While the two of them ascended the stairs to the second floor, they wondered what Makarov had to say. The information they were about to receive was no doubt very important if the Master wanted to speak in private. Makarov was an open man, not one to keep too many secrets. But he was also smarter than he let on with his perverted, carefree attitude. The Master knew the significance of information and privacy, especially when it centered around his guild. The information Gray and Erza were about to receive, it would certainly concern Natsu, whatever it was.

The whole guild was on board for his recovery, willing to do whatever it took to get their little dragonslayer back. It was a collective goal, one that didn't need to be written down or spoken out loud. This resolve permeated the entire guild's atmosphere and shone brightly in each member's eyes. The shock of what'd happened hadn't worn off yet, but it couldn't hinder their determination for long. Fairy Tail was legendary for its devotion to the bonds of friends and family. And that's just what they are, a family.

So why was this meeting private? Shouldn't whatever information they found be shared with the rest of the guild? They wondered briefly if the Master didn't trust what he knew to everyone, but with a shake of their heads, the thought was dispelled. How foolish of them to think that! There was a rational explanation for all of this, and the pair was content to wait to hear it.
But they had to wonder, this news about Natsu, was it good or bad? This early in the game, it was up in the air, and the fire mage had given no recent indication that he was getting better. If they were to be realistic, things were actually getting worse. Not by much, but worse none the less. There were so many things that could, and probably would, go wrong.

As soon as they reached the top, Makarov and Lucy were waiting for them. They all nodded solemn greetings to one another and looked to the old man as he began to speak.

"Lucy, Erza, Gray, there's something I wanted to discuss with you three."

"But why just us Master?" Gray interrupted, this thought had been nagging at him for too long, he had to know.

Makarov paused, looking a little distressed. He was going to have to choose his words carefully for this, especially now that tempers were strained by all that had happened.

"Because you three are Natsu's closest friends, and I've decided he is not fit to make important decisions for himself."

Although the statement was entirely true, it still made Gray angry to hear it. He didn't want to think of Natsu as some invalid who couldn't do anything for himself. A thought like that had never crossed his mind in all the years he'd known the fire mage. The untouchable spirit, the boundless courage and power would not allow him to entertain those thoughts. Natsu had always pulled through in the most impossible of situations; somehow. No one would have ever thought he could fall.
Ever.
To suddenly hear and know this as true was like a nightmare coming to life. His mixed feelings must've shown on his face, for what the old man said next was directed at him.

"I know, I don't like it either, but we have to face it. Right now, Natsu's psych is very damaged and unbalanced. It'll be up to us five to make the right decisions for his care."

Erza blinked, "Five?"
Currently, only four people were gathered here at this meeting.
Makarov cleared his throat,"Happy is included as well, but I've already talked to him about it."
The three mages nodded, wholeheartedly agreeing with that decision. Happy and Natsu had been through much more together than any of them could comprehend. They shared a powerful bond that would be an essential factor in the fire mage's recovery.
The old man's face looked even more anguished after sharing this. It looked like whatever he had to say next, he would have preferred to keep silent about. The mage trio couldn't help the dread that nestled between their ribs as the long pause continued. Makarov seemed to come back to reality and met their worried gazes once more, he tried hard to keep his voice even.

"Now, what I really wanted to discuss with you. . ."


Natsu awoke in a fit of screaming that morning.

He shot upright in bed, fighting against imaginary attackers. His limbs flailed wildly and his thin muscles were stretched taught. His screams were guttural and savage, like an animal struggling to avoid capture. The event took Happy completely off guard, for just minutes ago, Natsu had appeared to be sleeping peacefully. The blue cat tried as best he could to comfort the screaming mage, but his efforts weren't having much effect. In his dream-induced panic, Natsu was much stronger than his exhausted frame let on. And trying to force him back down to the bed only seemed to intensify his panic. He told the boy, over and over, that it was going to be alright, that this was just a dream, but his words couldn't reach him through the wall of screams.

Happy was thrown to the side as Natsu lurched forward.

