Gray threw himself into a roll as he heard Erza's yell of warning. He could feel the breeze as the head passed over him, then the telltale sound of scales against scales as it turned itself around to try again. One-handed, he flipped out of the roll and onto his feet, bringing the sword down at the shape he sensed in front of him.

Hot blood spattered across his face as something heavy hit the ground. Erza cheered, and Gray darted backwards before more heads could come to engage him. He tried not to think about how badly his body ached, or the way his hands were shaking. He knew he was asking more of his mangled hand than it wanted to give - Wendy and Porlyusica's healing had helped a lot, but the dull ache had turned to bright shooting pains over the course of the fight. He was almost distracted. He didn't know how much longer he could keep going.

"Not too much more, Gray!" Erza was yelling. She flew pretty much silently, so it was impossible for Gray to keep track of where in the room she was. "You've killed more than half!"

Math wasn't Gray's strong suit at the best of times. As it was, he couldn't even remember how many of the heads he'd already taken down, let alone try to use that to figure out how many he had left. Over halfway sounded good though. Gray's body was starting to feel heavy. He knew he couldn't keep this up forever.

"Gray, watch out!" Erza yelled. Gray dodged on instinct - he hadn't heard the monster coming. Apparently he went the right way, because his body didn't light up with pain. He managed to scramble to his feet.

"The heads are poisoned!" Erza called down to him. As if he hadn't already known. He'd heard her the first time. But knowing the heads were poisoned didn't exactly make it easier for Gray to stay away from them.

"I know that," Gray said, running the same way he'd dodged and praying he didn't trip. He knew he sounded a little petulant, and that now wasn't the time. But he didn't really care. "It's not like I'm trying to get-"

Gray was cut off when Erza gasped. "Laxus! Make some noise! Natsu's going to-"

Terror for Natsu ran up Gray's spine like an electric shock. If they killed the Hydra, then Wendy could melt him. But if he was broken….

Gray heard the sound of electricity crackling. Then, there was a heavy-sounding thud. He heard Erza make a small sound in the back of her throat.

Natsu? Was Natsu okay? Was he…? Gray wanted to ask, but he was too stressed to force himself to form words. Instead, his body went on autopilot. He could hear the sound of claws, scritching softly against the stone floor. That must be where the monster's body was. It was…yes, there. That was where Natsu was too, and Gray was not going to let this thing kill Natsu.

He threw himself towards the sound. He didn't bother to try keeping his balance, just lunged towards the monster with as much speed and power as he had left. The Hydra was in front of him, he knew that, moving towards Natsu. He didn't have time to get in between it and Natsu. And even if he did, he ran the risk of being shoved backwards, into Natsu, and crushing his partner with his own weight.

Gray had to get high. He threw his body forward, arching his left hand down towards the floor of the cave. He couldn't see, but he'd cast this spell before, in pretty much every condition imaginable. As the remaining four fingers on his left hand hit the floor, ice grew up beneath them, forming a pillar that rocketed towards the floor of the cave. Gray didn't wait until it had stopped growing, instead springing off the launchpoint of his hand and flipping himself backwards, angling the blade of Oblatio down towards the Hydra.

"Leave him alone," Gray shouted at the top of his lungs. It would be too late for the monster to dodge (he hoped), but even the extra second might have saved Natsu. There was an answering cry from the beast, and Gray felt the jolt through his arms and shoulders as Oblatio beat deep into one of its necks. After a second of resistance, the neck split apart and Gray tumbled downwards, landing in a heap on the cave floor. Everything hurt, his hand, the wrist he'd flipped off of, a brief line of pain along his leg, his elbow where he'd barked it on the stony ground beneath him.

But none of that was important while he didn't know what had happened to Natsu. Gray struggled to his knees, ignoring the telltale trickle of wetness from various injuries across his body. He started to crawl, hoping the thing's heads were staying high, still looking at where he'd come from.

