I'd Freeze the Heavens for You

Penalty

"You now have four days and two hours left."

Lucy stared out the window, worried that it had been three days since she and Gray entered the labyrinth. She glanced briefly at the video lacrima that was now her only lifeline to him, but also a tool of torture, fueling the bitterness of guilt until she could hardly stand it.

Watching Gray on the video was too depressing. He had a constant look of dread, but lately there was pain in his face, too. She knew Gray had no food. He had suffered for three days with nothing to eat and only the snow on the ground to drink. She felt it was unfair that here she was, sitting in this warm house, a servant cooking for her, a soft bed, a roaring fire, tea and cookies, while Gray was out there walking for hours and hours, slowly going mad with hunger.

The only good thing was that he had not hit any more traps. A few times, she heard Wisteria mutter, "There used to be a monster there. I guess it died." Lucy wondered if the jerk who ran this insane labyrinth starved the animals he put in there. It was sad to think that even those beasts suffered for the madman's entertainment.

Finally, she had enough. She waited until Wisteria left to gather more firewood, then Lucy pulled out her Spirit Keys. She grabbed a gold one and held it up.

"Open the Gate of the Maiden! Virgo!"

In a puff of pink smoke, the dainty Celestial Spirit appeared. "I await punishment," Virgo said primly.

"I need to get out of here. The rules are that if I walk out the door, Gray will be penalized somehow. I don't want him hurt, so we're going to bend the rules. Instead of leaving out the door, I want you to drill a tunnel down and out of the cabin."

Virgo nodded dutifully. "Understood, Princess." She began to drill down through the wooden floorboards. However, not even a meter down, Virgo receive a violent shock of electricity. She cried out as her pink hair stood up on ends, crispy from the jolt. "Good ... punishment." With her face in agony, Virgo poofed back to the Spirit World.

The runes around the house lit up. Lucy jolted as she saw their menacing gleam through the cabin windows. Suddenly, a voice burst out over the entire labyrinth.

"Penalty. Eight hours have been subtracted. You now have three days and eighteen hours left."

On the video lacrima, she heard Gray screaming, "I didn't do anything!"

"Your partner attempted to escape," spoke the same voice Lucy had just heard overhead.

"Then tell her not to! I'll make it there. Stupid girl, just wait for me!"

Lucy shouted back, "Who are you calling stupid?"

"I know she's blonde, but I didn't think she was that dumb."

"You asshole!" Lucy screamed to the monitor.

Wisteria hurried forward. "He can't hear you. And didn't I tell you not to leave the cabin? Every escape attempt is a penalty, and every penalty is an eight-hour subtraction."

Gray looked more frantic now, running despite the obvious fatigue in his gaunt face. "Just wait, Lucy. It's barely been three days. That bastard said it took him three days, so just wait. I'm probably almost there."

"He's not almost here," Wisteria muttered. Her grim face made Lucy want to scream.

"Just ... just wait for me," Gray said in desperation.

Lucy touched the screen as she saw the anguish in his brow. "Sorry, Gray. I guess I should just believe in you. I'm sorry."

Outside, Erza, Natsu, and Happy had spent the past three days walking around the perimeter of the maze. Natsu dragged his feet wearily and occasionally complained about the cold. Then suddenly, up ahead they saw a change to the neverending wall of shrubbery.

"A gate inside," Natsu cheered, racing forward haphazardly. He ran up to the entrance ... and smacked right into a wall of runes. "Are you serious!" he bellowed in frustration.

Erza looked around at the snowy landscape. "We've come full circle."

"Eh?" Happy cried out in shock. "A circle? I thought this maze was more in a hexagon shape."

"No, I mean..." She pointed to signs of a campfire three days old. "We're right back where we started."

"This sucks!" Natsu raged. "There wasn't a single extra opening. How does this bastard get his victims if there's only a single entrance to the stupid maze?"

"It might be all other openings are magically closed once the lovers enter the labyrinth," Erza mused.

"There's that term again," Natsu snapped. "Lovers! Gray and Lucy aren't lovers."

Happy covered his mouth and giggled. "Maybe we should find Jellal, so he and Erza can enter together."

Natsu went pale and frantically waved at Happy to shut up before the Titania punted him into the sky ... again. However, Erza seriously considered it.

"If we want anyone to enter the maze, it would need to be people with mutual affections, whether or not they are dating."

Happy sighed dreamily. "I'd love to go through a maze with Carla."

"But it has to be mutual," Natsu pointed out. "Carla totally doesn't like you, buddy."

Happy growled and swiped one of his claws over Natsu's leg.

"Ouch! You haven't done that since you were a kitten."

"It's a shame Natsu's doesn't have a sweetheart," Erza said. "He could probably sniff his way through the maze."

"Aye," agreed Happy. "He's too immature to have romantic feelings for someone."

"Will you two stop talking bad about me?" Natsu whined.

Erza and Happy chuckled to themselves.

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

Inside the maze, Gray was utterly exhausted. He could barely think from the hunger. He knew he was wasting time lying around on the ground, but he had no energy left to move.

"Just ... a rest," he panted. "Maybe more to drink."

He scooped up a handful of snow and ate it.

"Why are snowcones filling, but snow itself isn't?" he grumbled.

He looked over at the bushes. Those poisonous berries seemed to be getting plumper and redder as he went deeper into the labyrinth. The temptation to eat a few was maddening, but he had to hold back.

"Berries ... bet they're sweet. Northern bloodberries taste the same as the southern variety. Man, Mira made the best bloodberry pie one Christmas." He licked his lips at the memory. Then Gray growled and shook his head. "Dammit, stop talking about food, and stop talking to yourself."

He sighed and looked up at the sky. The pain in his stomach was agonizing. All around him, he saw berries, berries, berries.

"Stop taunting me!" he screamed. "Stop it!"

In a burst of anger, he destroyed one of the hedges with a geyser of ice. The runes lit up and warned him.

"You now have three days and zero hours left."

"Screw it," he moaned, and collapsed back onto the snow. "I'm gonna sleep."

More than just a sleep, it was more like Gray passed out. In his dreams, he swam through a vat of giant red berries, guided only by Lucy shouting at him, "Hurry, Gray. Hurry!"