Yo! Wasup Fanfic readers?!

Kjblau here bringing you my own little story I hope you all enjoy!

I urge you guys to review, fav, and/or follow. If you have any questions or pointers, feel free to message me. I will always do my best to respond as soon as I can.

Now, let's get fired up!

Revisions - 1/9/17

Disclaimer: I do not own anything concerning Fairy Tail… It all belongs to Mashima.

A Slayer's Pride

Chapter 1: Hope through Pain!

The sun began to rise over the horizon, coating the overgrown landscape in a warm light. The lush forest was dense and very lively with the wildlife rising in time for the morning dew. Another day had begun in the grand country of Fiore.

Though it was a beautiful morning, it was far from peaceful. For the explosions that shook the very foundations of the forest were quite unnerving.

In a clearing far within the trees, an epic battle of power was taking place. Two figures clashing back and forth at incredible speeds with raw power between each strike. Chaotic shockwaves being sent out every other second without hesitation. Extreme heat was emitted through the entire forest that risked the region to erupt into a raging inferno.

Although the flames seemed to be controlled and didn't harm any of the foliage that it surrounded. The source was one of the figures in the battle. He seemed to be controlling the fire itself.

He was of somewhat average height. His skin portrayed of a light tan. His body was very well tuned, and muscular. His composure between each strike was lean and strong. His eyes were onyx and were lit with overwhelming determination. To top it all off, his hair was pinkish-rose color.

His attire was composed of a black waistcoat, with gold colored trimmings. It was untucked and left open, revealing his bare chest. On his left wrist he wore a thick black wristband. His trousers were white and they only went as far as his knees. The sandals on his feet were black, and he topped of his wardrobe with a scale-patterned scarf wrapped around his scarf.

Wave after wave of crash magic was sent in his direction, but he would simply ignite his flames that were wrapped around his limbs to dodge these attacks. In doing so the trees near him were reduced to dozens of cubes of what they once were. The pink haired mage could only smirk as he effortlessly avoided the same fate. Though he was somewhat tired and drained, attacks like this meant nothing to him.

Than all of a sudden the waves stopped, and he advanced on his opponent to take this opportunity to strike.

"FIRE DRAGON'S IRON FIST!," he shouted as he engulfed his fist in flames and charged his opponent.

The attack reached its target and sent the figure flying toward the trees, uprooting most of them trying to keep his balance. He had kept both feet to the ground as this happened, leaving large drag marks in the mud. After this the man stood there for a moment trying to regain his bearings after being dealt a powerful blow. Once he felt centered, he stood straight, feeling the fatigue get to him, he collapsed to one knee.

The man chuckled than looked over to his opponent, who looked as if he was ready to fall himself, but not before flashing a toothy grin at him, proud for the blow he had dealt.

"Alright, Natsu, let's just stop now before we level the entire forest," said Gildarts with a small smile.

Natsu could only cheer "HAHA! I knew I would beat you down," he shouted before jumping in joy with his fists raised in the air.

"Don't go getting cocky! I only stopped so we wouldn't destroy too much!" Gildarts retorted. It was half the truth. He didn't want to obliterate the forest with them going all out. But in truth he knew Natsu had the upper hand, and he hated getting beat.

"Than what was that I saw, with you falling to your knee," Natsu pointed out. "Looked to me I had ya there," Natsu proclaimed with a wide grin.

"Aye!" inquired a familiar blue cat. "I saw the whole thing, and I was surprised Natsu could even hit you."

"Oi! What's that supposed to mean!" screamed Natsu.

"It means that you haven't gotten me any fish yet!" Happy replied.

"What does that have to do with this?" shouted Natsu. "Everything, fish is life!" Happy retorted.

"Ugh, will you two shut up already."

Gildarts had finally rose to his feet and walked to Natsu and Happy. He was getting tired of hearing the same kind of arguments from the two over and over again. He have had to deal with this for two years.

TWO YEARS AGO

"Alright old man, I'm going on that SSS class mission that I grabbed," Gildarts said to the master of Fairy Tail, Master Makarov.

"You sure? You may be our ace and one of the most powerful mages I've met, but do you truly think you can take this on?" Makarov asked as he was concerned for the wellbeing of one of his children.

"Of course, I always love the challenge, and there's nothing more challenging than a hundred years job." Gildarts said with a smirk.

