Title: Gladys the Deathbringer
Author: Risa
Pairing: Natsu/Gray
Rated: T
Disclaimer: Gladys, October, Bonnor, and Linda are all figments of my imagination. Everything else is Mashima's.
Summary: The formidable Gladys is said to be able to bring an end to any loving relationship by using forbidden magic to manipulate the memories and perceptions of her victims. How will Natsu and Gray fare against such a foe?
FOUR: This is Your Fault
Loneliness and Natsu were not strangers by any means. When Igneel disappeared, each day was a trial until he found a new family in his beloved guild. Thanks to Fairy Tail his relationship with loneliness was short-lived and better off long forgotten. It was silly to let such a stupid emotion make itself known in the first place, for all it would do was eat at him and convince him of things that just weren't true. One had to dig into the far reaches of Natsu's mind to find tangible memories and feelings of abandonment. They had been so outweighed by his love and devotion toward his nakama that one wouldn't even guess he had experienced such awful sadness at any point in his life. It also renewed hope in his search for Igneel such that it was incapable of crumbling.
That was, until the council finally ruled in favor of having Fairy Tail disbanded once and for all. He couldn't believe it was true. To this day he still couldn't believe it. In his mind, they were still together, somewhere, and he would find them.
The council had threatened to do disband Fairy Tail for many years, considering the careless damage many members of the guild were prone to causing. Natsu was especially guilty of such destruction. He cost towns all over Fiore a lot of money, but at the same time he brought a lot of excitement and heroics to the lives of many. Being a guild mage was the absolute best. He honestly never thought he'd see the day the council, especially the new one, made good on its threat to disband one of Fiore's best guilds. Somehow, though Natsu couldn't recall what made it so different from any other time, he had gone too far, and the guild was finally deemed to do more harm than good overall.
It took the entire council and about six of the great wizard saints to detain those who were unruly and unwilling to comply. Erza's mightiest defensive armor took a direct hit from their improved Etherion canon, very reminiscent of their battle against the long disbanded Phantom Lord guild. Had it been any other mage, they and the very land upon which they fought would have been wiped out. The council had counted on Erza being able to absorb most of the blow, and reluctantly voted to fire it toward the Fairy Tail guild. Magnolia Town and the guild itself were unharmed, but Erza had used so much of her energy defending the town that the strain had knocked her flat.
Mirajane and Laxus were the main force to be reckoned with afterward, but even in their peak forms they were no match for the wizard saints. By the time Erza fell Natsu was in such a blind rage he couldn't recall the details of who did what, opting only to fight until he, too, was bested, which he must have been because how else would he wind up here?
The last moment he recalled of the lost battle was the moment they knew they had finally lost. Gray, beaten and bloodied as the rest, thrown onto the muddy ground beside Natsu, looked dead into the fire mage's eyes and told him, "This is your fault." And that was a moment where Gray's hatred for Natsu became real, and all Natsu could do was look around and gape at all of the dejected, defeated faces and forms of what had become his ex-comrades until unconsciousness would have him.
His only companion now was that same loneliness that tagged along with him after Igneel's disappearance. Not even Happy was by his side. When Natsu came to after the arduous battle, he was all alone. Natsu's magic was sealed in arm and leg braces to be on the safe side, and he was thrown into a damp cell without so much as a toilet and a boarded up window. He'd never know if it were night or day, or even if a day had passed, and the only people he ever saw were guards. He spent most of his time thinking about how to get out of there, though not so much as a warm huff of air would breach his lips. His magic was completely shut down, and his limbs were bound like so. His only hope of escape was if someone had come to bust him out, though as time went by that idea grew cold and bleak. Did anyone even know where he was? Were they trapped, too? What was going on? The amount of things he just didn't know drove him up the wall.
He was only given one meal a day, which was usually stale bread and water, which he had to consume without use of his arms. And if you thought that was a chore then the amount of effort it took for him to get up to use the toilet was just. Well, that was a detail best left unmentioned. Suffice to say his many days in this prison were spent in humiliation and misery, his only company the thoughts in his mind and an occasional rat, or roach that stopped by to pick at what remained of his "meal."
