry as the two jostled backwards, descending towards the earth. Sending a furtive look backwards, Lucy came to the stark realization that during their flight, a titan had stomped on Aquarius' two metal grapples, yanking the Survey Corp duo down to the ground. Despondently, Aquarius hastily pulled on a final burst of strength and hurled Lucy towards the tree trunk as she crashed in the opposite direction.
Wild-eyed, Lucy yelled in vain as she landed in a corner, "Aquarius!"
Said person collided with the sunbaked earth painfully, skidding a distance. The elbow of her jacket ripped as she clambered up slowly, panting, and eyed the titan down with a defiant glare. Aquarius stepped back, poised determinedly. "Come at me, you beast," she growled, tearing out her two blades and charging. "How fucking dare you!"
"Aquarius..." Lucy muttered, collecting herself, before rushing over towards the challenging pair. She lifted herself off the ground.
Everything after that happened within an instant. With fiery eyes, Aquarius sprinted towards the giant; however, her attack was disrupted as its foot found its way towards her abdomen and forcibly slammed her face-first into the nearest tree. Despite the fact that the titan's foot alone was enough to dwarf Aquarius' height, the blood splashed vigorously around the bark and splattered onto the ground told Lucy otherwise of the situation. A few cold drops landed onto her jacket and face, and she reached up to her cheek, stiffening all over as her fingers reappeared in her line of vision stained a terrible crimson red.
The blonde's entire world froze in that moment.
Aquarius tumbled downwards from her place the second the enormous foot left the tree—but not without having a sword embedded deep within its flesh; the severed limb fell gruesomely to the ground in the same way—drenched entirely in varying shades of fresh blood. In her place remained a star-shaped formation of blood. Drooping and unblinking, Lucy stumbled onto her knees. As the titan leaned in towards the body, its palms open, the blonde finally found her words.
"No... No, no, no, no!" She repeated hysterically, the words forming over and over in her head like a broken record. "No!"
Without a second's thought, the enraged commandant lobbed her scimitar at the incoming titan's eye, successfully blinding it, and the behemoth grunted intelligibly in surprise, dropping Aquarius' limp body in the process. Ignoring the possibility of its usage of its other eye, Lucy staggered over, falling atop the fallen soldier's body as a shield. She swung her other sword in front of her challengingly, and shakily got to her feet.
"No," she emphasized. Her vision burned a heated red, and she snarled at the looming face in front of her. "You. How dare you touch her! How dare you!"
The hand came again, an imminent figure of fear, and her breath caught in her throat as she was greeted with the same fate as her comrade. Her head and leg throbbed in pain as a fist rammed into her, when a flash of red caught her eye once more. Once again, anger surged through her veins, and adrenaline bubbled up in the pit of her stomach.
With another feral war cry, Lucy launched herself through the hand and straight at the monster's neck, cleanly slicing off the gigantic head in her rage. Landing lightly on top of its shoulder blade, she proceeded to drill through the middle of its neck, slicing the entire body in half. Covered in sweat and ichor, she promptly hobbled back to where Aquarius silently lay.
The Heartfilia swiftly gathered the bluenette's inert body into her arms, cradling her head, and wiped away the excess blood from her face. She scrunched her face together, her teeth gritting, but found that although her eyes burned immeasurably, no tears would come. Without a sound, the blonde embraced the bloodied figure of her former comrade tightly, as if unwilling to let go.
"My first friend..." she murmured in a broken whisper.
Gray looked up at the sound of repetitive footsteps pacing into the room to see Levy, a petite bluenette placed in the same squad as he, who bore an anxious expression upon her face. Cautiously, he inquired, "What happened to the right-hand squad? How many sacrifices were made today?"
Levy directed an ineffective glare his way, her tone bitter, "Shouldn't I be the one asking you that? You and Natsu were the ones who oh-so-nicely ditched our team to go help out."
