Author's notes: sorry this took a long time, I've been ill and had time off and had to catch up with loads of work and sadly had no time to update. But its holiday time now! So I shall be updating! Thanks for the reviews and please enjoy!

"Gray!" Erza voice echoed around their surroundings. Suddenly the effect of the poison had worn off and she jumped up out of Natsu's arms, she stumbled forward trying to reach the ice mage ahead of her I have to be by his side, just like all the times he has done that for me. He body ached and she felt like she couldn't take another step but still she forced her body to move, no matter how much it hurt she had to go to Gray. She owed him that much.

"Gray!" Natsu shouted as he ran forward, he raced past Erza and knelt beside his childhood rival "wake up Gray! Wake up!" he cried as his eyes watered. Erza stumbled but was held upright she looked and saw that Lucy was holding her steady, her eyes were red and tears still flooded down her face. They stayed in silence as Lucy practically carried Erza to Gray's body. Erza dropped next to Gray unable to hold her tears back anymore when she saw the smile that was still on his face.

"Gray wake up you bastard!" Natsu roared as tears flowed down his cheeks "don't you dare leave us all! How could you do that especially after what you said" he punched the ground with full force causing it to crack. Lucy put her hand on Natsu's shoulder causing him to look up at her

"Natsu" she whispered, she gripped his shoulder and he stood up saying nothing but embraced her as gently as he could. She cried onto the salamander's shoulder. His hand stroked up and down her back trying to comfort her. He started to move away from Gray, Lucy looked up at him and realised what he was doing "yea you're right" she said "we have to give her some time"

"Gray don't be dead" Erza cried as she held her head in her hands "why did this happen now" she lifted her sky to the heavens "you can't take him now" she shouted "it can't be his time yet! Why must he go, just when I find out he loves me?!" her head fell on his bare chest just resting on top of the blue guild mark that her always wore with pride. She never realised till then that they both had the same colour guild marks, it must have just been a coincident she thought with "I'm so sorry Gray" she whispered "i-I never got to tell you how I fe-" her voice broke and a light flashed behind her

"Loke" Lucy said in a surprised tone as she looked up as she watched the celestial spirit walk over to his friend

"Gray" he said in low lone he leaned down opposite Erza and placed his hand over Gray's chest. He nodded to himself before placing his ear over his heart "he's still alive" he said with a small smile as he looked up at Erza who was wide eyes "don't worry I won't let one of my closest friends die" he stood up and picked up Gray

"Are you serious?!" Natsu shouted "he's going to be ok?!" Loke tilted his head

"I'm not sure; it's not as straight forward. He is still critical" Loke replied

"Get him to Wendy as fast as you can" Erza said as she looked up at him "please Loke" the celestial spirit looked at her with soft eyes

"I will, good job you guys aren't very far from the guild" he said before looking at Lucy "you all need to be checked out too" Natsu nodded before Loke ran off as fast as he could. Natsu lowered his head

"Don't you die on me ice princess" he whispered not loud enough for the others to hear. Lucy made her way to Erza who was still on the ground

"Come on" she said gently "you're injured too, we should go-"

"No" Erza cut in "I'm going to the guild, we all need to be there for our team mate" Lucy was about to argue but Natsu walked over and helped Erza up

"We are going to the guild" Natsu said in a stern voice "I'll carry you Erza it will be quicker" he never even gave her time to answer he just lifted her up and started to walk as fast as he could. Lucy ran to catch up and walked next to them. They walked in silence, no one dared to say anything. Erza closed her eyes she couldn't hold the tears away any longer and she didn't want to seem so weak in front of Natsu and Lucy.

It's my fault she thought bitterly if I hadn't been so weak I could have protected everyone instead of getting paralysed and leaving the responsibility to Gray, if I was stronger I could have stopped this. What happens if he doesn't make it what do I do? What would a world be like without him? Erza bit her lip as she tried to block the image from her mind. Eventually exhaustion got the better of her and she drifted off into a deep sleep.

