In the middle of the night, the sky was dark filled with clouds blocking the moonlight...
The world was completely washed in darkness, where one can hardly see a few meters far from him...
Somewhere in this darkness, a few spots of light floated around a current area, where a few figures could be seen...
Gray looked at the darkness in the sky calmly...
He lowered his looking at the ring on his hand...
It was a very beautiful ring with a dim yet fine black stone in the heart staying there...
While looking at the ring... Gray's eyes had a wavering look on them, but soon after he changed this look and calmed down, replaced with expectation...
With this, the stone inside the ring heart started turning three times by itself...
As the stone turned three times, Gray looked around him trying to find someone, but he found no one around other than Perona and Nagini who were laying at his side and Niala who was already asleep...
Gray eyes twitched a little and looked at the ring again...
With this, the stone inside turned again with a different idea inside his heart...
This time he looked around and found two familiar figures that appeared from nowhere...
"Ogi... Allen...." Gray looked at the two old friends and said with sad emotions...
Yup... Gray used the stone to summon the two old friends who helped him with Mary when he came back from the mutants worlds...
"Gray..." The two looked at Gray who changed so much and called his name directly... Since they were summoned with the stone naturally they know who called them...
With mixed heart, Gray looked and talked with these two old friends who he couldn't help before...
"So... You really killed Zed that bastard... Hahahaha! Good, As expected from our team bag carrying member!" Ogi heard what Gray has told him after their death and laughed happily...
"Well... That's what happened.." Gray looked at the Ogi with a funny smile... Even after death, this man's character still the same...
While talking with them Gray also realized why the stone didn't work for the first time...
Ogi and Allen's situation was somehow special... Their souls didn't completely disappear from the world, and he was able to summon them because of their special situation...
Gray confirmed this while trying to summon many other dead people he knew before...
But apparently, he can't summon them after a long time from their death...
How long since Ogi and Allen died?
To Gray, it might be many years... But for real, it was about a month and a few days only...
What was the stone in the ring heart?
Naturally, it was the reincarnation stone...
Gray tried to use the stone at first to summon someone who he really wants to see...
His father...
Inside his heart, Gray always hoped that his father was still alive... He didn't see him die from Zed's memories before, only leaving alone giving the others a chance to run away... So there was a glimmer of hope there...
Secondly, he needed some answers that only his father might give him... Answers he couldn't understand by himself...
So on the first try, his summoning failed... Which gave him two meanings... Either his father was alive...
Or the stone won't work in this world...
After all, not every world life and death system was the same...
Some worlds have heaven and hell realms, while some don't... and the dead will really be dead after the death of the body, and the soul will simply become a part of the world itself...
And there were worlds with cycles like the reincarnation cycle of life and death...
Well... there were many kinds honestly...
And the stone works by its own rules which making it like a key... If the condition of its rules was met, the key will work... If not, naturally it won't...
So in fact he didn't have much hope honestly...
From what he can see, the stone didn't completely lose its work, it still has some use like the fact that he summoned both Ogi and Allen, but nothing more... If he tried to do this after a few days, this won't work...
This world wasn't like the wizarding world... The reason why Allen and Ogi's souls stayed till now probably because of something they were unwilling to leave like this...
But a mere soul can't go against the world rules anyway, after all, nothing special about their souls... So both of them were going to really disappear between heaven and earth soon...
What happens after they completely disappear Gray doesn't know... But he knows that the stone can't bring them after that...
All in all... The stone was actually so useless in this world... If not for their special situation, things wouldn't have worked like this...
Yet the stone weird spirituality was as good as ever...
In the end, Gray didn't get the answer he wished for...
After talking for some time with Allen and Ogi, finally Gray was ready to bid the final farewell for them...
"Gray.... you know... Our last regret was not being able to see you coming back alive, nor saving Mary from Zed... Now we know that both of you are alive... We have no regrets... Please... take care of Mary... She might look so strong... Yet our captain's heart is so soft inside... In this sick world, she has nothing other than you now..." Allen looked at Gray and said while Ogi only nodded his face with a serious look...
"Don't worry..." Gray didn't say much about this and only spoke these two words, which was enough for those two to rest in peace after...
As Gray said this, the soul of the two in front of him turned to dust with a smile on their faces and disappeared completely from his vision... Or might be from the world...