Gray's response came uttered as a sigh. "Nope," he said regretfully, "we came too late. By then, there was blood everywhere, and nobody there... How many sacrifices were made today?" he repeated.
Morosely, Levy stared at her shoes, suddenly finding great interest in the bare wooden floorboards beneath their soles. "Many," came the sordid reply. "Lucy got injured quite badly too."
At this, Gray leapt to his feet. "What? How?"
"I don't know, but I heard that a Titan smashed her into a tree. Full blow." Levy shuddered, blatantly picturing the scene. A shiver ran down her spine. "Either way, she's hurt."
"Is she okay?" Gray persisted.
"She sustained a pretty bad head wound, but I'm sure she'll be fine. She's Lucy, after all; she's a tough one," Levy attempted to lighten the mood, but failed as she managed a dry laugh. "Heh."
"Right..." It was at that moment that Juvia also entered the room, and a bright smile graced her features, undoubtedly upon noticing her 'Gray-sama.' She skipped over ebulliently. "Gray-sama! There you are!" she cheered, latching herself onto him. Levy raised an eyebrow curiously and clasped her opposite elbow with one hand, propping her cheek against the other. Her irises glimmered in contemplation.
"Hm... Juvia?" she mused with a cheeky smirk. "You guys are together, aren't you? Your lovey dovey-ness is so cute." She leaned in closer, a naughty grin on her face. "Wait until the others hear about this. I'd totally ship you guys together."
"L-Levy-chan! Go to sleep!" Juvia stuttered, her eyes popping out and a blush spreading readily onto her face. As a tittering Levy sauntered out of the room, she resumed her previous speech with a murmur. "Gray-sama." She clasped his bicep. From the underlying shift in tone in her voice, Gray automatically deduced the worst. "Juvia would like to talk to you."
"Go ahead." The brunet ran a hand exasperatedly through his hair with another sigh. It seemed like that was all he was doing nowadays—sighing. Gray blithely padded over to his bunk and heaved a breath, scooting aside to make place for his blue-eyed companion. Juvia took that as a signal to commence.
"Juvia knows you might have someone else in mind," she started, and Gray bit back yet another groan, sensing what was coming. His blue-haired friend took no notice, and resumed. "Juvia saw it when you saw the smoke signal, because Juvia knows of your relationship with... her," she spat distastefully on the last word, punctuating it with toxic venom. "But Juvia is closer with Gray-sama. Juvia can protect Gray-sama from any harm, and Juvia will always be by your side, Gray-sama. Do you understand? She will not. To you she is a stranger. She is nothing to you."
"Juvia," Gray finally managed, leaning his forehead against Juvia's shoulder blade. He had no idea how exhausted he sounded. "I think I'm done for tonight. I'll answer you tomorrow, okay?"
"Okay."
The moon hung by a thread in the cloudless midnight sky, and shone delicately through the window in a neat square patch on the floor at the foot of Gray's bunk. Soundlessly, he tossed his bunched-up sheets aside—no doubt he had had a sleepless eve so far—and clambered out of bed, still fully clad in his uniform, and tiptoed out the door. The black-haired soldier picked his way warily through the bunks, taking extra care to avoid the creakier tiles, as he'd done this deed enough times to tell between good and bad. Even he needed a break from humanity once in a while.
The grass tickled his boots. Avoiding the crooked barbed edges of the wired fences that surrounded the corps, he paced steadily towards the place he had come to know best for his solitude—the hilltop. It was the ideal spot for solace and insight, with the cliff face jabbing out at an unusual angle into the night sky and the large, shimmering lake, the most beautiful scene he had ever seen in his eighteen years, sleeping down below. Gray ducked under a stray branch. However, to his surprise, the brunet was shocked to see another figure occupying his usual location, overlooking the glittering blue expanse of water floating below the hillock. As he neared, the figure slowly turned their head back a few degrees, and Gray was (again) stilled by the voice that greeted him and came as music to his ears.
"Who's there?"
