A/N: Haha, took a little longer than expected to finish this chapter but a few unexpected thing happened. Oh well...
Unbetaed, as usual.
Feedback's appreciated.
Natsu joined his friends, having taken a moment to compose himself. And to wonder about Gray's strange closeness. Not that it was too out of the blue but at the same time, Natsu had noticed that after every strange event, Gray would be the one to find him.
'Is he following me?' The thought briefly fluttered through his mind. 'Nah, must be a coincidence, Gray's not a weirdo…' Natsu assured himself.
But then he paused and chortled at his own joke. Gray… Not a weirdo... that was a good one.
Everyone from the guild could be considered a weirdo – though Lucy liked to make a posh impression while saying in different tone of voice, "Not weirdoes, eccentric!" and that would make everyone laugh – but that didn't make any of the guild members feel bad. On the contrary, their weirdness just made everyone special.
He was noticed by the girls who nodded at him before turning back to the stage and Gray sent him a strangely loaded look. Natsu frowned at that before turning his attention to the stage too.
The action was still well under way, with now Aucno having found his lover, well, the reincarnation of his lover and the main character was agonizing over the fact that he ought to kill him, ending the curse but separating them forever.
Somehow, Natsu felt sad for the characters. The actors were doing a terrific work and the pain really heart wrenching. Natsu noticed that Lucy had a few tears sliding down her cheeks and Erza's eyes seemed to be slightly shiny – it was really having quite an effect on the girls, that was for sure.
Due to some unnameable reasons Natsu didn't feel like looking at Gray.
During the rest of the play there was only one other moment where something strange happened. It was right at the end, the play had just happened and all of a sudden a loud noise made the theatre shake. There were a few stage hands running around like crazy because there was smoke coming from one of the dressing rooms.
Thankfully the mages didn't have to act (even if Erza had taken a protective stance right in the middle of the stage) and they were able to undress and head to the bar and to the second part of the mission.
Working at the bar was extremely busy, the mages running around and giving out the drinks and food. It didn't help that, not only the place was ready to burst due to the people from the theatre and the audience but a good number of friends from the guild also decided to go to the bar – as customers, because nobody was in much of a mood to help out.
So that ended with the friends and the owner running around, sometimes what they were doing could even be considered like headless chicken running around.
There were food and drinks aplenty and in the little break they were allowed (because the rumbles of Natsu's stomach were too loud) they did get to try some of the delicacies.
By the end of the night the bar was richer but the pantries were quite empty – because, if there was any food left, Natsu had all the pleasure in finishing it.
The night ended with laughter and drinks and funny re-enactments of the play. First Erza and Lucy started acting one of the scenes, on top of one of the tables followed by Lucy pulling Natsu up and continuing with another scene and finally Erza pulled Gray so that the two mages ended up being frozen on top of a table and for all to see.
"What now?" Natsu asked in a stage-whisper.
Laughs and opinions started to rain on them, the actors finding this amateur sketch extremely funny.
"Do the final scene!" Lucy said excitedly, clapping her hands and her eyes looking strangely interested.
"No way!" Natsu and Gray said in unison.
"Aww, but it's cute and sad…" the celestial mage pouted.
"We're not going to do that. You've drank one cup too many Lucy!" Gray stomped to where Lucy was and took the wooden cup from her hand, sloshing some of the drink over his hand.
"Spoilsport…" Lucy poked at Gray's cheek before walking in a slightly unsteady line to a chair, sitting heavily on it.
"That's it." Natsu jumped from the table. "I think that this would be our time to leave…" he motioned at his friends.
"Since when are you the voice of reason?" Lucy asked, hands rising to make air quotes at the same time that she tilted slightly to her side, righting herself at the last moment.
"Voice of reason? What the-? Lucy, you need to get some sleep…" The fire mage shook his head and headed towards his friend, helping her up.
"It was a long day…" Gray agreed.
In no time the friends were out the door and helping the girls out. Natsu with Lucy and Gray with Erza. They headed towards Lucy's house, knowing that it wouldn't be too bad if the girls bunked together for the night.
They arranged for the girls to have water and medicine at hand in the morning and did what they could to have the girls sleep minimally comfortably. Though it just consisted of laying them on the bed and covering them with a blanket.
Before long the boys were walking down the moonlight-lit street.
