FINALLY. DAMN IT THIS STORY WAS BEING A JERK. GAH.

Ahem, anyway. Yet another challenge. Yep. And yes, this is yet another Natsu/Gray brotp oneshot (I think this is my fourth one, actually) because my usual challenger apparently likes it when I write brotp stories. :P

Okay, I asked for this challenge, like, how many months since the last one? Four? Yeah, I'd say about four. (Technically five, but you get my meaning.) I'm hitting writers' block annoyingly frequently these days, and it really ticks me off that I'm losing inspiration and motivation so quickly. I need to work on that…hence this requested…um, challenge request. Yeah, just go with it.

Anyhow.

The challenge, as given by Justice Tokidoki: Have Natsu and Gray fight/defeat an enemy, and have Gray comfort Natsu afterward.

I hope you enjoy my take!

Risk And Reward

Gray would've ended up minus a head if Natsu hadn't tackled him to the ground.

That was the closest call he'd had in this entire fight (if he could even call it that) against that…thing. This was the first time he'd encountered one—hell, this was the first time he'd even seen what one of the damn things even looked like, and it looked freaking hideous. He didn't even know what he did to piss it off (maybe they were territorial or something), but he was fighting for his life now—well, his and Natsu's—without having any idea how to fend it off, and he was starting to really regret not paying attention to the details that he'd heard from those who'd survived scrapes with it.

It was more common to lose someone to one than to have someone live to tell about it. They'd either get mauled to death, devoured, or—what was unanimously deemed the worst out of the bunch—poisoned. The colonists didn't even have a name for the creature—they just called it "the Beast"—and it just so happened to be venomous.

The venom didn't even take effect right away, silently spreading through the body before attacking every pain receptor viciously without warning some minutes to nearly an hour after exposure (it seemed to vary with the amount of venom and the level of activity of the poisoned), and from what the colonists could tell, it was just barely avoided hitting the human pain threshold. While no one was sure if the venom actually killed, every one of the afflicted ended up dead in the end—either before the pain got too severe or could hit the victim to begin with—because it was general consensus among the colonists that the victim would probably much rather die than live through that agony, and there was no antidote because no one was willing to let a person suffer before presumably dying horribly in order to find out. As if they didn't have enough reason to stay away from the jungle after sunset already.

As such, there were strict rules, practically the weight of law, never to be outside of the borders of the colony at night under any circumstances—unless they wanted to end up as torn-up jungle mulch, at least.

So what were Gray and Natsu doing out here in the dead of night? To be honest, Gray hadn't intended to stay out this late—he'd only ventured out in order to hunt for more food before the day ended, but his quarry was being unnecessarily frustrating this time around. Half the reason Natsu was even with him right now (Gray usually hunted alone) was to tell him to call off the hunt for the day until tomorrow, but he had stubbornly refused to let his prey go no matter how many times his friend asked (constant failure and irritation did that to people).

Now Gray was paying for it dearly, because one of those vicious Beasts was out for their blood. And even as they were running for their lives through the vines and over the roots while doing their best not to trip and die, Natsu still had the wherewithal to chastise him in the middle of it.

"If we end up dying out here," Natsu wheezed as he trailed half a pace behind, "it's totally your fault!"

"Y'know, I'm pretty sure that I apologized for that already!" Gray snapped back without turning around. He hadn't, of course—he was just pissed off. "There's no point dwelling on that right now; just put a cork in it and keep running!"

"Easy for you to say," Natsu panted heavily between grunts. "You know that we can't run forever!"

Gray gritted his teeth and didn't respond, just plunging on. He knew that they couldn't just keep running from the Beast until daylight came—but there wasn't even any way or place to hide from these things, as far as he knew. Their sense of smell was so keen that it would embarrass an entire pack of bloodhounds. What else could they do? Try and kill it? If they tried that, they would just risk getting poisoned. Neither of them wanted that, and especially not Natsu—he'd lost his father to one of these things years back, after all.

