Frost

10

Christmas Eve had arrived. Elfman and Pantherlily carried the sparkling Christmas tree to the Kardia Cathedral. The children of Magnolia hung ornaments and candy canes on the trees, and were each handed out a bag of goodies by Mirajane, Lisanna, and Levy. Alzack, Bisca, and Asuka also helped decorate the tree, and Asuka was able to get her own bag of goodies.

Lucy, Juvia, and Erza were all inside cleaning the Cathedral, while Makarov and Cana had their Christmas Eve drinking contest. Wendy dusted down objects with Carla's help. Everyone was doing whatever they could to make the building look as good as new.

Natsu . . . He and Happy were on their own.

Gajeel had gotten sick recently after eating bad food from a market, and he claims that he would be back on Christmas Day. However, when Team Shadowgear went to check on him, things were not turning out so good on the iron dragon slayer's behalf.

Natsu groaned while Happy cleaned the inside of the bell. The giant piece of metal wobbled slowly back and forth, and the dragon slayer felt like he wouldn't be able to finish his task.

"Natsu! How's it going up there!" Erza called from below. She would check on him every now and then to make sure he didn't leave to early. She was surprised that he hadn't gone rogue and broke down Gray's apartment door yet, but he was holding it in, and it brought positivity in a place that wasn't supposed to be negative.

"Not . . . so good!" Natsu called back before covering his mouth. Happy began to hyperventilate before shouting, "No! Don't puke in the bell! You just cleaned that spot!" The bell stopped moving, and Natsu relaxed his head against the cold metal. His stomach calmed down, and he took a deep breath.

Natsu jumped at a loud splash of water. The dragon slayer looked over at the bucket and noticed it was missing. Water was dripping down to the first floor, and a loud scream came from Wendy. Natsu slowly climbed off the bell, along with Happy, who flew out from underneath the bell. Peaking down below, he noticed that Wendy was soaked, and water was dripping rapidly through her hair. But she started laughing, as did everyone else. Soon, the guild mates below continued back to work—as expected.

Natsu blinked at Happy, who was flying down to the the bucket for soapy water. When the exceed came back, he noticed Natsu wasn't scrubbing the bell. "What's wrong, Natsu?" asked Happy.

"Did you . . . Was it you who knocked over the bucket?" Natsu motioned pointed his finger at where the bucket was sitting. Happy's large yes followed, and then he looked back at his friend. The exceed shrugged. "No, I was inside the bell the entire time."

Natsu blinked again, and Happy went back underneath the bell.

•••

"Try it, it's delicious!" Erza smirked as she handed Natsu a Christmas cookie. The dragon slayer and his exceed companion had just finished cleaning the bell, and both of them were exhausted. And as much as Natsu wanted to try the cookie, he refused, for he was way out of the Christmas spirit. The dragon slayer shook his head. "No thanks, I'm good."

Erza's eyes widened, as did Happy's. The sword mage placed the back of her hand against Natsu's forehead to check his fever. Said male only stood awkwardly as she did so. When Erza backed away, she shrugged her shoulders and gave her attention to Happy. "You wanna try it?"

"You bet I do!" Happy snatched the cookie from Erza before she could say anything, and she smiled as she watched the exceed chomp it down. Erza took a small glance at Natsu, who was walking away. She brushed a strand of hair out of her face before walking in a different direction. Happy, who was wiping crumbs off his face, went to find something else to do.

Erza looked around the Cathedral. It was getting darker, and soon candles were getting lit around the large room. Outside, the Christmas tree was fully decorated, and some of her guild mates were hosting a large snowball fight. The scarlet haired woman walked over to Cana, who was leaning against the building. Her eyes watched as each snowball wizzed passed her. A small smile would appear when a child got hit every now and then.

"Why're you so happy?" Erza asked. She stood beside Cana with her arms crossed. The brunette shrugged her shoulders and took a sip of her beer. Cana snuck a glance at Erza. She noticed the other woman looked worried—she was biting the inside of her cheek, and her eyes were wide with furrowed eyebrows.

Cana looked back at the ground. "Looks like you're not in a good mood. What's on your mind?" Erza shrugged her shoulders as well, and she looked at Cana.

"I'm worried for Natsu-"

"I can tell."

"-but I think this investigation is pretty hard on him." Cana raised and eyebrow and shifted her body in the direction of Erza's. She then watched as she pulled something out of her skirt pocket. A syringe.

"Um . . ." Erza twisted it around in her hands, and she even poked herself with the needle. Cana flinched when Erza held it to her eyes and said, "Do not smell it no matter what." Cana nodded.

Two snowballs wizzed passed them. Cana looked at the syringe closely, and began to breathe out of her mouth instead of her nose. She handed the syringe back to Erza. "Why can't I smell it?"

"Natsu fainted when he smelled it, and Porlyusica almost fainted. I guess the smell is too strong?" Erza didn't look so sure. Cana looked down at her hands. She decided she would wash them before she would eat something later. Just in case.

"What's that syringe have to do with the investigation?" Cana asked. She had been missing out on a lot of important stuff. It's been a little less than a month, and no one has found out about what has happened to Gray. Cana wanted to get filled in to see if anyone knew what had happened to him.

"It has Gray's DNA on it. We believe he, or someone, injected something in him. But the stuff that was inside was just water." Cana furrowed her eyebrows.

"So why does it have such a terrible smell?"

"Beats me," Erza sighed. Cana gestured for the syringe again, and the scarlet haired woman handed it to her. Cana lifted the syringe up to her nose and smelled it before Erza could do anything. However, Cana gagged instead of fainting, which made sense because of Natsu's dragon slaying senses.

"I knew it from the start," Cana wheezed before coughing. A few kids looked in their direction before getting hit by their opponents. Erza's eyes widened at Cana's statement.

"What?"

"That water is, ugh, enchanted. I don't know what kind of enchantment, but it explains the smell." Erza grabbed the syringe from Cana and looked at it. It made sense now . . . But she didn't understand why Gray, or someone, would inject himself with enchanted water.

"I'll ask Porlyusica in the morning," Erza muttered before placing the syring in her skirt pocket. Cana nodded and rubbed her nose. The two walked off to get dinner from the guild hall.

As Erza sat on a bar stool and ate her food, she felt a slight breeze through her skirt. She pushed aside the thought, because it really could have been anything. However, when she went to examine the syringe, it was gone.

Their one huge lead . . . gone.