𝐅𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐌𝐲 𝐀𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐥 ★ Gray Fullbuster X OC

23

Eleven months have passed since the Alvarez Empire attacked. Eleven months have passed since Zeref and the First Master died peacefully. Eleven months have passed since Acnologia was defeated. Eleven months have passed since the village of Magnolia has finally regained peace.

And during those eleven months, Alexa Skywalker was very much still in a coma.

She was kept in the guild's infirmary; eyes remaining shut and heart still beating. Not a day's passed by when Gray wasn't by Alexa's side. He'd leave for quests, but he'd normally rush to finish it and head straight to the guild's infirmary right after. He'd spend most of his nights falling asleep in the infirmary room, thinking that she'd wake up anytime now and he'd hate not to be the first person she sees when she does.

Death wasn't kind. Gray knew that. It snatched where it could, taking people who were far too young, far too good. It didn't pretend to care, it didn't pretend to distinguish. The hooded vale of death had hung over the world for a long time, always threatening. It had never touched Gray quite so close. Death had ripped away a part of him, the part of him that was most loved. Now Gray would sit staring for hours. His face sunken and haunted, his mind cold and empty. The more the weeks went on, the more the town seemed to become her.

'Maybe that's why I couldn't cry' He realized, staring dry-eyed at the ceiling of her room. 'Because what was the point in crying when there was no one there to comfort you? And what was worse, when you couldn't even comfort yourself?'

Alexa's hands lay flat on either side of her, her arms at her sides. She seemed barely to be breathing; he wasn't sure he was breathing himself. Her eyes were shut and her lashes cast fine shadows against the curve of her cheekbones. He laced her fingers through his. "Good night," he whispered softly. With their hands clasped like children in a fairy tale, he fell asleep beside her in the dark.

* * *

"Hey, Natsu! you ready to go on that quest—", just as Lucy was finished dressing up, she emerged from her room with an excited expression. That changed as soon as she saw Natsu sitting depressed with Happy on her pink couch. "are you guys all right?" the blonde asked softly as she joined beside them.

"It's been almost a whole year now." Natsu finally said. "We're all sad, but I can't imagine the pain Gray must be going through. I told him there was still hope when I stopped him from using that damned Iced Shell but I've never seem him so...hopeless. I feel like an asshole for giving him false hope—"

"He wouldn't have been here if it wasn't for you. And it wasn't false at all. Alexa will wake up, I'm sure of it." said Lucy. "Just wait a little longer."

Natsu sighed exasperatedly. "When Alexa left, a big part of him went with her. And it just scares me."

"Why does it scare you?" Lucy asked, moving closer to him in concern.

"I don't know." He replied quickly, maybe a little too quickly. His fingers fidgeted together nervously as he looked down at the floor.

She placed her hand gently on his shoulder and smiled sweetly, yet sadly. "Sure you do."

"I just...don't wanna lose him too." He finally admitted, burying his head into his hands.

"Oh, Natsu..." The blonde whispered, wrapping her arms around his body and pulling him into a hug.

"It's been almost a whole year..." he whimpered, embracing her tightly as his shoulders shook.

"Forget the quest today. You should go check up on him," she suggested, stroking his pink locks. "I'm sure he needs his best pal right now."