Suddenly he heard Natsu scream from somewhere behind him, "Gray; get down!" and he was promptly tackled onto the moist jungle floor from behind as a huge silhouette sailed over them. Gray wasn't able to discern the exact shape of the creature, nor was he in any position to—Natsu was smearing his entire body into the pseudo-muddy ground. His mouth opened in reflex to protest—and inadvertently swallowed a mouthful of mud.

"Stay down," Natsu instructed him tersely in a low hiss when he tried to fight his way to his feet, his voice tense. "The mud'll throw it off our scents for a while, so lay low until it leaves."

Gray wasn't sure how Natsu knew this, but he didn't argue. He froze in place, his heart pounding so hard he was afraid it'd explode and give them away, but the Beast's footsteps and shrieks were dying out with distance, until it was completely gone about a minute later.

The pressure finally left him after another heartbeat, and Gray was able to right himself, spitting out clods of mud and clearing the dirt off of his face and clothes in the process. He turned to look for Natsu, and he found him leaning against the giant root they'd scaled before he'd been knocked down into the mud, still panting heavily from the exertion. His body and his clothes were covered head to toe in dirt, scratches, tears, and bloody scrapes—including one particularly nasty gash right across the left side of his face. The gas lantern next to his grimy hand was flickering faintly, just bright enough to illuminate the small clearing they found themselves in.

Without even meaning to, Gray flicked his gaze to his friend's face and focused his attention on the huge gash. He wasn't even sure how Natsu had gotten that badly injured while they'd been running, but it didn't look pleasant.

Natsu noticed him staring, and the corner of his mouth turned up into a small grin. "Hey," he managed to say between breaths. "You okay?"

At that, Gray had to struggle to avoid rolling his eyes. He was the one with a huge bloody cut across his face, and he was asking if Gray was okay?

"I'm just peachy compared to you," Gray answered him, not quite able to muster up the sarcasm in his exhaustion. "…Thanks for the save, man."

Natsu just chuckled weakly and winced as he fingered his facial injury. "Well, y'know…that's my job."

Gray was too tired to get angry at his friend's wisecracks. "Yeah, about that…how'd you know about the mud?"

All traces of humor vanished from Natsu's countenance as he lowered his hand impassively. "…Learned it."

"From where?"

"Somebody."

"Who?"

"Doesn't matter." Natsu exhaled sharply and shut his eyes as he leaned his head back against the huge tree root, turning away slightly. "Look, just…shut up for a while, okay? I'm too tired to talk right now."

It was ten minutes before Gray got the nerve up to speak again.

"Hey…Natsu?"

It took a moment, but Natsu eventually answered with a flat, "What?" without looking back at him.

"Look, I know I said this earlier, but…" Gray cleared his throat. "…Y'know…I'm…sorry about all this."

"Sorry, huh?" Natsu's tone became dangerously derisive, and it put Gray on edge. "Are you, really?"

"I mean it; I swear," he insisted in an attempt to placate him. "I didn't think this would happen. That Beast just—"

That was enough to get Natsu to turn back to Gray, his expression disgruntled. "Ohh, yeah, the Beasts," he griped, his eyes narrowed into a scowl. "Those terrifying hellspawn that could murder us all if they wanted to without any trouble since we have no damn idea how to fight them other than keeping them on the other side of the colony walls. Yeah, you probably should've thought of them before you decided to ignore me and keep going deeper, you moron."

While Gray recognized that he deserved that rebuttal, he was taken aback nonetheless by the uncharacteristically scathing retort. "Dude, I know I messed up really bad," he protested. "I'm genuinely apologizing to you here. You don't need to go and bite my head off about this, you know; you're not making this any easier—"

"Gah, just shut up already!" Natsu shouted right then, his voice livid, clamming Gray up in shock. "What the fuck do you think you even know, anyway?!"

Gray's next words were stuck somewhere in his throat at Natsu's abrupt outburst. He could do nothing but stare in bewilderment at his friend's face in the dim light of the lantern, the angry tears that were now pouring out of them washing off the dirt and grime in its wake. Gray couldn't decide if he was confused, terrified, or somewhere in between—Natsu's temper had never broken this quickly before in all the time that he'd known him.

