Hello everyone.

This is a one-shot which won't really be expanded upon unless you guy's ask for it. Even then it won't be updated as frequent as my other stories planned.

I was just thinking about what if Gray was the one to get up to Jellal to help Erza instead of Natsu. Also what if Simon was too busy getting Natsu out of the R-system to help Erza and Gray…

Yeah, I know it very different but hey! This is fanfiction and we can post whatever we want (within reason of course :D).

Anyway, lets see what I can make up here…

P.S. This is being posted as soon as i'm done making it so I won't be able to keep to canon because I set myself some rules for this. 1. No research when I start writing. 2. finish In one go 3. as usual, try as hard as you can whilst having fun…

:::-(())-:::

(Like the change?)

Gray was panting heavily after landing the final blow on Fukuro, he watched as the massive owl-faced mage flew straight into one of the suspended cages hanging from what seemed an unreachable height.

He watched Simon pick up Natsu who appeared to be unconscious and place him down on the floor to try and wake the idiot up…

After a minute of Simon trying to verbally bring Natsu out of his sleepy state and Gray slapping said Dragon slayer a multitude of times, they gave up on him and Simon looked at Gray who looked back with a realization that their fellow mage was down.

And someone was going to have to take him back to the boat where the others were…

"Fullbuster, you take Natsu back and i'll get Erza back." Simon ordered.

Gray looked at him with a look that said 'not happening' and replied back to him.

"No! You take him back, I'll get to Erza and I'll get her back!"

"Fullbus-"

"NO! I won't let this guy harm Erza! I won't allow him to take her away from us! You take natsu back I got this!" Gray all but shouted at Simon, who looked at him with a stunned expression before speaking once more.

"we're wasting time!"

"Well get going then!" Gray retorted before stating more softly. "I won't let Erza be harmed by this Jellal Guy. She'll be back safe and sound before you know it, trust me." The determination in his voice made Simon believe in him, no matter how silly that sounded to his mind.

He nodded and picked up Natsu, looked up to see Gray running up the stairs on the other side of the room before turning around and running towards the exit with Natsu in his arms.

:::-(())-:::

(10 minutes later)

Gray had finally made it to the top of the tower and he stopped when he heard a male voice resonating from a few meters in front of him.

Peeking up, his eyes widened when he saw the 'Jellal' character sticking Erzas arm into what seemed to be a lacrima. He was even more scared when he saw her sinking slowly into it. He saw Jellal walking away from her and that was his opening.

Before Erza could sink anymore, she felt someone pulling her back out of the lacrima, she was even more surprised when she saw it was Gray saving her. She thought Gray would've got the others out before attending to her matters.

Then she felt stupid…

Out of everyone in Fairy tail, Gray was the one that pulled her out of her armoured shell, he was the one who helped her get over most of her mental trauma and he was the one who she knew would go to hell and back as many times as he needed to without complaining if it meant she do something as little as smile for a few minutes.

He was the one who truly gave her a future…

"Erza? Are you okay? Are who hurting anywhere?" Gray blushed in embarrassment when he looked at the multiple bruises she had scattered on her person. Then he saw Jellal, realising that he had to move quickly, Gray tried to get Erza up only to see a weird snake like rune wrapping itself around her.

"What the H-" He was cut off when he felt a fist make impact with the side of his head, knocking him a few metres back. He looked up to see Jellal standing in front of him, an expression of irritation on his face.

"Now what do we have here Erza? One of your little friends?" Jellal looked at Gray and then to Erza before smirking and speaking once more. "It looks like one of your chess pieces made it through. Well no matter, the result will still be the same, pawn or not!" He gave an insane grin to Gray, who got ready for a tough fight.

"Meteor!" No sooner had Jellal uttered those words had begun speeding around the floor faster than Gray could blink. He sent a punch to Gray's head which he miraculously dodged and sent his own attack towards Him.

"Ice make: Floor!" Gray pushed his hands into the floor, which in effect made running very difficult for Jellal, he skidded into Gray's foot when he sent it at him. The attack connected, sending Jellal flying into one of the many Etherion spires.

