A/N: For those who skipped last chapter TL;DR: Juvia has chronic depression and since meeting Gray coincided with an upswing, she figured that if she could be with him then she'd always be happy. But turns out, dating Gray-sama has not cured her depression and that sends her into a bit of a spiral. Erza, like all recent converts to therapy, urges her to go see Porlyusica. Juvia takes that step with Gray's help. The chapter ends with the hope that Juvia will be OK.
A/N 2: I have used they/them pronouns twice in this chapter. Once for Vijeeter in a throwaway line and then later again towards the end for the Rat Guardian. It may be confusing to read (it was confusing to write) but since I brought up pronouns in the chapters with the Tiger Guardian, I figured it would be gross for me to suddenly go back to 'It.' Gotta commit to respecting people's pronouns. So here on out, all the Guardians will have they/them pronouns unless they say otherwise. Please bear with this and I hope it gets us all used to reading/using gender netural pronouns!
Now onto some hijinks and shenanigans. Woohoo!
Chapter Seventeen
The seamstress pulled out one of the many pins she was holding between her lips and added it to the hem of Lucy's dress. Levy had greatly overestimated Lucy's height while providing the initial measurements. She did not blame her; short people tended to do that. She nodded at the blonde girl in the mirror, indicating that she should turn around.
Lucy caught sight of Erza leaning against the door, staring wistfully at the pink tulip dress that floated around her knees. She raised a hand in hello.
Erza waved back. She had missed her chance to be a bridesmaid with Bisca and she and Levy were not close enough for her to have been asked this time. A calculating gleam came into her eye as she looked from Lucy standing before the mirror to Natsu lounging on the sofa in the corner of the room and back.
Lucy twitched, feeling a sudden chill run down her spine.
"Erza! What are you doing here?" Happy asked, chasing thoughts of forced elopements and deliciously extravagant bridesmaid's dresses from Erza's mind. He floated up to Erza, a fish clutched in his mouth.
"You can't bring that in here!" the seamstress yelled, the pins falling from her mouth. "Get that smelly thing out of my boutique!"
Happy huffed angrily and opened his mouth to shout a retort, making the fish drop towards the floor. Quick as a flash Erza had grabbed it, opened the door and shoved both Happy and the fish outside. "Finish your food before coming inside," she instructed sternly. She glared at Happy when she realised, he was about to protest.
"Aye Sir!" he responded, his knees knocking together in fright.
"Why are you here, Erza?" Lucy wondered. It was odd for Erza to be in a boutique, especially a high-fashion like this one.
Erza's entire demeanour changed, her shoulders hunching as she twiddled her thumbs shyly. "Um, you see, the thing is," she stuttered. Natsu and Lucy exchanged a puzzled glance. "I have a date!" she blurted in a rush.
"What?!" came Happy's surprised cry from the door.
"I told you not to come in here with that stinky fish!" the seamstress shrieked.
"Pfft, what do you have against my lunch! It doesn't smell at all! Tell her Natsu!"
"It stinks," Natsu replied flatly.
"Definitely."
"100%."
Happy slumped over, defeated. "Betrayed by my nakama," he cried.
Lucy took pity on the poor Exceed. "If you eat quickly, we can find out more about Erza's date."
The fish disappeared before Erza could finish saying, "W-wait a minute!"
"Are you here to buy a dress?" the seamstress said with a friendly smile, standing up and brushing out her skirt. She adjusted the straps of Lucy's pink frock. "I have a selection of ready-to-wear dresses in the next room." She smoothed her arms over Lucy's shoulders. "All done. I can have the alterations done by Friday. The wedding is on Sunday, isn't it?"
Lucy nodded in the affirmative. Five minutes later, she was back in her regular clothes and standing in front of Erza. "You were saying something about a date."
"Erza is in l-l-l-l-love!" Happy crowed.
"It's way too early to say that!" Erza blanched.
"That's right Happy, there's still the possibility that she will scare the guy off before the date even begins," Natsu said conversationally.
"Oh yeah, Erza is quite scary."
THUNK! "I need your help picking an outfit," Erza said, leading Lucy away. Natsu and Happy lay on the floor of the fitting room, identical bumps sprouting from their heads.
"Well?" Erza asked, stepping out of the changing room in her 150th outfit.
"Wonderful! That's the one!" The seamstress clapped her hands. It had better be the one, Erza had gone through every dress she had in her shop in the space of ten minutes. She did not have anything else to offer her and it would be unbearable for her to spend her morning rehanging and refolding all these clothes without making a sale. She scuttled to the other end of the shop to begin with the clean-up.
"Lucy told me to tell you, you look nice," Natsu said bluntly. Muffled shouts were heard from the next room over. "Now she says I should not tell you she told me to tell you, you look nice."
Lucy huffed in annoyance, walking into the room with an armful of dresses, throwing them at Natsu and walking out again.
"Those are all the ones you sort-of liked." Happy popped his head around the door. "There are more where that came from."