Natsu's voice shook slightly as he turned away and continued, "How can this get any easier, Gray? Huh? This isn't just some regular night out camping—no one's ever survived a night in the jungle; not one person in the entire colony! You know that! So what do you think that makes us novices?" His head whipped up again and he glared at Gray with overwhelming belligerence, his face tight in agony. "We might as well be dead now. We were dead the second you ignored me!" He then swiftly rose to his feet and advanced on Gray, his expression furious, yet somehow pleading with him. "So…you telling me that you're sorry? If you really are, then kill me. Just do it—end me right now."

Gray could hardly muster up a reply to this ridiculous demand as he scrambled backward. "Wh-what—the hell're you—?!"

"Do it, Gray." Gray could feel the fear and desperation radiating from Natsu so strongly that it almost suffocated him, and he continued to back away as Natsu kept on entreating him. "C'mon, please. Your killing me is a better way to die than getting taken by those Beasts. If you're really sorry, then you won't let me suffer like this!"

"That's crazy! I can't just—!" Gray just so happened to be staring at his friend's face in a silent plea to calm down when he noticed that the cut on his cheek had festered and swollen in mere minutes. Then it finally hit him, and he could feel horrible chills running down his back at the realization. "…Oh, God…Natsu, don't tell me you—!"

"Yeah…" Natsu smiled in a defeated manner, gingerly fingering the wound on his face as he did so. "It got me…just as I pushed you down. And you know what that means, right?" Gray had backed himself into a second tree root by that point, so he was unable to escape before Natsu grabbed his shoulders and held him there. "No one knows how long it lasts. No one knows if it ends at all. We'd always kill them before anybody found out." Natsu bit his lip and his grip on Gray's shoulders tightened, his eyes swollen red with the tears now. "And I don't want to be the first. You're my friend, aren't you? So just do this one thing for me. Please, I'm begging you…I don't want to end up like my dad…!"

Gray couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Natsu, I—" What? What was he supposed to say to him now? "I can't—I can't do something like—how can you expect me to—?"

"So you'd rather see me suffer?" Natsu countered heavily, silencing him. "Do you want to watch me as I scream my throat out begging to die and try to claw myself to death to escape it? Do you want that instead?" Natsu shook him once roughly when Gray didn't answer him immediately, his eyes wild. "Well, do you?!"

Gray winced and averted his gaze as Natsu's grip bordered on threat of puncture. "N-no, I—of course I don't want that, but—but still…!" Gray finally found the strength to fight back, and he managed to catch his friend by the neck and push him away as hard as he could, forcing him onto the damp ground and pinning him there with both of his arms and a knee as he struggled.

"You listen to me right now, Natsu…!" he grunted as he fought to keep him down. "You're right about one thing—of course I don't want to see you like that! Get it through your thick skull, you idiot; what kind of sick psycho would want to see anybody in that much pain? Why do you think we even off the people that get poisoned, anyway?" Gray felt his own throat clog with emotion as he spoke, but he managed to push through it and keep going. "I don't want to see you go through that…but I'm not about to kill my best friend, either; you hear me? No way in hell!"

At those words, Natsu's struggles slowed somewhat. His face was beaded with sweat in the light of the lantern, and he was breathing so hard it was a wonder he hadn't passed out, but he was staring up at him now, the crazed light in his eyes dying out some. Soon that light was replaced with the raw fear akin to what one would see in a terrified child.

"Gray…!" he whimpered pitifully.

Seeing his friend regress like this was nearly enough to break Gray on its own, but he shook his head to collect himself. He couldn't go through with this if he let himself break now.

"There's no way I'm letting you die, Natsu," he vowed breathlessly, trying his best to keep his voice from cracking, "so I'll watch over you. When you start to scream, I'll sit through it without complaining. If you start trying to maim yourself, I'll pin you down and stop you. No matter what I have to go through to keep you alive, I'll do it, no matter what it is." Natsu had stopped fighting entirely by this point, but Gray refused to release him in fear of sudden retaliation. "I really am sorry about all this, and I am your best friend…so I'll stay with you to the end, no matter what that end turns out to be. I promise."