He had underestimated this certain pawn…

"Ice make: Geyser!" Shouted Gray, the magic circle soon appeared under Jellal who was struggling to keep his balance on Gray's Ice. The ice impaled Jellal and kept him suspended until the ice disappeared and he landed on one knee breathing heavily from the quick and painful barrage of attacks he had just taken. Steeling himself, he got back up and smirked again at Gray.

"it'll take more than that if you want to be the king at his own game" He commented.

Gray's eyes just narrowed down to Jellal…

"I don't care, you sick freak. After what have done Erza, I will bring what it takes and even more from where it came from!"

"You may try..."

Gray slammed his fist into his palm again.

"Ice make: Hammer!" The hammer appeared and Gray brought it down on his his opponent. However Jellal managed to move out of the way.

"Meteor!" Once again he was running at that impossible speed. Gray barely had time to dodge the first attack so when the second one came he wasn't able to move in time. The fist connected with his face which sent him up high in the air. He recovered and tried to attack back Jellal had stated his barrage of attacks.

He didn't hear anything, but there were things being thrown at him, they looked like medium sized balls of magic being thrown towards him and he could hardly get out of the way In time.

"Ice make: Saucer!" He unleashed his razor sharp icy disk towards a piece of Etherion so it would bounce off of that and it would hit Jellal. It was a fiddly tactic and one that only presented itself now. But he knew he could pull it off.

Just as he suspected, the saucer bounced off of the spire and was sent straight into Jellal.

"Quit moving you- argh!" Jellal felt the sharp blade cut into his back slightly as he fell forward. Gray took the opportunity to uppercut Jellal to then kick him in the chest which knocked the tattooed man on his back.

"Ice make: Prison!" The prison appeared and trapped Jellal. Gray took the chance to help remove the blind snake rune from Erza.

"Dammit! This sort of thing is Frieds Job, not mine!" Gray pondered for a second, but it seemed he didn't have to do much as the bonds were released. He looked back to see Jellal slowly getting back up. Very slowly.

He had time, that's all that mattered…

"Are you all right Erza?" He asked in concern. Erza looked at him with a sad but glad expression.

"Yes, but we can't let Jellal get away with this." She sadly stuttered out, she started looking down at the floor, fighting back tears.

Gray rushed to her side to help her up.

"It's okay… He won't be able to hurt anyone, he wo-" He and Erza were hit from behind and with a strike of magical balls and Erza being sapped of any strength just crumpled to the floor, struggling to get back up.

"Hmhmhmhm, Oh how could you have forgotten pawn? There is an Etherion blast heading this way and all you have accomplished is getting in my way for a while." Jellal grinned at him. "In fact, there it is!"

Gray's eyes widened and he and Erza looked up into the sky to see a massive, bright beam of pure magic heading straight towards the tower. Gray acted quickly, grabbing Erza and Creating a cocoon made of ice around them.

The beam struck and Gray struggled to hold the shield around them due to the intense pressure and pure power that the explosion held. He soon lost the fight but concentrated on Erzas defence, foregoing his own. If he didn't, he would spend to much magic energy and pass out before he could get Erza out of there.

And that was not happening on his watch…

:::-(())-:::

As soon as Simon had got Natsu to safety he bid good luck to the fairy tail mages on the boat and began his long trek back the tower of heaven. He hoped Fullbuster had managed to keep his vow to keep Erza safe. He he hadn't it wouldn't be Jellal he would have to look out for.

He was sure that the others were worried about their fellow mages too so it made this trek even more important. But before he could advance any further, he heard a massive explosion and large slabs of brick were crumbling all around him.

This would not have been a problem if the slabs didn't get in the way of his path. He cursed his rotten luck and started looking for a different way of getting through. But that would take time.

He only hoped that Erza and Fullbuster could hold out for that long…

:::-(())-:::

Erza winced when she woke up from her slumber. She looked around to find Gray and Jellal barely standing and going at it with all they had. Gray looked like death had hit him with a train, he was pale, ghostly pale, he was struggling to stand judging by his posture and he was far slower than before.

