* Instead of all the legal mumbo-gumbo about copyrights and all that, I'll just say that I don't own Fairy Tail, Vampire Knight, or any of its characters.
Fairy Tail
General POV
"How much longer until you're ready?" Juvia asked again as she paced back and forth behind the portal mage.
Clint couldn't help but groan in annoyance. How did this Gray guy put up with this woman? Sure, she's hot, but she just does not know when she's bothering someone or when to back off! He turned away from drawing the circle to glare at her. "I'm working as fast as I can, but I would get done a lot faster if you would stop interrupting me."
"Juvia knows that, but she's just really hopeful that she will get to be with her Gray-sama again," she said quietly.
The look she had on her face was close to pathetic, but he kept that to himself. Last thing he wanted was to piss the woman off and suffer her wrath. She could be pretty damn scary when she was pissed. Luckily for both of them, he was almost finished.
The majority of the main hall was cleared out to make room for him to draw the circle. He had spent a couple days studying the text that Levy and Freed had given him and the spell itself was simple enough, but it took a lot of magic to do it and he wouldn't be able to attempt it more than once without risking his life. Luckily for him, the guild master understood that and had promised him that so long as he really tried to bring their people back, they would not ask him to risk his life to try again.
Once the final symbol was drawn, he moved into position to cast the spell but couldn't help but hesitate before locking eyes with Laxus. "So, I open up the portal which will affect time here at the guild hall to match their time. The force of the spell should pull him into the portal but I'm not sure how it will affect the girl."
The lightning dragon slayer nodded. "We all realize that the spell may not work on her. If anything, we're hoping that she will be able to jump through on her own or hold onto Gray to pull herself through."
"You guys also realize that this spell would not be specific to just Gray," Clint said, his voice edging on nervousness. "This will pull back everyone I ever sent through the portal and they weren't all 'upstanding mages' like your guild mate."
"Which is why we have so many mages ready to defeat them and protect you," Laxus countered. He understood that Clint was nervous about what would happen, but he wasn't about to let the mage back out. This was their best chance and they were not going to pass it up.
Clint scoffed. "Yeah, you guys better protect me; because if I die, the portal closes for good even if there's someone in-transit from another world. Also keep in mind, the most I'll be able to keep this thing open is three to five minutes, if they don't cross over during that time, it's not my fault."
Cross Academy
Gerneal POV
Gray watched at a slight distance as Lucy said goodbye to her friends. He could see how close she was to crying and it came close to breaking his own heart. It had been tempting to stay with her but he had decided that they deserved to have her to themselves for the little time they had left together.
Kaname had ordered the majority of the Night Class to keep watch around the building to keep the Day Class from seeing anything they shouldn't. Normally, apparently, that would be Yuuki and Zero's job but they didn't want to leave Lucy until they had to. Quite a few of the Night Class students had stayed behind to see Lucy off and he hadn't missed how a few of them were close to or already in tears.
He also noticed which of the guys seemed to be taking the news the hardest. Hikaru was sticking close to her but wasn't looking at her and Gray could sense the moisture in his eyes that he was holding back. The two blondes, Aidou and Takuma, were even closer. Takuma was hugging her too him as though he was terrified to let her go and Aidou was holding onto her one hand with the kind of determination that Juvia always showed towards him.
The other guy he noticed was Zero, he was glaring death at everyone around her and his jaw was clenched hard enough to chip his teeth. Gray had figured out earlier that the silver haired teenager hated vampires but he could also see how much he liked Lucy, so he probably wasn't thrilled that they were touching her.
I wonder if she even realizes that she has four guys in love with her? I kind of hope that she doesn't, because that will only make things more difficult when the time comes.
As if on cue with his thoughts, the air pressure in the room changed and there was a flux of light and magic from the center of the room. The light was green and it started small, but quickly grew until the orb was about four meters high by four meters wide.
