COMPLETED: Dramatically [GrayZa]

38. Dramatic Smiles

Hint: It's a lie.

What am I talking about? The title. It's a fucking lie, minna-san. This will be a hell of a chapter.

So, thank you so much for the reads! I really appreciate it! Just a little goal for us... how about a 14K at the end of the story? Yeah, that'd be good.

Anyway, let us start!

-/-/-

Chapter Thirty-Eight - Dramatic Smiles

-/-/-

DAY TWENTY-FIVE - YOU'RE ALL I NEED

11:50 pm

-/-/-

"Don't underestimate me, just because I'm growing weaker and weaker..." Eras mumbled, "I'm not so weak, after all. I don't care about death right now. All I have to do is to crush you, and that's all I need, Erza."

"Try dying, it's a whole new experience for some person like you," Erza replied, pointing her Benizakura sword at him, "After all, you lived for two hundred years, right? Have a little taste of what your childhood friends have gone through."

They began fencing. Erza's glare was directly at him, and she was ready to kill him, blood relative or not. She could feel the pressure on her shoulders. Dying means failing the whole world. Winning means getting Gray healed.

"You better die right now, or your lovey-dovey boyfriend would go first, Erza!"

"Stop stating the impossible. It would never work," she immediately requipped into her Heaven's Wheel armor, "Heaven's Wheel... Blumenblatt!"

The swords hit Eras one by one. Being an unstable person, he didn't have time to dodge or to attack back with his own version of the Heaven's Wheel armor. Had he gone too far on relying on the elixir? And, was he a monster for stating a death threat to his own daughter?

"If you really loved me, you shouldn't have tortured me and my friends!" Erza screamed, feeling the tears in her eyes sting, "If you really are strong, then you should have defeated that monster that overcame you! I knew you, and I wanted to be with you when I was in the Tower of Heaven! But, why?! Why didn't you retrieve me that instant?! Why did you let me live a life of suffering?!"

One of the swords finally hit his chest, and he fell down. Erza stopped attacking him, and she immediately ran to Gray.

"Gray, it's over," she mumbled before requipping into her Japanese cloth, "It's over, and we've won."

But, Gray wasn't speaking.

The barrier broke down, and Fairy Tail members rushed out to get the antidote to Gray.

"Erza!" Natsu and Lucy ran to Erza when she was separated from Gray by the crowd of people trying to heal him.

"Natsu, Lucy," she smiled and hugged them, "I'm glad that you're alright. Is Jade still alive?"

Lucy frowned and looked at her shoes, "She already succumbed to the pain."

Erza sighed, "I really wanted to thank her."

"It's kinda sad, because she had a chance," Natsu scratched the back of his head, "I just wished she lasted longer."

Then, Erza saw the crowd quieting down. Everyone looked sad. She ran to Gray, pushing people out of the way. When she got to him, she saw Wendy grieving with Laxus patting her back, on the verge of tears.

"I didn't want you to leave, Gray," he mumbled.

Erza's heart shattered.

"W-What are you talking about?! Gray's still alive!" she yelled, "He promised me to stay strong! I don't believe you... not even a bit."