Woo! It's the start of the mid year break from uni which means as well as a rather ruined sleeping pattern, we also get regular fic updates ! I'll try to post on the Saturday night of each fortnight :)

Enjoy!

Nine
Repercussions

"Nobody said it was easy, no one ever said it would be this hard. Oh take me back to the start."
- The Scientist, Coldplay

"C'mon!" Cana led the way from the train station in Gladiolus and followed the signs to the hospital with Lucy, Erza, Wendy and Loke in tow. "We are going to the hospital first."

"No question!" Lucy's smile was wide as she followed the brunette up the side street.

"Do you know where you're going?" Wendy asked quietly.

"Of course!" Cana snorted.

The group continued in silence as they neared the hospital. The large, dull red brick building sat at the top of a hill with a surprising amount of sloping green lawns surrounding it. They made their way up the path and entered reception through a pair of double glass doors. Erza took the lead as she strode up to the front desk. "We're here to see Gray Fullbuster!" She offered a smile.

Erza.Lucy stepped up to the desk, "please, what room is he in?"

"Oh, you must be Fairy Tail!" The kind eyed man behind the desk smiled, "your pink haired friend, Natsu, he's already there, but I'm sure Gray won't mind if you go up too. He's in private room 43, just up the stairs to my right. I'm sure Natsu let you know about his condition?"

"Yeah, he filled us in," Loke looked uncharacteristically serious, "is there anything you can do for his memory?"

"At this point we're still running tests but we are doing all we can."

"Thank you." Cana smiled before pulling Wendy in the direction the receptionist had pointed. The others followed.

As they reached the top of the stairs they heard a familiar raised voice.

"Is that…" Lucy trailed off.

"Yeah, that sounds like Natsu," Erza frowned and started forward at a run but before she'd made any headway an orange haired blur flashed past.

Loke rushed to the door having sensed the stress and panic radiating from the room from the bottom of the stairs. His sensitive ears had picked up Natsu's words and he knew what was coming next wouldn't be good. As he skidded into the room, Loke was shocked at the scene he saw before him. He had never seen his friend in such a state, and he never wanted to again.

Gray was sitting up in his bed with his knees pulled to his chest. Pale, bony hands clutched at his face as loud sobs shook his body. It was a horrifying image, and something Loke knew he'd never forget. He dashed forward to gently wrap his hands around Gray's wrists to try and pull them back from his face. "Gray." Loke called out calmly.

"I won't tell you! I won't tell you anything!"

"Gray! Gray it's alright…" Loke repeated, "you need to try and calm down!"

"I won't tell you! I won't, I won't, I-" Gray choked out a shaking sob as he blinked at Loke through his tears.

"Gray, it's Loke, everything is going to be fine."

"Loke?" Gray sniffed.

It was as if Gray had only just recognised him. The relief was evident in his dark eyes as he stared at the Celestial Spirit. As Gray wiped the tears from his cheeks it was as if his mind cleared. He blinked a couple of times before his eyes widened and he glanced quickly around the room.

"A sketchbook." Gray stated weakly, his voice still shook but it wasn't hard to tell Gray was trying to hide it. "A blank sketchbook! Please…and a pencil." That was a new one…

Cana was quick to the task. Putting an open sketchbook on Gray's lap along with a pencil, she stood back next to Loke who was watching Gray intently for any other signs of distress. Why Gray needed to draw something in that moment was nearly as baffling to Cana as Natsu's outburst had been. As she watched Gray work, Cana couldn't help but let her mind wander to the Dragon Slayer in question. Erza and Lucy had dragged Natsu outside into the hall the moment they had arrived at the room.

Outside in the hall, Erza was glaring at Natsu with a mixture of confusion and disappointment. What has gotten into him? He spent all this time looking for Gray but now he just yells at him…why?

Feeling disgusted with himself, Natsu avoided Erza's scrutinising gaze. What have I done?

"Come with me." Erza growled. Grabbing Natsu's hand arm stormed back down the stairs towards reception. "I need a drink, and you need to talk!"

"Oh." Natsu glanced back at the closed door of Gray's room. With his previous anger only just ebbing away, Natsu's heart sank as he realised the severity of how he'd treated his friend. I screwed up!

The pair passed Lucy and Sara coming the other way on the stairs. Natsu cast his eyes to the ground, as if trying to concentrate not falling down the stairs as Erza tugged him along. They reached the café minutes later. It wasn't until she was sat down across from Natsu with a strong coffee that Erza spoke. She didn't even try to keep the hurt confusion from her tone.

