Summary: Natsu and Gray have been forced to complete a quick simple mission together. That is, until they are attacked, knocked unconscious and forced to be put on auction for slave owners and crazy scientists. Now they have to stick together for support and strength because if they don't, they may never see their Guild again.

Word Count: 1890

Review Responds:

PokeTail- Did I? Did I really kill him? Why yes I think I did *Evil laughter And obviously Gray cant live with that guilt, that's why I did it! SO EVIL!

Foxpaw101- Awww thanks! You're making me feel all warm inside! Well if you ever want to help come up with a story just let me know and I'll work with you so you can figure out how the heck I pull this out of my crazy brain! Thanks so freakin much for the review!

AsDarknessSpreads- Ohh…this is also short…crap I keep writing short chapters…I'll try to make a longer chapter next time!

Anniegirl132- Yes actually he can be dead…cause I killed him! And ya he wont, hehehehehehhe

Sapphire131- He is, he is! Thanks for the review, I'm glad you're reading it the story and enjoying it!

Cristallina- Just a quick thing to look out for in this story. With your review it made me want to put a "KYAAAAA" in it, but I didn't write that out, but I did write a girly scream that reminded me of Erza (because of your review :D)

Spiral Hearts- Well I do kill of my characters, with little to no regret…so he may be dead, he may not. The world may never know!

Anna- NO! YES! He is, he is!

Just Me- Wait their supposed to get out…alive…Well shit. And holy crap you're right, I do kill Gray…maybe I should switch it around some, kill Natsu, Lucy, Erza, and EVERYONE TO MAKE GRAY SUFFER! Wow…I think I need help…but I've now got a cool story going on in my head…hmmm, you may have just helped me with something here :D

IcePrinceRay- Well Natsu can't move anymore, he's gone forever! Muahahahah! And hey! THANKS FOR BEING MY FIRST HUNDRED REVIEWER!

Guest- Holy crap I read that as "I hope Natsu is in fact dead" I was like…well I've got someone cheering me on now!

Yuki Loxar- Its all right, I'll give you this chapter to collect your emotions and tears, no promises this chapter will help, buuuuuuut.

SashaMonroe- OH SNAP! Thanks xD

A/N: I would like to thank everyone from the bottom of my heart to say thank you! Thank you for everything! This story wouldn't be what it is today if I didn't have all of you supporting me and pushing me further. So thank you…for everything!

Warning: cussing is in here (obviously) OH! Blood, not to much, some spelling errors if I didn't catch them

Disclaimer: I don't own anyone (we would know what would happen if I did)

He woke to the sounds of loud voices. His vision is lost to a see of darkness and he can't feel a thing. He takes a moment to process whatever is in his reach – but his brain wont work, he can't think beyond the point of knowing that all he can see is darkness. He suddenly hears something else, a voice that is louder than the rest. It's shouting something like 'near oozing tin' or 'weird boozing whim', but he can hardly focus on that because a second later the voices are gone.

He seems something that isn't self-explanatory. A light would be the best way to explain it, but that sounds beyond stupid. He tries to look around but the 'not really light' expands beyond his peripheral and engulfs his vision. He's left to gaze upon what seems to be warm eyes – and he recognizes whom those eyes belong to. He smiles and it's a true smile, something warm and open – he feels too happy, too joyful to wonder what the hell is going on. He's happy, actually happy.

A burst makes the joyful image fizz with a hiss. He frowns because now the eyes of someone dear seem far away, and again a burst of static shakes his world. He looks around, the world of light and bliss is slowly pulling back and he cries out. He doesn't want him to leave – not again…not again! He pushes himself forward, trying to reach the eyes of someone treasured, but the image is snagged from view when the burst shakes him to the core.

"He's back!" Someone yells.

"We've brought him back!" Another screams.

"He's a fighter this one!" A group cheers at this remark.

He gasps, his lungs straining to pull in a large amount of much need air and he coughs at the desire his lungs have. He doesn't feel much pain until he has his breathe under control and his side shivers in pain, so does the left side of his chest.

"Natsu-san!" A voice is louder than the rest and it grabs his attention quickly. Hands clasp around his shoulders and shake him, "My boy!" He can't preserve much of what is going on but that one sentence dives past the fog that has settled in his head. He blinks heavily trying to see past the light that is shinning brightly in his face. The hands suddenly heave him upwards and he is met in a warm embrace. "I thought that stupid Dorei killed you!"

Natsu blinks again, "…w-wha?"

"Shh," the person to his right whispers and drags his fingers through his hair. "Don't let your near death experience confuse you." The person leans away from the hold and pats Natsu lightly on the head.

Natsu blinks again and then realizes that his 'owner' was smiling in glee. Behind him, people are rushing around the white room, cleaning up tools that seem odd when he looks at them, but he doesn't take the time to wonder what they are. He takes this time to push the mad man away and growl, "What the fuck are you doing, pervert?"

"I," Shiro sighs in relief which seems to wash over in waves, "did nothing. It was all that idiot Dories' fault."

Natsu frowns and remembers this crazy man gave that senseless name to Gray. He thinks back to when he last saw Gray and remembers that the Ice Mage was…going crazy. He hadn't thought much of this up until now, because he'd just recently been forced back from being frozen, but Gray needed to know he was all right. Knowing that Gray thought that 'the warmth' and 'its…Natsu is gone' didn't really scream mentally stable at the time. He needed to get to his friend and get the hell out – enough is enough.

"Where the hell is Gray," Natsu latches onto his 'owners' collar and brings him close.

"Dorei is locked away, tests will be preformed on him soon." Shiro looks undoubtedly pleased with himself and soon clasps his hands back onto Natsu shoulders, shaking him with excitement. "It isn't everyday we get to experiment with a demon."