Gray didn't know where Natsu was. He'd wanted to check the statue, even though that was kind of stupid, but he'd gotten all turned around after falling and he didn't know where Natsu was. What if he was broken, shattered apart, and Gray was going to die again without ever seeing Natsu's face?

Suddenly, he was shaking. He tried to keep himself under control, but he couldn't hear the monster over the roaring in his ears and he pulled himself to his feet, trembling.

"Is Natsu okay?" he shouted. "Erza, I can't see, I can't see him-"

There was a papery sort of rustling to his left, one that Gray knew well by now. He ducked under the head's attack without even really thinking about it, fixated on Erza's answer.

"Erza, is Natsu-"

"Watch out, Gray," Erza yelled back, her voice veering into frantic.

And then, Gray felt a world-ending pain in his shoulder. The pain was so intense that for a second Gray wasn't even sure what had happened. All he knew was that he had been doing okay and now something was very, very wrong. The blackness behind his eyes took on a reddish tinge. He swayed against a rush of vertigo and nausea.

And then, he realized that of course the pain in his shoulder was an attack from a Hydra. A bite, almost certainly. It felt like a bite. And so Gray turned and lunged with his sword, and he felt the blow connect. The pain in his shoulder immediately lessened as the Hydra's jaw went slack. However, the head was heavy enough that as it fell, it dragged Gray down with it, and Gray felt his legs fold beneath him.

"Gray!" Erza was screaming. "Gray!"

It seemed like maybe she'd been calling his name more times than twice. But as Gray fought against the dead Hydra head, trying to get back to his feet, he realized that everything was starting to feel very far away. Right, right, the heads were poisoned. Well damn. He hadn't been doing very well before, and now he was poisoned too.

He needed both hands to wrench the jaw apart enough to remove his arm. After that, it seemed to take him an eternity to relocate his sword, and drag himself to his feet. He knew it couldn't have been more than a few seconds, but time was already starting to feel really weird. He could feel his heartbeat in his face.

"Gray, are you alright?" Erza called to him.

Gray didn't think he could answer without throwing up. He didn't think he could stay on his feet longer than a few more seconds. He didn't think he could understand any more of Erza's instructions.

He sucked in a breath, listened as well as he could, and darted to the left. In this case, darting really meant stumbling - the poison had already sapped the strength from his limbs, and he was horribly dizzy. But even weak and sick, he was still holding a deadly sword. He managed to make contact with some part of the monster's neck, and from there it was just a matter of turning the sword, making a larger wound….

There was a sudden thump that Gray could feel in his bones - much louder than the sound the heads had made as they'd fallen.

"Thank god, Gray, you got the last one-"

Gray already knew that. Even before Erza had finished speaking, he reached up to the ice around his eyes and let it dissipate. He blinked, wincing against the brightness, willing his eyes to adjust. His heart was pounding faster, whether from the poison or delayed adrenaline he didn't know, and he was really getting dizzy.

Finally, as Gray was about to scream with frustration, his vision cleared. Gray looked around the cave frantically. There was Erza, untouched, though breathing hard, still hovering in the air in her Black Wing armor. Laxus, swaying on his feet, looking almost as bad as Gray currently felt.

Gray didn't care about any of that. He kept scanning, heart pounding so fast he thought it might burst, looking for Natsu.

There. Near one of the fallen Hydra heads - a statue with Natsu's familiar body language, posed in an attack. He looked whole from here, but Gray couldn't be sure at this distance.

"Natsu," Gray gasped. He took off running, at least for a few steps. One of his stupid, tired legs gave way, and the poison had destroyed what balance the resurrection hadn't taken previously. Gray hit the ground hard and scrambled into a crawl. His shoulder was still on fire, which made it difficult, and carrying Oblatio made it impossible. Gray dropped the sword without a second thought, still heading for Natsu.

