Story Title: A Verdict on a Fairy

Rated: T

Pairings: NatsuXGray

World: Anime World/Canon

Beta Reader: Gothpandaotaku

Warning: Shounen Ai, Yaoi (Advanced Sexual themes), Language, Violence?

O.o.O A Verdict on a Fairy O.o.O

"Things aren't always what they seem"

By Flame-Belt

Gray winced. Twice. Then three more times.

His knuckles literally burned with pain that he was so desperately trying to conceal, because god help himif Lyon ever felt that there was something going on. The older man and closest thing to a brother he had was immersed in bandaging the injury, preventing it from getting worse for the time being.

All of the selected teams for Natsu's case were on Christina, and Gray immediately got the sense of déjà vu. Seriously, the allied forces, Oracion Seis, and… Jellal, and even more. When he looks at it all, it seemed as if it happened only yesterday, but awkwardly enough, he felt that Fairy Tail has been through a lot. Both bad and good.

All of Fairy Tail. They have been through a lot.

With Lucy.

Erza.

Wendy.

Gajeel.

Laxus.

Everyone.

With Natsu Dragneel.

Gray wasn't ready to deal with Natsu's issue yet. The whole concept unnerved him. He didn't understand one bit, the reason Fairy Tail had such an grumpy guild master. They were at the end of the their rope, and practically, they were hiding temporarily on top of Christina. It wasn't exactly the plan to alert any of the guilds in Magnolia about whatever was going on.

He hated that. He didn't like to work in complete discretion, not to mention keeping it up, or even succeeding in doing it in the first place. He winced again as beads of sweat fell down his heated neck and collarbone, thinking that he might have just gone too far hitting the geezer back in the market.

"Lyon just—damn. Are we not finished yet?"

"Have patience." Lyon looked at his brother briefly before taking a piece of tape to finish off the job around Gray's wrist, "I think you should be careful. I'm not one hundred percent sure, but… think you got quite a nasty bone fracture."

"It's nothing, trust me. I need to get back to work."

"Easy—Alright. Now, try moving it around."

Gray clenched and closed his fingers, trying to get a sense of them before he nods. "Fine, I guess."

Lyon smirked. "What would you do without the awesomeness that is me?"

"You kidding me? Probably be happier."

"—And there we go with concealing our feelings."

"Oh please." Gray stood up, "Let's go."

Lyon shook his head in disappointment, then walked over to his little brother towards the different groups. Laxus was looking at the town below, but they could tell he was thinking deeply. Lucy simply stood gazing down as well with a troubled face, while Erza sat on the ship, closing her eyes. Laki was going through different information shared by Hibiki while checking out the blue Pegasus' member archive with Juvia standing, trying to process everything.

And Levy was doing her own readings. She seemed frustrated and a little confused, but Gray couldn't blame her.

"What did I miss?" Gray said, trying to lighten up the mood.

"Gray-Sama! Juvia is so worried, are you well?"

Gray nodded. "Nothing serious. What are gu-"

"-Juvia-chan!" Lyon interrupted, "You look beautiful today, too!"

"Ugh…"

Laxus stood facing them all.

"I say, let's recap." He walked forward, everyone following him with their fond and curious gazes, "Natsu was foolish enough to follow a rumor which indicates the existence of a treasure in Starlight. The fool gets practically punished by an anonymous guild master, and currently, with the groups Jii-chan assigned, he thinks we have a shot figuring out the solution for this."

They all gave him agreeing looks.

"Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to be a pessimist here, but who truly thinks that we're even close to that now after heading to the market?"

Gray knew that they were doing bang up job so far. Nothing. Null.

All of their faces fell and amongst all, Erza Scarlet was quite angry at that very fact. She never hit a dead end before, and she wasn't about to start now. She cleared her throat to talk, "I've thought about it, and we might be looking in the wrong place. We should stop and reconsider our strategy for handling this matter."

"That's one. Two, an hour ago when we were heading out from the market, we got a message from the guild." Laxus crossed his arms tightly.

Gray looked puzzled. "What does it say?"

"It states, the only salvation for Natsu right now, is to show and feel honest remorse and regret of his doing at the tomb. If he did, he might get a second chance." Laxus grunted, "Or at least that's what the Shodaime said."