Makarov simply sighed at his response "Alright, if tha-"

"Gildarts! Fight me!" Shouted a younger looking Natsu as he jumped into the air and did and mid-air dive toward Gildarts.

"Not now Natsu," Said Gildarts wearily.

"Too late!" Shouted Natsu as he lit his fists on fire as he was coming into Gildarts' proximity.

"FIRE DRAGON'S I-?!" Natsu never got to finish as Gildarts just flicked his forearm back knocking Natsu toward the ceiling. As he hit the ceiling cracks formed as he sat there for a second until he fell to the ground.

"Cheap….shot..." Natsu said weakly as his face was smudged against the ground.

"Nope you're just Natsu" said Happy.

"You'd think flame-brain would have learned by now, not to attack someone clearly stronger than you." Said a certain ice mage as he flung his shirt across the room.

"And you'd think you learned to control your stripping by now" Cana pointed out as she placed her mug down on the counter.

"AHH! Oh, come on!" Gray exclaimed as he looked down to see just his trousers on.

"Come on Gray get your act together" Mira said as she stepped up to the counter. She then whipped her head to the beaten Natsu as her ponytail flew around. "And Natsu you should just give it up already, it's not like your gonna win."

"Oh come on nee-Chan," pleaded Lisanna to Mira. "Give Natsu-kun a break"

"Oh, gomen, was I mean to your pour Natsu-kun, Lisanna?" Mira teased before she giggled.

"Nee-Chan, it's not manly to pick on one's siblings," inquired a lean Elfman in all his manliness. Though that was short lived as he looked to his older sister.

"So… Elfman you want some too." Mira said with a dark aura surrounding her.

"No, nee-Chan, I didn't mean anything by it," Elfman said as he retreated to a corner in fear.

"Mira your being way too harsh with everyone," said a red-headed beauty before approaching the counter. "You need to treat you brother and sister with more care, rather than putting them down."

"Oh, really tin can, is that coming from your all-knowing wisdom," Mira said as she came to butting heads with Erza. "Should we all just start getting mushy with each other than, as we're all a family huh" she taunted as she pressed against Erza.

"It would be better than having to deal with you and your ugly face," Erza said initiating a brawl between the two mages. They started to really get riled up as others began joining in to the fight.

"Oi! Stripper, heads up!" shouted Natsu as he punched Gray behind the head.

"Ow! You idiot!" Gray shouted as he and Natsu really got into it. Now a true Fairy Tail brawl had begun.

Makarov sighed "it never ends does it?" he asked rhetorically.

"Nope, and hopefully, it never will." Gildarts said as he started to leave.

As Gildarts left, Natsu snuck away from the brawl and watched Gildarts leave.

"Hey Natsu, what's wrong, you never skip out when everyone's fighting?" Happy asked his foster father.

"Actually Happy, I've got an idea. Whad'ya say to a game of…" Natsu paused before he pulled his scarf over his nose and put his hands together and pointed both of his index fingers up. "NINJA!"

"Aye Sir!" Happy replied as he imitated Natsu's hands and widened his eyes, as well as gritted his teeth. "NINJA!"

LATER

Gildarts was walking on a dirt road a few miles away from Magnolia. He always seemed to walk to where his mission took place, it gave him a good chance to stay loose and always be vigilant. For example, had noticed a few miles back that he was being followed.

"Alright since we're far enough from any cities, you wanna tell me why you're following me?" Gildarts said aloud, letting him know his stalker was caught. All of a sudden a figure jumped out of a tree and went straight for Gildarts. But as quickly did he leave the tree did he find himself in a small crater that his body created from being hit by Gildarts. Gildarts than finally noticed the pink hair.

"Natsu?" Gildarts said with a questionable look.

"Yup, and Happy too," Natsu groaned.

"Aye Sir!"

"What are you two doing here?" Gildarts asked.

"We followed you so you could take us on your mission with you," Natsu said with a grin.

"WHAT?! No way! This is too dangerous for you," Gildarts shouted.

"Oh, come on, it'll be fun, you could help me get stronger."

"I said no Natsu," Gildarts said with a more tense tone.

"Please Gildarts, if I stick with you, I know I can get a lot stronger than ever before.

Gildarts was about to say no once again. But then he started to think. 'Would it be such a bad thing if wanted to get stronger, best thing for a person is experience. Doesn't mean I'll hold back for him, but-'Gildarts than let out a sigh.

