AN: Hey guys! How's it going? Time for another update! Get pumped! Since I took so long with last chapter, I slammed this one out to make sure I could post it the next day. Hope you guys like it!

Notice: I don't own Fairy Tail. Its characters, settings, etc. all belong to Hiro Mashima. However, as you've probably noticed, this fic has OC's in it. These, and these alone, are mine.

Chapter 13: Live and Leave Alone

"Where's Gray?"

Mira looked up from the bar innocently at Erza's question. "What do you mean, Erza?"

Erza shot Mira a deathly glare. "Where is he? Our team is about to go on a mission. He hasn't shown up at the guild for the past week, and there's no sign of him at his house."

Natsu walked up to the two women. "Yeah, where is that bucket of ice, anyway? I've been itching to give him a good pounding!"

"Shut up, Natsu," Erza glared at the pink-haired dragonslayer. "Anyway, Mira, I was wondering if you knew whether Gray went on a solo mission or something."

"He didn't tell me anything about a solo mission," Mira winked at her.

"Stop playing games, Mira! We need Gray to complete our team! Just tell me where he went!"

Mira sighed. "You're no fun. Well, if you must know, he did go on a solo mission about a week ago, but he hasn't returned since then. It's a little worrying, considering it was a pretty small job."

Hmm. That wasn't good. Erza hoped he hadn't gotten hurt or anything.

"Well, serves that jerk right," Natsu commented snidely. "C'mon, Happy!"

"Aye, sir!"

Erza grabbed the dragonslayer by the collar of his shirt and roughly dragged him out of the guild hall. "Oh no you don't. Come on, Natsu. We're going to look for Gray."

"Okay, Erza, I'm coming! You can stop choking me now," the boy gasped. After being released, he said, "What about Lucy? Shouldn't she come too?"

Erza stiffened. "Lucy is… busy."

Erza and Levy were the only ones Lucy had told about what had happened between her and Sic. Lucy had asked them to cover for her while she was busy "training" with Sic. Whatever that meant.

Still, Erza couldn't help but be more than a little jealous of Lucy. She got to see Sic every day. Erza hadn't seen or heard from Ezra since their date. In fact, Ezra had been gone when she'd woken up, with no note or anything explaining his absence. She couldn't understand why he didn't even say goodbye. She wondered if he'd even really been there at all, or if the whole night was just a wonderful dream.

Natsu was looking at her strangely. Erza realized she was blushing. She clonked him on the head to assure her superiority, and the two of them headed to board a train to the town where Mira said Gray had taken a job. The whole trip was very quiet, since Erza knocked out Natsu before the train started moving so he wouldn't feel his motion sickness. When they finally arrived at the small town, Natsu was just beginning to wake up.

"So what was this job Gray was doing again?" he asked her.

"Just taking out a weak mage cult. Nothing he couldn't handle," she replied.

"I vote we split up to look for Gray," Happy chimed in. "Natsu and I can go look in the woods north of town, and you can check out the south end."

Erza thought that sounded reasonable, and so they split up. She began her search of the south end of town. It was hard finding many leads. She learned quickly from the townspeople that there was a mage cult in the town, but it had been broken up by a nameless ice wizard. In fact, this same ice wizard was rumored to have defeated every mage cult within a twenty-mile radius just during the past week.

So Gray had completed his job. Not only that, but he'd well exceeded the job requirements. Why hadn't he gone home after defeating the first mage cult? Where the heck was he now?

A few more hours of questioning townsfolk yielded her no more answers, so at the end of the day, she found Natsu and took the train back home. It troubled Erza how hard Gray seemed to be working. What possible reason could he have for taking on so much work, by himself, no less?

After stopping at her apartment briefly to take a shower, Erza decided that she needed to take some time to think. She was still incredibly confused as to Ezra's unexplained absence, and this new Gray situation didn't seem to help her thoughts much, either. She headed down to the river where she always went to be alone.

As she finished walking down the path to the riverbank, Erza eagerly anticipated the opportunity to clear her mind. However, her mind only became more befuddled when she finally arrived at her secret thinking place.

Because there, sitting cross-legged and facing the water, wearing only his underwear, was Gray.

Sic felt sweat pouring down his forehead as he practiced in the light of the full moon. He kept throwing punches at a few rocks, each one glowing with a blazing light that left noticeable scars in the granite.

"You need more power," the Celestial Spirit known as Lucky instructed Sic. "Your attacks are too weak because your faith in Regulus isn't strong enough."

"I'm doing the best I can," Sic replied. "Perhaps you'd like to teach me something other than basic punches?"

Lucky scowled. "I told you, you need to master the basics first. Once you let the power of Regulus flow fully through your body, he will teach you the rest of his magic."

Sic glanced over at Lucy, who was sound asleep on a rock nearby. He wished he could just spend some time alone with her and not with this overbearing nincompoop.

"Hey, take your eyes off the lady. It's not decent." Lucky's eyes flashed at Sic under his shades. Sic simply scoffed at Lucky in disgust and went back to punching.

That. Ignorant. Fool. I would bet he's… what's the word? Jealous. Ha. What a buffoon. I'll show him Regulus Magic.

Sic's next punch blasted the rock clean in half and sent little pieces of shrapnel flying in all directions. Sic quickly repeated his action on the remaining rocks and reduced them to rubble.

Lucky stared at him for a few seconds in grudging admiration. "Fine," he said. "Good job. I've taught you all I need to."

"Look, what's your problem with me, Lucky? Spit it out," Sic challenged him all of a sudden.

Lucky crossed his arms and glared at the white wizard. "I have a problem with you and Lucy," he spat.

"I knew it!" Sic said triumphantly. "You're what they call jealous, aren't you?"

Lucky looked taken aback. "Wh-what? No! Do you honestly think I'm that petty?"

Sic was confused. "Then why are you against Lucy and me?"

"Because you're not good for her," Lucky replied scathingly. "You're too dangerous to be around. She may have forgotten about all the pain you caused her, but I haven't. I don't care that you healed her hand afterwards, you and your stupid white prison caused her unimaginable pain. Now on top of that, she has to shoulder your burdens as well? What kind of Paladin would let an innocent girl carry the fate of the world?"

Each of Lucky's words was like a blow to Sic's chest. Sic felt his knees buckle. Every single one of them was true. And they just kept coming.

"Lucy is the sweetest person I know. As one of her spirits, I care about her more than anything else in the world. And you're a terrible influence on her. She doesn't need this emotionless weight dragging her vitality down. If you really cared about her, you'd just leave her alone instead of selfishly having her shoulder your burdens. If you really cared about her, you'd just leave and never come back."

Lucky was right. Who was he to hang around Lucy all the time? Who knew when the white prison might show up and hurt her again? How could he expect her to carry his burden? What kind of champion of good would bring so much danger to another person?

"You're… you're right."

Sic shakily stood. "I need to move on," he said to Lucky. "I have to keep her safe. Thank you for showing me the error of my ways."

One slow footstep at a time, Sic turned around and began to walk into the mountains. He wanted more than anything to look back at Lucy for one last time. But he couldn't because if he did, he wasn't sure if he'd be able to make himself leave.

Despite his body being filled with newfound magic, Sic had never before felt so empty.

He walked and walked, for hours upon hours. He only stopped to rest when the sun began to rise. Then, he sat on the peak of a mountain, watching the sun rise, and for the third time in his life, he began to cry.

Thanks a lot for reading! Let me know what you think with a review! See you all next time, and I hope you all have a nice day.