"-And?" Gray asked.

"You surprise me, Gray." Laxus chuckled, "Aren't you guys close? You should know how well that would go."

Gray paled and held his injured arm tightly. "You mean…"

"Yes. Natsu Dragneel does not feel regret towards his actions." Laxus shook his head, "Not that I expected him to. Practically, Regret is not included in the hot head's vocabulary."

Hibiki Lates and Lyon Vastia exchanged looks for a minute, then Lucy with Erza, and Laki with Levy. They all have known Natsu Dragneel's stubborn streak for a while. Natsu didn't do anything unless he wanted to do it willfully, and he had yet to regret his actions towards any situation. He was extremely convinced that he was doing the right thing for Lucy's sake. And they knew he wouldn't ever regret helping a friend.

"I think, if I were in his shoes I would've done the same thing." Gray snapped them out of their thoughts, "It's not really our position to criticize that."

"No, it is most certainly not." Laxus said seriously, "However way, when you only get five days to live, you should think wisely about how you look at things."

"Meaning?" Gray glared.

"Meaning we are chasing a phantom of a non-existent solution, so if he had any tiny bit of intelligence, he will do as what the Shodaime suggested, and he might live to destroy another international Library and even get arrested for doing so alongside his teammate's."

"That's-" Levy started.

"—I can't understand here. Are you saying that he has to give up his pride in order to live?! What kind of life is that?" Gray's voice got higher.

Laxus moved forward, then stopped right in front of Gray, "You have a very narrow vector while looking at things, Gray." Laxus was firm and irritated, "Instead of looking at it like that, don't you think it's selfish when he wants to preserve his so called pride but leaving all of our sides, especially his rival and his team?"

Point taken. Laxus ten, Gray, big fat zero.

BUT. He hasn't really given it any thought, if Natsu continues to live by abandoning his pride, which is the most important thing for any person, especially a man, the boy will regret the choice of living.

"You can't say that." Gray scoffed, "What would you do? Just humor me, what would YOU of all people do?"

"-That's not about-"

"-Well, let me tell you what you would've done! You'd have left our guild and went some place SO far away in the eastern deserts, so that we will never see you again, and die honorably or something. That's you Laxus. You wouldn't even consider feeling regret."

Gray could feel both of their heavy breathing, Laxus so irritated, and Gray so stubborn.

"I'm well aware of that fact. Actually, I've mentioned a choice, we still haven't found a solution." Laxus glared one last time at Gray before facing all the others, "We have to start our own search beginning with Starlight. Going there where it all happened might get us somewhere."

"I agree." Lyon accepted the suggestion, "It's better. We never had any information in the first place regarding this Tinzon, so we might find something useful-"

"—Guys! Terrible news!"

Hibiki moved in between Gray and Laxus while others were totally ignorant of the reason he was panicking. "I just got a message from Fairy Tail."

Erza and Lucy were the first to jump out of their sitting position while Juvia moved next to Gray. "Wh-Fairy Tail?!" her eyes were surprised.

"Yes."Hibiki nervously answered, "Sting Eucliffe and Rogue Cheney are on their way to Fairy Tail for a visit!"

"And?!" Laxus couldn't get the problem.

"Your master is concerned about their visit. Only us Blue Pegasus and Lyon Vastia from Lamia scale know about Natsu's condition! Sabertooth is off the list!"

"Calm down, how will th-"

"By smell!" Hibiki Inturrupted Erza, "They are Dragon Slayers, they'll know something's wrong before even you could tell a lie. Raising suspicions is the last thing we wanna do before we figure this thing out-"

"So what should we-" Lucy stuttered.

"-We don't have a choice. We have to go back, there are a lot of members missing in Fairy Tail, and knowing those two smart people… Damn it. What a pain in the ass."

Gray gritted his teeth. "We should be busy with important things, those assholes!"

"Gray." Lyon sympathized, "We will be on our way as soon as we are done of Sabertooth. Have patience."

All of the members felt pressured and nervous, and Hibiki didn't waste time in navigating the ship back to Fairy Tail headquarters.

