Here we go. It's finale time. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail

Most of the group we're sat on the train hastily making their way back to Magnolia. Natsu, Gajeel and Wendy took a head start by catching a ride with their Exceed companions in order to get the blood samples back to Porlyusica in the forest to finish the antidote. The girls on the train were doing their best at having a light hearted conversation to keep their spirits high, but the worry in their voices were all too clear. They couldn't help but keep the conversation topic on Gray.

"I just hope the dragon slayers can get back fast enough," Erza sighed, her face downcast.

"They will Erza," Lucy encouraged. "Natsu hasn't let us down yet and he's not gonna start now."

Juvia had been silent throughout with one thought constantly in her mind. Please be safe, Gray-sama. Erza realised - by the look on Juvia's face - that the blue haired teen was on the brink of tears. She felt very sympathetic towards the water wizard; Gray had been the one to show Juvia the light and bring a smile back to the girls face.

"Juvia," Erza rested her hand on the blunette's knee. "Gray is going to be okay. We're not going to let anything happen to him."

Juvia met Erza's gaze. "Thanks, Erza-san. Juvia knows, but she can't help but worry for Gray-sama."

"I'm sure the others are already back to the guild by now giving Gray the antidote," Lucy smiled.

"Y-yeah."

The dragon slayers had returned to Porlyusica to finish making the antidote and we're now about to enter the guild. Kicking the door down, Natsu stormed into the guild hall only to realise the place was completely empty.

"What the?" Natsu muttered. "Gramps?! Mira?! Cana?!"

After getting no response Natsu headed straight for the infirmary, however he was quickly stopped by Gajeel.

"Save it, fire breath. No one's here."

"What'll we do?" Happy wailed. "If we don't find everyone then we can't get the antidote to Gray... And if we don't get the antido-"

Carla squeezed Happy's lips shut. "Calm down. There has to be something around here that will explain why this place is barren."

"You mean like this?" Wendy called from the counter, where Makarov usually sits to watch over his brats. "There's a piece of paper here. All it says is hospital."

"That's good enough, let's hurry there. We're running out of time," Porlyusica concluded and as fast as they showed up, they left.

Bursting through the hospital doors, Natsu saw the solemn faces of almost all of his guild mates. Mira was sat in a chair next to a very distraught Cana and Makarov was pacing on the tiled floor. The dragons and Exceeds couldn't help but worry.

"Gramps, what's going on?" Natsu asked, though he was pretty sure he didn't want to know the answer.

"While you we're all out, Gray's lungs failed and we had to bring him to the hospital," yep, he didn't want to know. Makarov continued. "They've got him hooked up to a ventilator but his condition isn't exactly stable. We won't be able to give him the antidote until after the doctors get him stabilised."

The new arrivals faces dropped at this. What we're they going to do now? They had to give Gray the antidote before it was too late. The raven was already to weak to even bad an eyelid, if they didn't give him the antidote soon, he would surely die.

"Maybe- maybe there's a way I can help," Wendy suggested, raising her voice.

"Unfortunately, your type of healing magic won't help here, Wendy," Makarov sighed.

"So what? We just sit here and wait?" Gajeel enquired.

"I'm afraid so."

Gray was floating in a sea of black. Well, he thought he was floating, but who knows in this place. He couldn't tell if his eyes were open or not as the darkness coated his form. "Hello?" He called in vain. Of course there was no one there; he was in he middle of pure nothingness. Still, that didn't mean he wasn't going to try. "Somebody." Again he was met with silence. The ice wizard tried to bring his hand to his face, but to no avail. Every limb felt like lead as they hung lifelessly while he floated through the abyss. "Damn, what the hell is going on?" Suddenly, a blinding white light obscured everything - if there was anything - from view, forcing Gray to squeeze his eyes shut.

"Gray. Open your eyes. Gray," a voice called... Wait. Hadn't he heard that voice before?

Gray slowly opened his eyes to reveal a young woman with long black hair and piercing red/pink eyes. "Ultear," he exclaimed. "W-what are you doing here? You're supposed to be-"

"Gray, you're dying."

"I-I'm what?!"

"You're dying. Currently, you're lying in a hospital bed as your lungs failed while you were unconscious in your guild's infirmary."

"Wait?" There were too many questions he needed answering. "Why am- was I in the infirmary?"

"Try to think back these past few days. How have you been feeling lately?"

"A little under the weather, but nothing too serious."

"And your magic?"

"I-" Gray stopped himself. Okay, he didn't have a logical explanation for why his magic exploded in his face. "I just have a cold. I'm not sick, honest."

"And since when do ice wizard's get colds?"

"Okay, maybe it's not a cold, but it's nothing worth worrying about."

"That stubbornness will be the death of you someday... And that day might come soon if you don't act fast. Your body is ready to give up. All of your friends are waiting to know you're okay. They even have a way of saving you, but because you're in such a critical condition, they're at a stalemate."

Gray stared at nothing for what felt like an eternity before responding, his voice shaking. "I... I don't wanna die. I'm only eighteen dammit! I made a promise to keep living for my parents, Ur and you. I don't wanna leave Fairy Tail behind. I love those bastards. I... I can't-"

Suddenly, the blinding light returned and his mind went still. Ultear's form dissipated and all that remained... Was darkness.

They must have been waiting at least an hour. Natsu had joined Makarov in pacing up and down, muttering insults towards the raven under his breath. Lucy sat with Happy in her arms, both looking as though they could break down any second. Wendy was being held in an embrace with Mirajane sporting a truly inconsolable look while Carla sat with her arms folded. Juvia was silently sobbing next to the guild's binge drinker who couldn't shake off the undying guilt she felt. Other members were gathered around anticipating any news on their comrades condition... Well, waiting for good news.

