Frost

31

"So we have to separate, then?" Juvia asked Levy, who was glaring at Gajeel. The iron dragon slayer's head was resting on her shoulder, and his eyes were drilled to Natsu. He wasn't mad or anything, he was just upset with himself because he hadn't noticed. It didn't seem to change the way he looked, though. There wasn't a giant rainbow over Natsu's head that screamed "homosexual."

When Levy didn't answer, Pantherlily replied, "I guess we have to. Sadly, I don't think we would be able to communicate with each other."

"I think one of them lead to where I came from and the other might lead to somewhere else," Natsu said. He was trying to sniff out the tunnels, but he most definitely wasn't picking up anything. He was starting to get frustrated with everything at this point. The dragon slayer knew that Gajeel was staring at him. For what reason, he had no idea. He was starting to get the feeling that someone had said something about him when he was walking along with Juvia.

"Did you come in from the stairs, Natsu?" Juvia asked. She stood with her arms folded over her chest. Her expression was stoic, and the mentioned dragon slayer only stared at her before he shook his head. Levy looked away from Gajeel with a concerned look. Okay, maybe it wasn't as shocking as it seemed because it was a tunnel system. But Levy wasn't expecting the tunnels to be long enough to a point where Natsu would be able to enter from the East Forest.

"I had to climb down a ladder that was hidden underneath a rock."

"Damn," Gajeel whispered.

"Well we should split up. Either way, each one has to lead to an exit," Juvia thought aloud. It was true. Why would the tunnels be there if there weren't ways to enter? It really wouldn't surprise anyone if they ended up on the other side of Fiore at this point. The five of them divided into two groups—Natsu, Gajeel, and Pantherlily as one, and Juvia and Levy as the other—and they separated into the different tunnels in search of anything that will lead them to their missing ice mage.

•••

At this point, Gray was eating his own ice. Having fallen over due to dizziness and fainting, he wasn't going to wait anymore. It had been three days, and he was finally eating something that gave him some hydration.

The ice mage had given up on the books because sitting there all by himself with no sound whatsoever made him sleepy. But when he starting eating his own ice, he began to hear voices echoing throughout the tunnel. It scared him a little bit, and there were times when the voices would become louder. At first, Gray thought that he was going crazy. Having been in that room for how many days, it was definitely the obvious choice to him. And he was basically sleep deprived. Of course he's be hearing things. There was no way anyone could be down there with him.

Except maybe there was a possibility. The sounds of the voices varied from high to low, including the loud one. It was definitely a deeper one. A feeling began to grow inside Gray—maybe one of more people really were down there and they could help him out. He began to feel butterflies in his stomach as he waited for the voices to get closer. He tossed aside all unnecessary books and sat down on the ground as he munched on his ice. The entire time, he kept debating on whether or not those voices were familiar.

A few hours before, at the guild hall, Lucy had awoken on a wooden table. She rubbed her eyes, contemplating on whether or not she really wanted to get up. Sighing, she forced herself to sit upright. The only problem was that Happy was fast asleep on her torso. Grumbling curse words, she shoved the exceed off of her. The celestial mage's back cramped as she sat up. Happy opened his eyes immediately and caught himself before he crashed into a chair. He hissed at Lucy, "Hey! What was that for?"

"You were . . . laying on top . . . of me," Lucy yawned before stretching her arms wildly into the air. Happy noticed how dirty her outfit was, and it made her look funny. But with that aside, he was mad. Why would she treat him like that after all the exceed did for her. It was infuriating! If it weren't for him, she wouldn't be back!

"But I carried you here when I was basically on zero energy! You're gonna treat me like garbage!?"

"I'm not treating you like garbage. I was just getting you off of me." Lucy was mad, too. This was the first thing she had to deal with when she woke up, and she absolutely despised it. She could be out doing better things right now. Maybe go to the shops for new clothes or needed items. It's been a while since she's taken a bath, so it's about time she gets that musty smell off of her. Or maybe even go out to eat dinner since Natsu wasn't there to use up her money for an buffet that really wasn't supposed to be a buffet. It would be cool to go out and search for Gray with the dragon slayer. It would also be nice to visit the park and read a book.

Maybe she would just go home and take a bath. It sounded really nice about now.

The celestial mage climbed off the table and stretched once more, ignoring the exceed that was yelling at her for no damn reason. And as she made her way to the door, Lucy froze. She had forgotten all about the search for Gray, and her subconscious reminded her as she was listing the things she wanted to do. She was thankful for that. First, she had to find Natsu because without his nose, she and Happy would go absolutely no where.

Lucy ran back to the table and smuggled up Happy, whose subject changed from a disrespectful Lucy to all the kinds of fish he wanted to eat at the moment.

She had a feeling that Gray would be found soon. There were so many search parties out and about, and it was likely that one of them would stumble upon Gray within the next day or so. He would be home soon.