As soon as he dropped the sword, a second wave of exhaustion hit him. Suddenly, instead of his shoulder being incredibly painful, it was so agonizing that it nearly brought tears to Gray's eyes. By the time he made it to Natsu's statue, it was all he could do to keep himself upright by leaning against Natsu's legs.

"H-help him," Gray rasped. He'd meant it to be a yell, but his lungs didn't seem to want to expand all the way. He heaved in a shallow, gasping breath, and tried again. "Wendy? W-Wendy-"

"I'm here, Gray!" Wendy was racing towards him, clearly running as fast as she could.

Gray closed his eyes, the feeling of the poison and the bite and the crushing exhaustion without Oblatio in his hand momentarily receding. When Natsu was fixed, hopefully unhurt and putting his arm around Gray, that would be almost as good as the sword's magic.

With an effort, Gray pushed himself off the statue, not wanting to get in Wendy's way. There wasn't much strength remaining even in his good arm, and it gave out when he was only partway up. Gray slithered into a heap beside the statue, curling around his injured shoulder and raising his head slightly so he could see Wendy heal Natsu.

"Fix him, Wendy." His voice was still quiet, but he managed to raise it a little as she approached. Gray waved his good hand towards the statue, concentrating what little he had left on not passing out just yet. "Please."

As soon as Wendy heard the Hydra fall, she was racing into the cavern. If she'd heard correctly, both Laxus and Gray had gotten bitten. And the bites were poisoned.

Gray was crumpled beside Natsu, looking almost as he had when Wendy and Jellal had resurrected him. He was shirtless, so the bite wound on his shoulder was on full display. The flesh where the Hydra's teeth had torn their way through his shoulder was a horrible greenish-gray, the puncture wounds themselves leaking fluid. Gray's face had lost all its color, and his lips were almost translucent, but the whites of his eyes were tinged with red. Wendy was glad she had refrained from doing much healing at all since the resurrection. If she hadn't been up to pretty much full health, she wasn't sure she would have been able to clear Gray of the poison. And then, he surely would have died.

"Get Laxus over here," Wendy said firmly, not bothering to look up at Erza. Gray didn't look like he would be dying in the next few seconds, but he clearly needed help yesterday. And Wendy was pretty sure Laxus had gotten bitten earlier.

"On it," Erza said.

Wendy knelt beside Gray. His eyes were panicked, and he was shaking like a leaf, but Wendy could tell he was still trying to focus on her as best he could. "Lie down," she said. "It'll make it easier on me. Come on-"

She put a hand on the center of his chest, hoping to ease him horizontal, and he pushed her away weakly.

"N-Natsu," he whispered. "Fix him."

"I need to heal you and Laxus first," Wendy said. "Natsu is stone, he can wait. But you're dying, Gray."

She pushed at him again, and again, he shoved her away. He was hyperventilating - she wasn't sure if it was fear, or if the poison was already interfering with his breathing.

"Wendy, please," Gray said. "It's Natsu. W-Wendy, you need to heal him. Please Wendy, he's stone, s-see?"

"I see him," Wendy said. This seemed to relax Gray, very slightly. She touched his good shoulder, and finally, he allowed her to ease him onto the ground. "I'll fix him, don't worry. But I need to fix you first."

"N-no."

"This can't wait," Wendy said, putting her hands on his chest. He began to squirm beneath her hands. He was still weak, and she could have expended the strength to hold him down, but she needed to focus on healing him.

"Gray, I need you to stay still!" Her voice was sharp, perhaps a little more forceful than she intended, but if he didn't lie down and let her help, she was getting very worried that it would be too late, for either him or for Laxus. "If you want to see Natsu again, I need you to listen to me!"

"Natsu," Gray whispered, going somehow even paler and, at least for a moment, no longer fighting.

"How is he?" Erza asked from behind her, and there was a heavy thud as she lowered Laxus to the ground. Wendy didn't allow herself to look around, instead motioning to Erza to join her.