The dragonslayer pulled his knees up to his chest and hid his face between them, clutching his hair in fistfuls. Happy picked himself up, more wounded emotionally than anything else. But he couldn't let these feelings dictate him. Natsu wasn't doing this of his own volition. His mind was badly damaged and he couldn't think clearly, much less distinguish friend from foe.
With these thoughts, Happy carefully approached the boy. The screaming stopped, but he knew better than to think Natsu was over it. He squatted in front of his head and tried to peer through the rose locks shielding his eyes. No success, he was effectively cut off from the world. This must be a defense mechanism his mind had put in place. Happy's heart sank to see his friend like this. Natsu was always so bright and strong and full of life, now he was weak and terrified. He looked small when he cried like this.
The blue feline blinked as he caught a faint mumbling leak out of the boy's hunched form. Even with his large cat ears, Happy had to strain to catch the broken statements Natsu made between sobs. "Don't touch me" and "Get away" were repeated often, along with more frightening things: "I'm not your whore" and a vehement, "%€#! you". Happy was too scared to try and make sense of these ramblings. His brain subconsciously locked these statements away, as he numbly decided that these were clues to his torture. Happy jumped as the door came open.

Lucy, Erza, Gray, and Makarov had entered the room, they must've heard Natsu's screaming. Said boy raised his head at the door's opening and looked at them. His eyes were puffy and red, a few stray tears making their way down his cheeks. Lucy carefully inched to his side, opening her arms to take him. Natsu lashed out as she came nearer, then growled, and finally flinched away before he gave up and let her hold him. He continued to cry; soft, anguished sounds that lilted across the room.

Makarov took Happy to the side and questioned him about what happened. "He had a nightmare," the cat said quietly,"that's all I really know."

Gray looked up at Natsu. He wondered how bad it must've been, to have reduced even a mage like him to tears. He blinked when the dragonslayer caught his gaze. All Gray could see was a bottomless pit of sadness and pain, and it tore his heart. Natsu continued to stare at him, and if it wasn't his imagination, the boy's eyes were getting bigger by the second. They were filling up with an unnatural fear.

A fear of him.

Gray tentatively reached out, wanting to ease the fiery mage, but the result was exactly the opposite. Natsu exploded in a flurry of limbs and blankets and fire.

"Don't touch me!" he screeched.

"Natsu I wasn't — !"

"Don't touch me!"

Everyone jerked to attention at the sudden outburst, Erza pulled a shocked Lucy out of range of Natsu's flames and Happy tried to calm the boy.
It was no use, he was completely out of his mind.

"I'm not your whore! I'm not! I'm not! I'M NOT!"

Gray let himself be dragged out by Makarov, too overwhelmed to resist. Inside the room, Natsu was still panicking, although it was nowhere near as severe now. Erza left Lucy to Happy and carefully approached Natsu. He was staring around with wide eyes, more confused than afraid. He looked up at Erza, and all the fear disappeared from his gaze.

"I'm not his whore."

Titania swallowed stiffly and smiled, but it felt more like an awkward grimace. Her throat was dry and full of lumps as she tried to speak. "I know you're not," she managed.
Natsu accepted this with a beaming smile and curled back up in the sheets. He pressed his cheek to Igneel's dirty scarf and closed his eyes again, satisfied. He looked so pleased with himself, but Erza couldn't shake the sick, horrified feeling that short exchange had left her with. The Natsu she knew, would never say something like that.

"Natsu. . .just what happened to you?"


"Surveillance Lacrima?"

Makarov nodded to the blue cat standing before him. "They were downstairs in the chamber."

"But why did you take them?"

"Evidence."

Happy was taken aback by the Master's venomous tone. He'd never heard such a thing come out of Makarov's mouth.
"I want to see those &%#$!* put to death for what they—" the old man stopped himself. Now was not the time to be loosing it, especially in front of Happy. The loss of his sanity would have to wait until he was alone. Right now, he had other priorities. And Natsu was topping the list.

"Happy?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm sorry to ask this of you so soon, but you realize Natsu is in no position to make good decisions for his health don't you? I want you to be someone who can make those decisions for him."

