#lucyxgray

“Really, Lucy?” Erza looked at her in mild shock. She then frowned slightly. “Well, it is tradition here in the guild… Many members have helped with the process in some capacity over the years… But that doesn’t mean it’s every family’s holiday tradition, I suppose.”

“My family didn’t have many holiday traditions,” she sighed while pursing her lips in a pout of self-pity. “My father didn’t really believe in them… He said they got in the way of productivity.” Though she and her father had since made amends before (and after, thanks to Lucy’s soul-searching) his passing, her childhood still stung in many ways, including it seemed her lack of holiday cheer. The three of them looked at her with owlish eyes and gaping mouths. Erza’s arms then surged forward to wrap around Lucy’s head and literally pull her across the table to smother her into her chest; it would’ve been comforting, if Lucy’s cheek had not instead met the cold and unforgiving surface of her steel armor. Oblivious, she nuzzled into Lucy’s blonde waves while crooning supportive encouragements. After a bit of worming about in her iron grip, Lucy was able to push herself up onto her hands with a huff. “It’s not that big of a deal! Honestly, guys, I don’t feel like I’m missing out on anything!”

~~~~~~~~~~

“I am totally missing out!” Lucy wailed in dismay as she flopped face-down onto her bed. Ever since the conversation about the gingerbread houses, Lucy had been plagued with a blue feeling that made everything less sunny to her. Upon arriving home, she had tried soaking in a bubble bath, putting on fluffy pajamas, and working on her novel notes, but nothing had alleviated her mild depression. With a frustrated shout, she had slammed down her pencil and jumped up with angry tears in her eyes; no matter how much she had tried to deny it, missing out on the holiday tradition got to her. With a low, miserable whine, she turned her head to the side to stare miserably at her bedroom wall. Lucy was not normally one to be melancholy over trivial things, but as she thought about it, it really wasn’t trivial; the gingerbread house was merely a representative of another aspect of her rough, soulless childhood following her mother’s passing. She knew there was no use sulking over it, but somehow she just couldn’t will herself to crawl out of bed and stop entertaining the gloomy feeling.

That is, until she heard the doorbell ring.

She knew it wasn’t Natsu, because he never bothered with the door and much preferred breaking in through the window like some common vagrant; her next logical conclusion was Gray. He stopped by from time to time by himself when he needed a change of pace, and would enjoy a cup of coffee and some small cookies with her every now and again. It had grown to the point where she had begun bouncing ideas for her novel off him, and though he didn’t really read for fun or know the intimate details of her story, he always listened attentively and gave her his honest opinion. Sometimes he had some really insightful things to say; she had incorporated quite a few of them into her work in progress.

“Coming!” she called as she retracted herself from her cozy, warm covers like an inchworm moving backwards, throwing her head back with a small sigh and a jiggle of her shoulders as if she could literally shake off the gray cloud of dejection around her. It clung annoyingly to her, like a heavy cloak. The sky outside wasn’t helping, as it was eclipsed by oppressive dark clouds that sapped the light and life out of everything and made the winter chill seem even deeper. Still, she couldn’t keep Gray waiting too long or he would impatiently start pounding on her door, so nonetheless she slid from her bed to walk barefoot down the hallway and to her front door. She swung it open right at the moment Gray was going to start knocking wildly, as she caught him with an embarrassed expression and his arm raised in a fist. “Hey, what’s up?” She tried to push as much false cheer and her usual optimism into her voice as possible, not really wanting to talk about her issues at the moment. Gray gulped slightly and then looked shyly down at his feet, which was unusual for him; it was then that she noticed he was hiding something behind his back. “Whatcha got?”

“Here!” he grunted and suddenly thrusted it into her hands, pushing her back out of the doorframe onto her hallway rug. Reeling at the abruptness of his action, it took her a moment to recover and actually look down at what he had presented her with. Her heart instantly scrunched in her chest with gratitude. In her hands was a small make-your-own gingerbread house kit, complete with all the decorating essentials. The gesture was overwhelmingly thoughtful. She found tears of a different kind brimming in her earth-brown eyes as she looked up at him with a genuinely moved smile.

“Gray, I… Thank you so much…” Apparently he had surpassed his initial timidity and awkwardness, because he now flashed her a pleased smirk. He slid one hand into the pocket of his coat while he raised the other arm to prop himself up against the doorjamb, and if one happened to pass by, it would not look unlike a man flirting with his lover. Lucy was too touched by his simple but considerate gift to even consider such notions.

“Of course. You didn’t think I wouldn’t notice how sad about it you were, did you?” Lucy’s smile warmed and now she was the one who shyly cast her gaze to her toes, which were digging into the fluffy fibers of her rug as happiness sang through her nerves. Gray really did have a way of seeing right through her. Natsu did too, a lot of times, but there were also instances where she had been able to conceal them well enough for it to go unnoticed by her best friend… But somehow, Gray was able to sniff out her melancholies or worries like a bloodhound. He would appear out of the blue like this to present her with some little trifle or words of encouragement; in fact, one such occasion had been the springboard for his afternoon and evening visits. He pulled his hand out of his pocket to reach out and very gently rustle her tousled blonde hair, causing her to look up at him. The smile on his face was so impossibly sweet that Lucy practically melted on the spot. Her heart rate quickened and her body temperature climbed a few notches as a little voice in the back of her mind quipped that the emotion he was wearing could only be loving adoration. “I just can’t stand to see you so sad, Lucy. You’re the sunshine of our guild, you know.” Lucy had to look down again because her face was crumpling as she fought back tears.

“Thank you,” she whispered again with a voice like a fleeting breeze. She was just so overcome by all this, her emotional responses heightened due to her already tumultuous state. Gray just continued to soothingly comb through her blonde tresses with his fingers as she recollected herself. After a few minutes, she was able to take a deep breath and raise her head to smile sweetly at him. “Gray, will you make the gingerbread house with me?”

“Of course,” he smiled back at her and walked inside. As he brushed past her on his way to the kitchen in an action that could only be deliberate, Lucy breathed in a sharp, barely audible breath as electricity skipped over her skin where his coat had lightly made contact. Clutching at her heart as it refused to still, she stared at the winter scenery beyond the ajar door. She had the feeling then that tonight, things would change…

After regaining her senses, she shut the door and joined him in the kitchen; he had deemed it necessary to strip off his coat and assemble the house bare-chested. Given it was one of his personality traits she had long since grown used to it; however, to her shock and mild horror, the sight of his shirtless stole all the breath in her lungs and she had to use all of her willpower to keep from ogling at his sculpted body. Of course she had always known Gray was attractive; many of the men of the guild were- but this was the first time that it was painfully apparent and threatening to derail her focus. Gulping, she attempted to redirect her energy on opening the gingerbread house kit to inspect its contents. It wouldn’t be a fancy, homemade creation like Mirajane’s, as the gingerbread sheets came pre-cooked and packaged in plastic to ensure freshness alongside a sizeable container of frosting and various varieties of candies. Her anxiety was just beginning to subside as she anticipated the revelry of assembling the thing- that is, until Gray leaned over her shoulder to likewise inspect the goods and involuntarily pressed his abs into her back. Surely he must’ve felt the shiver that crawled up her spine, but if he did, he made no mention of it.

I’m going to die before this is over, she lamented with a small groan. If Juvia doesn’t bust down the door and kill me for crushing on Gray first! Lucy was not oblivious to what was happening to her. She almost wished that Juvia and Gray were a confirmed item so she could squash all hopes of shenanigans happening her, but though Gray cared very deeply for the water mage, so far he had refused her many advances… Meaning that devilish little voice in her head could sing that she had a chance with him. Oh my, she just sighed silently and began opening the gingerbread packages with a quick prayer to preserve her sanity.

A floor, four walls, and two panels for a roof were contained in the packages. Lucy cracked open the jar of frosting and gave it a sample. It was surprisingly good considering it was in a cheap cooking kit, and she held up the jar for Gray to sample. She tried to keep her hand from trembling violently as his head dipped down next to hers to stick his finger into the frosting and scoop some up, looking at her as he very unnecessarily slowly drew it over his tongue.

“It’s good,” he remarked casually as if he hadn’t done the most seductive thing Lucy had ever seen in her life. She turned stiffly from him as she felt her soul leaving her body. She wasn’t going to survive this, no sir. All she could manage was a weak, shaky chuckle as she set the jar down, gripping it so hard the plastic would crack any second. I can’t tell if he’s flirting or just so comfortable with me he doesn’t care! She wailed silently. She inhaled deeply as panic began to bubble up inside her. Calm down, Lucy. Just treat this like any other night with Gray. Yeah.

That was so goddamn hard to do with Gray looking like a bigger snack than the gingerbread house.

Lucy’s hand was trembling the entire time she piped the icing across the gingerbread. It didn’t help that Gray decided that the easiest way to put it together was for him to stand directly behind her and reach around her on either side to hold up the pieces while she generously applied frosting glue. Lucy knew for damn sure they looked like the intro to some cheap adult film, but what could she do? Gray was either completely ignorant of the implications or thoroughly enjoying playing her like a fiddle, but she didn’t know, because his face remained stoic the entire time, except for when he would smile and make some comment that had no suggestive undertones whatsoever. By the time she finished icing white tiles onto the finished roof, she was exhausted- and they still had a heck of a lot to do!

When it came time to apply the candies, Lucy was able to relax just a little bit, because it was actually kind of difficult. Sometimes the candies were a little heavy- especially the gum drops, those annoying squishy bastards- and would fall from their spot, requiring her to stop what she was doing and apply more icing to try and secure it. Little by little, they applied the rainbow of candies, and when they were finished, she stepped back to admire their handiwork while sweeping the back of her arm across her forehead with a tired “phew.”

It was actually pretty cute, now that she got a good look at it. They had a little gumdrop fence leading up to the front door, which had a window of glass-like candy and a little chocolate-chip doorknob. Gummy flowers decorated a small garden with a gardening gingerbread man (which she had iced herself and thought she had done damn well with all those little lines!). The roof tiles were made with the same glass-like candy as the windows, in a menagerie of colors to make an effect like stained glass. Finally, cotton candy puffed from a small chimney. Lucy could not help but beam broadly at their creation. She whirled around to throw her arms around Gray’s neck in a hug, forgetting the earlier sexual tension in her glee. “It’s wonderful! Thank you so much for this, Gray. I feel lots better!” Indeed, the cloudy gloom had finally subsided and she was her sunshiney self again. As she fell back onto the pads of her feet to look up at him, he smiled and swept a stray hand of hair from her face.

“No problem. I’m glad I get to see that smile of yours again.” Ba-bump! went her heart like a drum against her ribs. The tension didn’t take long to return. A blush dusted her cheeks like sparkling pink sprinkles that shifted further toward red with each second he spent staring thoughtfully down at her. Suddenly, he grabbed her lightly by the chin to turn her face to the side. “You’ve got frosting on your cheek,” he remarked with amusement. Oh my God, I really am in some cliché teenager’s fantasy, Lucy groaned inwardly but secretly relished it. She expected him to sweep his finger over it and pop it into his mouth and look hella fine while doing it, but instead he did something that no cheesy teenage novel could prepare her for: he leaned in and pressed a soft kiss into her cheek. Lucy’s breath rattled as she drew it in, chocolate-brown eyes going wide.

“Gray…” she whispered. The longing in her voice called him forth, peppering kisses over her skin before arriving to her lips. His mouth feathered lightly over hers for a moment as stormy gray eyes greeted her, silently asking permission. She indicated such with her eyes fluttering closed and leaning her body against him, hands pressed against his chest. Despite her knowing it was coming, it was still such an explosive feeling once his mouth melted over hers like chocolate over her lips, soft and warm and sweet with the faint hint of the frosting. She inched herself up onto her tip-toes as she leaned dramatically into the kiss, simply drunk on the sensation of his mouth moving rhythmically over her own. He reached up to clutch a fistful of her hair to very gently twist her head to deepen the kiss, and though she thought it not possible, she swooned even further. They kissed like that for several minutes, deeply, passionately, before he pulled back. Her eyes opened to see him smiling wryly down at her, and his fingers teased through her hair in loving caresses.

“You’re my sunshine, too, y’know,” he breathed in a low voice aching with honest, raw emotion. Lucy’s eyes scrunched up as she smiled so hard her face hurt, but she simply couldn’t help it; God, she loved him, she loved him for what he was doing to her and saying to her. She circled her arms around his neck and fondled the ends of his dark hair, her eyes never leaving his for a single millisecond. Still on her tip-toes and unsteady, his other hand gripped her hip to keep her stable. Tracing a finger across his sharp jawline, she smiled cutely at him.

“You’ve really got some smooth things to say, y’know? Do you know the things you do to a girl?” she asked teasingly. He snorted in laughter before bringing her into another soft, sweet kiss, and Lucy shined brighter than the burning sun to chase away the gray clouds and winter chill to make a little warm space just for herself and Gray to inhabit…

“Aye! Steamed fish! I want steamed fish!” the cat familiar squealed in response. Natsu grimaced in disgust as the little blue kitty began drooling all over his shoulder. He hastily pushed Happy a few inches to the side so the saliva would instead drip down his chin onto the cobblestone ground. 

“Is the only thing you two ever think about food ?” Gray snorted in derision, then grinned at Lucy while slamming his fist into his palm. “Whatever. Let’s can this guy!” 

In unison, they took off down the alleyway after the cloaked figure. For a burglar, he wasn’t exceptionally fast, and the three mages plus Happy were very quickly able to spy the edge of his hooded coat flapping around the corners of the labyrinthine arrangement of alleyways. As she dashed alongside the two boys, she yanked one of her keys from her golden keyring and pointed it out in front of her. 

“Open, Gate of the Archer! Sagittarius !” 

A white ball of light beamed on the edge of the key before exploding forth in streaming ribbons to form the archer man dressed in the comical horse costume. He came into existence running as well, his long legs matching Lucy’s stride as he asked how he could be of service to her. At this time, the thief was in clear sight, and Lucy pointed to the large brown sack of stolen goods that he was hauling over his shoulder. 

“Understood!” The Celestial Spirit quipped as he skidded to a halt and plucked an arrow from his quiver. The mages continued their hot pursuit as he notched it into the bow and drew it powerfully back over his shoulder, one eye closed as he carefully watched his target and the pursuers to ensure a clear shot. Lucy heard the distant thwong of the taut string followed by the shrill whistle of the feathered projectile streaming through the air. It clipped a few of her blonde hairs as it shot over her shoulders, making her bark at Sagittarius in protest. She forward again to find that the arrow had successfully done its job. 

It had snipped through the fragile fabric of the cheap sack, and Lucy watched with a triumphant grin as the frayed ends rapidly came undone to split the pouch in two. The thief exclaimed in alarm as his precious gold and silver and jewels spilled from the sack like custard from a squeezed pastry; they rained to the ground in a glittering parade, twinkling like beautiful bells to signal his defeat. 

No sooner had he skidded to a halt to try and salvage some of his lost cargo did Happy swoop down to pick up Natsu and bear him like a screaming bullet through the alley. 

“Take this!” Natsu roared as his arm burst into intense red flames. Like they had a life of their own, they licked eagerly at the wall as he passed it, leaving burning soot marks on the surface of the bricks. Gray had stopped once he realized that Natsu could take him out in one hit, but Lucy kept running a few paces, just in case. 

She soon realized her mistake. 

“Lucy! You’re too close!” Gray hollered as Natsu’s flames burst into a very unnecessary inferno, taking the form of a massive draconic wing. As he jerked his arm back to prepare for a punch, the roiling flames swept back towards Lucy. With an alarmed shriek, she screeched to a halt and threw up her arms in some pathetic attempt to shield her head. She felt the searing (and unfortunately familiar) pain of his flames greedily biting into her skin all down her front. 

Thankfully, her arms and legs took most of the brunt, and even then, they were second-degree burns at worst. Her clothes shielded her more vulnerable areas from severe damage. As Natsu swung forward to slam the thick of his arm into the thief’s throat and clothesline him, the flaming wing went with him and left Lucy in the cooling chill of the night air. 

“Ungh!” she grunted in mild pain as she fell down onto her knees. She then recoiled as her calves and knees’ sensitive skin met the harsh, unforgiving rough stone of the alleyway floor. The little gravel pebbles and gritty cobblestone bricks sank millions of pointy teeth into her seared flesh to send even more pinpricks of discomfort to her already overwhelmed nerves. 

Lucy looked down at herself to assess the severity of the damage; her arms and legs were pink with burned skin, but the flames hadn’t penetrated but a layer or so. Honestly, the worst part was that she was now down to her panties— the only remnants of her clothes were the shreds of fabric on her backside, which had not been subject to the intense fire. She was just tying off the salvageable strip around her lightly burned bust when Gray ran up and crouched down beside her. 

“Lucy! Are you okay?!” 

“I’m all right. Not even crispy.” 

“Natsu, you idiot!” Gray yelled at the dragon-slayer, completely ignoring Lucy’s affirmation that she was just fine. “You shouldn’t use techniques like that without warning us! You’ve gone and burned Lucy all up!” 

The pink-haired man looked over, momentarily distracted from holding the very crispy and unconscious jewelry thief by the collar of his clothes. Once he saw Lucy sitting on her knees and nearly naked, he dropped him and trotted over to survey the extent of her injury. He squatted down in front of her, looking her up and down. He then the back of his neck uncomfortably. 

“Sorry, Lucy…” 

“No! It’s fine! I knew you were about to attack him; really, I should’ve known better and stayed back like Gray…” she apologized quickly while waving her hands in dismissal. Really, she should’ve known better; it was Natsu , after all. 

“Hell no! Don’t apologize to him, Lucy!” Gray protested while continuing to glare daggers at Natsu. “He needs to take care to not get his comrades caught up in his attacks.” 

“I said I was sorry, so stop yellin’ at me!” Natsu growled and stood up to push his face into Gray’s. As their foreheads butted, a vein popped out in Gray’s forehead, but he didn’t back down. 

“I’m not yelling! I’m talking loudly in your direction!” 

Lucy was sure the volume of his voice qualified as a yell, but she didn’t say anything. The two continued to quibble back and forth, and she just let them; the jewelry thief was unconscious still, so he wouldn’t run off. 

She shivered, suddenly aware of how chilly the night was now that she had been reduced to only scraps of clothing. It was late in autumn, on the cusp of winter. Worse, now that the sunlight had long since faded from the sky, there was no shielding from the brisk cool. She ran her hands lightly up her arms, ignoring the stinging for the sensation of immediate warmth that the friction between her skin was able to provide her. Still, she couldn’t produce enough. She grew colder, to the point that she was shuddering and her teeth had begun to clatter. 

“Can you two knock it off and tie him up already? I’m cold…” She had meant to put some bite into her words, but she could hardly get them out of her mouth for how much her chin was wobbling with her shiver. She just sounded terribly pathetic. 

Natsu looked down at her before shooting one last glare at Gray and stomped over to the thief, who was just rousing. He socked the thief in the face, and he was out like a light instantly. 

Lucy pushed herself up to her feet, hoping that without the cobblestone sapping her body heat right out of her legs, she would be able to warm up a little. She was dismayed to find that it only exposed more of her body to the breeze rushing through the backstreet. She debated curling up into a ball until she felt something soft and warm fall over her shoulders. She then sputtered in confusion as something was pulled over her head. 

“Eh—?” 

She wriggled around, hearing Gray’s impatient voice to tell her to be still through the rustling of the thick fabric in her ears. She squeaked in shock as she felt his rough, big hands snap to her hips to spin her around. 

“I said be still !” 

Absolutely perplexed but realizing she would just tangle herself up thrashing around, she obediently stilled her body so that Gray could shove the garment over her. Her head popped out, and she looked down to see him wrestling her arms through the sleeves of his shirt. 

“Hey, what’re you—?” she pouted and began worming her arms through the sleeve holes. She was perfectly capable of dressing herself. 

Once her hands appeared at the base of the long sleeves, she attempted to smooth down the fabric embracing her midriff. Though Gray wore a larger clothes size than her, her sizable bust still swallowed the material, making it a tighter fit than one would assume. “I’m not that cold…” she whined quietly as it finally clicked in her head that Gray was lending her his clothing, and a pink blush dusted her pale cheeks. 

“Shut up. Yes you are,” Gray brusquely refuted and leaned down to pull off his pants. Her blush furthered down her neck and to the lobes of her ears as he so nonchalantly held them out for her. It was kind of wild that him standing there in his boxers wasn’t what fazed her. “Come on; your legs’ll freeze off in this cold.” 

“What about you?” she asked though she knew it was stupid to. 

“You know I used to run around in my underwear in blizzards,” came the haughty reply. 

Lucy reached up to grip his shoulders to not lose her balance while stepping into the pants. They were much too long, requiring Lucy to kick them up her legs to allow her feet through, and she had to hold them up around her small waist while Gray crouched down to roll them up for her. Lucy was going to do it herself but was having difficulty bunching all the loose fabric in one hand to tug at his belt. She blushed darkly when his head suddenly appeared at her stomach, and his hands overtook hers, gently pulling away the belt to draw it tightly around her middle. 

“You really are tiny, Lucy,” he mumbled, almost to himself. 

If Lucy were any redder, she would win a tomato look-alike contest. 

“Y-you don’t just say things like that…” Lucy grumbled. She averted her gaze as he stood up, holding his discarded coat in his hands as he did. She expected him to throw it on himself since she was just fine dressed in the layers that she was, but to her shock, he tossed it around her shoulders instead. His fingers danced a little over the chilled skin of her neck as he attached the clasp at her throat. Thoroughly embarrassed at the undeniably slightly erotic display, she just blushed brightly while he looked down at her in approval. 

“There you go. Are you feeling warmed up now?” 

God, if you only knew… she thought while tugging at the neck of the shirt. He had her all hot and bothered that she would’ve sweated even if she were still nearly naked. 

“Yeah… Thank you…” Really, she was warmed that Gray performed such a gesture of kindness. His body heat still lingered in the clothing, and she wrapped her arms around herself as she felt it melting away what felt like ice crystals that had formed in her body. “I’m much better now.” 

Lucy looked down the alleyway to see Natsu hefting the trussed-up burglar over his shoulder. 

“All right! Mission accomplished! Time for food! Fooooooood !” he crowed and pumped his free fist in the air. Happy had abandoned his wings and was skipping about around his feet with a similar chant for nourishment. Natsu began marching off down the alley to find his way back to the jewelry store where the authorities would be waiting. 

Lucy snorted in amusement and looked to Gray with a smile. 

“Would you like to stop by the hotel on the way? You need to get yourself some clothes too. Even if you don’t freeze, I’m pretty sure the phrase ‘no shirt, no shoes, no service’ applies to even wizards,” she joked. 

Gray gave her a mocking laugh while running his hands through his hair and watched as Natsu turned the corner. As she set off after him, Gray suddenly grabbed her by the elbow, signaling for her to stop. She looked at him quizzically. 

“What is it?” He had such a serious expression on his face all of a sudden. 

“Lucy… Are you really okay? Don’t you think we need to treat your burns?” 

Her hand rose to curl over her heart as if that would quiet the frantic melody that his question had just sent it into performing. That haze of pink bloomed across her cheeks again, gracing the cold skin like the onset of spring during the fraught of winter, and her brown eyes looked down because she couldn’t meet his heavy gaze. A smile formed on her lips. He cares so much… 

“Really, I’m okay. It happens more often than you might think, and they’re not bad burns at all. They won’t even scar.” 

“Stupid Natsu,” he grumbled under his breath, still holding her elbow. His hand slid down her forearm, tracing the outline of it before wrapping around her wrist. His name appeared on her tongue as a question but left her mouth as a small gasp. Gray pulled her hand to his mouth to press his lips against her wrist, where a burn peeked out from underneath the dark fabric. He held the kiss for a long time, and she knew that he must’ve felt her frantic heartbeat pulsing in the artery there. 

“To help them heal,” he flashed her a grin against her wrist. Lucy was as stiff as a board and was staring at him incredulously, both alarmed and mildly aroused. 

The way he looked at her, with the hint of affection and allure in his eyes, warmed her much more than his clothes ever could. He still didn’t relinquish the grip on her hand. As his arm dropped, hers went with it, and his hand slid down into hers to wrap around her freezing fingers. “Come on. Let’s catch up with that knucklehead before he makes a mess of dropping off that thief.”

“O-okay…” Lucy only whispered and allowed him to pull her along down the alleyway. The fingers of her other hand twisted into the fabric of the cloak and shirt, and she pushed the bottom half of her face into the collar of the oversized coat to hide the permanent happy smile painting her mouth. 

Gray… You sure did warm me up, for sure… she thought, closing her eyes and breathing in the scent of the man who filled her heart with an icy fire. It may have been autumn around her, but Lucy’s body bore the comforting, gentle warmth of spring. I wonder… if I asked you… 

Would you keep me warm forever?

“Hey, Lucy!” The blonde-haired girl smiled wryly at the reflection of the grinning boy with cotton-candy hair perched in her window, who was holding up a hand in greeting. Natsu’s kimono was a fiery red with dappled salmon patterns across the surface like it had been sponged with paint, but not in a messy or unpleasing way. His obi was white, as well, to match the dragonscale scarf wrapped around his neck. As she turned around to greet him, Happy squeezed through the window to land on her floor with an oompf!; he hastily jumped to his feet to proudly display his own little custom kimono of sapphire blue patterned with jumping light gray carp.

“Lucy! Lucy! Does it make me look handsome?”

“You’re the handsomest little man I’ve ever seen, Happy,” she assured him with an endearing smile. He whirled around to Natsu puffing out his chest in pride, tail waving back in forth in a clear display that he was exceptionally pleased.

“She called me handsome! <3” With a snicker, Natsu hopped down from the window to scamper right to her bedroom door and throw it open, sniffing the air hungrily because he was without a doubt looking for food. Lucy sighed and threw her head back in agony, as she just knew it was going to happen.

“Natsu! You were supposed to bring food too, y’know!” she scolded him as he dashed down the hallway laughing maniacally. A half-ass apology drifted behind him as he all but dashed down the hall, and Lucy groaned loudly as she heard the distant clinking of ceramic and glass as he attacked the small array of party foods she had prepared for the evening. Happy stood in the doorway of her bedroom looking guilty, holding his paws together as he stared at the floor.

“I’m sorry, Lucy… I had fish crackers made, but… I got so hungry this afternoon that I ate them all myself!” he sniffled pathetically. Happy was making such a sad display that it was hard to be mad at him, and she wouldn’t have been in the first place, because really it would have been the other Exceeds who had eaten the snack anyway. She smiled softly and walked over to crouch down and pat his soft little blue head.

“Don’t worry, Happy, it’s all right. There will still be plenty of food for everyone,” she reassured him. He grinned widely at her and dried his tears right there and then before whirling on his paws and taking off down the hall shouting at Natsu to wait for him. Lucy breathed a deep sigh and rubbed at one of her temples; the night had only just begun, and she was beginning to question why she had agreed to host the gathering at her house instead of pawning it off on someone else…

