A/N - I will probably be doing more like one chapter a week for the next few weeks as I am hosting a guest and busy with the upcoming Holidays!

TW for vomit in this chapter.

Erza was staring at Gray again. She was idly stirring the pasta in the pot, and checking it every so often, but mostly she was locked onto his face. Clearly, he wasn't doing a very good job of convincing her that he was okay.

Gray dropped his eyes to the table in front of him, picking at some of the peeling varnish. He knew that he was being suspicious, probably extremely suspicious, but, just like everything else for the past few days, there was nothing he could do to stop it. The unmanageable pain in his leg had dulled back to something approaching the original levels, which was good. At least when Erza asked him a question, he could open his mouth to respond without passing out or throwing up.

Even so, it was hard talking to her. She was worried about him, that much was obvious. It had been years since she'd cooked for him. When they'd been younger, she'd occasionally made him dinner, usually when he'd run out of money to buy his own. At the time, he'd thought she had just been trying to hone her cooking skills, and she was using him as her guinea pig (the food hadn't been very good). Looking back, he recognized that she'd stepped in when he needed something, whether that was a free meal or a friendly conversation.

Gray knew that she was extending the same offer now, and it was hard to refuse her. And anyways, he didn't really want to be alone, as hard as it was to hide how much he was suffering from Erza. So he answered her questions as quickly as possible, hopefully in a way that would keep her from being too concerned about him. And he tried to appreciate the fact that he now had both a home-cooked meal and a friend.

After a while, Erza finished up the spaghetti and sauce and ladled the meal into two bowls. She set one down in front of Gray, and then moved to sit across from him, holding the bowl of her own.

It smelled amazing. It smelled like his childhood, and comfort, and safety. It smelled so rich and flavorful that it almost made his stomach twist.

Suddenly, Gray found his mouth was watering, and not in the good way. He swallowed delicately, closing his eyes in an attempt to stave off the nausea.

He hadn't been totally lying to Erza before. Between the stress and the painkillers and the passing out, Gray had lost track of time, and he wasn't sure exactly how long it had been since Natsu had been taken. He knew it was at least 36 hours though, if not even longer, and he hadn't eaten anything since then. The pain from Natsu's broken leg had pretty much completely stolen his appetite, and anyways, he hadn't really had the energy to prepare anything himself.

He knew he should be hungry. The last dregs of the painkillers were still keeping the agony in his leg from getting too bad, and he needed food in order to sustain himself. He was in dire need of a good meal. But the idea of putting anything in his mouth was making him very unhappy. If Erza hadn't been there, staring at him, he probably would have pitched the whole meal in the trash.

"Is something wrong?" Erza asked.

"I…no," Gray managed. "I'm just…really tired. I haven't been sleeping that well because of the trial. I might go take a nap after this."

He wasn't sure if he'd actually be able to fall asleep, as nice as a brief break from reality sounded. But at least if Erza thought he was sleeping, he'd be able to escape her. He simply hadn't counted on how exhausting it would be to pretend to be normal in front of another person, especially someone who knew him very well.

"I'm sorry to hear you haven't been sleeping well," Erza said.

Gray tentatively gathered some pasta onto his fork, and shoved it in his mouth before he could think too hard about it. It did taste good. Swallowing it was…a challenge, but he told himself that he would feel so much better once he was fed, and he was able to do it.

"So what exactly about the trial is worrying you?" Erza asked, starting to eat her own food. "Is it testifying in front of all those people?"

Gray had no idea what to say to that, but he knew he had to come up with something. He opened his mouth to respond, then broke off as the nausea surged up. Carefully, Gray swallowed again, trying not to let his discomfort show on his face. The thought of talking through the nausea, much less eating another bite, almost made him gag. Gray swallowed one more time, then shrugged.

"I guess."

Erza looked like she was going to ask another question, probably either about the trial or about why he hadn't eaten more of his spaghetti. Grimly, Gray shoved another bite into his mouth before she could talk.

Gray could tell from the increasing pain in his stomach that he was playing a losing game. He was going to vomit eventually - the only question was whether he could hold out long enough for Erza to leave him alone.

"Is it okay?" Erza nodded towards his bowl, looking upset. Gray's stomach turned even worse, knowing he was disappointing her.

"It's g-great," Gray said, forcing a small smile and taking another small bite. "J-just like I remember."

Erza smiled back, taking another forkful of her own pasta. Gray looked down, away from her. At this point, even the sight of food was making him more nauseous.

"You know, Gray, whatever's going on, you can talk to me," Erza said. "You can talk to me about anything."

Her voice was sympathetic, and Gray wished he'd never had the stupid idea to bring her here. He could talk to her about anything, except the situation that he was currently in. And that was somehow way worse than pretending he was alright to Lahar and Doranbolt.

"I know," Gray managed, taking another tiny bite of spaghetti. He pushed the remaining pasta around his plate, hoping he could make it look like he'd eaten more. He didn't dare to look up at Erza, but he could feel her frustration all the way across the table.

"Well, I'm here if you need anything," Erza finally said, sounding slightly offended. Gray did look at her then, flicking his eyes up as she put her empty bowl in the sink. He wanted to respond and thank her, even if he knew he couldn't take her up on the offer, but he was afraid he would throw up if he opened his mouth.