Jellal at least looked like had had a tiny bit of magic left, but he looked like he was truly angry now. Then she looked around and she saw why. The Lacrima was destroyed and the rest of the structure looked like it was wrecked.

Then she saw the ice around it and knew exactly who caused it…

"You- You have ruined everything I worked on for the last six years! You won't get away alive you pathetic bug! You will know pain." Jellal looked like he had finally snapped. He was lashing out and using his magic to attack with such ferocity that it was amazing Gray could even dodge most of his attacks. But why wasn't Gray using his magic?

Was he out? Or worse?

"Erza!" She turned her head from the fight to see Simon running towards her, he looked at her scared.

"Oh thank god your okay! Oh thank god!" Simon whispered whilst holding her to him tightly. "We have to go, now!" Simon tried to get her out but one sentence stopped him.

"No! Wait, please help Gray!" Erza pleaded her eye's frantic and tired. "Please don't let Jellal kill him… He's-" Before her sentence could be finished, Simon had dodged an attack from Jellal who seemed to have knocked Gray out, or so it seemed.

"I-Ice make: Ice C-Canon!" He crafted a flawless canon and fired a shot straight into Jellals head which sent him to the ground. Gray looked dead from were Simon was standing and could see Erza looking scared. Jellal got back up and looked between the three. Then he finally smirked.

"You have taken everything from me Ice mage, now it's my turn.!"

he floated upward and shouted out his finishing move.

"ALTAIRIS!"

He soon had a ball seemingly made completely of shadows which was growing at an alarming rate. Simon tried to run but found himself trapped and Erza was to weak to move on her own.

He was doomed…

"Erza..." He breathed out.

"I know, it's okay..." She seemed sad but ready for the inevitable.

The shadowy ball was finally released towards them and they stared the big ball of death in the face and prepared for the unimaginable pain…

"I-ICE M-MAKE: G_GUNGNIR!" They heard Gray and Erza opened her eyes to see the most horrifying sight she had ever seen…

Gray had somehow managed to get back up, but he was stood in front of them, with a massive lance penetrating the ball. However the ball kept moving forward and due to his lack of magic, Gray's Gungnir lance was greatly smaller in comparison to the normal spear he could normally conjure up. Effectively; the ball had been able to hit him and he refused to move in case they were hit by the residue.

That was all he had left…

After the magic dissipated, Erza with wide eyes finally managed to speak.

"N-NO GRAY!" She somehow found the strength to crawl towards the unmoving ice mage and she tried to shake him awake. "GRAY! STOP PLAYING AROUND AND WAKE UP! GRAY!" She tried and tried to shake him but no matter what she tried, Gray just wouldn't move.

She couldn't hold the tears back any more. Her tears spilled out of her eyes as she looked at her seemingly dead friend. He had spent the entire time he knew her by trying to help her and be the one for her to cry on. She never repaid him in anyway, Not in any form.

She didn't even get to tell him how she felt…

Simon walked over and tried to find a pulse. His eyes widened largely when he made a great discovery.

"He's alive..."

Erza looked at him with wide eyes brimmed with tears.

"What? Are you sure?" She asked desperately.

"I'm certain, but he is in a critical condition." He stated solemnly. "If we wait any longer, he could die!"

Erza tried to get up but due to her injuries she had no chance.

"can you get us out of here? She asked him.

"Yes, and don't worry." He said. "he is in good hands. The both of you are...". He carefully picked up Gray and Erza and looked back at the limp form of Jellal. Gray really did a number on him that was for sure…

Before he could think about it any more, the tower had started crumbling around him from what he expected was because of the damage the had taken before Jellals attack. The tower just couldn't take another attack of any scale and Jellal hit both Gray and the tower with a massive attack so the Etherion tower just gave in to the damage.

"Dammit! We've got to go now!" He sprinted as fast as he could with Gray and Erza in his arms, rocketing down each floor at an incredible speed. He was soon near to the exit and he could see the rest of the team floating in what seemed to be a bubble of water.

