Fairy Tail | Dragons, Demons, Fairies and Cats

Chapter 8

-Gray's POV-

Sol and I made our way to the village in good time, but I was dreading facing Erza. A woman with immense magic power? There was no doubt. Master probably sent her here to drag us back in shame. I was suddenly wishing that Sol had been the one to kill me there. 

"Welcome back!" One of the sentries waved us through. "Did you find anything?" We probably looked awful, covered in blood and clothes torn nearly to shreds, but we nodded nonetheless. 

"Oh, yes," Solstice said dryly. "We found something, all right."

As soon as he was out of earshot, she hissed at me, "Are all fairies this meddlesome? Why is she here?"

"Um." I had no idea what to tell her. Oh, yeah, Erza's here to drag us back to the guild on Master's orders since technically we shouldn't be here at all because we aren't S-Class and by the way sorry for ruining your job?

She would hate me more than she does now.

The first thing I saw when I pushed the flap of our temporary hut up was Lucy, Natsu, and Happy, tied up with a length of rope. And sitting in the shadows, a sword laid across her lap, sat Erza 'Titania' Scarlet, Queen of the Fairies. Her eyes darted to me, narrowed, and focused on Sol. I saw the precise moment she identified her as a panther. She rose, casually swinging her sword back and forth.

"What are you doing here?" Erza snapped. Her magic aura flared dangerously. "And why is Gray with you?"

Solstice regarded her calmly. "I should be asking you why you're here with your guildmates. After all, this was my job request. You are a fairy, correct?"

Erza sighed. "You took this job?" When she nodded, her gaze raked over us. "My apologies. They stole the request from the board. They aren't S-Class. They shouldn't have been here."

"Yes, I figured as much," Sol said wryly. "Your Celestial mage isn't cut out to be S-Class. At least not for a decade or so." She blatantly ignored Lucy's cries of indignation. "I suppose you'll be taking them back?"

Erza didn't even try to defend Lucy, her shoulders dropping defeated. "Yes. I assure you there will be consequences."

"Now wait a minute!" Natsu flinched under the twin glares of the wizards but didn't back down. "Since me and Lucy and Gray are already involved, can't we stay?"

Sol's voice cut through the air like a whip. "Stay? And why should you? All you've done is get in the way."

As sad as it was, it was the truth. However...

"If Natsu hadn't stomped through that floor, we wouldn't have found Deliora." Her eyes locked on mine, but I refused to falter. "And if we hadn't found Deliora, Lyon would have continued with that ceremony thing and freed it. So we helped a bit."

She stared at me with an unreadable expression on her face. "And don't you think I would have noticed if there was a giant purple beam in the sky?" Damn it.

"Please?" There was another reason I wanted to stay than to hopefully get some of the reward money. Fairy Tail and Leaping Panther were rival guilds. Once she left, I probably would never see her again than the occasional greetings exchanged. The one connection I had left to Ur... I can't let her go without at least talking.

She must have seen something in my eyes, the thin desperation that traveled in my voice. Natsu was looking at her with a hopeful expression on his face. Lucy, too. She sighed and turned to Erza. "Take them, let them stay, I don't care. But," she turned to us, "it's Titania's decision." With that, she strode out.

The moment she was out of sight, Erza smacked an armored hand at the back of my head. "Ow! What the hell, Erza?"

"You deserve it," she said coldly. "And once you get back... the Master isn't happy, you know."