Lucy couldn't help but shake as the portal formed in the center of the room. Quick as she could, she forced her body under control before disengaging herself from her friends. "Stay close to the wall so none of you accidently get sucked into the portal," she told them, barely holding back her tears. "Please, know that you are all my friends and that I'll never forget you."
"And you remember that you are as much a member of the Night Class as you are a Fairy Tail mage," Kaname told her before giving her a bow. Everyone quickly followed suit, she didn't miss the tear drops that fell from their eyes while their heads were down. Lucy took the opportunity to do the same, finally allowing her tears to fall before quickly turning and hurrying over to where Gray was fighting the pull of the portal.
"It's sucking me in," he told her as he continued to struggle. "For all we know it will close the second I enter it, so I want you to try first."
Lucy gave him a nod before she quickly approached the portal. The magic she felt coming off of the thing felt the same as the magic that sent her here. It scared her but she steeled her nerves before taking a breath and jumping at the portal. She felt the magic catch her in mid-air and hold her for a moment... and then there was so much pain that she couldn't help but scream.
The Night Class watched on in horror when they heard Lucy scream in agony. Even that first day when she had been screaming at all of them in terror was nothing compared to what they were hearing. And then she was flung out of the portal and was sailing through the air, Zero and Hikaru were the fastest and were able to catch her before she hit the ground. Her body was shaking and she was sobbing from the pain. The smell of burnt skin was almost overpowering in the room as everyone rushed over to her.
"Lucy!" Gray called out as he struggled to get to her, but the portal was pulling him in and away from from the blonde mage. He could see that she was barely conscious and there were burns on her skin. It was easy to figure out what had happened. "The portal won't accept her, she can't go back." All eyes switched from Lucy, to Gray, and back to her again.
The portal pulled harder and Gray quickly made an ice hook to sink into the floor and keep himself in place. "All of you listen to me," he yelled at them. Even though only a few looked up, he knew they were paying attention. "I'm trusting all of you to keep my little sister safe and make sure that she lives a happy life. It's going to break her heart to know that she can't go home, so you all better be there for her."
"She's our family, too! We protect our family!" Aidou yelled back as he kneeled next to Lucy. "You had better keep sending her letters and pictures."
"Gray..."
Everyone went silent as Zero helped Lucy sit up so she could look at her fellow mage. "I'll be okay here. Let everyone know that I'm fine. Don't let them dwell on not being able to bring me home, I know they tried. What matters now is that you get home to Juvia, she's waited for you long enough."
Tears were freely flowing from the ice mage's eyes as he gave her a nod. "I love you, little sister."
"Love you too, big brother. Now get into that portal before I have Zero drag me over there so I can kick you in the chest to knock you inside!" She told him, giving him a watery smile.
With a final nod, the ice hook he was holding burst to pieces and he let the portal pull him inside. There was another flash of green light and a rumbling sound before the magic seemed to collapse on itself and disappear. As the air pressure went back to normal, Lucy fell back into the arms of her friends as she started loosing consciousness again. She was aware of her friends going into a panic around her and that she was being lifted into someone's arms and carried from the room, she could only guess that they were taking her to the infirmary.
Fairy Tail
Gray's POV
It was different from before, more like what had happened when all of us had returned from Edolas. I felt myself being absorbed into the portal, suspended for a moment, and then I was thrown from it. The landing wasn't as painful as before but is was still pretty jarring, my right shoulder and back were the first things to hit but I was able to roll to keep myself from taking too much damage. When I finally stopped, my face was pressed against the floor and it smelled like dirt and spilt beer. It was a smell I knew all too well from all the times I had passed out or gotten knocked out at the guild. I'm home!
I took a moment to collect myself before lifting my head to look around. Part of my mind registered that there was a fight going on and I almost wrote it off as a normal brawl until I saw that it was a real battle inside of the guild. The first thing that really came into focus for me was a large man pinning Juvia to the wall by her throat.
Right away, it didn't matter that I was injured from my last fight or bruised from the landing. All that matter was getting that bastard off of my girl!
