The Extinguished Flame
"Tch," Gray mumbled, an annoyed frown on his little face. "There is no way I'll talk with him. I hate him,"
A seven years old Cana looked with worry at the new pink haired boy over the corner of the bar, sitting criss-crossed on the floor. "But he looks sad! And maybe he doesn't like talking to girls."
Gray rolled his eyes. "That's not my problem."
"But Gray," Lisanna interrupted, her big blue eyes looking with concern at Natsu. "Pretty pretty please?"
"Why don't you go?" Gray snapped, crossing his arms over his naked chest. "AND WHERE DID MY SHIRT GO?"
"You lost it a while ago," Cana said. "And Gray, Erza is out on a mission. She isn't here now to cheer Natsu up."
"Why don't you go?" Gray asked again, the conversation already tiring him off.
"Because we already tried," Lisanna said, new tears in her eyes. She blinked them back. "And he didn't say anything."
"And why would he open up with me?" Gray asked. "We hate each other."
"That's not true," the master said, walking up to them with closed eyes and a thoughtful expression on his wrinkled face. "A Fairy Tail member doesn't hate his nakamas."
Gray's cheeks reddened. "B-But," he said. "I can't stand being in the same room with him. Isn't that hate?"
Makarov chuckled at his kid's innocence. "It's too soon for you to know hatred." And with a peripheral glance, he added, "And it should be too soon to know loneliness, too."
Gray's eyes drifted to Natsu again. He did look sad. And lonely. The way his dark eyes glanced at the horizon through the window… Gray knew that look very well. He had the same after Deliora killed his parents, and before he entered Fairy Tail. Erza had that look too, when she first arrived the guild, when she used to sit alone in the table over the corner.
Gray wondered if Natsu went off to cry alone like Erza used to.
It made him awkward. As a Fairy Tail mage, he knew he couldn't just ignore Flame Head, but at the same time, it was Flame Head. And Lisanna and Cana already said he ignored them. Why would Natsu allow Gray to help him, then?
Gray wanted to help Natsu. He really did. After all, everyone else in the guild was older. Though Elfman was there, Gray didn't find him funny to play. Elfman always looked scared, and his sister Mira was very frightening as well. But all the other kids around his age were that left only Natsu…
Swallowing his pride, Gray walked up where the lonely kid was criss-crossed.
"What's wrong with you, Flame Head?" Gray asked, rougher than he intended.
No answer.
"So now you're ignoring me, Pyro?" A vein throbbed in his forehead.
"What do you want?" an empty voice replied, and Gray was shocked to see it was Natsu talking. His voice was usually so full of life, Gray envied it. He couldn't believe the happy-go-lucky new boy was now so… dull. And he didn't insult him either. Now he was seriously starting to worry as well.
"I asked, what's wrong?" Gray repeated, trying to calm himself down.
"Nothing's wrong," Natsu said, a frown in his face.
Gray rolled his eyes. "Something's certainly wrong."
"I said nothing's wrong!" Natsu replied, his eye twitching.
"And I said something's wrong!" Gray shouted, his own eye twitching as well.
"You're annoying!" Natsu shouted back, crossing his arms and hiding his face behind his long scarf, the one that seemed to always be around his neck, no matter what day it was.
"You're annoying everyone with your ugly face!" Gray said.
"And why do you even care?" Natsu asked, his cheeks puffing out.
Gray flushed, looking at anywhere but his rival. "The girls were worried about you, idiot!"
"Oh," Natsu said quietly. It made Gray look back at him. "Sorry,"
Gray's eyes widened. It was probably the first time he heard Natsu apologize, but what shocked him the most was the numb attitude the pink haired boy had. It annoyed him.
"So you better wipe out that face before I punch you." No reaction.
Looking at his sad and lonely face made him want to punch him even harder. Gray wasn't holding back now, maybe all the opposite if it kept like this. Why was Natsu so sad, anyways?
Frustrated, Gray groaned and sat on the floor next to Natsu. He tried to ignore all the curious and amused looks the other members were shooting at them. He didn't understand why he was doing so much for that idiot.
"You suck at cheering people up,"
Another vein throbbed at Gray's forehead, furiousness filling his body. His head snapped at Natsu, who looked at him back with a frown of his own.
"Shut up or I'll-"
"It's been six months since Igneel disappeared." Natsu said bluntly, looking at his toes.
"Your father?" Gray asked. "The dragon?"
"Yeah," Natsu said. "The best."
Gray blinked at him. "That's why you're so sad?" he asked.
"I'm not sad!" Natsu replied, something sparkling in his eyes..
"Are you crying?" Gray asked, and to his own shock, he didn't sound cocky nor did he say it with maliciousness.
"I'm not crying!" Natsu said as he wiped off the tears that threatened to fall with the back of his hand.
Gray was speechless -what was he supposed to know? He understood -the pain of losing someone precious to you, the void it left on your heart that was impossible to fill.
"It's been almost a year since Ur died," he said quietly. It was information he had never shared with someone else, and he didn't know why he was doing it right now.
"Who's Ur?" Natsu asked.
"She was the one who teached me magic," Gray said, and he told Natsu all of his story. It didn't feel better nor worse when he finished. It was as more weight hung between them in the moment -another reason to cry, another reason to grieve.
"She was great," Natsu said. He had a hoping glint back on his eyes.
"Igneel sounds cool too." Gray said.
"Of course!" Natsu beamed, a huge grin on his face. And even if Gray noticed it quite didn't reach his eyes, he was glad. It was an improvement. Heck, it was by far more than he could ever do in the days when Ur's absence felt stronger and it beared him down. "Igneel is the best!"
"Ur was better." Gray argued. It was always funny to fight with Natsu, whatever reason caused it.
"Course not!" Natsu said, suddenly standing on his feet, a challenging sparkle on his eyes. "Igneel was the fire dragon king. What could possibly be cooler than that?"
"Ur was the strongest mage!" Gray said, standing too, bumping his forehead against Natsu's.
"Who cares about that," Natsu said. "Igneel was a dragon."
Gray rolled his eyes, turning his back to him. "Why do I even bother with you. You just have flame for brains."
"Hey!" Natsu shouted. "And you have ice for brains!"
"You can't even think of comebacks," Gray said, a smug tone in his voice.
"S-Shut up, Ice Princess!" Natsu said.
"Uh, that's new." Gray said. Then his eyes bugged out. "WHAT DID YOU JUST CALL ME?"
He turned around to see Natsu stand with a cocky smirk on his face. "I called you Ice Princess!"
"You wanna go?" Gray shouted, angered once again.
"I wanna go!" Natsu yelled back, and with that the two began to quarrel, fits landing on each other's faces and kicks colliding with the other's ribs.
At the other side of the guild, Makarov shook his head with a soft smile on his lips. "They're gonna be good friends," he murmured. "And really strong."
"NATSU, GRAY, ARE YOU FIGHTING?" a new voice shouted. Seemed that Erza was back for good.
It was a one-shot I thought because I'm utterly in love with Natsu and Gray's friendship and they're my BROTP. And today's Gray's day too? So it was a way to appreciate him, because he's such an interesting and strong character. I hope you enjoyed this as much as I did writing it!