Trigger warning for depression, suicide, etc.

He couldn't believe what he was seeing; he refused to. What should have been a simple job turned out to be far more than they could handle.

A special job request had asked for Fairy Tail's strongest to join up with Lamia Scale and defeat a demon hiding under the village of Eastgriffin. Each member of the Fairy Tail team had varying opinions on the team-up. Wendy was delighted that she had the chance to work alongside her best friend Sherria after so long. Gray, on the other hand, wasn't exactly as pleased that he had to cooperate with his fellow student, Lyon. They had been glaring and bickering almost the entire journey to the village, causing quiet giggles to be directed toward them from the girls.

Upon reaching Eastgriffin, the village chieftain guided them to a cave entrance leading to the undergrounds. Natsu pumped his fists together, small embers sparked from his fingertips. He led the charge and the two teams followed him through the cave.

After a lot of searching, they came into an opening. Claw marks and footprints of varying sizes were embedded in the dirt.

Gray frowned. 'Guys, there's more than one of these things.'

Almost immediately, the earth began to rumble, and cracks crawled across the ground. Ten demons burst out of the dirt and hurtled toward the wizards. They were heavily built with rough purple skin. Their claws were the length of a human arm and just as thick. The team split up and each took on their own demon. Fire, ice, and all varieties of magic were flying through the cave. Despite the demons' size, the chieftain had definitely overestimated their abilities. It was only a few minutes until demons dropped one after another. Lyon plunged an ice blade into the chest of one and turned to check on Gray. He was just delivering the final blow when a near-silent rumbling caught Lyon's attention. Another demon pounced out of the cave wall and headed straight for Gray, claws first. Time seemed to slow for Lyon as he raced towards his brother. Gray got a brief look at Lyon before he was suddenly staring down at the rocky floor. Warning signals flared through his mind, telling him that he shouldn't turn around. However, when two female voices yelled, 'Lyon-sama,' his heart plummeted into his chest and he forced himself to look.

Lyon stood where Gray once was with a long claw piercing through his chest as if he were a human kebab. His guildmates stood in shock whilst Wendy and Sherria rushed towards him. The demon ripped its claw out of his body and prepared another strike. A deathly sharp ice lance struck through the demon before it could make its move, and it staggered towards the walls. Gray stood over Lyon, tears rolling down his cheeks.

'You bastard,' Gray said. He morphed his lance into two swords and sliced through the demon's chest. He continued to slash away at the demon's corpse, trying to block out the conversation behind him.

'… nothing we can do…'

'… too much blood…'

Two sets of arms clenched around Gray and hauled him back. He struggled against their grasp as they forced him to drop his weapons.

'Gray, stop. It's dead,' Natsu said.

Gray exhaled and turned to see Natsu and Erza watching him with concern in their eyes. He pushed past them and dropped down next to the fallen form of his brother.

'Lyon,' Gray said. 'You're gonna be fine. Just hang in there, okay?'

'G-Gray.' Blood sputtered from Lyon's mouth.

'Shut up. Don't you dare do it, Lyon. I didn't give you permission to die.'

'I'll s-say hi t-to Ur… for you.'

'Lyon, please. I can lose you too.' Gray squeezed Lyon's hand as tightly as humanly possible.

Lyon held his gaze until his final breath escaped from his lips and his head lolled back.

'Lyon!'

The Fairy Tail guildhall went silent upon hearing the fate of the Lamia Scale wizard. After giving Makarov an update on the job, Gray left the building. His eyes burned with dried up tears that Lucy had no doubt would return as soon as he was alone. The rest of the team sat at the bar, drinking the day away until one of them finally spoke up.

'Is Gray gonna be alright?' Lucy said.

'Not for a while,' Natsu said, holding a shaken Happy against his chest.

'I just wish there was something I could have done,' Wendy said. 'If I was stronger, Lyon-san wouldn't be-'

'Don't say things like that, Wendy,' Carla said. 'You did everything you could. Lyon's wounds were just too severe.'

'That idiot's gonna blame himself for all this,' Natsu said. 'It's gonna take him a long time to move on from this.'

'I don't think he ever will,' Erza said. 'Lyon was the last link Gray had to his past. The last thing that kept him connected to his old life and loved ones. And this is the third time someone he loved has given their life to save him.'

The team fell back into silence and returned to their drinks.

Gray wasn't seen at the guild for the next few days and his absence was felt by everyone. Juvia was in shambles ever since Lyon's death and barely held it together during the funeral. Lamia Scale had invited the majority of Fairy Tail and other major guilds; everyone wanted to pay their respects for the late wizard. There was only one person who didn't show up. Natsu's concern for Gray grew with each passing day. People had thought it best to leave him alone, to let him process Lyon's death before reaching out. The day after the funeral Natsu finally brought himself to Gray's apartment. If he wasn't ready to reach out, Natsu would make that first step for him. He grabbed the spare key from under the doormat and slowly pushed the door open. The room was dark, but Natsu's heightened senses helped to distinguish the scene before him. Tears welled in his eyes and his knees buckled. What he'd feared the most had come to pass.

Gray's body lying lifeless against the floorboards with a suicide note propped up on the table.

I honestly didn't plan on killing him, it just fit so perfectly.

Shout out to anyone who gets the pun in the title.

First uploaded: 31/01/2016

Updated: 18/05/2019