I Will Save You
One-Shot-(Unless y'all want more chapters)
A/N: To those of you reading my other stories: I AM SO SORRY! I haven't updated because: a. Writers block, b. No internet, c. Writers block. Also, I advise reading the lower Authors Note.
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How long has it been? Many people ask that simple question. One year? Two years? Only one person knows exactly, some people guess, some people are too lazy to actually figure it out, but everyone knows about it. Everyone.
Fairy Tail, the life of Magnolia, it seemed. The guild that brought the action and made things dangerous but still fun. Everyone knows about Fairy Tail, and many people love it... ... but it has also gotten many enemies.
If someone asked another person what happened exactly, they couldn't find an answer. No one knows what happened, but they all know the result. How only one member of the famous guild remains. How that remaining member wishes and is trying to reverse what had happened.
Mest walks into the Fairy Tail guild hall, immediately feeling the cold atmosphere nip at his nose and fingers, trying to add him to its collection. He doesn't even bother with it and continues walking over to the bar where he sees the only other warm person.
On the bar counter, sitting with his legs swinging off of it, is none other than Natsu Dragneel. He doesn't remove his gaze from his family which is frozen in time-quite literally-in the guild hall. He could only answer the why it had happened, not the how.
When they had been frozen he had recklessly tried to melt the ice. But it simply didn't work. Then he hunted the person who did it down; they were dead, the report says it was suicide. He tried a number of ways, going everywhere, travelling all across Earthland. He found nothing. Just knowledge useless to him and power he didn't truly care about gaining.
Mest sees the light haze over Natsu's eyes and can tell that his presence is unknown to the dragon slayer. He clears his throat. Nothing.
"Natsu." His name is the only sound in the frozen landscape, and the pinkettes eyes widen when he hears it. Turning his head he sees Mest standing nearby, patiently waiting.
"What's up? Is it the council?" Natsu asks, looking back across his guildmates. Gray looks like he's in a brawl with Elfman, mouth open as if shouting a battle cry. Makarov is frozen nearby on the bar wearing his warm smile, a mug in hand, speaking with Macao and Wakaba about... something. Something Natsu had long forgotten. The inner guild brawl extends to almost all of the guild, excluding some such as Lucy, Wendy, Levy, Juvia, and Erza who's absorbed in eating her also frozen strawberry cheesecake. Happy is holding a fish trying to get Carla to accept him, Pantherlilly watching from a distance with his arms crossed. They all seem to be having fun, oblivious to what had happened. To the fact that someone chose to just pause their lives and let the world go on like nothing has happened.
"Not this time, simply giving you company." Mest says, and Natsu simply grunts in return. Mest is, after all, also a Fairy Tail member, but his priorities mainly lie within the council, unless you include his frozen guild mates.
"712." Natsu states without batting an eye.
"712?"
"712. That's how many days they've been like this." Mest turns his gaze to the guild, imagining it as lively as always, with people fighting, laughing, drinking, chatting, living without a care in the world. Color and warmth and all that makes Fairy Tail, Fairy Tail. "Almost two years." Natsu adds, clenching his hands into fists. "Nearly two fuckin years have gone by, and still nothing!" He gets through clenched teeth, fighting back his anger and tears.
"We'll free them." Mest says with a tone of pure determination. "We'll free them, no matter how long it takes, and Fairy Tail will be the biggest nuisance as always." A dry chuckle comes from Natsu at that, and he puts on a sad smile.
"Yeah..." He looks down, examining his attire. It had changed somewhat, his vest is now closed and he now has both sleeves, but the one on his right arm has the Fairy Tail symbol in red on his shoulder. But that isn't the only place with a Fairy Tail mark stitched into his clothing. He also has a pink one on the only black glove he wears on his right hand, a blue one stitched over his left pectoral, a green one on his back and another one in blue on his right upper arm. His constant reminder of his team and that they are there with him. As he shifts there's a shine of blue from beneath his scarf, and he knows what that is. "It's been almost two weeks since they made me a Wizard Saint," he says, pulling out the brooch, "two weeks. And yet when I know I should feel glad that the council finally accepts my strength, I can only feel that I don't deserve it!" A single teardrop comes from his eye and begins to freeze on his face. "What's the point of becoming or doing anything when your family isn't there by your side, congratulating, celebrating, berating, criticizing, or doing anything with you! Why become a Saint at all..." Mest just sits on a cold stool and listens to Natsu release his pent-up thoughts. Patiently and silently he waits for the boy to continue. "Every time I come here with the brooch it makes me want to chuck it across the room, cause what's the point if my family is in this. And yet I know the point. I know. I know."
He then hops of the counter, looking at each frozen member with a trained eye, trying to find anything. Anything different, anything new, a movement of an eye, a twitch, anything. But he never does. After nearly two years of examining the living statues (he refuses to believe they're dead), he has learned every single thing about them all, and in a second would notice a difference. But there never is. They don't look a day old.
"I wonder if they can hear us." Mest says, also walking around, staring into Levy's open eyes as she forever reads a book about something that can't be deciphered through the ice.
"If they can, I doubt Ice Princess would be able to hear," Natsu begins, stopping in front of Gray, "since he was dumb enough to get trapped in his own element. What an idiot." But the humor that used to be in his brawls with the ice mage is no longer there. Just a sadness after a moment when Gray doesn't react in the slightest. "If they can hear us then they're being assholes by not fighting against this ice."
"Maybe they are." Natsu looks out of the corner of his eye and sees Mest poke the painting Reedus, who's picture is that of Asuka playing with the dragon toy Natsu had gotten her. He turns to see the painting being played out, frozen as well, both Alzack and Bisca watching from a nearby table as their daughter's mouth is wide open in a dragons roar, a smile clear on her face.
