Gray didn't know exactly how long he and Natsu had been running since the wall collapsed. All he knew was that it had been a long time. He knew that his breath had started coming in rasps so long ago that he didn't remember what it felt like to breathe normally. He knew that he'd gotten hungry at one point, but he'd ignored the feeling and it had eventually gone away. He knew he'd gotten tired, and when Natsu had noticed he demanded they'd slowed to a walk. Gray hadn't wanted to, but he wasn't any good to anyone if he keeled over, so he had agreed. They'd walked…through the night, Gray was pretty sure, and then when his breathing had evened out and his legs had gotten less shaky they had started running again.

At first, Gray had been worried about Erza, Wendy, and Laxus. Overtime, that worry had faded to more of a clinical curiosity. Had they been caught yet? Were they almost to Magnus? Had they made enough of a distraction to keep Magnus's eyes off Natsu and Gray? There was no way to know for sure, at least not right now. But they were probably fine, because if they weren't, Gray and Natsu probably already would have been found outt.

Gray's bad leg twinged, threatening to give out as he took the next step. He shoved it to the back of his mind, forcing himself to visualize Magnus. He imagined driving the sword into Magnus's chest, and the feeling of hot blood splashing across his hands, and he kept running.

Gray didn't want to admit, even to himself, that it wasn't really killing Magnus that was keeping him going. Once he killed Magnus, whatever happened, then he could rest, sit down, stop thinking, stop trying. That was all he wanted. He couldn't picture much of a future after this, but he could picture that.

Every part of his body hurt, badly enough that even things like his leg were barely noticeable among the cacophony of aches. Gray longed for the kind of exhaustion that numbed you, but this felt more like his skin was made of razor blades. On the next step, he stumbled, falling to the side and catching his shoulder on the rocks beside him. A sharp corner of stone dug its way into his side, and the pain suddenly passed the threshold of what was tolerable.

Gray retched violently, falling forward and bracing his shaking hands on his equally shaky knees. He didn't have a chance to fight against the nausea, and he wasn't sure he would have wanted to anyway. It was better to just get it over with.

Throwing up was horrible, if at least quick. It was only a few seconds before Gray was done, hunched over and quivering as every muscle in his body protested. He didn't feel better afterwards, but he didn't feel much worse, either. Or rather, he did feel a lot worse, but not bad enough to stop him from running.

"Gray?" Natsu turned around, about five or so feet ahead of Gray. As the tunnel had gotten narrower, they'd stopped running side by side, and Gray had mostly been staring at Natsu's back for the past few hours.

Gray finished straightening up, as best as he could, and waved Natsu away. "Fine. Just threw up. Keep going."

Without waiting for Natsu's answer, he pushed himself upright and staggered forward another few steps. Natsu gave him a grimace that passed for sympathetic, and he started running too without protest. Before today, Gray wouldn't have been able to imagine a version of Natsu that wasn't glued to his side right now, worrying over every little expression of pain. But that Natsu was gone. They both knew that they had no time to waste.

Gray didn't miss that, not exactly. This was easier in a lot of ways. But he missed the feeling of wanting that from Natsu.

It was still nearly impossible to mark time, with no change but the specifics of the dull-colored tunnel they were running through, but Gray thought he made it about another hour before his bad leg finally gave out. It had been really aching for a while, the funny way he had to run to stop the wound from reopening putting pressure on his knee and hip. But he had been sure he could keep going, until all of a sudden, he couldn't. He was down on one knee before he was even fully aware of what was happening. He couldn't stop a small whimper from escaping.

By the time Gray had even started to straighten up, Natsu was kneeling in front of him.

"Get on my back," he said.

"What?"

"I don't wanna argue with ya. We're both tired. Just…I'll carry you for a little while. Give you a break."

Gray would have protested, but he was frankly too exhausted. He allowed Natsu to haul him to his feet, then drag him onto his back. He hated himself for even thinking it, but it was nice to have a rest, especially since he hadn't actually needed to ask for it.

"You'll tire out faster this way," Gray said as Natsu started forward.

