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..: Before Her Time Runs Out :..
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..: Chapter2 :..
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..: S-Class Mage :..
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Two Weeks Earlier
Gray had finally done it. He had become an S-class mage of Fairy Tail. Oh, how long had he waited for this position, only, he'd wished that he was able to get there before Natsu to rub it in his face. That wasn't exactly how things had gone down.
Three months ago, on Tenroujima, with all other contestants eliminated, Gray and Natsu stood strong – both favourites to win. In the last match after all the other rounds, they fought tooth and nail until the both of them collapsed from magic exhaustion. That did not deter them though. They got up and continued to fight just as viciously without magic, running on sheer determination and competitive energy alone. In the end, in an unheard of reversal, Master Makarov had decided to promote both Gray and Natsu but forbade them to go on missions for two weeks in order to recover.
We now find ourselves in this situation. With Gray and Natsu having been promoted to the coveted position, they'd been taking job after job. If anything, being S-class mages only added fuel to the fire which was their eternal competition. However, this was not all without its hitches.
"Gray you look terrible! You should get to the infirmary for a check up right away!" Mirajane shrieked. Before her was Gray, who had just walked in to the guildhall after his latest mission and sat casually at the bar as if nothing had happened. He wasn't fooling anyone. Mirajane saw everything, from the slight limp in his stride, to the way in which he was desperately suppressing his stripping habit to hide whatever injuries he had, and most of all his big fake smile.
"I'm fine!" He tried to come across as firm, but the shakiness in his voice prevailed. To compensate – and cover up – his fake smile grew.
"Yeah? You're not fooling anyone..." Mirajane accused.
"Why the hell do you even care?" he snapped. For a moment, he shocked even himself at the disdain he'd shown to the barmaid who was only trying to be attentive. However, he merely suppressed the guilt of that moment and carried on like usual. "Just get me something strong to drink," he mumbled.
"You know you can't drink away your problems, Gray," the silver haired mage warned.
"Who said I have problems?" The ice mage was furious, "who gets to decide all of a sudden that I have 'problems'? So what if I got injured a little, that's not a real problem! That's normal."
"I beg to differ..." A new presence entered the scene, and brushed back her long red hair with an armoured gauntlet. Gray spun around, still furious and glared at her, instantly regretting doing so. Erza looked down upon him with a straight face and judging eyes. Gray did the best he could not to shiver at this.
"You've been rushing head first into really dangerous missions without second thought. Why have you been taking so many damn jobs in the first place?" she continued.
"Why not? I'm an S-class mage now, I'm entitled to take those!"
"Responsibility is a large part of what entails being an S-class mage. You need to learn this. I mean, look at yourself..." She prodded him in the side, earning a flinch due to the man being sore all over. "Even Natsu isn't going off on his own. He at least takes Lucy or Wendy and has even asked me to accompany him on a few." She smiled.
Mentioning Natsu – and praising him for being more responsible than him – had been the wrong move on Erza's part. Gray was infuriated that she would insinuate such a thing, even if she did not directly say those words. He downed the shot of whiskey - which Mirajane had served him earlier while he was talking to Erza - and slammed the glass down on the bar surface.
"I'm leaving, " he said, scooting backwards on the barstool and pushing himself up. He walked out of the hall on his way home, leaving a slightly baffled Erza.
"At least take a day's rest before you go on another job!" the knight called after him.
"I know," he sighed, pushing the doors shut gently.
As soon as he'd left, Mirajane turned to Erza. "Why do you think he's been like this?"
"I... have no idea. I want to say it's for the money... or because he wants to beat Natsu at something. But there's obviously something else, and I don't think he'd ever be willing to share this with us." Her features were downcast as she said this.
"He sure has frozen up his heart." Mirajane's smile pulled through a little.
"What could you mean?" Erza asked.
"I'm not saying it's definite... but have you considered that he might be in love?"
Erza raised an eyebrow in curiosity. "With who? Lucy? Juvia?" she guessed.
"No, for him to be so, I dunno – depressed, and... distant, it has to be someone a bit more... difficult as it were..." Mirajane deduced.
"Difficult?" Erza blurted out but then switched to a more hushed tone of voice, "you mean like Natsu or something?"
