Hey. ;)

I finally got a chance to update - hope you'll like. :)

Chapter 9

"Dear, you have to eat something. We can have you fainting at the altar." Supetto looked at Lucy with worried eyes. They sat at the dining table, but Lucy wasn't even touching her food. Her eyes were red. She hadn't slept all night.

"I'm sorry," Lucy said sleepily. "I'm just not that hungry." She looked down at her plate. She had mixed eggs, bread and fruit into one big clump with her fork. It didn't really look that tempting anymore.

"Then let me prepare a bath for you," Supetto said.

"No, that okay, I'll just take a quick shower," Lucy mumbled and rose to her feet. "Excuse me." She didn't even look at the old woman when she hurried past her. Lucy felt a wave of relief when she closed the door behind her.

The idea of running away again was very tempting. She didn't even know if Mako was back. Lucy slowly started to walk toward the big bathroom. Her steps echoed in the big hallways. The staffs were preparing for the wedding in the Great Dining Room, so she was all alone for now. She reached the bathroom and let herself in.

Gray lay on the bed and looked at the ceiling. He had stared at the same four holes for an hour now. Natsu lay on the couch and slept, snoring loudly. Gray loved when he slept, because then he didn't complain. Alica looked out of the window, her eyes filled with sadness. She hadn't talked since the accident on the station.

"Hey Alica," Gray tried for the fourth time that morning, but of course there was no response at all. He yawned, bored. He hated this. He wished he could get back to the guild and go on missions, which would at least distract him. He already missed Lucy, but he knew that he couldn't force her to choose him. Still, she had asked him to kiss her. That meant something, right?

"I wish you would talk," Gray mumbled and looked at Alica, but she didn't show any signs of answering. "You're the only one I can talk to, you know. That moron over there doesn't count." He gestured toward Natsu. A little smile showed on Alica's face.

"You're not good friends," she whispered and Gray was about to fall out of his bed in surprise. This was the first thing she had said in two days. He hurried to pull himself together.

"No, we aren't, but I have to deal with him, anyway," he answered.

"Why?" Alica said and finally turned around and looked at him. The question took Gray off guard. He tried to come up with something fast.

"Um … because he's my team-mate, I guess," Gray said and scratched the back of his head. Alica didn't accept that answer.

"But he has done things that annoy and hurt you, right?" she insisted.

"Don't you like him too?" Gray said and smirked.

"Answer the question!" she said, biting her lip.

"Well…" Gray began and tried to think of an answer that would satisfy her. "I wouldn't say 'hurt' me, but he definitely pisses me off some times. He's like a…rival or something. I feel like punching him in the face all the time because he's such a moron. Why do you ask, anyway?"

"If you hate him that much," Alica said and ignored the last thing he had said, "then why don't you ask to get a new partner? Why do you stay, and put up with him?"

"I would never quit my team," Gray said without hesitation.

"But why should you keep fighting?" Alica said, frustrated.

Now Gray caught the hidden meaning of her words. She was asking him if she should forgive Mako – or something like that.

"Because," Gray mumbled, his eyes got an unusual soft look, "if we didn't have all the bad moments, the good ones, wouldn't mean as much, you know."

Alica looked at her hands and her eyes shone with tears. Gray hurried to his feet and laid his hand on top of hers for comfort. She squeezed his hand and her face turned even more sad and pained. "I miss him," she whispered. "We had good moments too, and I never knew how good they were before. I hate her. I hate Lucy, like you hate Natsu."

Gray sighed and gave her a little smile, but it disappeared immediately when the tears started to flow down her cheeks. "No, please," Gray said panicking and started to pat her on the head with his other hand. "Don't cry…um…everything's going to be okay, and all that."

Alica collapsed were she stood, her hands covering her eyes, and sobbed loudly. Gray was pulled down with her, and he looked completely lost. He hated when girls cried; he didn't know what to do, and like this wasn't enough, Gray now heard a yawn from the couch.

"What?" Natsu mumbled drowsily and rubbed an eye, while he sat up on the couch. "What's happening?" He scanned the room and stopped at the crying Alica. His head immediately turned in a lazy circle and stopped at Gray.

"What did you do?" he asked and his eyes hardening.

"Why do you always think it's me?" Gray snarled angrily, letting go of Alica so he could stand.

"You're always the one that makes girls cry," Natsu said matter-of-factly.

"Don't you even start squinty eyes!" Gray hissed between his teeth.

"What are you going to do underwear boy?" Natsu said, springing to his feet and suddenly fully awake. Gray clenched his fist and got in a fighting position, just as Natsu jumped forward and attacked him.

Lucy looked at herself in the mirror. The wedding dress swished around her legs, and felt unusually heavy today. Her blonde hair had been curled and styled for hours and little pearls flashed from it. She had never looked better, which only made it worse. She had heard that Mako actually came home yesterday, but he had kept himself locked up, but today he had finally crawled out.

Lucy had asked to be alone for now. Maids and family had been around her like flies for hours. The only one that hadn't congratulated her yet was…

"Miss Lucy, your father wants to see you," a maid suddenly said outside the door. 'Speak of the devil.' Lucy looked at the door in disbelief, but then pulled herself together and mumbled, "Let him in."