Natsu was beyond anything but the truth. "Probably," he said.

"It's not worth it."

"Stop squirming."

"What happens when you get tired?"

"Then I'll put you down again. And you can run."

Wendy was exhausted, and also kind of feeling like an idiot. Everything had happened so fast that she had just figured that Natsu should go with Gray, and Wendy should go with Erza and Laxus. She supposed she had been worried about Erza and Laxus not making enough noise without her, but she had since realized that that was dumb. Erza and Laxus made enough noise for at least ten people. She'd also been worried about somehow drawing attention to Gray and Natsu, but now that she was actually thinking about it, in the face of Natsu she doubted she would have been a problem.

Now, all Wendy could do was worry. She should be with Gray. She should be able to heal him, or pump him full of energy, or relieve some of his pain, at the very least. Instead, she was with Erza and Laxus, who very much didn't need her healing, and she wasn't even sure if Gray was still alive.

Of course, if Gray wasn't still alive, they were all probably about to die anyway. Without him, none of them would survive the current plan.

About an hour or two ago, Loke had appeared for his daily check-in. They'd been able to confirm with him that Gray was alive (as of then, anyway), and they'd made as much of a plan as they could and given it to him to pass on. The three of them would make their way to the front lines, drawing as much attention as they could. Loke had also been able to confirm that Gray and Natsu were most of the way through the smaller tunnel, and they would be emerging at Magnus's rear flank in the next few hours.

Erza, Laxus, and Wendy had to attack the front lines at the same time, and keep Magnus's soldiers as busy as they possibly could. Ideally, they would kill enough of them to pull attention and resources away from the rearguard. Then, Natsu and Gray would have a chance to strike with as much swiftness and secrecy as their teammates could grant them. They'd already fought their way through the odd pocket of enemy soldiers, as loudly and as dramatically as possible. Magnus's encampment was still a little ways ahead, according to Loke's reconnoiter. Once they made their way through the rest of the tunnel, and once Loke notified them that Gray and Natsu were ready, they would attack.

Hopefully, when Magnus was dead, the rest of the army would vanish, or surrender, or get unbrainwashed. Hopefully, Loke's intelligence was correct, and Natsu and Gray would attack at the right time, before the rest of them were overwhelmed. Hopefully, nothing had changed in the past hour, and Natsu and Gray were still alive.

It wasn't a very good plan. Wendy knew that, and she could tell that Erza, Laxus, and Loke all knew it too. She was aware that there was a pretty good chance that she would die here, in this cave, without even knowing if Shellia was okay. There was a pretty good chance that Shellia would die too, still in thrall to Magnus, and so would Natsu, and Gray, and everyone else that Wendy loved.

But thinking about that wasn't going to make them any more likely to survive. Wendy clenched her fists, summoning up every scrap of rage she had for Magnus, and for the world for letting this happen to her guild, and she imagined that she could feel it turning to magical power. Natsu always claimed that's how he fought, and Wendy knew that wasn't true, but the memory still brought a smile to her face.

"Hah. Excited for the big battle, kid?"

Wendy looked up at Laxus, who had dropped back to jog next to her.

"I mean…not really," she said. Wendy didn't hate fighting anymore the way she had when she was younger, but it still wasn't her favorite. Even so, she knew it had to be done. It was the only way to save Lamia Scale, and more immediately, it was all she could do to protect Gray. "But…I'll be fine."

Natsu had carried Gray for a while, until Gray had felt Natsu slowing. Gray had squirmed until Natsu put him down, and then they had both started running again. Before, Gray had been able to keep the sword in the sheath at his side, but now, he had to keep a hand on it pretty much constantly to keep himself upright. He knew it was imbuing him with energy, and he also knew that that was kind of bad - if there ever came a time when Gray wasn't able to hold onto the sword anymore, he was pretty sure he would no longer be able to stand. He was being kept going artificially, and that simply wasn't sustainable long term.

But he was out of options, and so he kept holding onto the sword.