~~~~~~~~~~

It was no time at all before everyone arrived and the party was fully underway, several hours before the clock struck midnight and they would usher in the new year. Though Natsu had absorbed a notable amount of her freshly prepared food in his gullet in the short time it took her to walk down the hall, all it had taken was a whack to the back of his head with a wooden spoon to send him scampering to the couch whining like a literal wounded dog. He was even wearing a pair of glistening puppy-dog eyes, but unfortunately for him, Lucy was immune to such childish ploys. Unlike his forgetful self, the rest of the guests brought food for all of them to enjoy, so his dent really didn’t end up cause much damage. The settled around her kotatsu table (that she had bought on sale from a local odds-and-ends furniture store to complete Wendy’s vision of a traditional New Year) laughing and cutting up and enjoying the snacks. The time was about ten-thirty when someone (she honestly could not remember who) brought out the alcohol and things began to get a bit more raucous. Suddenly, a slightly pink-faced Levy who was snuggled in the arms of the much brawnier Gajeel gasped aloud.

“Oh, dear! We have to decide who each other’s New Year’s kiss will be!” she exclaimed. Her shoulders were falling out of her spring-inspired kimono, sky blue with colorful butterflies matching the ornament in her wavy blue hair, and with pursed lips Gajeel casually adjusted it for her. She giggled and lifted up her head to press a kiss against his chin. “Thanks, honey~ I mean for you guys, because obviously I have mine,” she purred while sloshing around a bottle of sake. Gajeel blushed lightly and looked away, muttering something unintelligible.

“Yo, Erza, is Jellal stopping by?” Gray asked teasingly as he leaned onto the table with wiggling eyebrows. Erza turned the shade of her hair and looked down at her lap in complete embarrassment. Her hands dug into the fabric of her simple black kimono before twisting into her sunset-colored sash.

“I-I have no idea what you are suggesting! I-I mean… If anyone were to be my New Year’s kiss, that would be- Ah! No! I don’t have to talk about this with you all!” she wailed and buried her face into her hands with a mortified wail. Laughter erupted around the room; Gray’s stopped short and turned into a grunt as Juvia threw herself onto his back and wrapped her arms around his neck.

“Gray, my darling! Surely you will be Juvia’s kiss, yes?” she purred delightedly while nuzzling the back of his head with her cheek. Her lavender kimono with accents the shade of her hair was a stark contrast to Gray’s midnight blue one patterned with gray stripes, but they also complimented each other well. Gray didn’t seem to think that sentiment extended to their personal lives.

“No way. I don’t buy into that girly crap.” He mumbled as he shoved a custard-filled confectionary of Levy’s creation into his mouth. Juvia let out a wheedling whine and melted into a puddle-literally- behind him before slinking off in half-water form to seek comfort from a wine bottle. Wendy, who was sitting beside Lucy, fidgeted uncomfortably in worry.

“I don’t have anybody to give me a New Year’s kiss,” she murmured miserably as tears welled up in her round eyes. Lucy tutted in a motherly fashion and wrapped her hands around the side of her head to pull her into a hug (more like squish the poor girl into her cleavage, but she was a bit tipsy already). Wendy’s response was muffled as Lucy lovingly stroked her hair, which she had let flow free rather than contain it in pigtails.

“S’okay, Wendy! I’ll be your New Year’s kiss, don’t worry!” Natsu laughed while waving around a bottle, and he hastily added with an affronted look and a blush, “I meant on the cheek; damn, guys, I’m not a creep!” Wendy’s head popped out of Lucy’s grasp to look at him with joyful, sparkling eyes. She clasped her hands together as she stared at him in total admiration.

“Really, Natsu, you mean it?”

“O’course! Why should you miss out just because you’re a little younger than us?” he grinned and leaned over to throw his thick arm around her neck and snuggle into her affectionately. Happy tottered over to Carla with big, begging eyes, and the pretty white cat snorted in derision but obviously must’ve agreed because Happy crowed ecstatically, throwing his little paws in the air. Pantherlily looked disgruntled for a second before Carla nudged him in the shoulder and told him that she would give him one, too, and the buff black cat turned away bashfully, toeing at the fibers of the rug beneath him.

With all the talk about New Year’s kissing, Lucy was suddenly very acutely aware that she had no one to give her a kiss, either. Something about that fact made her exceptionally depressed. Perhaps it was the alcohol; it always resulted in her having disastrous mood swings, if the stories that Natsu told her were true. It wasn’t that Lucy thought that at this point in her life she would already have somebody to share such things with; after all, she was still young and had plenty of time to pursue romantic endeavors. However, seeing Levy and Gajeel and Gray and Juvia and even Erza and Jellal moving forward with their relationships (whether established or not) suddenly made her very conscious that she had nobody, nobody at all, she was even considering as a romantic partner. Her shoulders sagged a little as she pouted down at her little plate half-full of food that she now couldn’t stomach eating. Not wishing to ruin the fun everyone else was having, she brooded in silence. The melancholy slowly swallowed her up like a gaping abyss steadily drawing her in with an unbeatable current, until she was stranded in the black depths with nothing but the sadness and crushing dark. As Levy gleefully announced that it was nearly time, Lucy quietly excused herself from the table to walk into the other room, where she stood in front of the window trying not to cry.