"... Lucy?" Gray muttered, stepping forward into full view, but still shaded by the trees. The blonde had one knee drawn up tightly to her chest, and her elbow rested upon her kneecap. The moonlight soaked through her as Gray advanced closer, drenching her in its aura-like white glow, and he could clearly see the layer of bandages wrapped around her head and temple and the various patched up wounds on her face. Lucy raised an eyebrow.
"You should be asleep," she acknowledged. Her eyes did not meet his gaze, but kept her eyes trained on the world spread out before her.
"I should be telling you the same thing. Why are you out here, then?" Gray cleverly evaded her comment.
"I needed to clear my head." Her offhand reply prompted his eyes to flit back to the bandages wrapped around her head.
"What happened today?" It was then that he noticed that in her other hand, Lucy clutched a broken gold key between her thumb and forefinger. "What's that?" Lucy sighed deeply, and gazed up at the moon.
"It's nothing."
"Tell me," Gray pressed on. He was met with a long delay before his response came.
"... Aquarius died."
The brunet stalled, and his face fell immediately. "What?" he asked incredulously, and Lucy frowned, raising the key up to the moonlight. Gray noticed the marks and scratches in the fragmented metal.
"She's dead," Lucy repeated blankly, before clarifying, "she died to save me."
"Huh?"
"She saved me, but a titan rammed her into a tree before she could escape or do anything else. Her bones were crushed. And it's my fault."
"Um..." Gray was at loss for words, standing shellshocked. Don't act stupid. He shook his head furiously and settled himself down beside the blonde, who had no reaction and continued staring at the scenery. Yet, he was sure that wasn't her goal, but he said nothing. "Uh... I'm really sorry. Natsu and I rushed to help, but we got lost halfway and arrived far too late."
"I'm just glad he's safe," came the stale reply. "He's what the mission's about anyway."
"If you put it that way—" Gray began, but refused to finish his thought. "Anyway, I know there's something on your mind—"
"—which I've told you," Lucy interrupted. She sighed. "You don't know that."
"I do. You seem crestfallen. I've known you long enough for that, Lucy," Gray stated proudly.
"Honestly? Three years doesn't make you 'know' someone. And you know what?" Lucy continued, and he was suddenly unsure of whether she was truly paying him mind anymore, "I don't know what I live for."
"What do you mean?" Gray interjected anyway, for the sake of replying. Better to say something just in case.
"You do know that this fight is futile, right?" Lucy finally turned to him, and Gray couldn't help but notice how the moonlight seemed to soften her usually firm, defined features. She looked younger and fresher, like she was an innocent country girl who knew none too much of love and war and only of freedom, and it was as if she was being focused on in a different perspective. It was—
Breathtaking. Beautiful. Awesome. Angelic. Alluring. Bewitching.
So many... I can't even begin to describe it.
"We are going to lose in the end." Gray thanked the heavens above that Lucy was incapable of reading his thoughts as she went on listlessly. What dead meat he'd be if she could. "I have nothing to live for. My friends are dying, my family's dead, everybody's world has crumbled. But what about death? I don't even have anything to die for. We are born into this cruel world, we die in this cruel world. What have we fulfilled? I have nothing to die for either."
"Hey," he said uneasily. "You live for your friends, don't you?" Without thinking, his arm slowly wound its way around her thin shoulders, and she whipped her head around to face him, her hair whipping in the wafting breeze. The pointed stare she sent his way was scalding, and Gray squeaked, retracting his hand. "S-Sorry..."
"Do we really? In this battlefield we call life, you still have the heart to think about things like that?" she responded, her tone lachrymose.
"Well, don't you?"
Lucy managed a wry smirk, and a soft, involuntary scoff escaped from her lips. She considered his question, weighing out her options, before saying decisively, "Perhaps." With that, she nudged him away slightly, clambered up, and turned away, preparing to walk back to wherever she came from. However, the minute she stepped down on her right side, she winced, as if she'd stepped on a hot coal. Gray jumped up worriedly.