A hush had fallen over the town – which wasn't surprising, given that it was quite late – with only the most faint noises coming out to play; the rustle of the vegetation and the gurgling noises of the water, the song coming from far away and being carried by the wind, the sound of their steps on the pavement.
Natsu was walking in a relaxed way, not paying much attention to Gray who was by his side.
It was a night that did call out for introspection, the silvery light spreading a peaceful feeling, easing the wary mind. Alas, despite all the calm conditions that surrounded him, Natsu's thoughts weren't peaceful in the least. The whole mystery was getting to be too much and even Natsu's nature of not worrying was starting to fray a little.
Was he going to continue to have these weird spells? And the dreams – if they were allowed to be called dreams, since Natsu was certain that he was awake when they happened – what was their meaning? How was everything related to the bracelet and disc, left to him by his parents?
And what had the other man meant?
Suddenly, Natsu came to a stop. Though he completely stopped still, not even breathing for a moment. As Gray noticed that the other mage had fallen behind, he also stopped and turned around. He saw that Natsu was deep in his thoughts but his eyes had widened and he was unnaturally still.
"Natsu?" he asked slowly, voice sounding almost unbearably loud in the silence.
Yet, Natsu didn't respond.
The ice mage walked to his friend, placing one hand slowly on the other's shoulder. And that seemed to do the trick. Natsu stirred, breath wheezing in and he locked stares with the other mage.
"What if he knows me?" Natsu asked cryptically.
"Huh? What? Who?" Gray replied dumbly. He blinked a couple of times, releasing the fire mage from his light grasp.
"That other man. He could only react like that if he knew me, right?" Natsu took half a step towards Gray before stopping again. "But what does that mean?" he looked at the cobbled pavement and made a half-aborted gesture with his right hand, letting it fall to his side.
"How can you know you? You're not making any sense." Gray replied, in a confused tone.
"No… he must… I have to ask Igneel…" Natsu turned and was about to start running down the street when Gray held out his wrist.
"Igneel? Natsu, tell me what's going on! It's too late to go see your father and-" Gray started saying but the fire mage shook his head.
"I don't care if it's late. He'll understand. The pieces…"
"No. you're not going anywhere. Not tonight." Gray said in a non-nonsense voice. "I'll take you home and you're going to get some rest. Even if I need to sit on top of you."
"How funny, Gray…" Natsu shot back in an unamused voice. "But you don't understand. I must…"
"You must rest. I haven't forgotten about what happened earlier. And, yes, we're going to have a talk about that. And about whatever you're babbling about now." Gray's grasp on the other's wrist tightened fractionally in a 'I'm being serious here' kind of way.
Natsu scoffed.
"I'm fine, Gray. But I… it has nothing to do with you, okay?" the fire mage asked as he tried to free himself from the vice-like grip.
"I don't care if it has or hasn't. You've been acting too weird – even for you – in the last days. And I want to get to the bottom of that. Okay?" As Gray said that he pulled Natsu over, making it so that they were looking at each other, gazes locked and serious, and their faces close. Almost unbearably close.
Finally, Natsu relented.
"Fine. I won't go anywhere and am going to sleep now. Happy?" he raised his caught wrist up and smiled sardonically.
"No. you're going to tell me what's going on. And to see if you don't do anything I'll want your word. But I'm not going to let you out of my sight. Okay?"
"I promise I won't do anything…" Natsu said between clenched teeth, not finding Gray's insistence funny. "Sheesh, you're insisting too much. What are you, a mother hen?" Natsu grumbled a bit under his breath as he started heading towards his house.
"I'm not mother henning anyone!" Gray yelped, hands coming to rest on his hips as he glowered at the fire mage.
"Good. Then you can go get some rest yourself and leave me alone…" Came Natsu's airy reply.
"Nice try!" Gray snorted, walking at a fast pace behind Natsu, catching up to him in no time.
"Hey, I had to try. You're too stubborn." The fire mage said while side eyeing the other mage.
"Look who's talking." Gray shot back, plunging his hands inside his pockets.
"At least I don't lose my clothing as if it were nothing."
Gray's reply at that – and at the fact that he had, somehow, lost his shirt – was a loud imprecation.
Natsu laughed and after that they kept silent for the rest of the way.