"Alright," Gildarts finally said. "You can come."

Natsu could only sit there for a second as he registered Gildarts' words. Than he started to jump in joy.

"WOOHOO! We get to go with Gildarts, right Happy?"

"Aye Sir!" Happy shouted.

"Alright, calm down," Gildarts said. "Now if you're going to go with me than you always to need to stay close, and listen to what I tell you, got it?

Both Natsu and Happy nodded with giant grins on their faces.

"Alright than, let's go." Gildarts said before he thought, 'the old man's gonna kill me'.

And with that the trio headed off into the direction that Gildarts was taking to begin with. Though it would seem harmless at the time, Gildarts would see how this simple act of acceptance would change Natsu forever.

ONE WEEK LATER

The guild hall was full of its members, but didn't seem to be as lively as they usually were. The reason behind was that no had seen their beloved pink-haired dragon slayer in a week. They were all beginning to get worried.

"All right this is ridiculous," Gray said as he stood up from his seat. "It's been a week and match stick still hasn't even come to the guild."

"I am also curious as to why Natsu would all of a sudden just not be at the guild, he always seems to be here unless on a job" Erza inquired.

"It's really not like Natsu just to take off without anyone knowing" Lisanna said worryingly.

"It's not manly to make your friends worry!" exclaimed Elfman.

"Hey Gramps, do you know if Natsu's on a job?" Gray asked Makarov.

"Not that I'm aware of, no" Makarov stated.

This made everyone in the guild suspicious of what Natsu is up to that is keeping him from coming into the guild

"I'll just head over to his house to see if he's alright," Lisanna said before she ran out of the guild toward Natsu and Happy's home.

Once she got to the small cottage that lay out in the forests of Magnolia, she walked to the door. She began to knock on it. "Natsu? Happy? You home?"

There was no response. Lisanna than slowly opened the unlocked door, and walked in. "Natsu? Happy?" She looked over the living room which she had entered to see an empty couch, and a cold fireplace. She then proceeded to Natsu's bedroom. She slowly opened his door. "Natsu?" When she looked into the room she saw Natsu and Happy's hammocks. As she got closer she noticed a letter on the nightstand.

Once she got to it she reached down to grab it. She then examined it from front to back. All that was on the envelope was a single label "Gramps". Lisanna then proceeded to leave the cottage and head back to the guild.

After she entered she approached Makarov with the envelope. "Well?" he asked. "When I got to their home it was completely empty. It looked as if no one had been there in a while. Then once I entered their room I found this on the nightstand." She told him as she handed him the letter.

"Hmm?" Makarov took the envelope from her and looked it over. Then he proceeded to open it and read the letter within. As he read farther in, he only started to get paler and paler. Than when he stopped reading, he dropped the letter.

"Oh, sweet Mavis" he said in complete shock.

"Master?" Erza had walked up to see what this letter was. She grabbed the letter from the floor and then started to read it. As she read more, all she could feel was a combination of worry and anger. After finishing she threw the letter away, while trying to fight back tears.

"THAT IDIOT!"

Everyone saw this and was curious what was in this letter that Natsu had wrote. After Lisanna had read it, she couldn't help but cry her eyes out at what had been revealed to her. She than began to mutter "Why?!" over and over again. This was a dark day for Fairy Tail.

PRESENT

Gildarts could only groan as he thought what would happen when they got back to the guild. Which would be soon as Gildarts had lost the job description which was quite a complex one to remember. So he just gave up on it after all they had been through. Through all these two years he trained Natsu to become very strong. At the beginning Natsu was acting childish and not taking training serious. But after a certain event they had while on their journey, Natsu became a lot more mature and disciplined when he worked with Gildarts.

"And Natsu, you only got me cause I still had to work these in," Gildarts said as he pulled up his tattered and now seared cape to reveal his left leg and arm. Showing that they were only mere prosthetics.

Natsu grimaced as he remembered what they had gone through for Gildarts to get those. He was reminded of their encounter with Acnologia. Gildarts had received those amputations trying to protect Natsu, who had blindly charged the dragon, thinking that since he was dragon slayer, he would actually have stood a change. But he was wrong. Wrong in so many ways, his pride and arrogance were the cause of his mentor's handicap.

Natsu could only shake as he remembered the horror that he had to live through as he almost watched Gildarts die because of him.

TWO YEARS AGO

Gildarts was sweating and panting as he looked up to the large beast before him.