This is so stupid, she told herself bitterly. All this fuss over a kiss. Lucy wasn’t quite drunk enough to be unaware of how pointless her roiling emotions were, but apparently drunk enough that the statement didn’t keep her from sulking anyway. She knew there would be many more New Years’ to come, and eventually she would be spending them with someone who loved her, but for some reason right now she was incredibly impatient. It seemed to her, in her sad, clouded mind, that everybody in the world had someone to share a kiss with at midnight but her. She knew that was entirely untrue, but alcohol made her so aggravatingly dramatic. She clenched her teeth as the first set of tears rolled down her cheeks, which were flushing red with frustration with herself. She pushed her hand into her face to try and catch them before anyone noticed. I can’t believe myself! What has gotten into me?

She could hear them yelling as they counted down. “Ten! Nine! Eight!” She wasn’t sure what saddened her more, the fact that they were all having so much fun and here she was being a stick in the mud, or that they hadn’t noticed her disappearance. “Seven! Six! Five!” She should really go back in there, but she couldn’t bring herself to. She was rooted to the spot with watery brown eyes staring through the glass, ever so lightly frosted by the chill outside. “Four! Three! Two! One!” Her eyes beheld the glittering expanse of stars. How she loved the stars. They always reminded her of her mother, softly flickering with an unwavering light… “Happy New Year!” all her friends screamed in the other room, laughing and sloshing alcohol all over themselves and her floor, giggling as they all partook in their New Year’s kisses.

“Happy New Year,” Lucy whispered miserably with a voice impossibly thick with longing.

“Happy New Year, Lucy.” She whipped around with a small gasp at the gentle voice behind her, shocked to find Gray standing there with a softly sad smile on his face. Guiltily, she shrunk into herself, drawing her arms to her chest as if to shield him from her inquisition. The rest of the group was chattering loudly back in the room, seemingly ignorant of the two of them standing out there. He had his head tilted down knowingly as his stormy dark eyes looked at her as if he knew all her secrets. She felt her heart thump hard in her chest; there was just so something… evocative about the look he was giving her, so raw and powerful and dare she say, sensual.

“S-So, I take it Juvia stole a kiss from you?” It was her pitiful attempt to play off the situation. He shrugged with a boyish smirk.

“All it took was a little peck on the cheek and she fainted,” he remarked casually. Lucy was beside herself suddenly; why was she relieved that Juvia and Gray had not actually kissed? All of a sudden it was like a flickering movie reel began to roll in her head, rapidly streaming through all of her and Gray’s history together… Natsu was her truest friend, her partner, but… There had always been something bubbling at the surface with Gray too that she could never really name. Considering that Juvia was always there combatting for his affections and they were always embroiled in some momentous battle or another, Lucy had never really cared to name that feeling, but right there, as he crossed the short distance between them to gently take her elbow with one hand and sweep her blonde hair from her face with the other, she was beginning to think that mysterious flutter of unknown feeling was in fact the fledgling bird of love.

“Gray,” she murmured pleadingly, though she wasn’t really sure what she was pleading for. Instinctively, her body leaned forward to just barely press into his. His hand fell from her elbow to land at her hip, lovingly hugging the natural curve of her figure. Tears still glittered on her lashes as she blinked up at him imploringly, and they fell like fruit from a tree to roll down her cheeks, only for his thumb to gently sweep them away.

“I’m sorry it’s not right on time,” he whispered. There was a husky, desiring tone in his low voice that made Lucy shudder lightly. Their eyes remained locked in a smoldering gaze the entire time, never wavering. Fire and electricity bloomed over the sensitive skin of her cheek as the tip of his finger ever-so-lightly feathered over it, “but Happy New Year,” he repeated in a whisper before his face enclosed over hers. Lucy’s eyelashes fluttered shut in anticipation of his lips meeting hers, but nothing could physically prepare her for the feeling. His mouth melded against hers as if they were simply made to fit together, soft and pliable yet firm and sure. Lucy’s hands curled into the fabric of his kimono over his chest in the instinctual need to ground herself, as something burst inside of her with the intensity of water surging through a dam. Sparked danced where his lips met hers, smearing the lingering taste of liquor over her lips for the aroma to waft up her nose. She wasn’t sure if that or the act in itself was intoxicating her, but inebriated she became; her legs became wobbly and her mind fogged over with a thick mist that prevented her from thinking of anything else besides the man holding her and kissing her with a fervent yet tender passion. When he pulled away from her, she swore he took her breath with him, because she had to inhale sharply. Her eyes drifted back open to see him smiling warmly down at her. “Feel better?”

“Mhmm,” she answered, suddenly shy. He sneered confidently at her in a dashing way that sent her heart to skittering like a pebble across concrete. Oh, dear, I have gotten myself into something, haven’t I? she thought as she tried to find an expression to match what she was feeling, only there were so many emotions at once that it was just one confusing mess. Gray chuckled under his breath and pulled away, only grabbing her wrist to tug her back into the room. Lucy was not sure how to explain her sudden disappearance to all her friends, but Gray had it covered.

“Man, Lucy, how could you run off to the bathroom right as it turns midnight? You missed all the fun,” he scolded her with a click of his tongue and a shake of his head. Everyone in the room jumped at her at once with New Years’ glee, and Lucy laughed, glad again to be surrounded by all of them. Gray, standing at the other end of the table with a powered glass of sake, raised it to her with a wink. “To new beginnings.”

“To new beginnings!” the rest of them cheered loudly and drank, though they had no idea of the message underneath that seemingly simple dedication. As she sipped at a cup of wine, eyes linked to Gray’s the entire time, she nodded in understanding.

“To new beginnings.”

Enjoy this oneshot? Feel free to perusemy Tableof Contents!

“What are they?” he whispered and looked down at her. Her face was turned upwards, her brown eyes scanning the streaming letters to try and make sense of them; cast in the ethereal glow pouring from the volume, Gray thought briefly that she looked like an angel, sent from Heaven to wage war on Earth against the forces of evil. It was an ironically accurate metaphor.

“They’re all… about Natsu…” she frowned in response. Her eyebrows narrowed into acute arcs as she concentrated on the lettering. Suddenly, a concerned shock bloomed in her face, but before Gray could ask why, the world heaved in a savage earthquake. The light and words vanished as the book was flung from Lucy’s lap and shut in mid-air; Gray and Lucy soon followed. On instinct, he grabbed ahold of her and turned his body such to cushion her fall. He gritted his teeth as his bare back struck the rough cobblestone of the street, but aside from a few scrapes and bruises, he would escape unharmed. Lucy remained cushioned in the muscles of his arms and chest. Once the shaking stopped, she looked up, blinking.

“What was that?” complained Happy, who had ended up sprawled out on his belly next to him.

“It came from the guild. No doubt it’s Natsu,” Gray surmised. He loosened his grip on the Celestial Wizard as she sat up, holding her head as she recovered from the severe jostle. She then gasped and crawled off of him to scramble over to the Book of E.N.D., once more flipping it open to spill the script of Natsu into the air. Gray sat up slowly, his muscles stiff from the previous battles and the latest jarring, and incidentally glanced up at the words. He was alarmed to find that random characters were begin to pop out of existence. “Lucy, what’s happening?!” he demanded, startled.

“Natsu is injured, very badly!” Panic struck Gray’s heart like an ice spear of his own making. If Natsu was mortally wounded, they stood no chance against Zeref, period… And his friend could die. He crawled on his hands and knees over to Lucy just as she whipped out a magic pen and sat up on her knees, poised like a conductor ready to direct a symphony. “If I rewrite the missing characters, I think I can save him!” Gray didn’t even bother asking if she had memorized them, because he knew she did. He sat down beside her, watching as she began to hastily scrawl the magic characters back into place. He then clenched his teeth and looked down at his hands as he balled them into fists. I can’t do anything…

He jerked up as he heard Lucy scream in pain. Her back was arched into a sharp curved and her eyes wide as they stared unseeing up at the swirling mass of text; her hand, still clutching the magic pen, was dyed a bright, burning red with snake-like tendrils slithering up her arm.

“Lucy!” he gasped as she groaned in agony. Her entire body was quaking more than the earth had been a few minutes ago. When he put a hand on the small of her back to steady her, she recoiled with a hiss, though there were no signs that the dark magic had invaded there.

“My body… It’s burning!” came the hoarse whisper. Her face scrunched up in pain and she fell to the side, collapsing against Gray. As their skin met, he could feel the sweat that had already coated her paling body.

“It must be a rebound! Natsu’s demon magic is trying to overtake her body…” Happy cried as he nervously fluttered around the panting Celestial Wizard. Gray held her tenderly, knowing that his touch was sending shockwaves of pain through her feeble body, and pulled a few sweat-slicked strands of blonde hair through her face. Just as he was about to take the magic pen from her, she gripped tightly onto Gray’s shoulder and sat herself up.

“Lucy! Don’t overexert yourself!”

“I can do this,” she responded. The strength had returned a little to her voice, but it was still very obviously strained. “I just have to finish re-writing this section, and I think I can change Natsu’s fate.” She swallowed before raising her arm again, and her hand began to twirl about as she once more began scribing with the magic pen. Gray watched her with a mixture of concern and pride. Lucy’s strength never ceased to amaze him; it was different than the strength of those like himself and Erza and Natsu… A quiet, unassuming one, but a strength nonetheless, one that blazed when their own strengths failed… one that enable Lucy to do things they could never dream of doing. A faint smile ghosted his lips. Well, there’s something I can do for her at least. He conjured up a small sphere of swirling wind around them to cool the air and hopefully stave of the burning heat that was poisoning her body. In a matter of seconds, she relaxed, a look of mild peace pervading her features. “Thanks,” she said, tossing him a gentle smile.

“You got it. Now let’s save our idiot.”

They sat in silence as Lucy continuously reworked the magical text. Gray watched in discomfort as the curse crawled further and further up her arm, its thin tendrils branching up over her chest to seemingly entangle her heart. Gray knew that he could draw out the magic with his demon-slaying arts, but it bothered him because he knew that it was excruciatingly painful. Even with Gray’s maelstrom of cooling air, Lucy was still sweating profusely and drawing shallow, labored breaths. Her expression grew increasingly more exhausted until it seemed that she was struggling to keep her eyes open. Finally, when he thought that she couldn’t take any more, she slumped over with an agonized groan and dropped the pen.

“I did it… It’s done…” she wheezed. The letters, now completed, spiraled back down into the book and it flipped shut of its own accord. Lucy took a moment to catch her breath, doubled over with her hand clutching at the area over her heart, before she weakly looked up towards the book. “It’s disappearing!”

“Does that mean it didn’t work?! Is Natsu-?” He didn’t finish the thought. Happy and Lucy both began to cry at the implications.

“I don’t know…” she admitted with a frightened sniffle. “I did all I could… Now we just have to wait and see…” With shaky arms, she pushed herself back up, and Gray rushed in to help her back into a sitting position. Her head flopped back against his shoulder, her sweaty locks streaking his skin in the salty liquid. He didn’t care, though. Once more, he swept hair from her face and smiled softly down at her.

“You did great, Lucy.” She returned the sentiment with a serene, tired smile just as the book vanished. He only took his eyes off her for a second to watch the last bits of light from the tome twinkle out of existence… and that second was all it took for it all to go absolutely, horribly wrong.

A strained gurgling noise left Lucy’s throat. When his gaze shot back to her, both her hands were pressed against her chest over her heart, and her brown eyes were wide, wider even than the moment the dark magic gripped her body upon attempting to write in the Book of E.N.D. “Lucy?!” he cried and shook her violently. Her body limply jostled at his touch, like she was lifeless, her arms dropping to her sides. Happy’s breath caught in his throat as Gray began to mutter her name under his breath, his voice gradually rising in pitch as she did not respond. He laid her down on her back, unsettled by the lifeless gloss in her unblinking eyes, and he ripped the bandages off his right arm. The demon-slayer magic blazed up his skin like black ink flooding paper, stretching up to his eye before becoming complete. He gripped Lucy’s wrist and held it up. Her hand just flopped lifelessly in the air. “Hold on, Lucy, this’ll fix you!” he whispered before forcibly drawing the magic out of her. The blood red stain on her skin receded as his demon-slayer magic gobbled it up eagerly like a monster devouring prey. However, even with the last dregs of the vile magic drained from her system, Lucy did not wake. She just laid there… Like she was dead.

As the thought his mind, Gray gasped and immediately pressed his ear to where her heart was. Instead of the steady beat of the organ drum, he heard nothing, just deafening, terrifying silence.

“No, no, no, no, no!” he cried as he shot back up and flipped his leg over her to straddle her waist. All measures of propriety and implications were aside, replaced by the cold rush of sheer panic. He leaned over and began frantically compressing her chest, trying to get her heart to start once more. “Come on, Lucy, you can’t die on me now!” he shouted at her. Happy was standing above her head crying pitifully, which was bouncing up and down a little as he pushed hard into her sternum, over and over and over. Gray paused for a moment to lean over and grab her face, pushing her lips apart before covering them with his own and exhaling deep into her mouth. He then flew up and began pumping her chest again. “Come on, Lucy!” he grunted, already beginning to sweat with exertion. How long had it been? Thirty seconds? A minute? He knew she couldn’t survive long without getting her heart going again.

“Come on! Come on! Come on! COME ON!” he screamed at her as there was no response. He wasn’t sure when he began to cry, but very soon he was aware of the painful stinging in his eyes and the wetness rolling over his cheeks. “Don’t die. Please, don’t die,” he begged her and again leaned over to breathe into her mouth. Instead of getting up to start compressions again, he lingered against her lips for a moment, near his breaking point. “I love you, Lucy, please don’t leave me!”

He was an idiot. Why hadn’t he realized it sooner? Of course he loved her. It was so obvious, in the way his heart pounded when he saw her, in the flutter in his chest when she smiled, in the way he thought her voice was pure music. He loved her, and now she was gone, and he would never have the chance to tell her. With a broken sob, he forced himself to sit back up and began laboriously attempting to resuscitate her though it was agonizingly painful to do so. Every breath he drew stung his heaving lungs. Every push made his muscles scream in protest. Yet he kept on, in the feeble hope that it would work. He repeated her name like a mantra, a chant that might instill life in her. His strength began to fail and he half-leaned, half-flopped over to give her one final breath.

Suddenly, she heaved under him, and he felt her mouth drawing in a deep, desperate breath. Her back arched as she began coughing and moaning in pain, but Gray was beyond stupidly relieved to notice. As he sat back up, he held his arms around her in a tight hug and pulled her up with him and buried his face into her golden hair as he began to sob quietly.

“Lucy… Lucy…” It was hard to get her name out with how intensely his voice was breaking. His body thunderously quaked, still facing the aftereffects of the fear that had gripped him only a few seconds ago. Lucy’s hands weakly slipped up his back up to his shoulder blades.

“G-Gray…” Almost as if to reassure himself, he put his hand on her neck. Sure enough, he could feel her thudding pulse in her carotid artery. “Gray… I’m okay… I’m okay…” she whispered in his ear. He could tell just by the thickness in her voice that she was crying too. He pulled back, his sobs transitioning into relieved laughter. Sure enough, there were glittering tears streaming down her cheeks. She was giving him that soft, sweet smile that made his heart melt. He swept a fingertip down her cheek, then traced her jawline, before his thumb gently swept across her lip. She parted them slightly, as if giving him permission.

And Gray sure as hell took it.

His hand snapped to the back of her head to jerk her forward. His lips smashed against hers in a passionate, desperate, sloppy kiss; if Lucy hadn’t been short of breath already, he sure as hell would’ve swept it away. She fell against him, and he could feel her chest moving against his as she fought for breath, so caught up in the intense kiss. One of her hands snaked up to the back of his neck to tangle her fingers into his messy strands of dark hair, while Gray’s migrated to her waist, fixing her in place as he pushed the kiss deeper. He drank her in, all her beautiful essence, and nearly got drunk off of it. Though he could have spent all day kissing her, the lack of oxygen began to burn his lungs, and he broke off the kiss, leaving them both panting hard. He only pulled back a few centimeters to gaze intently in her glittering brown eyes.

