Locked in War
Holiday @grayzaexchange for @starsnstorms! Here’s my fic to you!
Summary: Takes place post-chapter 484. (If you don’t remember which one it is, the first few lines of the fic will remind you. The scene is unforgettable after all.) Some of the missing bits between that chapter up until chapter 494, where Team Natsu and everyone else storms Fairy Tail to regain it from Spriggan control.
A/N: You wanted bittersweet and in canon... Nothing better than the drama of feelings in a war, right? Hope I did this justice!
Word Count: ~2.5k
Happy Holidays! Enjoy!
“Please accept this as my apology.”
“...”
“..........”
“...............Eh?”
Watching the scene unfold out in front of him, Gray still had his hands flung into the air from surprise after the rather bold move Kagura made on Erza. He didn’t know what he was watching or how he should process it, so he ended up just letting out a forced laugh as he slowly lowered his arms, “Aha… Oh. Hey. I think I hear someone calling for me outside-”
“Gray-san, I didn’t hear anyone…” Wendy chimed in, wanting to distract herself from what happened too.
“Nope, I’m positive I heard it.” Gray spun around and marched outside, “Goodbye.”
The fresh air was refreshing to him, and he let out a content sigh at the feeling. He crossed his arms and leaned against the building, and then finally, he let himself laugh. Understandably, that was a weird thing to watch, but once that initial shock faded away, it was actually pretty amusing. He decided that he was acting strangely- stranger than all of his friends -and that he should probably just head back inside. Just when he peeled himself off the side of the building, Gray was stopped from going inside by Kagura practically storming out of the building, face all red, and then Wendy following her.
“Kagura-san! W-Wait! Please!” Wendy ran after her, Carla in her arms, “I need to heal your injuries first!”
Kagura muttered something under her breath as she continued to stomp away, and Gray just watched with a fallen expression. It was hitting him just how weird everyone was. This was kind of scary. With a sigh and a shake of his head, Gray braced himself as he went inside, just in case there was more weirdness around. He was pleasantly surprised when he saw that everything was calm and normal, but that good feeling banished when he saw Erza trying to force herself up, and failing.
“Hey, hey. Easy…” Gray rushed to Erza’s side, kneeling by the cot she was placed on, “Rest up, Erza. No one’s expecting you to move when you just faced two Spriggans and lived to tell the tale both times.”
Erza sighed, both out of annoyance at her helplessness and out of defeat, “Everyone is going to head back to Fairy Tail now, and I’m going with them.”
Gray shook his head, “No way. You’re way too injured to go. We wouldn’t want you hurting yourself even more out there.”
“Gray, please…” Erza closed her eyes, grimacing, “I’m not going to just sit around when everyone is in danger. I would never forgive myself if something happened and I did nothing to stop it.”
He should’ve expected this, honestly. He knew how Erza was, and Erza was always stubborn in these sorts of situations. Gray was smart enough to know not to push Erza further on the subject matter, and instead he started to think of ways to make this work, “At least let me carry you there. You’re in no shape to walk on your own.”
Erza just nodded slowly, able to at least settle that much, “If it makes you feel better, then fine. I’ll let you carry me back home.”
“Thank you, Erza.” Gray flashed a small grin, turning so that his back was facing her and pointing his thumb towards it, “Hop on.”
With a wince, Erza pushed herself off the bed and threw her arms around Gray’s neck, resting her weight against him. Gray simply locked his arms around Erza’s legs to give some extra support and he stood up easily after that, adjusting his grip a little bit. He turned back towards her, that smile of his far wider now, “See? Easy as pie. This won’t be too bad.”
Erza just hummed a response, relaxing and resting her chin on his shoulder.
“Yeah, you rest up.” Gray said, walking outside and joining Wendy once she finally managed to catch up to Kagura, “I got this from here. You don’t need to worry.”
Erza nodded weakly against Gray’s shoulder, closing her eyes. Gray just turned to Wendy, gesturing for them to start walking with a tilt of his head. “Come on, Wendy. We’re ready now. We should head out soon.”
“Hai!” Wendy smiled, “I just finished up healing everyone who really needed it! So I’m good to go!” She glanced at Erza, a bit concerned, “Will Erza-san be okay? I can heal her again if I need to..”