The cat's bottom lip trembled, he knew the truth, but he just wanted to deny it. Naively, he thought if he did, it might just go away. That Natsu would be back to himself by tomorrow. But that was just stupid and wishful thinking. Natsu was broken inside and out, and it would take a lot of time and proper care to even begin to break through to him. Time and care that Natsu could not get for himself. He would need his friends by his side at every moment. But, would that really be so bad? Happy realized with a start that this might be their chance to give back. A chance to repay him for all the times he'd come through for them. Wasn't it about time they came together and pulled Natsu through for once?
Happy looked at Makarov with fists clenched and eyes firm with determination. "I'll do it."
The old man smiled, having watched the internal battle play out on the cat's face. "Now, you should get back to Fairy Tail as soon as possible, for your task starts today."

Happy nodded and unfolded his wings, taking off in the direction of their home guild.
Makarov watched him go, wishing him the best of luck. He himself of course would be helping make decisions for Natsu as well. The long road ahead was intimidating, he couldn't lie, but he was ready to walk it for any of his children. He took a deep breath and turned one of the Lacrima over in his wrinkled hands.

He couldn't shake the feeling of dread he got whenever he read the scarlet words painted on it's surface:

"To: Fairy Tail"


The nightmares started not long after he closed his eyes. It was only a dream, but it felt so real. He could feel the pain, smell the scents, and see everything as if it were happening right now. And to his broken mind, it was. To him, this fear was real.

Sharp splinters of wood in his back.

He struggles, but his limbs are restrained by thick, leather straps.

Being bound, being held down, his heart thunders as footsteps come toward him from the darkness.

Panic.

More struggling. More fighting.

That same rhythm for six months straight. A deep, penetrating fear in his core.

Sodom; wielding a rusty knife, his grin impossibly wide, and all his teeth filed to points.

The tip of the steel runs down the skin of his bare thigh.

"Don't," he whispers hoarsely. But the plea is lost on this demon. He howls with laughter, a hyena, tossing his head back and cackling to the darkness above.

His face close to Natsu's, close enough to allow him to practically taste the tobacco on his breath.

The boy's cheek, slit. Dripping blood, pretty red blood. Then lapped with slow flicks of a rough tongue.

A shiver, up his spine.

Whimper.

Natsu squirms desperately, trying everything he can to escape the restraints. But the knife is at his thigh again, telling him to freeze.

He obeys the knife.

It is always better to obey.

Better, but not always enough.

Pain explodes inside him. It is everywhere, in all the forms he's felt: Teeth and claws of men, fire and steel from earth. Sodom curses at him over and over, in his face with cigarettes.

Suddenly, darkness, and the pain stops.

He can't see past it, but in the distance, a small, glowing ball of orange begins to shift around. Closer as the footsteps return.

The voice in his memory is clear, "I wanna hear you scream little whore..."

The cattle iron shoves into his stomach.

Agony.

Flesh melting.

A charred scent drifts up to accompany the tobacco.

He struggles to hold it in, but as the prod twists he can't.

Natsu screams as the skin melts off his body.

Why? Why does fire hurt?

He coughs as a blow lands, and another, and another. Finally, the punches stop, but a rough hand entangles itself in his rosy hair.

His face is forced upward, to look into the face of the man he fears most.

Something is shouted, or rather, sprayed, but in the dreamy haze, the words are lost to the mist. Sodom, just shouting and spitting in his face, bits of tobacco hitting the mage in the eyes. Eyes that stare back lacking any emotion. Dissatisfied with the mage's performance, his head is thrown down and footsteps recede to the edge of the darkness.

Sodom returns. In his hands: shackles, a whip.

Natsu knows what is coming next.

He's scared inside; he doesn't want that man's hands on him anymore. His breath in his face or his voice in his ears. He just wants the nightmare to end.

No one cares about what he wants.

He begs for no more,

But where is mercy here?


A/N: Sorry for the slowness in updating, been in Portland all this weekend and the hotel had no internet! Thank you to all the reviewers again! You guys make me laugh and me inspire me to keep going so much! It's truly a blessing to hear from you guys! I'm excited to write chapter four and hopefully I'll have an easier time with it. And just to be clear, the last section, the dream, happens before Natsu wakes up screaming.

~Scyllia