Chapter 30
The closest tent that Gray had heard groaning came from the one housing the Strauss siblings and to the ice mage's surprise, he wasn't the first one there. Once he rounded the hut obstructing his view, the dark haired young man took notice of how Evergreen stood in an aggravated stance as she had her hands at her hips while a slumped over Elfman was shying away from her gaze. He couldn't really hear what exactly she was telling him, but the defeated look on the larger man's face told him that she was none too happy with his behavior as of late. Evergreen seemed to be walking away from Elfman, but Gray knew it wasn't over and watched as the muscular man followed after the bespeckled woman with what he could perceive as light muttering, possibly apologies to her if he had to take a guess.
The ice mage would've preferred to have spoken to Elfman before anyone else so he could implement his own backstory of what happened in the past day or so, but he was positive that the beast soul mage was going to get more of an earful to really care about anything else. Gray was sure that the last thing Elfman would want is to make Evergreen mad, so he must be utterly confused of what he must have done to receive her scolding this early in the day. Nonetheless, that was already two down from the list which left some of the more heavy hitters, on an emotional level although two of them were physical ones as well, to deal with and it so happens that one such person had emerged from the Strauss tent.
Mira came out with a throbbing head, only comparable to the few times she had ever gotten hungover in her lifetime, but this easily fit right into the same category. The white haired barmaid did her best to understand her surroundings, the sun breaking past the tree line as it rose into the sky and the numerous tents and huts that were all around with their inhabitants awake and active. Concern was the first to come to her mind as she realized that she was in an unfamiliar place, although she began to settle at seeing Lisanna laying on a mat in the tent she had just exited from and noticed that some of her guildmates were here as well. The white haired woman turned from left to right, trying to get anyone's attention so she could get some help until she noticed the familiar mop of black hair and exposed skin making his way over to her.
Gray tried to act as natural as possible while he made his way over to Mira, but that didn't go as smooth as he hoped it would since the sound of his jacket and shirt hitting the ground made him stop to pick it up. He cursed his stripping habit for an untimely reaction, but he preferred this rather than still be dressed in that butler outfit. He heard Mira giggle and sarcastically thought that at least someone was enjoying the hassles he had to deal with on a nearly everyday basis, but he couldn't really ask for a better reaction from her than that. Now putting back on his fallen attire, Gray came closer to where Mira stood and took notice that she looked rather relieved that he had come which was still debateable if it was a good sign or not.
"Mornin' Mira, you alright? You looked a little bit worried a few seconds ago." Gray kept space between him and the demoness since he was a little in the way of being paranoid thinking that she'd pounce on him.
"Morning Gray and I was actually overwhelmed with the change of scenery compared to what I'm use to." Mira explained as she spread her arms across to indicate their surroundings. "I saw some of our friends here, but they were too far away for them to see me until I noticed you coming to me."
"I thought you needed help or something and I wasn't really doing much at the moment, so I thought I'd come and see if I could be of any use." The ice mage replied although he couldn't help but feel like he was being calculated by the barmaid.
"Thank you for looking out for my well being Gray, I really appreciate it." Mira said kindly and Gray gave her one of his regular smirks just to show that everything's fine. "Although I am wondering why we are here, plus where is here?"
"Well a number of circumstances brought you and a few of the others to Galuna Island, where we are currently standing in its first settlement." The ice mage let the information sink in and wasn't surprised when she had asked if he would elaborate on just what exactly were the circumstances that brought her here.
Gray had went onto explaining what was going on in the similar way he had told Natsu, but he made sure he was as clueless as to how his team managed to convince them to follow along. He continued to explain that he was visiting the final resting place of his master when they had literally fallen in on him watching the shallow pools in the cave. Mira on the other hand felt the sense that she had some information privy to the significance the island held for Gray regarding his master, but that's his past he's kept behind closed doors so she didn't know much else. She knew that the ice mage's response made some amount of sense, but she was one to see through a lot of people in her time and at that moment Gray was setting himself up as a liar.
"Thank you for explaining Gray, but next time try a little harder not to act as if you have no clue what's going on." The ice mage in turn nearly toppled over as Mira had seen right through him to some extent. "What's really going on Gray and you better not lie to me or else there won't be anymore cooled food for you and I'll limit your alcohol servings."
"You wouldn't." The ice mage knew he could always cool his own food, but Mira did it so well that there was still enough warmth in his meal to really enjoy instead of being like it was right out of the freezer. Not to mention that the guild's booze was the best since it all had to pass the "Alberona Test of Approval" to be even accepted into the taps.
