N/A: So. I'm alive. For now anyway. And so is this fic. Shit's been chaotic in life and I think the words 'free time' have pretty much dissapeared from my vocabulary. Which is a way to say "this is my excuse for not writing shit for months and I'm not sorry at all :) !"

Anyway. Here goes next chapter that I'm honestly not sure I managed to write. Hope you can still enjoy it.

Also, I might start editing previous chapters in my free time (whazzat, lol). Cuz the funny thing about the passage of time is that once you look back there's cringe there. Lots.

Thanks for the favorites and the follows and the reviews! You're all love! I hope you can be as patient from here on, too! \(ºvº)/

Galuna Island I

Gray coughed.

The astounded silence after his words unnerved him. Even when the seconds ticked on, Gustav and Clara remained silent on the lacrima, as did Juvia next to him, and it aggravated him the more time passed.

As a result, Gray cleared his throat, arched an eyebrow towards everyone present, and grumbled, "So?"

That seemed to do the trick and the kid jumped on her father's knees, startling everyone. "Why would big bro and sis destroy the moon?" the four-year-old demanded only like a child could. "S'beautiful when full and-and-and… even if it was a meanie to you, bro and sis shouldn't be that harsh―!"

"Sweetie," Gustav called down with a bemused but still staggered expression, "go with papa, 'kay?"

Carla looked up at her father, then back to them and pouted such a pronounced sulk that it had to be deliberate. Gustav gently pushed her down with a stern stare that was not quite natural on him. She left, eventually, after stopping at each step and gazing back every second. Once the kid was gone, Gustav seized a steady stare of them to find twin smiles on him and Juvia that drew a defeated soft frown from him.

"Ye dismiss'd this mission at first," he said in the end with furrowed brow. "Why now?"

"We…" Gray started, but then blinked not sure how to proceed. He looked at Juvia who was munching on her lower lip for permission.

She got the clue and fidgeted with her head laid on his shoulder. "Juvia and Gray-sama need money," she blurted, eyes darting everywhere. "We were careless and, uhm, not caught, no, but we'd rather hole up somewhere for a couple weeks."

"Ah," the man behind the lacrima sighed. "Bad stuff, then."

"Sort of," Gray agreed.

Gustav's face wrinkled in thought. "Yer can spend time 'ere?" he said with an edge to the words. "Evelina's got a hut somewhere in de forest if ye gotta really hide. Don't think she'd ever mind."

Gray squirmed in his chair, mouth creasing into a worried grimance, and when Juvia's hand tightened around his left arm, he subtly nodded.

"We'd rather not put you under trouble," he explained, shrugging. " 'Sides, any people who kinda knows us can track us down to Daffodil easily, so it's not the best idea anyway."

Gustav grunted, relieved and guilty and with a bit of sadness, and Gray leant against the chair with his arms sprawled haphazardly, but not particularly accusing, while Juvia fidgeted next to him. He could hear her sigh as she leant forward towards the lacrima and tapped the table to gain their attention.

"Juvia wants to know," she chirmed when the silence stretched out for too long. "What's this destroying the moon mission about?"

ooOOooOOoo

Galuna was a boat ride from Harujion port, a little island in the south of Fiore that was cut off from the mainland in every way except for the occasional ship for supplies and news.

It was also cursed.

They should stay away from Galuna, the inhabitants had claimed as they shot down any petition for a ride to the island, the island had demons and rituals and weird shit that no one had an explanation for. It was somewhat unsettling.

The irrational fear for Galuna escalated to the point where Juvia had to convince one of the fisherwoman they helped last time they passed through Harujion to lend them a simple boat and take care of Mittens in their absence. And, even then, the woman insisted they should stay the heck away from the dammed island. Gray could already sense the coming blisters on his arms and Juvia's magical fatigue after a whole day of rowing, all mixed with the threatening cautions and pressing time-frame.

"This is a splendid way to start a mission," he had complained to Juvia as they sailed. "It was nothing sort of awful with the impossible task of destroying the moon, but after this we should maybe go back and accept the hut in the middle of the forest."

Juvia had smiled at that, the kind of half-crooked smile she used whenever she knew he was bluffing, and hummed, "Juvia doesn't' think Gray-sama would be happy with that, though. And Juvia's interested in what this demons gossips are about."