"Something should have happened by now," Natsu complained.

"Be patient Natsu," Lisanna replied. "He'll be okay."

Natsu didn't respond and went back to pacing. The room returned to silence for another five minutes until a nurse walked through the doors.

"Family of Fullbuster-san?"

"Yes, how is he?" Makarov ran towards the woman.

"His condition has stabilised so we are able to give him the antidote if it's ready?"

"I have it here," Porlyusica spoke up.

"If you would like to come through, you can give Fullbuster-san the antidote."

The nurse began to open the doors and turned to see the entire Fairy Tail guild following her. "Umm... It would be best of only this woman come through."

The wizards' faces dropped upon hearing this and let Porlyusica pass, slight relief flew through the atmosphere. Gray was going to be okay.

When Porlyusica entered the hospital room she was taken aback. Gray was far too pale, even for an ice wizard. An oxygen mask was placed over the boy's mouth and nose as his lungs had been weakened too much for him to breath without support and his hair was swept back out of his face.

"Look what you're stubbornness has done to you, fool," she stared at the boy with woeful eyes.

The healer attached the antidote to a needle and made her way to Gray's bedside. Rolling up the sleeve of his hospital gown, she slowly injected the sick wizard the the fluid. A groan came from Gray's mouth that almost couldn't be heard thanks to it being covered, but she took this as a good sign and pulled out the needle. Soon after, doctors that had been present gathered round the pale body to monitor his condition. Porlyusica was advised to leave and she was more than happy to oblige as she desperately wanted to get away from these repulsive humans.

Fairy Tail was, once again, left to wait until signs of Gray's condition improving was evident. In the meantime, Porlyusica gave the antidote to all the members who put themselves at risk to get blood samples and the left over liquid was given to to hospital for their research. After waiting for around three hours a doctor finally came out of the double doors to deliver some news.

"Luck was really on your side today, Fairy Tail," he smiled.

"He's okay?" Natsu jumped up from his seat.

"I wouldn't exactly call him 'okay' yet, but his condition has remarkably improved in the past few hours."

"Can we see him?" Erza asked.

"It would be better if you didn't. He still hasn't regained consciousness and his body is still extremely weak after the disease. You can visit again tomorrow when he's in recovery."

...and that's exactly what they did. For the next two weeks, one member of the guild would visit each day. Natsu and the rest of the team took jobs quite frequently to help with the hospital funds so Makarov would visit Gray in their place. After coming back from a very tiring job, they decided it would be in their best interest to check up on their team mate's condition. Once they found out what room number he was in, the team scurried down the hall way and were slightly shocked when the heard mumbles coming from the other side of the door. Not wasting anytime, Natsu gave the door a might push and was met by none other than their guild master.

"You've returned. How was the job?" Makarov asked with one of the biggest grins the team had ever seen.

Next to Makarov, sat up (with pillows to support) on his hospital bed, was their team mate Gray, awake. The raven still looked too pale for their liking and dark circles were evident under his eyes, but he was awake and right now, that's all the mattered.

"Gray!" The entire team cried running over to his bedside.

"Yo," he smiled weakly.

"How you feeling?" Erza asked.

"When did you wake up?" Lucy questioned.

"Gray, I missed you," Happy hopped onto his bed.

"You had us all worried," Carla mentioned.

"Do you need me to heal you?" Wendy suggested.

"You're an idiot, you know that?" Natsu stated.

After being bombarded with questions, Gray rolled his eyes and tried to answer as best as he could. "I'm fine. I woke up about half an hour ago. Gramps already told me everything that happened."

"So you know how stupid you were being," Natsu grunted.

"Shut up flamebrain. Look I'm sorry alright. I just didn't want to admit to being sick. I didn't want to be a burden to the team," he turned away, embarrassed.

"And look where that got you," Erza rolled her eyes. "It's a miracle you didn't die."

"Gray, don't do that again. I was worried," Happy took a seat next to Gray's abdomen.

"Don't worry. I promise I won't do this again," he patted Happy's head in reassurance. "Thanks for saving me guys."

"Don't mention it, Gray," Makarov grinned. "Just focus on recovering and you'll be back to your old self before you know it."

It took the majority of the month for Gray to fully recover, but Makarov insisted he spend more time before he could go back on jobs or fight anyone again. So you can imagine how happy the ice wizard was to get back in on all the guild brawls. The minute Makarov deemed him well enough, Gray and Natsu immediately broke out into one of their classic pointless brawls. No one bothered to stop them. Everyone just laughed at the pair and cheered them on, some placing bets on who would win. After they both collapsed of exhaustion, the raven struggled to his feet and went over to the bar to share a drink with Cana. Eventually, the entire guild was drinking alone with them. Lucy woke a few hours later, when did she fall asleep? Getting a better look at her surroundings she saw her fellow guild mates all sprawled out around the hall. They must have passed out after drinking she thought. Glancing over to her left, she saw the rest of her team sleeping along side her, smiles etched over their faces. Lucy rolled her eyes, chuckling slightly. Yep, everything was back to normal.

Holy jeez it's over! I can't decided if I'm happy or sad. I loved writing this fic and now it's over. I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did.

Thank you soooooo much to everyone who reviewed, followed and favourited. I can't believe how many I've gotten. Until this one the highest amount of reviews I'd gotten on a fic was eleven, and now I've got friggin' fifty! You guy's are the best!

Thanks for reading everyone and I'll see you in the next fic! ;)