"Ice Make: Lance!" I yelled as I hit the guy hard enough to send him flying back a few meters. I quickly made my way to Juvia as she struggled to breathe. I cupped her face in my hands and stared at her as she got her breath back, she was looking at me in total shock. When tears began to leak from her eyes, I wiped them away as she continued to stare at me.
"Gr-gray-sama," she said in a raspy voice as her hands reached up to touch my face.
"You're safe. I was so worried about you."
Tears fell harder from her eyes and she wrapped her arms around me. "Don't ever leave Juvia alone like that again," she sobbed into my bare shoulder. I hugged her tight against me, ignoring the pain from my injuries. All I could think about and wanted was to keep her close to me.
The battle continued for a few more minutes and I should have been ashamed of myself for not helping more, but I couldn't stand to let go of her. It might have only been about five days for me, but I knew that was close to five years for her.
The magic from the portal dissipated and I looked up in time to see the mage that had originally attacked Juvia and me collapse to the floor, he just barely caught himself before his head hit the ground. A look around the guild hall revealed about a dozen unconscious people that I didn't recognize and a few others that were being held back by Fairy Tail mages to keep from attacking the portal mage. I'll admit, I wanted to kick that guy's ass all the way to jail, but I also knew that he was the one who brought everyone back so I kept my anger in check.
"Gray!" A cheer went up as everyone turned to where Juvia and I were standing. I kept a tight hold on her as we were practically mobbed by our guild mates. It was annoying but I couldn't blame them, I could tell it was going to be like Lisanna's homecoming all over again.
Then Natsu, Wendy and Erza were in front of us, their expressions hopeful and worried. "Where's Lucy?"
That one question silenced most of the guild. I was pretty sure that they already knew the answer, but they still wanted me to say it.
"The portal wouldn't accept her," I told them as I hugged Juvia closer. "She tried jumping in before me, but it hurt her and threw her out. Zero and Hikaru caught her but the portal wasn't going to let her come back."
Wendy started crying and Natsu collapsed to his knees as I spoke. A lot of the guild were voicing their worry and disappointment at not getting our bubbly celestial mage back.
"But that was our only chance!"
"There has to be some other way! We can't just leave her there."
"Everyone stop!" Laxus' voice range out, silencing everyone as he approached me. "Gray, you saw where she was and met the people she's staying with. What do you think? Will she be alright living there?" His voice was even, but I could see the worry in his eyes.
I nodded. "They'll protect her. They know what she means to us and I could tell that she means just as much, if not more, to them. They are her new family and we all know Lucy, it would break her heart to leave them behind. She also wanted me to let everyone know that she was fine and doesn't want us to dwell on not being able to bring her home. She knows we tried but it just wasn't meant to be."
By the time I was finished speaking, most of the guild was in tears. Natsu was hugging Lisanna, Happy and his kids close to him. Erza was stiff and shaking with Jellal hugging her from behind. Levy had collapsed to her knees and Wendy had run off to who-knows where. Juvia clung to me as she cried, her warm tears were practically searing my skin but I couldn't have cared less.
Laxus kept his head bowed for a moment before clearing his throat and lifting his head. "Listen up, everyone. I know that we were hoping to see all of our family back together, but it looks like that isn't going to happen. But remember, we still succeeded here. We brought Gray home, which has also brought Juvia home. This is a victory and we will celebrate for their return. We will also be celebrating the fact that we were able to confirm that Lucy is alive and well cared for at her new home. So I expect everyone to drink and celebrate for Gray, Juvia and Lucy!"
A cheer went up as my strength started to give out. Juvia easily caught me and helped me sit at a table while others went to get Wendy so she could heal me. I hardly moved from my seat as the party raged around me. I eventually got healed after Wendy calmed down and Mira brought me all my favorite foods, which I gladly devoured. As it got later and everyone began to pass out from exhaustion or alcohol, I just sat there holding the blue haired woman who refused to release my arm.
"Juvia is thrilled that Gray-sama is back but she is disappointed that love-rival did not return with him," she said as she cuddled up to me.