Juvia watched as Gray was full of rage and irritation, judging by the powerful slam of his fist against the ship's poor painted wood, but was too afraid to say anything. Lyon rubbed on her shoulder, gently, then smiled. "Don't worry. He's fine, just leave him to me."

"Lyon-san… I… Gray-sama… Gray-sama is mad. Juvia doesn't know how to help."

"No one can blame him. The situation is pretty complicated. But as I said, just leave him to me."

He moved forward and punched Gray's head, and the Ice-wizard jumped out, "BASTARD! FUCK YOU!"

"You're making Juvia-chan worry, knock down that face."

"LYON!" Gray was going to hit the boy, but stopped in the middle to slam his fist once more on the ship with seething anger, "Nothing is going according to any fucking PLAN!"

"Says the guy who said he doesn't give a shit."

"I don't give a shit!"

Lyon gave him a scolding look.

"-Whatever! Now we'll have to make a plan to get rid of those two freaks before they can sniff out the moron!"

Lyon sighed. "I told you. We'll figure it out. You'll be the first one to tip them off with your crappy attitude."

"Damn it all."

Lyon was one hundred percent sure that they were in deep shit, mainly because the visitors were two of the most respected Dragon Slayers in town, and even if Natsu wasn't going to show up before them, they will be asking about him, they will be wanting to talk to him for whatever reasons those foolish Dragon Slayers bonded over.

Lyon thought-oh damn it's going to be a heck of a meeting-and huffed. His arms crossed over his chest as Christina flew towards the guild, and as he, found himself needing some advice regarding how to keep a leash on his littlest brother.

Happy was snoring softly on Natsu's lap. The pink haired youth felt his energy drained as he rested his back slightly on the pillow, his eyes half-lidded. His whole body ached, and the only thing keeping him smiling was Happy. The bluish ball of energy was now resting soundly on his lap, and Natsu felt guilty because he was the main reason Happy stuck by him for a long period of time.

The Exceed was spent from not sleeping for too long, and Natsu patted his blue head fondly. Honestly, he felt like Happy was everything he had left, and thinking of going away and leaving Happy behind has been just… so unfair.

Natsu yawned as drowsiness crept up his eyes.

Meanwhile, Christina dropped the different guild members in time of the arrival of the two Sabertooth Dragon Slayers.

Sting Eucliffe was chatting happily with Lector, and the two lovebirds (In Gray's opinion) were in Sync more than ever before. Surprisingly enough, After the Dai Matou Enbu, many bonds were renewed, and many relationships were formed, which was a major thing. Gray started to think that the Dai Matou Enbu was just a stunt to get people to know each other, and to discover possible alliances.

Their Master was sitting, perfecting the look of a drunken fool as usual, while Mirajane put on her dazzling smile. The rest of the members were tense, nervous, and worried that they didn't have a clear plan. Basically, they should dismiss those two quietly, not allowing Natsu to sense anything or the others to think of anything suspicious-Which is too damn impossible if the opponents are THREE Dragon Slayers in total.

Greetings were exchanged, and then the real consternation began.

"Natsu-San is not around?"

"No, he has been absent for a few days. Probably on a mission." Makarov answered Sting carelessly.

Rogue blinked more than one time, and Frosche exchanged looks with Lector who whispered, "They are lying." In his ears.

"Fro thinks so too!"

Sting kept a merry smile on. "Ah… Are you sure of that? He could've arrived early and you didn't notice Natsu-San's presence."

"Why makes you think so?" Erza calmly ate her cake as she asked the blonde.

"You want the truth?" He asked calmly while maintaining the smile, "It's because this place practically reeks of his existence."

Erza placed the fork down, as well as Makarov, who placed his beer glass down, looking at the blonde from the corner of his eyes. Gray's bandaged knuckles hurt from continuous pressure on them. Problem is, he didn't know what to do, he was just going along with whatever Jii-chan was planning.

Or didn't plan…

"As I've mentioned before Bouzu-kun. Natsu's on a mission. I'm sure we would've noticed if his pink head was around."

"Mhmm. That's too bad." Sting rubbed the back of his head, "You see, we wanted to thank him for the other day, and we were barely able to have free time to do so."

