Unbetaed.

Feedback is always appreciated.

Notes/Warnings: injury


L - Life

"Come on, you dumbass! You're not going to give up on me here, are you?" Gray all but yelled, trying to make Natsu come to, having already done all he could to stop Natsu from bleeding out. It didn't bode too well that the team had been separated (though they had been torn apart, more accurately) and that their injuries were grave already.

Things had only just began, for fuck's sake!

And Natsu – who had been whisked away at some point – had ended up on the same bottom of a cliff as Gray. Quite beat up and in one of the worst states he had ever seen. Gray himself wasn't without injuries, his leg was throbbing and he'd applied ice to stop the bleeding on his side. It was also quite painful to move his left wrist but right now he just wanted Natsu to wake up. And to make himself not look into the bloodied pulp that was on the place where Natsu's right arm was.

They… they just needed to find Wendy. She would heal them, and bring Natsu back to his dumb, healthy form.

"C'mon, you have to fight now." He gave a couple of small smacks on Natsu's cheek, smearing the slickness of the blood on the steadily paling skin.

At long last, Natsu woke up. His eyes opened slowly and then he jerked in Gray's arms, body turning stiff with the pain, a gasp escaping him as he instantly tried to curl onto himself to stave off the pain. And then, it was only after a lot of effort from Gray, the fire mage finally focused on Gray's anxious face.

"G-Gray? What's 'appenin'?" he asked, his voice coming slurred. His left hand was curling into the crumbling soil underneath him.

"Calm down, Natsu." Gray hurried to say, trying to still his friend, maybe ease off some of the pain – if such were possible. "You're quite injured so you can't move all that much." He said, the tendrils of anxiousness tightening their grip on the ice mage. "We need to find Wendy, maybe she can do something for you."

A fit of coughs racked Natsu's frame, bits of blood coming from his lips. "Where are the others?" he asked finally.

"Heck if I know, flame-head. And I guess that you've gotten quite a pounding, huh? If even your resistance to the injuries is on such a low, you weirdo." Gray's dry remark, a poor attempt at lifting the air, fell flat between the two mages.

"Shut up. At least I'm not a walking ice cube." Natsu managed to shoot back, blood-red lips parting in a mirthless grin. "Some of us have more sense than that, ice-brain."

"Ah, just you wait. There's quite more that you can do with ice, mister "it's better if everything's burned to the ground"…" Gray's reply came smoothly, the bickering familiar and comforting, even in such dire situations.

That just strengthened Gray's resolve in getting both of them out of whichever hole they were in – and they would do it alive.

"Just… hang on, okay? You insufferable fire mage!" Gray almost shook Natsu for an answer.

"Like you're much better…" was the weak answer. But it gave Gray the hope that Natsu would put his stubbornness to good use.