Gray rolled his eyes and shook his head. "Of course you'd be."

They arrived to Galuna at dusk, found the little village full of people that were suspicious of everything outside their walls made of wood and fear, and entered through the big gates that only opened when the gatekeepers decided they were good to do so.

They came into the town to find what must have been the whole population of the island gathered in the main street to greet them; stiff, looming figures that seemed as ominous as the request they had applied for. Covered all the way to the toes made them a bit menacing as far as Gray was concerned, and one of them, a hunched figure with a well-preserved staff, stepped forward so silently that Gray pursed his mouth into a white line.

"This isn't welcoming or anything," he whispered to Juvia low enough not to be heard, but she shushed him and pointed that they should listen to whatever they were about to say.

The elderly coughed once before speaking up. "Thank you for coming. My name's Moka and I welcome you to our village," he said, a weird, cracked hoga-hoga sound coming from under his hood. "I apologize if this startles you, but we need to show what the extent of our situation is. Clothes off, all."

So they did, uncovering themselves for the first time and Gray felt his throat compressing when they showed off what he thought could only be described as disfigured and blackened limbs and bodies. He sensed Juvia stiffening next to him as they stared on, and Moka stared back at them.

"This forms are a curse befallen on everyone of the island," he sneered, a clawed hand stretching in a mocking defiance. "It started appearing three years ago or so, when the moon turned purple."

"Purple…" Juvia said with her forehead creased. "The moon hasn't turned purple, though."

There were sobs and low grumbles that belonged to the inhabitants while the leader silenced them before facing them once again. With his eyes shadowed and his face contorting into a mix of anger and sadness and disgust, he said, "That's what the mainlanders say; yet, it does turn purple in our island, and it changes us, completely. Curses us with these bodies."

Gray tilted his head with more questions than before.

"What do you mean by changing―?" was he about to ask, but couldn't finish when at last the sun disappeared behind the horizon and only its last remains of light lingered behind.

The moon was up by then―glowing a faint purple, indeed, and Gray heard Juvia gasp with him. That wasn't the strangest thing, however, because when they lowered their heads back to the people gathered there, they listened to their screams of pain while watching, bewildered and horrified and surprised, how their skin lost its human pink and their bodies sharpened with spikes and wings and any other type of elements that shouldn't be there. Gray held his breath as he felt Juvia clenching onto his arm.

The moment passed, then, and Galuna Island's people stood there with miserable faces and figures that were everything but human. It took long, drown out minutes before Moka took up the word again and, even then, it sounded as if his voice came from a dark and faraway place.

"You don't seem impressed," he said.

"We are. Believe me," said Gray.

Moka smirked weakly. "But not as scared as anyone else would have been."

Gray gulped down the knot forming in his throat and frowned at the scenery. "That's 'coz you aren't the first we meet," he explained. "Demons, I mean. So, we're a bit familiar with this."

Juvia sprung up to life at that moment, wide, searching eyes switching to determiner ones, and strode towards the old man with her lips twisted into a thin line. Gray felt a surge of pride surging when he saw her kneeling down to find herself face to face with Moka, and her hands sought out to wrap the man's wrinkle ones between hers.

Her dark eyes were firm and warm and welcoming, and Moka stared at her like she was crazy.

"Juvia'd like to know how this happened," she stated with a firm, leveled tone. The elderly mayor seemed baffled at the touch, almost as if he couldn't quite believe someone was willing to do so in that form. It made Gray's stomach lurch at the familiarity of it all and Juvia's grip tightened as she continued, "The story―the full story. So that way Gray-sama and Juvia can find the problem and help you return to your normal lives. It's a promise."

The silence that followed was heavy before everything fell apart, the whimpers and the despair thick in the air, and Moka lowered his head in defeat while latching onto Juvia's warmth.

"My son― My son… I have to―my dear, dear son," he cried, heartbroken, and Gray thought, his gaze fixated in the sad people before him and Juvia's worried glance, that there must be a darker side to the story that maybe they weren't ready for. "Destroy the moon that has brought this upon us," Moka ordered with his expression contorted into something definitely ugly and tears staining his patched skin. "Give back our humanity. Please."

ooOOooOOoo

The next morning Gray woke up to a handful of hand shoved on his face after a restless night. Admittedly, it took longer than usual to discern that it was a hand; but still affected by sleep and seeing how it was scaled in aquamarine colors with the fingers webbed together, making it look something entirely different, Gray didn't doubt to groan in annoyance.