“She’s only tired at this point.” Gray explained, “She’ll be rested up and good to go by the time we get to the guild.”
“Got it…” Wendy nodded after a short pause, and she started walking. Gray followed suit, but shortly down the line, he started to lag behind from the added weight. He could feel Erza’s long, rhythmic breaths on his bare shoulder, and he knew that she was asleep. He didn’t want to walk too fast and risk waking her up, so he just walked slowly even if that meant separating himself from Wendy a little bit.
A little while later, Gray felt Erza stir awake and he heard her yawn, and he glanced over his shoulder to see how she was doing, “Hey, Sleeping Beauty.” He grinned, a teasing look on his face, “How ya’ feeling?”
Erza flashed a weak smile, swaying her head, “Better than before, that’s for sure… But I still wouldn’t say I’m feeling great yet.”
“I would be really, really surprised if you were.” Gray shrugged, “You went up against two of those monsters. It’s a miracle you’re still alive.”
“I wasn’t going to die on everyone, you know.” Erza sighed, closing her eyes, “Someone’s got to keep you lot in line.”
Gray shook his head and let out a chuckle, “Of course…”
Erza was silent for a few moments after that, eyes glancing over Gray with a concerned crease to her eyebrows, “Say… What about you? How are you holding up?”
“A little beat-up, honestly.” Gray let out a sigh, “But I’m fine. You’re the one who’s more battered up here. You come first.”
“How selfless…” Erza teased, resting her chin on Gray’s shoulder, “When did you grow up so much, I wonder? It’s startling me.”
“Hey…” Puffing out his lower lip, Gray glanced out to the side with a huff, “I know when to act mature, unlike a certain knucklehead…”
“Come on, I’m just messing with you. I’m proud of how much you’ve grown up.” Erza laughed softly under her breath before her expression fell, “...I’m sorry. I’m just- I’m only trying to get my mind off of everything. Teasing you seemed like a good start.”
Gray looked over his shoulder at Erza again, a solemn look on his face. He suddenly remembered what kind of situation they were in, what they were just coming from, and what they were about to walk into. This was a war they were in, a full-scale one against a nation led by the Black Wizard himself. The Spriggans were nowhere near defeated yet, and Zeref and E.N.D. had yet to be dealt with. All of Fairy Tail and the other guilds were running on empty, too. There were real consequences to this war, and the prospect of death loomed over them all. That hit Gray all at once, and his mouth dried up. Erza picked up on this, and she just sighed and shook her head.
“And now I have you thinking about it.” She said sadly, “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t apologize… I needed the wake-up call.”
“Still… We all could use a break from the stress and severity of it all.”
“I guess that just means we’ll have to win this war, huh? So we can still have our happiness when this is all over.” Gray forced a smile at that, peering back at Erza.
Erza flashed a grin back, letting out a deep breath, “You know… I’m not liking how you’ve suddenly become wiser than me. You’re stealing my job here. What am I supposed to do now?”
“You can save our butts, as always.” Gray laughed, “I’m sure you’ll find a way to get us all out of trouble here shortly. That’s your real job.”
“Heh…” Erza leaned forward, placing a quick kiss on Gray’s cheek before resting her head on his shoulder again and closing her eyes, “We’ll see about that.”
Eyes widening, Gray let out a gasp, then pursed his lips together and bashfully averted his gaze to the side. His cheeks were turning red at that, and the last thing he wanted was for her to see. It was difficult having feelings for someone in the midst of a war, because there were consequences to every course of action he could take. Gray could tell Erza, and potentially boggle her down by distracting her with his feelings and putting her in danger because of it. It wasn’t the smartest of times to confess, yet not confessing was almost just as worse. Gray could not tell her, and maybe he could die out there in the war, and take those feelings to his grave. She would never know how he felt. He didn’t know which one was worse. It was definitely a difficult decision, and it made fighting in this war a hell of a lot worse.
