A/N: This was sort of what I'd envisioned happening when I first saw the episode with Gray's death. Then, Ultear cast Last Ages, and all was sunshine and daisies again. Sorry if Natsu seems slightly OOC, but we saw his reaction when Igneel, someone he hadn't seen for seven years died. Imagine how he would react if one of his closest friends died, especially since he'd never seen death before. (PS, this is NOT Gratsu. I like Natsu and Gray's friendship more than romance.)

Edit 9/27/18: Sorry for randomly updating this. I just went back and fix some spelling and punctuation errors. :)

Also, I know the summary doesn't show up in the mobile version of (something I'm very annoyed with), so for those of you who are reading this using the mobile version, here's the summary:

One minute. That was all it took. Ultear Milkovich fails to cast Last Ages, and the consequences are keenly felt by the Fairy Tail guild. Many guild members are badly injured, but all Natsu can think about is the fact that Gray was dead. Dead and gone. And he isn't sure how he can ever move on without his best friend and rival.

Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail. The world of Fairy Tail, its characters and the plot all belong to Hiro Mashima.

...

A Single Minute's Difference

...

Natsu stretched lazily, slightly sore from his battle with Future Rogue. He grinned, adrenaline from the fight still flooding his veins. The dragons and Future Rogue were now gone and his nakama were safe. Fairy Tail had prevailed yet again.

He decided to go find Lucy first. Not that she was weak or anything, but he was slightly worried about her, given that she'd seen her future self die right in front of her. He'd beat the stuffing out of Future Rogue for her, though, so there was that, at least.

He drew in the air, searching for his guildmates' scents, looking for the cherry blossom and vanilla that was Lucy's. The dragonlings they were fighting should be gone, so they should be recovering and wrapping up any wounds they might have received.

That was when he heard the crying.

Natsu hadn't heard it before, seeing as the battle he'd been wrapped in had blocked out all other sounds. The fact that he and Future Rogue had been hundreds of feet in the air on the back of a dragon hadn't helped matters either. A worm of unease coiled in his gut—that sounded like Juvia. Just what could have happened?

He hurriedly followed the sound of crying, hardly noticing the state Crocus was left in after the dragon's attack. He was too busy trying not to think about what it was he would find. It wasn't like anything bad had happened though—he was just being cautious. That's all. Natsu ignored the little voice in the back of his mind that wasn't in denial, and knew what had happened. Everything was fine; maybe Juvia was crying out of happiness because the battle was over. It sounded flimsy even in his head… deep down, he knew something was wrong.

Natsu barely noticed when it started raining as he closed in on the crying. (If Juvia was making it rain, though, something had to have happened, and if he didn't pay the rain any attention, maybe he could pretend nothing had happened.)

Natsu could smell that Lyon and Meredy were there with Juvia too. Gray was also there, but something was off about his scent. Natsu brushed it off; the ice block was strong (even if Natsu would never admit it out loud, nevermind to his rival's face). Gray was fine. He repeated it to himself and nodded. Yes, Gray was fine and as soon as he healed up from his battle with Rogue, Natsu was going to kick his ass and everything would be okay.

Natsu turned the corner and instantly froze at the sight that greeted him.

Juvia was kneeling beside someone who was lying on the ground, sobbing into their chest. Lyon was surreptitiously trying to wipe away the tears pooling in his eyes, but was failing miserably. His eyes skimmed the clearing, searching for the familiar raven hair of his rival. Where was Gray? (That couldn't be Gray on the ground, it couldn't because Gray was strong and wouldn't get hurt that easily. Hurt, not dead. Never dead.) Meredy was moving to sit next to Juvia, wrapping her arms around the water mage and pulling her into a hug; Juvia turned and cried into the pink-haired mage's shoulder. Natsu hadn't scented anyone else in the clearing, so, at last, his gaze dropped to the figure on the ground. He sucked in a sharp breath.

It was Gray.

Natsu was hardly aware he was moving, slowly inching his way to Gray's side as though the truth might change if he waited long enough. Because Gray couldn't be dead—he was just badly injured and Juvia was making a fuss out of nothing. That had to be it; the alternative was unthinkable.