"What's this?"

"Juvia's hand," said Juvia appearing before his eyes. "She woke up like this."

Gray squinted, her words registering, and licked his lips when he finally understood what she meant. "That's not normal."

"No," she agreed with her eyebrows knotted together. "It's not."

"Moka did warn us that this could happen. Like to them," he tried to reason while getting up.

"Gray-sama's clean, though." Juvia caught his hand and showed him that his skin was the usual pink.

"Okay. Another mystery for the pile since the purple moon and cursed people weren't enough. Good," Gray said and cursed when he almost tripped on his own mound of clothes. "The situation's getting better with each second."

Juvia stifled a snicker, handing him his pants while glaring at her hand and willing it to reverse back to the pale skin. "Here." Gray muttered a thanks and briefly wondered, not for the first time, how did Juvia manage to wake up so early to be all prepared and dressed by the time he bothered to even open his eyes. "Juvia thinks we should explore first. The island and that thing we saw yesterday night?"

"The creepy light column coming from somewhere within the island that scared us shitless?"

"Yes." She nodded, smirking with him. "And then look into the people before trying to―to…uh, blow up the moon."

Gray chuckled and helped her to stand up from the floor, careful not to stumble with his half-worn pants.

"Yeah, good idea. S'not like we can do much else," he breathed out as he finished dressing and glanced outside their window. "Let's find something to eat and get moving."

Within a half an hour they set off into the jungle surrounding the village, with the few directions from the people and just a general idea of what they set out to do. They had asked first where they could look into the weird light from the night, only to receive half-hearted mumbles that didn't make much sense and lazy pointers to somewhere in the northwest; but since there was no other clue, they headed there.

They found ruins.

Ancient ruins that somehow had endured the passing years to the best of their capacities, and stood in the middle of the jungle in a glaring contrast to the lush green surrounding it. They had gazed at them with jaws slack and approached them cautiously, careful in the case they crumbled down with one wrong step.

Ruins that, if going by Juvia's scrunched up face, weren't simple remaining of a culture long gone, and Gray wondered what was wrong this time around.

"You okay?" he asked.

"Mmm. It's just― Juvia feel doesn't right being here." She nodded to the inscriptions engraved on the stone inside the main entrance. "Juvia thinks this was a temple dedicated to drive away all malign beings, so…"

Gray peeped the moon shaped writings and sneered at the o-so-aptly-put coincidence. "Moon Island, and a purple moon, and a light in the night and that strange curse."

He strode in, the stone floors reverberating to his steps as his lips curled with the bizarre situation they found themselves in. "So―we start searching here, right?" he asked turning to Juvia. "It's pretty much the only place that can tell us anything."

She nodded, albeit slow and hesitant, staggering inside the building with wobbly legs and not quite scared eyes but something that was close. Gray huffed, got closer and looked down on her.

"If you don't feel well here just say so, Juvia," said Gray and Juvia shot him a meek glance. "We'll do this quick and get out as fast, 'kay?"

"It's okay," she answered brightly. "Juvia can manage worse than this."

So, in they went.

They yexplored the chambers to find nothing but grubbiness and plants taking over stone. More of the same awaited them in the upper levels of the temple, except for a room where they found supplies, food and sleeping bags. Gray glanced at Juvia who did the same and both of them nodded in mutual agreement of being more cautious from then on in case they encountered unwanted people.

At one point, when they were giving one last look in the entrance hall and night was slowly taking over the day, deciding for them that it was high time to go back to the village, Gray noticed Juvia hunched over in the middle of the room.

"Gray-sama, watch this," she called and when he approached her, Gray saw the hole in the ground that was parallel of the other holes in each floor that opened up to the sky above. "What does Gray-sama think?"

"I can't see shit of what's down there," he stated flatly.

Juvia rolled her eyes, giving him the look, and sighed, "Do we try going down tomorrow?"

