Chapter 20
I'm sorry...
The words echoed in Gray's head, trying to work their way through the fog that had taken control of his mind. He frowned in concentration, thinking the voice sounded familiar, even if he couldn't pinpoint who it belonged to at the moment.
Opening his eyes, he turned his head slowly, trying to figure out where he was and glean any information he could. His thoughts felt sluggish, but it didn't take him long to recognize his surroundings.
He lay on a field that was very familiar to him, although he had no recollection of how he'd gotten there. Shaking his head in confusion, he felt a massive wave of pain reverberate in his skull. His hand went up to his head, and he immediately felt a sticky wetness. He brought the hand back, examining it curiously.
A sound overhead distracted him. It reminded him of the flapping of wings, although it was louder than any bird he could think of. Gray peered up at the night sky, hoping to get a glimpse of whatever creature made the noise, but he couldn't make out anything in the pitch darkness of the moonless night.
Other noises filtered through gradually, like muffled screams vying for his attention. But it was the acrid smell of smoke traveling with the wind that captured his attention, leaving him helpless to the assault of his memories.
The quick spurts of overly bright images of blood and fire made him turn to his side to vomit, both from the pain the overstimulation caused and the non-stop pounding in his head.
Visions of burning structures and dying bodies plagued him until he heard himself whining in his throat, already dreading what came next. His heart stung as he watched his parents try to protect him against a monster they had no hope to stop. Their last moments filled with excruciating pain, and even though their actions had saved him, they'd also doomed him to a life spent alone.
Gray's muscles stiffened at the thought of Deliora, the hellfire dragon that had destroyed his village and taken everything and everyone he'd loved from him. Ever since that day, he'd held a hatred for all dragons, but none more than the fire breathing red dragons.
It had been a shock to learn those same dragons had not only raised his mate, they'd also protected Talos for years. But none of that had been enough to change his mind, even though he knew he needed to let go of his hate before it could cost him the one he loved more than anything.
Natsu.
At the thought of his mate, Gray's fingers quickly found their way to his scarf, wanting to reassure himself that it was still there. He continued to hear screaming, and he pried himself away from his memories, trying to make sense of what was happening in the present.
The last thing he remembered was walking home from his last job. One that had begun as a takedown of bandits but that he'd extended into a construction job, allowing him to stay away from Talos and the situation that had precipitated his departure for three long months.
While he was glad for the vast amount of jewels he'd earned, he'd hoped that staying busy would also have helped quell his anxiety at Natsu's continued absence, but it had only made him more anxious with every passing day.
How did I get from there to here?
He sat up, scanning the area near him for his travel bag but couldn't find it, and when he checked his pockets, he found his purse mostly empty. Had someone robbed him and left him for dead?
Gray looked around and noticed other details. There was a lot of blood. An enormous amount, more than could have come from one human, lay in a pool a short distance away. He grew more confused by the second. Who had been here with him? Where did they go? Did this blood belong to the man whose voice he'd heard earlier?
This field was special to him, it was a place he often went to relax or train, and it held many of his most pleasant memories. To see it covered in blood set him on edge, but there was something else. A vague feeling that something important had gone horribly wrong.
But what?
He desperately tried to remember anything, actively fighting the muddle that had taken over his brain, but there was nothing to be found. At least not yet. The pain in his head alerted him to the possibility of a concussion. If that were true, there was no use fighting it. His memories would return in time. He might as well start the long trek back to Talos.
The field was a good mile away from the village and Gray got up slowly, trying to get a feel for how bad his injuries actually were. He was in a lot of pain, but he could move, although his legs felt shaky.
He made his way back to the village as quickly as he was able, remembering the smoke he'd smelled earlier. Erza would have his head if she learned he was slacking off in the field while the village was in danger.
Thinking of Erza reminded him of how he'd left town in a huff. He'd been angry at Juvia for forcing herself on him and at his friends for helping her. It felt stupid to have made such a big deal about it when they could be dead, but he tried not to let that thought sink in too much. He needed to stay sharp because the more he tried to convince himself of different things that could have caused this much destruction; he knew there was only one that made any sense.
Dragons.
As he got closer, the overwhelming heat of the fire joined the glow of the flames, alarming him with how similar it all felt to what he'd already experienced.
The thought that this attack might be a sign that the war they'd thought was almost over was anything but made him push himself a little harder to get to the village faster, even though his legs were quickly tiring, and the pain in his side worried him. The ache in his head remained relentless.
He caught his breath, realizing the closer he got, the more familiar the scene of destruction became.