Natsu sighed once he realised Erza wasn't awake "at least she can rest now" he said with a sad smile "she won't be able to deal with her thoughts right away" Lucy looked over at her sleeping friend who was shifting around

"What do you mean Natsu" she asked

"Well this will be typical Erza, she will blame herself now, thinking that she should have been able to protect that idiot" he grunted "I should have been stronger enough too"

"Natsu" Lucy said softly it pained her to see everyone like this "it's none of your faults, we all risk our lives for each other. Gray showed today just how brave he was" Natsu nodded

"Well he better live, I can't let him out do me like that!" he grinned which made Lucy smile he can be so horrible with Gray but deep down those two are so close. But he's putting on a tough act for me and Erza. I never knew he could be so mature. But again her gaze went to the other female on the team and her smile falter Lucy couldn't even begin to image what Erza was going through Gray finally admits his true feelings and then he was nearly taken away from her. I've heard how those two were so close before I joined and Cana even told me they were close even before Natsu joined. Their bond is so deep and it seems love is tied into their fate too, I just hope…"I just hope they get a happy ending" Lucy whispered "please Loke, make sure Gray survives"

Meanwhile:

"Come on buddy" Loke said as he ran "just hang in there not too far now" he could see the guild hall ahead of him, he increased his speed until he finally kicked the guild door open

"Where's Wendy?!" he shouted at first everyone looked at him with a confused face until they looked at who he was carrying

"Gray" they all cried. Thankfully Wendy was in the guild at the time and she rushed forward

"What happened to Gray-san?" she cried as her eyes watered up but she quickly wiped her eyes reaming focused on the task at hand.

"I'm not too sure" Loke said sadly "but there was a bomb, must have been explosive magic and Gray tried to freeze it all to save the others, sadly he didn't freeze it all and the small. It blew up but Gray took the blast, he saved the other" Wendy let out a small cry

"Take him into one of back rooms" Mira said quickly grabbing the bandages and rushing into one of the many rooms. Loke and Wendy followed and the leader of the 12 zodiac gently placed the ice mage down on the bed

"Can you save him?" he asked with a worried expression, Wendy leaned over Gray and placed her hand over his chest

"He's really weak" she said quietly "I'm amazed he's still alive" she gritted her teeth "he has a bad cut at the back of his head, plus the explosion must have damaged some of his vital organs" Mira and Loke looked down sadly. Wendy noticed their expressions and cleared her throat "but don't worry! I will save him Loke-san!" Loke smiled at her broadly

"I know you will Wendy" he said softly and patted her on the back

"GRAY-SAMA!" a loud voice screeched, Wendy turned around but Loke shook his head

"No you and Mira fix Gray up, I'll deal with Juvia" Loke said as he walked out and closed the door

"What is wrong with Gray-sama!?" Juvia shouted and jumped on Loke as soon as he left the room

"Juvia! Get off" Loke shouted and stood upright and brushed dust off his suit "look I'm not going to lie he is in critical condition, hopefully his will make-" Loke got cut off when Juvia tried to run past him

"Juvia must see Gray-sama!" she cried as her eyes released many tears, and even though Loke was inside he could hear the rain that began to pour down as soon as Juvia heard the news. He pulled her back

"I can't let you in there Juvia. Wendy and Mira are doing their best and I can't let you in there. You can't help him Juvia. Just wait" he spoke firmly so the water mage would listen to him. She fell down on the floor and continued weeping. Feeling bad Loke sat down next to her "but don't worry he will ok, I know he will" Juvia looked up with watery eyes

"Yes you are right, this is Gray-sama he can't be defeated yet" a hand rested on her shoulder causing her to look up

"the great Gray will be fine" Cana said confidently even though her eyes were red "but I think we should inform Lyon, after all those two are practically like brothers" Loke stood up and nodded

"I'll go tell him, after all I can just appear there, when Lucy gets back I will return I need to check up on them as well" Loke said and walked away before leaning over to Cana "look after Juvia we don't want the whole guild flooded, but also please look after Erza" Cana raised an eyebrow

"Erza?" Cana asked but then stopped "ahh I see" Loke looked back and smirked before disappearing back to the spirit world. "Damn Gray when you wake up you has got a lot of explaining to do!"

