Whoop whoop! Another chapter is finally here. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I own the Duxoron I guess...
The young wizards wasted no time in getting to Tiphis village to help their fallen comrade. The journey was spent in complete silence; everyone was still trying to come to terms with one of their own possibly lying on his death bed. Juvia was definitely taking the news worse than everyone else. She refused to make eye contact with anyone and Gajeel was actually starting to get concerned for her. The group we quickly snapped back out of their thoughts when Erza finally decided to break the silence.
"Alright, listen up everyone," she called. "This is where we split off. You all have the needles to extract the blood, right?" At this everyone held up their needles. Each person had two needles each. Erza continued. "Good. Now, once you've collected as much of the Duxoron's blood as possible, report back to the centre of the village and wait for the other groups. We're on a very slim time limit so there will be no getting distracted, understand?"
"Aye!" Everyone roared before dispersing into their selected groups.
Natsu, Lucy and Happy had positioned themselves the furthest away from the village. Using Natsu's nose as a guide, they were now far from the village and almost crossing the border into Okille. That brought back memories.
"That damn bastard," Natsu growled. "If he'd just told us something was wrong back when this began he wouldn't be in this mess!"
Lucy attempted to calm the salamander down. "Natsu we're all worri-"
"I'm not worried!"
"But you know what Gray's like." Lucy continue. "He probably didn't want to worry anyone."
"Well that plan worked great didn't it? Now everyone's worried!"
"You just admitted it," Happy smiled, trying to lighten the mood.
"I'm not worried! That bastard can rot away in a pit for all I care!"
"Natsu!" Lucy scolded. Little did she know that small tendrils of tears trickles down the fire dragons face.
"I'm not worried..." he muttered, though it sounded more like he was trying to convince himself than the others.
Erza was in the same mood as Natsu, showing her worry through anger. A grave expression took over her face as she lead Wendy and Carla to the back of the village. Wendy decided to try and lift the tension in the air, though Carla doubted it would work.
"Erza-san," she began. "I know how you feel but, if you don't keep a level head about this, you won't be able to focus properly."
Erza sighed. "You're right, Wendy. It's just..." She sighed again. "I thought that fool was more mature than this. He should have come to use when he noticed something was wrong with him. I just don't see why he decided to hide his sickness from us."
Carla rolled her eyes. "Well, if you were sick, would you have told us?"
Erza opened her mouth to speak, but quickly closed it as she couldn't bring herself to answer.
"See? And Gray doesn't seam like the type to just talk about how he's feeling. In fact, he always seams kinda distant."
"I wouldn't blame him after the things he's been through." Erza's face dropped.
Juvia was frantically searching for the so-called Duxoron. Every possible hiding place was checked multiple times by the water wizard in hope of finding the creatures. Gajeel's concerns for his friend continued to rise. He knew that Gray was important to the girl; this must be killing her (metaphorically of course).
"Juvia are you alright?" He knew it was a stupid question, but he needed the conversation to go somewhere.
"No, Gajeel-kun. How can Juvia be fine when Gray-sama is dying at the guild. Juvia should have stayed with him. What if he-" she was cut off by her dragon companion.
"Don't you dare start thinking like that. The ice prick is too stubborn to let himself get killed by something so petty. Just focus on getting the blood samples and then you can go and sit by that bastard's side all you want."
Gajeel doesn't really show it, but he really does care deeply for his comrades Pantherlilly pondered, smiling.
Juvia gave a sad smile. "Gajeel-kun is right. Juvia must do her part to help Gray-sama."
"We also have the opportunity to save many others if the antidote works," Lilly added.
"You mean when the antidote works," Gajeel glared at Lilly after seeing Juvia's worried glance.
"R-right."
Back at the guild hall, Cana and Mirajane were keeping a watchful eye over their helpless friend. Mira was continuously dabbing beads of sweat off the ice wizards face as he forced to get breaths out.
"This isn't looking good," Cana frowned. "He just keeps getting worse. At this rate he'll-"
"Don't. We need to have faith that the others will get the blood samples in time. I know they will," Mira glanced over to Gray's pale complexion.
"That idiot, making us all worry like this," Cana leaned back in her chair. She hadn't had a single sip of alcohol since the news hit the guild.
Mira rolled her eyes at the card wizard before turning back to their patient. "Just hang in there a little longer, Gray. The others will be back soon with a cure. I promise."
Natsu, Lucy and Happy we're dodging left and right as spikes flew from every direction. The Duxoron came in large packs. The creatures weren't that large, but their tails seemed bigger than their own heads. Endless amounts of spikes flew out of their tails towards the group of three as they hid behind trees and anything else that would avoid them getting diseased like their friend.
"How are we supposed to get blood samples when I can't even get close to them?" Natsu called over to Lucy and Happy.
"Maybe my spirits can do something to knock them out?" Lucy wondered pulling out her keys.
"Open! Gate of the Archer! Sagittarius!"
"How may I assist you - moshi moshi?" He saluted.
"Can you knock out those creatures over there, please?" Lucy pointed towards the pack of Duxoron.
"Can do, milady."
