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Worth The Wait	By : Rhov Category: +. to F > Fairy Tail Views: 4055 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: Fairy Tail is the property of Hiro Mashima. I make no money, I just do this for my own pleasure.

Chapter List
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Chapter 3

July, X784

Gray knew he had to hunt down Natsu before Makarov sent one of the S-Class mages to get him. Not that he really wanted to track down that flame-brain idiot, but hearing the old geezer say that Laxus was the only person who could bring Natsu back just made his pride snap.

How many years had he been fighting Natsu? And how often had he lost?

Then again, how often had he won?

He and Natsu were pretty much even. However, if Makarov sent Erza after him, that idiotic dragon boy might end up getting himself killed, and that would make life a lot less interesting in the guild.

As he headed out, he saw Loke coming up the road with four curvaceous girls flocking around him. Gray was starting to see a pattern. The number of girls hanging onto the playboy was directly proportional to the haggard look on Loke's face. Some of the more dirty-minded guild members whispered about reasons why Loke looked so worn out after a date with two or three lovely ladies. Gray knew Loke was a player, but he wasn't that bad of a guy...he hoped.

He knew that after three years he should be used to it, but lately, for some reason, he did not like seeing Loke hanging around girls.

"Oi, Loke, wanna give me a hand?"

With a whisper to his ladies, Loke shrugged them off like an old coat and came up to Gray alone. "Tough mission? It might be a good distraction for me."

The poor man looked so pale, Gray figured he could probably use a distraction. "Fetching a disobedient guild member."

Loke gave a small chuckle. "What did Natsu do this time?"

Not too surprising he guessed who the troublemaker was right away. "Stole a request for an S-Class job. Master wants him hauled in for punishment."

"It really is Natsu, huh? I guess I could help." He turned to his little harem. "Duty calls, ladies. I'll give you a ring later." He gave each a kiss on the cheek. Gray sneered and looked away. In what was becoming a habit, he pulled out a cigarette.

Loke followed beside Gray and occasionally warned him when he was about to tug on his shirt. Gray realized, few people could predict his stripping habit like Loke could. It was like he read his mind. For a moment, he wondered if Loke stared at him, waiting for the moment when his hands began to tug on the uncomfortable cloth. He wondered if Loke was watching him now, but he did not have the nerve to look over, just in case he saw that his suspicion was true.

After a while, Gray heard a soft laugh and looked over. "What is it?"

"Oh, nothing," Loke simpered. "Just ironic, ya know. You're always fighting that dragon slayer, yet you're the one smoking. It's almost like you want to copy Natsu."

Gray cringed at that. He grabbed the cigarette out of his mouth, threw it down in disgust, and stomped it out. "That's it. Starting today, I quit!"

"Good for you!" smiled Loke. "Personally, it's a habit I don't like. It doesn't really fit your personality, anyway."

They walked to the train station, and finally Loke asked, "So, Natsu thought he could do an S-Class job on his own? Or did you dare him to do it?"

"Hey, I might not like Natsu, but I don't want to send him off on a suicide mission. He probably figured he'd be okay if he took his cat and that rookie along."

Loke stopped short. Gray looked back around and saw Loke shiver. His eyes were wide in dread.

"R-Rookie? You mean the Celestial Spirit Mage, Lucy Heartfilia?"

"Yeah, that's the girl. Oh, right, you don't like her too much. Well, I can take care of her easily enough. She seems pretty weak."

"But she...she has all those Ecliptic Zodiac Keys." Loke swallowed hard and fisted his hand. His thumb ran over the ring with a blue stone in it. "Cancer, Taurus, Aquarius, and now she has Virgo too! If she were to call out one of those guys..." He shuddered again and said in a rush, "Sorry, I can't help." He quickly turned away.

"Oi, Loke!" Gray grabbed the fur-lining of his jacket, but Loke slipped out of it with speed that surprised even the chronic exhibitionist. He tossed the jacket aside and grabbed Loke's shirt instead. "What is with you and Lucy? Why do you hate her?"