"What happened with your leg? Lucy? Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," said blonde snapped hastily in reply, but wavered all the same, before resigning and taking a few steps backward. Her gaze remained averted from where Gray's stood. Another involuntary sigh escaped passed through her lips, and she ran a hand through her silky golden hair—Gray suddenly wondered how the heck this person standing before him could have such flawless hair in such rough conditions—and amended softly, "It's nothing."
"Well, it couldn't have been nothing if you managed to wince," he pointed out straightforwardly. "Just tell me. You know you can't hide things from me, Lucy."
"Jeez," her tone was laced with acid, "I never." But all the same, she sat back down in her original spot, dangling her legs precariously over the edge of the cliff ledge. Her thigh unknowingly brushed against Gray's—not that he'd ever tell her that, or she'd freak out—and he warmed instantly at the sudden contact. "Gosh, don't remind me of my failures," was all she managed.
"Well, you could tell me and get it over with," he suggested helpfully, albeit unnecessarily, and she shook, looking away.
"Look, Fullbuster, it's nothing. I underestimated the distance between myself and a tree because I was unfocused, and I hurt my leg. Happy?" she breathed resignedly.
Unable to stand the distant, faraway feeling that reflected itself in Lucy's shattered irises, Gray jerked away and hopped up, holding out his hand. For onec, the blonde accepted, and he tugged Lucy up so that the two had both arisen and were standing face-to-face with each other. The brunet scratched the back of his neck sheepishly in the awkward silence that ensued, before—
"Hey, I'd ask if you wanted to fight, but you seem to be in no condition to—" he began cautiously, knowing he was treading on thin ice. Knowing that he had hit his target's sore spot as her eyes were suddenly alight with fire—the exact same, if not fiercer, flames that he had witnessed spreading in his own redhead captain's eyes earlier on in the day. She stepped forward, closing the distance between them, and sized him up, before yanking down on his collar so that their noses were almost touching.
"Don't you even start," she growled threateningly. Hearing the latter's audible gulp, she released his wrinkled jacket and took a step back, examining him with a sly smirk. "Alright."
Before Gray could react, she had pivoted to the side, drawn back her leg with brutal speed and slammed it into his abdomen with a powerful kick, and her opponent collided with the ground with a loud thump. Cursing under his breath, he staggered up, stumbling a tad. He rubbed the back of his bruised cranium. "Lucy! What the hell?" he cried rebelliously, and the blonde scrutinized him with a blank expression. Her gaze was riveting, and made his skin crawl.
Lucy stuffed her hands deep down inside of her pockets with a laid-back sigh. "Well? You wanted to fight; now you have a fight." She gestured with her hand teasingly. "Come."
"You said so," Gray nodded, and made to direct a punch at her, when she ducked and spun, sweeping her leg underneath his feet. The blonde whipped around then, and the entire lower half of her leg rammed itself into Gray's side. He collapsed, but nimbly pushed himself back up with his palms, flipping into a fighting stance once more. With a raised eyebrow, his opponent acknowledged him under a new light, and he beamed in pride. "Hah, you see?" he boasted, spreading out his arms, allowing her to marvel him under the moonlight, "I've gotten better than you think, Lucy."
"Just admit that you know you're still nowhere near as good as I am," said person rolled her eyes, but the underside of her tone was playful. Gray threw his hands up in the air mockingly with a surrendering nod.
"Alright, alright," he gave in as she crossed her arms. "I'll give you that."
"Psh, you know I was kidding," she scoffed in return, but her expression was soft and unreadable.
"I'm strong now," Gray smiled back at her lowly. He stuffed his hands deep into his pockets.
"I know," came the hushed whisper of a reply. "I know."
Gray's eyes felt incessantly droopy by the time the sun had risen, and he constantly felt the urge to rub his eyes to oblivion, but wisely decided against the action. Commander Makarov stoutly stepped forward from the line of squad captains and stood squarely in front of the rows and rows of soldier cohorts.