Gray shrugged and headed outside to walk back to the town. There were sounds of the night, owls and other nocturnal animal crawling around them, and even though the sunlight was dimming with each ticking second, it was still clear and bright enough to see. In few seconds, however, all natural noise silenced instantly, the air being cut with a screeching noise that had Gray and Juvia tensing as soon as they heard it.

They scrawled back to the shadows that would hide them as the screech repeated. This time it sounded clearer while they rounded one of the protruding sides of the ruins, and they discerned the little whining undertone of it.

"Oh, Angelica. I know this can be hard―the humidity and the lack of proper food, but hold on, dear," Gray heard someone say while Juvia and him squatted to not be seen. The voice carried on while their heads peered over the hiding spot. "Our Reitei informed us it'd take only one more week before we finish the ritual and the beast is unsealed. And then it'll be ours, and we'll be free to love, see?"

Juvia made a noise in the back of her throat when she distinguished the two shadowy figures just some meters away from them. "Is that a giant rat?" she whispered a bit disgusted. "Juvia doesn't like rodents."

"Yeah, think it is," replied Gray. When the unknown woman and the rat started walking, they dove after them. "Don't think that woman is part of the islanders, either. And all that camp material inside must belong to someone."

"And the beast they're talking about," Juvia added with puckered brows. "Reitei, too. Juvia wonders who that one is."

Gray grunted, acknowledging their discovery for what it was, and walked as silently as they could manage while keeping a distance from the woman and her pet.

ooOOooOOoo

Gray and Juvia followed the two shady figures around the temple, up the hill and into what was once the roof of the ancient ruins. The sight awaiting for them was another matter completely that took them by utter surprise.

They had to slither through the few rocks on the place, occulting themselves from the little cult standing there with robes and all. Gray thought, with sharpened sense and scrunched nose, that the more he learned about the place, the more he wondered if he should have ever taken on the request, and Juvia's mirroring expression assured him that he wasn't the only one with similar thoughts.

Alas, the beam of light of the previous night and the strange chants from the circling people casted away any musings to make pass to the horrific notion of what was, seemingly, a ritual.

Juvia fidgeted, her hands restless crossing and uncrossing as she said, "What does Gray-sama think those people are doing?"

Gray grunted, counting the gathered people. A dozen so far. "Dunno. But I don't like it."

"It looks like they're collecting the moon's light in one place," whispered Juva lowly, her face up to the sky where the celestial body was shining. "Doesn't the moon have some strong magical proprieties or so?"

"Yeah. It does." His eyes scanned over the place, Juvia's shaking shoulder against his a reminder of what they heard that woman said. Tey were unsealing a beast, probably using this ritual or whatever for it, and suddenly the situation became more bleak than before. "Let's… let's return to the village, ask Moka about all this and plan something against these creeps."

Juvia's blank stare was all he received in exchange.

"Who?" she asked and Gray felt his mouth curl into a frown at her equally blank tone.

"Moka?" he prompted. "The old mayor of the town." She blinked as dumbfounded as before and Gray clenched his jaw shut because, even though Juvia's memory never had been something to praise, it never was as bad. "God," he breathed out. "This creeps me out now."

He was ready to nudge her out of there, a short explanation on the tip of his tongue when a shadow casted over them and a recognizable feminine voice said, "Angelica, love, what have you found with that precious nose of yours."

Gray cursed as he materialized an ice-shield and him and Juvia jumped back away from the rat, its owner and all the other mages standing there, their chants silenced and every single one of them facing them.

"Reitei, look what the rat brought in," another man next to the woman called, and Gray had to freeze his expression from becoming something that would cause more problems than it was worth when he noted the man's stupidly huge eyebrows. "Sherry, I think they followed you."

"And Angelica found them, Yuuka," she bit back, only as dreamy as she had sounded before, somehow. "Love conquers it all, after all."

"That is for me to decide."

The new voice was harsh and smeared behind the helmet he wore, but it was smooth and clean enough for Gray to recognize despite everything else. It brought memories of years ago, of a time when life was all about smug feminine gaze, repetitive bickering and endless training under the snow. It bristled the tiny hairs at the back of his neck and what once was a defensive stance before Juvia, ready to attack or scram, became all taut and wary at the same time the new man appeared from behind the ranks of mages.