“I love you, Lucy,” he murmured, again caressing her face. He felt the heat appear in her skin as she blushed.

“I-I love you too, Gray.”

“Great, now that that’s established, can you two stop making out?”

“NATSU?!” The two of them screeched in unison and whipped around. Sure enough, the pink-haired fire wizard was standing there a few feet away, beat within an inch of his life and very much alive. He was glowering at them, apparently very uncomfortable at their open display of affection. Happy was clinging to his best friend’s leg nuzzling him tenderly. Identical blushed painted Gray and Lucy’s cheeks as the romantic mood was immediately murdered by Natsu’s arrival. Gray climbed of Lucy and stood, holding out a hand to help her to her feet. When he did, he stubbornly held her hand when she tried to pull it back. She blushed further, but made no move to resist further.

“Glad you’re alive.”

“Thanks, you too, asshole,” Natsu sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. He flashed Gray a cocky grin. “Now that this is a thing, you know I’m obligated to tell you to take care of her or I’ll kick your ass, right?” Lucy began to admonish him for his rudeness, but Gray just grinned in return.

“’Course. Can we finish the ass-kicking at hand, first, though?” Natsu gave a big sigh and put his hand behind his head, toeing the cobblestone street.

“Yeah, yeah. Let’s get goin’- and I better not catch you two sneaking off,” he huffed with a playful smirk. Lucy went red to her ears and began yelling at him for his indecency, while Gray just smiled and turned to press a kiss into her hair. She instantly deflated into a gushy mess. Natsu cackled like a demon and whirled around to begin marching off toward the battleground.

“Hey, Lucy?”

“Hmm?”

“I meant that, y’know. I’ll take care of you,” he told her with a confident grin. She smiled happily back in response and nodded.

“I know- and I’ve got your back, too!” she grinned while holding up her fist. That was his Lucy, strong as ever. He chuckled and he intertwined their fingers before pulling her along in Natsu’s direction.

“I know. Now let’s finish what we started, eh?”

He tugged her along after the dragon-slayer, and for a brief second, swept his thumb up to her wrist to once again check her pulse. There is was, strong and steady. Gray would make sure that it would stay that way, because Lucy’s heart belonged to him now, and he wanted it to beat for him forever.

Just like his would for her.

“Juvia, my dearest, please come back with me to Lamia Scale and be my bride~! I promise that I will give you everything under the sun and more,” Lyon crooned while making heart eyes at the exceptionally disinterested Juvia. She pouted and pushed into Lucy, as if looking for protection. Despite Juvia’s incessant fear that Lucy was her rival in love for Gray, they still had a very amicable friendship. Lucy wrapped her arms around Juvia’s shoulders with a heavy sigh, not having the heart to tell her that the ice mage’s clamor for her affections was not unlike her own groveling for Gray.

“I told you, you stupid bastard! She’s not interested! Now will you let it go?” The aforementioned Fairy Tail ice wizard snapped while knocking Lyon upside his pale blue head. Lyon whined loudly and crouched down in the seat, nursing the lump peeking out between his scruffy strands of styled hair.

“Ah, Gray, you are defending me so eagerly~ Have you finally realized your love for Juvia?” the girl sighed dreamily as she clasped her hands together to gaze lovingly at the man. Gray’s face turned a pretty shade of carnation pink.

“It’s not like that! I’m just not gonna let this asshole cart off one of our best mages!” Though he was trying to prove to Juvia that their relationship was nothing but platonic, she heard only the compliment; a delighted trill spilled from her lips as she wriggled around on the train seat. Lucy could probably reach out and catch the little hearts that were blooming from her body. This is ridiculous, she thought, but mostly in amusement. She was quite used to the unending amount of antics that the various Fairy Tail mages produced, and this sordid love triangle was but one of the many on the list. The three mages continued their back-and-forth as the train clattered onward down the tracks with Lucy not saying much of anything at all. Finally, she decided to have a little fun of her own.

“Ahh, I’m sorry to interrupt your fervent love triangle, but I have to go to the bathroom, so could you let me by, please? Or have you all forgotten that I’m here?” she sighed with dramatic exasperation as she rose from her place beside the window. For good measure and playfulness, she painted an expression of fake sourness onto her features. She planned to just squeeze by them, honestly expecting that her little outburst wouldn’t deter them in the slightest, but to her shock, they all suddenly fell into stunned silence and turned to stare at her with wide eyes. It was Lucy’s turn for her face to take on a pink hue. “Erm, uh, thanks!” she squeaked before literally jumping out of the train booth to skitter down towards the restroom as fast as her feet could take her.

That was so awkward! She thought in mortification as she darted into the bathroom and all but slammed the door behind her. She hadn’t meant to cause a scene; she had only been teasing, after all… Or had she? She walked over to the sink, and her melancholy expression betrayed the truth in her heart. On some level, it did bother her. She envied Juvia and Lyon, having someone that you were so desperately in love with that you were willing to declare it openly and fight for their affections. Lucy wasn’t sure what love was. How would she ever know it if she ever felt it? Then, there was something about Gray’s response to Lyon’s outrageous proposals that just… unsettled her. He was so fervent about protecting Juvia. Why did she have the quiet, selfish wish that she was in her place…?

“Ugh! You’re losing it, Lucy!” She whipped the knob on the sink, and cold water gushed forth from the faucet. She cupped some of the crystalline, clear liquid and splashed it onto her face, one, two, three times for good measure. Her cheeks stung with the brisk cold of the water, but it helped to cool the confusing fire in her mind. She was just tired from all their bickering; there was no way that she was really feeling absurd things like that…

“Lucy?” Gray’s voice drifted through the door alongside a pair of light knocks. She hastily turned off the water and used the soft towel hanging by the mirror to quickly dry her face, then hurried to the door and opened it lest he think something was actually off. She prepared her best smile.

“Yeah?” He looked taken aback at her apparent cheerfulness, and stood there for a second to prepare a response. That pink shade returned to his face, a barely detectable hint of rose, and cast his gaze away while rubbing the back of his neck.

“Uh, I’m… Sorry about all that craziness in there. That got out of hand. You know we… I wouldn’t just ignore you like that. You’re a valuable member of the team and guild too.” Lucy expected to feel the hot flush of guilt since her little prank had resulted in such remorse from him, but to her shame, she felt the cool trickle of relief flooding her system instead. Lucy smiled softly, genuinely, and reached out to gently place a hand on his upper arm. As her hand curled around the thick muscle of his biceps, she suddenly was acutely aware of its shape and form, making her blush that her mind would even sail to such things considering the atmosphere.

“It’s okay, Gray,” she said quickly after reigning in her thoughts. “I really shouldn’t have said what I said. You three are just having fun.”