The sky glowed a soft orange, and clouds of thick black smoke angrily followed the path of the wind as buildings burned. He could see Juvia moving as much water from the nearby lake as she was able, using it to douse the buildings and trying her best to keep the fire from spreading to the adjacent ones. She looked tired but determined.
Lyon also attempted to stop the fires with his ice, the intense heat of the flames quickly melting it into water. Gray was glad to see their combined efforts were turning the tide. He tried to call upon his own ice magic, but he was too weak. His head immediately throbbed, and once again, he felt the urge to vomit.
"Are you okay?" Erza appeared from somewhere behind him and put his arm around her shoulder, supporting part of his weight as they moved. She walked him over to a set of nearby steps and sat him down.
She looked him over, checking him for injuries. "When were you seen by a healer?" she asked curiously.
"What?" Gray gazed at her in confusion. He watched her fuss over him and couldn't help a small smile of fondness. Even with her clothes in tatters and soot clinging to her long scarlet hair, Erza still cared more about him than about her own visible injuries, despite the way he'd left the village.
"Some of your wounds have been partially healed." Erza remarked as she continued to check him over, "Where were you anyway? You had us worried sick. Lyon said the last time he'd seen you, you'd just slammed into the side of a building."
"What are you talking about? I was just coming back from my job, and I woke up in the field," Gray told her, knowing from experience it was never wise to keep the truth from her.
"Your job, the field? You're not making any sense. Your job finished six months ago. You never returned. We sent out rescue parties for months."
"You showed up with the dragons and started fighting," Erza looked at him, "How would you have gotten to the field in your condition?"
Dragons? Gray was horrified to learn he'd been right, but none of the things Erza said sounded at all familiar to him.
"I suppose how you got there isn't so important at the moment, I'm just glad you're alright," Erza said, eyes warm with affection.
She could be a hard taskmaster, but Erza also cared deeply about her friends. Gray was glad she was dating his brother, even if Lyon was a dumbass. They complimented each other well.
"What happened?" Gray asked, "I don't remember anything."
"Maybe you hit your head too hard," Erza conceded, "We heard this horrible screech. It was like nothing we'd ever heard before. Lyon and I ran outside to find a black dragon was attacking the town. I ran to evacuate the residents to a safer area while Lyon went off to fight."
"A large red dragon came out of nowhere and rammed into the black one. And then you came running in as if you'd never left and joined Lyon. The dragons fought for a while, but the red one chased the other one away. Unfortunately, all these fires are a result of their fight."
"I don't believe that." Gray scoffed stubbornly. "The only red dragon in the area is Happy, and I don't think he'd be strong enough to do that."
"Maybe they've returned at long last," Erza shrugged her shoulders before shaking her head in wonder. "That red dragon was amazing. The way it fought was like nothing I've ever seen before."
"Tell that to the people of my village." Gray almost snarled, not being able to help himself after having so recently re-lived the death of his parents and the destruction of his village. He cradled his head in his hands and closed his eyes as another wave of pain hit him.
"Where did you go?" Lyon asked, shaking his shoulder slightly. Gray hissed at him as his nausea returned.
"Be careful, you idiot." Erza scolded Lyon, "He can't remember anything. I think he might have a concussion."
"Where was he?" Lyon asked, and Gray could hear the worry underneath the harsh tone even as they talked about him as if he wasn't there.
"He just walked in, said he woke up in the field." Erza reported, "Some of his wounds were partly healed as well. It's all very strange."
"I'm surprised he looks this well." Lyon mused, "If that red dragon hadn't taken that hit, I don't think he would have survived. That was very lucky."
"Yes it was. Do you think the black dragon will come back?"
"I hope not. I don't want to think about what might have happened if that red dragon hadn't shown up. We were no match for it, that's for sure," Lyon wiped the sweat from his brow as he once again glanced at his brother with concern.
"Did he say anything about where he was all this time?"
Erza shook her head, placing a finger on her lips, and Lyon nodded tiredly. Now was not the time to be asking those questions.
"It's going to take us a long time to rebuild." Erza sighed as she looked around at the destruction that surrounded them, already sounding tired at just the thought of the work that was ahead of them.
Lyon walked over to her, pulling her into a fierce embrace, "I don't care about that, I'm just glad you're okay."
Erza moved her arms until they surrounded him as well and squeezed him tightly. "I was so worried."
They stood together quietly until Lyon kissed her head, whispering, "I love you" into her hair.
"I love you too."
Erza pressed her head into his shoulder briefly before pulling away. "There's still a lot left to be done."
"Yeah, I should go help Juvia," Lyon said, glancing back at the remaining fires with a frown. He'd walked a few steps when he turned back to face Erza. "You were amazing. Thanks to you, everyone got out safely. I'm so proud of you!"