"The water women must be responsible for that." He muttered out, he was really tired after running down from the top of a tower that pierced the clouds which he thought was reasonable.

He jumped into the water and swan to the boat/bubble thing as fast as he could whilst trying to keep Gray and Erza above the water level which was proving to be a challenge in itself.

'Almost there… Almost there' Simon was getting too tired to carry on moving, he was trying his hardest not to fall unconscious from the strain he was taking in right now. He wouldn't let Fullbuster die, not after the emotion Erza showed for him.

She cared a lot for him…

If he died, Erza would never recover from the loss. He guessed that the others wouldn't be far off the mark either.

"There they are!" Shouted The blue cat. The others looked over to where it pointed and they saw that the cat wasn't lying. They all saw Simon struggling to keep above the water, with Erza just about staying awake and Gray unconscious and looking like death.

"It's about damn time ice princess got back." Said Natsu. He wasn't happy about being left on the boat with the others whilst Erza was in danger.

"At least their okay…" Replied Lucy who hadn't looked over just yet. Natsu had laid all over for a good few minutes and she was sprawled all over the boat. When she looked over however her eyes were noticeably wider.

They weren't 'okay' as she had put it. Erza was just barely awake and Simon looked ready to fall into pieces after such a long traverse down the tower.

But Gray looked the worst. He had multiple cuts and bruises all over his body, He must've stripped somewhere because you could see dried blood that was to stubborn to wash off all over his chest and stomach. His face looked like it wasn't moving at all. That was the thing that scared not just Lucy, but everyone else she saw looked a bit more pale than before…

Juvia however was outright screaming…

"Gray-sama! What happened to you?! Who did this?! Wake up! Please! Don't be dead!" Juvia was a bit more frantic than usual, but that could be forgiven due to the circumstances.

Natsu Looked alarmed. He had been unable to smell the blood because the water had covered the scent. But then as Gray, Erza and Simon got closer he was able to pick up the scent. There wasn't a lot to go on, but the way that Gray had looked he couldn't deny that it was the smell of blood.

"Hey! Simon, What happened to Gray?! Why does he smell of Blood? Tell me!" He screamed at the half dead mage.

Simon had finally managed to get to the boat and Lucy and Juvia hoisted Erza and Gray into the boat before helping Simon on. They laid Gray down and inspected his injuries. They painful looking and they looked like they would stay for a long while.

"How?… How did he get this messed up?! What happened up there?!" Natsu had all but roared in Simon's face. He wanted to know what happened to his friend.

Simon looked down towards Erza, who lost consciousness and was now asleep, with her hand weakly stretched toward Gray.

"He saved our lives..."

He went on to tell them about how he saw Gray and Jellal having a weak fist fight, about how Jellal got a lucky fist in and knocked Gray down, about Jellals Altairis attack and how Gray took the hit for them and how he made a small spear weapon to pierce Jellals attack to take him out.

He also told them of Erza's reaction to Grays brave action. He asked them why would Erza act like that around Gray when she never around Jellal before his turn. In his head Erza had acted fairly strict around his old group. She never reacted to Jellals punishment like she did Gray's. He wanted to know if they were closer than Her and Jellal.

Well she WAS like that…

"I don't know. Gray and Erza have been at the guild longer than any of us here. Only they know why." Natsu said in reply to Simon's question. He truly had no idea why. Perhaps it was just watching someone she knew almost die.

Or maybe it was something more.

"We have to get them back to the guild right now! Will you help us do that?" Lucy asked Simon.

He thought for a second…

Then his answer came to him…

"Yes."

:::-(())-:::

(2 hours later)

It had been a gruelling couple of hours. During that time Grays heart had stopped a total of three times, scaring everyone each time it stopped. Erza had mumbled in her sleep induced haze about Gray being dead. When she mentioned Gray being dead, her face would distort into a sad face and her eyes leaked tears for two minutes before she went back to being silent.