“No, Lucy,” he refused adamantly. Lucy blinked, surprised, then gasped as his hand suddenly flew to the back of her head to pull it forward such that their foreheads were touching. He was smirking confidently at her, a complete contrast to her bewildered, wide-eyed, blushing gape. “I’ll promise you here and now. You aren’t gonna feel left behind anymore on this mission.” The cool, icy fires of his irises blazed into her comparably muted brown ones, dimming as the emotion welled up inside of her. She had been so insistently trying to bury those feelings so as not to upset him, but Gray had so effortlessly seen through her façade. Her face scrunched up as she felt tears actually welling up in her eyes, so moved by his concern for her. She managed to keep them in, though, and managed a quiet yet heartfelt, “Thanks, Gray.”

~~~~~~~~~~

The gravel of the mountain path crunched under Lucy’s feet as she carefully traversed the terrain. The mountain pass wasn’t altogether terrible, especially since the winter snows had melted fully and left the low-lying area blanketed in rich tall grasses and aromatic wildflowers blooming in pastels, but the incline was still steep and with the numerous pebbles still slicked with cold water lining the natural walkway, she had to take care not to slip. She had already busted her tail at the base of the path and given Gray a great shot up her skirt (and of course Juvia had been none too happy about that), and was not eager to repeat the event. She kept glancing down as she followed the other wizards up through the mountains. When she looked up, every so often she would find that Gray had trailed behind a little and was watching her, as if he were trying to be prepared if she fell again. The thought brought a hazy hue to her cheeks that mirrored the pink bell-shaped wildflowers growing amongst the grassy rubble.

In order to track down their mountain bandits, the team had decided to pose as merchants braving the pass. They had acquired knapsacks and wares from the hiring fabric seller who had been attacked by them. The packs were purely for aesthetic purposes and were filled with very cheap cloths. One wouldn’t think that light fabric would be heavy, but apparently enough of it could weigh a considerable amount; Lucy kept having to adjust her pack as it dug deeply into her back to leave sore, red imprints into her skin, and the blistering heat generated by the friction of the heavy fabric rubbing against her clothes left her pouring with sweat. She didn’t want to seem weak, though; no one else seemed to be having problems carrying the fake wares, and so she decided to keep quiet about it. Suffer through it. It builds character.

“Lucy?” Once again, Gray’s gentle yet adamant calling of her name surprised her. She stopped in her tracks to look at him. He had decided meandering at a distance was no longer preferable, and had migrated right to her side. “You look tired. Do you need me to carry that for you for a while?”

“No, no, no, of course not!” she refused vehemently while waving her arms about. The rapid motions combined with her unsteady posture on the inclined pathway caused her to stumble a bit. Before she could even think of catching herself, Gray’s hand snapped out to grab her elbow and steady her. She flushed, mumbling a gratuitous remark and sweeping a bit of her sweat-slicked blonde hair that had fallen from her pigtails from her face. “I’m fine, really! This pack is nothing!” He looked like he was about to say something, but Juvia interrupted whatever thought he was having by jumping over to latch onto his arm.

“Ah, Gray, Juvia is so tired~ Please carry my bag for me!” Gray’s face scrunched up in annoyance and he opened his mouth to object. His refusal was drowned out by Lyon’s canary-like trilling.

“Juvia, my dear! I’ll carry your pack for you!”

“Juvia didn’t ask you!” There they go again, Lucy thought with a lop-sided smirk. Juvia and Lyon began bickering back and forth, but shockingly, Gray did not come to the water mage’s rescue; instead, he turned to Lucy with an oddly serious expression.

“Really, Lucy, are you all right? I don’t want you to be tired if we have to fight for real.” Lucy’s eyebrows knitted themselves together on her forehead. Surely the situation with the mountain bandits wasn’t that big of a deal… right? Then again, the mission had necessitated four mages, some of the most powerful mages around, at that. The fabric seller they had met with had some pretty nasty wounds, too, nearly covered head-to-toe in bandages… And from what she had spied in his little shop, his accompanying merchants hadn’t fared well either. After looking at the facts, Lucy was inclined to abandon her pride and rest for a moment.

“Gray, suddenly… I have a bad feeling about this mission.”

“Don’t worry, Lucy. I’m here with you, aren’t I?”

No sooner than those words left his mouth did a confident guffaw echo through the small mountain valley.

“Greetings, travelers! You look so weary with those heavy packs… Why don’t we take those off your hands for you?” The four wizards instinctively fell into a back-to-back diamond formation at the appearance of their enemy. Lucy swallowed nervously at the unsettling realization that her uneasiness had not been ill-founded.

They were surrounded.

The man who had spoken and was apparently the leader of the bandits was perched on a ledge about ten feet up the mountainside. His troop of thieves were spread out in a circle around them, either standing on some jutting outcropping in the rock or blocking their exit on either side- about twenty in all, enough to make a small guild. Lucy’s eyes narrowed as she fingered the keys hanging in the loop of her skirt, waiting for someone to move.

Gray did first.

“Ice Make, bow!” He shouted as he threw off the pack (and his clothes) and formed the signature incantation of his fist against his palm. Icy magic swirled in his hands before rapidly crystallizing into a sturdy longbow. Gray drew back the jagged arrow notched into the icy bow, his arm muscles flexing with the strain of drawing it back over his shoulder, before he released the projectile at the leading bandit. Lucy barely had enough time to trace the movements with her eyes, and thought for sure that the man wouldn’t have time to move, but Gray’s ice arrow embedded itself into the solid mountain rock rather than his body. It wasn’t just any rock, either; it had seemingly grown up out of the ledge, a towering flat-topped spire that had boosted him up another five feet.

“He’s a mage! He must use Earth magic!” Lucy cried as she whipped one of her keys off the keyring and similarly discarded her useless pack. “Open, Gate of the Lion- Leo!” He was always her go-to in a sticky situation. Magic power manifested around the end of the key before pouring out in beams of light around her, and her Celestial Spirit Leo stepped through the cosmic gate to stand in front of her with the same cocky smirk he always wore. He pushed his sunglasses up his face, golden-orange eyes flickering around to size up what competition Lucy was up against this time.

“Lovely to see you again, Lucy. Is that a new outfit?” he purred, turning to her with a lascivious grin.

“There’s no time for flirting! Would you get serious?” she scolded him by whacking him over the head. He pouted at her while rubbing the now sore spot in his scalp, then grinned wickedly.

“That’s what I love about you, Lucy, you’re so strong and independent~!” he crooned before whipping around, golden light blooming at each of his curled fists. “I’ll show these losers that it was a mistake messing with my master!” he snarled before diving into the nearest pack of bandits. Gray was shooting arrow after arrow at the earth mage, who was avoiding them embarrassingly easily by hopping from rocky ledge after rocky ledge that he was pulling out of the mountain to serve as his footholds. He wasn’t the only mage in the group, either; Lyon was contending with a pair of them to her right while Juvia was dealing with another pack of them behind her. Though they had numbers, the most of them fell within the first ten minutes of fighting and littered the path as unconscious bodies.

Lucy glanced over her shoulder as she felt someone plop against her back. Juvia had retreated to fight back-to-back with her, and was panting heavily with a flushed face. She must be fighting a tough opponent! The aforementioned foe stood across the path amongst his fallen brethren, barely fazed.

“Leo! Come back over here; I need you!” Lucy ordered her celestial companion as she shoved Juvia behind her to face her new opponent. Leo did as bid, dropping the man he had been holding up by the collar of his shirt and debating pummeling further to spring in front of her, looking as sophisticated but oddly suavely bloodthirsty as ever. His hands hummed with the light energy as he balled up his fists and gestured with a nod of his head for the other wizard to come at him.

“Be careful! He’s very strong!” Juvia sighed wearily as she slumped against Lucy’s back. Lucy couldn’t do any physical fighting herself, so she did what she did best- serve as a pillar of support for her friends that could. She braced herself so that Juvia did not fall, but could lean against her and lay her face down into her shoulder.

“Don’t worry, Juvia! Just rest a minute. Leo and I will have this taken care of in no time!”

“You said it!” Leo grinned cheekily and sprang at the mage. Their foe was apparently one who could use dust rather than earth itself, and it very soon became apparent why Juvia had been having such a difficult time battling him; he could turn his entire body into a cloud of dust so that Leo’s swings had no effect, and would rematerialize right behind him to deliver savage counterattacks. Lucy winced as he took a particularly hard kick to the back, sending him flying back across the mountain path to land a crumpled heap at his summoner’s feet. Lucy kneeled down to place a palm on his back while he attempted to struggle back to his feet. “Lucy… I can… Fight a little longer…” He suddenly began coughing and thick red blood splattered across the rough stone.

“No, Leo, you’ve done enough! Go home now!” she ordered. Leo grumbled something about ‘I’ll get that bastard next time’ before dissolving into bubbles of ephemeral light, retreating to the Celestial Realm. Lucy straightened back up to glare at the man who had given her trusted partner such a beating. “You’ll pay for that!”

“How so, Celestial Mage? You can’t fight on your own and your spirits are no match for me!”

“Tough luck, pal! I’ve figured out your weakness!” she huffed before taking another key from her belt. Instead of beginning the incantation, she reached sideways to plunge it into Juvia’s body, which naturally reacted by melting into cold water. “Open, Gate of the Water-Bearer: Aquarius!”

“Good idea, Lucy! We’ll overwhelm him with so much water that he won’t be able to turn to dust!” Juvia beamed confidently and morphed her body fully into water so that Lucy could summon Aquarius. Light spilled through her amorphous body from the key, streaming with the flow of the current before exploding into majestic force. Aquarius jumped through her watery form before landing on the mountain path behind Lucy, and then proceeded to smack Lucy on the back of her head.

“What have I told you about summoning me in this girl’s body- and what is this place? Are we in the mountains?” she screeched angrily. Lucy whipped around with a deranged scowl, hands-on-hips and teeth grinding.

“Do you have to be such a bitch every time I summon you?! You know I only do it when I’m in big trouble!” Aquarius jumped forward to slam her forehead into Lucy’s, but she had too much pride to let the blow knock her backwards.

“You’d better watch your mouth! I’m this close to leaving you to drown here!” the spirit yelled back, pinching her fingers nearly together for emphasis.

“Look out!” Juvia’s scream made Lucy whip around, just in time for the dust mage to shift into form right in front of her with a sharp dagger poised to slit her throat. Lucy’s eyes went wide, reflecting the glint of the sunlight across the metallic surface that was plunging towards her jugular. Rather than the cold bite of the steel blade, she felt the breath get knocked of her as Aquarius grabbed her around the belly and yanked her backwards. Juvia, who had comparably less fear of being decapitated, merely turned her neck and head into water and his arm splashed harmlessly through it. Aquarius set Lucy down and narrowed her eyes at the mage, seemingly having calmed down now that she released what a formidable foe she was up against. Lucy scrambled up to her feet.

“Juvia! My hand!” she cried and outstretched her arm. Juvia, in full water form as the dust mage in vain attempted to slice through her amorphous body, arced through the air in a sparkling stream before solidifying beside her and taking her hand. “Okay, Aquarius, Juvia- let’s give him all we’ve got!” Lucy summoned up all the magic power she could muster in her body to help boost Aquarius’ water attack that she was gathering in her magic vase, and she felt the whirlpool of frothing water swirling around her as Juvia summoned up her signature vortex move. Just before Juvia released it, Aquarius flung her swirling water into the fray, drastically ramping up the force of the maelstrom.

“Take this- Unison Raid!” the two Fairy Tail mages shouted together as the waterspout burst forth, with the two of them safe in the eye of the storm. The enemy mage blanched and attempted to dissolve into dust and disperse himself, but the sheer volume and speed of the water snatched up all the particles before they even formed a cohesive cloud. The whirlpool slammed into the mountainside and actually drove a deep, circular score into its surface several feet deep; when the water finally lost its momentum and splashed to the ground to be absorbed by the thick, loamy soil, the mage was left slumped over and unconscious in the indentation. Lucy and Juvia beamed and clasped their hands together as they did an elated victory dance.

“We did it! Thank you, Aquarius!”

“Hmph. Just don’t summon me to such a dump next time,” she sniffed while tossing her hair, but gave her a playful smirk before retreating back through the portal. Lucy turned to smile brightly at Juvia.

“We do make a pretty good team, love-rival,” the blue-haired woman joked with a soft grin. Before Lucy could rebuke her for the not-so-tasteful jibe, she exhaled deeply and slumped down to her knees.

“Juvia!”

“I’m okay… I just used too much magic power…”

“Hey, girls, what a move!” Lucy looked up from where she was crouched in front of Juvia to see Gray and Lyon walking back up the path. In the near distance she could see ice formations shimmering in the sunlight intermingled with hard, stony structures, evidence of a hard-fought battle. Lucy stood up to trot over to them, and without thinking, assessed Gray for injuries. He was dotted with a few scraped and bruises, as well as a bleeding laceration on his biceps. Lucy dug into the nearest pack and procured a strip of cloth.

“Here, let me bandage that for you!”

“Oh, what? Erm, thanks,” he blushed as Lucy, without waiting for permission, pushed his arm up so she could wind the bandage around the thick muscle of his arm. Even relaxed, it was so thick that she nearly couldn’t tie the bandage off for running out of fabric, but she managed to secure it with a small knot. She grimaced as a faint stain of red blossomed in the blue fabric, dying it purple, but thankfully it only marked the length of the laceration and didn’t spread much further, indicating that pressure had been applied correctly. Once she was finished, she glanced up to his face to see him looking away uncomfortably with that same blush painting his cheeks.

Thankfully Lyon was too busy doting on Juvia to notice and make fun of him for it.

“Juvia, my love! Are you tired? I will carry you down the mountain so we can find you a doctor!” Juvia reacted by pushing his very close face away, making him fall on his rump in a very uncool move.

“No! Only my darling Gray can carry me!”

“What happened to the earth mage?” Lucy asked Gray with a bemused smile. If they had enough energy to get back to their antics, they were all right.

“He ran off down the mountain path. He gave Lyon and I a pretty rough time of it, even with the both of us, but we managed to wound him pretty badly. I’m sure there’s a blood trail we can track him down with. He won’t be able to contend with all four of us,” he smirked. He went to slide his hands into his pockets, realized he was wearing nothing but boxers, and grimaced. “Goddammit, where are my clothes?”

“Hehehe, they’re right here,” Lucy laughed and pranced over to where his cloak and pants lie discarded, amazingly untouched considering all the battling that had been going on. As she leaned over to pick them up and her fingers dug into the soft cloth to grab ahold of them, she heard that same callous laugh, only weaker yet more deranged than before. Her head snapped up to see the earth mage standing at the point where the path curved downwards, bleeding heavily from a fist-sized hole in his abdomen and primed to deliver what looked like a devastating move… right at Juvia, who was still collapsed from exhaustion.

“You two thought you had gotten the best of me, huh? Too bad! I’m ending all of your pathetic lives right here, starting with one of these bitches!” Two gigantic earthen serpents blasted out of the rock formations on either side of him and rocketed towards the startled Juvia, who was too weak to even turn herself to water and just attempted to scramble away on her hands and knees, but collapsed onto her belly with a distressed cry. Lyon jumped up to her defense, forming a giant icy bear that roared in anger and lumbered around in front of them, maw open and ready to tear into the earthy snakes’ throats. Gray, sprinting across the path with his ice magic churning in his hands, ran up to touch the bear’s solid side and apply a suit of icy armor to its stocky body for extra protection. The bear reared up on its hind legs, making the ground rumble with each step, and looked like it would provide plenty of protection for Lucy’s comrades.

The earth mage snapped his finger and the snakes instantaneously changed direction, arcing backwards in loop-de-loops to slither rapidly in Lucy’s direction.

“Lucy!” Gray screamed so loudly that his voice cracked, sliding in the pebbly pathway to try and get to her, but there was no time. Lucy didn’t even have time to summon up a defensive spirit like Aries before the snakes both crashed into her at once. Her agonized scream was lost amongst the crumbling and rumbling of the earth as she was crushed against the mountainside, the shockwave rippling across the two earthen snakes to obliterate them into pebbles. Lucy lay suspended in the crater the blow had made for a moment before her battered body twitched, causing her to fall down flat on her face against the path. She couldn’t even appreciate the soft grass that cushioned her fall because the slightest of movements made her nerves blaze with excruciating pain, like her blood had been replaced with burning lava. It felt like every bone in her body had been ground to dust, and the way her body was vibrating with the aftershock didn’t help matters. Somehow, a low, whimpering groan slipped from her lips, but she couldn’t hear it for the thunderous ringing in her ears.

Yet she heard Gray calling for her.

“Lucy! Lucy, can you hear me? Hey, say you’re all right, please!” He had appeared at her side like he had teleported there, rolling her over onto her back. The action made Lucy shriek and writhe about in agony, tearing up the grass with the intense thrashes of her body.

“It hurts! It hurts!” she sobbed pathetically. Lucy hated to be thought weak in front of her guild mates, but dear God, her body hurt so bad that she didn’t care. Gray’s hands fluttered over her body, not touching her for fear of hurting her further but acting like he wanted to caress her and soothe her. Lyon had Juvia slumped over his shoulder; the situation was now too dire for her to complain, apparently. Lucy could see them staring down at her with deep concern through the tears blurring her vision. Despite the pain still radiating through her, she suddenly felt the desperate need to touch Gray, and so she forced the muscles in her arm to contract enough for her to grab his hand. She hadn’t the strength to squeeze it, but feeling his big, warm hand envelop hers sent a soothing flood of calm spreading up her arm into her body, somehow chasing the pain away somewhat. “Nnh…” she mumbled incoherently as her eyes fluttered with the sudden onset of drowsiness.

“Well, well, well. To be honest, I’m shocked she survived that. I’ve taken down full-grown men with that move,” the earth mage tutted from where he was still bleeding out at the end of the mountain path. At the sound of his smug voice, Gray’s face contorted into the demonic visage of pure rage. Lucy whimpered lightly as his hand squeezed hers very tightly for a second before he jerked up and whipped around. Ill intent was practically pouring off him in visible foggy waves.

“I’m going to kill you.”

“Give it your best shot, you rotten bastard.”

“Lyon! Juvia!” Gray barked as he walked out into the middle of the path, far enough away from Lucy so that she wouldn’t get caught in the onslaught. The mage, thoroughly weakened by his earlier flashy move, could only muster sending a wave of earthen spikes at Gray, who created a large ice sword and sliced through them like butter. This gave Lyon enough time to bring Juvia to his side, and the two ice mages supported her between them. “Juvia, can you manage another Unison Raid?”

“Anything to avenge Lucy!” Juvia asserted with a determined frown and a sure nod. Lucy found herself smiling weakly. She had half-expected her to say, “Anything for my darling Gray!” The earth mage was angry now and was just carelessly flinging earth boulders at the three mages, but between Lyon and Gray’s ice attacks, they might as well have been pebbles with how easily they reduced them to such. Once Juvia had charged up her magic power, with the swirling maelstrom around them, the earth mage realized he had lost and tried to run. Lyon and Gray plunged their hands into the swirling water to freeze it into sharp crystalline forms, Gray’s inorganic magic producing hundreds of pointed daggers while Lyon- probably trying to show off for Juvia- sent a deluge of stampeding horses into the watery whirlwind.

“Unison Raid!” Lucy could just barely hear the earth mage’s deranged, tormented screams over the torrential deluge of water that blasted into him and sent him careening down the sharp inclined path. There was the distance sound of his crash into the ground followed by a low rumble. Lucy had watched the entire thing as it played in her vision upside-down as she was still lying on her back, but even with the inverted image, their teamwork had been impressive. Suddenly, bitter tears flooded her eyes.

So impressive… They hadn’t needed me at all… Gray makes a much better team with them than he does with me… The last thought surprised her so much she gasped aloud. Where had such a premise come from? She had no clue. The tromping of boots against gravel pulled her out of her insane thoughts. She could see Gray’s legs approaching in her field of vision, but not Lyon or Juvia’s.

“Where…?” she mumbled. His full form appeared overhead as he crouched over her, leaned over opposite of her.

“I sent Lyon and Juvia down there to see if the problem is taken care of for sure. Lyon’s still in pretty good shape, so he’ll take care of Juvia.” He wanted to take care of me… Alone…

“Gray… Do you think… You and Juvia will convince Lyon to join Fairy Tail?” the question came out of her mouth largely without her willing, but once it did, she knew there was no taking it back and decided to wait for the answer with bated breath. He stared down at her incredulously.

“What? What the hell kind of question is that, Lucy?” She puffed out her cheeks and averted her gaze.

“Well… You three make such a good team… I really… Don’t have any place in it after all,” she whispered. She had thought such feelings had been absolved on the train, but that hadn’t been the case at all. They had lingered inside of her like some poisonous wound which had now infected her entire body and prevented her from thinking of anything else. As the silence settled between them, she became increasingly desperate for an answer until she forced herself to look back at him, finding him looking at her in a mixture of amusement and pity.

“You dumbass. I wouldn’t form a permanent team with that asshole in a thousand years,” he laughed breathily. He shifted around so that he was sitting on his knees at her side, and then very hesitantly reached down to slip his arms underneath her, one supporting her neck while the other pulled her body into him. Lucy didn’t hurt quite as much now but her body was still incredibly sore, and so she flinched at the movements despite their overwhelming softness. He settled her into his lap. Lucy wasn’t entirely sure why he had done so in the first place, and so a smoldering fire graced her cheeks as she continued to look anxiously up at him. “Why do you think you don’t belong, Lucy?” he asked quietly.

“I…” The words faltered in her throat. She didn’t want to admit it aloud. I’m jealous… came the finishing thought, and her bottom lip wobbled as she realized how stupidly pathetic that was. I’m jealous and afraid. “I don’t… want to… lose you,” she answered very carefully. She dropped her gaze because she was again unable to look at him. Gray was pretty dense and she didn’t know if he would realize the connotation that Lucy was putting behind those words, but she didn’t want to have to admit it aloud. Lucy loved him, and she was terrified that he didn’t love her, and that she would be left behind once he realized it. She wasn’t going to look at him, but his hand cupper her cheek and forced her to do so. He still had that expression of mixed pity and laughter, but there was an undeniable warmth burning in the dark of his eyes that sent Lucy’s heart to thumping in her chest.

“You won’t, Lucy. I’m right here with you.” Tears flooded Lucy’s eyes. He meant so much more than he could express with those words, and she knew it. She choked out his name, overcome with emotion, but he just shushed her and swept his hand over her bruised, scraped face, carrying away her mangled strands of blonde hair. He leaned down to gently kiss the large, dark bruise on her forehead, then the forming bags beneath her tired eyes, then the thin scratch across her cheek. Finally, he softly settled on her busted lip. Lucy’s eyes fluttered closed so she could savor the feeling of his mouth pressing against hers. It was tender and intimate, but still so much emotion passed between them that it stole Lucy’s breath away nonetheless. He pulled back after a moment, but only just so, and as he spoke, he whispered the words against her lips, “Always.”

“Promise?”

“Promise.”

“Wahhhhhhh! Juvia has lost!” came the upsetting wail that jerked every muscle in both Gray and Lucy’s bodies. Their faces flew apart to look down the path at the origin of the cry to see Juvia slumped down to her knees sobbing pathetically while Lyon attempted to console her. He wasn’t even really flirting, but Juvia perceived it as such and wildly shook her head back and forth as she suffered through her heartbreak. “Juvia can’t believe it! Lucy really was a love-rival and now Gray’s heart belongs to herrrrrrr!”

“She’s taking this better than I thought she would. I half-expected her to try and murder the both of us,” Gray laughed under his breath. Lucy gave him a wan smile before turning her attention to her distraught friend.

“I’m sorry, Juvia. I didn’t really intend for it to turn out this way…”

“Do not apologize!” she screeched suddenly and looked up from burying her teary face into her hands to point at Lucy, which made her stiffen. “Juvia admits defeat! I lost fair and square, but Lucy has to promise that she will cherish Gray forever and ever! Because if you don’t, Juvia will steal him away from you!” Though it sounded mildly threatening, Lucy knew that Juvia was trying to be encouraging of the relationship and root for Lucy in her own weird way. Lucy giggled and reached up to wrap her arms around Gray’s neck and lean up to peck him on the cheek.

“Of course! I’ll be right there with him, always.”  

“Of course not! If I’d have known it would’ve done anything to Natsu, I wouldn’t have tried in the first place!” Good… He’s cooled down, then. Lucy’s eyes flickered down to his right arm, currently swathed in bandages, and remembered the writhing, swirling bands of demon-slayer magic that he had obtained from his father Silver—the magic that came with the will to destroy E.N.D. Overtaken by that power and rage, Gray had nearly succeeded—even though it would’ve meant killing Natsu. Erza had stopped him then, and then it had taken Lucy to stop him from destroying the book and nearly killing Natsu again. Gray doesn’t want to hurt Natsu. I know that. He wants to save him as much as I do. Still, after seeing him so distorted, she couldn’t help but be a little uneasy. Suddenly, she leaned over to press her face into the crook of Gray’s shoulder, and she felt him tense up. Lucy was exhausted, so she righteously didn’t care about pretenses or propriety. Her emotions were boiling at the surface, threatening to spill over.

“Gray… Don’t lose yourself, okay?” She expected an angry retort or a “What the hell are you talking about?” but Gray knew exactly what she meant. She felt his body relax as he exhaled deeply.

“Yeah. I know, Lucy.” She was oddly quite contented with just staying like that, resting her head against his sturdy shoulder, but there were matters to be dealt with. With a small, sad frown, she raised her head and looked down at the worn, leather-bound tome containing Natsu’s doom or salvation. The First’s riddle echoed in her mind. “That’s when you will have to save Natsu! Use the power of your friendship to do it!”

“I think we should open the book! I think I get what the first master was talking about!” Happy quipped from her feet with his little furry eyebrows narrowed. As Lucy stared resolutely down at the book, she thought that maybe she was beginning to understand a little what Mavis had meant, too. The key to saving Natsu is in this book, no doubt about it. Lucy steeled her determination and gripped the leather binding of the book tightly.

“Yes!”

As Lucy set the book on her lap and prepared to open it, the universe seemed to draw in its breath; the wind died, and the only sound was the gurgling of a fountain across the plaza. She felt Gray’s tense muscles, his arms crossed, as he pressed a little closer to her and leaned over her shoulder to watch. Despite the gravity of the moment, a blush tainted Lucy’s cheeks. Now’s not the time for that… she reminded herself before taking a deep breath and opening the cover of the book. There was a moment of nothing but tension and silence, the breath she was holding feeling like a bubble in her chest ready to burst, and then everything exploded at once. She released the breath in the form of an alarmed gasp as light burst from the book, so forceful that her pigtails fluttered about her shoulders and her bangs waved in her face, and she could literally feel it, like cool water flowing over her chest and body. Then words began to spill from the pages, swirling in the air around the two of them and the space above their heads.

“Th-the letters…” She looked at Gray to find him wearing a similarly awed and shocked face, his dark hair glowing a bluish hue in the ephemeral light. In yet another inappropriate moment of lunacy, Lucy thought that he looked beautiful cast in the light like that. When a stream of the inked words flew by her face, she was reminded of the task at hand, and she looked above her head at the spherical mass of paragraphs and sentences whirling above them.

“Look at all of them! Are they really all about Natsu?” she wondered aloud. Her eyebrows furrowed as her brown eyes expertly followed the stream of words, and a slow realization dawned on her. “Wait a minute… These…” Before she could finish the thought, the world heaved, and the book snapped shut as she and Gray were flung from the bench and into the air. As the world rumbled below, the air vibrated with the shockwaves, shaking Lucy’s already battered body violently. She did her best to cling to the book as the rumbling began to cease, and she plummeted back toward Earth. As she curled around it, expecting a rough impact, she suddenly felt someone grab her in midair. A second later, she felt they hit the ground, but Lucy was cushioned by Gray’s embrace rather than unforgiving earth. Momentarily forgetting the book, she pushed herself up and looked down at him in alarm. “Gray! Are you okay? Why did you do that? You shouldn’t be worried about me when you’re all beat up!” she insisted wildly. It was then that she noticed she was basically straddling him, one knee between his legs and the other at his hip, his arms around her waist while her reddening face hovered above his. He cracked an eye open to grimace at her.

“Stop yelling. You’re spitting in my face,” he grumbled as he slipped one arm from her body to rub the back of his head. “Ow… What the hell was that?” Gray seemed perfectly unaware of how embarrassing their current situation was, while Lucy was just blank, her mind misfiring as it attempted to process.

“It came from the guild!” Happy groaned while sitting up. As Lucy finally began to come to her senses, Gray grabbed her by the hips to hold her steady while he sat up, bringing her body with his. Feeling his hands against the bare skin of her waist (as she had, of course, lost her shirt in the conflict like she always did) made her nerve blaze like Laxus had struck her with lightning. She could only dumbly sit there holding the book, practically in his lap, while he peered in her face.

“You okay, Lucy?”

“Oh! Yes! I’m fine!” she squeaked. She finally had the wherewithal to make her body move and hastily disentangled herself from him to sit beside him. If she didn’t know better, he looked disappointed. “What were all those flying letters?” That question snapped Lucy back to attention. She pushed aside all the embarrassing hugging and holding and looked down at the book. It hadn’t changed.

“It looks like the words are still in the book… This is really high-level Organic Link magic.” She was sure of it after reading them in the air as they swirled about. “I think that’s how the book is connected to Natsu. In other words, if we could rewrite the words…” she trailed off as she stared hard down at it, riddling out what she needed to do to save Natsu’s life.

“What? Rewrite all of that?” Gray exclaimed as he looked over her shoulder down at the unassuming volume. She was too absorbed in her problem-solving to bark at him for yelling in her ear. “We opened one page, and look how much came out of it! That’s only a small fraction—"

“We don’t have to rewrite it all,” she interrupted as she ran a hand over the cover. It was rough, and torn, and scratched up. Imperfect. A smile came to her lips. Just like Natsu. Just like Gray. Just like her and everyone else in the guild. She looked up at Gray, her expression growing serious. “I’m sure there’s a page in here that can save Natsu! We have to find it! I’m certain that is what the First Master meant!” Judging from the force of that tremor and blast, Natsu was fighting his hardest. That meant that they had to fight their hardest to save him, too. Lucy opened the book again, and once more, the letters began to float off the pages and careen through the air around them.

Except for this time, something was different.

Lucy’s eyes widened as the letters began to literally pop out of existence, disappearing from the links of letters with continuous blam, blam, blams!

“Did something happen to Natsu?!” Gray cried, his head swiveling about as the letters continued to disappear one by one. Lucy was silent for a moment, analyzing the continuously moving text and memorizing the vanishing letters because she knew it was important until she realized just what had happened. Her face grew pale and her eyes wide in horror.

“It’s a part of his body! He’s hurt very badly somewhere!” Reigning in her emotions, she took her magic pen and sat up on her knees, preparing to re-ink the words. Her mouth twitched a little as Gray grabbed her by the hips again to steady her as she wobbled slightly from exertion. Focus, Lucy.

“Do you know how to rewrite it?” he asked. Completely oblivious to how this looks… Just deal with it. Natsu is in danger!

“I’m only going to rewrite the missing letters right now. I memorized them,” she answered and began filling in the gaps in the stream of letters, her brown eyes flicking from one hole to the next while her hand scrawled in the missing text. In a matter of seconds, she had replaced all the missing characters, and she was confident that she had avoided Natsu’s death.

“Amazing, Lucy!” Hearing Gray gush in praise, especially so close to her, admittedly made her flush with a mixture of joy and unease. Before she could say or do anything, though, she felt every cell in her body pulse, and her head twitched back as she felt magic power flooding into her arm, pulsing up her veins to begin spreading through her face and neck. I-I… It hurts… I can’t move! Sweat began to pour from her body as she struggled to remain in control of herself, and her consciousness began slipping away. Her mind crystallized on one thought.

“G-Gray…”