"Thanks." Erza turned back to the mirror, examining herself critically. The dress was simply cut, black, sleeveless with a sweetheart neckline. A classic. Yet, something was not quite right.
Natsu grumbled under his breath and went over to a rail at the back of the store, where the proprietor hung her more commercial creations. He jerked a denim jacket off the rack and brought it back to Erza.
"Here," Natsu said, shoving the jacket at Erza. "Put this on." It was a simple stone-washed denim, with a cross over the left breast.
"Heart Kreuz?" Erza asked.
"It suits you."
Erza twisted this way and that before the mirror. "I like it," she said, a small smile playing on her lips.
Lucy spent all day Thursday helping Erza primp for her date. She had not needed someone to help her get dressed so much as she needed someone to tell her that it was OK to be cautiously optimistic about the event. Lucy was just glad that Erza was moving on from Jellal. It did not matter if nothing came of the date. It was a good first step.
'Although,' she thought, pushing open the door to the guild on Friday morning, 'an ex-Rune Knight and current member of the new Magic Council, does sound promising.' The fact that he was a friend of Gajeel and Levy's was an added bonus.
She hummed as she descended the steps to the library. She was close to cracking the code on the tablet that Vega had given them. A solid couple of hours and they would have the location of the fifth Key.
Four hours later, she pushed back her chair in shock. "No! It can't be!" she exclaimed, her fist curling around a sheaf of paper. "This isn't happening!"
Natsu poked his head around the door, Happy floating by his ear. "What's wrong?"
Lucy's hands shook. The tablet had held instructions for opening a portal to the Rat Guardian, but the gate could be opened only once every twelve years, when the Sun and Earth were in line with Jupiter. She stared at the numbers she had just finished scribbling and her face crumpled.
"We-we're too late."
The guildhall was heaving. It was not just the regular members of Fairy Tail, who had unanimously decided to cancel all missions until the wedding was over, but also various colleagues of Gajeel and Levy's from their time with the Magic Council. The sheer number of Custody Enforcement Officers in his guild was making Makarov twitch. He only hoped Natsu and the others would not end up destroying anything. There would be far too many witnesses.
Gray watched Master Makarov pale as Natsu demonstrated an elaborate fire trick to a group of officers and suppressed a smile. He did not much feel like smiling. Or rather, he felt guilty when he did. His musing was cut short when he saw Wendy and Cana laughing with a pink-haired girl. Wendy waved at him and dragged both the new girl and Cana over to him.
"Gray-san!" she greeted cheerfully, "Do you remember Cheria?"
Gray took a moment to study her. Surely, he would remember such a distinctive hairstyle? She had razored hair on one side of her head, with the rest of her chin length hair swept over to the other side and gelled in place. Suddenly, it clicked. "Aren't you the girl from Lamia Scale?"
Cheria scratched the back of her head sheepishly. "Yeah."
"What are you doing here? I didn't know you knew Gajeel and Levy."
"Cheria and I are dating," Wendy revealed shyly.
Gray raised an eyebrow, exchanging a glance with Cana. No wonder Wendy was spending so much time in Margaret Town. "It's very nice to meet you, Cheria," he said, holding out his hand.
"Introducing me to your friends, that's love!" Cheria clapped her hands to her face dreamily.
Wendy blushed furiously. "Let's go say hi to Erza-san and the others," she mumbled, linking her arm with Cheria and moving away, leaving Cana with Gray.
"What's up, Mopey-face?" she asked, settling on the bar and uncorking a bottle of wine.
"Has everyone from our team started dating during our break?" he wondered aloud. "Except Erza, that is."
"She had a date last night."
Gray choked on his beer. Cana thumped him heartily on the back. "Enough already!" he snapped, his eyes stinging from the beer.
"Speaking of going a-courtin', how's Juvia?"
"Smooth segue," Gray commented dryly.
Cana put down her bottle of wine to show him that she was serious.
"She's doing better. Meredy came back to town this afternoon, so she's with her now. I finally got to see Juvia this morning," he paused, wondering just how much he was at liberty to say, "She told me to come to the party tonight and try to enjoy myself. Ridiculous." He huffed, taking another sip of his beer.
Cana studied his face for a minute. "Is this what you call enjoying yourself?"
Gray scowled. "I can hardly enjoy myself when she is- well, whatever she is. Indisposed."
"You can try." She nudged him with her foot. "Imagine how she would feel, knowing that you are missing out on the party of the year because you're worried about her."
Gray continued to stare pensively at his beer, his lips drawn into a tight line. Cana sighed and got off the countertop. "Here, cut the deck," she said, proffering her fortune-telling cards with her left hand.
"Oh, come on, not this again."
"Humour me, alright?"
Gray muttered under his breath and Cana dimly made out the words 'stupid' and 'waste of time.' He grabbed the cards from her hand and shuffled, cutting the deck thrice with his left hand. Cana quickly laid out the cards. A gasp of surprise escaped her lips as she read them.
"What? Brilliant luck again?" he asked sardonically. A distant cry of "D-d-dating?!" told him that Wendy and Cheria had made their way over to Erza.