"Lyon?" Gray snarled, face pale and eyes huge but hands firmly fisted. "What are you doing here?"

Lyon Vastia took out the helmet, sneered and said, "That's my question, Gray."

For a moment they stood there, the air thick with apprehension and suspense only sprouted from decades of two men who knew the other all too well. In a world that maybe everything past wasn't such a tragedy, they might have met each other with haughty smiles and playful punches, but, as it was, there was nothing more than disdain and cynicism there.

And Lyon stared, unblinking. As did Gray.

"It's been a long time," Lyon said at last. "Did the townspeople of that village send you to stop me?"

Gray scoffed. "Yeah, seems so."

"A big coincidence, then," the other said. "Or fate. But I've never been a believer of fate, so maybe not."

"That's because Ur thought us not to and that we should take our lives with our own hands," remarked Gray, and Lyon growled in such a way at the name that, if he didn't know him from before, it would have scared him.

Gray felt the brush of a dress and the sound of fidgety feet before he heard her, whispering with fear and decisions, "Gray-sama, what's going on?"

His mind railed for an answer. He himself wasn't sure about anything―although there was something, because Gray remembered Lyon and knew of their shared past and recalled how it had affected them both when Ur became nothing more than ice. He remembered the discoveries they made in the ruins, too, as what that woman had told her rat, and it clicked like piece of puzzle he didn't want to see finished.

Deliora, his mind supplied to him with a dark chuckle.

Gray hoped he was wrong.

So, Gray only hissed, "Get them," and Juvia acted on it so fast that Gray thought she'd have done the same regardless of his words.

A wave of water came out of the flourish of her arms, sweeping away the unprepared people gathered there to the ocean beyond the cliff. Lyon had always been fast, however, and he created an ice wall that protected him from it. The wall enclosed him and Gray, too, far from the reach from the other four mages who had avoided the attack and Juvia.

"Go, go, go, Juvia!" Gray yelled when he noticed her disadvantageous situation. "I'll take care of this one." And she did as he told her, thankfully, not without frowning in disapproval, before sprinting away.

"Yuuka, Sherry, Toby! Take care of the girl," Lyon commanded with a precision that didn't allow room for discussion. "Gray's mine."

"And I?" asked the only remaining person of crooked posture and indigenous mask. His smile was chilling despite the playful edge.

Lyon paused for a moment, eying the stranger with furrowed brows as if he didn't quite trust the masked man. Then, he said, "Go with them."

Gray saw how Juvia disappeared beyond and down the hill, persecuted by the other three minions of Lyon and the odd man who didn't seem interested in anything at all. He didn't allow himself to commit to the thought of Juvia alone against four mages, though, and glared down on Lyon who did the same.

"You were never one to think too much, always reckless, but that move was suicidal. For her and for you," Lyon commented as he swirled his caped. The bastard. He always had a flare for bad dramatics. "Your lose."

"You don't know her. She can kick all our collective arses," replied Gray, stiffly, but Lyon only snorted as if he had been told an awful joke. "Juvia can take care of herself. As I do. What I wanna know, though, is what you are doing in this dammed island and with that stupid ritual you're pulling."

But Lyon didn't answer, his eyes narrowing with abhorrence, and he attacked with ice and frost that made Gray retaliate with the same strength and element.

Then, they clashed.

ooOOooOOoo

Juvia leaped over the rumbles and lunged to the right when a boulder flied across her. She had intended to go to the coast, just a few kilometers away, but found herself trapped in one of the many enclosed rooms of the ruins with three very furious and apparently very capable mages closing the only entrance behind her.

She whirled around with her lips thinned and faced her opponents with as much courage as she could muster even though her eyes were flickering and feet impatient.

"This'll over in less than five minutes," Eyebrows affirmed as he turned around the edge of the entrance with Doggy, Pigtails and the rat trailing. "Give up now, it's three against one."

"But Lyon-sama was specific on his request," Pigtails complained. "Take care of the girl."

Juvia seethed, sending a blast of boiling water against the three opponents. It wasn't a for the most part powerful burst, just a time-buyer that could be as easily avoided as Eyebrows and Doggy, this one laughing, did, but the only woman didn't appear to be as physically active, and she didn't act in time. The rat took the attack in her stead, however, and become a whimpering mass of fat on the floor.