That made me chuckle. "She told me come back to you, even threatened me with a Lucy-kick to the chest if I didn't come back right away. Besides, from what I saw while I was there, she has a few different guys vying for her attention."
"So love-rival isn't a love-rival any more?" She asked me, her blue eyes looking up at me with so much hope it was hard not to laugh.
"She's not your love rival any more. You can just consider her your sister-in-law" I smirked at her. Her checks went pink from her blush as I ran my fingers along the back of her neck. I easily felt the chain and eased my old necklace out from under her dress so I could hold the pendant in my palm. "I meant what I said that day and I hope you still feel th-"
Her arms wrapped around my neck as she knocked me off of my seat and onto the floor. It hurt a bit, but I couldn't help but smile as I held her.
Cross Academy Infirmary
General POV
It had been three hours since Lucy had fallen unconscious and they were really starting to worry about her. It was only a couple hours until the sun was supposed to rise but it didn't seem like anyone was willing to leave her side. Kaname had told the Night Class students that they could stay with her but had to be back at the dorm before the Day Class students started to get up.
Not long after they had brought her to the infirmary, Virgo had appeared with medical supplies from the celestial world to treat her wounds. The burns had them worried but the spirit had assured them that the ointment she had used would heal her quickly, numb the pain, and prevent scars.
Takuma and Aidou were sitting on either side of her bed and holding her hands. Hikaru was sitting next to Aidou as he stared at her face, willing her to wake up. Zero and Yuuki were standing by the door and keeping watch. Senri, Rima and Ruka were sitting on the bed next to Lucy's as they kept watch as well.
"How do you think she's going to take it? Having to stay here for the rest of her life, I mean." Rima said after everyone had been silent for so long.
"It might be like after she found out about the time difference between worlds," Takuma said, still holding Lucy's hand. "She'll be upset, but she'll get through it. She's strong."
"And she knows that we wanted her to stay," Hikaru said, causing everyone to turn and give him surprised looks and glares.
"I can't believe you told her!" Aidou snapped at him.
"Someone had to do it and no one else had the guts," Hikaru growled back at him.
"Don't fight."
Everyone turned back to Lucy. Her eyes were closed but she had spoken and was shifting on the bed.
"Don't move," Takuma said as he carefully pressed on her shoulders to keep her still. "You had a lot of burns from the portal. Virgo is treating you but said you still need to stay in bed for a few days to fully recover."
She nodded as she tried to relax her body. "Okay, but don't fight. I'm glad Hikaru told me how he felt about me leaving and that it wasn't just him. If he hadn't, I might feel strange about staying here." Her eyes cracked open slightly as she looked around the room. "I hate that I'm leaving Fairy Tail behind, but if it's to stay with my new family I know that I'll be okay. If what Hikaru told me is the truth, I know that I'll be happy here."
Her eyes drifted shut and she was asleep again. Her friends relaxed as she drifted off, glad that she wasn't upset.
"We should take her back to her room and let her rest for a few days," Hikaru said as he stood from his chair. "She'll be more comfortable there and if she stays here, she'll just be bothered by a bunch of Day Class students."
Aidou quickly scooped her up into his arms and Lucy automatically curled up against his chest and sighed. He started walking towards the door but found his path blocked by Zero. The two glared at each other for a long moment before the vampire hunter spoke.
"Make sure you take care of her, and we expect updates on her condition while she's resting," Zero told him, his eyes menacing while his voice was quiet so he wouldn't disturb the sleeping girl.
Takuma quickly promised nightly reports and was able to clear a path so they could take Lucy back to the Moon dormitory. All the vampires followed, not wanting to let the blonde mage out of their sight. Despite her injuries, they were glad that she had stayed with them and they hoped that she wouldn't regret it later.
A/N: I know a lot of you were expecting Lucy to go back to Fairy Tail, but I didn't want it to end yet. I want her to have more adventures in the Vampire Knight world and fall in love with the character that the readers chose for her. There will still be some interaction with Fairy Tail, but not as much.