"Are you willing to take the chance?" Mira retorted and knew she had gained victory over the ice mage as his shoulders slumped. "You chose correctly Gray, now cough up the truth."
Gray sighed in defeat, what is it with these types of situations that don't turn out for the better on his behalf? They usually go flawless out on jobs when he had to be inconspicuous and he was sure that his acting wasn't that bad, so it shouldn't have been simple for Mira to see through his ruse. So much for thinking things would be easy from last night onward, but maybe being honest with everyone would be a much easier way to deal with this. Or it could go terribly wrong, there's no real way of telling so he's hoping that he'd catch a break for once.
"Fine, well here goes nothing and I honestly think you won't even believe me so try to keep in mind that everything I say is the truth." Gray had no real idea how anyone would believe the things that had happened, the ice mage was sure the others would've thought it was a work a fiction some random person thought about and wrote for Mavis knows what reason.
"You haven't lied to me yet Gray, except for the earlier one of course, so I'm sure I can trust your word and I know when you're lying." Boy did the ice mage really agree when Mira said she could tell when he was lying, he wouldn't dare question her ability any time soon.
"Alright well for the past two weeks you and pretty much the entire guild had unknowingly drank a potion that had been accidentally mixed into your punch for the 30,000th completed job request celebration. The effects of it were that you all had developed...um...strong feelings for me..." It took every nerve in his body not to react when he saw Mira's eyes widen at the revelation and more so when she began to fan herself in embarrassment.
"I might've spoken too soon about believing you Gray, not that I'm saying that you yourself aren't attractive and that I'm not attracted to you! I mean that you're handsome and all, but I don't think...oh dear." Mira became flustered instantly as she tripped over her own words, all the while trying to make herself clear in the sense that she wasn't crushing on Gray. "I meant that... well... it's uh... a little far fetched! Yes, that's the word I'm looking for."
"Yeah I thought so too, until I started to notice everyone's behavior and what someone had told me of what was going on in the guild when I wasn't around." He began to recall what Loke had told him on their way to the guild and a little more during the night while he couldn't go to sleep. "That potion really messed with everyone's minds and it went as far as make you declare war against Erza over me." Now the ice mage couldn't lie that he felt a bit flattered when Loke told him this, but he also realized the dangers if that had continued.
"Oh my, did I really do something like that?" Now Mira was blushing in embarrassment of what she had done, especially for the fact that she declared a love war with her old rival. "But what of the others, did anything get out of hand? Did I do something odd?"
"Don't worry about the others at the guild, Loke came up with a plan to cure everyone there although a small group of people managed to avoid it which included you too." Gray thought back to answer her second question and this time he made sure not to give away anything. "Not much got out of hand that wasn't easily dealt with as we used a specific spell native to the island and you...may not have done something major either."
"Gray, you're trying to lie again. Just tell me what I did because I'm sure I can handle it, I am a grown woman after all." Mira had noticed the slight pause he had and the slightest moment of hesitation when he talked about her. "I can already guess that I was trying to get you to go on a date with me or lead you into thinking about matching up with me." Mira joked, although she really thought that those possibilities did suit her on what she would've done in that situation.
"Sort of, you kissed me right after telling me that I was very special in your life." Gray replied and Mira's face went cherry red, which was actually the first time Gray's ever seen her face turn such a shade.
The demoness on the other hand was ready to die in that moment, she knew she was a very wild type of person in her youth but she thought that was already past her. Mira was sure she'd try a few more scenarios to get Gray in the mood for something like that, but she didn't expect to flat out kiss the ice mage at the most opportune time for her. The white haired woman tried her hardest to sift through her murky memory of the past few days until she found what she was looking for and was she surprised. In that instant, Mira had began to through a number of apologies at the ice mage as she tried to get his forgiveness for her potion induced self about her actions.
"It's alright Mira, I knew that you were affected so I tried not to let it bother me." Gray answered to her apologies, although it kind of bummed the demoness out as she slightly deflated at his claim.
"Was...Was my kiss not that memorable to you Gray?" She asked with a hurt filled voice, her eyes pooling with small tears and the look on the ice mage's face told her that she had him in her grasp.
"N-No I'm not saying it wasn't memorable, all I'm saying is that in a way, the real you wasn't kissing me." Gray knew she was doing her act and this time he wouldn't fall for it, so he decided to flip the situation around for a change. "Besides I don't think you should worry about that when your heart throb is nearby and could very well hear us."
Mira immediately recoiled as she quickly scanned the area for said person, since it wasn't that hard to spot his towering form and tried to hide away the fact that Gray got her good. She played with her fingers once she realized that she was had, plus the fact that she saw her heart throb busy speaking with his team about a matter involving her younger brother. She honestly couldn't believe that the ice mage had got the upper hand on her in their little mind game interactions, but she couldn't deny that she was proud of him for it. Although she was still a bit of a sore loser.