Gray heard him walk away and looked up to see Erza watching after his brother with a slight dusting of red on her cheeks, and he couldn't help but smile at them. They made a sweet couple, and he tried not to feel jealous of how easy they had it. Ever since Natsu had left, Gray had felt like a large part of himself had left with him.
"He's right, you know." Gray complimented her. She might be his superior, but she was also one of the few people he considered a friend.
"I just did my job," Erza said with little interest. Praise had never been something that was important to her. It was one of the things that made her an excellent captain. She was strict, but she expected nothing from them she wasn't willing to do herself.
"You, however, almost got yourself killed while doing yours," she reprimanded him. "You can't lose focus during a fight like that."
Gray stared at her blankly, "I have no clue what you're talking about."
"Never mind for now. I'm just glad you're safe," Erza smiled at him, but it was strained, and Gray wasn't sure if it was because of him or the desperate situation the town was in. "Is your head better now?"
"A little."
"You know, Juvia was very worried about you," Erza mentioned with a glint in her eye, "She missed you a lot while you were gone. She even went with Lyon to the town you were working to ask questions."
"Ugh, please don't start that again." Gray groaned, "Juvia is a nice girl, but I'm not interested in her that way."
"At the very least, you owe her an apology for your behavior," Erza pointed out.
"Don't you think she owes me an apology?" he ranted when Erza didn't immediately comment. "Why is it that when people are in a relationship, they try to pair off all their friends?" Gray grunted.
"I'm happy for you and Lyon, really I am, but I don't owe Juvia anything. I told her I wasn't interested, and she refuses to take no for an answer. That isn't my responsibility."
"I just want you to be happy, Gray. You never know, if you gave her a chance, she could make you happy."
Before he could even protest that he actually did know, Erza distracted him by gazing at his chest with a strange expression.
"Where did you get that necklace?" Erza asked curiously.
"Necklace?"
"Yeah, you know, that thing on your chest? You didn't have that before."
Gray shrugged, not understanding what Erza was talking about, but then she grabbed something that was dangling on his chest and showed it to him. He couldn't remember having ever seen it before, but it felt somewhat familiar. He felt a connection to it, even if he couldn't think of what that might be.
"It's beautiful," Erza's eyes widened as she inspected it, "The workmanship on the sword pendant... it's exquisite, and that red gemstone, it's so vibrant. It must have cost you plenty of jewels."
"I didn't buy it, at least I don't think I did." Gray murmured, puzzled by its presence. He removed Natsu's scarf, grimacing at the bloodstains on it before folding it carefully and placing it on his lap.
He'd have to wash it quickly before the stains set. He couldn't stand the idea of ruining his mate's most prized possession. Second most prized possession, Gray reminded himself with a small smile, remembering Natsu's words before he'd left, only to once again worry.
Was Natsu doing okay? Was he injured? In his quiet moments, did Natsu think about him?
Gods, he missed him terribly! They had made a lot of plans for their future before Natsu had left, and Gray wanted nothing more than for him to return so they could get started on all of them.
Gray took the necklace off to get a better look at it, but was instantly filled with a sense of loneliness and despair. He put it back on, and the feeling faded.
What the hell?
Great. Another mystery. Gray was tiring of those. It was more than his poor head could handle at the moment. He eyed the neat square of fabric sitting on his lap and touched it almost reverently, taking deep breaths as he ran the scarf between his fingers.
"Well, let's get you to a healer. You still look terrible." Erza helped him up, and they slowly made their way to the nearest healer with Gray clutching the scarf in his right hand.
They had almost reached the long line of people waiting to get seen when they were stopped by the approach of an exhausted-looking Juvia and Lyon.
"Gray-sama's okay!" The blue-haired mage would not meet his eyes as she spoke, her eyes fixed on the ground while one of her feet twisted nervously.
"Juvia was worried." Her cheeks flushed slightly as they always did when she was near him, and Gray couldn't tell if it was because of embarrassment at how they'd left things, but the way she'd already resorted to calling him Gray-sama left a bitter taste in his mouth.
"I'm fine, Juvia." Erza glared at him for his shortness, and he quickly added something more helpful to appease her. "Uhm, great job putting out those fires."
Erza smiled at Gray in a way that made him wary. "I really should check the rest of the village to see what's needed. Juvia can stay with you until the healer can see you."
She turned towards Juvia before he could protest that Lyon could stay with him, "You don't mind, do you?"
"Of course not, Captain. Juvia will do her duty." Juvia beamed at Erza, "Juvia will make sure Gray-sama is well taken care of."
"Erza expects — I mean, I expect nothing less, try to get some rest yourself. The healer might want to look at you as well." Erza patted the water mage's arm while turning to smirk at Gray.