"Hate? No, I don't hate her. She's too cute to hate. But...those Spirit Keys..." Again, a shudder rippled through him, and darkness from some distant memory brooded in his eyes. "Karen," Loke whispered.

Gray thought he looked in pain for a moment. Was it his imagination, or was there a shimmer of green around Loke?

"Sorry, Gray. I just can't be around her. I guess you could say it's one of the demons I need to defeat...if that's even possible," he muttered.

Gray knew the rumors. Something had happened in Loke's past, something to do with a lady who was a Celestial Spirit Mage. Women problems! But to cast the shadow of that past onto Lucy, it must have been more than just a nagging girlfriend or bad relationship. Some whispered that the only reason Loke picked Fairy Tail was due to it being the only guild in Fiore that did not have a Celestial Spirit Mage. Now Lucy was here, and Loke ran at the first sight of her.

Gray knew better than to ask too much, but he wished Loke could come to terms with his past. He was often tempted to invite Loke onto their team. They could use someone with his level of maturity, someone who wasn't a scary monster like Erza, a naive blonde like Lucy, or a destructive idiot like Natsu. So long as Loke was terrified of Lucy, Gray could not ask him to join them on missions. He could only stand aside and watch his friend grow more tired every day.

Loke picked his jacket back up and dusted it off. "Good luck catching Natsu," he said, then walked away. As Gray silently watched him, it seemed as if Loke suddenly looked ten times more weary than earlier.

"Hey," he shouted. "Ditch the dames and get some rest. If Natsu gets expelled, I'll need a new sparring partner."

Loke raised a hand to let him know he heard, but Gray wondered if he would even bother to take his advice. He shook his head. Really, there was nothing more he could do. Gray knew the pain of having demons of the past haunting him...in his case, a literal demon, Deliora. He could never forget Ur's face as she was turned into ice, or Lyon's screams when he told his friend that their teacher was dead.

They all had to deal with their personal demons in their own way.

Gray bought a train ticket to Hargeon Town to catch Natsu and Lucy before they reached Galuna Island. As the train pulled out of the station, he stared out the window. That was when he saw Loke standing on the street watching the train leave. He had that same sad smile he had seen last winter, as if there was something Loke wished he could tell him, yet dreaded how their friendship might change if he did. He saw the man's mouth move, but over the train's clacking cacophony, he could not tell what Loke said. Likely, he was only whispering the words anyway.

Outside, Loke saw that Gray had picked the left side of the train, his favorite side. He wished he could simply overcome his past, forget Karen Lilica, and accept Lucy as a friend. She seemed like a nice enough girl, definitely his type. But if she called out one of her Celestial Spirits, and if they recognized him as Leo the Lion, then his secret would be known to everyone. He did not want Aries to know he was out here slowly dying. That was why he had tried so hard for three years to avoid all the Celestial Spirit mages in Fiore. He did not want his friends back in the Spirit World to worry about him or mourn when it was his time to go.

And he had a feeling that time was soon.

"I'm sorry, Gray," he whispered as he watched the teen riding the train. "I wish I could keep my promise. I know I said I'd be your partner no matter how long it took, but...I'm not sure I'll even make it to this winter. I'm really sorry. I wish I could tell you the truth. I wish I had a few more years. Then I might be more willing to make a move, but how I am..." He shook his head sadly. "It's probably best if you stopped hanging around me. You'll just hurt even more when it's my time to go."

He tried to smile, but he felt only sadness. Pain shimmered through him. He had been feeling this dire weakness growing in the past few months. He was surprised he lasted even this long in the Human World, but now...

Now it would be harder to go.

He had made the mistake of making a friend. Now Loke was no longer ready to accept his fate.

"Karen," he seethed.

He had to distract himself. Wine, women, and work: they were the only things that took his mind off from the inevitable. He had learned this bad habit from Karen, but it still worked. He turned away from the departing train, determined to surround himself with as many women as he could get before sunset.

End of Chapter 3

A/N: This is why Gray quit smoking. ^_^
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Worth The Wait