Gray, Natsu, and Lucy had taken a mission.

It was more like Natsu found the mission and forced them to come with him.

It was a simple job; all they needed to do was find an ancient book in an ancient library guarded by a weird guy that appeared to be a dragon.

He was actually human but used magic to disguise himself.

That was the whole reason Natsu took the job and they agreed to come, it was supposed to be Igneel.

But it wasn't.

They returned the book and got there award, they were on their way back.

You're probably wondering why Wendy and Gajeel didn't come, well there is a good reason why.

The job was in the middle of the dessert.

"You know I hate you?" Gray said to Natsu, he and Lucy were sweating hot where Natsu was acting like nothing was wrong.

Natsu just nodded and smiled which would have made Gray and Lucy suspicious why he hadn't insulted Gray back if they weren't so tired.

"Natsu?" Lucy asked "Could you stop that?"

"What?" Natsu asked clueless, Gray was clueless too but he didn't show it.

"The fire magic, it's radiating off you, stop it." Lucy said it in a low whisper; she didn't have the energy to yell.

"…Sure..." Natsu said, he hadn't realized he was radiating heat.

Suddenly a few minutes later Lucy's eyes perked up.

"Gray, could you make a small ice cube?" Lucy asked urgently, directing all her attention to the ice mage.

"Yeah…why?" Gray asked, he was very tired.

"To put in our mouths to stay hydrated."

"Lucy, you're brilliant." Gray said, he quickly did as she said and made three ice cubes.

Gray handed Lucy hers and stuck his own inside his mouth, he handed one to Natsu but Natsu put his hands in front of himself to reject the offer.

"Natsu," Lucy said, she was feeling a little better now but still she was hot "I know you hate Gray but except the ice cube."

"I'm fine," Natsu eased "I don't need it, I'm not hot."

"Whatever," Gray said stuffing the extra ice cubes into his mouth.

Normally, even though he didn't get along with Natsu, he would force him to eat it.

Natsu may be strong, but he was still a naïve idiot in Gray's eyes when it concerned Natsu's health,

Natsu had no idea what to do if he knew he had to do anything.

That's where Gray and Erza usually stepped in.

So if Gray wasn't still so tired he probably would have forced Natsu to eat either by yelling at him (Not their usual yelling) or literally forcing it in his mouth.

A day passed and the sun went down.

Lucy and Gray felt much better now because it was a lot less hot in the dessert without the sun.

Lucy flexed her muscles; she was kind of tired after walking for so long.

"You guys, I think we should rest for a bit, we're a long hour away from the train and we should rest for a bit before we keep going."

"I'm fine with that," Agreed Gray, he was standing behind Natsu.

But before he had been in front of him, actually Natsu had been in the very back behind Lucy as well but now he was in the front.

When Lucy had stopped for some reason he had not.

"Natsu?" Asked Lucy, but the fire mage kept on walking, unsteadily at that.

"Hey, fire head," Gray asked rudely "Are you even listening?"

Natsu turned around.

His skin looked red, hot and dry.

It was obvious he was having trouble standing, his eyes looked like they were in another place and his breathing was rapid as if he kept losing his breath.

"Wha…?"He asked, he couldn't even find a sentence.

Lucy and Gray both saw just from his face that he wasn't alright ,they both wanted to hit themselves for not seeing Natsu's condition ,whatever it was, before.

Lucy said her statement again "We're going to stay here and rest awhile."

Lucy took a good look at Natsu "Natsu, are you alright?"

"…." It took a moment for Natsu to respond, it was as if he had just heard her, 10 seconds after she said it.

"I…." Natsu took a deep breath in and then let it out

"I'm..." Another deep breath

"…fine"

It was then Natsu started swaying more, he looked confused as he finally lost his balance and fell forward.

Gray reacted instantly; he was already standing in front of the boy.

He easily caught Natsu in his arms.

If it was any other time and Gray had too catch Natsu he probably would have grabbed him in the most uncomfortable way he could think of to aggravate Natsu (Unless the situation was dangerous.)

But this wasn't any other time.

Gray took Natsu by the shoulders so he could see his face clearly.

Natsu's face was redder than before and Gray felt Natsu's skin literally burning hot when he grabbed his shoulders.

Natsu's eyes quietly shut but he was still breathing very rapidly.

"Natsu!" Lucy ran over as fast as she could.

Gray turned Natsu over so Natsu's back was to Gray but Natsu was still leaning against him.

Gray lightly and slowly dropped Natsu to the ground and laid him out flat except for his head which Gray supported.

"What's wrong with him?" Gray asked, even though it sounded more like a demand.

He would never admit it but he was very worried about Natsu, heck it's hard to worry about him with his reckless nature.

And it wasn't just that but Gray considered Natsu a younger brother even though he fought constantly with Natsu he always protected him in small ways.

He always made sure to ask Happy if he and Natsu had food in their house if Natsu showed signs of a sickness Gray would tell Erza so she would force him into bed and if anyone dared to use Natsu's naïveté against him then they would pay dearly.

