* = Where I started crying

"Who.... who are you...?"

"My name's Gale, I'm here to get you out of this cell," Gale said. Holding his arms out kindly, letting her know that she can trust him.

But she stayed against the corner, afraid to even come near him.

"Hey, I'm a friend of your mom's," he said, "You can trust me."

Tears swelled up in her eyes, "mom... said not to talk to strangers."

The iron mage sighed before taking a baby step forward, "it's okay... I won't grab you. You just have to follow me."

Her lip quivered, "promise you won't take me somewhere scary?"

He nodded and smiled a tiny bit, "I promise."

"Pinky promise?" She held out her pinky for him to take. He took it without a second thought.

"Pinky promise."

She stood up and walked over to him. Her clothes were still in decent shape, but her short raven hair was greasy. Underneath her red eyes were tender and had circles from crying and not being able to sleep. She'd gone through a lot for a five year old.

He walked out and she followed him back to Gray.

"Um... Gale," he was surprised she said his name right on the first try. He turned around to see her standing still. "Can you... hold my hand?"

He raised his eyebrows before saying, "ah... actually I think someone else would like to hold your hand instead." He kept walking, she ran to catch up.

"Who?"

Gale smiled down at her before turning to Gray, who was in the ground with his eyes widened. He was happy to have seen his son's daughter. He pushed aside the fact what he had done to create her... but fact of the matter was, she was... well, cute. Adorable even.

"Him," Gale said. "He's... ah... your grandpa."

She shook her head, "no he's not. Grandpa has white hair."

Gray scoffed a little bit at the mention of Lyon, "your... other grandpa."

Mika blinked, "I have..." she thought, "two? Grandpas?"

The two males nodded in confirmation.

She wasted no time going up to her new grandpa, she held out hand in politeness. "Hello Grandpa! I'm Mika Vastia."

Gray chuckled and shook her small hand, "I'm Gray Fullbuster... your grandpa."

She smiled brightly, happy to have met a new family member. Once they let go of each other's hands, Gray attempted to get up on his own, but failing. Gale raced to him and helped him up.

"Do you have walking trouble?" Mika asked and Gray nodded. "Is it because you're old?"

"Not exactly," Gale said.

While Gray had a vein pop up on his head as he mumbled under his breath, "I'm only 38..."

A/N: He had Storm a year after the Alvarez arc, so Gray was 20. And I'm not counting the 7 year timeskip (that, and excuse my french, fucked me up...)

Mika was ultimately confused, but she didn't ask anymore questions regarding the situation. Instead, she asked him, "so can I hold your hand?"

He nodded, "yes Mika..." she took ahold of his weak hand.

Once she grabbed it, she pointed out that it was skinny. And that he didn't have a very strong grip. He frowned, he wasn't upset or angry. But just the fact that he had lost all weight and muscle, he thought it was a bit depressing.

So then they were off, they began walking. At first, Gale wasn't sure if they should or shouldn't turn around because they had a man who couldn't walk properly, and a 5 year old child. 

But he convinced himself they had to keep going. They still had two more people to find. He was hoping they hadn't done anything to Romeo, so that way if it comes down to it, Romeo could battle with him.

However as they continued walking, Gray felt something.

"Turn around," he said, obvious with warning.

Gale glanced at him with his eyes widened, "wha-"

"We have to turn around!" Gray said again, but louder.

The iron mage turned and started going the other way, bringing Gray and Mika with him. Little Mika looked horrified, "Grand...pa?"

Gray looked down at her with eyes of worry, "stay close to me, alright?"

She nodded and held tighter onto his hand.

"Shit," Gray whispered when they walked a little farther. His eyes were the same, but inside his heart was pounding. 

And as they knew it, a darkness was engulfing them in a sphere like pattern. Like a bubble of black around them. It was all like a nightmare, like you were asleep. 

It seemed to get closer and closer with every passing second. Until, it just... stopped. It kept circling, but it never got any closer.

Gale decided to put his hand in front of him, to see if it was just the magic stopped, or if there was something protecting them. And when he did so, he felt, coldness.

He blinked once and looked over at Gray, he shook his head, "it's not me. Someone did that before I got the chance to."

The bubble expanded more and more, until the darkness that was surrounding them dissipated completely.