Just then the guild doors open and in limped in the remaining members of the team. "Oh my, is Erza ok?" Cana shouted as Natsu walked forward and pasted Cana to go through the door

"It's ok she's really tired. She just needs some rest and some bandages. But I think she'll want to see Gray first" he said before closing the door. But Lucy rushed in behind him

"Hey I need to check up on Gray too!" Lucy shouted. Juvia looked up and her face darkened

"Lucy" she whispered before glaring up at Cana "why does Lucy get to see Gray-sama before me?!" Cana sighed

"Look Gray is a good friend of mine, hell I knew him before all of you and it hurts me to know my nakama is suffering" she wiped her eyes "but Gray is their teammate they all are bonded together. It's only fair that they are there first" Juvia bowed her head

"Juvia is sorry Cana, Juvia didn't realise how much it was hurting everyone else" Cana's face softened as she sat down next to the rain woman

"It's ok" she said reassuringly "we will wait until he wakes up and then we can go see him" Juvia nodded before returning her gaze to the door

"Gray-sama please be ok" she whispered

…

"Mira could you help me bandage Erza's wounds?" Lucy asked once Natsu had laid Erza down. The white haired woman looked over and nodded

"sure, I've just finished with Gray, it's up to Wendy now" she walked over to her old rival and looked down at her "she looks distressed" she said as she watched the red head roll around

"She's been like that the whole time" Lucy replied "she's having bad dreams. And keeps talking too"

"No Gray" Erza whimpered "doesn't go" Mira sighed before kneeling down to clean the wound on her leg. Lucy followed suit and did the same to Erza's arm

"I haven't seen her like this for a long time" Lucy said

"Just as well Gray can't see her in this state" Mira said as she watched stray tears roll down the re-quip mages face "he hated seeing her cry"

"How's the ice princess doing?" Natsu asked as he leaned against the door

"I'm not too sure yet" Wendy said as she took another deep breath "It seems like his organs are healing now which is good" Natsu looked up and grinned

"Hehe I knew Gray wouldn't die" his smile grew wider. At the mention of a certain ice mage Erza's eyes shot open

"Gray!" her body jolted upwards and she groaned in pain. Lucy gently pushed her back down

"Don't strain yourself Erza its ok, Gray is over there and Wendy is healing him" Mira said softly trying not to alarm the mage. Erza looked over and saw Gray lie motionless on the bed with Wendy standing over him holding her hands over his chest "Gray" she whispered and slowly sat up. Lucy looked concerned but Erza gave her a pleading look "I just want to be near him" she said before standing up. Lucy was about to help her before Erza shook her head "no I can do it on my own" she took a few shaky steps forward as Lucy walked over and leaned on Natsu as he wrapped his arm around her.

Erza sat down besides Gray and placed her hand over his own "please wake up Gray" she whispered as she closed her eyes. A low groan caught everyone's attention and they turned to face the ace mage whose face was scrunched up. Erza opened her eyes and was met with dark blue eyes staring back at her.

"Gray" she said with a smile even though tears fell down her cheeks she let them; these were tears of joy. The others cheered and Wendy plopped down on a seat sighed.

"Oi ice princess you're finally awake! Thought you were going all sleeping beauty on us" Natsu grinned while Lucy slapped his arm

"Natsu! Don't pick on Gray just when he wakes up!" she scolded "sorry Gray but we are all glad you're ok"

But instead Gray leaned up and winced. Immediately Erza supported him "easy Gray" she said softly which was out of character for her. Gray stared blankly at the mages and then looked at Erza. He pushed her away and she looked at him with wide eyes

"Gray what are-" but he cut her off

"Where am I?" he asked as he held his head before looking up "and who are you?"

Cliff hanger mwahaha XD but look Gray is alive! XD I told you to bear with me. So please rate and review and tell me what you think. Well that's all for now. I shall be updating my other fic's so later guys!