Natsu was already shaking his head before Gray finished speaking, his lip trembling. "No," he whispered plaintively in protest. "No, no, no—please—Gray, I don't want you to get caught by them, too— just kill me—kill me; please—you can't—!"

"I already told you that there's no way I'm doing that!" Gray cut him off harshly before he could hear more. "I don't care! Let those Beasts come if they want! If I can't help you and let you die like this, I might as well die, too! That's what I deserve for dragging you into this mess in the first place!" Gray suddenly felt his eyes sting with the onset of angry tears as the guilt finally washed over him in full—and it was nearly enough to crush him on the spot, but he hung on—he had to, for the sake of his friend. "All this is my fault, Natsu! I admit that! I'm going to pay for it in any way I can right now, so don't make it harder than it already is! Just—just let me do what I can! Please—I can't just let you die after letting all this happen to you!"

Natsu said nothing in the wake of Gray's passionate railing. The jungle was quiet save their heavy breathing, the rustling of the high leaves in the canopy breezes, and the shuffling of small animals around them. The light of the lantern Natsu had brought into the jungle was starting to flicker and waver—it seemed to be running out of fuel, and it made the shadows around them dance madly.

After what seemed like ages, Natsu finally broke the silence.

"You bastard…" he whispered shakily, fresh tears making their way down his cheeks as he shut his eyes tightly. He probably would have started punching him if he had the energy. "You selfish bastard…I hate you…I fucking hate you…!"

Gray finally exhaled (how long had he been holding his breath?) at his response. "Well, whether you like it or not," Gray said wearily, straightening up and moving off of Natsu in order to kneel by his side, "you're stuck with this selfish bastard until the end, so save your energy while you can. The venom could act up any minute now since you moved around so much after getting cut."

Natsu didn't respond right away. He stayed spread-eagled on the ground in the position Gray had initially pinned him in, his eyes still shut tight, but then he shook his head once weakly as he opened his eyes and fixed his gaze on Gray with that same childlike fear from before as he rasped, "Gray…"

Gray blinked expectantly. "What is it?"

"Y'know…I…I'm scared." Natsu's voice quavered. "I'm scared of…of how much it'll hurt…wh-what's…going to happen to me…?"

Gray bit his lip. "I…I don't know," he admitted, his voice cracking in spite of himself. "I'm sorry. But…I know you can pull through this. You will pull through this. And don't worry—I'll stay here with you until it's all over. So…have some faith, yeah?"

Natsu managed to nod once at his words after a time, though Gray wasn't sure if it was out of actual trust and agreement or just sheer desperation to believe that what he was saying was true in an effort to cling on some kind of hope. Whatever the case, some of the fear in his expression had faded.

Gray reached out and took Natsu's clammy hand and clasped it tightly. "I'll be right here, Natsu," he encouraged his friend, bracing himself for the inevitable. "I know you can do it. I believe in you."

Then the screams began.

Gray was ready to give up before they even hit the first hour.

He'd heard stories of the poisoned. How they'd lose all sense of themselves in the grip of the Beast's venom, how they'd scream and beg to die, how they'd tear themselves apart in a futile attempt to escape the torture. He'd heard the stories, and they had horrified him just hearing about it, wholly grateful that he hadn't been there when any of that had happened.

Only now did he realize that those stories hadn't been much more to him than just that—stories. It was one thing to hear about somebody witnessing the horrible effects of the venom…but it was a completely different brand of horror to actually watch a person suffer that way right in front of him. That person being Natsu only made this experience a hundred times worse for him.

It practically killed him to see Natsu suffer like this. Not even minutes into the screaming did he wonder if he was being unnecessarily cruel by making Natsu feel this pain. He began to think that maybe…maybe he should've listened to him. He should've killed him like he'd asked him to earlier so that neither of them would have to go through this.

It was hard, but Gray shook himself out of those thoughts each time before they went too far. No, he couldn't let himself think like that. He'd promised Natsu that he'd pull through, for both of them. Giving into those thoughts now would be an insult to that promise.

"Hang in there, Natsu," Gray muttered through his friend's shrieks of agony, not letting go of his hand. "You can do this. Don't give up on me."