When they could finally see, what they saw in front of them made both if the males confused.

Rin Fullbuster, the one who had turned against Fairy Tail... saved them?

However, he... wasn't okay. He didn't look like he was fine. No, it was like he had went through the most pain in his life. He has tears running down his cheeks and his hair was more a mess than it usually was. He had experienced sorrow. And a great one at that.

His eyes softened at the look of his father, niece, and brother's best friend. But they quickly hardened again when they landed on the person behind them. It was no other than Ivan Dreyar.

"Ice Make Cannon," he was in the position for maker magic. A cannon appeared on the sides of the hall, aiming straight for the Dreyar.

However Ivan just blocked the attack with his own magic.

What the hell is going on? Gale asked himself, why is he defending us? I thought he was with them... Gale just stared at Rin with disbelief written all over his face.

Rin glared back for a quick second before staring hard at Ivan and said loud and clear, "you're dead." he raced past the people he just saved and started using ice attacks against Ivan. Sometimes, he'd be spot on and hit Ivan. Other times, Ivan would easily block his attacks. But that was all he was doing. Blocking. 

Gale didn't know what game they were playing, but he didn't appreciate it very much. He didn't understand why Rin was turning on the people he was originally with, but it seemed Ivan didn't want to hurt him. Like he was valuable in some type of way. 

Why didn't I do this sooner? Gale asked himself as he said, "Solid Script Ice." a block of ice appeared in front of Gray, he almost drooled. More appeared in front him as he stared at Gale in disbelief. 

"Eat up."

Gray smiled a devil's smile, "Oh hell yes."

Gale ran up ahead and started fighting Ivan himself, to which he did not receive the same kindness from him as Rin did. 

Gale immediately got attacked, and hurt. He managed to get up and hit Ivan with his magic as well did Rin. But everything changed once Gray finished the ice he was given.

He could finally stand correctly. He wobbled a bit at first, but he got used to his quickly. He looked down at Mika and said, "Stay here alright? I don't want you getting hurt."

Mika nodded, obeying what she was told to do. 

And with a wave of his hand, Ivan was coated with ice. Gray smiled, proud of himself,  "he's made a big deal over nothing. He doesn't remember when Laxus beat him with no problem at all, does he."

Shing!

Gale's eyes widened as he witnessed what was done to Ivan. He expected Gray to freeze him, that was the plan. But what Rin did after, was horrible. 

With a sword in hand, Rin had decapitated Ivan Dreyar. 

Gray's eyes were still steady. But all he was thinking was about what his son had went through. Why did he go against Ivan?

The sword disappeared in Rin's hand as he started crying. Lightly at first, but it soon turned to sobbing. He'd obviously went through so much pain mentally. He couldn't keep it all in, it was impossible for him. 

The iron mage stood there, unsure of what to think of this. 

Rin fell on his knees, crying. Gray only took a step forward before Rin said, "Storm..."

The mood dropped even more. No happiness was in the air. Not even Mika said a word. The way he spoke and the way he cried, it was more than just a small mistake that happened to Storm. The next two words chilled Gray and Gale to the bone. So much that it made Gale... angry. 

Rin finished slowly, you could barely comprehend him from the crying.

". . . is . . . dead..."

Gale rushed up to him and picked him by the collar of his shirt, he slammed Rin into the wall. "The hell he is! What the hell are you playing at?!" 

Rin didn't say anything. He just cried. 

Gale punched him in the side of the face, "Where is he?!" he did it again, not wanting to believe the words that were coming out of the relative of his best friend. When Rin didn't answer, he punched him again, "Where the hell is he?!" 

He hit Rin again and again, demanding an answer. Rin didn't do anything about it, he didn't answer or try to protect himself. He let Gale hit him, over and over. He knew that he was angry, so he let Gale hit him. 

"Gale stop it!" he heard a familiar voice. It was none other than Nova. She ignored her grandfather's head and body being separated, she just went straight towards Rin and Gale. 

As one of the three in the group that could actually walk, she pulled Gale off of Storm's little brother. She just... hugged him. "Storm... he's... gone." Tears stung her eyes.