Gray and Natsu hung in the air on opposite sides of the room. A green plant was wrapped around both of their waists, suspending them above the floor. They both looked surprised and disbelieving. "Again?" Gray mumbled and tilted his head back. "Will you explain this time?"

"Are you calm?" Alica asked and looked at them both. Her plants tightened around them.

"Argh! Yeah, we're calm!" Natsu said and nodded wildly. Gray nodded too.

"Fine," Alica mumbled and with a quick movement with one finger, the plants landed motionless on the floor. Gray and Natsu landed on the floor too and had to stumble a few times before they regained their balance.

"You're pretty strong," Natsu said impressed. "Why aren't you in a guild?"

Alica was about to open her mouth to speak, but suddenly a scream sounded from below. They all looked at the massive hole Alica's plant had made in the floor. Downstairs, a middle-aged woman stared up through the hole, her eyes was widened in shock. It was the woman who owned the inn.

"MY FLOOR!" she cried out in horror. The three mages faces twisted into the same expression of shock.

"Oops!" Alica mumbled, putting a hand over her mouth. The woman looked up by the sound of her voice and pointed a shaking finger at her. Alica flinched back and looked at her with scared eyes.

"You're going to pay for this!" the owner yelled angrily.

"Come on!" Natsu said, panicking, and grabbed Alica's hand and yanked her toward the window. Gray hurried to reach his hands forward and made a slide out of ice from the window to the ground.

"SORRY!" Alica yelled before she rushed down the slide, followed by the two boys. They could hear screams and swearing from the inn, but they didn't turn around to look.

They ran as fast as they could down the streets. People around them turned their heads to look after them, but they didn't respond. Gray and Natsu ran as fast as they could with flustered expressions, but suddenly they turned their heads in surprise.

Alica was laughing loudly behind them. "I wonder when I'm going to be done running," she laughed. Her dark hair blew behind her, and a big grin was spread on her face. Natsu grinned widely back, and Gray gave her a little smile too.

"I don't think they're coming after us," Gray mumbled, when they had run for a while. Natsu took a peek over his shoulder and confirmed Gray's words with a little nod. The three mages rounded a corner and stopped. They all panted and laughed at the same time.

"What a rush!" Natsu exclaimed with a grin.

"I have never done that before," Alica said with a nervous smile. "You two are just so stupid, fighting like that all the time."

"Hey, who was the one who broke the floor?" Gray teased and leaned up against the wall.

"Yeah, details," Alica said and crossed her arms.

"By the way, now when you're talking again, I want an explanation," Gray said and crossed his arms too

Natsu looked at Alica with just as curious eyes. "Yeah, you have serious skills. You must have been in a Guild," Natsu said, making himself comfortable on a box nearby.

"As a matter of fact I have," Alica said and her eyes turned dark again. "Let's just leave it at that, okay?"

"Yeah, right!" Gray scoffed sarcastically. "Get talking!"

Alica shook her head and wrapped her arms around her body like she was afraid of falling apart. Gray looked at her with a patient stare, but Natsu was getting impatient and began to tap his foot against the ground. "I – um…" she began and bit her lip. Gray tilted his head to capture her gaze, but she turned away. "I was a member of…of Eisenwald," she said quickly, like she wanted to get it over with.

"What!" Gray and Natsu yelled loudly at the same time. Alica's hair was covering her eyes and making it impossible to see what she thought, but Gray and Natsu's expressions were easy to read. Surprise, horror and anger filled their faces.

Eisenwald was a dark guild. They had crossed once before, when Eisenwald had tried to use Lullaby, the infamous magical flute containing a mass murder magic, to kill the guild masters, including Fairy Tail's own master Makarov. Luckily Gray, Natsu, Lucy and Erza had stopped it before it could make any greater damage.

"Alica, that's a Dark Guild! What were you -?"

"I know what I did, and I didn't think at all!" she snapped, cutting Gray off. "Mako was the one to get me back on track." She paused before continuing in a softer tone, "and I have loved him since then."

Gray and Natsu exchanged glares. "You really love him, don't you?" Gray said, hesitating slightly.

"Of course!" Alica said and suddenly became alert. "Why? What is it?"

"Um…there's something I haven't told you guys," Gray began. Natsu narrowed his eyes and shifted on the box. "You know I was gone last night, right?" he continued. "I was kind of visiting Lucy."

Natsu rushed to his feet. "What?" he said angrily. "And you didn't bring me?" He stared at Gray for a second, and then turned away. He began to mumble to himself. "Idiot…goes to Lucy…leaving me behind. Why didn't I think of that?"

"So that's why you have been so cheerful lately," Alica said, happy that the conversation had turned to Gray, and not her and her former Guild.

"Yeah…but that's not what I wanted to say," Gray continued. "When I was there, she told me when the wedding was coming up."

"When?" Alica said and looked at Gray with huge eyes. Gray suddenly became a little uneasy.

"When Gray?" Natsu said impatient.

"Um…today."

Yeah, Gray didn't tell them about his ´visit´. xD - did you like? please let me know in the reviews. :D