Worth Is Measured In Love

Chapter 16

Gray was introduced just after Juvia and Carla finished on stage. As before, he performed incredible acrobatic tricks and stunts that impressed everyone in the crowd. Everyone that is except for Mard Geer of course, he just sat that there, watching the young man perform with a bored expression on his face and eyes filled with disgust.

"Can't believe these fools find this entertaining." He thought. "And why do abominations like him, let themselves be seen in our fair city? Why can't they just creep away into the sewers or something? No one wants them here anyway."

Coins were being thrown on stage again and Gray started to collect them. Mard looked over and noticed a pile of rotten fruit and vegetables being dumped just outside the market. It gave him a nasty idea. He whispered an order to a solider and then, just as Gray was standing up from collecting the last coin, the solider threw a rotten tomato right into his face. Mard and half of the crowd started to laugh at the sudden attack.

"Ah!" Gray cried out.

Some of the juice had gotten into his eye, he wiped his face rapidly, trying to get it out so the burning would stop. Unfortunately this caused his scarf-mask to fall off and just like that, the monster was full exposed before the whole audience. Every man, woman, and child there became speechless with terror when they saw his whole face. Never in their lives could they have pictured anything more horrible.

A blood bright gash of ragged-skinned horror had been sculpted into the flesh of his mouth while blacked ash had been permanently scorched on to the skin surrounding his lips. It was a permanent and frightful grin that exposed all his teeth and scarred cheeks and a chin that held it up. It was grotesque, scary, atrocious, blood-red, and ash-black. It was the stuff of nightmares. A curse upon humanity.

"Jellal, what's happening?" Juvia asked. "Why has everything gone quiet?"

But she was quick to figure out what had taken place when frightened screams came from all around, followed by words and remarks such as,

"My God! He's hideous!"

"Is that a mask?"

"No it's his face!"

"I've never seen anything so ugly in my entire life!"

"He really is a beast!"

"No he's a demon!"

"A monster!"

"It's a perversion of nature!"

"It's an abomination!"

"A living nightmare!"

Then again came the laughter. More laughter. So many of them laughing and mocking him. But the rare few who didn't, like Natsu, just continued to look at him speechlessly. They weren't being cruel to him, they just didn't know how else to react to something like this.

As for Gray, he first just stood there frozen stiff, petrified by everyone's fear and mockery of him. He felt ashamed and disgraced. He felt that it was wrong for him to even be alive and among people. But most of all, he felt hurt. He felt terribly hurt, and angry, and frustrated. When was this going to stop? How long were people going to treat him like a freak? How much longer was he going to have to put up with this?

"Go on! Laugh!" He spat at them bitterly. "Laugh at me! Laugh all you want! Laugh yourselves to death! It's not like I'm really human or have any real feelings! I'm just a freak show after all!"

He started to do a little mock-dance.

"I am the freak show! I am the freak show! Watch me smile!"

Jellal didn't like where this was going. He always knew Gray hated how other people treated him but he had never ranted about it like this. Not in front of an audience. Not in such an unhinged and manic way.