~~~~~~~~~~

Gray jumped forward as Lucy’s body began twitching uncontrollably in his arms, and as she fell back against his chest, he could feel that her body was scorching, and sweat was pouring off of her.

“Lucy! Snap out of it!” As her head flopped back onto his shoulder, her brown eyes stared unseeing up towards the sky filled with the words of Natsu’s fate, and dark magic had filled her veins, dying them a bloody red. Her entire body was shaking violently, and her breath began to come in ragged, labored gasps. He grabbed her by the shoulders to hold her in place, and she immediately recoiled, like his touch caused her immense pain. Suddenly she seemed to return to her senses, and her face scrunched up in pain, and she once more buried her face into the crook of his neck. He could feel the tears spilling from her eyes as they smudged across his skin. “Come on, Lucy! You gotta stay strong!”

“I feel hot…” Her voice was a breathy, agonized whisper. “Something… Something inside me is burning!” She turned into him, wrapping her arms around him and pressing her body against him as if he could cool her. Lucy seemed to be embarrassed about their closeness earlier (which he had blatantly ignored because, well, he wanted to), but in the throes of the magic backfire, she didn’t seem to care anymore. Gray hated seeing her in pain like this, and he tightened his grip around her while at the same time holding her as gently as he could.

“It must be Natsu’s fire,” Happy reasoned as he watched uncomfortably, his tail twitching. Gray’s mouth curled into a frown as he clutched Lucy’s frail, jerking body. The flame of the demon. Lucy faltered into him for a second, then managed to straighten up with a groan, lifting her head to stare back up at the magical words.

“If… If I can understand this magic, maybe I can help Natsu!” Gray knew that if she kept it up, she would be even worse off. Once again, like so many times before, he was absolutely amazed at her strength. “I can rewrite the demon inside him.” She doubled over again, grimacing and holding a hand to her face as she shook violently.

“Lucy, if you keep going, you’ll—"

“I’m fine, Happy,” she huffed, a clear indication she was not fine. Gray knew that she would keep going no matter what, so he did the only thing he knew how to do. He propped his chin on Lucy’s shoulder as he pulled her close, and a writhing white wind began to swirl around them, bringing frost and chill with it. “That’s cold-!” she cried as she shuddered again, but the heat inside her body had dimmed somewhat.

“Let’s save Natsu together. I can’t rewrite those letters… But I can support you while you do.” He didn’t see her smile, but he knew she did, that sweet smile she always gave.

Gray wasn’t sure of the moment he started to love her. He wondered sometimes, but he wasn’t a real sentimental guy, so he didn’t dwell on it. He did love her, though, and knowing that was enough. He probably should have told her sooner, but somehow the moment never called for it; he needed to focus on not dying and keeping everyone else from not dying, and he always told himself he would tell her after. After kept getting further and further away, though. As Lucy clung to him, one arm around his neck and her body against his while she continued to painstakingly, painfully rewrite the script of Natsu’s soul, he promised himself then that he wasn’t going to wait anymore. He closed his eyes, focusing on keeping the air around them as bitterly cold as possible to mitigate Lucy’s suffering. Amongst the swirling wind, something else emerged in the background, faint at first. As he focused on it, it became clearer and louder until it dominated his senses.

A heartbeat. Lucy’s heartbeat.

It was a thumping drum amidst the symphony of icy gales that he had conjured. As he focused on it more, he could feel her heart beating against his chest. It was fast, probably because she was working so hard keeping the demonic magic at bay. Gray didn’t know why it mattered so much at that moment. Maybe because it was because he knew if he could still hear it, Lucy was okay—so he hung onto it, that rhythmic sound, the sound of her heart beating.

Gray wasn’t sure how many minutes passed before she slumped back into him, her arm falling and the magic pen clattering to the ground. He shifted her to her side to look down at the book in her lap, and they watched as the letters began to return to the pages. “You did it, Lucy,” he smiled down at her. She gave him that sweet smile again, and then her face contorted in agony, her back arching as her entire arm pulsed red. She then fell limp, losing consciousness as she was unable to resist the magic any longer. Gray wasn’t worried, though.

“Lucy!” Happy wailed and rushed over to her.

“Don’t worry, Happy. My demon-slayer magic is made for this! I’ll get this magic out of Lucy!” he said as his own magic spread up his arm and over his eye. He grabbed her by the wrist, using his own magic to forcibly draw the virus-like magic out of the girl. It was as if suddenly he had brought her back to life, as she jumped up and began coughing and hacking. Gray held her up as she recovered from the ordeal. “Are you okay now, Lucy?”

“Yes… Thank you, Gray.” There’s that smile again… They looked down to see the book glowing faintly and the edges blurring before dissolving in globs of light. “The book is vanishing. Zeref has been defeated.”

“But-! But if the book disappears, so will Natsu!” Happy cried as tears filled his eyes. Lucy grabbed Happy and hugged him to her chest, then put an arm around Gray and buried herself into him, quivering. Gray propped his chin on the top of her head, listening to her frantic, scared heartbeat pounding against his own while he watched the book continue to fade. He didn’t know what was about to happen, and he held his breath as the book faded completely and disappeared in waves of light into the sky. He felt Lucy’s body jerk as she stifled a sob.

They all looked up with a jolt as they heard the soft scrape of sandals against the pavement.

Down the path, staggering like a drunk but very much alive, was Natsu Dragneel.

“Yo!” he grinned at them with a lazy wave. “It’s all over.” Lucy clapped her hands to her mouth as the tears of joy spilled from her eyes, and Happy jumped from her arms to spawn his wings and zoom over to his beloved friend with a cry of glee. Lucy was much too weak to do so, so she just rested comfortably against Gray— not that he was gonna complain. Happy nuzzled Natsu joyfully for a moment until the dragon-slayer settled him down and looked at Lucy and Gray with a serious expression. “Hey… I don’t think the First Master made it.” The joyful atmosphere was obliterated in an instant. “I don’t think she would want us to be sad, though. I have this weird feeling… She wanted it to end this way.”

“That right?” Gray mused. It was definitely a Natsu thing to say.

“Yeah! So,” that big grin of his appeared on his beat-up, bruised face. “Let’s return to the guild with big smiles on our faces, yeah?” They were all in agreement, of course. Natsu turned to start heading back to the guild, and Lucy rose to follow but wobbled precariously.

“Yo, Natsu! Lucy and I will catch up in a sec, okay?” he called after him as he grabbed ahold of her wrist to keep her there, for which she looked down at him quizzically. Natsu didn’t even bother to turn, just signaled that he had heard with another lazy wave. Lucy was still staring at him in confusion as he stood up.

“Huh? Gray, what is it?”

Gray was never really good with words. He was a man of action—so act he did, by grabbing Lucy under the chin to pull her face up and kiss her. He smothered a squeak of alarm and resistance, and she grabbed onto his bandages since his shirt wasn’t there, but her fingers uncurled after a second to spread out over his chest, right over where his heart was beating. Gray held the kiss for a few seconds, and when he pulled back, her eyelashes fluttered, and her eyes opened to reveal brown pools swirling with both happiness and befuddlement.

“You didn’t have to take me by surprise like that,” she pouted.

“I didn’t feel like talking. What? You not like it or something?”

“N-no, it’s… Not that…” She grew flustered and embarrassed, looking down at her feet as she blushed. She’s cute when she does that. “I, um… You too. I mean, I uh… Feel the same…” As she struggled with voicing her emotions, she hid her face in her hands miserably. Gray snorted with laughter and patted her on the head.

“See now why I didn’t say it?” All he got was a begrudging whine, which made him laugh again. While she was distracted with short-circuiting, he decided to keep teasing her and easily scooped her into his arms like a groom would his bride.

“Ack! Gray! Hey! I can walk, y’know?” she protested weakly but fell still after a few kicks of her feet once she realized she was too tired. She looked at him with pursed lips as she curled into him, her slim arm sliding around his neck to fiddle with the ends of his dark hair. “Juvia’s gonna kill me, you know.”

“I can handle her,” he chuckled and began walking after Natsu, who had disappeared into the ruins of the city. She laid her head on his shoulder, eyes drooping as she continued to smile that sweet, sweet smile he loved so damn much.

“Do you think it’s over?”

“I don’t know, but it doesn’t matter,” he said and looked down at her with a smirk. “We’ll keep fighting together, no matter what.”

“M-hmm,” she nodded in agreement. She fiddled with his hair continuously, her fingers sliding in and out of the blue-black strands and curling them around her fingertips; his hair was obviously her favorite part about him. He suddenly got an idea. She squeaked as he lifted her a bit to press his ear against her chest. “Gray! Hey!” He could hear it there, that soft flutter and steady drum.

“Shut up. I just wanted to hear your heartbeat a minute.” He couldn’t decide now if he liked that more than her smile.

“… You’re so weird…” He looked up to scowl at her and found her face pink, meaning that she also found it incredibly romantic. He grinned and settled her back into his arms as he strode down the ruined streets of Magnolia, on to an unknown future.

Well, it wasn’t entirely unknown. It would have Lucy in it, for sure.