Cana gave him a tight smile. "Not quite."
Gray felt panic turn over in his heart. "Is it about Juvia?"
"No," Cana said, tapping the topmost card. "See this here? It says Juvia is going to be fine."
Gray exhaled a sigh of relief. "That's good. That's really good to hear."
She peered at her cards, her brow wrinkling and then looked back up at him. His concern was at odds with what she was reading in the cards. "You seem awfully happy to hear that-"
"Of course, I'm happy!"
"You didn't let me finish." Cana crossed her arms and fixed him with a no-nonsense stare. "You seem awfully happy to hear that about someone you're not in love with."
The colour drained from Gray's face. "The cards tell you that?"
Cana nodded.
"Well, they're wrong. Or they are right, but it's temporary. We'll keep dating and eventually, at some point, I will fall in love with her and we will be happy!"
Cana winced. More and more of the cards were making sense now. "Why are you so determined?" she asked. When Gray did not respond she ventured a guess. "Is this about what happened when we fought against the Alvarez Empire?"
Gray shot her a baleful glare.
"It is, isn't it? Ugh. Only you could be this stupid Gray."
"What do you mean?" He hated that his voice came out sounding petulant. Like a child's.
Cana sighed and uncorked another bottle. This was going to be a double-wine conversation. She took a hearty swig and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. "Juvia is a grown-up. Doing that was her choice. You are not responsible for other people's choices."
Gray rolled his eyes. "Come off it. We both know she only made that choice because she is in love with me."
Cana resisted the urge to pull out a third bottle of wine from behind the bar. To drink from or to conk Gray on the head with, she was not sure. She fiddled with the cork in her hand, her legs kicking against the wooden bar periodically.
"Do you remember the Battle of Fairy Tail?" she asked.
"You mean when Laxus and the Thunder Legion went berserk and tried to take over the guild? Yeah, I remember."
A dry chuckle escaped her lips. "It was right after Juvia joined the guild and we got caught, her and I, in one of Freed's traps."
Gray leaned back in his seat to better observe her face. "And?"
"Juvia knew that only one of us was getting out of there. That's what the runes said. Before we could even discuss it, she took off, aiming for one of the lacrima from the Thunder Palace. So that she would be knocked out and I could go free." Cana took a small sip of wine. "Juvia didn't even know me at the time, but she did it anyway. It's just who she is."
"I didn't know that story."
Cana turned laughing eyes to Gray. "I don't know, do you think I should date her now? Maybe I owe it to her."
"Tch. Don't be silly." Gray glowered at her, taking another sip of his drink. "The situation is different, and you know it."
That was it. She was reaching for that third bottle now. If ever someone needed a good blow to the head, it was Gray. "It's only different because you are making it different. Saving your life was her choice. She did it out of love. Not to force you to have some kind of twisted obligation towards her."
"Fine. Then choosing to date her is my choice. Alright?"
"You know what the rest of these cards say?" she asked, pointedly tapping on them. "They say you are a dumbass punk and if you don't get your head out of your arse, you are going to cause a world of hurt to a whole bunch of people, yourself included."
Gray rolled his eyes. "Well, if that's what the cards say."
Cana took the diss in her stride. Gray had never set too much store by her fortunes, regardless of how accurate they were. She decided to try a different route. "Fine. Then think of how Juvia would feel if she ever found out. That you were dating her out of pity."
"It's not pity," he replied defensively. "Besides, she won't find out."
It was Cana's turn to roll her eyes. "That, you'll believe, but not the cards? Fine then, what if you continue to date Juvia and then she meets someone else. Someone amazing and perfect for her, who truly loves her for who she is except you never did the right thing and so she is stuck with your sorry butt, and your half-hearted attempts at romance." Cana snorted in disgust. "Frankly, she deserves better.
"Whatever Ur, Ultear and Juvia did, they did out of love. It made them happy to make you happy. What you are doing now, is assuaging your own guilt at the expense of yours and Juvia's happiness. It's selfish. If you really cared for her, you would let her go. Not keep her tied to you in a mockery of a relationship."
Her words felt like a punch to the gut. Gray buried his head in his hands, feeling utterly defeated. "You're right," he groaned. He had truly believed he was doing the right thing for both his and Juvia's sake, but he had never thought of it from her side. He really was a selfish bastard.
Sympathy swelled in Cana's heart. Heck, she had made her own fair share of bad choices because she'd had blinders on. Her mind flashed back to the S-Class trials on Tenroujima in X784 and she grimaced.
She hopped down from the bar and put an arm around Gray comfortingly. "It's OK," she said softly, "We all do dumb shit instead of just talking to the other person and being open and honest about our feelings. The world would be far less interesting if we didn't."
Gray grinned half-heartedly. "As long as we fix those mistakes and move forward, right?"
"That can wait for tomorrow." She leaned over the counter and pulled out the third bottle of wine. "But tonight, we drink!"
Gray clinked his glass against her bottle and drained it. "Tonight, we drink."