Gray was pretty sure they must be getting close anyways. Natsu had taken on the navigation, even though he was bad at it, because it was clear that Gray couldn't currently handle any additional tasks. Gray wasn't completely sure where they were, but he knew they'd covered a huge chunk of the tunnels since splitting off from the main group, and there was no way they could be far.

Gray wasn't really thinking about anything, just following the curve of the tunnel and trying not to let his leg collapse again, when all of a sudden Natsu grabbed Gray by the shoulder and stopped him cold. Gray was already so off-balance that the sudden stop nearly sent him sprawling, and if Natsu hadn't grabbed him around the waist he definitely would have fallen.

"What's happening, Natsu?" Gray growled. "We need to go!"

"Wait a second." Natsu looked genuinely shaken, which at least made Gray stop struggling and pay attention. "I smell something weird up ahead. I wanna…just, stop for a second, okay?"

Gray shuddered lightly. "Weird like…the hydra?"

"No." Natsus's eyebrows drew together. "Weird like…you."

Gray was immediately affronted. "I don't smell weird! Or none of us have been able to shower, so maybe…but that's not my fault! You smell weird! Weirder!"
For a split second, Natsu looked both shocked and pleased to see even the faintest bit of emotion from Gray, which made Gray feel a little bad. But then he shook his head slightly. "That's not what I mean. I mean something up there smells the way you usually smell. The way a blanket you had used might smell. But sort of more…cologne? But…that can't be right."

"Me but more cologne? That's…."

They both realized at the same time, and Gray felt his chest tighten.

"Lyon," Natsu whispered.

Gray could feel something like fear, but what he mostly felt was numb. At this point, it was hard to think through anything enough to come out with a coherent thought, let alone an emotion or a plan.

"I don't think we can go around," Natsu said apologetically, as if he was anticipating a question Gray might have. "Sorry, Popsicle. I don't really know where we are, and if we get lost, I dunno if even my nose can get us back towards Magnus."

"We don't have time for a detour anyway," Gray mumbled. He felt like he was underwater, and even talking was hard. Thinking was somehow harder.

Natsu took a deep breath, then turned towards Gray and grabbed his free hand. Gray didn't pull away. Natsu's hand was almost painfully hot, but it felt…good, to feel something other than dull exhaustion.

"We're gonna have to fight him," Natsu said bluntly. "I'm sorry, Gray. I know he's your friend, and I really, really don't wanna hurt him either. But we have to get through the passage. Do you think you can handle that?"

Gray opened his mouth to tell Natsu no. Lyon was his oldest friend, someone who shared almost all of his important history, good and bad. He'd almost died for Gray, more than once, and Gray didn't think he could erase all that in an instant.

Except, if he felt that way, Magnus had already won. Gray had lost the first fight because he wasn't actually ready to give up everything, and if he made the same mistake here, it was proof he hadn't learned anything at all. The world was at stake. That was more important than Gray's feelings, or even Lyon's. Lyon would understand.

Besides, it wouldn't be the first time he'd fought Lyon. Back on Galuna Island, they'd almost killed each other, and they were still friends now. Gray was being stupid, and sentimental, and he could almost hear Lyon's voice in the back of his head telling him that.

"I can do it," Gray whispered, and as he said it he was even more sure that he was making the right choice. "I can help you."

"Are you sure?" Natsu said, sounding surprised. "I really don't mind. I've kinda been wanting to bean Lyon in the head anyway. I swear he still flirts with you, even though you're taken, so it'll be my pleasure."

"You can't take him alone." Gray was suddenly certain of that. "He's the Master of Lamia Scale. They don't let just anyone be a Guild Master."

"I mean, Sting is."

"And we don't want to waste too much magic power here. We gotta save it for Magnus. It'll be easier if we're fighting together."

"Alright," Natsu said. "If you're sure. You really don't look…."

Natsu chose not to say whatever he was thinking, for which Gray was grateful. Gray was fully aware that he looked…bad. He was exhausted, and sick, and in pain, but that didn't mean he couldn't fight. He might not be able to do much of anything else anymore, but he could still fight. He could take Lyon. It was all he was good for.

"I'm fine."

"If you're sure," Natsu said cautiously. "We can apologize to Lyon later."