Faster than the speed of sound, Sagittarius readied his bow and shot an arrow which then multiplied into several and pierced through the vulnerable bodies of the Duxoron.
"Yes!" Lucy cheered. "Thanks, Sagittarius."
"Any time," and with that, Sagittarius returned to his world.
Natsu and Lucy ran towards the unconscious pack with Happy flying along side them. Rapidly, they all filled up their needles full of Duxoron blood, grabbed their belongings and dashed towards the meet-up point.
"We're lucky we didn't get diseased," Natsu pointed out as they ran.
"Don't be too sure, Gray didn't realise he'd been diseased before it was too late. It's better to be safe than sorry," Lucy replied.
Over at the guild, Mira had left the infirmary in order to get some fresh air and sat at a table with her younger siblings. Kinana brought her over a drink to sooth her nerves.
"How's Gray?" Lisanna asked, a little hesitant by the look on her big sisters face.
"It's not looking good. His fever just keeps getting worse. It won't be a matter of time before he-" Mira stopped herself mid sentence. No one dared to say that word when referring to their comrade.
"Don't worry Nee-san. Gray is a man, he'll pull through. He always does," Elfman replied, his signature grin on his face.
"Natsu and the others will be back soon with the blood samples and Gray will be back on his feet before you know it."
Mira gave a sad smile towards her siblings. "You're right. We just need to have faith in them."
Cana remained in the infirmary, watching Gray's chest raise and fall as he forced breaths out. Memories of their childhood together flooded her mind.
It was mid-morning and Cana was still in bed. Being sick sucked! Today she had planned to go out on a job with Gray but instead she was curled up in bed with a fever... And she'd been really looking forward to it too. It had been a few months since Gray joined the guild and the two eight year old's were getting along great. Cana loved that she finally had a friend her age to talk to and hang out with; it meant she didn't have to sit and listen to Macao and Wakaba's banter every hour of the day. So when she woke up feeling like utter crap, you can imagine how disappointed she was that she couldn't leave her bed. Gray would be furious with her. Cana had already sent word to the guild to inform them that she wouldn't be coming in today. The brunette stared at her ceiling for what felt like an eternity until she heard a knock at the door.
"Who is it?" Her weak voice called.
"It's Gray"
Oh crap. This was the last thing she needed. She already felt bad enough that she let her team mate down, now she had to deal with this. Realising she still hadn't answered the ice wizard, she beckoned him to come inside.
"Yo. Gramps told me you were sick so I went to Porlyusica and asked her if she could make something to bring your fever down," he smiled handing Cana a cup with some strange looking liquid in.
Cana was confused. He wasn't mad? "Thanks," she responded, taking a sip.
Gray sat down with his back against the bed and chuckled slightly when he heard Cana gag after taking the remedy.
"Yuck! That was disgusting!"
"Heh. I said it would help your fever. I never said it tasted nice."
"You know I really hate you sometimes." Gray just rolled his eyes, smiling. "So why did you come here?"
The raven place his arms around the back of his head. "Well it's boring around the guild with all those old farts blabbering on about nonsense and Wakaba drives me insane so I thought I'd come here to see how you were doing."
"What about the job?"
"We can do it some other time and it's way too boring going on jobs alone."
Cana smiled and lay her head back on her pillow. "You're an idiot."
The card wizard couldn't help but smile about the memory. Gray always prioritised his friends' well-being over his, so much that it led to him completely disregarding his own health to please others. Definitely an idiot Cana thought. And if he doesn't stop he'll end up a dead idiot. Cana resumed her gaze on Gray's slowing moving chest, watched it rise and fall, rise and fall until...
It stopped.
"Gray?" Cana questioned, thinking that he may have woken up. No response. "Gray?" She said again, this time more desperate. She rapidly made her way to his bed side and leaned in to listened out for breaths. When she heard nothing she hovered her had not far away from Gray's mouth hoping to feel something. Nothing. Panicking even more she placed her first two fingers on the ice wizards neck for a pulse. Relaxing only slightly after finding one that was much much slower than when they last checked. Remembering the predicament they were in Cana brought her hands together and started doing compressions at a steady beat.
"Somebody!" She cried, tears welling up in her eyes.
Upon hearing this, the Strauss siblings along with the master burst into the room.
"Cana, what's wrong?" Makarov asked.
"Gray he's... He's not breathing!"
Did I go over board with the Gray x Cana friendship? I feel like I didn't do the fights all that well, but I didn't wanna show everyone fighting 'coz that'd be way to repetitive... Oh well. :p
I hate to admit it but the next chapter will be the finale of Diseased! :'( It's gone by so fast.
But on the other hand, this means I can focus more on my up coming fanfics like Mystery Circle. I've already written the first chapter out and it's over 3,000 words! I think you're all gonna love it. I've been doing so much planning for it and I hope it'll be as fun to read as it was to write.
You probably know that I've been writing more one-shots too no matter how bad they are *cough* Skiing Trip *cough* and I will definitely be doing more so feel free to suggest any ideas and I'll try to do them justice.
Don't forget to leave a review and maybe even a follow and favourite if you haven't already.
See you in the next one! ;)