"I'll be sure that your gratitude reaches him. You're welcome here for company though."

"Oh…" Sting exchanged looks with Rogue and shook his head, "I… I'm afraid we'll have to take you up on that offer later, we're actually busy with some errands in town."

"Well then. Good Luck Bouzu-tachi."

They left without a word shortly, leaving the members behind to breathe comfortably.

Some thought it was a little bit too easy. They'd imagined a worse case scenario where they all got exposed for lying to no one other that Dragon Slayers, however, it seemed as if they were scared for nothing. Lyon was surprised as well, and chose a moment to stop hiding, as well as Hibiki.

"That went well." He breathed.

Gray clenched his fist and ran towards Natsu's room, making others follow him as well.

"Wait Gray!" Lucy called, going after him.

He opened the room quickly, his heart clouded with fear, but as soon as he saw the pink haired boy staring at him with puzzlement, he calmed down in an instant, and resisted the sudden urge to just hold the other between his arms to make sure he was really there in front of him.

"Gray…" The name seemed to have slipped without control from Natsu, who paled at seeing all of his friends back so soon, "Ah…"

"We can explain…" Erza tried, "Natsu, there has been an emergency so we had to come back temporarily, but fear not. We'll be on our way right now."

"Emergency?! What kind?"Natsu made an attempt to question the situation, but no one replied, including Lucy, "What happened and—Ah…"

Natsu eyes widened when they spotted Gray's wrist bandage, "Gray… Wha-What…"

Feelings of relief and warmth touched the tips of Gray's soul upon realizing that Natsu was there. By simply being there for his friends and family, Gray knew he didn't have any other home, his home is where he, Natsu, and his friends belonged. If Natsu isn't there, then he wouldn't be able to make it home. Natsu had to stay.

No, he was going to make sure Natsu WOULD stay.

Nothing would change that.

His injured palm rested on top of Natsu's pink thatch of hair, and roughly tousled it.

"Disappointing that you're very much alive." Gray smirked playfully, "Man, you Dragon Slayers are pretty stubborn."

"Gray! Your hand—"

"—Stay where you are, Natsu." Gray stopped Natsu from moving by pressing on his shoulder to sit back down, "Stay where you are, at least, hold on until I'm back."

'I swear on my own pathetic life, Natsu. I won't let you die.'

The boy left the room wordlessly, as Natsu looked to all of his friends' backs. He wished with all of his heart to support them like he always used to.

When Mirajane entered his room to see the changes happening to his body, and his magic energy, the boy threw off the blanket and got on his knees.

"N-Natsu…"

"Please. I beg you… Mirajane. Do it."

"Natsu! Stop this nonsense right now! I won't allow you to do this to yourself, you've already been through enough!"

He could feel the warmth of his tears spilling over his face, from anger, helplessness and despair.

Mirajane cursed the soft spot she had for him. "Stop it Natsu… even if I do what you want, Master will never forgive such actions, and I can't… cover for you."

"I beg you." He rubbed his eyes slowly, Markings already vanquishing the features of his body and hands, "I can't let them get hurt because of me. Gray… and everyone else, I don't want them to suffer because of me. I'd rather kill myself right now- I'd be happy to."

"You can't!"

"Then do it, or I swear I'll give myself up one thousand times if that's what it takes! Mirajane!"

Fear ripped her heart apart, and she couldn't shake it off. She had one option, and she had to carry out Natsu's wishes.

Meanwhile.

They were waiting for Lucy. She had the sudden desire to see Natsu one more time. To check up on him, and make sure everything was alright. Gray could understand, Lucy was attached to Natsu from the beginning, and both have proved how their bond was stronger than anything over and over. This time was no different, and Gray couldn't even think of them separated, let alone separated by death.

She came back, looking a bit paled, but still breathing.

"You alright?" He asked with concern.

"Ay—Yes. I'm… okay."

"You alright?"

"So annoying, you heard me the first time!"

Gray was taken back, so the girl gave him an apologetic glance, and then breathed, "It's just hard. Seeing Natsu that way and all…"

"Don't worry! We'll get him alive and kicking again. At least, I'll make sure of that."

She stared at him as if he had said something so incredible, and Gray found her to be a little weird.