Acnologia stood at a colossal height. His entire upper body covered in black, round, scales, which, in turn, were decorated by spiraling, blue markings. His lower body, specifically his belly, inner, tail, and legs, were gray in color, and appeared rather smooth. His eyes were white and beady, and his head was round and blunt, with four, large, elongated plates extending backward. His mouth full of razor sharp teeth. His large wings were feathery, and were like those of a birds, with a similar pattern as his scales.

"Oi! You! Do you know where I can find Igneel!" shouted Natsu as he was standing in the presence of the Dragon of the Apocalypse.

The dragon didn't even acknowledge him. All Acnologia did was roar, and when he did it let out a pain staking shriek. Not only did this affect the ears, but it was so powerful that it tore across the landscape, tearing down anything in its path.

"Oh, don't feel like talking do ya. Fine I'll just beat it out of ya!" Natsu yelled as he set his fists aflame.

"Natsu! We need to get away from here we don't stand a chance against him!" Shouted Gildarts.

"Huh?! What are you talking about Gildarts? Come on I can totally beat him. If I can't, than what's the point of being a dragon slayer?!" shouted Natsu.

"NO! Natsu! Stop!" but all Natsu did was ignore the warning. Natsu than started to fill up his stomach and it grew out to and unusual size as he leaned back. Then he placed his hands right outside his mouth in a grasping motion.

"FIRE DRAGON'S ROAR!," Natsu yelled as he let out at jet of flames from his mouth that were sent straight for Acnologia. The flames inflicted onto to the wing of the large dragon, engulfing it in flames.

Natsu just stood there and smirked as he watched the fire. But than his eyes widened as he watched what happened next. When the flames dispersed it looked as if they did not do any harm at all to the monstrous beast. But this had finally gotten the dragon's attention as he looked over to where the attack had originated. He simply turned toward the dragon slayer and bent down to where one of his eyes were leveled to Natsu's position.

Natsu just stood there in fear, for he had never seen anyone or anything just shrug off one of his most powerful attacks. Acnologia just sat there for a moment before raising back up to his regular posture.

"NATSU! COME ON!" Gildarts shouted as he tried to reach Natsu.

Natsu just stood there as Acnologia raised his claws as he was ready to swipe the pathetic bug that had irritated him. Once he got them upright he swung down in an arc that was targeted straight for the shivering Natsu.

"NNNAAAATTTSSSUUUU!"

Gildarts screamed right before he got to him, knocking Natsu out of his stupor too late. All Gildarts could do was push him out of the way before dust flew everywhere as Acnologia's attack hit. Everything had gone dark.

Then Acnologia retracted his claws. He looked at the dust cloud intently, then accepted that the pests that badgered him were taken care of. He then spread his wings and took off into the air to fly elsewhere to cause destruction.

When the dust cloud settled, two figures lay on the ground by the lone cliff left by Acnologia. Natsu, who had finally realized what had happened, stood up and looked around to survey to destruction around him. Then as his hearing slowly returned he could hear a familiar voice.

"Natsu! Natsu!" Happy shouted looking for his best friend.

"…Happy" he said weakly, but loud enough for Happy to hear him. Happy than looked to where he heard his best friend and saw him standing there unharmed. He couldn't help but go into tears as he flew straight at Natsu and hugged him.

"N-N-Natsu!" he cried and cried into Natsu's chest "I-I-I t-thought y-y-you were d-d-dead after that big d-dragon attacked you."

Natsu looked at him reassuringly. "It's alright pal, I'm fine," Natsu told Happy as he petted his head.

"B-but what about Gildarts," Happy asked with tears still in his eyes.

Natsu's eyes than shot up widened in fear. He remembered that Gildarts threw Natsu right out of the way as Acnologia attacked. He didn't see him get out of the way though. He then proceeded to look around rapidly, looking for Gildarts.

"Gildarts!" Natsu shouted. "Gildarts!"

At first there was no response. Then, as Natsu turned around he saw and body lying down with his right arm barely off the ground waving. This somewhat relieved Natsu as he walked toward the figure.

"…..N-N-at…su" a very weak voice is what Natsu heard as he began his approach toward the fallen man. He then started to run to him as he recognized the voice.

"Gildarts! Gildarts!" he shouted with slight tears in his eyes as he got closer to him. "Thank Kami, I almost thought you wer—"Natsu stopped what he was about to say as he got right next to Gildarts. What he looked down to see made his eyes and his body shudder in complete horror. It almost put Natsu into shock at what he was seeing.

