As promised, this is the sequel to the first "I Couldn't Be Strong" that featured Wendy. This one will feature Natsu. I hope you all enjoy!
When Team Natsu + Gajeel travels to Edolas to free their captured friends, Natsu and Wendy are captured in order to power the dreaded Dragon Chain Cannon. But what if they never actually survived the magic draining?
I Couldn't Stay Strong (Natsu Version)
Chapter 1: Natsu
NATSU POV
"Leave her alone!"
I was doing nothing else but yelling. There wasn't anything else to do. I was completely useless right now. The king of Edolas has ordered the capture of Wendy and myself. For what reason exactly, I don't know. But they seem to want something to do with our magic, something about us being incredibly powerful.
But since we've been captured, one of the king's servants has been using this machine on us. I didn't know what it did before it was used, but the moment it was used on me, it hurt. Bad. It felt like something was being forcibly pulled out through every pore of my skin. It was only after one round of the torture device that I realized that I had even less magic and strength. The machine somehow was taking away my magic power and that wasn't good. No magic power means no strength and if a mage was forced to give more magic power than they had, they were set to die within minutes without medical attention by Porlyusica or somebody like her.
Just as I was recovering from the first round of the machine, I heard a high pitched scream from my left.
NO! WENDY!
I let out a roar and screamed out, "No! Leave her alone!" I pulled at my bindings in growing desperation. Wendy was younger than me and didn't have the same amount of magic power to give. If she was treated the same way I was, she would never make it!
The man using the machine simply grinned maliciously and turned the machine back on me, my yells of pain echoing off of the cavern walls.
I don't know how long Wendy and I were down here, being tortured. It could have been hours or days for all I knew. After the latest round of torture, I was left breathing heavily, gasping for air. I was on my last leg of magic. I hadn't felt this drained of magic since the time I fought Laxus during the Battle of Fairy Tail, or the first time I fought Gajeel. I could hear Wendy off to the side coughing. She asked me, her small voice cracking, "Natsu, are you okay?"
Gulping up a breath of air, I calmed myself and replied, "Yeah," before turning towards her. Inwardly, I gasped at her condition. While I did feel weak and on the verge of unconsciousness, she had fared far worse. It appeared as though she was struggling to simply lift her head, dark bags under her usually vibrant and expressive eyes. She couldn't take much more of this. She'd die, and I would never forgive myself. I continued speaking after noticing that her expression was going blank, "No matter what they do to us, you can't let them get the best of us, you got that? I know we're going to make it through this. Don't you dare give up hope!"
A weak smile appeared on her face and she gasped out, her voice cracking with strain, "Yeah. I'm sure our friends will come to help us at any minute now." It was all I could do to keep my expression from showing panic at her words. As much as I did have faith in my friends, right now, nobody else knows that we were down here. Just thinking about Happy and Lucy made my heart ache. As far as I knew, no one else was coming, at least not anytime soon. Still, I kept a strong face for Wendy. I wouldn't let her lose hope, and I definitely wouldn't let her die here. Not while I could still breathe.
The man started cackling and said coolly, "So neither of you are willing to face reality and realize when you've been beaten. Is this fool headedness another part of what makes a dragon slayer?" With those words, he began to siphon more magic away from me. The pain that wracked my body caused me to involuntarily roar, screaming with all of my remaining strength. My eyes shut tightly and I couldn't open them again. My muscles and mind were solely focused on the pain.
Even over my yells, I could hear the piercing scream of Wendy, "Natsu NO!"
I gritted my teeth. I wouldn't let her get hurt. I wouldn't let her lose hope. Through the pain, I was able to shout to her, "Listen to me! You have to stay strong! You can't let them break your spirit Wendy!"
She began to sob, and I could smell her tears as she replied, "I promise I won't."
Just then, the pain disappeared and I was left gasping for air. The man growled low, causing my hair to stick on end, "This sounds like a challenge to me." With that, he turned the machine away from me and prepared to focus it purely on Wendy.
I pulled at my restraints in desperation, "No! Take everything from me! JUST LEAVE HER ALONE!" I wouldn't fail. If Wendy died, I couldn't live with myself. An image flashed in my memory of Igneel, the last day that I ever saw him. I needed to help Wendy find her dragon mother Grandeeney. I would make sure she would fulfill her task! If that meant that I had to die here in order to protect her…
So be it.
The man smirked before turning the machine towards me once more, completely zeroed in on me. I immediately began to scream as pain washed over me, stronger than any before. Distantly I could hear Wendy screaming my name, begging the man to stop hurting me. But this pain was eternal. I had a feeling that this was the end. I was surprised at how relaxed I felt at the idea of death. As long as I protected Wendy, nothing else mattered.
The pain began to fade away, but with it went the feeling inside of my body. I couldn't move my muscles. The last thing I heard was Wendy's crying and my screaming. Then I couldn't hear. Please don't cry...Wendy… I don't know if I was screaming anymore, but just as I was about to be unable to sense anything again, a bright flash of light burst from under my eyelids and I found myself standing within the middle of an open golden field.
What the…? Where am I? It was so peaceful here. There was hardly any sound, and all that I could see around me was yellow grass. Just then, another flash appeared just in front of me, revealing something that looked like a mirror. But I couldn't see my reflection. Instead, I could see a big cavernous room, with two people strung up by chains in the middle of it. Immediately, I recognized it as myself and Wendy. As I was watching, I noticed that the man had left, seemingly done with using Wendy and myself as batteries and all I could see and hear was Wendy's crying.
Is this some kind of window to the people that still live? I punched against it and noticed that a red haze appeared around the frame. Just then, Wendy seemed to look directly at the mirror, and a very small flame appeared at the tip of one of my limp fingers. Before I could even react, she passed out against the rock frame.
I could somehow see back in the world of the living, and have minor influences on the environment. I didn't completely understand it, but at the very least, I knew that I could watch over my friends and the guild from now on.
Until the very end.
So thus begins the Natsu version of "I Couldn't Be Strong." I did that last little bit based off of the golden grasslands in the Grand Magic Games/Dragon King Festival arc and that was because I wanted to show that Natsu, as well as Wendy in the previous story, could see from "heaven" down to their friends and why the wind seemed to react to what people were saying or doing in the previous story.
Anyways, I hope you enjoyed and the next chapter will feature Wendy.