The begging started after the second hour passed.

Arguably, this was the point that Gray had been the most vulnerable to giving in. The despair was starting to take hold of him now. He wasn't sure if he could handle much more of this. He was completely worn out from keeping Natsu's hands away from the rest of him, and sitting through the tortured screaming was taking its toll on his mind. His constant pathetic pleas for Gray to kill him weren't helping matters, either.

"Kill me, please!" Natsu would beg him over and over. "Please, I can't take this—I want to die—please—please let me die—I don't want to hurt anymore—please, I beg you—!"

Each time it got harder to fight back, but somehow, Gray managed to keep up his counterarguments.

"You're not dying!" he would snap at him through Natsu's screaming, his arms trembling from the effort to keep his friend from hurting himself. "You're going to survive this, Natsu! Fight it! Fight it with everything you've got!"

"I want to die," Natsu would entreat again with a moan. "I want to die! Let me die!"

"Not on my life!" Gray shouted. "You're not dying on me; you got that?! Keep fighting!"

And on and on it went…until the delusions began.

At first, Gray thought amnesia had taken hold of him.

He had no idea how much time had passed since the screaming first started; it felt like an eternity had passed by him in those torturous hours. All sense of time had escaped him through the cacophony of screams and begging.

But just as suddenly as it had started, the screams of pain stopped. Gray didn't realize that Natsu was no longer thrashing until he managed to raise his head and catch sight of his friend's face. Natsu was staring intently at Gray, and his eyes widened in disbelief for they began filling with fresh tears.

Gray was utterly confused at this, but while the pain had apparently ceased, he had a feeling that their ordeals weren't over just yet.

"…Hey…Natsu?" Gray finally asked him warily as his lifted himself away and moved back somewhat, his voice scratchy from all the yelling he'd done in the past hours. "Natsu…a-are you okay?"

Natsu didn't seem to hear him at all as he, too, somehow managed to get to his feet, staggering dangerously in his attempts. That entire process, Natsu's eyes never left his face. The look in his eyes unnerved Gray—it was like he was a total stranger now.

"No way…" Natsu staggered forward, his arms reaching out for Gray. "Is that…are you really here…?"

"Natsu?" Gray asked apprehensively, fighting the urge to back away. "H-hey, what's going on with you? You're freaking me out."

Gray's words failed to reach him yet again. Natsu completely ignored his questions and promptly wrapped his arms around Gray's torso and buried his face into his vest. Gray could feel him shivering, though at this point he could no longer figure out why.

What was happening right now? Had Natsu's mind snapped under the torture? Was this some other side effect of the venom that hadn't been observed before?

"I can't believe it…" Gray heard Natsu whisper into his chest. "Dad…you're really here…!"

Gray's heart just about stopped at those words. Dad?

After the initial shock of the moment, Gray managed to conclude that Natsu was most likely hallucinating. His father had been dead for years now, after all, and therefore impossible for Natsu to be seeing right now.

What confused him about this moment once he acknowledged what was happening, however, was that Natsu didn't seem to be questioning the fact that he was apparently seeing his father alive before him—even though they both knew that he was dead. Maybe it was just a defense mechanism for his mind in an effort to alleviate the trauma he'd just gone through? Gray had no idea, but whatever the case, he knew that it wasn't right for him to leave Natsu to this fantasy.

Though it hurt him to have to do this, Gray gently pulled away from Natsu's embrace and looked his friend dead in the eyes in an attempt to get through to him. He tried to ignore his innocently confused expression as he began to speak.

"Natsu," he said slowly and clearly, struggling to keep his voice steady, "I'm sorry, but you have to listen to me—you've got to snap out of it. This isn't real. The venom is doing this. I'm not your dad; he's dead. It's—this is Gray."

At least Natsu seemed to acknowledge his words this time. Still, he sounded utterly confused. "Wh-what are you talking about?" he demanded desperately. "You—you're right there! How can this not be real?"

"Because your dad is dead!" Gray said sharply, glaring at Natsu intensely and making him flinch back. "We both know that! We both saw it happen! People who die can't come back to life!" Gray shook him once. "Your dad isn't coming back, so you can't stay blinded by this fantasy! Wake up and get a hold of yourself already! Don't let the venom take you like this!"