He looked down to see Gildarts in a large pool of his own blood. His left arm was ripped clean off, as well as his left leg. His abdomen was open with a large tear as blood pooled out of hit. His mouth and chin were covered in blood as it almost looked like he was going to choke on it. Natsu kneeled down, tears endlessly running down his face as he was watching his mentor, his best friend, his guild mate, and his brother, die right in front of him.

"N-N-atsu, I'm g-gonna need y-your h-help," Gildarts said as he spit the blood out of his mouth and somewhat smiled at Natsu.

Natsu could only stare with his teary eyes before he finally was able to stutter. "W-what can I do?"

"F-first, g-get h-h-help." Gildarts replied to him very weakly.

Natsu took a moment to register this, then he looked to find Happy who was behind him. "HAPPY! GO FIND HELP! QUICKLY!" He shouted with everything he could. Happy was still in shock at seeing Gildarts, that it took a minute for Natsu's words to reach him. Once he understood he sprouted his wings and quick flew off to find help.

Natsu then turned his attention back to a dying Gildarts. Gildarts than said something that shocked Natsu even more. "N-n-ow Natsu, I-I ne-ed y-y-ou to c-close my wounds-s." Gildarts said.

When Natsu heard this he thought for a second, 'close his wounds? How? I don't have any bandages with me, and I don't see our bags with our med-kits anywhere. How does he expect me t—' Natsu then stopped and looked down at Gildarts with wide eyes. "Y-y-you mean-?"

"Y-y-es" Gildarts wearily said as he nodded.

Natsu's mind then began to panic even more. He knew what Gildarts meant, but if he went through any more pain he could die. Natsu did not want the pain he inflicted to be the thing that kills him. But then he thought of how Gildarts got like this in the first place. How his friend was in front of him dying now. He was going to die because of Natsu's arrogance, his own selfish pride, Gildarts was the way he was. His friend had to pay the price for his foolishness. This was all going through Natsu's mind as he looked at the broken man before him. He then realized, that no matter what happened, he would have been Gildarts' killer. He would be dead by his hands. Either way it would all be Natsu's fault.

So then Natsu moved over to Gildarts' left side. He then looked down at the ungodly wounds that were afflicted to Gildarts. He began to place extreme heat in his hands. As he hovered his hands slowly over his friend's gashed abdomen, he wearily looked down at his face for confirmation. Gildarts looked at Natsu through his bloodied eyes, and nodded slowly as to say he was ready for what was to come next.

Natsu then pressed his heated hands down onto the dying man. As they made contact, Natsu could no longer hold back on any of his tears as he heard Gildarts shriek in complete and utter pain. His thoughts running a mile a minute as he was looking down at his hands, and trying not to look at Gildarts' face. He knew if he did it would just make him panic and stop. But he had to be strong and do this, for his friend, for the man he made suffer.

It took about a minute for the wound to completely cauterize, but for Natsu it felt like he had been inflicting it for an eternity. Natsu's face was covered in nothing but dirt, sweat, and tears as he started to look down to the two other wounds that he had left to 'care for'. As if that was to be a reassuring thing to think for what it actually was.

Natsu then heated his hands once again and moved to where Gildarts' left arm once was. He slowly hovered his hands over it like the abdomen, not placing them on the stump yet. Looking to Gildarts' face, he was partially hoping he wouldn't get the same confirmation again. But of course, that is not how it went, Natsu placed his down on the grotesque amputation, and let his tears flow once again.

Hell. That was the only word for what Natsu was living now. He could be dealt so much pain, endure so much suffering, just so he could protect a friend, and he could do it all with a smile on his face. But to inflict that pain, to give out that suffering, not just to anyone, but a close friend, that was something Natsu would never want to happen. Yet here it was happening, like a nightmare that you could never wake from. This was real, and this was Hell.

The stump had now become fully cauterized. As Natsu released his hands from where they were, his stomach collapsed. Natsu then turned the other way to vomit out what he was holding back, this horror was something that no human can see and stay balanced.

Now Natsu was moving toward his last objective, the stump of Gildarts' left leg. He had lost so much blood already, if Natsu did not do this now he would die. Natsu could not bring himself to even look toward Gildarts for confirmation this time. He knew he had to act quickly or it would have all been for nothing. He quickly heated his bloodied hands for the last time, then placed them right onto the stump.