He glared at her, and she immediately narrowed her eyes, daring him to protest before grabbing Lyon by the arm and dragging him along with her. Lyon, well aware of Gray's feelings on the matter, looked back and mouthed I'm sorry at him before turning around and following his girlfriend.
Did I actually think Erza was good for Lyon? Gray wondered, furious at the situation he'd been thrust into yet again. She's the devil!
The walk from the field had left him feeling drained, and he soon found a place to sit while he waited to be seen. Collapsing to the ground, he leaned his back against a building, groaning at the onslaught of aches and pains that introduced themselves as he did so. He looked up, only to catch Juvia staring at him with a dreamy smile on her lips that made him groan in discomfort.
He liked Juvia well enough, and before she'd started actively pursuing him, he'd thought she was a nice girl.
However, ever since Lyon had worked up the courage to ask Erza out, Juvia had seemed to expect Gray to do the same with her. He closed his eyes while he waited, hoping Juvia would take the hint and leave him alone.
"Juvia thought she would never see her Gray-sama again."
"Don't you think that's a bit much?" Gray tried to keep the disdain out of his voice, but something about her calling him hers rubbed him the wrong way. He was not hers, never would be.
Sometimes he wished he could just yell out that Natsu was his mate, if only so he could get Erza to stop trying to set him up with the water mage. There really wasn't anything stopping him. He doubted Natsu would care if others knew, given how he'd kissed him in front of Lyon and all the dragon slayers. It was all him. Somewhere along the line, he'd gotten it into his head that if he told anyone else something terrible might happen to one of them and then they'd never be together.
Moments like this made him want to test that theory, though. He'd arguably had a day, and his patience was wearing thin. His head felt like someone was pummeling it from the inside. Nothing made sense, and all he really wanted was to go home, get into bed, and pretend this day had never happened. Was that really too much to ask?
"Juvia saw the dragon take Gray-sama away."
Gray's eyes shot open, and he peered at Juvia in disbelief.
"I'm sorry, did you just say you saw a dragon take me away?"
A dragon? Just when he thought this day couldn't get any stranger.
He waited for her response, Juvia was prone to exaggeration, but she wasn't a liar. There was usually some grain of truth to her words. "You must be mistaken, Juvia."
"Juvia knows what she saw. Juvia saw Gray-sama fall and rushed to his side to help, but the red dragon was already protecting Gray-sama from the black dragon. After the black dragon left, the red one picked Gray-sama up and flew away."
"Juvia, if a dragon had taken me, I'd be dead," Gray explained in as calm a voice as he could muster.
"Juvia knows what she saw," Juvia repeated stubbornly.
"Well, Gray doesn't want to talk about it anymore."
"When did Gray-sama get that necklace?" Juvia asked as she reached out to touch it. "Juvia doesn't remember seeing it before."
It bothered Gray to see Juvia touching the necklace, although again, he couldn't really explain why. It confused him to see her let go of it quickly with a pained expression.
"That wasn't funny," Juvia looked upset, but he had no idea what had happened. "Gray-sama should have warned Juvia that it was a trick necklace."
"Trick necklace? I don't know what you mean," Gray said tiredly. "Both Erza and I touched it earlier, and we didn't feel anything."
"It zapped Juvia," Juvia accused. She looked hurt, and tears were brimming in her eyes. "Juvia's not dumb, she knows Gray-sama doesn't like her the way she wants, but Juvia never thought Gray-sama would be mean about it."
"Juvia, I swear, I didn't do anything..." He tried to console her, but it didn't make any difference. It had been a long day for everyone. Perhaps she just needed to cry after everything she'd seen.
Gray went back to closing his eyes and ignoring her. He'd try to talk to her again after she'd calmed down. How much longer was it going to take to get seen by the healer? He wanted to leave, but he wasn't willing to face Erza's wrath if she found out.
With nothing but time on his hands, his mind immediately went to the mysteries that were surrounding him.
How the hell had he gotten to that field?
Juvia saw the dragon take Gray-sama away.
That was insane. Only Juvia would come up with something like that.
Still, how had he ended up a mile outside of the village in the middle of an attack? Where had he been for those six months? Who had healed him? Where had the necklace come from, and why had it reacted to Juvia, but not Erza?
More importantly, who did that voice in his head belong to, and why did it fill him with such disquiet?
... the red dragon was already protecting Gray-sama...
No. That made no sense, Gray flat out refused to believe that. He kept trying to work it out in his mind while he waited, growing drowsier with every question, especially when there were no answers.
It wasn't long before his body succumbed to sleep. He was out long before the healer got to him.