Mirajane giggled at this. "As much as I'd love for that to happen I don't think that's the case."
"Then who?"
"Hmm... what about you?"
"Me?" Erza squeaked. What if she's right? What if Gray is in love with me? Would I accept him? As she continued to think about it she came to the conclusion that the thought wasn't so bad, he was definitely attractive and if it meant he would return to how he used to be then it would be even better. She was left with these thoughts for a while, hoping that Gray would indeed get out of this phase at the very least.
"Erza? Erza?" Mirajane's voice came through.
"Oh?" Erza appeared flustered, "sorry, I wasn't paying attention..."
"I was asking what you wanted to eat?"
The Next Evening
Gray had actually calmed down from the argument that was brought about by his return. After all, he had no reason to be angry at anyone; they were his guildmates and were just concerned about his safety. Still, it annoyed him to no end that they didn't think he was capable, or more so: responsible enough. That was the one that bothered him. He knew that eventually everyone would come around on the capability issue since he was a powerful mage who had passed all the requirements for the higher rank. But the accusation that he lacked responsibility was unforgivable, or more so that Erza had implied that Natsu was more responsible than him. Like hell the flame eating bastard was! It was him who was always doing reckless and dangerous things and causing untold property damage, not to mention the damage he did to himself. Gray had heard the rumours of how he'd been trying to eat every single element just because of how successful Laxus' lightning was. On one particular occasion when Natsu attempted to eat Gray's ice magic, he'd been in bed sick for a week. Heh, served him right, Gray chuckled internally.
The whole of that day Gray had spent sleeping. It was now around 6 o'clock and the ice mage had decided to take a hot bath. While he didn't usually enjoy submersing himself in heated water, it really did help to soothe his aching muscles. He could feel the tension being released as the water circulated around him and it felt quite pleasant compared to his normal icy baths although he wouldn't really last long in this heat.
Gray finally decided it was about time to get out. He had decided that he should go to the guild and apologise to Erza and Mirajane as he really did feel bad about snapping at them. He finished drying himself and left the bathroom to get dressed and head out.
Fairy Tail
Gray didn't feel at all nervous as he neared the back of the guildhall where Erza was sat at a table with Lucy, chatting and eating a plate of strawberry cake while Lucy was talking about the latest book she was reading. Gray tapped her shoulder to gain her attention.
"Erm, Erza I'm sorry about yesterday. I was out of line..." he spoke, "I just wanted to tell you that." He noticed Mirajane walk over to the group so he continued, "Mirajane too. I'm sorry for snapping at you."
"Apology accepted," Erza replied. Standing up, she hugged the ice mage despite the fact that she was wearing armour. "Now, why don't you just join us here," she offered. Gray complied, choosing to sit next to Lucy on the bench. Lucy was confused about what Gray was apologising for but resolved herself to not pry into whatever it was.
"I forgive you Gray, you don't have to worry," Mirajane also joined, "I just wish you'd open up a bit more..."
Gray flinched a bit at this but decided against doing anything that he might regret later.
"Err, yeah maybe later..." he chuckled dryly, earning him a slight frown from the three women.
"Gray!" A shout came from the other side of the guildhall. The aforementioned turned his gaze to the source of the shout where Fairy Tail's fire dragon slayer was standing by the guild's entrance, his blue exceed not far behind him. Also with Natsu was Lisanna and a now 14 year old Wendy*, with her exceed as well.
Natsu scrambled to the table at which Gray, Erza and Lucy were seated. Wendy and Lisanna trudged not so eagerly after him.
"How was it Natsu?" Erza addressed the pink haired man who had only just returned from taking a mission with Lisanna and Wendy.
"It went great!" he proclaimed cheerfully, "I would have been so sick guarding that convoy if it weren't for Wendy's new even more powerful troia!"
Wendy blushed a bit at the complement, "well it's thanks to you Natsu-san for training me this past year so that I've been able to use a lot more magic."
"I see..." Erza said, "keep this up and I'm pretty sure that you'll make it to the S-class trials next year." Erza ruffled the girl's blue hair, causing her to blush even more. "Oh, and Natsu, good job, I heard you really kept the damage down this time."
As the group continued to talk about their latest exploits, Gray couldn't help but let the annoyance he was previously feeling flood him once more. Again, with the compliments, why does she praise flame brains but never has anything good to say for me, only concern? Gray finally decided that he'd had enough of this and got up from his seat.
