Colour

It was a world where black, white and the myriad of greys inbetween ruled. Colour was absent, for the most.

Unless, the fatidic encounter ocurred.

Meeting one's soulmate.

Gray wasn't too sure of when things changed for him.

Well, he knew that it had happened when he was on the guild but that was so long ago, he'd met so many friends when he was little.

But Gray knew one thing, he could see colours. And many of his friends could too so, when he got old enough to wonder and consider who might be his soulmate, it was kind of impossible to know that.

But that didn't bother Gray much. He had goals to reach before meeting that person - if he did survive - also, he would only feel worthy of his soulmate when the pain and grief from the past were overcome. And in the meanwhile he had made good friends and found a rival, who was insufferable and deserved all the kicks and punches Gray managed to land in him.

As such, Gray grew up, surrounded in warmth he felt he didn't deserve but that helped covering the pain he still felt - he could never forget - and it was fun. Even if at some times Gray fell down the well of sadness, not even knowing that the colourful world that surrounded him meant that that certain person was waiting was enough. He picked some habits, like smoking, but realized that his constant fights with the hot head were a good distraction.

Everything changes with time. And as such, more friends entered the guild, some amically (like Lucy), some not so much (like Juvia). These changes brought to the fore Gray's first time actually thinking about his soulmate's identity. Why?

Because of Juvia, of course.

The blue haired mage had gotten slightly smitten with Gray. The ice mage saw it but had to have a serious conversation with her.

"I'm sorry but I can't correspond your feelings." He had said one day after sitting with Juvia in a calm corner in the guild's main room.

The water mage looked at him pleadingly for one moment before lowering her head. "Why?" She asked in a small voice.

"I've met my soulmate. See, I can see different colours." Gray replied in a neutral tone, not wanting to sadden her more. "Have you met yours?"

"Juvia... Juvia thinks so. She didn't see colours until the day of the battle between the guilds-" she looked straight at Gray. "Juvia remembers that all of a sudden everything became too bright..."

"Ah." Gray grimaced slightly. "Maybe you did meet them. But it can't be me. See, I've met my soulmate when I was a kid..."

"So, Juvia really doesn't..." she bit her lower lip, cutting her sentence short.

"Sorry. I guess I'm a romantic, somehow," Gray tried to bring some humour to the conversation but was serious when he continued, "but I can't be what you want me to be." He sighed, running a hand through his unruly hair before standing. He better leave Juvia alone to digest the situation.

In the meanwhile, he better head outside, to a walk, for a smoke...

Despite everything life had thrown at him so far, loss was the hardest thing to endure and overcome.

It was a mess.

The team was on a mission and it suddenly was turned on its head, becoming exponentially harder and more dangerous.

It didn't the assholes had the advantage of knowing the terrain.

They had been split up. There was worry in the back of Gray's head over his friends. Sure, everyone could handle the shit thrown at them but, still...

He'd been doing alright so far but his current foe was a handful. She knew the space too well, managed to take advantage of both debris and vegetation and Gray was getting pissed.

Suddenly a loud noise made the whole space rumble, stones shake on the columns and a wall basically exploded.

Gray and his enemy took their chance - with Gray managing to subdue the other. That was when Gray turned towards Natsu, ready to tease him over his grand entrance. But before being able to do anything he was tackled, pushed harshly against the wall.

On the place he'd just been a bunch of spears protuded.

"That was close!" He breathed out against Natsu's shoulder. But he didn't get a reply, as expected. Natsu let out a gurgled noise, body becoming limp and heavy on Gray's arms. "Shit!" Gray all but shouted as he held Natsu at arms length, noticing the splintered spear that was embeded into the fire mage. "No, no, no. Come on, Natsu. This isn't what-"

A cackle cut Gray's plea short.

Grsy looked to the side in time to see the ugly smirk on the enemy's face. Though he was in a similar predicament to Natsu's.

"The spears are poisoned." The words escaped bloodied lips before he collapsed on the ground.

Gray's eyes widened. He looked down to Natsu, whose head was resting on Gray's lap. At that moment it looked like black was beginning to take in on the edges of his sight.

A deep anguish bloomed on Gray's chest, a warm prickle on his eyes.

"Come on, Natsu. You got this. Hang on until the others get here." Tears filled his eyes and started falling. Seemingly washing away the colour and being replaced with Gray. "No way!" Gray gasped, his hand holding onto Natsu's with bone-crushing strength. "You can't do this, you asshole!"

"So it was you... " Natsu said in a near-imperceptible whisper, a pained smile on his face. "Should've known." The fire mage tried to chuckle but just coughed feebly instead. "Sorry 'bout that, ice brain..."

"No, you don't fucking dare doing that, you asshole." Gray shook his head. "You can't do this! I… I thought there was time-!"

Natsu squeezed Gray's hand weakly, Gray could see that he was getting too tired for more.

And so, as colour washed away and was replaced by grey, the ice mage held Natsu as life sliped away, his flame being blown away by a gust of wind.

The others arrived soon after, to see Gray brokenly holding onto Natsu's lifeless body.