"Then they're doing a shitty job at it." The pinkette says coldly. "Ya hear that!" His voice seems to rattle the building, but Mest decides not to stop him. "If you can hear me and are fighting back, you ain't fighting hard enough! You're just wasting your lives away like this!" Under his breath he growls the final part, "See, they can't hear us." Natsu then turns to leave without another word, Mest not moving to stop him as he continues to look at the people.
"You guys really need to come back. We need you, all Fiore needs you, and Natsu, Natsu really needs you guys." He places his hand on Wendy's head with a sad smile. "So come back." When he lifts his hand at first he doesn't notice really anything, until he clenches it into a fist. His hand feels... it feels... "Water?" He looks at it for a moment, puzzled before his eyes widen, understanding what that means. "NATSU!" He shouts, racing out of the building without a moment to waste. It doesn't take him long to find the pinkette, especially since everyone knows him and prevents him from moving quickly through towns. "NATSU! NATSU!" He shouts, and the pinkette turns in confusion, especially when a wet hand is shoved into his face.
"What is it?"
"Water!" He forces out, gasping for air. "W-water. I touched Wendy's head and water came off. Water." It doesn't take long for Natsu to figure out what that means. Water comes from ice when it melts.
They're melting.
They're gonna come back.
Natsu nearly cries at the mere thought, and, taking Mest's wrist, races back to the guild hall.
He bursts through the doors, nearly breaking them off their hinges, and notices the small sheen of water accumulating on the ground.
"Water..." He stares at it in awe as if he had been lost in the desert and had come across an oasis. "The ice is melting... The ice is melting!"
Soon afterwards they call Lamia Scale and the Council once Natsu calmed down. In return Lyon and his little group, including Jura, and some Rune Knights came to Fairy Tail. Even some reporters managed to get a few pics before being stopped by the council and other mages.
"Yep, it's melting alright." Lyon agrees, poking at his brother figure. "But why'd it take so long, what'd you do?" He asks Natsu who just shrugs.
"I yelled at them." Lyon and Jura just stare at him for a moment, blink, blink again, then burst out in laughter (a reaction quite odd for a Saint of such caliber). "Oi, I'm not lying!"
"We know you aren't." Jura says after calming down and composing himself. "It's just that that's something only a member of Fairy Tail would do. It seems it's finally coming back."
"It was never gone." Natsu says, watching as the Rune Knights examine the water that was once ice which is still keeping his friends trapped.
"We know. Fairy Tail was never gone," Lyon says, smiling as he feels cold water slowly pool at his feet, "but still, they haven't been the same and neither have you for the past..."
"712 days."
"... 712 days." Lyon gives the pinkette a look which he ignores before continuing, "And it's just nice. They'll be back, you'll probably get challenged by Gray and even people that used to be stronger than you. And Earthland won't be as peaceful with you guys around. Everyone is looking forward to it." He admits, looking straight into Natsu's eyes. "Fairy Tail is finally gonna come back. And this time it only took two years." At this Natsu laughs, realizing what he's talking about.
"Yeah, at least this time it only took two years."
"And we have you." Jura adds, remembering what they're talking about. Natsu doesn't speak after that, walking towards Wendy, the first one to show signs of coming back, and placing his own hand on her head.
"Keep fighting..." He whispers with a sad smile, "I'll always be here and wait, for all of you. So keep fighting. I believe in you."
After the first signs of them melting Natsu never left their side, getting rid of the excessive water and he makes sure to care for the spots free of ice. After two weeks, marking the 724 day of their freezing, the entire building has been unfrozen and only the people remain. Sitting at his usual spot on the bar Natsu sighs as he looks out at the people.
"Just how much longer will this take?" He asks out loud, only for his words to disappear into the misty air. Looking around he can see the members, imagining the future when they'll be back.
Erza will probably be pissed that her Strawberry cheesecake melted before she did and therefore went to waste. But he'd make sure to have an entire cake ready for her to make up for it. Lucy will be devastated at the fact that she hadn't spoken with or used her spirits in two years, but Natsu made sure to keep them company whenever they came down so hopefully it won't be too bad. Gray will be unable to look him in the eye, especially since he got frozen with ice and he's and ice mage. Natsu will never let that go. Juvia will be in an even greater hurry to get Gray, learning that they missed in total nine years of their lives. Gramps will maybe be somewhat ashamed that he hadn't noticed the attack in the first place, but happy that they only lost two years. The fact that Gildarts also got stuck in it will shock everyone. Levy will definitely feel awkward around him for some time because he was finally able to tell what she is reading after the ice melted down a bit. And everyone... everyone... will be back.
The next day Natsu comes back with a full strawberry cheesecake and puts it in the fridge, the ice has melted so much it's only a matter of time. He closes the fridge door and looks across the guild. They'll probably be freezing when they break out, Natsu will be there for them when that happens. Natsu then takes his spot on the bar and waits.
And waits...
And waits...
waits...
and waits...
waits...
He nearly dozes off after a number of hours, and as the sun is setting he flinches up as a cold hand is placed on his shoulder.
"Natsu?" An old scratchy unused voice asks.
A/N: Because I have writers block on my In-Progress stories I'm really getting on it, but let me just say that I have roughly 15 other stories I'm working on, not including this one, so sometimes I get more motivation for another than, lets say, the ones I'm uploading. Can't force myself to suddenly get a million ideas for a story! So sorry though! But while school is in session I'll probably update when I finish the chapter, not like usual, but that's my plan during this period of time. Thank you for reading! Til next time see ya!