The Art of Trouble

Chapter 2: Finding Him

Lucy made her way to the woods.
According to the guy whose name was Yohan, Gray went somewhere towards it; that is, if the shirtless guy was really Gray. She wasn't so sure, but she had to try. When she asked Yohan for further details, he told her the guy had a black hair, yet as Lucy queried about a specific insignia on the guy's chest, Yohan said he hadn't seen any mark on him, and it made the celestial mage doubt whether she was on the right track in looking for Gray. Other than that, she had questions like, if it was Gray who had been in the city of Davos, why was he alone? Did he and Natsu split up? More than that, why didn't Yohan see a Fairy tail mark on his chest? It probably was intentionally removed. Whatever the answers to her own questions, she had hoped her choice of coming into the woods could give her answers.

The distance from the city to the woods wasn't that long.
When she arrived, she found out that the area was dark, and trees  were larger than those at the city.

She kept on walking on a nonspecific direction until, she had heard an odd sound that somehow belonged to a wolf, or an unknown creature. The sound continued lurking behind the trees, and she had now experienced goosebumps upon hearing such howling. Fortunately, her fear was interrupted when she caught sight of blue lights, as they emerged from the right side of the woods. She glanced at the direction, and saw another form of such light. She scurried away from her spot to follow these emerging lights.

Despite the difficult trail, she continued walking along the path of  ticklish weeds. She moved along, until the lights were clearly seen from her view.
But, as soon as she took another step, she got herself caught by a trap when she began falling underneath the ground. She shrieked loudly upon falling, yet, she couldn't do anything. She had only closed her eyes, preparing herself for the incoming impact. Luckily, when she was closed to landing, she felt strong arms caught her, just in time. It was Loke, one of her celestial spirits, and also known as Leo.

When Lucy opened her eyes to see who her savior was, he showed her his boyish grin.
"Hey there, beautiful, happy to see me?" Loke spoke, obviously pleased with himself. He had then placed Lucy gently on the ground as soon as they reached it.
"Thanks Loke, You really did save me from having broken bones." Lucy gratefully said. If Loke hadn't been on those times she was in danger, she might've already been killed.

"Anything, for you, my love." Loke teasingly replied, while giving one of her hands a kiss.

Lucy creased her brows in disdain, as she thought why she had this kind of celestial spirit, a flirt one.
But, Loke is Loke and, so, instead of getting annoyed, she only gave him a smile of gratitude for his dauntlessness.

On the other hand, a young, raven-haired man was having a magic training. He did it together with a woman, who had the same level of magic power as his. Her name was Lameria. She was considered to be the guardian of the north, for a reason that's still unknown. "Do it now, Raven." She ordered the man.
Right then, he started casting his ice-make magic unto her, creating ice shards both large and small. Lameria dodged the shards, though, one of the small ones made a little cut on her left arm. Subsequently, she responded his attacks with the magic from her staff. It gave an illumination, before it had smashed the ice shards, powdering them into atomic pieces.
The two didn't backed down from their 'magic sparring'. Their magic produced an indigo mist as it combined; from afar, the effect only looked like streaks of blue lights.

The man had already planned his counter attack when all of a sudden,
they were able to apprehend a screaming sound.

"What was that?" Both said in unison.

"Someone must've come and fell from my trap." Lameria promptly spoke. She had only remembered her doing, just yet.
"Raven, I think I have to move away for now." She had told the man, referring him as Raven.
"You're right, it's better to be cautious. I'll go check on it." Raven cordially answered back.

"Just give the signal if all goes wrong; till then..." With that, she left Raven and went off to some place nobody knows, even him.
After Lameria left, Raven went off to where she had set the trap. When he saw the hole, he immediately confirmed that someone had really fallen under. Being suspicious, he gestured his hands to create an ice dome over the hole, covering whomever was under it.
He had almost completely covered the hole, when suddenly, a flash of golden light had partly destroyed it.
Having seen the light, he had sensed a familiarity of such magic. He then moved closer to the hole to check whom it had belonged to.

As he was able to look who it was, he was completely shocked. He saw a familiar blonde, talking to her celestial spirit. He wasn't able to grasp what they were talking about. After all, he was concentrating on the blonde mage who had mumbled something to her companion.
He suddenly felt nostalgic seeing them both.
But then, the feeling of happiness suddenly turned into anxiety.
"Why is she here?" He thought.

He didn't know for how long he had been spacing off, for he had only realized it when Loke interrupted his thoughts.
"Hey Gray, is that you?" "Long time no see, bro.!" He joyfully called out to the man, before turning his side once again to Lucy, "I told you it was him..."
Yet, Lucy didn't pay attention to what he said.
Her reaction was the same as his, when he saw her and Loke, just a few seconds ago. Her brown eyes widened in shock, and they began to look glassy, as tears had threatened to appear from them. She couldn't be any happier.
At least her efforts were now beginning to pay off.

Meanwhile, Raven started to do the same thing again, staring at the blonde with his two dark irises.

Then, after a few seconds of staring in silence, Lucy began to speak,
                   "Gray..."

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Who is Raven? Is he Gray, himself?
If so, why is he called Raven?
And, who is Lameria? Is she Raven's love interest?

Probably not...
Find out on the next chapter!:)