Cana gathered up her cards, stowing them in the back pocket of her trousers. "Now that I've solved all your problems, I think it's time for me to go hassle Mira for a bit at the bar."
Gray snorted. "You could do with listening to your own advice there, about open and honest communication."
"Coaches don't play, Gray," she called over her shoulder as she walked away.
"You're deliberately ignoring the concept of a player-coach," he shouted at her retreating back.
She raised her middle finger in response and for the first time that week, Gray found himself letting out a genuine laugh.
"That's who you went on a date with?" Lucy asked incredulously. She had cheered up considerably since that afternoon. Natsu had consoled her, telling her that twelve years was a perfectly reasonable amount of time to wait to get the key. "We'll just have to gather the other eleven before then! Yes, I'm getting fired up!" he had said, and despite herself she had found herself feeling better.
That and the two cocktails she had had were helping.
"You went on a date with Alucardé Hyberion?" She pointed at the gorgeous blond who was in the midst of telling a joke to a group of her guildmates.
Erza blinked, surprised. "Do you know him?"
"Newest member of the Magic Council, Ten Wizard Saint, last week's cover of Sorcerer Weekly, that Alucardé Hyberion?!" Lucy was almost shouting at this point, but this was unbelievable. Trust Erza to bury the lede.
"Now that you mention it, he did say he was in a magazine recently," Erza said thoughtfully. She, herself, had been on the cover of Sorcerer Weekly a number of times. It was not that big of a deal. Fine, maybe it was a little bit of a big deal. She studied the man she had had a pleasant, but lacklustre evening with. She supposed he was quite handsome. Not hunky like Ichiya, but definitely good-looking.
Lucy looked like she was about to combust from shock. This was too carefree, even for Erza.
"How come they haven't asked Erza to be a Ten Wizard Saint yet?" Happy wondered, sipping sake from the small o-choko in his paws.
Erza took a sip of her strawberry daiquiri. "They did. I turned them down," she replied, offhand.
"You what?!"
"I would not be able to go on quests with you if I was tied down with work for the Magic Council. It was quite an easy choice."
Lucy blinked at her speechlessly.
"What?" Erza shifted, growing uncomfortable under Lucy's stare.
"You should tell us these things!"
Erza cocked her head, perplexed. "Why? These are meaningless happenings. Next, you will say that I should have told you that I was an early investor in Warren's company and am now a millionaire."
"YES! You should have!"
"Oh. I see. OK. I am a millionaire."
Lucy slapped a palm to her forehead. These bombs were dropping from out of nowhere. "I need another drink."
"Wait a minute," Happy hiccoughed, "you're a millionaire and we still had to camp in the mud for three weeks outside Bauxia?"
Erza fixed him with a threatening glare. "Oh? Is that a problem?"
"No! Camping is good for the spirit. Am I not always saying that, Charle?"
"The exchange rate between the Jewel and Asteroid was pretty bad back then," Erza said, "It has almost quadrupled now that Ishgar is at peace again. We could definitely stay in better hotels when we go back this time."
Happy and Lucy got on the floor beside their table and began saluting Erza. "God Erza! God Erza!"
Wendy stifled a giggle. "They certainly are a lively bunch," Cheria said to her, smiling. Wendy could not argue with that. She could see Gray and Natsu squabbling in the distance, with Elfman standing off to the side, shouting, "Alcohol is a MAN!" Definitely lively.
Somewhere behind them, Gajeel was making his way onstage, microphone in hand. Levy hurried after him, drumming her fists against his arm. "You're the worst, you dummy. You're supposed to wait for me!"
"Geehee, alright shrimp, you can have first go at the mic."
Levy yanked it from his hand, pouting. She tapped the mic to check that it was working and cleared her throat. "Hi everyone! Welcome to our bachelor/bachelorette party!" Everyone hooted in response. "Thank you so much for making it! Sorry, if Gajeel and I don't get a chance to speak to you personally this evening. We'll try our best. Nevertheless, we're so happy that you could all be here to share in our special day- well, weekend." She handed the mic to Gajeel.
"Later, I will be performing my new song, Future Wife-"
Levy snatched back the mic. "No, he will not." A cheer went up from the crowd.
Gajeel placed his hand over the mic while he and Levy whispered furiously at each other. "Fine," he said, withdrawing his hand and taking back the mic, "No singing." He gestured towards a bank of kegs along the western wall. "We've got some special booze in for you dragon-slayers out there!"
"And Cana!"
"And Cana. It's extra strong. Everybody is going to get smashed tonight!"
"Fro thinks so too!"
Erza's ears perked up at the sound. Could it be? But of course, Rogue was Gajeel's pupil back in the day. Her eyes scanned the crowd, a maniacal gleam in them. There he was! Nestled in Rogue's arms, looking as adorable as ever in his pink frog suit. The rest of Gajeel and Levy's speech was lost to her as she homed in on her target.
She snuck across the guildhall, dodging everyone in her path with ease and never once taking her eyes off her goal. "Almost there," she whispered, sneaking up behind Rogue and closing her eager hands on… thin air. Rogue had turned away at the last second, completely oblivious to her sneak attack.
