TW: Alternate Universe, slavery, wingfic.
πτέρυγα
"He's here to accompany you. But if he does something bad, you'll have to punish him." The words were stated coldly and firmly, the tall person patting the strange pink hair of the young boy. Gray was also quite young but this was a new and odd situation. He didn't exactly understand why he was getting this boy as a companion. But, apparently, that was how things went on in his new life. Then again, he did remember Ultear and Lyon say something but it had been a long time ago and had totally escaped from his memory.
So.
A companion…
Hopefully it wouldn't be too bad…
Having a companion sucked.
Or maybe it was just the one who had landed with him that sucked.
His companion – Natsu, they'd called him – was a mess. He was stubborn, wild and just… a terrible headache. Because Gray had to be responsible for his messes.
And those were more than he ever expected, he'd realized after quite a while... and when there was no other choice, they did what was needed. They'd returned to the store and been made to buy a bunch of things, to "control" him, they'd said. To punish the wild thing.
Gray realized what he'd felt before. He didn't like the store. Or the clerks, with those mellifluous smiles and empty eyes.
And the punishment…
Gray wasn't so innocent as to not understand what this sort of punishment entailed.
It is bad. Gray thought to himself as he sat on his bed, after getting home, surrounded by several of the gadgets.
The blackness of the utensils – though the light did reflect off the metallic parts – was a sharp contrast against the light blue coverlet of his bed.
Gray was looking down, arms crossed and a frown on his face as Natsu entered the room. The pink-haired slave stopped, standing stock still as he took in the scene. Instinctively he took a step back but caught himself and aborted the motion, his lips becoming a stern line at the same time that his face paled. He curled his hands into tight fists.
"So that's what you're planning to do?" Natsu, the reckless thing, kind of had the habit of speaking more than was expected. That had earned him a good number of reprehensions. Gray didn't care much about it, for his companion seemed to still enjoy his vivacity. After having purchased his companion, he'd started taking notice and the companions of most people, the ones he'd seen at least, all seemed so lifeless.
As weird as it sounded, Gray felt like he had a friend of sorts in Natsu. Kind of…
The two of them got into a lot of trouble (and lately some of it had been together!) and a strange comradery had blossomed between them. Lyon mocked Gray for association so much with the plebes but… the slow complicity that grew between them felt right.
"Mother wants you to behave." Gray said in a toneless voice. "I'm to start punishing you whenever you step out of line. Which, considering it's you, won't take too long…" he finished his tirade with a sigh, eyes not rising to meet Natsu's.
"You're kidding, right? She said that?" Disbelief and rage made Natsu's voice waver. "I thought your family wasn't of that sort. Figures…" he ended with a snort.
"Oh, shut up! It's all your fault. Because of you we had to return to that store and they're the ones who instructed us." Gray stood up in a rage. He didn't notice the muffled noises the things made as they fell on the ground.
"I haven't been out of the loop for so long that I've forgotten how things are." Natsu shot back with a thinly veiled sarcastic voice. "I know very well what you people want from us, the aberrations. That's why we're treated like cattle."
"Wow, that's… that's really something…" Gray shot back, appaled.
"What, is the little prince locked so high up on his tower that he doesn't see how things really are?" Natsu snarked. "I can tell you that, despite all the stupid protections against slaves' magic, it won't last forever, little prince." The last words were said with such spite, Natsu had advanced to stand nearly nose-to-nose with Gray. He smirked and lifted one of his wrists, which sported the rough dark metal of his shackles.
"You will shut your mouth!" Gray replied, seething. "You don't know anything!" He punctuated his statement with a shove. He miscalculated and Natsu ended up slammed against the wall.
Natsu started laughing, an angry sound that suddenly shifted to pained noises. Natsu slid down the wall, crumbling into a heap before Gray.
"Shit! What happened!?" Gray yelled while looking around in panic. By the corner of his eye he noticed that Natsu had taken off the tunic. And it was only then that he saw that there was something strange happening on the other's back. "Natsu, answer me!"
But the other couldn't reply. He was gasping for air, pained noises the only thing that seemed to permeate the room.
But then two sharp bits started growing off his back. Tearing the skin.
And Natsu cried out in pain, as blood started sliding down his back.
A/N: Just a silly idea that I suddenly got. It's also pretty late so apologies for typos and weirdness...
The title is the Greek word for wing.