"That's mean Gray, you don't involve crushes at all and you could've warn me that he was here." Mira whisper shouted at him, believing that the tall muscular blonde her eyes had been set on wouldn't hear them, but the dark haired young man knew that Evergreen's raised voice made sure he couldn't hear anything else. "But the real question is how did you know?"
"Aside from the way you two look at each other back at the guild, he was a very irritated person when he found out that you were also crushing on me." He replied and Mira's mouth slightly dropped at how Gray saw the sly looks they gave to each other in passing and around the bar counter. "It wasn't hard to put two and two together, so someone's got her work cut out for herself."
"Geez Gray, you sure know how to get your kicks don't you? Especially on poor defenseless maidens like myself." It had been sometime since Gray's seen Mira's dramatics, for her romanticism usually overshadows everything else. "But I know there's more humiliating things you're not saying yet, all of it having to do with things I said, right?"
"You're not wrong, but I rather save you from any more embarrassment." The ice mage could tell that Mira wouldn't like to know how she went against her current crush to say sweet hollow words of being together for helping her in her darkest hour. "In any case, it's behind us now and I'll make it our own little secret so why don't you explore the village a little or chat it up with tall, blonde and brooding over there. He looks like he could use a distraction from the lover's quarrel that he's in the middle of."
"I'll go, but please make sure you keep this a secret Gray. I just don't want Laxus to feel any different about the relationship between you and me." Mira asked with pleading eyes, ones that Gray wouldn't say no to although he wouldn't have regardless.
"You've got my word Mira, but if he can't accept that all this was a misunderstanding than maybe he isn't the one for you." Gray replied as he saw this was all just a mistake and Mira was caught in the middle.
"Thanks Gray, for everything." Mira said with a smile in return before she gracefully turned her back to him and elegantly made her way towards the lightning dragon slayer.
"So how long are you gonna stay in there? I'm sure you've got something to ask, right Lisanna?" Gray said aloud, facing the Strauss tent as the last sibling had emerged, somewhat bashful that the ice mage knew she was already awake.
"And here I thought I was actually being sneaky. Guess Mira-nee was too embarrassed to notice my presence." Lisanna clasped her hands behind her, leaning back and forth on the balls of her feet like a young child trying to play innocent in front of their parent. "But how was it that you could tell that I was awake?"
"I've been up all night scanning over each of your presences in case something were to happen in your sleep, so when I felt yours shift is when I knew you were up." Gray explained as that tended to keep him busy instead of being left to his thoughts, which were things he didn't want to deal with for a while.
"You were pretty worried about us weren't you? Although it's mostly a given when it concerns the things that have happened." Lisanna replied hinting at the fact that she knew the details, but the ice mage gave her a quizzical look.
"How much did you hear?"
"I started to listen in when Mira-nee caught you lying, so I'm pretty caught up essentially." The white haired girl replied and Gray gave a small relieved sigh that he didn't have to repeat himself, which he was sure he'd have to do anyways.
"You're not surprised by any of this? I mean, now that I think about it you may have also been under the influence so the entire situation applies to you as well except for the whole kissing thing." It dawned on him that it could've been the case, but it just didn't seem right as they went on a mission together without any incident.
"I'd assume so too, but I barely got a sip of my sister's punch before I had to help her deliver more food for people. Looks like it didn't affect me as much as it did for everyone else." Lisanna had in fact only taken a sip, but she kept any actual events of developing feelings for him under wraps since it was obviously the doing of the potion he mentioned and not the real thing, right?
"Huh" Such a curious thing it was for Gray to know that small doses can drastically change the outcome of a person's behavior. "Still, things are just going to get a little more complicated from here."
"The difficulties of one is only simplified by the assistance of others, or so how I remembered that phrase going." The white haired girl said in turn, but the ice mage was unsure what it had to do with what he just said. "It means that even if you've got hardships piling up on you, it's easier to deal with it when you let others help."
"Thanks for explaining, but I think it'll be a little hard to do so if everyone's memory isn't all there to understand. Not to mention that the people who do remember have done a few things themselves to warrant some sort of non credibility." Gray responded as he thought back to how some of the others may remember what Laxus and his team had done, or have a harder time believing Juvia since she had unintentionally done this to begin with.
"Look Gray, most of my memory isn't very clear and only bits of it are coming to me slowly, but I know that you've been through a lot recently and I appreciate everything you did for us." The animal soul mage began as she tidied herself up a little to head out. "You've still have things to deal with on your own, but know that you've made a pretty good friend that you can come talk to in me."
