Summary: The snow bubbled as a river of blood poured from where his leg was supposed to be. Beside him, Natsu laid lifeless, chest cold and unmoving. However, Gray wasn't done yet, he had to fix this – he needed to fix this, even if that meant giving up his soul.

Word Count: 1151

Warning: Cussing, short chapter, and slight OOC because of slight AU, also grammar and spelling errors if I did not catch them

Disclaimer: I don't own anyone

A/N: A little OOC from what I can tell because Natsu does care for Gray a lot more because of what happened in the last chapter. Hopefully not too off character but just enough to understand why they're acting this way. Also, I just had a power outage and I was suddenly in the mood to write – sadly the power came back on about an hour later and the mood switched off…so I only wrote this much. I'm very proud of what has been written and hopefully, you enjoy it as much as I did!

Enjoy!

Gray's eyes shot open. He looked side to side as a cold sweat slowly dripped down his forehead. His breath erratic but mind focusing on the present. "The here and now," he repeated to himself. He needed to focus; he needed to remember that what happened had happened, but wasn't happening. He forced himself to sit up, head leaning over his scattered sheets as he tried to focus – tried to remember. Sweat dripped off his nose and he watched the patch of water spread out slightly on his white sheets. "You're fine," he said brokenly, "Everything is fine – you're here." He ran a hand through his hair. He looked up, trying to find a certain object in his room that would signify that he was in his apartment – living, breathing, awake. "Calm down," he stuttered. He found the object and focused on it. Found the sheet of paper, reading through the first line, once, twice, and a third time before looking at the picture. "Here," he rubbed his face; letting his hands pull his sweat pooled face downward. "Here and now. You're here – you're fine."

He walked to the Guild, pants buckled but hanging around his waist a little sloppier than normal. Today of all days his leg had to flare up in pain. He cursed himself of the dumb luck, of course, it was karma, what else would it be?

The jacket that was white as snow was now tossed over his shoulder and his shirt was probably back at the entrance at his room. None of it mattered anyway. He found over the years that unconsciously taking his clothing off was the only thing that had remained normal.

His hands fell upon the door and it creaked open noisily, but was soon engulfed by the loud welcome he received. Members raised their glasses, some already drinking alcohol, even if it was eleven in the morning. He raised his hand, smiling brightly and walking over towards his teammates table.

He took his usual spot, one that had been open on the left side so he could easily slide in without a wince. However, today of all days, his leg had to scream in pain. He winced, face turned away from Lucy who sat next to him. As he settled into his chair, he watched as Lucy shut her book and smiled brightly at him. "Good to see you're early, Gray."

He nodded and glanced around the table, "Where the hell is dumbass and Erza?"

Lucy sighed openly, her eyes running away from his as she gazed over the hall. "Erza went to go help Makarov with something, Natsu and Happy probably late." She met his gaze again and laughed slightly, "Erza said she would come join us later today. Which could be a good thing or bad, depending on the situation we find ourselves in later today."

Gray scoffed, reaching forward for the glass of water that had been in front of him. "It's not even an S-Class mission," Gray placed the glass against his lips, "I'm sure we'd be fine without her."

"Of course, we would," a male voice sounded behind him and Gray took a swig of his water before raising an eyebrow towards the direction of the annoying noise. Natsu stood next to him, his hands placed upon his hips and Happy saluting him as he sat at the edge of the table. "I bet we could be done with the job by tonight even."

"Natsu," Lucy rolled her eyes, "We have to go as a team."

"Ya flame brain," Gray smirked. "It's a team effort."

However, Natsu didn't remark, his eyes were trained on Gray and the Ice Mage cursed. "No," he stated quickly and shot Natsu a warning glare.

Lucy tapped her fingers against the table and stood up quickly, "I – uh…I'm going to go get us food!" She quickly left, like she always did when Natsu sent Gray that look.

"Don't you fucking say it asshole," Gray growled.

But he had to say it; he had to fucking say it.

"You had the nightmare again," Natsu snapped.

Not only that but to top off this already great morning, Natsu had to study him a little bit more.

"And you're leg hurts."