"And now she burnt Angelica! Unforgiveable!" Pigtails screeched as she kneeled down next to the rat. She was weeping and sent the deadliest of glares at Juvia. "I won't forgive you. I won't allow you to get in the way of my love!"

Juvia winced, because she could understand the feeling, and a pang of guilt swarmed her. It didn't last, though; not when the most level-headed of the three counterattacked, unbalancing her.

"Do you actually think," Eyebrows snarled with twisted lips as Doggy sniggered at the side, "that weak attack would have done anything to us, who once were part of one of the most famous guilds of Fiore?"

Juvia sniffled, positioning again. "Lamia Scale."

"Pardon?"

"It was Lamia Scale you belonged to."

They blinked in surprise and Doggy gasped in horror.

"She can read MINDS!" he yelled, almost a sob, with actual fear tainting his face. Juvia's mouth fell when tears pooled on his eyes. "Yuuka, Sherry, she can read my mind. What DOH?!"

Eyebrows and Pigtails weren't as clearly fooled as their friend, one knocking her off with magic that bypassed her water body and the furious woman stringing rocks and moss into live to throw a punch that left her out of breathe.

"Toby, attack you too!" Eyebrows commanded angrily, and despite the perceptible fear on Doggy's face, his nails extended and scratched her right arm. It not only left a mark, but zapped her arm as well since he seemed to have electric magic imbued, before she stumbled backwards out of their reach.

It had been long since Juvia had last felt this kind of physical pain with her water body granting an impassible defense that had never failed her. Three adversaries were too much for her, though, unless she resorted for the curse that was only and exclusively for hopeless situations where her dear ones were in danger.

Not for this; not yet.

She might not have like them, but she didn't want them dead, either.

So Juvia inhaled deeply, rejected the pessimism out of her mind and took in what she could, in search of something she could use. The room was flooded to their toes with her previous attack, some rumbles scattered, the doll of the female looming and her opponents seemed to be basking on her deplorable state.

And there was, dared she say glancing at Doggy with his electrified nails, an idiot too.

It was high-stake bet. A bet she was ready to take because there was nothing else she could do other than going on a rampage, however, so she did.

And, anyway, she had always had good luck if the all-nighters playing card games with a sore-loser, stubborn Gray-sama were anything to go by.

"Doggy-san," Juvia gasped with a too dramatic of an expression," are those leeches around your feet?!"

Doggy's eyes widened, his expression turning into disgust and panic as he ducked hurriedly. "Where, where, where?!"

"TOBY, NO! YOU IMBECILE!" the other two ordered but it was too late by then.

"Ooohn."

His hands plunged into the water, searching for the animal that never existed, and as soon as his nails made contact with the water, the electric crack echoed in the room. Juvia gritted her teeth for what was to come, her body transformed into her more resistant demonic body, as she watched her adversaries curling down into the floor with a last, pain-filled scream ripping from their throats.

It wasn't much better for her, despite the scales and the extra layers of defense, and she screamed as loudly. But she had fared far better than the other three unconscious forms, only remains of slight paralysis hindering her once she reverted back from her gills and overly focused mentality.

Looking at them, Juvia hoped with every fiber of her being that the electric magic that man used wasn't potent enough to cast irreversible damage on them.

"That's some incredible power you showed there."

The new voice startled her to the core, and she didn't spin fast enough to encounter a new man perched one of the bigger rocks in the room, away from the water. It baffled her how the man got there with her not noticing, and glared when he only cocked his head to the side.

"Who are you?" asked Juvia.

"An ally."

She frowned. "Juvia's or theirs?"

"Hmmm." He smiled languidly. "Good question."

The man leapt from his position to land next to her, his mask looking up with all its hidden promises. The smile was poignant, playful and almost vile around the edges from close view. Juvia moved away from him, her insides churning violently. There was something very important she couldn't pinpoint about this one, and everything took a spin to the worse with the man's next words that made her recoil.

"But the better question is: what was that magic you used to avoid the full impact of the electrocution?" he whispered with curiosity. And then, added, "Or better yet, what are you?"

ooOOooOOoo

The ground quaked for a moment, the ice pillars turning into icy dust as they clashed before everything turned silent and immobile.

