The Ice Dragon Slayer: Hero {Fairy Tail Fan Fiction}

{Chapter 3}

The two days went by faster than Hero had expected. There was no luck in finding the missing wizard and the dragon slayer checked every pile of snow and crack in the mountain. It seemed hopeless and she had started to plan a way to say that she failed to find Gray’s body, but she could not bring herself to leave the mountain when the time came. Not only was this a mission that someone had trusted her to do alone, but it was one where she could save someone’s life. Her search continued on and luckily she had spotted something unfamiliar before a blizzard blew in.

Suspicions grew higher and higher the closer she approached the new, stone brick surrounded, estate located in between two of the major mountains. Hero got over the wall with ease by making a ladder out of ice. Trespassing was the least of her worries. The storms in the mountains were brutal that time of year, and if she did not take shelter somewhere she would surely be blown away or crushed by falling chunks of snow.

A stone brick shed was located on the opposite corner of the property, which was another two or three miles. Hero knew just how long it would take her to walk that far in the snow, but she could not waste any magical energy in fear of being encountered while she was weak. She picked up a handful of snow and packed it into a ball before she took a bite out of it. Occasionally she would repeat this while she walked, until she heard a voice shout out at her.

Hero jumped in surprise, turning to see three men running as fast as they could through the snow. A swear past her lips and she threw the half eaten snowball at the one in the front, then she increased the speed with a little bit of magic and completely knocked down the man. The other two kept going, even faster than before. The dragon slayer knelt down and placed both of her hands against the ground. The snow in front of her turned to ice along with the pathway down to the shed, which was still a half a mile away.

Swiftly, Hero jumped onto the ice to get some momentum and began to slide her way down the path. When the two men approached the ice path, they both slipped and spun out of control until they landed in the snow. The dark haired girl could not help but to chuckle at this. Her chuckling stopped when she realized how fast she was approaching the shed. With a bit of force and a lot of hope, Hero shifted the angle of her feet as if she were trying to stop a snowboard from moving. This technique worked in the sense that it got her to stop, however she did end up face planting in the snow beside the ice path.

Chewing on the snow while her face was in it, she gobbled down enough to compensate for the magic she used to make the long layer of ice. This gave the one man who had been struck down with a snowball time to catch up. Hero heard the sound of the ice sliding underneath the man’s boots.

With an adrenaline rush kicking in and the cloud of the storm making its way over the property, Hero went into the shed and then put a thick layer of ice on both the outside and inside of the door. There were no windows in the small shed, and only a few candles lit up the area. Nothing of significance stood out to Hero in the safe haven, so while she had the chance to scavenge a little deeper she instead decided to sit and rest for a moment. Her best idea was to wait for the man to get through the ice and then freeze him, but that could take some time without any fire or fire magic.

Hours passed, or Hero thought that they did. It could have been shorter than that because she was very bored just sitting in the small compartment. She sighed deeply while trying to focus on the sound of the echo that it made. But this time rather than hearing the echo she heard groaning coming from somewhere. At first she believed it to be the man outside, but this sounded closer, almost too close.

There was a carpet underneath where Hero was sitting, so she moved the fabric and revealed a door that led underneath the shed. The room was covered in plates of stone, rather than bricks like every other structure she has seen in the area. She heard the man starting to break through her ice wall, so instead of waiting for him to get completely through it she decided to jump down into the door and then put a thick ice wall over the hole.

Scattered torches lit the small dungeon, but other than that there was no other decoration. It was dull to say the least, definitely not something that Hero would have imagined to be under a tool shed. Hero finally turned around, and her jaw dropped when she saw Gray sitting on the ground with his hands and feet chained together. She immediately ran across the room and knelt down beside her fellow wizard.

“Don’t be dead.” She muttered as she froze the shackles around his wrists and ankles. Gray mumbled something inaudible, his eyes slowly opening. Hero felt like she could breathe again when she saw the ice make wizard move, although it was not much. “You,” His voice rasped out questioningly, obviously curious as to why a stranger from the guild was there to rescue him rather than one of his close friends.

Hero looked Gray dead in the eyes before she shattered the shackles. “I’ll be right back, give me two seconds.”  The dragon slayer stood up, a plan plotted in her head that would give her and Gray an easy escape. She was going out on a limb in hopes that she would make it to a cave before the blizzard reached its peak. With a big jump Hero broke through the ice that she covered the hole with and then destroyed the rest of the ice that blocked the door that was protecting her for so long. The man stepped back in surprise while he covered his face to make sure none of the shards of ice got in his eyes.

While he was still covering his face, Hero took the opportunity to freeze him into a block of ice. She was very proud of this piece because of its perfect placement and height. It was just big enough for her to jump on and use as a springboard to get over the wall. As she admired the block, the two men who slipped earlier grabbed both of her arms and shoved her face into the snow. The dragon slayer munched and munched the deeper she was shoved down, and once she was full she chuckled at her captors. “It takes a true imbecile to be unaware that they are giving their enemy firepower.”

The two men who were holding her arms were unsure of her sudden arrogance because in any other situation they were sure to have the upper hand. Hero encased her arms in freezing ice and the two men immediately pulled their hands away from the frostbite. In less than three seconds, the two men were encased in ice along with their other comrade. A sigh of relief left Hero as she shook the ice off of her arms with ease.

Back down in the small dungeon, Hero had lifted Gray onto her back and began to carry him out of the shed. Hero was strong after all of the large animals she had to carry to her shelter while she lived in the mountains.

Gray kept his head perched on Hero’s shoulder, and throughout the journey to find a cave he asked a lot of questions. All of which Hero ignored because she was too busy looking for firewood and shelter. When she finally found a spot to rest, she decided to answer Gray’s questions. The ice make wizard was leaning against the cave wall as Hero began to make the fire.

“I came because Mira believed sending your friends would cause more harm than good.” Hero answered one of the questions she remembered, but then waited for Gray to ask another. He was hesitant to speak at first, analyzing Hero from a far. Finally he spoke.

“What’s your name?”

Hero said her name, and this caused Gray to chuckle. It was ironic how well Hero’s named suited the situation, since she was his savior after all.

“Why did you agree to come find me? I’m sure Mirajane could have sent someone else.” Gray said, and this somewhat offended Hero.

“Would you’ve rather had somebody else come save you?” Hero retorted Gray’s question with one of her own. Gray put his hands up defensively. “No, no. That’s not what I meant, I just.” Gray fumbled over his words, and Hero smiled slightly.

The ice make wizard sighed under his breath, and a short moment of quiet was all it took for the exhausted male to fall asleep. Hero curled up on the opposite side of the fire and fell asleep shortly after he did. They would make their way back to the guild the next morning, and with Gray carried on Hero’s back she was sure that she would be recognized as a true comrade amongst the guild.