"You two, we have no time to waste on speaking. Let's get on the ship and move to starlight before the day is over." Laxus called, already walking towards the ship.

Gray scoffed, "Sure. Let's go, Lucy."

"Y-Yes." She walked next to him, and not so far behind, Juvia's water was turning to vapor because of deep anger and jealousy.

"Gray-sama!"

Lyon sighed as the sight of the three Wizards. Fairy Tail acted up even in the neediest of times. But according to their history together, it was what made Fairy Tail so special. Hibiki ascended with the ship heading to Starlight.

"Mhmm. What do you think? Rogue?"

"I think we were right by getting on this ship."

"Good plan, Sting-Kun!"

"Fro-thinks so too!"

Eyes widened, terror showed, Erza's sword was immediately under Sting's neck, and Laxus' lightening threatened to turn Rogue's head into a festival of different shades of red.

Gray couldn't even comprehend how those two got on the ship, moreover, what damage they could enact if they ever spoke of what they have seen on Christina.

"You know, Rogue…" Sting chuckled, "The Ice-Wizard was right."

His grin showed more arrogant than ever.

"Dragon Slayers are pretty stubborn."

Lucy retreated to the back, immediately taking a step behind Gray.

Flattering to know that he was that strong white knight in Lucy's eyes, however, something has been just weird about the girl. Instead of… hiding behind Erza as usual, she went behind him... in a fighting pose. Why him? Moreover, was she really trying to go down that road and take Juvia as the biggest enemy of all times?!

"How the hell did you get on this ship? And before anything, I'm not askingyou to answer. Either you do, or you'll be food for the sharks."

Laxus was threatening the two Sabertooth members who stood confidently alongside with their exceeds.

"It was very simple. We followed our instincts, and it's so bad of you people to lie to us when you know it's useless."

"Don't poke your noses where it doesn't belong, it's your fault to begin with." Gray commented calmly.

"Well, we wanted to know what's rotten in the state of Magnolia." Sting scoffed, "And before you could even think of throwing another threat, be aware of the fact that we're ready to spread what we see now to the people of Magnolia, especially the magic council. I hear they are getting quite fond of you guys lately."

Gray and the others were quite frustrated. But at the same time, they knew it could only end one way, and that is, by coming out to the light. Their friend's safety and their guild's secrets should remain hidden anyway. And it wasn't going to happen by simply getting rid of the two invaders. So when everything was exposed, the two Dragon Slayers showed their own concern.

"We want to help. Natsu-san did a lot for us, it's time we repay him."

"Lovely feelings, however, rejected." Gray answered the suggestion with an air of finality. No one from the group objected to his harsh reply.

In fact, Lucy went forward, and reinforced Gray's opinion, "I think so too. We'll deal with our troubles ourselves. Natsu only needs us, you guys should back off."

As if Lucy had just told a joke, Rogue and Sting laughed hard. Unfortunately, no one was able to stop them from interfering with the mission, because they feared their situation might be exposed. It was more than disappointing and all of them felt vexed to extreme measures.

Lucy kept glaring at the blonde Dragon Slayer for some time, before the other notices and sends a serious, strict looking face, moving towards the boiling girl.

He faced her, undeterred by her unusual glare.

First, Sting thought the girl had a buried grudge against Sabertooth due to what happened with the Dai Matou Enbu, however, after deeper look at things, Sting Finally began to understand why this girl was acting all furious.

She blinked twice, not expecting him to come closer, let alone whisper in her ear.

"I don't know what the hell you are doing, or why, but I want to give a piece of advice. Don't stand in my way, because I'm going to save you no matter how bad you want me to vanish from this very ship."

Her honey eyes widened and her hand, which instantly shaped in a fist to crush his skull, got trapped in the other's gentle yet firm ones.

"And. You might not want to draw any attention to yourself."

She gritted her teeth.

"Isn't that right, Natsu-san?"

Lucy froze.

"Don't you dare underestimate me. Your friends might be fools, but I'm a Dragon Slayer, third generation. And you can't fool this nose."

Author Note:

Ok, so, in case some of you are a bit disoriented, You can ask me any question (as long as it doesn't envolve the main plot) and I will gladly answer.