What happened next was something that Gray still couldn't explain to himself why he'd done it, but he was immensely glad that he had, in retrospect.

Almost as if on instinct, Gray snatched Natsu by the collar and, without giving himself even a second to think about what he was doing, curled a hand into a fist and slugged him right below his ribcage as hard as his muscles would allow.

Once the motion had processed in his mind, he felt absolutely horrified—what the heck did he just do? His body had taken action before his mind even had a chance to decide!

For a horrible moment, he was afraid that he'd made this situation a thousand times worse. The blow had made Natsu choke so hard that he would've crumpled like a wet rag onto the ground if Gray didn't already have a tight hold on him. Gray then felt Natsu's entire body heave—and Natsu proceeded to vomit copiously onto the jungle floor.

Gray did his best not to gag at the unnaturally-colored thrown-up remains of…whatever it was that had come out of Natsu's mouth. He'd thrown up much more than what a normal human stomach should've been able to hold, and that disturbed Gray just as much as the sight of the vomit itself.

Trying his best to ignore the sight and smell of it, he focused his attention on his friend. Natsu was fighting for air now, his breathing raspy and hoarse, and he still had some bile dripping from his lips. Gray internally cursed himself to hell for pulling such a stupid move until he heard Natsu speak.

"Ugh…you asshole…!" Gray's stomach flipped at the sound of his voice. "What did I do to deserve that…Goddamn it…"

Gray almost couldn't breathe. "N-Natsu?"

"Tch…" Natsu made no effort to straighten himself, but his words were still biting, even between gasps. "Who else is out here with you…you damn idiot…"

So he'd finally snapped out of it. Gray closed his eyes and exhaled heavily in relief. Was it all over now? Could he finally let himself relax?

"So…how're you feeling?" Gray asked him at last.

"Like complete shit." Natsu coughed a couple times in succession before he raised his head just barely enough to shoot Gray a dirty look. "You are so paying for this later."

"Fine; do whatever you want." Gray felt to liberated to be apprehensive of the threat. "I don't care."

"Bastard." Natsu lowered his head again, and he fixed his attention onto the huge puddle of vomit. "So…where did that come from?"

Gray blinked once in confusion. Did he completely forget that he'd been the one who'd barfed it up?

"Uh, Natsu; you did that," Gray replied, mildly puzzled. "You don't remember?"

"Seriously?" Natsu wiped his mouth and curled his lip in disgust. "So that's why my throat feels like it's on fire…God, that's disgusting." He wrinkled his nose at the pungent smell. "The hell is that even supposed to be, anyway?"

"I really, really don't want to know." Gray made a face. "But if I had to guess…maybe it's the venom."

Natsu glanced up at him skeptically. "You really think so?"

"It's the only thing that makes sense. I mean, you snapped out of hallucinating as soon as you threw this up, and…" Gray looked down at Natsu expectantly. He still hadn't made any move to stand up on his own, and that worried him a little. "Hey, uh, I gotta ask…do you still hurt anywhere?"

Natsu let out a ragged breath. "If I am," he answered tiredly, "I can honestly say I can't feel it. I'm numb all over…I can hardly feel anything."

"Umm…" Was that good or bad? "…Okay, then. Well, I think that my conclusion is fair."

Natsu cleared his throat with some difficulty and meekly raised a hand. "Uh, hold a sec. Question."

"What?"

"Okay…let's assume that you're right, and that is the venom." Natsu then looked up at Gray with a raised eyebrow. "But…how did it end up in my stomach, then? 'Cause I'm pretty damn sure I didn't swallow anything."

Gray started. "Oh…good point." He sighed in defeat. "Y'know what; I don't even care anymore."

"Easy for you to say."

"Yeah, maybe." Gray's back was starting to hurt, so he struggled to pull Natsu up into a standing position and acted as his crutch to keep him from falling down. "So, anyway, you're the first person to get poisoned by the Beast and live another day. How does that feel?"