"You know the place of the things, have a good night. It's a good thing that Happy stayed with Wendy for the night." Natsu made a vague gesture with his hand as they got inside. He headed towards his room without looking back and that seemingly irked the ice mage.
"Oi. What do you think you're doing?" Gray's question stopped Natsu dead in his tracks.
"I'm going to my bedroom. As in, to get the rest you were so adamant in me taking? Remember that or is your brain paralyzed due to the cold?"
"My brain's fine, thanks a bunch, but do you think that I'm going to leave you go just like that?" Gray let himself fall down on the rather worn out sofa.
"Like what? I'm not running." Natsu said in a toneless voice.
"Sure…" Gray replied in an unconvinced tone. "You're not a coward, usually…" he let the words out and Natsu rose to the bait.
"Who the fuck are you calling a coward, huh?" Natsu stomped until he was in front of Gray, hands balled into fists on his sides and a deadly glare being thrown at the ice mage.
"Hmm, let's see… you?" Gray said boredly. "Why are you doing all you can to lie to me? And what's that thing you have there?" he threw a meaningful look at the fire mage's left wrist. The bracelet that they both knew was there was well hidden underneath the fabric.
"Seriously, what the fuck's with you and this new obsession over jewellery? It's just trinkets. Like I said earlier, I'm not asking you about the story of your necklace." Natsu flickered at the pendent with his right hand. "So you don't have any reason to ask me about… yeah." The fire mage arched an eyebrow.
Gray's face momentarily flickered into a pained expression before setting back into his neutral, you-don't-have-a-reason-to-hit-me-yet expression.
"What? You're going to tell me that the necklace has a story?" Natsu continued, in a bid to take the attention from his bracelet.
"It has… one day I might tell you. Maybe when you trust me enough to tell me about that bracelet of yours." Gray ended up with a sharp smile, almost as if he was directing it at himself.
"Don't expect it all that soon…" Natsu replied automatically, his brows furrowed at the strangeness of his friend's attitude. "But now, sleep, yeah? I bet that tomorrow's going to be a pain in the ass…"
"I wouldn't say that. But I do want answers Natsu." Gray started with a shrug, only to end gravely. "And you're going to answer me. Or I'll go and ask Igneel. You want to go see him for answers too, right?"
"I… you will not do such a thing!" The fire mage said in a threatening tone. "You're going to leave Igneel out of this." The fire mage poked hard on Gray's sternum with his index finger.
"Then stop being an ass and answer me!" Gray all but yelled as he shot to his feet. "Don't you get that you're being weird and that's worrying? I mean, you're crazy but this is too crazy for even you. And all these things happening. I want answers!"
"I don't have answers!" Natsu yelled. "I'm walking in the dark here, too! And don't you think that it's bad enough for me, without you always breathing down my fucking neck!"
"I haven't been doing that!" Gray denied, making a sharp motion with his hand, cutting down Natsu's retort.
"Yes you have! And it's frustrating!" Natsu turned on his heel and was about to storm out to his bedroom. "And now I'm going to bed before I punch you. I'm not in the mood to clean up."
"Are you ever in a mood to clean up?" Gray wondered in a low whisper. Natsu stilled as he heard what the other had said loud and clear.
"What did you say?" the fire mage asked stiltedly.
"Nothing." Gray said quickly, arching an eyebrow. "We'll talk more tomorrow." He headed to the cupboard and quickly took out the sleeping implements he'd put away earlier that day.
"Bye." Natsu said tersely before closing his door.
The fire mage leaned against the door and let out a sigh. On the other side he could hear the ice mage rummaging through stuff and preparing himself to sleep but, on the other side of the wooden panel, Natsu felt drained.
It felt as if he didn't have any more energy, with it having been sucked all out during the day's events. Not that having been at the theatre was a bad thing, or the end of the night, helping out at the bar but… the last word he'd gotten had been a difficult challenge. Natsu could still remember, as if the phantom feeling of those hands had returned, Natsu felt as if his skin was too tight and he was about to burst. But it was strange because it wasn't a physical sensation, despite everything that his body was going through. And the mental side of things wasn't too tenuous yet but it was as if his core magic had been bubbling and bubbling, its volume increasing until it started to drip down the vessel, overflowing and Natsu didn't have the means to contain whatever was happening because he hadn't noticed anything different, hadn't felt anything different but, through his inattention, something had indeed happened and it was baffling.