He often wondered what his friends were up to. He had convinced himself that they at least weren't in a jail, like this, suffering and alone. Lucy would be in her apartment writing that book that she didn't want people looking at for some reason. Sometimes Natsu would sleep over, because Lucy was awesome. Even if she did yell a lot, she was hilarious and the best friend ever. He hoped that Happy was keeping her company in his stead, because she didn't like to be alone. Besides, that was better than Happy being here, like this.
Erza would probably be shopping for clothes, and swords, and other scary things. Natsu considered her one of his greatest rivals and he would be defeating her the next time they crossed paths, so help him. She blocked the council's unstoppable death beam all by herself, and it was completely awesome. She was basically perfect, and Natsu was going to surpass her no matter what.
He thought of his friends, going down the list one by one. Levy with her books, and Raki with her wood magic. Macao and Romeo having a conversation about amazing wizards and such over dinner. Stupid Gazille and his ugly piercings, and his uglier singing voice. Natsu was just itching to beat the shit out of that jerk. Then there was Wendy, who quickly became one of Natsu's favorite people. She was a better dragon slayer than stupid Gazille, and she had troia. He thought about Lisanna, reunited with Mirajane and Elfman, and that really made him smile. He didn't like to imagine her alone ever, because after what she went through that was the last thing she deserved, damn it. And then there was Juvia. Come to think of it, she didn't really do much other than hang all over... over...
"This is your fault."
Natsu swallowed. He had intentionally avoided thinking about Gray. Natsu could deceive himself for only so long, and only so much. He was convinced that everything was all right with Igneel in the beginning, too. Some circumstance separated the two. He would even come to learn that he wasn't alone in this. Gazille and Wendy lost their parents, too. But Natsu's search for Igneel was a long one, and by the time he had found Fairy Tail his loneliness was on the brink of weighing him down. He had nights where he wondered if he'd ever see his old man again. When he found his new family, though, those thoughts were buried in the hope newly rejuvenated love created for him.
But that family that held him so high was was supposedly disbanded. Temporarily, Natsu told himself. He would find his comrades when he got out, free them if they were jailed, and find a new place to live. If they had to be branded a dark guild then so be it. No matter what they were his family, his nakama. He hoped beyond all reason that this was exactly what they were up to, that his guild would rise again one way or another, council be damned, and he could just have his family again. He couldn't stand the thought of losing even one of them.
In the darkest hours where his isolation weakened his mind, and Gray's contemptuous words and stare would creep into his memory, Natsu was growing more and more unable to banish such thoughts. It really wasn't in Natsu's nature to buckle under sadness, or to buckle at all for that matter. The hours felt like days, and the days grew aplenty, and those days were now a blur to Natsu. Isolation and starvation made his lot in life staring at walls and sleeping, for the most part.
He had only his loneliness and his thoughts to keep him company, and time turned his thoughts sour. The forefront of those sour thoughts were Gray, gazing at him with a different kind of fire. Real hatred. He hated Natsu because apparently Natsu's actions were the cause of this guild's forced disbandment. Like hell. It wasn't Natsu that had failed Fairy Tail, though. He wouldn't be separated from his nakama no matter what. No, it was Gray's attitude that was to blame. That honest belief that Fairy Tail was no more. Natsu swore that when he was released from this disgusting prison that Gray would pay for betraying Fairy Tail.
Natsu's eyes snapped open.
He'd been asleep on a park bench two towns north of Magnolia. He'd been released from prison a week ago, and as tempting as it was to shove fists of fire into the faces of the authorities, all he could concentrate on was getting himself food and tracking down his comrades. Lucy's apartment was his first stop, though all he found was her landlord who promptly told him to beat it. If he were quite honest he had to admit that he didn't know where most of them lived. He knew where Gray lived, but upon inspection that lodging was taken by different people. So what Natsu did to remedy the situation was knock on every door he saw until he got some answers.
Wakaba's wife was the first who didn't slam the door in Natsu's face right away, and even insisted that he take a bath. The only article of clothing that he didn't burn away was his beloved scarf, the only thing that wasn't covered in enough stink and grime to make even Natsu twitch. She had provided him with simple clothes and a meal. Though this garb wasn't exactly his style, he could always stop by his house and change. He had already visited once just to see if Happy was there, and left disappointed when he found it long vacant.