Personally, Gray was still pretty doubtful there would be a later, but he decided to keep that to himself. "Ready?" he asked.

"Do you need…?"

"Ready?" he repeated. "We must be getting close to Magnus. If Lyon's here. We need to hurry."

Natsu swallowed hard, and nodded. Together, they rounded the corner.

The tunnel opened up into a chamber, but this one was much smaller than the one where they'd fought the hydra - barely wider than the tunnel itself. At the end, there was a figure standing perfectly still.

Gray was once again uncomfortably reminded of the hydra, because honestly, if he hadn't known better, he would have assumed that Lyon had been turned to stone like Natsu. Even once he got a little closer, the figure wasn't immediately recognizable as Lyon. He was way skinnier than the Lyon Gray remembered - it was clear that over the course of the weeks they'd been trying to subdue Magnus, he'd lost a lot of weight. His hair was unstyled and too long, bangs half-covering his eyes, and he was wearing plain black robes that the Lyon Gray knew wouldn't have been caught dead in.

But even with these changes, Gray could still tell it was Lyon. Or at least, it was Lyon's body.

As Gray and Natsu approached, Lyon slowly started to stir. His head shifted up to look at Natsu and Gray, his back straightened.

He still didn't say anything, which was…kind of weird. Gray thought of Lyon as almost too chatty, even during battle. It was weird to see this one start to move while still staying completely silent.

"Um, hey, Lyon?" Natsu asked. "Can you…are you still in there? Can you let me and Gray through?"

Lyon didn't respond, at least not in words. His hand opened suddenly, and icy eagles shot out from his outstretched palm.

Gray dropped to the ground, thrown too far off balance to do anything but evade the hit. He knew that the accompanying words of the spell weren't necessary for its successful casting, similarly to casting one-handed, but it was still jarring not to hear Lyon shout "Ice Make" along with whatever spell he was sending Gray's way. It really didn't feel much like he was fighting Lyon.

"Gray!"

Gray automatically rolled to the side at Natsu's shout, slamming his hands down on the ground and sending a wave of spikes towards Lyon as he shoved himself to his feet. He staggered upright, his hand going back to the sword hilt as he stumbled with exhaustion. As soon as his fingers closed around Oblatio, he felt a little better, and his mind seemed to clear.

Lyon canceled the spikes of ice with a wave of his hand. One-handed ice make magic again. If Ur had been here to see that, she never would have let him live it down.

That thought didn't sting as much as he'd reflexively expected it to. Instead, Gray ducked to the left and sent ice crawling up from the floor, wrapping up Lyon's ankles and beginning to encase his chest before he could do so much as move.

Gray slumped over sideways, clutching the sword tighter. This wasn't Galuna Island, no matter how similar the situation seemed. He was stronger now, stronger than Lyon, even like this.

And then the ice around Lyon shattered before it had even reached his arms, and Lyon was moving towards him with uncanny speed and absolutely no expression at all. Gray slammed his free hand on the floor, suddenly sure that if he took his right hand off the sword, he would collapse right there and then. A pillar grew beneath him, shooting him up and away from Lyon's attack. Ur would understand that, Gray was sure of it. It was an emergency, after all.

Natsu moved in to engage Lyon, and Gray lingered for a moment at the top of the pillar. Lyon was evading Natsu's strikes with what seemed like ease, and it only took a few seconds of observation for Gray to confirm what he had feared. Whatever Magnus had done to Lyon, it had made him stronger. This fight wasn't going to be as easy as they'd thought.

Not that they'd even really expected it to be easy, Gray thought as he launched himself off the pillar. They were pulling their punches, and that was bound to make everything harder. An icy, one-handed hammer appeared in his left hand, and he plummeted downwards towards Lyon.

And Lyon shattered the hammer with a wave of his hand. Gray hadn't been expecting it - he frankly hadn't realized Lyon would have any option besides blocking if he wasn't actually touching the ice. Lyon had never been able to shatter one of his attacks before. Losing the hammer sent Gray off-balance, and he crashed to one side as his knee gave way. His left hand, still pinky-less and now weaker from days on the edge of collapse, released Oblatio, which skittered across the floor.