Then, the things with Gray. The ice mage was definitely getting strangely pushy.
It wasn't unusual of him to inquire about the well-being of his friends and companions but this thing with Natsu felt premeditated.
He went after Natsu.
He was the one who caught Natsu after whatever it was that happened.
And it wasn't in Natsu's imagination how distressed he'd been. Sure, he would be distressed over something bad happening to his friends but… there was a mobility, an unexpected earnestness there that was surprising. And slightly scary, if Natsu were to be honest.
He didn't know what was going on with Gray.
Not that he knew what was going on with himself, of course.
It was just a lot of confusing things happening at the same time.
And there was also the question. Would whatever that was happening lead Natsu to his parents?
Would he, at long last, find what he was searching for?
With a self-deprecating smile at himself, followed by a shake of his head, the fire mage straightened up and walked towards the bed, letting his clothes fall to the floor – but being careful with the scarf and taking care of placing the disc on the bedside table. He fell to the bed in only his underwear. And hoped to have a good rest during the night.
It wasn't anything in particular that roused Natsu from his light sleep but he, slowly, found himself regaining awareness of his surroundings.
Distantly, he could hear the slight shuffling from Gray on the other room, the air being stirred by his breathing and how his body shifted against the fabric of his sofa. He accepted that, it was normal – though the half thought wondering about the reason as to why the ice mage hadn't left did flit for a too fast moment before disappearing – but then he woke a little more, feeling a soft caress against his cheek.
It was almost like a déjà-vu, though it was something that happened in the most buried memories, a certainty about having been in such a position before. Fingers tapped lightly against the tip of his nose and chin before Natsu opened his eyes and sat on the bed. He was now wide awake. The fire mage glanced to both sides but there wasn't anyone in the room with him, he knew that.
Then…
What?
How?
With a groan, Natsu let himself fall back into his bed and attempted to fall back asleep.
Sleep took a long time coming but after tossing and turning for too long, Natsu managed to fall into a fitful sleep.
As soon as the sun was up, and despite not having slept nearly enough, Natsu was out of his bedroom and kicking the sofa, jostling Gray awake.
"I'll be going now. See you later." The fire mage turned on his heel and headed to the door, not pausing, his scarf fluttering slightly behind him.
"Wha-? Wait!" Gray said, rubbing the sleep from his eyes and trying to make his sluggish limbs move as fast as his mind was. The sheet that he had – unnecessarily – placed over himself twisted itself around his legs and as Gray tried to stand he stumbled and fell. But that didn't make Natsu turn. The fire mage paused for a beat before continuing. "Don't think that you're going to manage to escape our chat!" he let out in a rough voice before hissing because he'd hurt his side falling.
"There's nothing to talk about." Natsu said with finality before the door closed and a heavy silence curled around Gray.
"You're a fucking coward." Gray muttered wearily. Sitting on the floor, Gray let his head rest against the cushion of the sofa before straightening and running a hand through his messy hair. He huffed. "And some morning, this is…"
And so Gray finally untangled himself from the bedsheet and started getting ready to go after Natsu. The other was most likely heading towards the guild. Gray only had to bid his time to have the conversation.
When the team finally assembled at the guild later in the morning they were given another mission. It was a simple one, just to accompany Mrs. Gracieters to her summer house. The location was pretty close, in the town of Filoris and so they didn't envision anything too strenuous happening.
The tense silence between the boys did receive a couple of glances from the girls but they also decided to abstain from commenting – for the time being, at least…
Mistress Gracieters was an old yet tough lady. She was of a noble family but had decided to say no to the path her father had meant for her to follow and make her own way. She divided her time between her houses in Magnolia and Filoris and the archaeological excavations she would go into. She had been in the teams that had found an entire town hidden under sand in a country nearby. Despite her upbringing she was pretty simple, and was getting along stellarly with Lucy. The two women were discussing books, some of which the celestial mage had read and that had been written by the other.
Their conversation was going amiably and it might be as if they were just taking a stroll towards the nearby town though the not welcoming glares from both Natsu and Gray would make sure to keep the others away. The two mages were as far as they could get away with, Gray walking ahead while Natsu came last.
