I'd Freeze the Heavens for You

Time

Lucy sat by the window contemplating on how long she felt that week lasted. She felt like complaining; however, every time she was on the verge of griping to her friends, she would stop and think about Gray, about the bet he made that day in the maze and how long it would feel for him. Whitehall said that he would alter time so that Gray would not age physically while the old man taught Gray everything he needed to know. For Gray, this week would feel like fifty years.

She could not even imagine that. Fifty years!

Time changed people. Even if Gray would not age physically, what if he simply was not interested anymore, after spending half a century away from her? It worried her. Even if his feelings were the same, what would he be like? Would he be the same man she had slowly fallen for, the same man who fought his way through perils to rescue her, who ate poisonous berries despite knowing the consequences, all for the gamble of making it to her before time ran out? How would those fifty years of training change him?

The guild had finally received a message from Erza that morning. Gray not only learned the magic, he managed to master it. Whitehall went away peacefully and was now awaiting trial. The Magic Council were still unsure whether to take up Whitehall's offer of freeing the people he had trapped—not just the maze's time-frozen victims, but all sorts of diabolical "punishments" he had bestowed upon his victims—or to lock the madman away for good. Whitehall had said that as many as three hundred others were also in various forms of cursed captivity. This brilliantly insane man had used many kinds of magic to seal his poor victims over the years, some of them destined to be locked away forever, long after his death. He had taught Gray only one type of magic, the time-freezing he used in his winter maze.

That was out of her hands for now. Someday, the Magic Council would come up with the verdict. In the meantime, Whitehall was in custody. Lucy was glad Gray managed to free the women in Whitehall's castle, at least. She knew what it felt like, being frozen in time. Now those people were free to continue life, although most of them lost their loved one to the perils of the maze. There were many widows and grieving young women. It was a bitter victory.

Wisteria was not charged of anything because she was just another one of Whitehall's victims. Although she did work for him, her only role in these games had been assuring that the captives were treated nicely. When Gray unfroze the people in Whitehall's castle, they all testified that Wisteria had only been helpful. She had given them moral support during a time that was absolutely mentally agonizing.

Wisteria wrote to Lucy a few days later to let her know that she had managed to find her old girlfriend. They were not together yet, but at least they were talking and trying to patch up the feelings that had clashed during their horrific time in the maze. Lucy hoped the best for them.

When Lucy looked out the window, she saw a man with black hair in a white coat walking down the street toward her apartment. Her heart leaped. Was it him? However, when the man came nearer, she realized it was someone else, not Gray. She sat back down. She was really eager ... and scared. She did not know what to expect. She wanted to see Gray, yet at the same time she was so afraid. If he rejected her, if he had lost interest during his time learning under Whitehall, or if he had changed too drastically, what then?

"I wish I knew what to do, or at least what to expect," she sighed.

"Expect a date. Let's go to the ice cream parlor."

She leaped at those words, and when she turned around, she saw Gray standing in the middle of her room ... missing a shirt, naturally. "How did you get in here?" she cried out.

"You didn't lock your door. That's not safe, you know."

"But I ... I would've heard it open."

"Well, you would've," he agreed with a smug gleam to his eyes. "Except—" He folded his arms over his chest in a cocky gesture. "—I froze time."