Gale didn't want to believe it. Storm Fullbuster was... well, they've been there for each other since they were little. Storm was strong, there was no denying it. He couldn't have died. He couldn't have. Despite just being a year older, Gale thought that Storm was the strongest person he knew. He'd been through a lot, but managed to control it. 

Storm... he... saved Gale. Gale was getting into thievery and using his magic for none other than stealing rather than working for the money. Storm took him out of that, he forced Gale to break up with Miza, to become a true member of Fairy Tail again.

"You're lying..." he whispered. A look of disbelief was on his face before he looked to his side and Reiki, Erza, and Nashi was there. He completely skipped over Erza. He didn't care in the moment. His lip quivered, "please... just... tell me you're lying..." Nova started to sob behind him. Reiki had tears running down his face and Erza a look of sorrow. Nashi couldn't even bring up her head. She was feeling sadness and anger. But couldn't manage to even show either. 

He shook Nova off of him and put his head in his hands, "you're lying. You're lying. You're lying. You're lying, you're lying you're lying you're lying!" his words got louder as he sunk to the ground. Crying in his hands. 

Erza turned her head towards Gray, who looked weak, but not helpless. Gray was hugging his knees, back against the wall. Erza set her son down on the opposite side of the corridor and walked over to him. She sat down next to her old partner.

Gray wasn't crying, his eyes had watered but tears hadn't fell down, "is it bad that it doesn't affect me as much anymore?" 

*He's lost so many people. So many people that were close to him. The fact that he is still alive... it... it hurts him. He's been through literal hell. And the moment he gets hope, the moment he is happy again, it goes full circle. He lost his parents, he found Ur. He lost his master, he found Fairy Tail. Ultear died. Then, right after he saw his father die in front of him, Fairy Tail disbanded. He found Erza, and later Natsu and Lucy. He trained with Juvia. And after he thought he had lost her, he almost killed his best friend. Skip a year, he got married and had Storm. That was the peak of his life. He loved his life then, it's all he wanted. But his happiness never lasts. Juvia died while giving birth to his twins. Soon after, Natsu went berserk. Gray was forced to put him down. Natsu was fine in the end, but decided to take his son and leave. His best friend, gone like that.  

And now, his son. Right after he had gotten out of the cell.

He felt a sudden warmth close around him. It was Erza, the one who'd been with him since she joined Fairy Tail. The one he felt like siblings with. The one he could relate to with the most... she'd been through her own hell. 

His eyes wandered down to her head, her scarlet hair now faded. 

"I'm sorry," she said, "I'm sorry that I can't help you this time."

Mika wandered up to Gale, the only other person she knew, "Gale? What's wrong...?" she asked softly, noticing that he was crying as well. 

He sniffled, "your dad... he's..."

"Dad?" she asked sweetly, "I have a... dad?"

Gale nodded the tiniest bit, "did. You did have a dad..."

"What happened?"

"He's..."

Nashi finished for him, "gone." Tears streamed down her face, just like everyone else. But unlike everyone else, she had a different relationship with him. She felt more than a friend, but she wasn't as close as a family member. 

Some time after they all began crying, something happened. 

Two parts of the corridor opened up. They were right across from each other. But both cells contained two, very different people. 

In one of the jail cells, was a man. Someone extremely familiar to everyone else in Fairy Tail. He had his magic, he wasn't in horrible condition. He was held as a prisoner, as a hostage. 

In the other, was a girl... technically a woman. She was a complete stranger to everyone except eight of the remaining members of the previous generation. She had no magic, and her physical form was torn. She had almost no clothing on, and was almost useless to Ivan and his goons. Ivan had thought that she could useful for something... but now that he's dead, they might never know.

Rin got up slowly and walked over to the girl, his face beaten to a pulp. 

You promised, she mouthed, you said they wouldn't find me.

Rin hung his head, "I'm sorry. I..."

"Who... who's that?" Mika asked.

Erza got up, and Gray followed.

Everyone surrounded Romeo on the other side of the hall, just Rin, Mika, Gray, and Erza were visiting the tattered blonde. 

Gray's and Erza's eyes widened, unsure of what to think. 

"What?" Gray whispered, "I thought you were..."

"Gray," Erza said, "It's her."

"It's Luna Dragneel."

Next: 

|Chapter 50| Memorial