The day was actually nice for their stroll. Thankfully Filoris wasn't too far from Magnolia so, they were walking down the slope when Mistress Gracieters decided that it was a good place to have lunch. The road was well paved, being sided by the lush forest to their left hand side while to the right the hill was covered by grass, bushes and flowers. The sweet scent of them reached the group brought by the gentle breeze. The sun wasn't overwhelmingly strong nor was it cold, so it didn't take much problem for them to sit on the grass – though they did look for a rock to sit the older woman in. even if she didn't mind sitting on the grass with them.
The basket of food that Erza had been carrying was quite a blessing for the friends. Natsu's stomach even made growly noises as it was being placed on the blanket. The fire mage quickly gathered food and dug in. there was only an awkward pause when his hand touched Gray's when he had gone to grab another slice of bread. Both mages momentarily froze and pulled their hands back as if they'd been scalded. They didn't dare looking up, deciding to choose something else.
The meal passed with only the girls and the lady talking. Whenever they would try to bring the boys into the conversation they would only get noncommittal noises from Gray or chewing ones from Natsu.
The sun's shine was right above them, as it was midday, and the group started packing the things once again. Natsu excused himself and headed towards the treeline.
The pull was a strange thing. It wasn't like anything he'd felt before but… the forest seemed familiar, there was something in the scent of it that was deeply ingrained in Natsu's memory. Though what that was, Natsu couldn't respond.
The further he got inside the forest the more the familiarity would be noticeable. Though it was utterly strange since he knew for a fact that it was the first time he came to this place.
With a shrug, Natsu decided to empty his bladder, since it was at hand. As soon as he was ending that, his ears started picking up some noises, metal clashing and voices. He quickly tucked himself in and hurried back the way he'd come only to be stopped by a man in ragged clothes. A bunch of small daggers were thrown in his direction but Natsu quickly evaded them and took care of the man with a punch to his solar plexus. The man flew back against a tree and the fire mage could hear his head knocking against the wood of the bark.
One down.
Now the question was, how many more to go?
He was just about to start running towards where his friends were when by the corner of his eye he noticed a rag. It looked like a rag of a shiny purple fabric.
Frowning, Natsu headed to the tree and started extending his hand towards the branch from where it was pending, as it seemed like the fabric had been tied to it.
'How strange…' Natsu thought, just as his hand was about to touch the fabric.
He didn't manage to reach it because suddenly Natsu got a sharp feeling of vertigo and slumped against the tree.
Natsu opened his eyes and found himself kneeling on a strange surface. His right hand came forward for him to brace himself and Natsu saw, astounded, as his hand went straight through the crumbling ground.
It was strange because it didn't feel like anything solid yet, it would only crumble at any of Natsu's movements.
With a lot more effort than expected, Natsu straightened up, pausing to breathe heavily before looking around. A soft light, too diffuse in the misty air lit the area and allowed Natsu to take in the set of mirrors. They were familiar by now though the muteness that the mist created gave a softer tone to the sharpness that had met Natsu before.
aluc
inel
key
The strange words stood there for Natsu's appreciation and confusion. The fire mage knew that he was here to find a new word. Though the meaning of said words still escaped him.
Natsu stood and let out a sudden yelp as his weight made the ground shift underfoot and his balance be compromised for an instant.
Finally managing to straighten himself up, Natsu looked at the mirrors.
"What the fuck are you?" he asked. His only response was silence. But the silence was an odd one as it was filled with something. Natsu started huffing, his breath coming harshly and another bout of dizziness took over him. The fire make fell down to his previous kneeling position and tried to draw in air. Tried being the keyword. As much as he tried the air just wouldn't get into his much needed lungs. The fire mage felt as if his mouth was weird, he had his airways blocked, somehow. He tried to speak, but his tongue rested unmovable in his mouth, heavy and foreign. Saliva pooled in and started dribbling drown his chin as Natsu dug his fingers into his legs, attempting for the pain in his legs to distract him from the burning inside his lungs. But even that was for naught.
Then, strange relief flooded through him, as well as an odd taste – it was foreign yet nice. Natsu tried to follow it but the relief lasted for too little. The tightness to his throat returned but at that moment Natsu noticed that the purple light surrounding the mirror was glowing harder, cutting a little through the diffuse mist. The second mirror counting from the right was emitting that light, the stilted-looking icicles that had been surrounding the frame were speeding towards Natsu and they reached the fire mage, forming a circle around him and instantly making the tightness in his lungs disappear. The fire mage was now able to breathe normally. The loud noise of glass cracking and then exploding outwards in a rain of millions of shards followed, though the circle around Natsu was protecting him from it, the tiny shards scintillating before fading out as they touched the protective circle.