"Where are you going?" Lisanna asked him. Everyone's eyes were on their interaction.
"I'm just going to check out the request board," he huffed.
"Okay," she mumbled in response.
Gray reached the top of the stairs connecting the bar area to the second floor where all of the S-class jobs were posted. While at first Gray felt an extreme sense of novelty at finally being able to take these jobs officially, it just felt normal for him now. Still, the rewards were much higher and the opponents tougher, which was a plus.
He scanned the board, looking for the perfect job for him and for some reason, his eyes were always drawn to a particular one. Was it because it was placed dead-centre in the middle of the board? Gray picked up the request and glanced over its contents.
Location: Terraminos, Aesif Desert, Fiore
Request: Destroy/ Eliminate/ Disband the dark guild Burgundy Scimitar. See town hall for details.
Reward: 16,000,000J
Hmmm, it's in the desert so that kind of makes it a bit iffy... Gray pondered, but that sure is one hell of a reward. I probably wouldn't have to take another mission in two months, except for fun. That'd get everyone off my backs, he concluded, taking the request downstairs to have it approved by Mirajane.
Before he could though, Erza stopped him. "Gray, I was thinking about putting the old team back together," she said, and noticed the flyer he held. Snatching it up she continued to speak, "this looks like a good one..."
Gray snatched the flyer back, "this one's mine." Noticing Erza's slightly betrayed look he decided to alleviate her disappointment a bit, "look, I'll take a team mission when I get back... it's just I really need this one."
"Okay," she spoke softly, noticing Gray's determination, "but please for your own sake, take someone like Wendy with you. At the very least you could borrow Happy from Natsu."
"No, I'll take this mission alone," he assured. Damn it, if this is what it takes to prove that I'm capable then so be it. He got the request approved by Mirajane and made for the doors. Just before he was about to exit, he heard Erza's accusatory- yet laced with the concern that irked Gray to no end- tone.
"What happened to you Gray? To our team?"
He turned to her one last time before leaving, "I promise once I'm done with this, we'll go back to the team and I also promise that I will be careful out there."
This didn't really reassure the requip mage. For some reason she really didn't think that Gray should take this job. She was filled with a sense of foreboding.
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.: End of Chapter 2 :.
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.: To Be Continued :.
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Well, I hope you enjoyed this chapter if you read on from the prologue. I think the next chapter will probably take you up to the events in the prologue but it might have to be a longer chapter for that.
Anyways, thank you to my reviewers, you've made sure that I updated a week after the first chapter even though I had an art exam, a physics practical and updated "Bindweed Archive" as well. I write these pairings for the few people that enjoy them, I feel like I am filling some kind of void when writing.
* I'm setting this about two years from the Tartaros Arc (I just hope they don't kill off any of the characters used.)
Reviewers
xXChiasaHamuraXx Couldn't agree more. I hope you enjoy the plot, it will be kind of eventual GrayTear since it always feels more satisfying in the end that way.
Mira-san7 Thanks!
Sal Sorry about the cliffhanger, that won't be resolved for about another chapter. As for wanting to see your favourite character as the damsel in distress, perfectly normal. I guess this story/type of plot is kind of a Gray x Natsu cliché (although I don't really know if it's normal for other pairings since most of what's on this sight is NaLu which I just refuse to read.)
MANSPLICE Not just more feasible but also more interesting, plus more plot involved!
Thanks for reading (including this author's note) , I can respond to most reviews especially if a question is asked so review away.
-QuatroPuppy out, probably will take me another week to update/ less if I get more follows etc.
One Last Thing
If you like Bleach as well as Fairy Tail then I am obliged to recommend "Souls of Dragons" by blueAztec which I have helped out with editing and plot. I actually wrote the prologue. It is a crossover but doesn't follow the typical FT/Bleach crossover cliché in which Ichigo ends up in Magnolia. In "Souls of Dragons" it is the dragon slayers who end up in Seireitei after using a forbidden spell. The dragon slayers must learn to become Shinigami while coping with the loss of their friends back on Earthland.
Any attempt at making a link is blocked so just click on my profile and then favourite authors to find them if you're interested.