Disclaimers: All Fairy Tail Characters Belong To Hiro Mashima. All Forgotten Realms Concepts and Characters Belong to Wizards of the Coast, LLC. The concept of the Soulbond has been modified from the video game Drakan, a property of Surreal Software . Kai Dragneel belongs to me.

Chapter 14: The Eyes Have It

Mira was on the verge of panic as the devilishly strong hand around her throat choked her and her lungs began to burn for air. She squirmed and futilely tried to pull the fingers away, but could not budge them in the slightest.

Gray's face turned back toward her, and as its menacing scowl focused on her again, Bel's evil arrogance could be seen in the depths of those dark eyes. Mira felt true fear as the grip tightened further, moving beyond an air-depriving choke into a full strangulation, and she knew she had mere seconds before she fell unconscious from the lack of blood circulation.

Mira focused, quickly performing a full body take-over with her Satan Soul. She struck the arm and hand holding her with her considerably enhanced strength, but it had no effect, and as her vision faded, and she lost her grip on consciousness, her last thought was puzzlement because the emotion flooding her was not fear or even sadness, but an unsettling blind fury.

Silver saw Mira's form slump and her eyes roll back into her head, and he knew he had to step in quickly, despite the risk that he might be severely underpowered depending on how much Meritos decided to assist. Silver had only taken one step forward however before things went from bad, to much much worse.

Mira's Satan Soul form suddenly began to change, becoming much more massive in moments. Her feet now reached the floor, and they burst into flames as well. Her luscious skin that had been briefly bared in the revealing red bodysuit favored by her normal Satan Soul form was now completely clothed in an outfit of white with dark blue highlights, a dark cloak billowed behind her on some intangible breeze.

Most important however, was the plate armor that materialized about her throat, coming up around her chin and ending in a pair of huge horns at her temples. With the combination of significantly increased girth and armor, Bel's grip was broken. His eyes widened and he suddenly realized he had gotten a much larger fight than he had bargained for as he felt a tremendous surge of magic power ripple from her new form as Satan Soul: Sitri glared at him in full fury.

Sitri's mouth opened and inhaled for several seconds, refilling the air-starved lungs and then an absolutely inhuman and deafening scream erupted from her like a banshee's wail. The sound struck Bel with the force of a cannon. Gray's clothing shredded, and the body that Bel had taken over was hurled straight through the wall behind him. He flew like a comet in a smoking arc, almost parallel to the shoreline behind the guildhouse, and he hit the water with tremendous force, causing him to be briefly obscured in a cloud of steam, water, and sand.

Sitri wasted no time in following him. She leapt out of the hole in the wall, and the flames wreathing her feet propelled her towards her foe in the distance. Both of her clawed hands were engulfed in brilliant balls of purple light.

"Well, that had to hurt." Silver muttered as he shook his head, jumped out of the hole and began to follow.

Bel shook his head and gathered his thoughts. He had rarely fought such a powerful demon, and never alone, but he recognized the typical chaotic lack of thought inherent in their kind, and he knew he just had to keep his wits about him and come up with a suitable strategy. His ears were still ringing from the demonic shout that had hurtled him there, but he also heard a roaring of fire ahead and above him, and he quickly moved several feet to the side, getting better footing on the beach while still using the slowly dissipating cloud as cover.

Sitri descended, launching bolt after bolt of violet energy from her claws, peppering the cloud to keep the devil off balance as she approached. Bel was quickly forced out of the cloud as he dodged repeatedly, watching the energy bolts turn chunks of the beach sand into molten glass at his feet. As he broke cover and was finally able to see the demon hurtling out of the air toward him, he threw up a large thick shield of ice in a half dome. He made the ice as smooth and reflective as possible, and watched in satisfaction as the next volly of bolts careened harmlessly off of it.

Bel's satisfaction was short-lived however as he realized that the demon was not slowing down in the slightest, and was, in fact, increasing the amount of flames roaring behind her. He took one glance at the insane feral look in her eyes as she plummeted toward him, and turned to run.

Sitri hit the ice dome with unbelievable force. The thick wall collapsed on Bel's back, pinning him in the sand as she stood atop the ice, glaring down at him. She raised both hands above her head, a ball of flame growing between them as she prepared to smite her foe with crazed glee.

Silver's sprinting had finally brought him near enough to see Bel/Gray's predicament, and he had just enough time to think that it was very likely he would be paying double for his drinks for the next year as he quickly fashioned a chain whip out of ice links and struck with it, snaring Mira/Sitri's feet and yanking hard, causing her to fall on the collapsed wall and roll off of it.

