5 Chapter 5// Falling into the Abyss

Gray POV

"We did it...we beat a creature from the book of Zeref" Lucy and happy cheerily high-fived.

"Yeah...we sure did...", Gray mused with a content smile on his face.

While the fairy tail members were celebrating their victory, the guild master from another guild exclaimed in shock, "oi oi oi you fairy tail members are always going over the top. Look behind you! The mountains and conference building are all gone!!"

The group flinched and slowly and shakily looked behind them only to see a barren space, "oh no...Natsu! look at what you did!", Gray shouted.

Natsu exclaimed, "Huh!! It's obviously you who can't control your strength!". They butted heads again, this time in survival instinct. In the background, Erza can be seen lifelessly kneeling on the ground.

Makarov saw the situation and patted the dust on his body and said, "well kids...you are on your own, good luck!", and resolutely ran away.

Luckily, Erza managed to swiftly catch Makarov with her long legs, "Master! You can't do this to us!!", while shaking Makarov with great strength and intensity, "You're our master, you're the pilliar of our life! You have to stand in front of us!", at the same time the tears are flowing through her eyes like a tragic heroine.

Meanwhile, Lucy was looking at the chaotic situation with a dumbfounded look and hesitantly asked, "umm.... Is Aki san really that scary? He seems like a gentle person...", the old fairy tail members including the guild master collectively looked toward Lucy in synced and nodded repeatedly, "Mn mn!"

"Aye aye! Aki is really scary when he's mad...even more so when the anger is directed towards you...", happy solemnly replied with traumatized eyes.

"Even you too, happy!?"

Gray sighed, "Lucy, as your senpai, let me give you an important piece of advice...", Gray whispered mysteriously, "never made our logistics angry...you don't want to ever meet pissed off version of him. Aki is a hundred times...no, a thousand times scarier than Erza". Gray then patted Lucy on the shoulder, "Good luck newbie".

Lucy could only dazedly nod whilst other guild masters are watching the scene with humor and relish.

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.

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Gray and the group were standing in front of the guild door in total silence. Erza suddenly spoke, "Master, why don't you go in first?", the red-headed girl said while smiling.

"Tsk tsk.... you youngster...all right!", Makarov spoke while his hand is slowly inching towards the doorknob. Suddenly, he stopped and asked, "Natsu, do you want to know the secret of being a powerful wizard?"

Natsu's eyes widened and asked, "I want to know! Master, please tell me!"

Gray and Erza facepalmed and Gray whispered shouted, "...this simple-minded idiot!". But no one intervened. Hey, don't blame them. No one wants to be at the center of Aki's wrath, okay?

"Then, come here, Natsu. I'll whisper to you. No one can know.."

"Okay, Master!" Natsu cheerfully walked towards Makarov while making faces at Gray.

"Master, can you tell me n-!!!", Makarov gently pushed Natsu towards the already ajar door. Natsu stumbled towards the door and the members inside stopped what they are doing and gaped. And then -

Deafening cheers fill all across the hall-

"Natsu! Welcome back!!"

"We all saw what you guys did in the newspaper!"

"Master! Gray! Erza! Lucy! Welcome back, you guys!"

"Oi! What about me! Don't I have cat rights!"

"Man you guys are so awesome!"

"Yeah yeah!! You three formed teams for once and it was so exciting!!!"

"So manly!"

"Oi Aki! They are backed!"

Gray and the rest were bathing in glory suddenly they were splashed with cold hard reality.

"Oh~ I expected as much since the atmosphere suddenly became rowdy." Aki's voice sounded from the second floor and the cheering stopped in a flash. The footsteps slowly descend from the second floor and it gradually stopped in front of Natsu and others.

"The letter from the council has already arrived", Aki's gentle voice sounded in the silent hall, "It seems that you guys destroyed the train station building, railways, and a total of two mountains and the conference building?"

In this extremely quiet atmosphere, Erza resolutely stepped in front of the trio, never meeting Aki's eyes in the process. She lowed her head and spoke, "It was my responsibility, Aki. They were only acting on my orders"

"What are you talking about, Erza!?", Natsu shouted, "I destroyed the most and it was not on your order!"

"No", Gray calmly said, "Natsu, I definitely destroyed more than you did"

"Huh!?"

Lucy nervously looked down and raise her hand, "U-umm...I also destroyed some..."

Makarov and Aki looked at each other and then back at the troublemakers, and Aki finally chuckled, "No need to pull such a long face you know"

When they finally looked towards Aki's face, they saw the shorter male smiling at them. It is neither a mocking smile nor a fake smile....it was genuine.

Gray doesn't want to admit it but his heartbeat is thumping loudly now more than ever. He doesn't want to admit it. He doesn't want to admit that the solution to his heart problems is being coveted by other people...

"Great job", Aki looked at each member in the eyes and said, "You did a great job in protecting people and beating the bad guys senseless. You covered each other back even if you're scared shitless.... You showed the world what Fairy Tail and that emblem on your body stands for and-". Aki stepped forward and hugged the heroes one by one and finally whispered, "I'm proud of you guys"

The deafening cheers broke through afterward throughout the guild and outside to the townspeople couldn't be compared with anything else.

Gray doesn't want to admit it. He doesn't want to admit that he is falling deeper and deeper into the abyss called Aki.