"Natsu!" Erza barked, "could you please explain to me what on Earthland all that was about?"

"I-" Natsu studied the coffee mug stains on the table in front of them. "I don- I…I panicked. Got so angry at him. Don't know why." Shallow breaths filled the silence.

"You panicked. You panicked?" Erza looked flabbergasted, "Natsu, Gray came out of a coma just over a week ago. His memory has been tampered with. If anything, Gray should be the one panicking."

Natsu stayed silent. He couldn't keep the tears from his eyes as he finally looked up at the redhead.

"What's the book?" Erza's curiosity got the better of her, but she wasn't finished with Natsu quite yet.

It wasn't until Erza had asked though that Natsu realised he was hugging Gray's sketchbook to his chest. Painfully so. He extracted the book from his closed arms and handed it to Erza. "It's Gray's sketchbook. He gave it to me to look at yesterday." Natsu sniffed, "Drawing seems helps him to sort out the mess of memories in his head…but they're all wrong."

"What do y- ohh…" Erza trailed off as she realised the problem. There was no sign of Natsu anywhere. It looked strange. The book was open on a page filled with large sketches of the Grand Magic Games teams. Team B: Gajeel, Laxus, Mirajane, Juvia, and 'Mystogan', and then on the next page, Team A: Erza, Gray, Lucy, Elfman, and Wendy. Gray had sketched the combined team on the next double page: Erza, Gray, Gajeel, Wendy, and Laxus, along with what was supposed to be the fight between Sting and Rogue, and Natsu and Gajeel. Instead of Natsu though, Wendy was by Gajeel's side. Without the pink haired Dragon Slayer the image looked strange, and for Natsu, Erza could see how much that would have hurt.

Erza could now see what had got her friend into such a state. From Natsu's bottled up emotions which had come out in bursts over the past year, right up until they'd found out Gray was alive, anything left had all come out in that moment. All the anger and frustration had finally come out in full, and though it would have had to come out eventually, it definitely wasn't the best time, for either of them. So though there was no way that Erza could blame Natsu for the reason for his outburst, what it had done to Gray…that, Natsu could answer for.

"You really didn't think did you?"

Natsu shook his head. Gray's fearful expression flashed up in his mind as he cast his eyes back to the table. "I couldn't help it. I did so much to try and get him back, Erza," he wiped the tears of frustration from his cheeks with a free hand, "the fact that he can't even remember me is something I'm struggling with."

"Of course you are, Natsu, but do you really think it was the best idea for you to lose it like that in front of the already traumatised Gray?"

Natsu's silence was enough to answer that question.

"Have you stopped to think why it is only you he's forgotten?" Erza prompted, she didn't want Natsu getting emotional again, she was sure there would be a lot more of that to come. "There has to be a reason, or he would have lost his memory altogether, and forgotten us too."

"You're right." Natsu paused, "there has to be a logical explanation. Once we've worked that out, and the how it happened, then we can try and fix it."

If that's even possible… Erza smiled at Natsu's sudden optimism, but her gut feeling was telling her there was so much more to Gray's memory loss than what would be just an 'easy fix'. It was highly possible that the road ahead was so much rougher than the year they'd just had.

Natsu shut the sketchbook and slid it back across the table. Absentmindedly hugging the thick book to his chest again, he offered Erza a hopeful smile. "I want to see him, please…"

– o – o – o –

Cana watched in silent awe as Gray's still shaking hand moved deftly over the page before him. She'd seen a number of Gray's sketches and paintings but she had never actually seen him working on anything. It was mesmerising. Cana moved to the opposite side of the bed from Loke so she could get a better view of the page. She wasn't surprised that the image didn't make much sense to her at that point.

Three pairs of eyes glanced up as the door banged open again. Loke tensed, ready in case it was Natsu who stormed back in. He relaxed, however, when he saw Lucy enter along with an unfamiliar brunette. Almost instantly Gray turned back to his sketch. Apart from a small smile, he nearly ignored the two women altogether.

"What happened?" Sara directed the question at Loke but it was Gray who spoke.