Lucy grunted as she was dropped onto her belly, again laying on cold, cracked stone. They had been brought to a section of the grand fortress that had already been collapsed thanks to the destructive Fairy Tail mages, and the landscape was nothing but crumbled walls and ruined parapets and crushed marble bricks. She gasped as the older ice mage flung Gray forward with little care or emotion. Gray, being in a much better state physically than she, did not simply crash into the stone but managed to perform a roll and whip around to face the man, crouching low and watching him guardedly. Lucy attempted to crawl toward Gray, her hand trembling with overexertion and, admittedly, a moderate level of fear, grasping for him though he was too far away. Lucy then screamed in pain as the ice mage firmly planted a boot in the middle of her back, effectively pinning her at his feet. “I have to admit, I had no idea that this little girl would be strong enough to destroy the Plutogrim,” he sniffed with disdain and, to cause Lucy further pain, continuously pressed his foot into her battered body. Lucy tried her best to avoid giving him the satisfaction of hearing her pained cries, but in her condition, she couldn’t refrain from letting a few whimpers slip out. The entire time, Gray hunkered against the stone glaring vicious daggers, obviously enraged but too cautious to outright attack for fear of retaliation against Lucy. “Not that it matters, anyway, all your efforts; your little pathetic guild may have destroyed one Face, but that still leaves two thousand, nine hundred and ninety-nine of them.” Lucy looked up in horror as a demented smirk flashed across his face. What? That wasn’t the only one? And there are that many…?

“Three thousand Face, huh? The council sure built one hell of a weapon,” Gray grunted. He was in much better control of his emotions, or was simply so pissed off for his treatment of Lucy that it didn’t leave much room for much else. He maintained that steady blank expression bordering on furious rage.

“I was hoping to see some despair on your face. Maybe I will if I cut out this little girl’s heart!” Still held against the ground by his body weight, Lucy could do nothing but stay frozen in fear as he threw his cloak back, the ice magic weaving frosty wind in his hand as he preparing to use it to bring Lucy to a pitiful end. I’m going to die…! She thought in panic, not even having the strength to push up against his foot and mount at least some semblance of a resistance effort. Her wide, brown eyes searched for Gray, not wishing her last sight to be the murderous Tartaros wizard, and they found him right in front of her. As any icy spear formed in the wizard’s hand, rapidly plunging toward where her heart would be from behind, Gray countered by making a large icy broadsword and knocking the icy weapon aside. To avoid being cleaved in two, the Tartaros ice wizard jumped backward, leaving Lucy free. Having been met with near-death experiences several times in an unproportioned amount of time, Lucy’s stock of bravado was quite depleted, and so she didn’t try and stop the tears of relief from flooding down her cheeks.

“Gray,” she whined quietly and, using her heightened emotions to propel her body, weakly reached up to grab his pants leg, knowing she couldn’t pull herself up but still wishing to anchor herself to him in some way lest she be taken again. The icy sword disintegrated into sparkling snowy particles as he hurriedly crouched down to pull her into his arms, hopping back several yards to put ample distance between them and the ice wizard. Rather than set her down, Gray kept her tightly wrapped in his embrace as he allowed the full force of his rage show on his face; it looked like it was etched in the hardest stone, while his eyes blazed with a cool, dark fire. When he glanced down at Lucy, however, it immediately melted like snow on a warm morning, his features softening into a reassuring smile.

“Don’t worry, Lucy. I’ve got you,” he told her as he reached up to brush the tangled, limp stands of hair from her scratched, pale face. “I won’t let anybody hurt you anymore.” Maybe it was her raging emotions or acute exhaustion, but in that moment, everything about Gray and her relationship with him seemed to shift gears; Lucy had always thought of him as brave, like Natsu and everyone else in the guild, but there was something so impossible heroic about him in that moment that it made her heart begin to pound. Her face, previously white from terror, took on a pink hue instead. The words he uttered weren’t out of place for a comrade, but there seemed to be a lot more meaning behind them than just a bond of friendship. The way he was looking at her, too, that smile and the way his eyes searched every part of her, was just too obvious. Has he always looked at me this way? Lucy thought, on the border of delirium as her heart and brain struggled to find some sort of middle ground between everything that was happening to her in those few seconds. She was snapped out of her internal fit as Gray gently lowered her to the ground and stepped over her to protectively plant himself between her and the Tartaros ice mage. His hands were balled into fists as he glowered at his foe. “You bastards have put Lucy through enough hell. You’re gonna get it all back ten-fold.”

“Sounds like fun. Simply killing you would be too boring,” the mage laughed, completely unfazed by Gray’s threats.

“Enough with the bullshit. You know me, don’t you?”

“Yeah. Quite well, actually.” Lucy watched apprehensively as the pair stared each other down. Their curled smile with veiled hostility on the Tartaros wizard’s face was so like the one Gray would wear that it was frightening, almost as if they were related.

“I also know your face, and your voice. I know them, but you’re a different person. Who are you?” The pieces began to click into place in Lucy’s mind as she watched the intense standoff. No way… It can’t be! Is this man-

“Your father.” He was so calm in saying it, but Gray was anything but calm.

“That can’t be! My father is dead! I saw it happen!” he shrieked, and as he waved his arm angrily, about a dozen icy blades materialized in front of him and shot towards the Tartaros wizard. Again, unfazed, he simply waved a hand to splinter them and send the icy, glass-like shards falling to his feet.

“My name is Silver Fullbuster. I am your father, Gray.” Lucy just sat there huddled on the ground, nervous as she watched the twisted family reunion take place; the demon Deloria had murdered Gray’s family, but yet his father was standing right in front of them, as their enemy, no less. Gray’s rage continued to burn, and with an expression bordering on lunacy he coated his hand in ice and attempted to punch Silver in the face. Effortlessly, the man dodged it, and, when Gray tried to punch him away, just as effortlessly blasted him away with a gust of icy wind. As Gray went spinning through the air, Lucy gasped and attempted to jump up to catch him, but just fell uselessly on her face. She gritted her teeth in frustration, her eyes stinging with yet again more tears. I’m so useless! All I can do is sit here and cry, when Gray needs my help!

“There’s no way my father is alive!” Gray shouted angrily at Silver, making her look up. The Tartaros wizard began cackling wildly, which only served to infuriate Gray more.

“Ahahaha! That’s exactly what I thought you would look like!” he howled as Gray went into his ice make pose, but with a callous wave of his hand Silver again sent him on the defensive. Gray can’t get near him! After a second, Silver stopped laughing and his face settled into a dark smirk. “I’ll tell you this… The part about your father being alive is no lie, but me… Well, I make the story a little complicated.”

“What the hell does that mean?” Gray snapped from where he was leaned up against a crumbling section of wall, the remnants of a building that he had just crashed into. Silver grinned devilishly.

“You and I are destined to fight, Gray.”

“I still don’t know what the hell you’re talking about!” he shouted and stood up to come at him again, but with that same absurd ease Silver knocked him down on his behind again. The rock behind him exploded as he crashed into it, and Gray was hunched on his hands and knees on the ground, breathing hard and bleeding from a multitude of scrapes and scratches all over his body. Seeing him in such a state sent Lucy’s nerves into overdrive, providing her just enough strength to crawl over to him.

“Gray,” she whispered, not sure what to really say to him with the frightening development but still feeling like she should comfort him in some way. She hesitantly placed her hands on his back and chest, afraid in his anger he would rebuke her, but when he did not recoil or snap at her she gently helped him sit up. He leaned up against the rock, one eye closed as he fought off the pain and exhaustion, while he held up one arm in front of her protectively. Silver cocked his head aside with a scowl.

“Girl, you’re interrupting our father-son time,” he frowned, and Lucy ducked her head under her arms as he sent a blast at the cold wind at her. Instead of feeling the cold, painful rush of ice needles, she felt Gray’s body collide with hers. That was pretty painful, too, but her concern for him overrode that.

“Gray!” she cried as he fell on his side into her lap, groaning slightly and bleeding even more.

“That was stupid, throwing yourself in front of her like that. You’re only getting yourself more beat up.” He shielded me from the attack! She realized in a mixture of relief and horror, while Gray just grunted and again shot him that fiery glare. “I don’t want you to die defending that girl before I can explain it all to you, so I guess I’ll let it go for now,” Silver shrugged indifferently. Lucy’s lips pursed and her eyes narrowed, her hands once again finding Gray’s body to steady him. This man… Whatever he once was, has become evil and twisted! The rush of anger was overtaken by a wave of sadness. Gray must be in so much pain. Indeed, beneath her fingers she could feel him trembling. Stay strong, Gray. “I suppose I should start with this body of mine. You see, it’s nothing more than a vessel, a corpse that happened to be lying around. All the members of Tartaros are demons from Zeref’s book, so of course my original form was far from human.” Lucy felt Gray stiffen in shock. “It’s a bit of a hassle to run around this world as a demon, as you can imagine, so of course I choose to be human most of the time. It just so happened that I found this wonderful corpse, and I’ve been using it ever since. It was a bit of a coincidence that it happened to be this body, or maybe it wasn’t.”

Lucy began to tremble herself as she listened to his deranged speech. What a monster! He can so callously speak of Gray’s father that way! When she looked at the Fairy Tail mage, his eyes had gone wide and his face pale, and all traces of anger had faded from his expression. It was just one of shocked horror now, disbelief bordering on a breakdown. Lucy wrapped her arms around Gray in a slight hug, hoping that her presence could somehow provide him some comfort. It must be so much for him to hear… I don’t know what I can do, she thought as she rested her cheek against his back. She had never realized how broad and strong it was.

“I’m here for you, Gray. ” she whispered, quietly so Silver- or whoever he really was- wouldn’t hear. She felt his body shift slightly, and a bit of the tension release.

“Don’t fuck with me, asshole,” Gray snarled. “Going around using my father’s corpse however you want… Even if I have reasons to hate you, you’ve got none to hate me!” As he stood up, though Lucy wanted to keep holding onto him, she allowed her arms to slip back down to her sides. Again, all she could do was sit there as Gray stared down the demon-possessed body. “What the hell is your problem?”

“Well, I tried killing all of Ur’s little brats, but in the end, that wasn’t very satisfying. She has been out of business for ten years, after all…” She could see the tension return in his body, and a horrible realization dawned upon Lucy. It can’t be! “My name is Deloria! Surely you haven’t forgotten me, eh, Gray?” he cackled suddenly.

“It’s not possible…” Gray whispered, shaken again, and stepped back slightly and hung his head. “Ur killed you!”

“Oh, that’s true, but as you know, Tartaros has a regeneration facility.”

“Are you really that Deloria?” His head was still hung low, his hands balled into fists and shoulders hunched. Lucy could tell that he was reaching his breaking point.

“Don’t make me show my true form, boy. You remember, don’t you? How I slaughtered both your parents?”

When Gray looked up, Lucy had never seen such a murderous expression on his face before- so murderous that it frightened her. She only watched helplessly, shaking, as Gray charged the demon head-on. All traces of rational thought in him were gone. If this keeps up, he’ll get himself killed! She thought as they collided in a brilliant explosion of sparkling ice crystals. Silver hopped away and shattered the ice Gray had just made, turning them into sharp shards to shoot them back at the Fairy Tail wizard; as Gray into the air to escape them, he fell right into the trap. Silver sent him careening across the battlefield again, and Lucy screamed as Gray went plummeting off the side of the cliff. However, Gray wasn’t going down that easy. He formed platforms of ice in the air to vault himself back up, heading straight for Silver.

“Ice Make: Excalibur!” he roared as he brought down a mighty ice sword onto Silver’s head. Lucy thought for sure that would work, but she heard him howling with laughter again; he had just bent over backwards and halted the ice sword with his hands. Lucy’s eyes widened in shock as he ate the ice, just as she had seen Natsu do with fire magic time and time again.

“Magic of their own kind is useless against Slayer-type mages. Ur’s apprentices can only use ice magic… So, I learned devil-slayer magic.” He then lashed out at Gray again, and Lucy watched apprehensively as blood splurted from his body where icy shards had formed. She knew that it took more than that to kill him, but the battle certainly was not in his favor. Gray crashed roughly into the ground, while Silver grinned madly. “Yes! Yes! There’s the despair I wanted to see! After I kill you, I’ll kill Lyon! Then I’ll murder your precious friends, one after the other!” Lucy squeaked in fright as his attention focused on her. “Starting with the troublesome Celestial Mage here!” Lucy was completely exposed where she was sitting and in no position to dodge the attack, so she did the only thing she could do.

“Gray, help!” she screamed. She knew in that moment all she could do was rely on him, as Silver sent a bombardment of the ice shards rocketing towards her. He delivered, appearing at her side to scoop her up and jump away; the ice shards destroyed the already damaged rock behind where she had just been sitting. As Gray set her down on the ruined stone floor a few yards away, crouching beside her and dripping red blood onto her arms and legs, she looked up at him pitifully. “I’m sorry… I’m nothing but a burden to you,” she sniffed. “Look, you’re all beat up…” I can’t believe I didn’t even try to dodge it! I’m relying on him too much! I’m making it worse!

“This is nothing,” he reassured her with a strained grin, standing back up to plant himself again between Silver and herself. “I told you, I’m not letting anybody hurt you again, Lucy! That includes this sadistic asshole right here!” he shouted and pointed at Silver, who was frowning because he was obviously upset his attempt to kill Lucy failed. “Stop spouting all that bullshit with my father’s body and voice!” he roared and fell into his signature pose. “Ice Make: Ice Impact!” A gigantic hammer formed above Silver and came crashing down, splintering the ground beneath him. Lucy shielded her face as little shards of stone rained down on her.

“Not gonna work!” Silver shouted, and she looked up to see him once again eating the ice. He then whirled around with a deadly serious expression. “You may want to move, or the girl will die,” he said as he whipped his arm back for a presumedly massive attack.

“Sorry about this,” Gray grunted, and before she could react, grabbed her by the back of her shirt and flung her unceremoniously away.

“Gray! No!” she shrieked as Silver released a massive icy blast at him, and he vanished from her sight within the roiling, icy white wind. She crashed roughly to the ground, and she groaned for a second in pain before forcing herself to look around for Gray. He was on the ground too, shaking violently as he struggled to push himself up. The tears that had not stopped for a second began to flow more freely. “Gray! Be strong, Gray!” she shouted at him over Silver’s incessant cackling.

“Don’t worry, Lucy…” he hissed as he stood up, pressing a hand against his profusely bleeding abdomen. “I promise… With these hands, I’m going to destroy him.”

“You’re chances of winning are zero percent,” Silver snickered back. Gray made a cannon out of ice, sending a high-speed bullet at Silver. He didn’t even attempt to dodge it. “It won’t wor-“ He was cut off as a section of rubble the size of his head smashed into his face, sending his head whipping back so heard she thought for sure his neck would snap. He looked at Gray in deranged anger and a little bit of surprise.

“Eat this!” Gray roared, a handful of cannons around him firing all at once. Silver gritted his teeth as he defended himself against the onslaught.

“You’re crafty, but-!” he waved a hand, and a shiver went through Lucy’s body as a chill wind swept across the ruined fortress, coating every bit of the rubble in ice. “What will you do now that everything is covered in ice?”

“This is the magic that froze the giant’s village,” Gray remarked while looking around, then smirked. “You just dug your own grave. I can pass this magic through my body and recreate it however I wish!” Lucy’s eyes widened, as did Silver’s.

“What are you talking about?”

“You said it yourself- magic of your own type won’t work on slayer-type. I’m well aware of that, but there’s an exception.” Lucy wracked her brain thinking of what he could mean, and then it dawned on her. Of course! He knows Natsu can’t eat his own flames, so Silver must not be able to eat his own ice! If Gray uses Silver’s ice against him, he can’t nullify it! Gray’s body began to glow with magic power, and he dropped down to place a hand against the frozen ground and absorb the magic. “Now disappear!” He roared and sent a vortex of ice spiraling at Silver. Lucy, having recovered a bit of her strength, sat up on her knees and clasped her hands together.

“Please work!” she prayed aloud, hoping that her hope would be the difference.

It wasn’t.

“Yes, I can’t eat my own ice,” Silver growled. Lucy fell back on her legs as Silver emerged from the swirling mist, completely unfazed and unharmed. “It’s still ice. It’s not gonna work.” He looked up at the bewildered Gray with that same twisted grin. “Have I made you remember it yet? The terror of Deloria?” Lucy shuddered at the absolute madness in his expression and voice. She was no longer sure… if this was an opponent that Gray could beat.