As expected, when Natsu looked at the mirror – after taking a good number of breaths to calm his lungs – a new word was shining from the inside of the mirror, the letters written in loopy calligraphy and seeming even more ethereal against the darkness of the void they were suspended on.
wean
'Nice… another one…' Natsu sat back and noticed that the ground didn't have that strangely crumbling quality from before. "It would be really great if someone told me what this all means." He yelled into the plane he was in. there was no reply, his voice didn't even echo back.
The protective circle returned to the frame of the mirror and Natsu grumbled.
Then he thought he could hear something and looked around. There was nothing but Natsu did have the impression that he was being called.
The fire mage glared at the set of floating mirrors once again, only one was remaining with its reflective surface, the others being a well of darkness with the mysterious words painted upon, before turning around. He started walking away but a sharp pain made him nearly jump and turn around. The mirrors were shining ominously – the purple one still had a stronger glow – but then Natsu looked down at his left arm and saw that he was bleeding. A gash slicing down his arm.
"What the fuck!" he managed to say before he was falling into darkness once again.
When he opened his eyes it was to see Gray's face standing way too close to him, a strange franticness in the other mage's bearing.
"Gray? What?" he started mumbling, sluggishly pushing at the ice mage's chest to push him back.
"You're finally awake, you fucking asshole!" was the reply, being said by a glaring Gray.
Gray had looked absentmindedly as Natsu entered the woods to do whatever – and thought that maybe it was a good idea to go there and take care of some business when the other returned. He was listening to the conversation by his companions while idly picking at bits of grass. The sun on the back of his neck was annoying him and making him feel a bit too warm. So, before he knew it, he had taken out the coat and shirt and was feeling more refreshed, despite having the sun now beating down his back. Then he started feeling a strange prickling sensation. He noticed that Erza had felt the same as she was now glancing towards the forest, covertly, every now and then.
All of a sudden, men ran from the inside of the forest, brandishing weapons and in ragged attires.
Despite their larger number – Gray did a quick count and they were at least twenty – the three mages didn't have much trouble with taking care of them. Their weapons weren't as well kept as Erza's, their clothes didn't protect them from Gray's cold magic and the spirits Lucy invoked caught them by surprise. It didn't help that they were malnourished-looking but the fact that they were launching a coordinated attack showed that this wasn't probably the first time they did such a thing.
As soon as they dealt with the thugs, leaving them knocked out by the road and with a bunch of them running back to the treeline to lick at their wounds, the mages looked around, assessing the scene.
"Ah, where's Natsu?" Lucy asked suddenly.
"He went to the forest." Erza supplied.
"I'll go check on him. You stay here and protect Mistress Gracieters. We won't take long." The ice mage headed towards the forest in long strides.
The forest always had the strange quality of creating an otherworldly feeling to Gray. It was different from the world outside, be it with light, scent or sound.
The ice mage decided not to call out for his friend as he didn't know if he might have been caught (which Gray doubted) or if he was going to be ambushed.
There was a too loud crackle and a rough voice barking some indistinct words. It wasn't the well-known voice of the fire mage but it might indicate that he was nearby.
Heading towards the voice, Gray kept hidden by the trees and what he saw made him run towards the two men. Natsu was slumped against the tree and a man was towering over him, his back filled with scratches that were slowly oozing blood.
The ice mage ran towards them and shot an ice spear that glued the man to the bark of a tree where he was unconscious.
Gray knelt beside the fire mage, his heart beating fast as the other mage remained unmoving. It was with great care that the dark haired mage turned his friend to his back. Natsu didn't seem to be breathing. That made Gray to go into full-alert. Gray started cardiopulmonary resuscitation and, thankfully, it didn't take long until Natsu was reacting, breathing back.
"Come on, you asshole, wake the fuck up!"
The fire mage woke up quite disoriented and mumbling something.
"You're finally awake, you fucking asshole!" Gray let out, feeling very relieved but at the same time being pissed. He was glaring at the fire mage and trying not to throttle him.