Despair. That was the only feeling that Natsu had at the moment. All hope had died within him as he first laid eyes on Gildarts and his body. This foreign feeling, this feeling of being cold inside, Natsu was disgusted by it, he hated it. In the past, he would always see the smiling faces of his friends and family. That is what kept his hope going that is what kept the hot fire within him burning. But it was snuffed out quickly by just one look at the painful face of one of his closest friends.

It was done. The stump on the leg cauterized. Natsu lifted his hands slowly, then placed them to his sides. He looked up to see Gildarts with his eyes closed. The only confirmation of life was his chest rising and falling, very lightly. Blood was all around them. Natsu could only look toward the sky as he tried to escape the sight of blood. He then slowly started to fade out of consciousness from the relief of the horror finally being over. The next thing he knew everything went black.

Next Morning

Natsu slowly opened his eyes, he then looked around to find himself in a room. He was lying on a bed and did not understand why. Once he sat up and took and good look around the room, he caught a glimpse of a familiar blue cat curled into a ball at the end of his bed. He then slightly nudged his feet in and attempt to wake Happy.

"No, no, Mr. Bass, I would love to eat you," Happy grumbled out while in his sleep.

"Oi! Happy, wake up!" Natsu lightly yelled.

After that Happy then shot his eyes wide open to see his best friend sitting up and slightly smiling at him. He then got tears into his eyes, and flew straight into Natsu's chest.

"Oh, Natsu, I thought you were hurt, when I came back with help you weren't awake and Gildarts had been all burned up!" Happy cried

Natsu's eyes widened as he recalled last night's horrid events. His thoughts then went to Gildarts.

"Happy, is Gildarts okay?" he questioned the cat.

"I don't know, after we had brought you guys here, I came here to stay with you until you would wake up. They took Gildarts to another wing in hospital because they said he was in critical condition." Happy said as his tears started to fall again.

"Well then I guess we should go check on him, right pal?" Natsu asked with a weak smile.

"…Aye sir," Happy said sadly.

Just as they agreed to leave the room, a man in a white trench coat walked in. He looked middle aged with brown hair that was slicked back. He wore glasses and was eyeing a clip board before he looked up at Natsu.

"Ah, you're awake," he said as he shut the door behind him. He then walked near the bed Natsu was in and pulled up a stool to sit in while he examined Natsu.

"How are you feeling," he asked while taking a look at Natsu.

"Uh, fine I guess," Natsu replied.

"That's good, you must of just been dealing with much mental trauma from what you saw." The doctor said.

"Alright I'm fine, but what about my friend, the older guy you guys brought along with me?" Natsu asked while scolding the doctor.

The doctor then sighed. "Your friend was rushed to intensive care as soon as he was brought in. It was bad, but if you hadn't done what you did with those amputations then he would no longer be with us." The doctor replied. This let Natsu take a small sense of relief.

"However…" the doctor started before his voice trailed off.

"What?" Natsu asked with a sudden creeping of fear being brought back to him.

"As you saw there is not one, but three problems that man will have to deal with for the rest of his life. One is the organs that were harmed when his abdomen was torn open, those will cause him constant ache. The other problems are his missing limbs."

Natsu only looked down at his lap with his hair covering his eyes not showing the tears threatening to break through.

"Natsu…" Happy said as he looked up at him.

"There is still a way to help him though" the doctor said. This made Natsu look up in surprise.

"How?" he asked quickly.

"He could get prosthetics." The doctor answered.

All Natsu could was stare at the doctor blankly. 'what the hell?! What the hell is a prothitic' Natsu thought as he just continued to stare dully at the doctor.

"You'll have to explain it to him, he's kinda stupid." Happy said to the doctor as he pointed at Natsu.

"I see…" the doctor said sheepishly. "A prosthetic is an artificial limb, whether it be an arm or a leg, to put it bluntly, it's a fake that replaces the real one, but it can be used the same as the original. Though it would take time for him to get the proper therapy in order to use them correctly."

"Hmm…" Natsu sat there for a while before looking back up at the doctor. "Can I see him?"

"Of course, he should be awake by now. He spent all night in surgery though, so try not to place too much stress on him."

Natsu nodded as he followed the doctor out of his and into the hall. They walked for a while until they had reached another section of the hospital. Then when they showed up at his room's door, the doctor simply motioned the two in as he left them all alone.