"Our formation yesterday had many flaws," he began, "and we lost many lives, once again." Gray thought he saw a flicker of light pass through Lucy's eyes for a second as she stood in the line of squad leaders. The blonde's arms were crossed.
Commander Makarov continued, oblivious to Gray's wandering thoughts. "Now, we will do something among the Survey Corps that has never been done before. For one month, every squad will alternate between each respective captain." He motioned to the neat line formed behind him, including Lucy and Erza. "Then, that way, you will know what to do if you happen upon another group because you are knowledgeable in all areas of our leaders' teaching the next time we go on an expedition."
A ripple of hushed whispers and discussions surged through the crowd at lightning-quick speed, and Juvia, breaking from her standard position, laid a hand on Gray's shoulder worriedly. "Gray-sama," she whispered, "Juvia has a bad feeling about this." Gray shrugged her off.
"It's okay," he voiced under his breath. "At least we'll stick together."
Beside him, Natsu nudged him sharply with his elbow, and both he and Juvia swiveled around to meet the salmon-haired Titan Shifter's eyes.
"Hey," he frowned, "that means..." He shot a look in the direction of a certain blonde, who was occupied with discussing various matters with their petite, graying leader. Unknowingly, Juvia's eyes darkened, but she said nothing. "We'll be under Luce's watch."
"And?" Gray raised an eyebrow.
"And," Natsu spat, "that means we're fucking screwed."
"Up, Fullbuster! What are your arms made of? Noodles? I sure hope not!" Lucy barked, swinging her sword around in intricate circles. She strolled up and down between the rows of regiment trainees as they arduously performed pushup after pushup. Shouts and groans of exhaustion manifested everywhere, but the blonde ignored all complaints. Instead, she pushed them harder. Gray grimaced, arms shaking and heart pulsing from the heat of the sun.
"Get going! Five hundred!" she yelled further, hands now behind her back. "The best discipline is not only pain, but memory also. Therefore, this workout will be etched into your memories. And your punishment for slacking off—" She pointed her blade threateningly at each person located in the front line. "—will also be very memorable."
Menacingly, she drew out her second sword and tapped the sharp end of the blade on the ground in constant repetition, when something else caught her attention.
"Oi, Dragneel! What's that look on your face? You want more?" she roared, scowling, and said person shivered.
"N-No ma'am!" he whimpered uncharacteristically, and wheezed as he slowly lowered himself back towards the ground. Lucy whipped back around to see Gray pausing.
"You, Fullbuster!" she shouted, issuing him a death glare. "What are you? A chicken? Even a five-year-old can do pushups faster than you! Hurry up!"
Next to Gray, Juvia groaned and growled under her breath, "That blonde wench!"
Just like that, an entire month of torturous labor ensued.
Under Lucy's custody, Gray had been picked on and tormented the most out of all his comrades—even Natsu, and that guy was a catalyst for trouble—and he would always leave muttering fowl curses and incoherent insults at the blonde.
Moreover, he still had yet to provide the expectant Juvia with a definite conclusion.
Truth be told, Gray had known Juvia for a long time. She had been teased and ostracized by a few bullies at the time they had met, and Gray had fended them off and protected her. After becoming fast friends, they had decided to join the Survey Corps together when the time came, and indeed they had. At the trainees camp, they had met many others whom they soon saw as regular friends also.
Among them was Lucy Heartfilia. She was blunt, cold, aloof, and she always bore a somewhat bored expression upon her pretty face. Despite her lone wolf tendencies, she was an incredible fighter, who was exceptionally skilled and well versed in basically all areas and forms of combat, and Gray had found himself strangely intrigued by her mysterious ways. However, as her father was a powerful, influential member of the king's company, Lucy was eventually sent away, and her whereabouts remained unknown until the selection day, where she mysteriously appeared as one of the squad leaders of the Scouting Legion.
She was like winter.
She was like rain.