Natsu stops at this, a demon…what the hell is he talking about. Gray isn't a demon, maybe a demon slayer – but not a demon. "What are you blabbering about?"

Shiro smiles wickedly at this, his whole demeanor has changed into something else. He looks too pleased with what is accruing. "See," he says, pushing away from Natsu, twisting and turning as he walks away, "its all the same with you Slayers. Dragon, God – Demon…you set out to find this magic that is powerful and destructive. Setting out to slay whatever is in your way, but you never realize how far you go to accomplish that goal – and slowly…" Shiro tilts his head and smiles, "you become the thing you were meant to slay."

Natsu swings his legs over the bed that he's placed on, watching as men and women swallow, watching his movements in fear or what seems like curiosity. "Gray," he starts and pauses – because Gray isn't a damn demon, he's Gray the idiot bastard who slowly became one of his best friends. He's the damn Ice Princess, that has somehow not only been there for him – throughout everything – but seems to want to be with him and everyone at the Guild for the rest of his life. He can't think of Gray being a demon, he can't convince himself of such an idiotic idea. "Gray cant become a demon – he's too fucking stubborn for that."

Shiro's face drops into a blank gaze, "Would you like to see for yourself?"

And Natsu nods at this, he doesn't care much for escaping right now – if Gray is crazy at the moment, than so be it. However, Natsu now knows that he can't do much for his friend at the moment, if Gray can't help himself then Natsu will be there for him, right until the last moment. So he stands – and falls. His legs like jelly under his weight and he hits the floor with a scream that is much too girly (he wants to believe he sounded like Erza when she falls suddenly).

Shiro claps his hands together and the men and women that have been watching this whole ordeal rush to Natsu's side, picking him up and placing him in a white wheelchair. He wants to protest but his body is much to heavy for him to function and he shakes the dizzy spell that has clouded his mind since his tumble.

With a woman behind and Shiro upfront, Natsu is wheeled out of his room and down a hallway. He tries to map out everything to start understanding the layout of this place, but its too similar. Every hallway they turn down seems like the same damn hallway they were on a second ago. Everything is white.

"Now before we show you Dorei," Shiro looks behind and smiles at Natsu, as they turn left. "I'll tell you how you survived." He slows down and comes to a pace that matches that of the woman that is pushing Natsu's chair. "The body of a normal human is made up of 50 to 60 percent of water and being able to drop the internal body temperature low enough will be able to turn us into a, in one way to say, human popsicle. I believe you were still awake for the time when the room itself that Dorei was in slowly started to chill and form ice. It wouldn't matter much to you," Shiro looked down and points towards Natsu's collar, "but because of the collar your internal heat was unable to prevent the cold from treating you like a normal human being. So the temperature dropped within the room, which you and Dorei occupied and with nothing to protect you from reckless Dorei's ice, you're body temperature dropped so low you were placed into a Metabolic Icebox."

Natsu frowns and looks up towards his 'owner', "a Metal-holic what?"

"A Metabolic Icebox is when the internal body heat of a human drops below 30ºC. The individual will look dead and wont move, however they are still able to live. With you however, your internal body heat dropped to 27ºC and your heart started to slow. Luckily we were able to get you out before you became one of these human popsicles and bring back your heart rate to a normal rhythmic level." Shiro stops suddenly, his hand still drawn behind his back and he looks down at Natsu, his eyebrows drawn together as he frowned. "You did die, Natsu-san."

Natsu blinks, surprised by the uncharacteristic change in his 'owner', he looks up and smirks. "You can't kill me that easily – not even Ice Princess."

Shiro smirks, but his eyes say otherwise, and with a turn he places his hand upon the wall and the white wall turns into a window. Natsu turns and fear grips his heart.

Gray – or whatever that is – twitches, his fingers tracing along the wall as he paces around the ice-covered room. His skin is black as a raven's feather, and his eyes are two different colors. One of Gray's eye is a charcoal black, dotted with a single red sphere in the middle, blood drips down from the corner and freezes as it falls to the floor. And Gray's other eye is his normal dark blue color – but he's crying and the tears freeze along his blackened cheek. Gray's head twitches to the left and he looks suddenly up, his dark skin cracking and suddenly glowing blue from underneath.

Gray screams, but its dark and gravely.

He swipes his hand through the air and ice cracks along the floor, shooting out towards the glass window. The ice rams into the wall, making the woman behind Natsu jump in fear. But Natsu doesn't move he doesn't even breathe, because he watches as Gray shrieks again, his voice so very different from what it was. He watches as Gray twitches with every movement, as if he wasn't even sure he was moving himself.

Natsu shakes his head, discussed he let this happen to his friend. He hates himself for letting Gray become…this.

Gray twitches his head, his neck looking abnormal with every movement. Gray steps forward his right hand going to intertwine with his hair, white snowflakes flutter from Gray's hair and slowly drifts down onto the ice covered floor. In fact everything in the room is covered in ice – black ice.

"…Gray?" Natsu finally finds his voice and when he does Gray goes nuts. He twitches, as if he heard the low spoken name, and he brings his left hand up to meet his other. Gray screeches, and it shakes the very foundation from where Natsu sits.

"Out!" Gray cries, his voice is exceedingly altered; Natsu doesn't know how to even respond.

That's when Shiro takes his palm away from the glass and Natsu sits, staring at the wall that displayed his friend moments ago. He doesn't know how to process this, how can he?

A/N: Done and done – alright so I obviously didn't update last week 2 times so lets hope I keep to my word and update Sunday (that is, if I figure out what I'm going to write) OH NO WRITERS BLOCK!