Book 1: Fragments of Crystal (Fairy Tail Fanfic)

Chapter 42

Third Person's P. O. V:

Thick plumes of black smoke drift into the sky from the bomb that had gone off on Racer's chest. Gray stares with numb shock from his spot up on the cliff. Both pain and denial pound loudly in his ears. Gray just couldn't quite wrap his mind around the fact that both of his friends, Lyon and Akira, were dead. He pushes the dark thoughts out of his mind. There was just no possible way they could be dead. They were stronger than that; especially Akira.

"Lyon... Akira..." Gray grits out through his teeth.

"No...! Is he... how could this happen...?!" Sherry mutters, mushed tears in her eyes.

Gray says determinedly, "They would never give up that easily. Let's find them!" He holds out a hand and creates an Ice Slide to get down to the ground. "Come on!" Gray slides down and begins frantically searching for his two friends.

Sherry remains up on the cliff, tears dripping down her face as she believes Lyon is gone forever. Her heart suddenly turns dark with those thoughts.

In that moment, a beam of black and white light shoots up into the sky, and everyone could see it.

As he searches for his missing friends, Gray barely notices a hate-filled Sherry behind him, hair tossing in the wind. Sherry then attacks Gray from behind, the roots wrapping tightly around him. Gray struggles in an attempt to get free, but Sherry's magic was too strong.

Sherry continues to squeeze Gray until he loses consciousness. Sherry releases Gray and he remains prostrate on the ground.

                                ~~~

Akira stalks through the woods, her brows furrowed. After getting separated from Lyon when the bomb went off, she'd tried to find either him, Gray or Sherry by tracking down their vibrations. She had, but some other familiar vibrations had caught her attention: Momo, Lucy, Hibiki, Wendy, Happy, Charlele, Angel and Gray.

That last vibration had instantly made Akira's guard go up as she stalks in that direction, though she can barely feel Gray's vibration, similar to when one is stuck in quicksand or is standing on a sand-covered surface. Which makes Akira think that Gray is standing in a body of water, possibly a river, so she went to investigate and see why she's feeling two Gray's.

Akira soon reaches a clearing with a river, where Momo, Lucy, Hibiki, Charlele, Happy and an unconscious Wendy are. Just as she'd thought, Gray were standing knee-deep in a river, though the only female Oracion Seis member was nowhere in sight.

Akira's eyes widen when Gray shoots ice at Happy, who was heading for Natsu, collapsed on a raft Gray is standing on, his cheeks bulging with bile, and groaning, and he becomes encased in it, causing him to drop to the ground.

Akira rushes forward and calls, pulling her left arm back, "Crystal Magic: Crystal Needles!" She thrusts her arm forward and a long, slender crystal needle, about the same length and width of Lucy's middle finger, flies straight for Gray, who easily dodges, and the needle lands harmlessly in the river.

Akira stands protectively beside a surprised Lucy, as she and the others exclaim, "Akira!"

She shifts her pink eyes to the side and sees Natsu, collapsed on the raft, and Akira deadpans at him before returning her attention to Gray.

"Akira Suishou Mizuno," Gray says. "Gray has a lot of information about you. The two of you have been best friends for two years now. But you get really flustered by his stripping habit. Gray cares deeply about Akira, and, even though you're just a kid, Gray thinks you're definitely easy on the eyes. Especially when you get older."