"I think he's having a heat stroke!" Lucy said.

She was just as worried as Gray.

Natsu was the one who brought her to the guild and always had her back; he was like an older and little brother.

The only reason Lucy would consider older was because of Natsu's strength but putting that aside Lucy mostly thought of him as a younger brother.

Even though she didn't protect him physically she did protect him from woman who would easily use him.

It wasn't like she liked Natsu that way or anything she just didn't want him to get hurt, she knows how he takes betrayal.

If Lucy saw anyone she could trust, look at him like they liked him, she wouldn't interfere.

Unless she saw something she didn't like and then threatened to kill the girl if she came near her naïve little brother again.

"How could a fire mage have a heat stroke!" Gray yelled to no in particular.

"Gray, do you think you could freeze his body without killing him?" Lucy asked franticly.

"Yeah, of course! Why?" Neither of them knew why they were yelling in the dessert, probably because of the fear they felt seeing Natsu in danger like this.

"The only solution for heat stroke is to cool the person down!" Gray understood imminently and without anyone words he froze Natsu's body in a light coat of ice, only leaving out his face.

Lucy put a hand on Natsu's forehead and took a deep sigh.

"His body temperature is cooling down." Lucy's worried expression turned into one of relief as did Grays.

"Thank god," Gray said releasing a breath he was holding without realizing it.

"We should get back to the train station imminently and get him home, do you think you could carry him Gray?" Lucy asked, she refused to risk anything.

"Yeah," Gray said, he swiftly picked Natsu up bridal stile, careful not to break the ice cooling his body down.

Gray took a look at Natsu and said

"When he wakes up, I'm going to kill him." Lucy could only giggle but wouldn't interfere, she knew the reason wasn't because they had to go through so much trouble but more like for worrying them so much.

"How'd he get heat stroke anyway?" Gray asked, they had already started walking towards the trains' station.

"Now that I think about ,Natsu doesn't ever drink water does he?" Lucy asked, what seemed like randomly.

"Not any time I could think of," Answered Gray.

"Exactly, before when he wasn't sweating I thought it was because of Natsu's abilities but it wasn't. It's because he doesn't drink water, you need to drink water to sweat. The only way to stand heat like this is too drink lots of water and sweat, by putting moisture on the skin and letting it evaporate, your body can cool itself very effectively and keep its temperature in the proper range." Lucy explained.

"So, it is his own fault." Gray noted.

"Yeah," Lucy agreed but then noticed the look on Gray's face "Are you serious about attempting to kill him when he wakes up?"

"Of course not," Gray said with a serious tone within his voice "It's just I hate that he put himself in so much danger and I didn't stop him ….I bet he didn't even know."

"You didn't either," Lucy argued, not wanting Gray to start blaming himself.

"I should have forced that ice cube down his throat." Gray said thinking back to earlier that day. Lucy sighed, seeing she wasn't going to reach the ice mage.

The three arrived at the train station.

By that time the ice on Natsu had melted but he was still asleep, since he couldn't get hotter because the sun was gone, Gray didn't freeze his body again.

But Natsu was still passed out and Gray continued carrying him, even though he was on his back now.

When they got aboard the train Gray laid Natsu out on a seat.

"Gray, put your shirt under his head so if the train goes on a bump he doesn't hit his head." Lucy said in a very motherly like way.

"Are you actually asking me to strip when I haven't all day?" Gray asked, he was very proud of himself for his achievement.

"That was actually very strange, that you didn't strip even though you had a good excuse too anyway thanks." Lucy responded.

"For what," Gray asked.

"Taking off your shirt," It was then Gray noticed he unconsciously stripped.

Lucy would normally scream at him for it except she had asked him to do it.

Gray lifted up Natsu's head gently and put his shirt, which was in a ball, under it.

Lucy and Gray looked at the sleeping Natsu who looked very innocent and much more his age in his sleep.

Gray took another deep sigh and pushed the back of his head against his seat.

"If he does something like this again, I really will kill him." Gray said with not a trace of joke within his voice.

"He won't if I have anything to do about it," Lucy agreed.

They both took another loom at Natsu.

Lucy reached over and put a hand of Natsu's forehead.

"He really has cooled down because of your ice." Lucy stated, leaning back again.

"Hey!" Lucy had just realized "If he felt the symptoms coming why didn't he tell us?"

Gray couldn't help but chuckle at the thought.

"Natsu's not the kind of person who asks for help. Even if he needs it." Gray stated his eyes then sharpened "That's what worries me. I hate that he never asks for help and there might going to be a day when me, Erza, you or even Happy won't be there to help him. And then he'll be in for it." Gray said with true honesty and worry shining in his eyes.

Lucy nodded silently and the rest of the trip back to Magnolia was silent as well.

And that's it folks! I hope you leave me reviews! This is probaly a one-shot unless somone sends me a request for another one-shot about how Natsu ,Lucy and Gray are alike siblings!

ღ(｡◕‿Lana‿◕｡)ღ