Apparently Wakaba did not hold him in contempt for what had happened, and had managed to find work in a timely fashion, though he often felt nostalgic. This was the first bit of Fairy Tail he had seen in what was apparently four months. The area where the once great guild stood was cleared of the debris that was once their guild, and there was a rumor that a shopping center would be built in that vacant area, which infuriated Natsu. He just had to set things right, so that Wakaba and everyone else didn't have to be nostalgic, or work anywhere else.
Damn it all. It didn't take him long to run out of the food Wakaba's wife had packed for him. He didn't have money for transportation, which was just fine with him because he didn't like using it anyway. He couldn't afford to waste any food he consumed, in any case, so he opted to run, walk, crawl, and drag as far as he could go to track down who he knew would be the most difficult to sway. He would beat Gray within an inch of his life and bring him back, and when he did they would find the rest of Fairy Tail and bring them home. The efforts seemed fruitless, but as far as Natsu was concerned that's what made it worth it. Natsu's fist would pay back Gray for those four awful words that were almost the death of him in that prison. That traitor. Stupid BASTARD. How dare he give up so easily...
Natsu went in the direction his instincts took him in, which eventually lead him to the front door of the Lamia Scale guild. There was only one man in this world who knew Gray as well as his nakama did, and even if Natsu had to beat it out of Lyon he'd find out where that stupid bastard was, no doubt. He kicked open the door uninvited, paying no mind to the frozen glares that tried to weigh him down. This guild wasn't as rowdy or populated as Fairy Tail, and he already recognized eyebrows and the doggy guy, but that didn't concern him.
"Where's that bastard?" was all Natsu said, and he didn't budge an inch when the large and intimidating Jura slammed the door shut behind him and glared down at him. If he planned on starting any trouble this man of insurmountable strength would restrain him, and as intriguing as a that prospect was Natsu just didn't have any damn time to tango with the likes of him. He'd leave as a soon as Lyon's ugly face made itself known.
"You'll have to be more specific than that, Natsu-dono," said Jura. That man was ready to fight if he deemed it necessary, no doubt, though Fairy Tail's good relations with Lamia Scale were not long forgotten. They also weren't of any concern to the impulsive fire mage, who was hungry and angry and tenacious as all hell.
"That ice jerk, Lemon, or whatever his stupid name is. I have a question to ask him. Where... where the fuck is he?"
"My, your manners are as lacking as ever. Though I feel inclined to help you in whatever way that I can. Lyon-dono is on a mission, so if there's any way that I may be of service-"
"It has to be him," said Natsu. His stomach practically roared in agony. It had been at least a day since he had last eaten, and having snuck aboard a train bound for the town in which Lamia Scale was located did not help. It was a regrettable decision, though a risk he simply had to take, because the only other choice he had was walking through snow for days. He didn't have enough food for days worth of on-foot travel, and he hated snow, so where his decision to agonize in the cargo hold of a stupid train was a tough one to make, he had survived somehow, though the impact of said decision caught up with him, and he passed out at Jura's feet just like that.
TBC
A/N: Fuck writer's block! This story livessssss, yes. I apologize for the long wait. My life got pretty hectic, and then came the writer's block from hell. Not to mention boyfriends and video games are EVIL and DISTRACTING. Ugh, excuses, excuses. I'm using NaNoWriMo as a sort of "finish what you start" type of thing this year, and Chapter 4 of this fic was the kick off. Woo-hoo! I'm not even waiting 'til December to post, fuck the rules! I do apologize if the quality of the writing is comparatively weak to the first three chapters. I am rusty. But yes, you can expect frequent updates on this fic now. I am kicking my ass so hard right now just for you guys. Mwa.
In any case, if you're confused as to what's going on, it'll all make sense soon. You'll get Gray's point of view back in the next chapter. Fuck, the more I write this fic, the more ideas I get, and the more massive it becomes in my mind. Oh well. This pairing needs more love, so fuck yeah! Anyway, please review. Kick my ass. I need it.