"Sting! I still don't understand what the hell is going on! Where are we going?"
"Like I said Natsu, we are going to your deepest heart."
"Oh, thanks. That cleared things up."
Sting just waved him along as he kept walking. Frustrated Natsu followed him, having no idea what to do otherwise.
He watched the other Dragon Slayer carefully. Everything just screamed Sting to him. The way he moved and how he spoke, but how? It just wasn't possible. Why did his mind even decide to give itself the form of Sting?
Knowing he wouldn't find an answer to these questions soon, Natsu pushed all these questions to the back of his mind and started to look around.
As his gaze swept over this white nothingness Natsu tried to remember how he even got there. He could vaguely recall a fight with Gray and a hot boiling rage searing deep inside him before falling into unconsciousness.
An image of Lucy flashed before his eyes. Blood stained, down on the floor, not breathing. Suddenly it felt almost impossible to breath as a heavy weight settled on his chest.
But then he remembered arms hugging him from behind and a familiar scent surrounding him, overlapping the smell of blood, seconds before passing out. Her soft voice whispering to him. His frantic breathing slowed down as he kept reminding himself she's okay, she's okay, she's okay.
He picked up his pace again to follow Sting? Or his mind? Or his consciousness or whatever the hell he was suppose to be!
He opened his mouth to ask… Something.
But then his glance caught something. He turned and saw himself. Red scales, crawling up his arms, shimmering every time he moved. Where his hands should be were only deformed ugly claws. Droplets of blood were slowly dripping from them leaving trails on the white nothingness. Behind him were already patches of this white abyss, his mind, stained with dried blood. Black smoke was rising up from his body clouding above him and spreading out in different directions. He was raging, his pace unsteady, with him constantly changing directions.
Somehow this version of him felt familiar. Was this how he looked earlier? When that hot rage boiled inside him?
Natsu swallowed and had to look away.
But as he turned away from this other him, he all of the sudden found himself in a different place. It looked like his house, his home, but something was different about it. As he looked around he remembered that the last time his house looked like this, Lucy came over and complained the whole time how chaotic he was while she was cleaning up his mess.
His eyes searched for the celestial mage without him even thinking about it, knowing she must be around.
In that moment arms wrapped around him from behind. Her familiar scent surrounded him.
"Natsu! I'm so glad you're finally back! That mission with Gray took way longer than you said!", Lucy exclaimed while hugging him tighter.
This whole thing just made less and less sense to Natsu now. What was Lucy doing here? In his mind?
What was she talking about? A mission with Gray?
Lucy's words seemed to trigger something in his mind as he suddenly remembered a few moments fighting a monster. But what called out to him more was him and Gray standing awkwardly, in what appeared to be a jewellery shop, shopping for something. He got supplied another fuzzy imagine of a ring.
He and Gray went shopping for rings?
It was a small gold band with a small pink stone in it. It looked like it would fit …
…Lucy?
And then he could feel the small package in his pocket pressing against his leg. He knew what was inside it but couldn't really comprehend it.
He turned around to look at Lucy. His anchor. She looked slightly older then he could remember but the look in her eyes took his breath away. Her gaze was full of what he could only describe as love. Deep unconditional love. It seemed like a faint glow was around her that lit not only them up but the rays seemed endless, lighting up all the space around them. She raised her hand to cup his cheek, her fingers slowly anchoring themselves in his hair.
"Natsu. Please open you eyes."
His eyes shot open as he took a deep breath. His whole body felt like it was burning up, dark smoke clouding his vision. His heart skipped, recognizing the smoke immediately. Coughing, he tried to sit up, tried to get away from this darkness crawling around him. And then he felt hands on him. Calming him. Waving the smoke away from his face. Cupping his face. The smell of burnt flesh filled his nose.
"Natsu."
Finally the black smoke cleared around him and he could see his surroundings in the brightness of the day. His body temperature sunk as his panic ebbed away.
Overwhelmed a choked sob escaped him as he looked at Lucy. She was okay. She was here.
He must have looked as lost as he felt because her gaze softened as his eyes met hers. Carefully she leaned forward to touch her forehead to his and promised,
"We will get trough this. I believe in you."