50 Into the Woods
As the three walked through town, Romeo kept running in excited circles around the adults or sprinting ahead to the end of the street and back after Krysti set him down. A warm smile never left her face as she gazed fondly at the young boy.
There was a comfortable silence between her and Gray, and Krysti was reluctant to break it. As she enjoys the peaceful walk she soon realizes that Natsu isn't with them right now. With a big grin, she brings out her fire magic to get some practice in. While the dragon slayer is gone, she doesn't have to worry about him eating her fire and causing her to pass out again.
Closing her eyes, a couple of moments of intense concentration pass before she can bring the magic to her palm. Opening her eyes with a delighted grin, she eagerly stares in wonder at the small flame hovering over her palm. The color of warm honey, it flutters and flickers in the air as she continues to walk.
Gray, who has been watching her out of the corner of his eye, smirks slightly to himself at her delight. He sees her eyes narrow and her pace slows as she focuses on her magic. Curious, he slows down as well to see what she is going to do next. Romeo, noticing the adults aren't following, runs back them and an excited smile grows on his face when he sees magic is being used.
Slowly, almost painstakingly, her fire takes on the shape of a sphere the size of a tennis ball. Without pausing, the sphere then changes its shape into a triangle a little bit faster and then into a cube slightly faster still. Seeing the success of her practice she looks up towards Gray and he gives her a small smile with a nod of approval.
"That's awesome, Krysti-nee! You're already changing the shape of your fire!" Romeo shouts out in excitement as he pumps one fist up into the air high above his head.
"It's not that great, Scamp. I still need a lot of practice to master it." Krysti tells the young boy to calm him down.
"She is a long way from being able to match up to your dad." Gray agrees a little too heartily for Krysti's liking. She shoots him a frown that he doesn't notice before going back to her magic practice with a roll of her eyes. As she gets the hang of willing her flames to match what she wants, the speed and complexity of the shapes increases. Gray looks at this in surprise while Romeo watches with avid attention.
"You're picking this up faster than me when I was first learning." Gray remarks after Krysti starts to make letters and words with her amber flame. Putting her flame away to the sound of a disappointed, "Awww…" from Romeo she looks over to the now shirtless ice mage.
She sends Romeo back to grab the discarded shirt still in sight behind them before asking Gray, "What was your training like? How did you learn ice magic?" The dredge of memories those questions bring up, some still painful despite the closure, has his expression darken greatly. Seeing the change in her friend's mood, Krysti tries to wave it off, not wanting to bring up bad memories.
With a sigh, Gray looks up into the sky as his expression clears some. "No, it's fine. Just complicated." He sighs while putting his hands in his pockets before he starts the story of Deliora, Ur, and Lyon.
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As Gray tells me his background, I can feel my eyes grow wider and wider as my heart grows heavy for the tragedy he had to face while so young. I have us stop in a clearing in the woods so we can rest as Gray finishes his story.
"… and the next day as we were preparing to leave is when we found you." Gray tells me with a mischievous glint in his eye. Before I could ask about that look, Romeo launches out of my lap to hug Gray. Both of us jerk in surprise, completely startled at the young boy's actions.
Gray looks at me, silently begging for help as he feels helpless in this situation. I motion for him to hug the boy back and comfort him. Awkwardly, the ice mage hugs Romeo back while telling him it's ok. I give him a contemptuous look at his severe lack of skill in this. He shoots back a frosty glare that doesn't intimidate me at all. Watching Gray struggle for a few moments more, I roll my eyes, sigh, and go to sit next to the raven-haired man.
I pull Romeo away from Gray and start to rock and whisper to the small boy to calm him down. I fully ignore Gray's sigh of relief that I took over.
I shoot him a glare and silently mouth, "Watch and learn." Very soon Romeo's sobs turn into hiccups and sniffles. Slowly he pulls away and looks towards Gray.
"I'm sorry for crying, but it was so sad hearing about your parents, and Lyon, and Ur." Sniffing real hard the boy continues, "I'm glad you're now with Fairy Tail and have us as your family." A soft look enters Gray's eyes at Romeo's words.
"Yeah. Me too, Small-fry. Me too." He replies as he pats Romeo on the head. A close by howl pierces through the woods that sends a shiver down my spine. I clutch Romeo tight to me as I jump up facing the direction of the howl, ready to run. Gray jumps in front of us in a defensive pose as we wait.
Hooting and hollering that I recognize as a Vulcan multiplies into the sound of many Vulcans. My spine is crawling with chills as my fear ramps up as I look all around us. The first Vulcan jumps out at us from the right and quick as can be Gray shouts out, "Ice Make Hammer!"
A hammer appears that is the size of the giant monkey, and smacks into the creature so hard that it disappears into the sky. The hoots and hollers from the other Vulcans die out quickly.
"Ice Make Spikes!" Gray shouts as countless long spikes of ice surround the 3 of us. Before I can finish gaping in surprise, the spikes fly out in all directions and proceed to turn the woods into a pincushion. Most hit the trees, but some hit the Vulcans from the amount of pained screams I could hear. Soon the forest the filled with the sound of retreating monkeys before it falls silent again.
I let out my breath that I been holding in as I slump to the ground from the release of tension. (Oh thank god I don't have to deal with demon monkey possession.) My nerves are still rattled from that sudden encounter so I stay on the ground for a moment more. Romeo jumps out of my weaken grasp and proceeds to dance around us shouting about how cool that was.
"Hey." A low pitched voice calls out to me while I feel a nudge to my back. Looking behind me I see, shirtless again, Gray with a look of concern gazing down at me. I smile weakly and shrug my shoulders. I lean against his cool leg for a moment before I summon the strength to push myself back on my feet.
Taking Romeo by the hand so he doesn't run off, I gesture to Gray to lead the way. We set out again to go to Porlyusica's house for my examination.
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The three make it safely to the healer's house without any further issues, thanks to Gray's display of strength. Krysti knocks on the door politely to await for the grumpy older woman to answer. A few moments pass and she knocks again.
"What do you humans want?" a grouchy voice calls out from behind them. Krysti calmly turns while Gray flinches before turning as well.
"Good afternoon, Porlyusica. Erza suggested I come by for a follow up to make sure there are no complications before I starting training." Krysti replies politely. The older woman glares at them for a bit before sniffing in displeasure.
"Fine." She grumbles out before pushing her way past them to go into her house. Subdued, the three go into the tree. She starts immediately running tests since the sooner she is done, the sooner the humans can leave. Noticing something odd with the results, she runs the tests again. Frowning, she runs more tests until the result is certain.
"You're burnt out." She suddenly says aloud. The others are startled at the remark.
"Burnt out?" Krysti asks curiously as Gray's pale complexion pales even more.
"Yes. Burnt out. That burst of magic used up all your potential. The little you can do is all you can do until your potential replenishes itself, if ever. You will be at this level for years if not longer." Porlyusica answers bluntly.
"Is there anything I can do?" the heavyset brunette asks.
"Nothing." The healer bites back. "Time and luck is all that can help."