Losing the sword made Gray's other knee give out too. Just like that, his vision was swimming, and it was taking all his concentration not to pass out as Lyon approached.

"You'll need to do better than that," Lyon said, looking down at Gray with vaguely unfocused eyes. It sounded like something Lyon would say. But it wasn't said in a very Lyon-like way - there was no real bite to it, and he seemed almost bored. It was like someone had written a script of a few lines Lyon might say in battle, and was now making someone who wasn't Lyon read them.

Gray just snarled - he was too exhausted to come up with a quip. He lunged sideways for the sword, ignoring the way the world tilted around him as he did. As soon as his fingers brushed the hilt of the sword, he had enough strength to grab it, and that gave him enough strength to stagger to his feet. A second later, Natsu's arms were also wrapped around his waist, pulling him backward and away from Lyon.

"Should I try the sword?" Gray gasped as Natsu sent another streak of fire towards Lyon.

"What? No. It's still his body, remember? The wounds from the sword won't heal. You'd kill him."

Gray blinked - he really needed to keep his head on straight if he was carrying such a dangerous weapon. "Oh," he managed. "Right."

"Back up a little bit, catch your breath," Natsu ordered. "I'll hold him off."

Gray lurched out of the way, too exhausted to argue. He watched Natsu send another blast of fire towards Lyon. Gray was pretty sure Natsu was deliberately missing at this point, and while the heat was slowing Lyon, it sure wasn't stopping him. Lyon lazily dodged a few attacks and then sent another ice eagle winging towards Natsu. It didn't seem to hurt him much, but it did knock him almost to the ground.

Honestly, Gray wasn't sure that they would be able to win this fight, with the way things were going. Lyon wasn't really Lyon, and so he didn't give a single shit about Natsu and Gray and he could attack them freely. But Gray and Natsu were trying very hard not to hurt Lyon, and so they weren't really attacking him. Gray was sure Natsu could take a lot of hits, although he was much less sure that he himself could. But in the end, it didn't really matter how many hits they could take. If they weren't doing any damage to Lyon, they would lose. They were holding back from using their strongest attacks, partially because they needed as much magical power as they could store up to fight Magnus, and partially because this was Lyon.

But if they lost here, that was the end. Magnus won, and the world ended, and Lyon and everyone else from Lamia Scale would die anyway.

Gray didn't want to be the reason that the world ended. That was the whole reason he'd kept fighting after he'd been killed, and brought back, and that was why he couldn't give up now. He couldn't rely on Natsu to do this for him, either. That wasn't fair to ask of the Dragon Slayer. This wasn't even supposed to be his fight, and he was holding back too.

Gray took a shaky breath and hung back for a few seconds, watching Natsu "fight" Lyon. Natsu wasn't exactly pulling out his strongest spells, but even something like a solid kick from Natsu was usually pretty damaging to an ice wizard. But now, it seemed like whatever Lyon didn't dodge barely even phased him as he moved into his next attack. Their weaker spells just weren't cutting it, and if they kept pouring magic energy into this battle, even the weak ones would add up to a drain in power they couldn't afford. And the longer the battle went on, the more likely it was that Lyon was going to have a chance to contact Magnus, through a mental link or even a lacrima.

Before his eyes, Gray saw the image of his guild hall destroyed, Natsu, Erza, Lucy, and all of his loved ones lying dead in the wreckage. That's what he was allowing by standing here, doing nothing. Was Lyon's life, as important as it was to him, really worth destroying Fairy Tail? Was it worth all of Fiore? The whole world?

Gray already knew the answer. He just didn't want to admit it, not even to himself. But he wasn't going to be the weak link again. He couldn't afford to be. He would do what he needed to, and he'd hate himself for the rest of however long he survived, but at least both of their sacrifices would be worth something.

He took a step forward, letting the devil slayer markings spread across his face and chest. Ice gathered around his fingertips, and taking one last deep breath, Gray shot it directly at the back of Lyon's head.