Other than that:

To be Continued.

To my Lovely Reviewers:

toast4219

"The story is great I can't wait until the next chapter :D"

Thank you honey, I'm really glad you like it, sorry for the delay though. Other priorities came first and I couldn't help it. Love you, and enjoy.

unknown 115

"What is gonna happen to Natsu I hope finish the other story of your
As well
Still supporting
From unknown 115"

Woooow, so sweet and touching! I really get speechless once I receive one of these amazing comments. I know I don't update often times, but I am glad someone's still following. Thank you darling.

Amy Kitty Katz

"Ah! I love this story so far! And I love the groups you made in this chapter. I can't wait to see if they split up again after they talk. And Lucy, she was being a bit of a bitch. I don't blame her though. She just got kicked out of her home, I'd be pretty pissed too.

And I feel like Gray is more than worried about Natsu *wink wink*. Ah, but we'll see later on! And dovt apologize about the story being longer! Nobody wants a good story to end so early! Can't wait to see what kind of trouble everyone gets in."

Aw well, you were looking for a trouble they face, and there. The very first one. I mean, I don't know, but LUCY(Ahem, Ahem) is quite the star. And Gray will have to learn how to control his feelings of anger a little bit more while falling in love with Natsu which might or might not happen and-

Ok, I should probably stop making things extra complicated. THANK YOU SWEETHEART for the amazing review. I am glad you like the story. I mean, I am SO glad. Hope you find this chapter interesting too.

AsDarknessSpreads

"Fuck you phone!
Aaaargh!
I JUST WROTE BLOODY TWO FUCKING PAGES OF REVIEW! Damn you!

ugh. Should I write it? Maybe I should.

Imma kill that bitch to lay even a hand on my Gray that's MOLESTATION CALL 911! Oh wait. You told me not to kill your girls. Okay then. I'll maim her.
Gray and Lyon Bromance eeeeep! I love stories with Gray and overprotective Lyon. Though I don't approve of forceful holding hands, no matter how hardcore yaoi fan I am.
Yup. so jealous.
You are a fan? Join my nonexistent fan base! *crickets chirping*
About the characters, the only one I found a bit (lot) ooc, was happy. In first chapter. Because I read it again. BecauseIhadsupposedluforgottenthestorysorry! *hides*
Update soon!
Dark"

Ok so yes, fuck all of our phones altogether cause it delets sometimes our hard work when we decided to write a decent review. I swear, fanfiction site is confusing too. So. No problem, at least I got to read your opinion. I guarantee you'll forget this time, cause that happens with the shitty author doesn't update for a long time, however, I HAD ISSUES SO DON'T TRY TO BLAME ME!

Nah, just kidding. I had issues, but the thing is, I'm a lazy bum, so you'll have to deal with that somehow. Just hope you enjoy reading.

blackhatred

"That guild master does not have the Fairy Tail spirit and is rather conceited. If he was alive i would cut of his manhood and force him to eat it. Please excuse my vulgarity.
All of these stories are great! I would read them millions times over becausei do not have a life, and becausethey are holy. :)"

OUCH. My god, you had me cringing. You guys are awesome sometimes when you try to invent a way of punishment or something, you get my eyes to be big in size, such creativity. Thank you so much for the precious praise, I will swim in it and obtain abundant courage too. *Snuggles* I love youuu.

MistySoul

"Amazing? me?you must be mistaken, The one who is amazing is YOU :)
I almost cried when I saw the update. Forward with the story! FORWARD I SAY"

Sorry… I know, I am an ass, you don't have to say, but forgive me. Well, you are amazing for the ability to keep up with me all of this time. Thank you amazing person! Hehe, ok I will go forward with the story as much as I can…

YES. TRYING TO. Love you, enjoy.

Mgluvsbl25

"Awww Gray thinks of Natsu and Juvia is one scary woman. I hope they find a cure for our Natsu and that Gray at least steals a kiss from him I can't wait until your next update until then ja ne :D"

Hahaha, well, no body stole any kiss until now… maybe later. Or sometime soon. Oh thank you now you made me think about it!~ Well, thanks for always keeping up with me, and I hope you enjoy this chapter.