Mira returned to consciousness with the utmost confusion. She was lying on the beach instead of standing in the infirmary, her legs were bound in some sort of ice chain which was slowly melting in the demonic fire that surrounded her feet, and most disconcerting, she was facing a mirror-like mound of ice where she could clearly see Sitri's face contorted in mindless rage reflected back at her instead of the Satan Soul Mira had transformed into. Mira realized with chagrin that she was not currently in control of her body, but fortunately, she had a lifetime of training as a take-over mage, and she quickly set about wresting control back from the enraged demon that had taken the opportunity that Mira's unconsciousness had presented, even if it had likely saved her life.

Gray returned to consciousness with the utmost confusion. He was lying on the beach instead of standing inside the summoning circle, he was pinned under the crushing weight of a mound of ice which felt very different from his normal creations, and most disconcerting, he was facing a mirror-like surface where he could clearly see his own face reflected back, contorted in pain and anger, half of it obscured with an inky blackness, with his worst nightmare glaring back at him from the depths of his eyes. Gray realized with chagrin that about the only normal thing he could determine about his situation was that he had somehow managed to lose his clothes again. This thought was quickly replaced by terror as he realized that he was not in control of his body, and he felt the presence of another mind within him. He mentally flailed against it trying to get his body to respond to him in any way.

Mira finished regaining control of her body just as she felt the chain about her ankles sufficiently weaken from the demonic flames melting it. She flexed her legs and felt the bonds give way, then quickly rolled over and stood up. This move was extremely well timed as the mound she had been leaning against suddenly shot up off of the ground, launched by a pair of ice pillars, and flew across the beach, almost taking Silver's head off as he narrowly managed to duck and tumble under it with a curse.

Bel stood and thrust his hands into the twin pillars of ice. Both shattered, revealing a pair of saw-toothed swords clenched in his fists. He crouched into a fighting stance, one held low in front of him, and the other above his head, parallel to the ground. The cruel points were pointing unwaveringly at the demon in front of him.

Mira held her armored and claw-tipped hands up in guard, and faced her opponent. Her voice was calm and firm as she began speaking, not to the monster in front of her, but to her friend who she was sure was struggling for control within.

"Gray, you've got to work your way through this. Right now, you are probably just flailing about wildly, and it won't do anything more than just annoy this thing. You need to find your center and...", she was interrupted as a flurry of sword blows flashed in toward her. She blocked each strike, slowly giving ground and staying on the defensive as she tried to give Gray a crash course in take-over magic in a literal trial by fire and ice.

Bel realized immediately that the threat from the woman in front of him might be even greater than the beast he had been confronting moments earlier. He charged in, launching blows high and low in an effort to disrupt her, but the cursed woman continued her coaching in a calm friendly tone as she deftly deflected every swing of his swords.

"Find your center and feel your entire body. It is *your* body. You've lived in it your entire life. Unfortunately that can make it easy for you to not take the time to really think about what that means. You know every small ache and pain you wake up with, the exhilarating burn in your lungs after a long run. You know exactly how hard you can push yourself and you can even tell when you are starting to catch a cold, long before you get a runny nose." Mira stopped talking again as she focused on dodging and blocking the devil's frantic assault.

Gray latched on to Mira's words like a life-line. He stopped his useless mental flailing, and instead began to listen to his body and remember everything he could about it. He felt the slightest hitch in his shoulder whenever Bel drew the sword back for a high swing. That was courtesy of Natsu, who launched him off of a small cliff during one of their fights, chipping the ball of the joint. He felt the pace of the battle, his pulse and breathing, and knew they were the result of *his* training, not anything this imposter in his body was responsible for. Gray chuckled as he heard Mira mention catching a cold, something he had not had to suffer since becoming an ice mage as a small child. Then, Gray felt a surge of elation as he realized that he actually *heard* that chuckle. He made that happen! It was a small step, but it was certainly progress.

How in the hell could he turn that small victory into wresting control of his body back from the devil that had entered him though? Gray could feel its immense power thrumming through his body and he had to acknowledge that it was much stronger than his own. This was not going to be easy but failure was not an option he could accept. The stakes were too high, not only could he lose Natsu and Kai, if he wasn't careful he might very well lose himself too.

"There they are!" Evergreen could be heard yelling as Elfman careened towards the fighting Mira and Gray, casting his Beast Soul takeover seemingly in mid air as he roared and threw himself in a flying tackle at the Ice Devil Slayer attacking his sister. He made sure to lead with his horns to inflict the most damage to Gray's flesh. For once he was too concerned to even comment about the manliness of the situation.

"Elfman, be careful. Gray's still in there." Erza chastised the take over mage even as she was trying to decide whether to requip and go help protect Gray or just watch from the sidelines. Something which was decidedly difficult for her.

