I'd Freeze the Heavens for You

Pitfalls

"Grrrrrrrlaaarrrooowwwgrrrroow!"

Gray jumped to his feet in an instant, blind with sleep, but he rapidly blinked his eyes to wake himself. Reacting on pure instinct, he had his hands out, a magic circle up, and he looked around frantically for the beastly sound.

"I knew this stupid labyrinth had monsters. I just knew it," he sneered. "Where is it?"

"Grrrrrowwwwl!"

This time, he heard the same sound more clearly ... and it was coming from his stomach. Gray blushed, although there was no one around to hear his stomach's complaints.

"That's right, I missed dinner. There won't be breakfast, either. Damn!" He looked around in annoyance. "I almost wish there was a monster. Then I could eat it."

He rubbed out the twisting in his gut and realized he had to get going.

"Follow the left wall," he recalled. That had been Lucy's advice for successfully completing a giant maze. However, due to leaping up and looking around, he completely forgot which wall was the left. "Crap!"

He looked down the left passage, then down the right one. It had been so dark by the time he stopped walking, he did not recognize either direction. If he went the wrong way, he would end up right back where he started the day before. Gray felt panic surging up. He only had a week to make it through this blasted maze, and who knew what horrors Lucy was suffering while he got lost. So which way was he supposed to go? Left, or right?

Which way?

Then he looked down at the snow. As he slept, his body had melted the snowy path. He could see where his head had laid and where his feet had gone. He recalled lying down against the left wall. Gray reached out and touched that wall.

"This one," he sighed, trying to calm down. "I follow this wall. To get out of a maze, you follow the left wall. That's what Lucy said, and Lucy's smart. Left wall. Left wall..."

"You now have six days and eight hours left."

Gray looked up at the voice that chimed out. He had vaguely heard it counting the hours all night long. He realized, he had already been in this labyrinth for sixteen hours. It felt like a lifetime!

"I'm coming, Lucy," he said with determination, and Gray set out once again with one hand on the left wall.

Outside, Erza, Happy, and Natsu were camped in front of the maze entrance. While Happy cooked fish for breakfast and Natsu attempted to make tea, Erza stood in front of the gate still blocked by Willie Whitehall's runes. She frowned deeply with her arms folded, trying to sort out this mystery. The runes would not let them enter. Gray was inside, Lucy was apparently a prize that Gray had to reach.

She had asked Happy to fly over the top, but he could not enter from above. Apparently, Whitehall's runes covered the entire maze. It proved he was an immensely powerful wizard, to have runes spread over such a massive piece of land. Happy said he saw Gray running around the twisting bush hedges, so at least they knew he was unharmed. Happy tried to fly over the whole thing, but he did not even get close to the center before tiring out. All they knew was that this maze was massive, bigger than the entire city of Magnolia.

Erza mumbled to herself. "The only people who can enter the maze are couples who have feelings of love for one another," she said, quoting what Levy told them was written within the runes. "The couple will be separated, and one has a week to complete the maze to save their lover from being frozen. Hmm ... only lovers can enter."