Cold, but beautiful all the same.
And he was drawn to her like a bee to a blooming flower.
As the Survey Corps prepared to embark on their next expedition beyond the safety of the walls, Gray's eyes found Lucy silently. Her face was calm, stoic, and very angelic—how could she not be scared, though? Did she not harbor any feelings of fear? To his left, Gray could faintly hear Juvia vivaciously muttering prayers of safety for the journey, and he was quite taken aback by the contrast between the two females on his left and right. Either way, he was ripped out of his thoughtful reverie as Makarov yelled for the go, and the troops thundered off through the barred gate.
This time, they were back on the center line—Gray felt an uneasy sense of deja vu prickling down his spine. Although there seemed to be no sign of any Abnormals, he felt nauseated; it was like there was bound to be a crowd of man-eating beasts simply waiting for them amongst the trees, ready for an ambush. It had only been a few days since the last trip—Makarov had called it a risky experiment, and a temporary rain check on the training—and that hadn't necessarily ended on a cheerful note.
A few minutes of nothing but the monotone of hooves thumping against the sunbaked earth passed, and Gray's tensed muscles gradually relaxed. His mind dropped to a hazy state of sub-consciousness, and voices clouded over in his mind.
—
"Gray-saaaan! Look at the Survey Corps!" A miniature, blue-haired girl, her cerulean locks tumbling over her shoulders, pointed at the procession of soldiers drearily padding their way through the center of the town. Her eyes glimmered in excitement. Beside her, a brunet nodded equally enthusiastically.
"Heck yeah, Juvi! Look at them! They're so cool!" he remarked ecstatically.
"They are! Are they going on their next expedition?"
"Yeah! Man, I'm so jealous of them." The boy sighed dreamily, before perking up. He tugged lightly at the little girl's sleeves. "Hey, Juvi?"
"Yes, Gray-san?" Juvia sent him a dazzling smile.
"Let's go together and join them someday, ne, Juvi?"
"Alright, Gray-san!"
—
Heh, I never knew being in the corps would be like this... Gray mused, when suddenly a sharper, more coherent voice cut in urgently, "Snap out of it, Fullbuster!"
Gray violently shook his head and glanced backwards, and was horrified at the sight of another horde of titans rumbling their way, their sizes varying. He cursed under his breath when he noticed that everybody else in the squad had already ascended into the treetops with their maneuver gear except for him and Lucy.
"Fullbuster, move it!" Lucy yelled, and sequentially leapt onto the back of another horse. Gray, however, wavered and frowned at the sight of bandages still wrapped around her head, but complied, shooting up with his gear and surging towards a larger titan with tufts of brown hair and an oversized head and mouth. It snapped dangerously at his bent legs, but he dodged and speedily swiped across its cheekbone as a distraction. Titan blood splattered onto his trousers, and he kicked its face—avoiding another chomp—and targeted his grappling hook towards its neck. As Gray flew towards its nape, its gigantic head swiveled around at the last second, its gaping mouth open, and he cried aloud in alarm. Nearby, Juvia gasped and screamed.
"Gray-sama!"
Everything seemed to decelerate into slow motion in that moment as the titan's mouth almost enclosed over him, its excessively large jaws crackling down upon him, when a quick swoosh! sounded out of the blue and he found himself speeding away from the beast, up high into the air. Looking downwards, Gray noticed an arm wrapped securely around his waist.
"Gray," came a familiar voice beside him, "what were you thinking?" His eyes widened.
"L-Lucy...?" he whispered, shell-shocked and traumatized, and finally his head swiveled around to look up at his savior.
"Don't think too much about it," responded the blonde, stopping on a tree. She pressed her free wrist against her temple with a frown.
Before either of them could react, a lengthy, elongated titan palm smashed into the bark where they were located. In a futile attempt to shield away from any damage, Lucy held up her forearm. Gray tumbled in perpendicular motion to the ground, while Lucy flew out a few yards away, smacking against another tree before landing ungracefully in a roll on the ground.
