Hello fellow fools.
I believe I have held off on this long enough… Welcome back to the next and final chapter of He won't harm you.
Problem is that I don't know how to write it… That and (in my opinion) my writing has decreased in quality over the last few weeks.
I am just tired of looking at this story and seeing it un-concluded.
Also I have no TRIVIA TIME questions this late at night so I may just give you some of my infamous phrases…
I know how much you love those phrases…
LETS READ!
:::-(())-:::
"Gray!"
Erza's shout had gained the attention of Simon, who looked over to see why she had called out her friends name.
Simon was surprised to see the battered ice mage awake, any normal person wouldn't have woken up for a good few months if he were lucky and here was Gray awake and seemingly fine. He called for Mirajane to come in and look him over.
Mirajane came in after hearing Simon's voice and was greeted by Gray looking at her with a sleepy and confused expression coupled with Erza looking like she wanted to squeeze him in her arms forever. She smiled at seeing Gray up and sat on the chair next to Gray.
She saw that he was healthy enough to come off of the machines so she took off most of the tubes that were attached to Gray before looking at him with sympathy.
"It's good to see you awake Gray, but I am going to have to change your bandages in a minute as they have already been soaked through." Gray looked salty at the thought of moving and Mira offered him a sympathetic smile before pulling gently removing the bandages and lightly dabbing various liquids on his many wounds.
Gray tensed weakly, still half asleep. He looked around and saw that he was finally in the guild infirmary. He mentally smacked himself for not noticing that when he saw Mirajane.
His eyes roamed around the room further and he saw Erza looking at him with shock and relief. He gave her a light grin to let her know that he was fine before he was rolled back onto his back, looking down he saw his new coat of bandages that left his whole head un-covered this time.
He guessed that his face was pretty enough for the human eye to gaze upon now…
Mirajane looked at Simon and she gave him a reassuring nod of her head before walking out of the infirmary. Simon went over to Erza and helped her off of her bed before walking her over to the chair next to Gray.
Erza sat down, wiping the many tears she had released before staring at Gray warily, as if he would disappear if she looked away.
Deciding to start off a conversation Gray spoke.
Well, more like rasped.
"Hey, you okay?"
Erza just looked at him for a few more seconds before launching herself at him and managing to wrap her arms around him. Clinging to him tightly, she buried her head into his chest and started sobbing uncontrollably.
Gray being the one to always be flustered by her tears looked at Simon for help, he just smirked at him before mouthing 'She's all yours' to him. He glared at him and then winced as he felt Erza tighten her grip around him.
"Ah! Erza, loosen up a bit would you." His eyes almost bugged out when he felt her arms just tighten further. Erza shook her head vigorously into his chest in defiance.
This was so unlike her…
She finally looked at him tearfully, her eyes sad and angry.
"You idiot. You damn idiot!" She spoke quietly. "Why did you do that?! You almost died! You almost left me! Why did you do that!" She was in hysterics, that much Gray could tell.
"What do you mean?" He asked, confusion evident in his voice.
She dissolved into more tears and he could tell she was remembering his fight. He then realised what she meant.
"Why?" She was struggling to form coherent sentences now. "Why, Why did you jump in front of that attack?! It could've killed you and you still did it!" Gray could see she was to keep her fists from hitting his battered chest. More importantly he now knew for certain what she was talking about.
He wrapped his bandaged arms around her and gave her a slight grin…
"I wasn't going to let that ass kill you." He started, finally gaining full control of his voice again. "If I lost you then I would've lost the best damn thing that ever happened to me in my life. You have you're whole life ahead of you Erza, one that will be full of joy and content. After what you have been through that is the least you deserve."
He took a deep breath, almost coughing before continuing on.
"If you had died then me and the whole world would've lost a brilliant life. The guild would be completely different without you and I know that it would be unbearable to even think of in further detail. My life would also be worthless if you had died from something I could've stopped."
Erza stopped him from explaining any further before replying.
"But what about me Gray?! What if you had died?! I couldn't live with myself if you had! Your too important to me Gray so please don't you ever do that to me again! My life would be meaningless without you and I can't think of my life without you in it either!" She pounded his chest lightly.
Gray groaned in pain, Erza still had a powerful punch even when tired.
"Careful, i'm delicate..." He got a look from her that said 'shut up and you may live to see tomorrow' and he quickly shut his trap before it was shut for him.
At least Erza was getting back to normal…
And fairly quickly too…
He heard the infirmary doors open and he and Erza looked over to see Natsu, Lucy and Happy enter along with Simon.
