Dark Ice

Dark Ice: Chapter Ten, The Winds of War.

He rode past a mountain that was known as Harvor as it was named after a great builder from centuries ago. The old elders used to tell the children about the story in the old world. His steed ran across the land at top speed as he was in a rush back to the town of Gilmore. Atop this steed was the individual known as Gray Fullbuster. Gray had recently visited the outskirts of Gilmore in the south. He had hoped to come across his hire Toma E. Fiore who he found dead alongside his wife and the army he was going to use against the Chautari. Once again he was too late to stop another massacre from happening. When will he stop failing? He asked himself, disappointed by the fact that he was too late to save Toma.

Soon, his steed had come to a halt, Gray had arrived back at Gilmore. Just before he'd left, Cana was within the Mayor's tower, where she was sleeping. Gray assumed she must've woke by now. He'd been gone for over thirty minutes. He felt a slight ease from knowing the Chautari hadn't circled back around to Gilmore after killing Toma. Of course knowing how they normally work, Gray knew they would eventually return in an attempt to kill him, they did have a bounty on his head after all.

The raven haired male would jump off of the stallion, before tying it to one of the poles. The stallion had once belonged to Jerome who was now long dead, killed by the rains of castamere. Gray had taken the horse as a form of keeping a souvenir from the battle at the gate. After tying up the horse so that it wouldn't run away, Gray headed forward for the Mayor's tower where he was sure Cana would be up and about.

He would finally approach the entrance of the tower after a few seconds of walking on its path. Gray would grasp the door handle, twisting it, then pushing the door forward to enter the tower. He stopped upon coming to a view of Cana standing by the fireplace, staring down at an image. He'd enter slowly, closing the door behind him. She didn't look back, but she knew it was him. He had a new presence, one that was both chilling yet at the same time warm. She was used to it, this world had changed him just as much as it had changed her.

"How'd it go?" She asked. Thinking back to what he'd found at the bunker Gray was uncertain of what to think, what to make of the massacre. "We lost." He responded. His eyes expressed the anger that his voice would hide. She looked down into the fire, unsure of what to make of his response. "... They got to Toma and his family, didn't they?" She asked. Gray didn't have to respond, his body language did all the talking. He looked down and approached one of the nearby chairs. He sat there contemplating on his mistake of leaving the rune knights to protect Toma.

"I found a picture of us and the guild together with Toma in the gallery. I didn't even know he had a gallery..." She commented trying to lighten the mood. It was obvious they had to mourn him, Toma was a good man; a man who wanted his Kingdom back in order to make it a better place to live for his people, but the Chautari wouldn't allow him to. They put him in metaphorical chains, made him mayor of Gilmore and their bank account where they could deposit riches from him whenever they felt the need. However, because he acted against them, they killed him and his wife. "He believed in us... Even though the world has gone to hell, he believed Fairy Tail would save the day."

"Fairy Tail is dead." Gray uttered harshly. He soon sat up and left the room, leaving Cana standing by the fireplace alone. She looked down in disappointment, upset over the fact that Gray had dismissed their old guild as if it were no more in his heart.

Soon, there was a horn. Cana turned her head into the direction of where the horn originated. She wondered what it could've been. If it were invaders, or the Chuatari coming back for Gilmore. She stepped outside where she slowly approached the gates of Gilmore. Gray would soon step outside in pursuit of the gate as well. They were each cautious with every right to be. They had no idea what lied behind the gate, waiting to possibly attack them. "Open the gate," Gray told her. Cana would nod and proceed to do as he asked. Gray stood in front of the gate as it slowly opened courtesy of Cana. Gray was prepared for an attack, but he hadn't been prepared for what he'd seen. Upon the gate being opened, his sights set on Levy Mcgarden. He was surprised, pleasantly surprised to see her and from the expression she wore so was she. Levy hadn't come alone, alongside her was Bacchus Groh, Arana Webb, and Milianna. Gray hadn't known the context behind such a strange team up, but he'd allowed himself to drop his guard for the time being as Cana approached the group.