Seeing this, Gray eyes became calm again and looked quietly at the darkness in front of him...
His doubts weren't answered... Yet he got the chance to see these two...
There wasn't much disappointment in his heart... Since he got the stone in the wizarding world he already thought of this result...
With this, the ring disappeared from his hand and reappeared on Perona's finger again...
'Well... Think about it later...' As Gray thought like this he kept watching the darkness around him with penetrating eyes... As if he can see what was happening in the silent world around him...
While being silent, Nagini climbed Gray's shoulder and licked his face...
"It's okay Nagini..." Seeing Nagini's actions, Gray face relaxed a little...
Hearing Gray's words, Nagini wrapped herself around Gray and kept silent as if she was telling him that she was by his side...
"Who were you talking to..." Well... The mood was good... Till Niala who was supposed to be asleep suddenly appeared in front of Gray's face and said while looking at him closely with her bright blue eyes...
Which made Nagini around Gray look at her with her golden eyes, that carrying a clear warning...
*Get closer and I will bite...*
"It's not a good habit to appear in front of the others suddenly like this..." Gray stared at Niala in front of him and said calmly...
"Don't care about this..." Niala ignored Gray's words and said with a smile, but her eyes moved at Nagini who was locking her with her snake eyes...
'This snake is really wary of me....' Niala thought...
After that Niala removed her eyes from Nagini and sat down beside Gray and touched the bracelet on her wrist... then a marshmallow bag appeared on her hand from nowhere...
Looking at her not asking again, simply eating her food with a satisfied expression, Gray eyes had another thought...
"Why you want to follow me Niala?" Gray asked Niala while glancing at the bracelet on her wrist with meaningful eyes...
"Hmmm, I have nowhere to go anyway, and you saved me before... so be responsible..." Niala said while eating as if saying a fact... Well... But her words have no sense...
Gray wasn't surprised by her words... He still doesn't understand this little girl's mind... It was quite clear that she has was unusual, yet Niala wasn't even bothering to hide the fact that she was unusual sometimes...
Unlike someone who has a purpose... Niala acted quite freely since she followed him...
And more like... A curious cat who wants to know all your secrets...
'I should study psychology in the next world...' Gray thought while looking at Niala's hard to understand smile...
"Then... is it fun to lie?" Gray said again... This time the look on his face was quite deep...
"Ah?" Niala heard Gray's words and looked at him with doubt...
"Why do you think I let you stay with us Niala?" Gray looked at Niala and asked...
"Because you're naive?" Niala didn't hesitate and answered honestly...
[-_-*] Gray heard Niala's words and couldn't help but want to get angry... This shouldn't be the answer...
'At least hide your thoughts!!! Play with the rules Niala!!!! And Perona... I can feel your body trembling beside me... Don't act as if you were asleep!!!' Gray thought...
But then he shook his head and didn't continue...
Her words were so true... In this world even if you know the person in front of you, It's hard to trust... Not to say let the other stranger stay around him easily... And such a suspicious girl...
Interested in her ability? Yup, he was... But you know... If he really wants to confirm her lies, he can simply attack her a few times and he will get the answer... And even force her to show the real ability...
Yet Gray didn't do this...
And he wasn't so naive to simply let a weirdo little girl that he doesn't understand beside him for no reason...
But Gray had his own thought too...
From the very moment, Niala wanted to follow him, Gray had another unknown idea in his mind...
"Hmmm... What are you planning to do about this?" Niala saw that Gray was not planning to continue and smiled cunningly while pointing at the darkness in front of them asking...
With her words, it happened that a crack appeared in the sky clouds allowing the moonlight to pass down, revealing what was happening in the darkness around them...
A few meters around their area, countless tree roots were moving like snakes in a circle around them while the forest has an eerie atmosphere as if it had come back to life ...
Apparently, if it wasn't for the magic barrier that Gray already placed around them confusing these roots' directions, they might already be under attack right now...
"What do you think?" Gray looked at Niala and asked jokingly...
Obviously, the reason why Gray decided to stay here wasn't so pure either...
Niala saw the smile on Gray's face and felt odd... This smile... Why it looks so familiar...
'Haaa... My cute thing playing this idea...' Niala soon realized and thought smugly, as if she already know what Gray was thinking...
"Well.. Be careful next..." Gray touched Niala's little head who was looking at him with smug eyes and said while standing up...
...