If only.

Natsu found himself looking down at his friend's unmoving body. Distantly, he noted Meredy had pulled Juvia away, and Lyon had sunk down to lean heavily against the somewhat-destroyed wall.

He was struck by the wrongness of the sight that greeted him. Gray's skin was pale—too pale—and his eyes were closed. He looked peaceful, and, if it weren't for the fact that his chest didn't rise and fall, he almost, almost, looked like he was sleeping.

Nasu was grateful for Juvia's rain—it helped hide the tears that were no doubt streaming down his face.

He stood still, some part of him still unwilling to believe that Gray was actually dead. Natsu half-expected him to sit up with his usual smirk present on his face and laugh at how stupid they were being, crying over nothing.

He didn't turn away from his friend's body, but his next question was clearly directed at Lyon. "How?" he managed to choke out. Natsu wasn't even sure what he was asking. Luckily, Lyon seemed to understand.

"It was the dragonlings," the older mage said quietly, grief clearly evident in his voice. "A group of them climbed over the rise and Juvia, she got distracted. They shot at her. G-gray pushed her out of the way." His voice trembled at Gray's name.

Natsu choked back a sob. Of course the stupid Popsicle had died for someone else. He was always playing the hero. He nodded, throat too tight to speak. Some part of him wanted to be angry, but he knew it was just a part of who Gray was—the ice mage had always put others before himself.

Natsu wasn't sure how long he'd been staring at Gray's body in shock and disbelief, uncaring about who might see his tears. He was snapped out of his daze by the sound of Lucy's voice. "—atsu. Natsu! Where are you?" From the sound of it, she was just around the corner.

"Here," he croaked, voice hoarse from crying.

Lucy rounded the corner, face breaking into a smile as she saw him. "There you are!" she exclaimed. "We've been looking all over for you. What—" she cut herself off as she finally took in the sight before her. Natsu supposed he looked like a mess right now. His eyes were red and puffy from crying; the rain had stopped when Juvia had left, so the tears stains stood out clearly among his cheeks.

Lucy's eyes moved to the unresponsive Lyon in the corner, and then to the body on the ground. "Oh no," she breathed, hands coming up to cover her mouth. "No," she whispered again. Natsu knew he should probably go and comfort her, but he couldn't even summon the energy to move from his position.

He felt empty and numb now, as opposed to the shock from earlier. The exhilaration from beating Future Rogue was long-gone, and he suddenly just felt really, really tired. Sleep sounded like a good idea right now—maybe when he woke up, this would all be a dream and Gray would still be alive.

Later, Natsu found himself staring up at the ceiling of the inn they were staying at. He hardly remembered carrying Gray's body back to the others, but he could vividly recall the looks of stunned shock and grief on his guildmates' faces when they'd seen him, and the body he carried. He hardly remembered taking a shell-shocked Lucy by the hand and gently pulling her to see Porlyusica. Afterwards, he dragged himself to bed, not even bothering to take a shower or change out of his torn clothes.

Instead, he stared at the ceiling, desperately trying not to think of Gray, lying there too-pale and quiet and dead. Gray was gone, forever. Natsu squeezed his eyes shut tightly. He didn't want to think about it anymore. Before, he'd always faced his problems head-on, but death was the one enemy he couldn't fight. Let it be known that Natsu Dragneel was not a coward, but now, all he wanted to do was close his eyes and pretend none of it had ever happened. For the first time in his life, he was running away.

He was just so tired, and he wanted to run away from reality, even if it was only into his dreams. He waited, desperately, for sleep to claim him.

Natsu knew he would have to deal with the aftermath, the grief and pain and guilt later. He would have to face reality, figure out how to live in a future without his best friend and rival, learn to piece his life back together when he woke up.

But, for now, he just wanted to escape.

A/N: So um, yeah. This is the first Angst fic I've ever written, not to mention my first Fairy Tail fanfic. It also happens to be the first oneshot I ever wrote, since I happen to prefer multi-chapters.

Funny thing is, I actually ended up writing this in the middle of math class. :P Sorry if it seems kinda rushed.

Please leave a review and let me know what you think!

~Silver Snowblossom