Gray groaned, of course – of course, he had to fucking recognize it. How the hell did he know? Wait he shouldn't answer that, he already knew. "Damn it," Gray ran a hand through his hair. "Why do you have to ask if you already know the answer?"

Natsu had ignored him; he was already too deep into the 'big brother' persona he acquired years ago. "It's been what? Three months since the last nightmare?"

"Three and two weeks, actually." Gray rolled his eyes and his hand dug into his pocket.

"What triggered it?" Natsu's hands tightened into fists and he looked towards the ground.

Even after six years, the bastard was still blaming himself. Gray took out a cigarette and placed it between his lips. He wanted to lie to Natsu, he really did – but damn those fucking puppy eyes. "I saw a guy in a tunic yesterday," and he lit his cig.

Natsu didn't say anything; he just looked at the ground and then moved to sit in from of Gray. The two sat quietly together and Happy, who was lost in the conversation, scratched his ear.

6 Years Ago

"You," Gray felt himself sob between gritted teeth, "you have to do something!"

The old lady looked upward, her gaze gray and clouded. "I don't have to do anything!" She swung her cane forward, hitting Gray in the chest and left the edge digging into his chest. "You didn't complete the task I asked you to do."

"He was too strong," Gray shot back, his hand slapping away the stick in irritation. "You didn't warn us about his power!"

"That's because it's unpredictable!" She yelled back, face wrinkled with anger. However, Gray was burning with anger and he reached out pulling the woman in close. "Bring him back!" He shook her, and her eyes, unable to see, widened with fear. "Bring Natsu back! It was all my fault! He wasn't supposed to die!" His voice cracked and Gray dropped the woman, feeling her scramble back as he dug his face into his hands. "He died – damn it all to fucking hell, Natsu is dead because of me!"

Gray swallowed his anger and fear, letting sorrow wash over him as he shook in regret. Next to him Natsu laid still, eyes open but not seeing, neck at an odd angle and blood dried around his mouth.

Gray looked up, his eyes blood-shot and directed to the old woman. "I'll do anything," He said quickly, catching the female off guard. He inched forward and tried to earn back her attention. "Anything," he snapped, his voice desperate for an answer.

She looked up, eyebrow rising in wonder. "To bring him back?"

Reviews

Anniegirl132- Yes he totally did, plus he was super tired from the fight. That guy! I hope I don't make him like my other villains (let me know if I do!) Also, thank you! Hopefully, this kept your attention!

Ryuu91- GOOD! I'm so happy to hear that, honestly, I was worried about this story, because it made sense in my head, but whenever I wrote it down I was like "What...?" And more about that whole Natsu Gray thing is coming next chapter

PokeTail- holy first off, I feel so bad for not updating your fic! I'm stuck, so keep your eyes out for a PM! Onto the story, thank you! And of course Gray's going to save him (or else there wouldn't be a story haha!)

FalynELF- AH THANK YOU! I love you so much! You've been there since the beginning and you're always so kind! Honestly, what did I do to deserve such nice reviewers! AND I do plan on writing a book in the future! Seriously, you are too kind!

Ted- (Love the name by the way) I know! Ugh, I really tried to display some type of fear and I guess I didn't write as much. Thank you and I'll try to rewrite that!

Just Me- YAY! Good! You are such a great reviewer, you know that? Thanks so much and my confidence can only go up from here!

Deboo(1)- I think both reviews are from you but I'll respond from them differently. Anyway, thank you so much!

Deboo(2)- Thank you so much! As for the story, it came up with a bunch of number and %, so I'll just tell you the updates for my other fics. People Who Change Our World and Taphophobia are currently on hold. I lost interest in them and right now have no plans on updating them (but that could change). State of Being Ill is being written right now, but I ran into writer's block, which is why this story was published. Other than that, thank you!

Firebolt-100- AH! Thank you! I hope it continues to be that way, because I have plans...oh do I have plans! *laughs evilly*

A/N: The main differences would be that Natsu cares a lot more for Gray because of what has happened. You haven't seen all the changes or what happened (just to let you know). Let me know what you think and I would like to update sometime this week or weekend. Thanks so much! Oh and if you have any questions, feel free to ask away!

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