Natsu scowled. "Is that supposed to cheer me up?" he asked, his tone prickly. "If it is, it's doing a piss-poor job."

"C'mon, look on the bright side," Gray chuckled in spite of himself. "I was right. You survived the venom."

"Oh, yeah. That definitely makes everything better."

"Just answer my question already, you dolt."

Natsu rolled his eyes. "Okay, fine. It feels totally awesome, and I'm the luckiest damn person on this entire planet because I managed to not kill myself after making a total fool of myself." He then shot Gray a peeved glare. "You happy now?"

Gray shook his head in mock disappointment. "You're such a terrible liar."

"That's why I don't get involved in politics."

SKREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

Both of them started at the unexpected sound, and they suddenly caught wind of something huge trampling through the undergrowth of the jungle toward them. And it was coming fast.

Natsu groaned. "Goddamn it," he muttered under his breath. Gray couldn't have put it any other way himself. This was the absolute worst time to get ambushed by a Beast—and it was possibly even the same one from before.

"Well, running is out of the question," Gray noted with a click of the tongue and a quick glance Natsu's way. "'Cause you look about ready to pass out."

His friend mustered up a weak smirk in response. "Yeah…don't be too surprised if I conk out in the next couple minutes."

"Just great." He then turned his gaze to the somehow-still-burning lantern. How much gas had Natsu put into the burner, anyway? "Then, I guess…fighting is the more feasible route at this point."

Natsu scoffed. "Geez…when that's the safer option, you know you're doomed."

"Yeah, probably." Gray then proceeded to study his surroundings. At some point, daytime had come, judging from the murky green light filtering down from the canopy. The air was hot and humid, and pretty much everything around them was damp to some level—Gray and Natsu themselves were pretty drenched in some kind of liquid that may or may not have been sweat and/or blood. When he turned his attention back to the lantern, it was actually amazing to him how hardy it was to be able to keep burning under such moist conditions. The burning portion wasn't exactly shielded from the elements, either—it really spoke to Natsu's skill as the sole pyro-technician in the colony.

That was when an idea struck him. He felt pretty bad, but it was probably their only chance. If he was right, then he would have discovered a weakness of the seemingly invincible Beasts. If not, well…no one could say that he didn't put up a fight before getting horribly murdered.

"Hey, Natsu," Gray said over the increasing volume of the approaching Beast. "Mind if I borrow your lantern for a bit? I'll pay you back when we get back to the colony."

"Like hell you can," Natsu hissed in irritation. "Do you have any idea how tough it is to build one of these things?"

"Well, yeah; that's the reason you're the only one in the colony with a lantern that can burn underwater if you wanted it to." Gray carefully lowered Natsu to the ground against one of the tree roots before turning to take the lantern in his grip. "Much obliged, buddy. If we survive this, it's all thanks to you."

Natsu sighed in resignation. "What kind of crazy idiot plan do you have in mind this time?"

"One just crazy enough to work." Gray turned to him and smiled expectantly, brandishing the burning lantern. "Trust me?"

"No way in hell."

"So I'm allowed?"

"Go for it."

Gray shook out the spare gas canister from the bottom of the lantern into the palm of his other hand and pried the top open. It was full—which was good.

"Well," Gray grunted as he turned toward the direction of the Beast, "here goes nothing!"

The moment the Beast reared its ugly head into the tiny clearing, he threw the contents of the canister over as much of its body as possible, starting with the eyes. It was enough to distract the Beast, as it thrashed about and retreated haphazardly while shrieking in pain caused by the flammable liquid that had entered its eyes, which gave him time to hurl the still-lit lantern right in its face, smashing the glass and plastic in the process—and the monster immediately lit up like a firework as it screamed and shrieked as it tried in futility to escape the blaze engulfing it. In mere minutes, the Beast collapsed—and its body dissolved into ashes and blew away even as Gray quickly returned to Natsu's side and hoisted him up again.

"So," Gray said breathlessly, making his way around the enormous root and started trudging toward home, "how was that?"

Natsu managed to shake his head once. "That was absolutely insane, Gray. The two of us could've died a horrible death if you'd been wrong."

"True. But I wasn't wrong."