"Thanks Lis, I'll probably take you up on that one of these days." Gray replied with a small smile as she waved her goodbye to him and scampered off to find, her nigh-obvious crush, Natsu.
After the conversations he had with the two female Strauss siblings, Gray had wandered around the village to occupy his time until the next person would awake. He bid some of the villagers a good morning and was amazed at how well they had adapted to change for the past seven years since a number of things had changed. Most of their walls no longer consisted of wood trunks tied together, rather they were integrated into new masonry walls lining around the village with the gate very well defended. It still held the look of the old village Gray had remembered, but the buildings looked much more sturdier in comparison.
It was while he admired the construction of the buildings did he noticed a recognizable person leaning against one, his long black haired mane swaying with the light breeze as his metal piercings glimmered in the morning sun. Gajeel was eyeing Gray with a displeased stare, all the while making the ice mage feel uneasy by the way the dragon slayer looked at him. The ice mage didn't understand him most of the time, but he didn't need to be a genius to know that it was mainly for the way he acted with Juvia and to some extent with Levy as well. He had to face the music some time so with a determined thought in his mind and a solid step forward, Gray made his way over towards the iron dragon slayer.
"Didn't think you had the balls to even try to face me after what you did to the Rain Woman." Gajeel said disdainfully and Gray had taken it straight on, knowing that he deserved that for acting like an asshole to her when she was only trying to help.
"How I acted was totally uncalled for, but there are somethings that have to be said up front instead of just trying some sort of subtle crap. Especially if they have any sort of implication like the one we just went through." Gray said, but Gajeel didn't appreciate the answer as he stood to his full height now and shadowed the ice mage by a few inches.
"That "subtle crap" is her way of getting close to your dumbass since you brush her off every other second of the day." The iron dragon slayer was one person that will get up in your face to make sure you see your own mistakes, although it sometimes is a little unorthodox. "She's trying her hardest because she's afraid, don't know why she would be for a selfish prick like yourself but she is. Try to see it in her way over your own clouded gaze Stripper, you're hurting others more than she is."
"You know what, you're right." Gray relented as tempers were starting to fly and this was a time for recuperating and getting things back on track, not to derail things when they finally got in the clear. "I'm sorry... things aren't what I wanted them to be, everything was so much easier when I was left alone."
"Well man up you big baby, you're not alone if ya got people in the guild looking out for ya, besides it ain't me you're supposed to be apologising to." Gajeel said as he too was instigating a confrontation with the ice mage rather than taking a peaceful approach. "Gihi, to think Shrimp was actually getting into you."
"Speaking of which, do you know how is she?" Gray had been meaning to check up on Levy as he did tell her that he'd explain everything to her.
"She's fine, she asked so many questions about what was going on and I answered her to the best of my knowledge. Took longer than I thought since she was trying her best to remember almost everything I had said about the past two weeks or so." Gajeel answered, looking back at a groggy looking Levy who was trying to shut the sun out of her face once she exited her tent.
"Did she remember much or is it a jumbled mess like the others that I've managed to talk to?" It was a bit of a recurring thing as those who had been affected lose their memory of the event until they try their hardest to recount the days past.
"Shrimp managed to remember most of the details, pretty sure if she did take the antidote like you said then she had been reminded by the others on their way here." Gajeel theorized and Gray had to agree that it may have happened like that and the only thing Levy really went through was magic drain. "Course I'm not too happy by what she may have remembered, but I've got to admit; red and blue do pair up pretty nicely."
Gray instantly understood the underlying meaning behind the iron dragon slayer's words, although he expected Levy to blush more on the pinker side like she did with him. Though joking thoughts aside, Gajeel's comment had brought about a new thought to his mind concerning a similar duo of red and blue that may actually pair up nicely. His heart constricted at the thought, but it was the honest truth of who a certain red head's destiny lies with and he had to face the fact like a man. The ice mage had to be prepared to let go and hand her off, not so much in a fatherly way but in a more of a caring guardian type of way as he had to entrust her happiness with someone else.
The raven haired young man was brought out of his thoughts when his pierced guildmate began to snap his fingers impatiently in front of his face. Gray batted his hand away naturally, but Gajeel had crossed his arms with an annoyed expression on his face at the way the ice mage was acting. It was starting to get depressing even for him and would rather see him fighting Salamander with a cocky grin on his face over the sorry excuse of self pity he was looking at.