Gildarts could barely raise his head to see who had come into his room. His vision was still blurry from the meds the doctors had given to him after surgery. But he knew exactly who it was when he got a sense of pink from a single glance.

"Yo," He calmly said as he waved with his right hand, that made him grimace a bit in pain.

"How are you feeling?" Natsu asked him quietly.

"Alright, for now I guess," Gildarts replied. "Does kinda suck though, I'm gonna miss that ol' arm and leg."

Natsu quickly looked the ground with his eyes being shadowed by his hair. "I'm so sorry, Gildarts." He said gingerly.

Gildarts looked up. "What for?" he asked.

Natsu than gritted his teeth before answering. "For what happened to you, for why you're laying here right here and now with no arm and no leg. If I hadn't been so arrogant, I hadn't been so—."

"Natsu… urusai," Gildarts interrupted.

Natsu only looked up with shock in his eyes. "What?"

"You think I don't know why I'm here? It's not because you were arrogant, it's especially not because you were weak." Gildarts said as he guessed the next thing out of his mouth. "I'm here because I was protecting a friend, I put myself in this situation so someone I cared about wouldn't have foolishly lose their life for no damn reason. I knew I might come out with a few scratches, but so what? I protected someone close to me and that's all that matters." Gildarts said as he stared straight at a teary eyed Natsu.

"Who cares if I have to go through a little pain just to live the rest of my life? A life is only as good as the people that are in it. I can't afford to have someone from this life be taken away when I could've done something about it. Don't little yourself thinking that you ruined my life, rather look at this as a chance you connect more with those around you. If anything be glad I'm still breathing, don't get pissed because some things have turned for the worse. Hell I wouldn't even be here if it weren't for you and your fire magic." Gildarts said with a grin.

Natsu just stood there in awe as he listened to Gildarts. He could feel something inside as he heard these words. Something was being lit inside of him. Something he thought was and would be doused forever. 'H-he's right, what's wrong with me? Why would I let this get to me like this? It makes no sense. Just because he's hurt doesn't mean he isn't here. Yet here I am acting like he's dead already' Natsu started to think as a grin began to show on his face. 'I should be glad that he gets to go on living, not pestering over what his life might be like. This just another chance, a chance to finally see that my friends are still here, and they are all that matters, living life sulking is never the answer. That actually would kinda be… boring.'

Finally a warm fire had stirred with Natsu. It cascaded any cold feeling that was given to him last night. Now he felt like himself again. And all he could was grin at Gildarts with renewed determination.

"Alright than I guess I just have to wait till your lazy ass is ready to go," Natsu said with a toothy grin.

"Well let's not get too worked up, huh? Still gotta get that new arm and leg," Gildarts retorted.

"Don't take too long, because I haven't even got that much stronger yet," Natsu whined. "So once you're done healing up, we hit the road and we get to serious training." Natsu then demanded.

Gildarts chuckled at his response. "Let's just see where we are in a couple of months."

"You better hurry up then, right Happy?"

"Aye Sir!" Happy exclaimed with his fist pumping in the air.

PRESENT

"You're still gonna hang that over me, old man?" Natsu said grudgingly.

"Ah, get over it, I was just screwing with you," Gildarts said with a grin.

The trio later found themselves outside the forest and in Clover Town. They were getting pretty close to the end of their journey and back to Fariy Tail.

"Well now that we reached town, let's grab a train, yeah?" Gildarts said.

Natsu almost yelped in fear. "Can't we just walk the rest of the way," Natsu whined.

"Oh, come on and get over it, besides my leg is started to act up." Gildarts said with a chuckle.

"Yeah Natsu, if you're so strong now, than a train ride should be nothing!" Happy exclaimed.

"Doesn't change the fact I hate trains." Natsu said before changing a bit green in the face after thinking of the ride back.

Gildarts just stood there watching the two go ahead.

'Welp' he thought to himself. 'We're going home'

A/N: And so, A Slayer's Pride begins!

I hope you guys enjoyed it and continue to follow up with the next few chapters!

Anyway, I urge you guys to review, fav, and/or follow. Remember to cast your vote! And If you have any questions or pointers feel free to message me and I will reply as soon as I possibly can.

And with that, I AM OUTTA HERE!

Next time on a Slayer's Pride - Chapter 2: Home to Fairy Tail!