Erza sank to the floor, a dark aura settling upon her as Rogue walked away with Frosch.
"Um, Erza-san, please get up." Wendy sweatdropped and gave Cheria an embarrassed smile. Yes, they were undeniably lively.
The party was in full swing. A drinking contest between the guild members and the Custody Enforcement Unit had broken out, the Custody Enforcement Unit surprisingly holding their own against the team from the guild. Mira had rigged up a karaoke machine and Wendy and Cheria were rehashing their Sky Sisters choreography in a special reunion concert. Lily was regaling Lector and Frosch with tales of his exploits in Edolas and Charle and Lisanna were comparing notes on Transformation Magic.
Cana dropped the barrel of beer she had been drinking from and loudly called for another. On the Custody Enforcement Unit, her counterpart did the same. Makarov paled as the dropped barrels rolled towards Vijeeter but in a lucky twist of fate they danced around the oncoming obstacles, a carafe of plum wine balanced on their head. He hurriedly wheeled himself over to Freed to ask him to rig up some anti-breakage enchantments. This party was just one accident away from turning into a full-blown brawl and there was no way he could get the guild repaired before the wedding reception on Sunday.
"…no sight, no hearing, no touch and broken bones," Erza counted off on her fingers, "That makes seven. I win!"
Natsu, Lucy, Gray and Happy groaned, obediently chugging their drinks. They were playing a game of worsts – worst mission, worst meal ever cooked, worst embarrassing story and so on. The losers had to chug their drinks and the group had gotten quite tipsy.
Erza had just won the round on worst injuries obtained in battle after recounting her fight against Kyoka from Tartaros.
"OK, next round," Happy slurred from his position on Lucy's lap. "Worst fish ever eaten."
"No fair, Happy. It has to be something we can all contribute to," Lucy said.
"Yeah," agreed Gray, reaching for some salty pretzels from the bowl on the table. The alcohol had gone quite a way towards improving his mood. "Plus, we can all agree that Flying Fish are the worst."
A collective shudder went around the table. "Why'd you have to go and remind me?" Natsu muttered. The potent Dragon Slayer's Sake had done the trick, he was slurring his words and his eyes were unfocused. Erza looked at Lucy, amused. It was a rare occurrence that they were the more sober ones in the group.
"OK, I've got it," Gray said, slapping a hand on the table, "Worst families." What was trauma for, if not to make light of in a drinking contest with your buddies. That and Erza had really opened the flood gates with her detailed description of her injuries in the previous round. "Happy, you start."
"My parents sent me away to another dimension before I was born and then when I reunited with them, pretended not to know me and yelled at me," he said.
Lucy burped discreetly and took another sip of her drink. "Distant and emotionally abusive father, dead mother."
"Surely we can do better," Erza scoffed.
Gray flexed. "I've got this. Dad's reanimated corpse joined a demon guild, where he pretended to be the demon that terrorised my childhood and tried to kill me and then whoompfed after giving me magic that would eventually drive the user insane."
"Whoompfed?" Erza raised an eyebrow.
"Whoompfed," replied Gray, grinning lopsidedly.
"Whoompfed," giggled Natsu. Lucy tried not to smile. Drunk Natsu was adorable.
"Very well," said Erza, "I see that and raise you: a father who tried to execute my mother, who refused to give birth for 400 years after which she abandoned me in a village where I was kidnapped by slavers and then reappeared 21 years later to try and kill me before turning her sword on herself right in front of my eyes."
The group turned expectantly towards, Natsu. "My family was great, Igneel was awesome." He shrugged.
"Zeref was also your family," Happy reminded.
"Oh yeah. Haha! I'm going to win!" Drunk Natsu was not just cute, he was talkative as hell. "Elder brother who was the evillest dark wizard in history, brought me back to life as a demon, I think? Then sent me 400 years into the future and also created several other bad-guy demons who tried to kill me and my friends many times, waged war on my guild and tried to kill me himself."
Natsu took a swig of his beer, really hitting his stride. "Then there is," he pointed at Erza, "elder sister-type who tried to get absorbed by a lacrima tower and explode." He gestured towards Gray. "Best friend who tried to sacrifice his life by using an ice spell at least twice."
"Best friend?" mumbled Gray.
Natsu waved his hand towards Makarov at the bar, "Father figure who did indeed die and was brought back to life."
Erza stared at Natsu, touched. He was right. The guild was a family. A solitary tear edged out of the corner of her eye.
"And you!" Natsu said, pointing straight at Lucy with a belligerent expression on his face. "You are… the best and sweetest, most precious thing in my life." He launched himself across the table.
"He-hey, wait!" Lucy stammered.
Gray and Erza exchanged a look of bafflement and barely supressed hilarity.
"I LOVE YOU, HAPPY!" Natsu pulled the Exceed out of Lucy's arms and swung him up into the air.