The others arrived in quick order. Laxus, Freed and Bickslow and the rest of the dragon slayers soon joined Evergreen, who was trying to downplay her concern for Elfman. They all stood watching the event unfold not sure how to best help in this increasingly bizarre situation.

"Bickslow can you do it?" Laxus asked urgently as he noticed Mira beginning to tire.

Bickslow shrugged. "I can try, I mean what's the worst that can happen?" Bickslow's babies remained eerily quiet after this statement, which made everyone even more on edge than they already were.

"Damnit, if only we could buy some time." Laxus cursed, frustrated with the lack of a clear plan of action.

"If time is all you need, I can buy you at least that much." Evergreen said absently, her attention still on Elfman as her hands unconsciously fidgeted with her glasses.

"Ever, what are you planning?" Bickslow asked, his tone indicated more curiosity than concern, but there was a little bit of that in there as well.

"Don't worry about it, I've got this." Evergreen replied, trying to sound more confident than she felt. She still had a nagging doubt about her plan. She knew that this magic only worked on humans and she wasn't entirely sure whether Gray still qualified as such. It didn't matter, she had to try. If if didn't work, they'd just have to come up with something else. She could do this, she just had to get closer. She took a deep breath and moved towards the combatants.

Mira and Elfman had noticed her by this point and spared a quick look at each other as they continued to fight, trying to figure out what the Fairy Mage could possibly be up to. A pair of pink fairy wings appeared on Evergreen's back and she took to the air.

"Fairy Bomb Attack: Gremlin"

Dust particles appeared all around Bel and before he could attempt to freeze them they exploded. Although he was not hurt it was enough to anger him further and he turned his attention to the pesky flying creature that had attacked him. Evergreen having sprung her trap quickly moved her hands up to her face and removed her glasses waiting for the Ice Devil to look at her. The moment he did she used her Stone Eyes and watched with satisfaction as Gray's body turned to stone.

She landed back on the ground and looked at Laxus with a pleased expression. "There you go, I bought you some time."

"What did you do? Is he going to be alright?" Silver asked with a tight voice as he gazed at the stone statue that was his son. This day was not at all turning out the way it was supposed to.

"Gray's fine, or at least he will be for the next three hours. If left under this spell he would eventually turn to dust but I won't let that happen." Evergreen smiled at him reassuringly. "Now we have more time to come up with a plan to help him."

"Alright, let's get back to the guild." Laxus said. "Elfman, can you carry Gray back to the guild?"

Elfman grunted his assent and while still in his Beast form picked up the statue and carried it away.

Everyone surrounded Mira wanting to assure themselves that she was ok. She dispelled her Satan Soul and stood before them in her maroon dress once again.

"I'm fine, everyone. Please don't worry." Mira said in her sweet voice. "Let's just focus on finding a way to help Gray."

As they walked in a big group back towards the guild Mira made a point of walking next to Silver. "I know you're worried but I think if the two of us work together we can get him back."

Silver looked at her with surprise. "You're willing to help him after what he did?"

"Of course, he is my nakama." Mira said simply. "Besides he didn't do anything, the devil did. Gray is trapped in his own body and we have to get him strong enough to fight back. That devil is strong, the longer Gray waits the harder it will be to get his body back."

They reached the guild building and went inside. Elfman had placed Gray's statue by the table they had been sitting at before they had heard Mira scream.

"Can he hear us?" Freed asked.

"I don't really know, I've never been petrified." Evergreen replied looking to Erza for an answer.

"I was able to hear but I was only hit by half the strength of the spell. Lucy?" Erza looked to her teammate for an answer.

"We couldn't hear or remember anything." Lucy replied, her gaze fixed on Gray's statue. Evergreen's spell had caught his expression in a angry scowl that looked very unnatural on the kind ice mage, about the only thing that seemed familiar was his clothing or rather lack thereof. He looked nothing like the friend she had come to admire. She started to sniffle as she remembered with fondness that the first time she had met Gray Fullbuster he had asked to borrow her underwear. What would they do if they couldn't get him back to normal?

"Can someone please explain to me what happened while I was gone?" Erza asked with as much patience as she could considering what Jellal had told her on her way back to the guild. "I got a very frantic call from Jellal asking me about Gray and then when I get here this happens."

"Short version, we were helping Lyon become an Ice Devil Slayer. Something went wrong during the ritual and the Ice Devil ended up possessing Gray instead. He passed out and you were here for the rest." Laxus tried to get through it quickly so they could focus on the problem at hand.

"Are you out of your minds? Why would you do that?" Erza asked in outraged disbelief, "Why would you mess with forces you know nothing about?"

