Hot and Cold

Nirvana Unsealed

~*****~

When we do find Natsu, he's on a raft with Gray about to kill him. "Lucy!" I yelp.

She nods quickly and summons Sagittarius. He saves Natsu, just in time. "All right, come out!" Gray bellows, firing more ice arrows into the forest. I suck in a mighty breath, chewing violently on the ice that he'd sent out. I grimace and fight the urge to spit it out.

"Mind telling us what the heck you're doing?" Lucy asks through the loud crunching of ice in my mouth.

"Looks obvious to me!" Happy exclaims.

"It would appear we've foiled his foal play!" Sagittarius joked.

"Nice shot, Lucy--" Natsu groaned. His face paled again as he tried to hold in his puke.

"I know you're motion sick, but watching you nearly puke after saying my name is killing my self-esteem!" Lucy cries.

"Shall I shoot him?" Sagittarius suggests.

"What's the matter with you, Gray?!" Happy asks as I finally swallow the horrible ice magic. "You're--"

"That's not Gray!" I exclaim loudly.

Gray rolls his eyes. "Listen, I've got business, so why don't you all keep your mouths shut! I'll deal with you all later!"

"Is this... Nirvana?" Lucy stammered. "Has that thing already switched one of us to the dark side?"

"Why won't it stop?" Natsu complained loudly. "It's wobbling. It's swaying. Let me off."

"How are you still sick when it's not even moving?!" Lucy asked angrily.

"If it shifts under our feet, we'll get sick," I comment dryly.

"Hang on, buddy, I'm coming for you!" Happy cried. He gets frozen into a block of ice that hits the ground.

"How could you?" Carla stammered.

"That's no way to treat one of your friends!" Lucy cried.

"Happy may be able to fly, but he can only carry one person. He doesn't have any combat skills. That's all the info Gray has on the pest." Gray hums.

"You're not making any sense at all," Lucy mentions.

"What, am I mute?" I snap irritably. "I'm telling you, that's not Gray! This guys magic tastes awful! Gray's usual magic tastes like fresh snow."

"He's got plenty of info of Lucy and Aria. Newcomers to Fairy Tail and definitely easy on the eyes. He's got plenty of memories staring at Aria's pretty little body." I grimace and kneel to set Wendy down. "The two girls can be as hotheaded as Erza, but they hide their pure hearts. Oh, a celestial wizard and a dragon slayer, huh? That so?" Gray unleashes another attack, and I immediately suck in another breath, gagging violently as it touches my tongue.

"God, your magic tastes awful!" I shout through the crunching. "Quit with the pony show already, you poser!"

"A... poser?" Lucy stammered.

"Yes, he's definitely not the brash young man I met earlier," Hibiki comments.

"Accessing information on Hibiki. Member of the Blue Pegasus Guild. Ladies' man. No further details available. Well, that wasn't helpful." Gray huffed.

"We're wasting our time dealing with this nonsense. I wish they'd just incapacitate the fool so we can get to Nirvana." I hear Carla comment.

"Who the heck are you?!" Lucy snapped.

Gray just smirks, and begins to giggle. He lowers his gaze for a moment before he glances back up. I cringe at the god awful button eyes on him before he's enveloped in a cloud of smoke. In his place, appears a copy of Lucy, smirking devilishly.