Lucy faceplanted. Of course, he would do this. An angry stressmark appeared at her forehead. "Natsu!" she yelled, launching into a tirade.
Erza tilted her head at Gray and the two of them silently snuck away, leaving Natsu to his scolding.
"On a scale of one to Natsu, how drunk are you, right now?" Gray asked, slurring his words slightly.
Erza gave him an affronted look. "I do not know what you are talking about, Wakaba."
Gray stopped in his tracks to stare at her disbelievingly. Erza winked at him to show that she was joking and Gray burst out laughing. OK, maybe he was more drunk than he had thought.
Onstage, Mira took the mic and began to strum her guitar. Her sweet voice drifted out from the lacrima speakers placed around the hall. Erza held her hand out to Gray, "Do you want to dance? I promise not to interrogate you."
Gray chuckled, taking her hand and pulling her close. "Maybe I can interrogate you instead."
"Sure. Go ahead."
Erza began to rock out of time to the music as she wrapped her arm around his back. Gray did not bother telling her that her hand was supposed to be on his shoulder. At least the song was too slow for her to twirl him about the dancefloor. "I heard you had a date last night."
Erza flushed crimson. The gossip got around way too fast in this guild. "Y-y-yes," she replied, not quite meeting his eye. For some reason she felt shyer discussing this issue with Gray than she had with Lucy and Natsu.
"And? How did it go?"
"It was OK." Alucardé had been the perfect gentleman but something had felt off during their date. It was not just the fact that they both had very busy lives; she had not connected with him in that way and she knew he felt the same.
"Not your type?"
Mira's song ended and she seamlessly transitioned into another, this one more melancholy than the first. "You could say that," Erza replied.
"You don't seem disappointed."
"I'm not."
The corner of Gray's mouth turned up. His hand tightened around hers as they swayed together unsteadily.
"I do not want to make the same mistake I made last time," Erza said quietly. She glanced upwards when she felt Gray's eyes on her face.
"You won't." His dark gaze seemed to see right through her.
Her heart flipped over in her chest. Taken aback by the unfamiliar feeling, she hastily hid her head in his shoulder, her heart thundering in her ears. Why did she suddenly feel so flustered? It was good that he could not see her face; she was sure that her rising blush would give her away.
Mira's song drifted over an instrumental interlude before descending into its final verse. Her voice resonated with emotion as she sang about the gentleness of the rain. With a sudden lurch, Erza remembered Juvia and pushed Gray away.
"I-I-," she stuttered awkwardly.
She was saved from having to come up with a suitable excuse when Lucy popped up next to them. "We have to go. Now!"
Lucy had just finished berating Natsu when she overheard Freed and Levy arguing over the runology game they were playing.
"The answer is clearly 45, so I should get 10 points here," Freed said, pointing at the scoresheet.
Levy circled something on the paper with her pencil and retorted hotly, "It's only 45 if you assume a hexadecimal number system, but the ancient Lloydians preferred a…"
The rest of her words faded into the buzzing that had started up in Lucy's brain. Of course! The number system! She snatched up a pencil and did some rough calculations on the wooden table before her.
"Mira is going to be mad when she sees that," Natsu commented.
Lucy underlined the final number on the table and shot a look at the clock. "Drat!" she muttered and turned to Natsu urgently. "Grab Wendy and Charle and meet me in the library right away. Hurry! There's no time to waste!"
Natsu and Happy knew better than to argue with Lucy when she had that look in her eye, they dashed off at once.
Lucy rushed to find Gray and Erza. If she was surprised to find them dancing so close together, she did not show it. "We have to go. Now!" she said, grabbing their arms and tugging them after her. The group converged on the stairs to the library.
"What's going on?" Wendy asked, as they ran.
"We only have fifteen minutes to open the portal to the Rat Guardian, or else we'll have to wait twelve years for the next opportunity."
"Twelve years?" Erza asked. This was the first she was hearing of this.
"I thought you said we missed the window," Happy said as they burst into the library.
"I had the wrong number system, the race that used this text used an unusual number system based on-," she noticed the confused looks on her nakama's faces and stopped. "Never mind. It doesn't matter, just do as I say for now." She gave them directions on how to draw a large rune circle on the floor of the library while she shuffled through the papers on her worktable.
"Alright, now hold hands everyone," she said, placing the final of the twelve candles around the seven-pointed star on the floor. She took her position on the seventh vertex and linked hands with Erza and Wendy. "Close your eyes and channel your magical energy towards the symbol in the middle of the circle." She shut her own eyes and began chanting. The spell she had transliterated earlier in the day was hard to pronounce. She stumbled over syllables that were too different from the common language spoken amongst the continents, but she did not misspeak. A burst of magical energy flared up between the mages. Lucy opened her eyes to see that the various books and papers in the library were flying out of their shelves, circling the air above them in a rapidly spinning vortex of energy. With a bang, the floor before them seemed to collapse into the earth, a luminous green circle of energy appearing in its place.
"We did it!" she exclaimed, dropping the hands of those around her. "I was right!" She looked at the others triumphantly and took a step towards the circle.