"Erza, no offense but we don't have time for this. You can yell at me all you want later, right now we have less than three hours to come up with something to help Gray." Silver spoke up.

Erza looked ready to yell at him but seemed to acknowledge the wisdom in his words. "Fine, but we're not done discussing this." She took a seat across from Laxus. "What are we going to do?"

She became agitated when no one came forward with any ideas. "Come now, surely with all the different types of magic in this room we should be able to do something!"

For another ten minutes the guild was enveloped in silence until finally a voice was heard.

"I know of something that might help but it is dangerous and the cost is high." Freed said causing Laxus to narrow his eyes and emit a small growl. Freed raised an eyebrow at the Lightning Dragon Slayer, not sure how to interpret the reaction. He turned his attention back to Erza and held her gaze. "It is very complicated and if I fail we could lose both Natsu and Gray."

"What is it?" Erza asked warily.

"It's a forbidden spell called Soul Cage. Essentially I could use my Darkness magic to seal the Ice Devil away for a time in Gray's mind. Gray would be able to regain control of his body and learn to use his new magic without intervention. Hopefully he would be able to get strong enough that even when the seal breaks he could maintain control of his body."

"Even when the seal breaks?" Lucy asked, "It won't hold him forever?"

"No, Bel is too strong and he will be working against it from the moment he is sealed. Like most spells if the will fighting against it is strong enough it will eventually break through." Freed answered nonplussed.

"Nevermind that, you mentioned a high cost. What kind of cost?" Laxus demanded, his eyes never leaving the rune mage's face.

"Dark magic always demands a price of its caster, Laxus." Freed spoke calmly distancing himself from the information. "In this case for trapping someone's soul it would darken my own. I'm not entirely sure how that would be reflected." He shrugged.

"No, as Guild Master, I forbid it." Laxus cried. "I want to help Fullbuster as much as anyone but not at the cost of your soul. That's too much to ask."

"With all due respect, Guild Master, that is not your decision to make." Silver growled. "It might be the only way to save Gray."

"That's enough!" Erza interrupted before the argument got out of hand, "We don't have time for petty squabbles! I think you are both too close to this. Silver is correct, the final decision rests with Freed."

"Freed, you mentioned that if you failed we could lose both Natsu and Gray. What did you mean by that?" Lucy asked.

"There are two souls in there. If I caged the wrong one, Bel might be able to use his considerable power to keep Gray locked away indefinitely and since their souls are fused that could mean that Natsu's soul might end up locked inside his own mind. I don't know that for a fact but there's just too much we don't understand about their bond and that is one of the books that we have not been able to recover. I have only heard of this spell being used a few times. As I said, it is considered forbidden magic. The only reason I know of it is because I tend to be a bit overzealous in my studies."

"Alright, if you were to do this, what would you need?" Erza asked, pointedly ignoring the glare that Laxus was sending her way.

Freed sat quietly, giving thought to what he would need. After a few minutes he nodded to himself. "Evergreen would have to dispel her spell while Bickslow used his Figure Eyes to paralyze Bel's soul for as long as he is able so that I can draw the rune I need on Gray's body. Once the rune is completed the spell should be cast and Bel should be restrained for as long as the cage can hold him back. I'm not sure how long that would be. It could be months, or it could be weeks. "

"You don't have to do this, Freed." Erza told him, "We can still try to find another way."

"Yes, I do." Freed said simply, "I can help Gray and the fact is, he would do it for me."

Everyone remained quiet at that, if there was one thing you could count on from Gray it was that he would sacrifice himself for any of them, no questions asked.

"Bicks and Ever, are you with me?" Freed asked the other members of the Thunder Legion.

"Of course, you idiot." Ever smiled at him.

"Like we would let you have all the fun." Bickslow smirked as his babies cried "Fun ,Fun" all around him.

"Alright Thunder Legion, you know what to do." Freed said as he took his sword out of his scabbard preparing to draw the complicated rune. He gave one last nervous look to his two friends and commanded "Let's begin."

A/N I know, I suck, but if I continued it would be another chapter's worth of stuff so this felt like a good stopping point and yes the title is corny but it amuses me so I won't apologize for it. Cringe away. I had a lot of fun with the pictures, they all come from wikis as I can't draw to save my life.

Thank you to deinspanjer for writing the initial battle scene, I really appreciate that you enjoy writing those, my love. <3

Also thank you to JoachJon on AO3 for your enthusiasm and to Zane_Takeshi for being an all around great friend. My inbox has been a nicer place as of late. To my wattpad "evangelist" YamiTAO ;) thank you as well. It really helps to get me excited about writing when I have people actively telling me they enjoy reading what I write. Until next chapter! :)