No! I have to be strong, too! I can’t help him fight, but I can support him from here! My hope will be his hope! She resolved quickly. Still, it was hard to hang onto that as Silver once again just tossed Gray aside like a rag doll.

“What’s happening? You’ve lost your energy. Are you scared?” Silver mocked. No! He can’t give up!

“Gray! Don’t give up! You can beat him; I know it!” she shouted, then gasped as Silver began kicking him savagely in his wounded stomach. “I want to see your face more twisted,” he sneered, and then once again looked at Lucy. She gasped and tried to crawl away, but he was much faster. She screeched in agony as he jerked her up by her hair, pulling on it roughly.

“Lucy!” Gray shouted and lunged for her, only to fall to the ground in a bleeding heap.

“Gray…” she whimpered, then cried out as Silver tugged on her hair again.

“Yes, that’s it! Fear! You’re more afraid of her death than your own!” Lucy wanted to be tough, but as his booted foot smashed into her ribs, all attempts of bravado dissolved as the flaming pain blossomed through her body. She threw her head back as she screamed in agony, the tears flooding down her cheeks once more. “I wanna see you beg, girl,” Silver snickered as he pulled her by her hair all the way up to where they were face-level. It hurt like hell, like he was ripping every hair out of her head, from the force of her own body weight pulling her down. Lucy’s bottom lip trembled as she glared weakly at him. “Oh? Still some deviance left? I’ll beat it out of you.” Lucy’s world reeled as he backhanded her across the face, busting her lip in just one blow. “Come on! Beg him again to save you!” Through lidded eyes, Lucy watched Gray struggled to get up, slipping in his own blood. Silver slapped her again, and she felt her eye swelling up. “Do you want to die after all, girl? Go on! Call out for him!”

As much as she wanted to, she couldn’t bring herself to. She had already faltered once. All I am right now is a burden… Gray had told her it was all right, but it wasn’t, not in her mind. She would not allow herself to slip into that hopeless fear again. I have to be strong so he can be strong. Lucy didn’t flinch as she heard him forming the ice sword in his hand. “Stubborn girl. You’re not fun to play with,” he growled. Before he could drive it through her body, Gray managed to pull himself to his feet and throw his entire body against Silver, unbalancing him. Gray grabbed Lucy around the middle and ripped her away from Silver as he stumbled, again carrying her to safety. As he set her down, he gasped as more blood poured from his wound and he fell heavily against her.

“Gray!”

“I’m okay,” he huffed and looked up at her. One of his eyes was closed as blood poured into it from a scratch on his forehead, and blood leaked from the corners of his mouth. He looked a mess, and the worry must have shown on her face. “As long as I have you here supporting me, Lucy, I’ll keep fighting.” Lucy’s face flushed. I’m really helping!

“Do you really think you can win?” Silver snorted in derision. Gray straightened up, pushing Lucy- who ironically now found she could stand up- behind him.

“I have to win,” he answered darkly, shaking from both the effort to keep standing and determination. “I have to win because I’m making sure Lucy’s going home!”

“Ice won’t work. I’ve blocked your physical attacks. You can’t just win with your feelings.”

“Not yet… I’ve still got something left.” Lucy stepped back as he fell into an unfamiliar stance, panting heavily. I’ve got a bad feeling… she thought and held her hands to her chest. “Iced Shell.” As he uttered those words, her blood ran cold.

“Gray! No! Don’t do it!” she shrieked and jumped forward to grab him by the shoulders, but he shrugged her off. Even though she could stand, the rough motion still unbalanced her and sent her falling back to the ground. “No! Gray!” she begged him though she knew he had made up his mind.

“You’re bluffing. That move freezes the opponent for eternity in exchange for their life. You wouldn’t do it. Besides, ice doesn’t work on me, not even Iced Shell,” Silver mused. He was completely unbothered by the threat.

“Oh? Think back… That magic imprisoned you for ten years.”

“That’s before I mastered demon-slaying magic.”

“Then have the guts to take this!” Gray roared, his body glowing and beginning to distort slightly. Silver’s expression turned to one of slight panic.

“You can’t! You’ll die!” he cried out. Lucy lunged forward on her hands and knees, reaching out for him.

“No, Gray! Don’t leave me!” She realized it now; she realized why it seemed he had changed all of a sudden, and she hadn’t gotten the chance to tell him. “I lo-“

“Stop!” Silver screeched and waved a hand, slicing through Gray’s middle. Lucy was about to scream, until Gray’s form shifted into a crumbling ice sculpture. “What?” Silver cried and whipped around as Gray appeared behind him.

“For my family… And for Ur… I will surpass you, Deloria!”

“No, Gray, please! Remember what Natsu did!” Lucy continued to beg him, though she wasn’t sure her voice was reaching him. Natsu had stopped him from using Iced Shell once before, but he wasn’t here now. She pulled herself to her feet, sobbing miserably. “Don’t do it! I-“

“Listen to the girl!” Silver interrupted. Gray’s eyes shifted downward, and for a moment hope fluttered inside of her, hope that her pleas had changed his mind. Then they flickered upwards again, fiery and defiant.

“Sorry.”

Lucy screamed as the ice magic shot from Gray’s body and weaved around Silver, who was also screaming in fear.

“Ice doesn’t work on me!” he was shouting, as if it would make it true, while Lucy fell to her knees, the tears now streaming silently down her cheeks. Gray… Then, the ice magic rebounded, and Silver grinned maniacally in triumph. “I crushed your Iced Shell!” he grinned to the shocked Gray. Lucy looked up, expecting Gray to die at Silver’s hands, but there was another Gray standing behind Silver now, right in front of her. The real Gray.

“I’m sorry, Lucy. I almost forgot something important,” he murmured as the other Gray, another ice sculpture, crumbled to pieces. “I can’t die, because I don’t want to see anyone crying… Especially not you.” Lucy’s bottom lip wobbled precariously as the tears of desperation turned to those of relief. He did hear me! Silver whipped around in shock, and they both realized at that time that Gray was holding a steel ball.

“When did you-?”

“I was the one who melted the giant’s village.” While they had been preoccupied trying to prevent Gray from using the Iced Shell, he had melted the ruins and supposedly picked up his new weapon. Before Silver could even finish turning around, Gray coated his arm in a thick armored gauntlet of ice. Lucy jumped forward and grabbed onto his arm, and he looked at her.

“I’ll help you!” She could feel it, a tiny remnant of Aquarius’ power fluttering inside of her, and she thought of no better way to use it than here and now. He nodded to her, and she closed her eyes to summon the magic. Aqua Metria! The water magic swirled in Gray’s palm where he was holding the ball. With a roar, he flung the steel ball at Silver with all his might, amplifying its acceleration with the armor-like ice and Lucy’s water magic, which created a vortex behind the projectile to boost its force. It collided with Silver’s middle, so fast that it blew a hole right through him, and he collapsed to the ground with blood already pooling around him. Gray instantly sagged, panting heavily and barely able to stand. Lucy wrapped an arm around his middle, trying not to think about the thick, hot blood leaking on her arm, and pulled him against her to support him.

“Well done… Gray…” Silver croaked weakly. Gray just snorted.

“Did you think I wouldn’t notice? You’re not Deloria… You’re my father.” Lucy narrowed her eyes, having been convinced, but Gray would know his father better than anyone.

“Finish me.”

“Fuck off! You’re my old man! What the hell are you even doing here?” Gray snapped back. There was a moment of silence.

“I was waiting to be killed by you…” Silver admitted quietly. “You’re right… I was once your father, but I’m not human anymore… I’m not a demon, either. I’m a corpse. I’ve been dead for seventeen years. Man, what a long time…” Gray stiffened in Lucy’s grasp. He really is dead! But how…? “A necromancer, who wields a curse that allows you to control the dead… I was collected by him as a corpse and used for his experiments. Its aim was to figure out how closely he could make the existence of a corpse resemble its former self. I was among several hundred of them, but I alone have lived this long. No, not really lived… More like existed.” Lucy put a hand to her mouth. How awful… “And it was all for the sake of revenge against the demons that stole my family away from me. In this dark guild, I persevered, in secret, killing demons while I discovered them. That’s why I did what I did in the Sun Village… Those flames were not of demonic origin after all. I continued to weaken the powers of the demons around me until I thought that I could take down Tartaros. But then… I learned that you were alive, Gray. At that moment I realized…” He shakily lifted up his hands to stare at them. “These hands of mine are too stained with blood. I have no right to fight for your sake or your mother’s…” Gray stared at him in quiet disbelief, then hung his head again, trembling slightly.

“So that’s why you were so hell-bent on dying?”

“I’m already dead, Gray. I just intended to erase this existence of mine. I leave everything to you,” he grunted as he pulled himself into a sitting position, his expression dismally sad. Gray gritted his teeth and waved an arm angrily.

“You don’t get to decided! And what’s left for me, anyway?!” After his outburst, he seemed to realize something, and exhaled deeply, relaxing against Lucy.

“It’s okay… You don’t need to do anything. I said some pretty messed up things to you, and I did those awful things to that girl there… I apologize…” he murmured. Gray looked down, continuing to shake as he balled up his fists. He’s probably realizing… That Silver did all this so Gray could finally conquer his demons… And realize his true strengths… “You’re better off just forgetting about me. The man you knew… Died long ago.”

“You’re still my dad,” Gray uttered quietly. A tear rolled down Silver’s cheek.

“As if there’d ever be a father that hits his children and threatens their friends,” he said through gritted teeth. Gray started to object, but Silver cut him off. “Enough… Quickly… Finish me.” His head still hung and his shoulders hunched, a long, sharp sword formed in Gray’s hands. Lucy stepped back, allowing him to stand on his own, because this was something the he and he alone needed to do.

“You want to be put to rest, huh?”

“Please… I want to see your mother again.” Gray was silent, but she could see the emotions roiling inside him, from his taut posture and his trembling body and gritted teeth. “Don’t hesitate! I had a hand in Operation Face! I killed those former council members! I raised a hand against the Celestial Mage, who is important to you! I am your enemy!” Gray walked forward, holding the sword above his head. Lucy could see the tip of it wavering precariously from his shaking hand.

“You may be my father by blood,” he hissed. “But none of that matters to me, if you’re an enemy of the guild! That’s how we’ve always protected it!” At the end, Gray’s voice broke, and the sword dropped slightly.

“Such is what it means to be human,” Silver mused quietly.

“I… I just can’t kill you!” Gray cried suddenly and dropped the sword, and though his back was to her, she knew he was crying from the way his shoulders were shaking. “Fuck… Fuck it all…” he sniffed and hung his head miserably.

“That, too, is what it means to be human,” his father sighed with a rueful smile and tears leaking from his eyes. As Gray sniffled miserably, wiping at his eyes as he cried, Lucy debated whether she should comfort him; she decided that regardless of whether it was appropriate or not, she wanted to, and so she walked over to Gray’s side and wrapped her hands around the upper muscle of his arm and squeezed slightly. Without saying anything, he collapsed into her, and despite her weakness she still found the strength to bear his weight. Right now is when he really needs me. He turned his head to press it into hers, their faces close enough for her to see the tears spilling from his lashes even though he was trying to cover them with his fingers. She glanced over at Silver as he pulled himself up and stumbled unsteadily over to Gray, and pulled him into a hug with his hand on the back of his head, and then did something she didn’t expect- he wrapped his other arm around her shoulders and hugged her too. “My body won’t hold out much longer…”

“Dad,” Gray sniffed as he buried his face into his father’s shoulders, but couldn’t find the words he wanted to say, all the things he wanted to tell him. He didn’t need to.

“I just want to hold you for a little while, if that’s okay…” Gray dissolved into sobs, trying to muffle them with the fur around Silver’s cape, but the full force of his emotions was spilling forth, having broken through the dam he had erected so long ago. Lucy continued to hold onto his arm, soothingly stroking her fingers up and down his bruised, bloody skin, silently letting him know that she was there for him. “You’ve grown into a fine man, Gray… My pride and joy.”

I’m glad, despite everything, that Gray will have the chance to say goodbye. “Little girl…”

“My name is Lucy.”

“Oh, yes. Lucy. I’m sorry for what I put you through,” he smiled at her, but the guilt and remorse was clear in his expression. “I was acting selfish. I hope you won’t hold it against me.” Lucy shook her head, and was honest, too. Even if it wasn’t the right way to do it, he was acting for Gray’s benefit. She couldn’t hate him for that. “Now, Gray… There’s one more thing left. I am going to teach you the ice devil-slayer magic. E.N.D. is a flame demon.” Lucy watched for a moment, but nothing in particular seemed to happen between them; yet, all of a sudden, Gray seemed to find his strength again and was able to stand without her support. He must have transferred his magic to him. She and Gray gasped as he began to glow brightly. “Ah… It seems the water girl managed to pull it off.” Juvia? “Lucy… Take care of Gray,” he told her, then looked at Gray. “I leave everything to you.” With that, he faded into brilliant light that flickered out of existence as it ascended to the sky. Gray balled up his fists and hung his head again, so Lucy slid her hand down his arm to curl it around his, and he opened it up so their fingers could entwine.

“Dad… You can rest now,” he murmured, and Lucy watched as dark bands appeared on Gray’s lower arm, right above his wrist, three in a row. “As an ice devil slayer, I’m going to crush E.N.D.” A moment of silence passed, and then Gray suddenly whipped around to envelop Lucy in a tight hug and bury his face into her hair, seemingly indifferent to how dirty and tangled it was. She could feel the tears leaking from his eyes and falling into the messy blonde strands and onto her shoulder, and as she wrapped her arms tightly around him, she could feel that he was trembling again. I will be your strength.

“It’s okay, Gray,” she murmured. “Thank you so much for taking care of me… I’m gonna take care of you now. Promise.” I promise you, Silver… I will watch over your son, whom you left this power and this will… After a minute of crying, Gray managed to reign in his emotions and lifted his head to look down at her, tears still swimming in his dark eyes.

“Lucy… When I was about to use the Iced Shell…” A faint blush rose to her cheeks, because she already knew what he was about to ask. She could play it off, but… I want to be honest about my feelings. The feelings she never really knew she had, until this battle, where the both of them gained so much, found a strength they never knew they had.

“I was going to tell you… I love you… Gray.” Instead of blushing and looking away, she met his gaze, so he could read the emotion and seriousness in her eyes. She wasn’t sure for how long she had, or when it started; all she knew is that she knew it now, and she wasn’t going to be silent. Even if he didn’t feel the same way, she wanted him to know. “I’ll be your strength when you can’t find any… I’ll be at your side, to support you when you fall… I’ll take care of you, just like your father asked me to… Even if you don’t lo-“

She couldn’t finish, because at that instant he grabbed her by the face and kissed her with a fierce passion. It was Lucy who fell into him this time, as all the strength was sapped from her body, her breath being stolen away by the maelstrom swirling between Gray’s mouth and her own. She felt everything in that kiss, his sadness and pain, his joy and relief, his love and his desire. Her hands found his shoulders; she had to anchor herself to him somehow, lest she be swept away by the storm of his lips moving in a fierce rhythm against hers. She started crying again. His emotions were hers, too; she experienced it all, writhing inside of her until they poured down her cheeks in those silent rivers of tears. As his hands found their way to her waist, one of hers had crept up the back of his neck to entangle her fingers into the dark strands of his hair, the sweat and blood coating her fingertips as she wound the soft fibers around them. They said so much in the silence, more than they could ever say with words. When their lips finally parted, Lucy felt like she had been found after being lost for an eternity, found in the way he was gazing down at her so softly and the way he was holding her body up against his.

“I’m gonna hold you to that promise- and I promise I’ll take care of you, too. Now let’s go finish kicking Tartaros’ ass. We can’t let Natsu have all the fun, can we?” Lucy smiled sweetly as she nodded firmly, and he pulled away from her, though he paused a moment to slip his hand into hers and entwine their fingers.

I don’t know what will happen from here… But I know we’ll do it together.