Graylu week day 2
Prompt- Tattoo
CRACK!
"You'll come home, right?"
Blood soaked into his uniform, turning the brown fabric a dull, rust color.
Gray tucked a strand of hair behind the blonde haired woman's ear, his fingers ghosting over her cheek as they passed. "Yeah. You'll keep practicing that bugle for me, right?" He asked.
Gray collapsed into the mud.
Lucy nodded and leaned up on her tiptoes to place a small kiss on his cheek. "I'll have perfected a song by the time you're home, okay?"
Someone called out his name. He knew he should be in pain, but he was in shock, there was no feeling in his leg, where he'd apparently been shot.
Gray smiled and gave her a kiss back, pressing his lips to hers. "You can do it. I'll bet you can do two."
"Gray! Pull yourself together, we have to get you back!"
"Gray, you'll send a letter, won't you?"
"C'mon, come to your senses, Ice Prick!"
"You bet I will." He pulled her in close and held her. "I love you."
Someone pressed something to his leg, but he was vaguely aware that the blood wouldn't stop pulsing from the wound. Maybe they'd hit an artery.
"I love you too, Gray. Please, promise you'll come back." Lucy whispered. Tears soaked into his uniform, and Gray had to hold back his own tears as well.
"Gray! Gray! You've gotta stand up! Shit, Gray keep your damn eyes open for god's sake!"
"I promise."
Gray's eyes were closing. He recognized the person in front of him, the familiar pink hair. He gripped his hand. "Lucy... tell Lucy..." He could feel himself fading. He'd lost too much blood. The sounds around him had returned. Sounds of war, something he never wanted to do, but had to.
Gunshots. Battle cries. Screams.
Dammit.
"Gray, don't-" Natsu stopped as Gray's eyes closed completely. "I'll tell her you're sorry." He whispered.
Gray smiled. "Thanks..." He breathed out. "Make it home, Natsu... for me."
He didn't hear his response.
.
.
.
Lucy took out the bugle for the first time in five years.
Covered in dust, dull.
Five years since he was killed.
She gritted her teeth. Why? Why did they make him go?! Why did they force him?
Why did they take him away from her!?
She blew off most of the dust and used her sleeve to get the rest off.
She wasn't sure if she could still do it, but she'd try.
She lifted the instrument to her lips and took a deep breath.
The tattoo rang in her ears, strangely uplifting for her thoughts.
She stood in her living room, closing her eyes against the photos lining the walls. As she played, she remembered the day they told her. They came to her house, in full uniform. She could remember what they said but she remembered slowly closing the door without a word, and sitting down at a dining room chair for the rest of the night, not knowing how to process the information.
The last note faded out, and tears dripped down her cheeks, which were red from the air she'd used to play.
"Hey, Gray..." She whispered to the night sky outside her living room window. Her breath hitched. "It's time to come back..." She sobbed, her tears leaving tracks in the bugle's dull surface.