OMIGOD~~~! I'm soooo super sorry for the delay! I was busy and had writer's block so it came late-! *sob* Sorry! Thank you all for being faithful! We're on our 6th Chapter! AWESOME!

Chapter 6: Deceased Friends and Expressions of Love

~Gray's POV: ~

Her lips were soft; he always imagined they would be. Then, he felt it. His energy depleting…like it was being swallowed whole. Quickly, he took his lips off hers. Gray all at once felt nauseous and dizzy. 'What? Why?' he thought, as he held his head. It was just a kiss and yet he felt this way. Did people feel this way every time they kiss someone?

Dizzy, nauseous, and energy depleting. Was that normal? Even so, he wanted to kiss her, again. Once more. But, just as he was leaning forward. He stopped. 'What am I doing?' he thought. He knew his feelings. He loves her, he knew that and yet…what was stopping him? What was preventing him to kiss her, again?

He leaned toward her ear, knowing that she wouldn't hear him but wanting to say it.

"Zeira," he whispered, brushing away a few strands of hair. 'Yes, listen to me, even if you can't hear me.' He thought.

"Zeira, I love you."

~Darkness' POV: ~

I awoke to the sound of the birds calling to one another. I groaned. I had used too much of my magic. People may think that Parasite magic is great but it's very difficult to master, having to take magic from different people and make it your own causes great difficulty, because once you've taken magic or knowledge from another it'll take awhile to get used to the magic you've absorbed.

That's why I like sleeping. Great way to get rid of all the stress of the day.

Man, I'm hungry.

I sat up and began to rummage through my pockets; I knew I had some money on me…somewhere. But I had nothing. I sighed. I had almost forgotten, I had used most of it on traveling, this was just great.

So, I closed my eyes and began to think hard, not on food of course but on other things. To ignore my hunger. Ironically, my mind decided to focus on Gray, he had grown so big these past years since I last seen him. I truly missed him and regretted the day we parted. I was such a big idiot…falling for the little boy who had given me a name. I mean, for heaven's sake, I was older than him by how many years!

I am not a pedophile. What happened between him and me was totally, accidently; he was just the little guy with a cute personality. Yeah…cute. Idiot! I was so focused on Gray-dilemmas that I didn't notice someone approaching me.

"Hey."

I looked up, it was that girl I had saved…she was also the one who attacked me. She was smiling this time, though, I wondered what was up.

"Hey, yourself." I said, standing up and dusting myself.

"I'm sorry about yesterday." She said.

Yesterday? I had slept a whole day?

"Don't bother it's okay." I replied, then I turned and was about to walk away.

"Are you hungry?" she suddenly asked. I stopped at mid-walk, she could feed me?

Nah, I would be imposing.

"No, I'm alright." I said, about to walk again but then my stomach growled…really LOUD…

'Crap,' I thought, staring at my stomach, 'traitor!'

"You are hungry, c'mon, let's have lunch, it won't cost you anything." She said.

I thought it over, free lunch; well my stomach didn't give me much of a choice.

"Alright," I replied, walking toward her.

"Great! I'm Lucy and thanks for saving me from those thugs." She said with a smile.

I was shocked. No one had said that to me before. I suddenly felt warm.

"No problem," I said.

~ARRIVAL AT FAIRY TAIL~

I stared at the place where we had just arrived in. Fairy Tail. I stared at Lucy but she didn't seem bothered by it. "Are you sure I can have lunch here?" I asked (this might end up to another fight).

"Yup! No worries come on! Let's go in!" she cried, going inside. I stayed outside, wondering what to do. 'What the heck,' I thought, and then I went in and had the biggest surprise of my life.

"HEY! WELCOME!" they all cried.

I nearly jumped out of my skin. Man, I hate surprises.

Before I knew it they all forced me to sit on a table and began to serve all kinds of drinks and food. What was up with all of them? I fought them and defeated them…shouldn't they be screaming bloody murder? I began to sweat a little about that and I stared at the food suspiciously. Trust me, I was starving but that didn't mean I wasn't cautious about what I ate. I was still a bit dumbfounded, so I didn't know what to do…I just stared dumbly at the food. Yes, I was being an idiot.

Then, I saw a flicker of movement and I realized that Gray was sitting beside me.

He gave me an irritated look.

I bowed my head, what was I suppose to do then? Let him see me blushing?

I didn't notice him take a spoon.

"The food's not poisoned if that's what you think," he said. I twitched slightly, irritated, I rose my head up a little and opened my mouth to protest but instead he shoved the spoon into my mouth.

My eyes widened but I gladly ate the food, he took out the spoon, the taste was still on my tongue. Meat, slightly sweetened, I loved it. Without a single thought about it, I grabbed some utensils and began to devour what was there.

What? I was hungry.

Then, I heard laughter. They were all shouting that I ate more than Natsu (as I recall he was the pink-haired guy with the dragon-slayer magic) I ignored them and continued to stuff myself with food, who really cares about what they say? I got to eat, that's a big deal for me. Then, again I might finish off their whole stock if I kept eating like this…oh well, gain some, and lose some, so I continued to eat.

"You keep stuffing yourself like that you'll get sick of indigestion." Said a familiar voice. Gray's.

I glanced at him but I still kept stuffing food into my mouth. After, I gulped it down I belched.

"If you're hungry, eat, I see no problem with that," I reply, wiping my mouth with a napkin.

I gave him a grin. "To think, I used to lecture you that way, too." I say, letting the grin become a smile. He immediately turned his head away from me but I still saw the redness on his cheeks. I chuckled softly and then began eating again.

"Enjoying yourself?" Said, another familiar voice. Boy, seems like I'm gonna be meeting a lot of familiar people today. I looked up and saw that old geezer. Oh great.