"Using both hands?" was the only thing Lyon said after their little dance of attacking and defending. "It shows who was, and still is, the better mage."

Gray scoffed, shaking his head. "I just follow Ur's teaching. Always use both hands."

"You're the last person who should say that, Gray." Lyon's tone was bitter, and Gray flinched as answer. "You never listened to her when it mattered. She died because of that, too."

Gray didn't have much to add to that, because it was true, partially, as much as it pained him. There was something more going on, however, and he couldn't allow Lyon to get away with it if he's suspicions were remotely correct.

Gray swallowed the shame and the pain, boxed it on a shelf for later, and kept a steady gaze even though Lyon's glare pierced him to the core.

"I know," Gray admitted, words cracking at the end. "But whatever you're doing here, in this island, stop it."

The silence was heavy and Gray had the awful sensation of his lips trembling with impotence. This was too much, in a sense, for him. Felt it, as well—the guilt and the loathing and the fear swirling. But he held upright, firm and tense, even when Lyon's face darkened and his mouth curled into anger and hate.

"Do you remember," Lyon said, almost conversationalist although the tension crept through his arms, "what was the thing I wanted more than anything? My dream?"

It didn't take much to remember. Lyon had made it a sure thing to memorize when they were young and it rolled in Gray's tongue as easily. "Surpass Ur."

The other nodded sharply. "But she's dead, you see. Because of you. Kind of difficult in those circumstances."

Then his grin widened, burning Gray's hopes into nothing more than ashes, and with a flourish of a hand, Lyon continued as if he was given a class for children. "Unless I defeat—"

"—unless you beat what Ur couldn't beat," Gray spew furiously. His hand reached his hair, messing it. "Is that even possible? Iced Shell's the ultimate—"

"All magic can be countered with research, patience and the adequate resources," Lyon barked, throwing away the helmet that had stayed under his arm the whole time and clued Gray into stepping back for a surprise attack. "So I did my research, found an old, forgotten magic that could speed up the process to weaken any magic in this same island you're so obsessed with and, after three years, here I am, almost done."

His snarl was vicious, his voice thick as he came closer and the temperature dropped significantly, frost spreading around their feet. "And then, you came around."

Gray was on the verge of snapping back, his fingers contracting ready for action, but a deep breath after, he refrained himself. Ur wouldn't want this, was the mantra repeated in his head. Ur would never, ever want this for them. For him. For Lyon.

Gray didn't want this. And he doubted Lyon did. Or hoped for that, at least.

"So you wasted three years of your life on this?" he sniped. "Do you even understand what are you doin'?"

Lyon's response came quickly in the form of an attack through mobile ice eagles.

"Reaching my dreams so I can keep going!" he yelled as Gray barely managed to avoid the birds.

The birds crashed down, leaving in their weak superficial cuts on his skin while Gray huffed with an angry scowl. Spears came out of his hands although little did they do against Lyon's quick defense.

"Listen for once, this is wrong. Have you seen what you did to those people in the village?" he tried to reason for one last time, pressing on even when the only reaction was that of a bitter snort. "Ur would never let you—"

Lyon laughed at that, and Gray recoiled into raised fists and tense muscles.

"She's dead!" he shouted and that was it. "She's dead and she can't lecture us anymore because you never listened to her. Save your hypocrisy for those who are willing to listen to you."

He attacked as soon as Gray's shoulders slumped in defeat, a huge ape made of blocks of ice morphing behind him. The statue raised its hand into the air before it smacked down where Gray stood.

"I'm gonna stop you, Lyon," he screamed behind his improvised shield. "What're you doing is beyond stupid."

"It's presumptuous enough that you mention Ur. More so as constantly as you do," Lyon gritted back. "Now you said you're going to stop me. Absolutely hysterical. Fuck you, Gray."

Gray sneered and clashed his two fists together. "Same goes for you."

The next movement was a full-out attack with no pullbacks. Their ice and frost met in the middle of their battlefield, sending shards as sharps as knives around them.

It didn't end there, however. While their creations of ice collided, the floor crumbled under them. The ancient, run-down temple yielded with the powerful impact and the extra weight, and, what was once firm stone to walk on, broke into huge pieces that fell down to the floors bellow.

And they fell down with it.