:::-(())-:::
Natsu opened the door and instantly rushed in to see how Erza and ice pants were doing when he saw Erza next to Grays bed with her head on his chest. He grinned and was about to make them both jump but Lucy flicked his head and glared at him with an expression that screamed 'you do that and you will suffer'.
"Hey, are two okay?" He heard Lucy call out softly.
In all honesty, he was relieved and happy to see Gray awake and in a fairly okay condition. When he first saw Simon lay the two mages down Gray looked ready to be buried and given the funerals of all funerals…
The fact that Gray was so close to death scared the living shit out of him, he may have been his rival but Natsu wasn't so stupid as to believe that he was better than Gray. No matter how much Natsu trained and tuned his advantages Gray always seemed to get the upper hand and give a reason to get better.
In a way, Gray was to him at least a pillar of strength and will. To that pillar practically bed ridden for the time being both saddened and frightened Natsu.
The two injured mages looked over towards the four and Gray gave them a weak smirk whilst Erza gave them a soft and happy smile.
Lucy was pleased to see Gray awake, she had been so scared when Grays heart had stopped those times on the cart back home. She had dissolved into tears thinking on what if Gray didn't survive his injuries.
If he died it would've destroyed Erza, it would've broken Natsu and she would've been inconsolable for sure. Lucy had one word for every future she could think of without Gray in it: Hell.
She was happy that her awful little visions hadn't come to be reality. Then she saw Erza sitting in the chair next to him, her head practically melted into his chest with her crimson hair splayed all over his bed, some of it had even reached his chin and was tickling him.
She inwardly smirked, they were awfully close weren't they, she would have to inform Mirajane on this development.
Anything to get her off of her back about her and Natsu…
Gray finally replied.
"I'm alive, so I guess that's a start" He laughed at the look on Lucy's face. It just screamed 'Really?'. His laughter did turn into a bad cough but it was worth it. Her reaction was just to priceless to not enjoy completely.
Then Natsu walked over to Gray and grabbed him by his necklace roughly making him wince in pain.
"You're lucky I don't kick your ass right here stripper. Making Erza and Lucy cry is all I need to know so I can beat your ass but I'll let you go just for no-"
No sooner had he grabbed Grays necklace had Erza slowly and threateningly made her way over to the Salamander. She raised her fist and slammed it down on Natsu's head hard enough to knock him out.
She glared angrily at the poor git for a few seconds before her dark aura dissipated and everyone calmed down afterwards.
After Erza had calmed down, Gray then looked at Lucy and asked her if she was okay.
"Compared to you I am as good as can be! I just need some rest and I will be back to normal in no time." She answered with a hint of teasing in her voice.
Gray just grinned at her…
"I am sure that Natsu is very pleased about that." He replied and Lucy let out an exasperated sigh.
"Oh not you too..." She complained.
"You started it Luce, I can't help it if I am better than you when it comes to comebacks and insults." Gray grinned evilly at her. Lucy just stuck her tongue out at him and left the infirmary, passing Makarov on the way out.
The guild master told her before she went out that she and the rest of the guild were to stay in the guild hall until he gave them permission to leave.
Makarov got up on a stool and looked at the two mages, he looked as if he had watched a tragic horror movie.
"Gray, Erza." He started. "Simon has given me a Lacrima he picked up from the tower of heaven or whatever you all call it. I have watched it through and I must first say that I am very proud of both of you for your actions during that experience."
He looked over at Gray…
"You have sustained major damage to your body and it is a miracle that you are even awake already. Your body will heal up in due time but you will have to stay here for at least a month or two even thinking about going on missions again." He stated.
Gray groaned at the news. One month? A whole month, possibly even two of doing nothing but lying on his ass whilst flame brain gets all the fun? A whole month of boredom whilst he gets a whole month of fun?
That was unfair…
Before he could even complain, Makarov turned to look at Erza.
"You are very lucky Erza, if Gray hadn't pulled you out of that lacrima in time you would be dead. Luckily, you only sustained minor damage to you left leg, hence the limp. You also got a few minor head injuries so keep that bandage on and you suffered a few cracked ribs as I am sure you felt..."
Gray looked shocked, how hadn't he noticed that?
He just blamed it on Natsu…
"Now, I didn't just come in here to tell you what is wrong with you both. If I did that I would've said the stripping habit and the cheese cake addiction." Makarov said, his face completely serious.
"I can't help it! I don't even know i'm doing it until it's too late!" Gray sputtered.
"Master? Are you saying that I have an addiction? Please, punish me for my awful sin!"