"I think you should see this." His voice wavered as he spoke as if he was still reliving the memory he'd just drawn. Gray had no intention of explaining Natsu's outburst quite yet, he was hoping to prolong that conversation as long as possible, for Natsu's sake. Though his words had hurt and scared him, Gray knew that Natsu had his reasons for the outburst. It was those reasons which made forgiving Natsu and forgetting the incident a much more attractive option, along with the fact that Natsu's words had brought on a flashback which could possibly be useful. "I saw something." Gray continued, "Something new. It felt different to the other memories."

Sara started to check Gray's vitals as he spoke.

"How do you mean, different?" Loke frowned.

"Just different. Everything else that I've, well…dreamt, I've felt like I was an outsider. Like a normal dream, you know? Watching everything but not having control. With those it's hard to know what's real…"

"So that's why you drew it all? So you could, hopefully, later check with us what was real." Cana thought aloud.

Gray nodded slowly before continuing. "…this time though, I wasn't just watching, I was there as well. I felt it all. All His pain, His fear, His anger. He felt so cold, so scared. There's something else too though, I can't work it out."

Lucy's eyes widened, "did you recognise anything? Anything at all?"

"You probably shouldn't…" Sara started but she was soon interrupted.

"No, I'm fine." Gray lied, he was definitely not fine, far from it, but he still hadn't explained everything. "I didn't recognise the place at all, but it looked something like this." Gray turned the sketchbook around on his lap so it was easier for the group to see.

Lucy couldn't help but gasp when she saw what Gray had drawn.

The rough sketch showed a skinny, dark haired figure which was obviously Gray, sitting chained to a chair in the centre of what looked like a small stone room. Below this Gray had drawn an aggressive looking face with dark, beady eyes which looked far too small in proportion to the massive, crooked nose, and beefy lips. The drawing was captioned, 'Giganto'.

"This is what you saw." Cana gazed wide eyed at Gray. It was a statement, not a question. What they must have put him through…I dread to think.

"He must have nicknamed him Giganto, the man had no other name." Gray worked hard to keep his voice calm. "He wanted something from Him. Some sort of information. I can't remember the question, but…but I know that He refused to say anything." Gray sighed, "Most of the memory has faded already. All I can see now is that awful, sneering face."

Lucy couldn't stop the tears which now rolled down her cheeks. "What they did to you Gray, it's horrible!" She could see it in the still sickly pallor of Gray's skin, in the scars which marred her friend's arms and the skin around bandaged chest. The dark shadows under his eyes still hadn't faded and it scared her. Nightmares.

Cana moved to put an arm around Lucy's shoulders and guided her to the seat by Gray's bed. Satisfied with Gray's immediate health for the time being, Sara slipped to the side of the room and sat in a vacant chair. She knew she'd have to get them all out eventually, though happy with how Gray was in that moment, he needed rest.

Startled by Lucy's sudden burst of emotion it took Gray a moment to know what to do. With a small smile, Gray took her hand in his own. "I'm here now though, I'm safe." Safe. It was the first time he'd used the word in such a long time, though he remembered dream Natsu saying it as they reached the edge of the forest when they'd first escaped. Natsu. Safe. Natsu.

Lucy chuckled through her tears, "I'm sorry, I'm being so silly." She gave Gray's hand a gentle squeeze. "I'm just so happy to have you back Gray, that's all."

"Trust me, I'm happy to be back too, and thank you for being here. Natsu needs you just as much as I do right now." Gray offered the group a wide smile as he shut the sketchbook on his lap with a soft thump. He paused for a moment before continuing, "I want to see him, please…"

Thank you so much for all the love! Your encouragement and support is amazing! :)

Ryuu91: Ahhhthank you! I'm so glad you are enjoying the fic!

Serpent Tailed Angel: Oh gosh! I am so sorry about that, I only started posting here after chapter 2 so that might be why... I understand that completely, don't worry! Thank you! Ahh yeah, sorry! But I hope you stay along for the rest of the ride! Yeah, that's aperfectly reasonable way to feel, Natsu rather was an ass about the whole thing

Kori no Koibito: Thank you for your review! Yeah, Natsu's anger was mean but understandable - the poor thing really is so confused. Yeah, you're right there, Gray's mind has fabricated memories to cover the holes in his frazzled mind. Ahh thank you! I am so glad you're enjoying the story :)

Fanskatsuki: Yeah, he really is going through the wars! :( both of them are going through a tough time of it! Thank you for the review! :)

Kyogre: Thank you for your feedback! I can see where you are coming from with your thoughts :) they really are having a rough time of it all, my poor boys!