She cracked an eye open in pain, her world spinning—her wounds from the previous tour had been rather lethal—and gritted her teeth as a titan face leered down at her, coming closer and closer into view as it inspected her. A trail of blood ran down her temple, and she closed her searing eyelids to prevent it from hindering her view. It rolled down her cheek.
Gray pushed himself up and shook his dazed head once more, reaching for his fallen sword. He frantically looked to and fro, and stopped at the sight of his squad leader, lying a little ways away, with a titan—now two—bending over her in ravenous curiosity.
Why is she not moving? he thought desperately, when it suddenly occurred to him that Lucy hadn't fully recovered from her head wounds yet.
Forcing himself upright, he soared off the ground with a yell of fury, and swung downwards, cleanly slicing the napes off both titans. As Lucy fell from one's fist, Gray lunged for her, skidding into the roots of a tree with the impact.
"You embarrass me," muttered the blonde, who wiped the blood off her face with her sleeve. She blinked and slowly lowered her lids. Gray grimaced. Perhaps a simple 'thank you' would have sufficed.
Lying on his bunk and facing the wall, the feeling of deja vu was stronger than ever for Gray as he recollected the events that had happened earlier. Abrupt footsteps into the room broke him out of his silent reverie, and he twisted his neck slightly to see who it was.
"I just wanted to tell you that I think you're a good person." Her voice rang clear in his head and seemed to reverberate down his spine, and he shivered. Yet, he still didn't turn around as her footsteps faded back out of the doorway, and he was again alone in the room.
A sudden sense of memorable deja vu struck him, and with a smile he flipped back onto his other side so he was facing the door she had previously exited through. Without a second's thought—although it had later occurred to him that this was probably the worst idea ever—he shrugged his jacket into place and rushed through the door looming in front of him, straight into the dimmed hallway.
There was only a single glass door at the end of the lengthy hallway, as on both sides of the narrow aisle lay consecutive rooms with their doors closed in equal measure, and Gray could make out Lucy's graceful silhouette striding down the walkway towards the door.
"Lucy!" At the sound of her name, the captain turned, perplexed. Gray bounded down the hallway towards her and skidded to a stop in front of her, effectively blocking her way. For a moment, his breath caught in his throat at how her hair, each golden strand reflecting the magnificent sunset streaking through the glass, seemed much like a halo, framing her face.
Aggravated, Lucy eyed him with caution. She crossed her arms. "Make it quick, Fullbuster." Her tone was clipped, but softer than out on the training fields.
Breathing heavily from his run, Gray closed the distance between them in one step, pulled her towards him, and lowered his head against hers, their lips colliding. Seemingly on impulse, after a moment of brief shock passed over her face, Lucy returned the embrace and wrapped her arms around his neck.
After what seemed like a millennium, they parted, and Lucy blinked, stunned, before releasing a deep sigh. Running a hand through her hand, she offered Gray a half-lidded, genuine smile—Gray never forgot how lovely her real smile was—and wrapped her arms around him in a gingerly hug.
She had started walking away before he knew it.
Rooted to the spot, the brunet called, "Hey!"
"Yes?" she slowed, but did not stop.
"Um, you should smile more." Gray issued her back a sheepish grin, rubbing the back of his neck. With this, she wavered ever so slightly, but picked up her pace again.
"I'll think about it."
"Oh, and one last thing?" Gray interjected, finally.
"What?" Lucy drawled, but not out of complete boredom. She pivoted back around.
"Please, Lucy, don't walk out of my life again. I can't let you keep walking away from me like this." Gray spread his arms out for emphasis, but Lucy only raised an eyebrow and proffered a single line that burned itself into his brain.
"You know I'll always come back anyways."
She turned the corner, then, her blonde hair flowing, and Gray suddenly couldn't seem to shake the notion that bathed in the rays of the setting sun, Lucy looked like an angel rising again.
Ah, I know I'm horrible.