Gray placed his faith in both of them surviving- no, everyone surviving -and winning the war. If he had a future to look forward to with his family, then he would fight for that and wouldn’t accept a loss. He’d fight for his family, and he’d fight to speak his mind once everything was over. It was so unfortunate that just when Gray figured he finally got the guts to say something, he and the rest of Fairy Tail were thrown into a war and their lives were put in jeopardy. It just gave him fuel to resolve the mess, though, and he’d make the best of this terrible situation.
There was a blinding light in that moment, and suddenly Gray, Erza, and Wendy were caught up in Irene’s Universe One spell. A little while after the light vanished and Gray and Erza walked around in the reorganized lands, they came across Natsu and Lucy. Erza was still asleep, so Gray did the talking for her. “She’s a little beat-up, but she’ll be fine. Don’t worry.” Gray said, looking between Natsu and Lucy.
Lucy looked over Erza, a bit worried but assured by Gray, “If you say so… At least she’ll be alright.” “Of course she will!” Natsu chimed in, a smirk on his face, “She’s Erza! She’ll always pull through!”
Gray grinned at that, sparing a look back at Erza, “We were on our way back to the guild. We should get going.”
“Then what are we waitin’ for?!” Flames trailed out of Natsu’s mouth as he shouted and marched off.
Shaking his head and exchanging an exasperated glance with Lucy, Gray followed after Natsu, but not before focusing on Erza, “Don’t worry, Erza. Once we reach the guild, you’ll have a better place to rest than just slumped over my back.”
Erza stirred a bit at that, tightening her arms around Gray’s neck with a content hum. Gray just grinned at that and kept walking. Soon enough, with Zera and Gajeel’s guidance, the group of Fairy Tail mages had made it to the hill overlooking where the guild now was. It had been a long, mostly quiet walk, and the wounds throughout the day’s battles were catching up to everyone. Lucy could barely keep her eyes open, Natsu’s flames were burning out, and Gray’s muscles were starting to ache from carrying Erza around.
Once Gray reached the top of the hill, he turned to Erza, who was waking up, “Sorry, Erza… I’m gonna have to let you down here… I’m exhausted.”
“Hmm?” Erza rubbed her eyes as her feet were guided to the ground, “Oh, don’t apologize, Gray. You deserve the rest after everything you’ve done.” She then looked around to see everyone else in a similar, tired state, “And that goes for all of you. Rest. I’ll watch over you all.”
“Thanks, Erza…” Lucy yawned, laying down on the grass with a pained groan. Natsu straight up faceplanted and left for dream land.
Gray sat down with a relieved sigh, grateful to be off his feet. Erza looked out over the hill, using her Requip to change into her Heart Kreuz Armor. She glanced back at Gray after that, seeing him so happy to be relaxing.
“You don’t have to stay up just to keep me company, you know.” Erza grinned before gesturing at Natsu with a tilt of her head, “There’s nothing wrong with his plan of action for once.”
Gray smiled at that, but he shook his head, “My feet just needed a rest. I’ll be fine.”
Erza kneeled down at Gray’s side, a teasing yet insistent look on her face, “Gray… Come on. Don’t fight me on this one. Let me at least return the favor.”
“Erza, please. I’m alright, I promise.” Gray laughed uneasily. “I’m not as roughed up as the rest of you. I’m still good to go.”
“But you did carry me for miles.” Erza pointed out before letting out a sigh, “I was hoping to not resort to this, but you’ve left me little choice… Maybe I’ll just have to make you rest by force…” She wound up her hand for a backhanded strike.
Gray instantly laid down and turned away, eyes wide with fright, “I am going to sleep right now.” He said quickly, “Night night.”
Erza grinned widely once Gray finally gave in, and she leaned down to place a kiss on his temple, “Thank you again, for everything. I’ll take it from here.”
Relaxing after that, Gray just rolled onto his back and closed his eyes, finally agreeing to rest, “Don’t mention it..”
Erza stood up after that and made her way back towards the edge of the hill. Around the guild, there was nothing but a sea of black, representing Alvarez’s soldiers. They would have to fight their way back to the guild, and from the looks of it, they would be needing all the energy they could get to even put up a fight to the endless swarms of troops.
“Rest well, my dear friends.” Erza whispered to herself, “We have a deadly battle ahead of us. Exhaustion will doom us all to an early grave, so please… Recover so there’s still a hope of seeing tomorrow.”