Yup, Erza was definitely back to normal…
"Quiet, both of you. Now you are both probably unaware of this but your friend Simon has told me to tell you that he he had picked up a vision lacrima that was most likely installed by this Jellal character."
Grays eyes darkened at the mention of Jellal whilst Erza's moistened ever so slightly.
"Now I have seen it but I am not sure if you guys want the lacrima too seen by the others. If you do then just let me know and I will show or I will put it away forever."
Gray looked at Erza and she looked at him back. It was a fairly hard decision to make, did they want to hide this little endeavour or show it for their family to see?
Gray spoke first…
"In all honesty sir, I don't think I have the right to choose, this was Erza's past and a decision regarding her past should be rightfully hers to make. I will support whatever she chooses."
Erza looked at him thankfully, she felt guilty about his injuries but she was happy that he was in no way angry or upset about this in anyway.
That was what made him perfect in her mind.
She quickly pushed the romance back for a few minutes so she could think about her decision before she looked at Makarov with finality.
"Show them, but me and Gray won't be there to see it again. We already had to live through it..." She added the last part on quietly but Gray heard it and put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed lightly to give some comfort.
She smiled at him slightly, grateful for his support…
"Very well." Said Makarov. "You two can stay In here for the time being, it's not like you have a choice anyway."
Gray groaned before asking the master about the reason Erza had to stay in to. Makarov just told him that it was only for two days for her ribs to be magically healed and for her leg before walking out and shutting the door behind him.
:::-(())-:::
The guild was unusually silent and full of tension.
It had been four hours since team Natsu came back with a near dead Gray and crying Erza. The Titania's poor state shocked them badly to begin with but then they saw Gray bleeding and pale, being held by a big man with a helmet then they had started realising something bad had happened.
And not just the usual 'guild repair costs' bad but really bad…
Then Mirajane informed them that Gray had woken up somehow and then it was a battle to who could get to the infirmary doors first.
Natsu and Lucy had managed to get to the door first since they had sat next to it just waiting for him to wake up so they had been the lucky ones to enter.
A few minutes later Lucy had dragged Natsu out and she mouth at the others 'He hurt Gray slightly' and they instantly understood.
The master and the helmet man who introduced himself as Simon walked out of the Guild masters office and the master made his way to the infirmary whilst Simon sat down with Lucy and the unconscious dragon slayer.
The two talked about the events that had happened a few hours back and kept it up until Makarov came back out of the infirmary and locked the doors behind him.
They all looked at him when he pulled out a Lacrima and stood up on a stool. Simon looked at him with slight shock. He didn't expect Erza to allow her past to be known throughout this crowd, family or not.
"Alright brats, I am sure you are wondering why I have kept you all in the guild hall after hours, and now you can find out why." Makarov looked a Simon who nodded in reply.
He took a deep breath.
"Before I start I will say this right now, this has to do with why Gray and Erza had come in to your guild in this state. They will most likely not want to answer any question you have for them so if you try I will hurt you on their behalf." He said warningly.
"What you are about to see is the battle that took place on the top floor of the tower of heaven. I am sure you haven't heard of it but I will spare you the details and just say that it used to be a slave tower that held men, women and children of all ages."
Makarov took over from there…
"The reason Gray came in all beat up will be shown in the following lacrima vision, both Erza and Gray have gave us permission to show you this and they are not to be disturbed afterwards about this."
He held up the Lacrima and everyone's eyes were instantly drawn to the screen.
:::-(())-:::
Yeah, yeah, I know. Ending it there is neither a cliff hangar nor is it in any way smart, but I honestly have no idea on how to end this awful chapter.
Thank you for reading this and I apologise for it's poor ass quality. I have wanted to finish this off for a while now but I have struggled to get an inkling of an idea on how to end this at least half decently.
The last chapter will not be coming around for some time as I had stated in the first chapter. I want to continue on with TRE and at least get half way through the next arc before I revisit but if I feel like it I will come back to this and finish it off.
But this took me three days to make since I had no idea how to continue this…
PHRASES OF AWESOME!
From the book of Viperhats book of random stupidity…
'What doesn't kill you will hopefully try again and succeed this time around…'
'When the going gets tough, the tough lay down and cry loudly,'
And finally…
'The best job in the world: Trade bona, extended arrangement and regular appearances, try signing on the doll.'
Crap? Yeah, I thought so.
The mad rantings of a brain dead vegetable such as I should have known his phrases would be mere mash potatoes to the mentally stable.
But hey, at least I tried…
Yeah… This is getting awkward…
Wow! That was a long authors note!
Thanks for reading and stay cool,
-viperhat