Lucy, Natsu and the others felt sympathy for the red head. She seemed to be in a nightmare she wasn't able to escape from. If she woke up she would most likely worry about Gray and become frantic until she fell asleep again, or she would continue sleeping and carry on the horrors in her slumber.

She really had a crappy hand dealt to her…

But they had finally made it back to the guild. Natsu ran over to the doors and hurriedly waved the others over.

Kicking in the massive doors instantly got the attention of the Guild members who were pleasantly surprised to see Natsu return. They then saw his facial expression and they were scared.

"SOMEONE GET GRAMPS OR MIRAJANE! WE HAVE WOUNDED!" Natsu had roared and everyone had instantly sprang into action, Elfman ran to get his sister and Macao went to get Makarov.

Then Simon entered with Erza and Gray and Natsu quickly got them to the infirmary. Mirajane and Makarov were pale when they had seen Grays condition.

"Oh my god..." Gasped Mirajane. She had never seen Gray so beaten and bruised before. She quickly went to work on His many cuts and bruises whilst Makarov had got Simon to lay Erza on the bed next Gray.

"All she needs is some rest. She suffered from a few powerful strikes and magical draining." Makarov had deduced. "Now would you like to tell me what happened to my children?" He looked at Simon Who began his story…

:::-(())-:::

(10 minutes later)

It took a few minutes to explain everything, but soon Simon had finished his story and Makarov had listened intently to every word Simon spoke.

"You sure you have no idea where your other friends are now? He asked calmly.

"No." He replied "No I don't."

"Well at least you redeemed yourself..." Muttered Makarov.

" I have one more thing to tell you" Simon stated before Makarov could continue. "Jellal didn't only have one lacrima on the top of the tower, he had one more I found before the tower fell. It seems to record the events that had taken part during the fight. It was almost as if he wanted to record his feat." Then he looked at Gray. "I guess he didn't expect to have an intruder come in and stop him.

He then looked back at Makarov.

"You should feel honoured to have this kid in your guild. Natsu may be a dragon slayer but if it wasn't for Fullbuster here, both he and Erza would not be here as we speak. Is he an S-class mage by any chance?"

"No, but he is a hopeful." Makarov answered.

Simon was surprised…

"GRAY!" Shouted Erza. She had just woken to see Gray next to her, strapped to many machines and sporting an abundance of bandages that only left his Right eye and his hair that was covered in muck.

"Erza! Don't try to move or you will just fall over again!" Exclaimed Simon, worry evident in his voice.

"Please just tell if he okay… I don't him to die." She weakly pleaded. "I don't him to leave me..." Simon couldn't deny her that right. She so clearly was desperate to know about Grays condition.

It was at this point that Simon could see she held special feeling for him. He couldn't say no…

"I won't lie, he is in bad shape. He had used too much magic in the fight and to top it off he jump in front of a spell that is used to kill people. How he is alive now is very impressive but whether or not he pulls through is another story all together." He said solemnly.

He felt awful when Erza leaned back and started sobbing quietly, she was officially in a state of despair. Unless Gray woke up and told her he was alive she would be inconsolable.

But a miracle happened when he and Erza heard a sharp gasp from the raven haired mage next top them.

Gray had just woke up…

:::-(())-:::

I'm sorry if this seems like a train wreck but the rules are rules and I do have a habit of forgetting certain details to events.

And this to me felt very rushed and slightly unrealistic. I do feel like I could've done better but I keep forgetting everything. I'm surprised I can remember the details of my story.

But I can happily say that this is the longest potential one-shot I have ever done so it isn't all bad.

Also; some trivia questions.

What's your favourite anime? Mine is (obviously) Fairy tail.

Long hair or short hair? I have longish hair. (shoulder length)

and finally…

Who is your favourite FT character? Mine is quite obviously Gray Fullbuster.

Anyway, the next post will be somewhat late. But it will be the next chapter to 'The Ripple Effect' so you guys have that to look forward to. (if it is decent at least)

So I will see you next post,

-Viperhat