"I was until you came," I said, my irritation going up. He still had that idiotic smile on his face; he was beginning to piss me off. "Is that any way to treat your host?" he replied and for some reason I saw stars around him. Was he harassing me? I didn't know but I wasn't planning to stay long if he was going to be there.

I got up immediately but not before I grabbed some more food (it wasn't bad time to stock on provisions) but even before I could take a step out away from him he said name I never thought I'd never hear again: "Argorn Earthmover." I stopped dead at my tracks.

I turned slowly; my face expressed my shock perfectly.

He still had that grin on his face. "Ever heard that name before?"

~GRAVEYARD~

I stared down at the stone slab that said 'Argorn Earthmover', there was some other things to but I didn't notice them. I just stared at the name.

'The hell…' I thought, as I felt tightness in my chest.

"Sensei…died?" I said as I stared at the stone. The old geezer (Makarov was his name) just nodded his head. For once that stupid grin wasn't on his face.

"His last request of me was to find you and his request to you was to join my guild," he replied. Keeping a perfectly straight face. I gritted my teeth and then walked out of that graveyard. I hated graveyards. They always had that stench…that disgusting stench of…decay. I wanted to yell.

Sensei…sensei died…does that mean that they'll be after me? Just thinking about my past nearly made me tremble. I needed to pull myself together. Out of impulse and anger I punched something, so hard that it broke (as I recall it was a post).

"Think about my offer before you go destroying things." Makarov said. Ignoring him I continued to smash things at sight. Stupid. Damn it, I hated this feeling. That annoying feeling of…loss. I growled.

"Damn that old man! DAMN HIM!" I shouted, still destroying things. "Dying on me like that! WHY'D HE HAVE TO DIE! STUPID OLD MAN!" I collapsed to my knees.

"WHY DID YOU DIE SENSEI!" I screamed. All this drama, I really didn't need but right now I didn't care. It was stupid of me but I needed it.

All of the effort of running seemed to be a waste. I was only running so that the people I really cared about wouldn't die…was I wrong?

Makarov approached me and was about to lay a hand on my head but I quickly moved away. "I nearly forgot, because of the magic you bear it sucks energy from everything so if I touched you my energy would've been absorbed as well?" he asked.

I nodded. No one could touch me and I couldn't touch anyone. It was a sad reality but I lived with it. "His last request to you was to join my guild," the request ran through my head. That old man, always putting me in a tight spot…it was so unfair.

"Makarov, I'll join Fairy Tail."

The next day…

Everybody was loud as usual in Fairy Tail but for some reason the noise was muted a little because there was anticipation for the new member: Darkness. Everyone was nervous and excited, who could tell which was which?

But Gray seemed to be the gloomiest of all.

'She's joining Fairy Tail?' he thought, his mind racing. Why the sudden change of heart he wondered. She didn't want to join in the first place but most of all…how was he going to approach her?

HE HAD KISSED HER FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!

Just thinking about it made him blush. The spoon thing was just a fluke after all it wasn't like she would like him back. 'Come to think of it where is she?' he thought, looking around.

"I heard that Mirajane, Lucy and Erza had dragged her off somewhere, something about getting a hair cut or such." Said Levi.

'Hair cut?' Gray thought and the door slammed open.

"Everyone, come and greet our newest member: Zeira Darkness!" cried Lucy.

You'd think there would be loud cries and shouting but the whole place was silent. Because one thought only ran through their heads: Is that really the girl they saw before?

Because the girl that walked up to them now wasn't the one that they had seen before.

"What the heck are you all looking at?" she said in her gruff voice.

Her hair changed from that tangled up mess and now it was layered and it fell in waves down her back. She still wore her black trench coat but her attire wasn't all black this time, she wore a white long sleeved shirt. To put it simply she looked ravishing, unlike on that unfortunate day (referring to the day they met: Chapter 2).

Gray stared at her and felt his cheeks heat up. He quickly turned his head trying to fight emotions that were going around his brain.

He never noticed her approaching him.

"You," Gray gulped as he heard her voice and reluctantly faced her.

"I haven't seen you for X-number of years and you don't even bother to speak to me?" she said.

'What?' thought Gray, her fist slammed to the wall behind him.

"Even a simple 'hello', would have been nice." She leaned forward. "You truly are impossible, it's no wonder you're still such a kid." She grinned.

He twitched. That was going too far.

"Me impossible? You were the one who needed to eat every five minutes; it's a wonder that you're so thin." He replied.

"Shut your trap brat, or would you like me to reveal how you cried over something so meaningless?"

"You're the one who falls asleep for no reason and at the weirdest moments!"

"I'm not the one who needs to be carried all the time because he gets tired!"

"LOUD SNORER!"

"ICE-FREAK!"

Gray stood up and Zeira backed away but she was in fighting position.

"WORDS WILL GET US NO WHERE! LET'S DO THIS THE OLD FASHION WAY!"

"BRING IT ON, BRAT!"

Without another word, a battle commenced ice magic versus parasite magic. While Gray used ice Zeira used the magic she absorbed from Natsu.

They were both screaming insults at each other:

"I HATED IT EVERY TIME YOU FELL ASLEEP!"

"DO YOU THINK I ENJOYED CARRYING YOUR HEAVY SELF AROUND?"

Mira and Makarov watched from the sidelines, an amused smile came to Makarov's lips. Mira sighed. "Don't you think the two of them just look adorable?" said Mira, her eyes twinkling.

Makarov nodded.

"Love is strange and sometimes impossible to express right. For them, that's how they express their love for each other." Said Makarov, his smile growing wider.

Expressions of love…who knew?

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