"Stripper you've got to get yourself situated sooner or later, else I'll have to do it myself." Gray watched his movements, guarding himself just in case he threw a "get-your-act-together" punch, but was surprised when he gave a friendly pat on his shoulder as he walked passed him. "I'm gonna get some grub since I'm starving over here, so I'm gonna let ya do whatever feels right to ya. But make sure that you give the Rain Woman a proper apology face-to-face."
"You got it." The ice mage watched as the long haired man made his way through the different huts and tents before he was out of sight and Gray was left alone once again, or so he thought once he finally picked up on the faint traces of someone's magical presence.
"What's up with everyone hiding from me lately? You can come out Levy, I know you're around here." Gray said aloud as the petite bluenette emerged from behind a stack of crates, which were well grouped to create a good hiding place for her. "I'm sure you know the full story and all, but I just want to say that I'm sorry you had to go through a lot because of it."
"There's no need to apologize Gray, sure this kind of things doesn't really happen to just about anyone on Earth Land, but it was all an accident and you and the other guys tried your best to help us." Levy said kindly as she sat atop of one of the crates so she was eye level with the taller mage, but Gray felt like it wasn't enough to just accept it so easily. "We may have been subjected to the effects unintentionally, but that doesn't mean some of us didn't have fun getting to see and hang out with the real man beneath the ice."
"Heh...Guess someone found a shred of light in all of this." Gray responded sarcastically, but the petite woman had caught on to the slight quirk of his lip to understand that he was joking.
"Through sarcasm or jest, I still stand by my words that all of us had enjoyed our time with you Gray and I'm sure you've gotten to have some of your own as well." Levy said suggestively, but she also meant it sincerely and luckily Gray was able to understand both her meanings of them as he gave her a hearty smirk.
"Must be nice walking on sunshine." The ice mage commented and Levy folded her arms in rebuke to his claim in a playful manner, as she tried to hide the small grin trying to escape her lips.
"There's always space for you to walk on too, you've just have to get out of your ice castle more often." The bluenette replied, making Gray admire how far she's come in word play with him and maybe seeing a sharper tongue on her in due time. "Still, you've got to meet with the last few of us who are barely getting up. Don't worry, I thought ahead for your sake and separated them in different locations."
"Have you been taking lessons from Mira lately?" Gray joked as he was actually glad to have this small distraction to lift his spirits a bit before he rushed through the final heart-wrenching gauntlet.
"No, but it does sound like an interesting idea now." Levy replied as she hopped down from her seat on the crate. "Cana's enjoying her morning sitting under the shade of a tree in the village with a bottle of Devil's Kiss whiskey; it's legitimately called that and it's pretty strong stuff just by smelling it. Lucy's getting herself fixed up and will most likely meet up with Natsu and me sometime later, we'll most likely be somewhere you could easily get some private time to yourselves; I'll handle Natsu so there's no need to worry about him."
"And Erza?"
"She was a little harder to understand this morning based on how she acted, but she did say she was heading for the Moon Temple to have one last look at the island from up there before we leave." This was all based on how Levy believed things would go as far as the locations of her guildmates, but what happens after Gray meets them there is up to him.
"Thanks a lot Levy, helps to know where to go but it doesn't make it any easier to deal with." Gray sighed as he looked out at the mountain peak where he'd find his scarlet haired best friend. "I'd best head out for the Temple now, hopefully she doesn't punch me off of it in the end." The ice mage dryly joked as he waved his goodbye to Levy and made his way for the entrance of the village where one route of his destiny awaits.
"Just know that I'm rooting for you Gray, you'll do what's best for them." Levy thought to herself as she watched the retreating figure of Gray slowly begin to shrink as he made his way across the village and out through the gates. "I know you will"
A/N: It feels so long since I added one of these in, but in any case I'm glad you all finished the chapter and hoped you all enjoyed it. I'm mainly putting this in to give an opinion of mine or would it be a rant? Don't really know myself, but it mainly concerns what's been happening in the latest chapters of the manga although I won't spoil anything for anyone. All I'm gonna say is that after reading them and looking into the comment threads, since sometimes there are a number of funny comments in them, the negativity towards Gray had totally baffled me. Yeah I get that he does hold blame for some things that have happened and all, but it was so anti-Gray that the closest thing they reminded me of were the Lisanna bashing fics. Everyone's entitled to their opinion and I respect them, but it completely blew me away at the different reactions people shared about our favorite stripping ice mage.
I know nothing's gonna get done just by complaining about it here, so I won't and I'll see what happens in the next manga chapter. That's the end of my little opinion(or rant) so I'll let you all enjoy your night or day, depending at what time you're reading this really. Review if you liked it, didn't or even seen the threads as well, and the next chapters will have me trying my best to make them the best I've written. Till the next chapter, see you then!
