Fairy Tail: The Phoenix Prophecy [AU] [Discontinued]

Chapter Twenty

     Gray's knees felt wobbly as the ear torture continued to resonate through his head. He could hear it. The sound of tearing flesh, the snapping of bones and the terrible slurping noises of someone eating meat. He felt sick to his stomach and fought the urge to gag. He couldn't afford to make any noises, if he were then the creature on the other side of that wall would hear them and... no, no it's not worth thinking over. Everyone stood in silence for what felt like hours before the sounds of thundering footsteps something being dragged appeared and began receding, showing that the creature had finally left. When they could no longer hear the creature, Gray limply released Juvia and fell against the wall, slumping down and brought his knees up to his face and wrapping his arms around his head.

    "Gray-sama?" Juvia said and Gray shook his head.

    "I-it ate her, it ate her a-and I c-couldn't do anything... I'm so fucking useless..." Gray choked and Juvia looked to the others.

    "Who ate who?" she asked and Gray looked up at her with an incredulous look on his face.

    "D-didn't you hear it? He was eating Ultear so loudly! And right when I got her back..."

    "Gray what are you talking about?" Gajeel said and knelt down in front of his friend. He placed a firm hand on his shoulder and made the frost dragon look at him. "I didn't hear anything. She was just getting dragged away."

     Gray shook his head and shuffled away from him. "No! I know what I heard! I heard her bones getting broken-"

    "Gray."

     "I heard her flesh getting torn away from her body and it sounded like someone was tearing fabric-"

    "Gray!"

    "A-and I-I h-heard her getting eaten so damn loudly and-"

    "GRAY!"

    "WHAT!?"

     Gajeel seized Gray's shoulders and shook him violently. "Listen to me, icecap! She didn't get eaten! She just got dragged! You're desperate and confused and your mind is playing tricks on you! I'm the only other dragon in this room and I can assure you she wasn't getting eaten! Keep your head on straight, dude!"

    "WHAT ABOUT THE BLOOD ON THE WALLS THEN?!"

    "I see it too damn it but it doesn't prove anything!"

     The riders looked at each other inquisitively and Mavis stepped forward. "I'll go check," Mavis offered and everyone looked at the petite blond in surprise.

    "Are you sure, Mavis-san?" Levy asked. "You get disturbed easily and if what Gray says is true then--"

    "It's fine it's fine," Mavis assured her and skipped around the others and towards the door. She peeked out of the door and everyone held their breaths. When Mavis looked back at them with a relieved look on her face everyone exhaled. "There's no clumps of anything on the floor. It looks like she had just been dragged," she confirmed.

    Gajeel nudged his friend. "See? Now you can rest easy."

     Gray shook his head skeptically. "Just because she wasn't eaten doesn't mean that monster didn't kill her," he said. "I saw her injuries with my own eyes, and I saw how quickly he did it to her. If we don't want to end up like her then we have to find Lucy and the others and get the hell out of here."

     Jellal thought for a moment before asking, "What exactly did he do to her?"

     "He cut open her gut. I saw everything."