"Not so fast." Natsu grabbed her arm. "There's something strange about that hole in the ground."
Wendy took a long sniff. "There's no smell."
"What do you mean?" asked Erza.
"Everything has a smell. Even if it is faint. But I can't smell anything coming from the circle." A light went on inside her head. "It's just like the Celestial Spirit World!" she said, "Lucy-san, can you ask your spirits if they can get us clothes from the Celestial Spirit World? I think that will help."
Lucy nodded in understanding, pulling out her key to summon Virgo. Five minutes later, they were all dressed in the gold-embroidered clothes of the Celestial Spirit World. She stepped towards the circle in the ground again when Erza yelled, "Stop!"
"What's wrong this time?" Gray asked, tugging on the collar of the high-necked costume he was wearing.
"Remember, time passes differently in the Celestial Spirit World. This might be a similar situation."
Lucy paled. "The wedding!"
"Wait," said Charle, closing her eyes to engage her clairvoyance. "Two hours. We have exactly two hours in the other world if we're going to make it back in time for the wedding."
"Two hours! That's nothing!" Lucy was dismayed.
"The sooner we start, the sooner we finish," said Gray.
Lucy nodded. "Virgo, can you please go tell Levy that if I am not around tomorrow, she is not to panic. I will definitely be back for her wedding."
"Roger that, Princess!"
"And after that can you please guard the door here, to prevent any unsuspecting guild members from following us?"
"If I fail, will you punish me, Princess?"
Happy looked at her out of the corner of his eyes. "Wouldn't that be incentive for you to fail?"
"We don't have time for this. Let's go!" said Natsu, taking Lucy's hand and jumping into the portal. The others followed them in. The room shook as the final wizard stepped in, the portal swirling before finally shrinking and disappearing with a pop.
"Oops," said Virgo, to the empty room.
Charle was floating. She unfurled her Aera and turned a somersault to better assess her surroundings. There was ice as far as the eye could see. She fluttered over to Wendy. "Where are we?" she asked.
Gray looked up. A mass of red and yellow blotted out a third of the sky. He turned, taking in the full extent of the icy horizon. Two silver saucers hung in place beside the enormous striped disc. Beside him, Lucy gave a barely audible gasp. Her hand trembled as she raised it to point at the giant planet. "T-that's Jupiter," she whispered in awe.
Natsu floated slowly to the ground, the ice crunching momentarily underfoot before he was launched back into the air. He had no idea what Lucy was talking about. Astronomy was not his domain. "Why the hell are we floating?" he asked, irritated.
Wendy muttered a spell, a green light enveloping her form. Suddenly, they all crashed to the earth with a thud. "The gravity here is lower than on Earthland. I've adjusted the gravitation of our bodies with an enchantment, but the ethernano here is much lower than it is back home. The enchantment may not last long."
The ground beneath their feet shuddered, a range of hills suddenly appearing in the distance. Erza took a step back. The air was harder to breathe here, the cold so strong that it puffed out in white clouds as she exhaled. "How are we to find the Guardian here?"
"Hmm," said Gray, pressing his palm to the ice. "There's something alive under the ice, not far from here. This way." He started in the direction opposite to the planet in the sky.
"Gray, be careful," yelled Happy as another rift opened up close by and a wall of ice came spurting out.
"Just follow the path I took. Don't step anywhere else! The ice is thin in some places and it might split apart." There seemed to be some kind of ocean underneath the ice, its sprays freezing instantly whenever the ice cracked.
They made their way across the ice, sliding sideways carefully to avoid slipping. Progress was slow. Gray had to pause several times and retrace their route when he hit a dead end. Finally, he reached a spot in the ice at the start of a long, unbroken plain. "Whatever is here, it is below this sheet of ice. That's why there are no cracks emerging here."
"Natsu," nodded Erza.
"Fire Dragon Iron Fist!" Natsu tunnelled straight through the surface of the ice. He powered through, melting the ice for several feet until he reached a dark passage that curved underneath the ice. He sniffed the sparse air and called back to the others. "I can smell it! It's here!"
The others slid down the ice tunnel. Lucy flashed one of her silver keys. "Open. Gate of the Morning Star! Phosphorus!" she chanted, calling forth one of her new Celestial Spirits. A diamond of radiant, white light appeared in front of them. They could not use Natsu's flames for illumination when the air was already so thin. "Phosphorus, please lead the way forward!"
They had not gone far when the tunnel opened up into a cave. On the far wall Happy saw two adjacent tunnels branching away into the distance. "Which one do we choose?" he asked.
"Neither," said Erza, "It is faint, but I can sense magic power here."
"Guys," Gray called, as Phosphorus floated above the two tunnels to illuminate the cavern wall beyond.
A high-pitched shriek echoed around the room as a furry pink nose and shuttered furry lashes were illuminated.
Everyone whirled around to see Erza staring at the wall as if with great interest. "What?" she said with exaggerated surprise. She made a big show of looked over her shoulder. "Is there something behind me?"