"Tch…" Natsu simply smirked in defeat. "Yeah…guess you weren't. Congratulations."

Gray chuckled as he pressed on. "You know what this means, right?"

"What?"

"You'd better start up a pyro-tech academy, man. We've got a weapon against those Beasts now, and so far, you're the only one able to build it. Spread the knowledge 'cause we can't rely on you forever. It's not like you're gonna stick around for a long time, anyway."

Natsu fell silent for a moment, and then huffed in annoyance. "You know…I honestly can't tell if that was a compliment or not."

"And you'll never know."

"You're such a dick."

"Thanks."

"Ha." Natsu then fell silent for several paces. Then he said, "Umm…hey."

Gray turned to him expectantly. "Yeah? What's up?"

Natsu abruptly turned his gaze to the ground, and Gray immediately realized what he was about to say. "I, well…y'know, didn't really get a chance to tell you this earlier, but—"

"Forget it," Gray cut him off, making him start.

"Wh-what?"

"It's no big deal." Gray smiled. "It's what anybody would do for their friends, right? So don't sweat it. I know what you're going to say."

Natsu simply stared at him in bewilderment before turning away with an amused scoff. "Well, you would say that."

Gray didn't bother saying anything in reply, just letting a satisfied smile escape in time for his friend to notice. Natsu wasn't the most elegant in terms of etiquette, but that was one of the things that Gray loved about him in the first place.

Natsu spoke again after a couple more paces, his words slightly slurred this time. "Hey…Gray?"

"Yeah?"

"I…I kind of feel tired now…" Gray turned to get a look at his friend's face—sure enough, his eyes were drooping in fatigue. Natsu was on the verge of knocking out. "Sorry, but…can we…take a short break?"

Gray stopped in his tracks at the request. "Don't be sorry," he reassured him. "You can go ahead and get some rest; you really earned it. I can keep going myself." Gray knelt slowly so that it would be easier for him to move Natsu onto his back, and he straightened up after doing so. "Here—I'll just carry you like this. Is this okay?"

Gray felt Natsu's head rest heavily over his right shoulder as he mumbled, "Yeah…thanks…" before falling completely silent. He was already out like a light.

Gray smiled with mild amusement as he resumed his slow trek through the jungle with Natsu on his back.

"You're tougher than you look, Natsu," he addressed his sleeping friend quietly. "You did good back there. Get all the rest you can."

In some ways, Gray was glad that the two of them had been forced to stay in the jungle past dark. He was aware that they had done something that the other colonists would've deemed insane. He was aware that the two of them had broken the laws of the colony that had kept the people case for so many years.

Even so, inadvertently breaking those rules had been invaluable in the end—Natsu was now the first to live through the Beast's venom, and they were both the first to survive a night in this jungle. They had risked their lives, yes, but now they could drastically improve the livelihoods of the other colonists with their experiences.

Life had always been about give and take, of course. One couldn't exist without the other. Such a system existed in spite of—or perhaps even because of—the fact that a risk wasn't always worth what the reward cost.

But Gray could believe with confidence that the reward this time around had definitely been worth the risk.

…I'm surprised. Writing this actually hurt me. A lot. If not for constant encouragement, I never would've had the guts to finish this. How do I do this to myself I don't even know. :(

Anyway, this is meant to be my final work of 2014 (though thanks to a certain issue, it's no longer the case - at least I finished it before New Years). That's another reason I asked for this challenge, and I had to rush this one, too (four days isn't a lot of time to write a story). *sigh* Man, this year went by fast.

Well, I've got luggage to pack and other stuff to prepare before my family leaves on a four-day vacation. Hope you all had a wonderful and safe 2014, and Happy New Year. I love you all. :3

To Justice Tokidoki: Hey, I hope this was to your liking. I took your challenge and just kind of ran with it…heh, it wasn't too insane, right? (You never specified what you meant when you said "fight an enemy", firstly.) I still did my best to make it good in the little time I had. :) You are awesome and amazing, both for being a great friend and for putting up with my sadism, as well as coming up with awesome challenges for me like this one. Thanks for helping me through this, and I hope it was enjoyable.