GrayLu Week 2017

Tremble

The prompts just kinda... made sense together.

GrayLu Week 2017: Tremble

* * *

It was dark. Gray collapsed to his knees, his body caving under the damage and chaos of fighting. His magic was nearly drained, and he could barely move. Still, he stood again, carefully cradling an unconscious blonde in his arms.

"Shit," he hissed. His vision blurred as he walked further into the cave, gingerly placing Lucy down on the cold stone floor. Gray removed his shirt, balling it up and placing it under her head and finally collapsing on his stomach beside her. Gray watched her for a moment; she was still breathing. His body was screaming, his lungs threatening to explode at every single shaky breath, but she was alive. With that knowledge he managed to roll onto his back, and using the very last of his energy, put his fist in his palm.

"Ice make: shield!"

Before him sprung up a wall of ice, covering the entrance. Gray fell back, knowing he and his teammate were protected from anyone who might find them. Natsu and Erza would surely be able to recognize it as his ice magic in case they found them, and so Gray's eyes slid closed, allowing his body to rest. The dark of the cave consumed him, and soon, consciousness slipped.

* * *

Lucy stirred, eyes opening to almost complete darkness. Her muscles were stiff, her bones ached, and she suddenly felt every blow from the earlier fight all over again. Rolling her shoulders, she sat up, trying to get a better grasp on her surroundings. Lucy remembered being with her team and getting ambushed by a dark guild. She remembered a blur of fire and ice and metal armor. She remembered summoning Taurus...

Lucy's hand instinctively reached to her side; she felt for her keys. It was a habit she'd picked up since she'd joined Fairytale, especially since she'd lost them to Juvia so long ago. With a new relief, her eyes lifted to what she assumed was the entrance, noticing the moonlight cascading through a wall of ice, one she recognized as creation magic.

"Gray!" panic rose in Lucy's voice as she looked frantically for her mate. How long had she been out? Her body ached as the memory of throwing herself in between an overpowered Gray and a notably large burst of dark magic, and worry for the boy set in; It was daylight then. She struggled to push herself onto her feet, reaching out for the wall around her and using it as a support to move further into the cave.

It didn't take long to find him; Gray had woken only just before her, and stumbled a little further in to try and see if there was another way out.

"Gray..." Lucy launched herself at his mostly bare figure, and with a quiet 'oof' Gray stumbled back with the weight of the celestial wizard. He could feel her crying, and as he lifted one arm to the wall to help support them, he lifted the other to her hair, knotting his fingers in the tangled blonde locks and sighing with relief. Small shaking sobs racked Lucy's body, and the pain Gray was in from supporting her weight was nothing compared to the comfort he felt in being able to hold her so tight.

"Lucy," Gray smiled, pulling her face back to meet her eyes. "Go easy on me. I'm a little torn up."

Lucy tried to back away, embarrassed at her emotional outburst, but he tightened his grip, holding her closer. Gray stumbled back, sliding down the damp wall of the cave, cradling his teammate against his chest. Lucy wasn't exactly unhappy about the situation, but guilt began spreading through her at the thought of causing him further harm, her body fidgeting against his bare chest.

"Oh..." Gray slowly released her. "Sorry."

Lucy bit her lip, not moving any further from where she sat, her legs splayed across his lap. "What happened?" she finally asked, her voice more timid than she intended as she placed her hand on his cheek.