"D-d-did she just say 'kya?'" stammered Natsu.
"It was kinda cute," Gray replied, equally shaken.
Just then, a low rattle filled the cave. "What's going on?" asked Charle.
Wendy stepped forward and pressed her head against the septum that divided the Rat Guardian's nostrils. "They're sick," she said. She leaned back, surprised. "It's Magical Deficiency Disease."
She began casting enchantments on the Rat Guardian, channelling her Sky Dragon magic to heal its illness.
The walls of the cavern shook as the Rat Guardian took a deep, shuddery breath. Their eyes creaked open, dark and opaque, high up above them.
"Be you Questers?" they rasped. The ground trembled as they spoke, their mouth concealed somewhere under the earth.
"Yes," answered Natsu.
"Which number are you?" they spoke slowly, as though they were unused to speaking,
"We're the 99th Questers," replied Lucy.
"Huh." There was a long pause as the Rat struggled to form the next sentence. "The last Quester to find me was… well… it was many Questers ago."
"Hey, Whiskers-chan," asked Natsu, "Are you alright?"
The Rat blinked in an inchmeal manner. "I have been here an aeon. My magic grows weak on this icy moon." Their heavy eyelids drooped, as though they were already losing energy. "I put myself in stasis to prolong my life as I waited for you to find me."
Erza stepped forward. "How long have you been in stasis?"
"I… do not remember. A very long time."
"But if it's so hard for you, then why would you choose to hide here?" Happy said.
A breeze whistled past the wizards as the Rat Guardian wheezed. "When the Heavenly Emperor held his Great Race… I came first… As a reward I was given the most difficult job… "There is no one I trust above you," said he… and entrusted the Key to me… He knew… That it would be difficult, but it was necessary… for the Quest."
Natsu's lips pursed with misgiving but a look from Erza silenced whatever comment he had been about to make.
Lucy's forehead wrinkled. It seemed more like a punishment than a reward. Then, remembering the time limit they had set for themselves she spoke up. "What is your Task for us?"
"Finding me… was the Task." An iridescent Key shimmered into the air before them. "The roof… will collapse… when you touch the Key."
"Wait a minute. How are we supposed to get back?" She had left Virgo behind in the guild. They would be buried alive.
The Rat Guardian wheezed again. "I… will use… the last of my magic to send you home."
"What about you?"
Their black eyes seemed to twinkle in the dim light of Phosphorus' glow. "Don't worry… about me. The moment I… return to my realm… my magic will be restored. I get… some respite before… the next Questers begin their journey." The Key floated over to Lucy. "I don't… have long. Stand together."
The group crowded around Lucy. They bowed politely to the Rat Guardian; the move prompted by Erza. "Thank you," she said, as all seven of them closed their hands around the Key. A flash of otherworldly lightning later, they were back in the library at the Guild.
"What the hell? Why can't I get up?" said Gray, his back glued to the floor.
Wendy hurriedly undid the gravity enchantment she had cast on the group, allowing them to move about in Earthland's stronger gravitational field.
Lucy groaned, fatigue suddenly setting into her bones. She saw sunlight streaming into the library through its high windows. She turned to Virgo, who was looking relieved at the reappearance of her Master. "What time is it?"
"It's 7 o' clock in the morning, Princess."
No wonder she was feeling tired, she had summoned Virgo for almost an entire night. Not to mention the energy it took to summon Phosphorus. "Wow, we were gone all night," Lucy said.
"On Sunday morning."
"WHAT?!"
"It's 7 o' clock on Sunday morning, Princess."
Lucy leapt off the floor, grabbing Natsu and Happy and sprinting towards the door. "We're going to be late for the wedding!"
A/N 3: Don't worry y'all! The wedding begins at 11. Lucy is just being extra.
A/N 4: Sooooooo... who all read the Grayza fanzine when it came out in February? If you haven't yet, then go download it now! Just search for 'grayza fanzine tumblr' and you'll find it. You don't need a tumblr account to download it, it's uploaded on google drive. I wrote four stories for the zine and since I don't have a tumblr, I live in the hope that my FFN inbox will one day ping with a review. Hint. Hint. Sledgehammer. HINT.
A/N 5: Just as an extra note, I am not looking for a beta right now. My update schedule is too erratic and I cannot subject another individual to that.
I know I make quite a few typos and despite proofreading thrice and then once more after 24 hours, things still slip through the cracks. I seem to remember reading a review in Jan/Feb about the typos in some of my chapters but I can't find it now, for the life of me. Anyway, I apologise for them. I know they are annoying.
Would you still get push notifications/emails if I went back and updated the typos in some of the older chapters? That's the only thing stopping me from doing so.
Hope you enjoyed the update. Next chapter is Gajevy's wedding, a reunion, a NaLu moment (woohoo) and the team finally gets back to the quest because it's been 75 thousand words and the artku that started writing this story was way too optimistic about the chapter count and 2020 artku thinks her followers might biff her on the skull if she doesn't wrap things up soon.
Stay safe and please leave a review if you feel like it! 3