"He's fighting me, he wants me to heal Natsu first-"

"Yeah," Gray said, his reddish eyes widening as they flicked desperately to the statue. "Natsu, you gotta heal him, p-please, tell her, Erza, tell her…."

"I'll hold him down," Erza said grimly as she knelt beside Wendy. She pressed one hand on Gray's hip and the other on his uninjured shoulder, effectively pinning him to the cave floor. "Do it."

Wendy placed her hands back on Gray's chest, ignoring his thin scream of rage, frustration, and pain as Erza held him immobile. She closed her eyes, mentally drowning Gray out as he shouted, and concentrated on flushing the poison from his veins and closing the bite.

As she'd expected, the spell wasn't an easy one. She thought she would have enough magical power left to heal Laxus, and then to restore Natsu, but after that she would be nearly tapped out once again.

"Done," Wendy said, after she was sure that she'd gotten rid of any last traces of the poison. She released Gray and sat back on her heels, opening her eyes and blinking away the dizziness that always came with a large expenditure of power.

Gray looked better, or at least less poisoned. The bite wound on his shoulder had closed, leaving only a few reddish lines where the gaping wounds had been. He was still pale, but not the horrifying shade of ashy white that he had been. Erza sat back as well, but Gray didn't seem to notice. His eyes were darting helplessly between Wendy, Natsu, Erza, and nothing at all, his breathing fast and shallow.

"Hey, Wendy." Laxus sounded terrible, slurring his words a little and very much in pain.

Wendy turned around immediately, pushing herself upright and heading towards him. He looked about as bad as Gray had, curled around an oozing set of teeth marks in his forearm.

"I'm right here, and I'm going to heal you now," Wendy promised. "Let me see your arm."

Laxus shook his head, his pale face looking momentarily guilty as well as racked with pain. "Nah, I mean, I can wait. He's lookin'... Maybe you should get to Natsu first."

Wendy knew Gray was just stressed, and worried about his partner of course, but she was just about through with people telling her what to do. She knew her own business, and the last thing she wanted was for Laxus to be on Gray's side. "Absolutely not," she snapped. "Natsu is just fine like that. He can stay there as long as we need him to - he's not in danger. You, on the other hand, very much are."

Laxus pulled a face.

"None of that," Wendy said sharply. She held her hand out.

"Yes, Dr. Wendy," Laxus said petulantly. He extended his arm to her, and she took it.

"This might sting, but it shouldn't take long at all," Wendy promised, and began working her healing magic on Laxus. He'd been bitten a good few minutes earlier - he wasn't as weak as Gray, and probably would have survived longer, but the poison still had more of a hold on his body. By the time she'd cleared it, she was shaking with exhaustion.

"You feel alright now, right?" she asked.

"Think so. Way better than before anyway. Thanks."

Wendy only had the strength to nod, and she turned tiredly back around. If the situation had been any different, Wendy might have asked if she could wait a few hours before healing Natsu. He was in no danger while he was stone, as long as no one cracked him or something. And clearing a deadly poison from two people over the course of about ten minutes was brutal, especially considering the week she'd had.

But Gray was still slumped at the base of the Natsu statue, looking tired and pained and possibly close to tears. As Wendy watched, Erza tried to lay a hand on his back, and Gray shrugged it off angrily.

"Alright," Wendy said, taking a deep breath. "I'm done with Laxus. I can do Natsu now, Gray."

Gray looked up at her with bloodshot eyes. "You really think he'll be okay?" Gray asked.

Wendy could have removed a status effect in her sleep, so there was no doubt in her mind that Natsu would be just fine. But she understood that Gray wouldn't believe it until he saw it, and so she stumbled forward and sank down beside Natsu.

"He'll be fine. Just let me-"

Wendy reached out and laid her hands on Natsu, letting her healing magic talk for her. As light spread from her fingers, the stone covering Natsu began to fade.