He waited until she looked back, surprised that he hadn't responded yet, and then nodded softly.

"Are you alright?" she asked sharply. Her tone suggested the question was more immediate than it had been before, so Gray guessed he must have paled sometime over the course of their conversation. That wasn't surprising. He wondered if he could arrange his face into an expression that looked more natural, and then decided he couldn't.

"I'm alright," Gray managed.

"Do you want me to walk you back to your room?"

God. Gray had forgotten he needed to make it back to his room. Right now, when he was still trying to hide his physical condition from Erza, the nausea was taking center stage. But he knew the pain in his leg was what was causing it, and his leg hurt. He'd somewhat gotten used to the stabbing pain that centered in the middle of his shin, but any time he thought about it the agony immediately surged up around him, making him feel like he was drowning. The pain from the break itself, along with the weird position he needed to hold his leg in to walk, was making a throbbing ache travel from his thigh all the way through his hip. He knew he'd been walking around all morning, and it wouldn't actually do anything worse to his leg, but he didn't want to have to, he just didn't want to….

Letting Erza take some of his weight sounded like a great idea. But letting her see the kind of shape he was in would put Natsu at risk. So Gray shook his head.

"You…you probably need to unpack, right?"

Erza looked hurt for a split second - she clearly recognized that she was being dismissed. But she just nodded. "You're probably right. I'll see you later tonight?"

"Yeah," Gray managed. Erza gave him one last look, and then left the room.

Gray heaved himself to his feet, supporting himself heavily on the table. He still felt terrible, and he wondered vaguely if he should just vomit in here and be done with it, now that Erza was gone. But he thought he stood a higher chance of being discovered here than in his room, so he forced himself to stand up straight and then stumbled down the hallway.

By the time Gray made it back to his room, he had a hand placed gingerly over his mouth, afraid he would throw up on the floor if he removed it. His skin felt clammy and prickly, and his hands were trembling slightly. He was so miserable that he had the sudden, almost irrational fear that he was about to start crying again.

The second he had entered the room and shut the door behind him, Gray was diving for a trash can. Kneeling on the floor would have hurt his leg too much, so he managed to drag the trash can to a spot beside his bed and sit down.

Gray bent over the trash can, clenching his teeth so he didn't groan loud enough to alarm Lahar or Erza. He knew that throwing up was inevitable at this point, and waiting the last few seconds for his body to give up was agonizing.

His stomach gave one final twist, and Gray coughed weakly, folding almost in half as his few mouthfuls of spaghetti worked their way back up his throat. So much for feeling better once he'd eaten.

Gray couldn't stifle his whimper as his stomach heaved again, this time bringing up nothing but bile. There wasn't anything left in his stomach to throw up at this point, since Gray couldn't even remember the last time he'd eaten, but he couldn't stop gagging. Behind the nausea, the hunger lurked, making him feel like his stomach was turning itself inside out.

But he was almost there. The trial was tomorrow, and as much as Gray was dreading it, at least this would all be over. He would have Natsu back, and he would be able to eat again, and…somehow, this would all be fine.

As soon as his leg had been broken, Natsu knew that he was in for a stretch of absolute hell. Between the pain, and the worry for Gray, and the slow trickle of emotions that he could feel through their link, he'd expected to be driven half out of his mind with the stress. But what he hadn't counted on was the boredom.

It wasn't that he wasn't in pain, or worried, or hungry, or tired, or afraid. Natsu had been dealing with all of those pretty much since the moment he'd been taken. But by now, he'd been worn down by the constant stress, and it had started to feel almost normal. He was exhausted, and numb.

That had been a relief, for about an hour. And then, Natsu had started to get bored. He'd always needed a lot of stimulation, ever since he could remember. Usually, that wasn't so much of a problem - he was pretty good at entertaining himself. He would just go find a friend, or go on a job, or pick up a new hobby. But now, he couldn't even move away from the pole his wrists were chained to. And even if he could have moved, he wouldn't have wanted to, because that would make Gray feel the pain in Natsu's leg too.

It was starting to get physically uncomfortable. He was not used to sitting still this long. Even when he was motion sick, he usually changed positions often, just on the off chance that one of them would suddenly make him feel better. This, forced inaction, was hell for him. Sometimes, without thinking, he'd start to move around and have to force himself to stop when the pain flared.

About an hour ago, he'd started to get pretty nauseous. At first, he'd figured it was coming from him - after all, he was in tons of pain, very probably in shock, and all he'd eaten for the past few days was the weird dry bread Tony was occasionally bringing him, with the sporadic bowl of something that vaguely resembled oatmeal. He'd even wondered if he wasn't actually feeling sick, but he was just hungry to the point of sickness, his stomach more or less trying to digest itself.

Eventually, he'd decided it was definitely nausea, and it was probably coming from Gray. But honestly, he hadn't really minded. It wasn't as bad as motion sickness yet, and it was at least a change of pace from the horribly boring monotony of just sitting on the ground waiting for something to happen. And it gave him something to focus on aside from the pain in his leg.

Some small part of him recognized how sad it was that he was in such bad shape that sickness felt interesting. But he tried not to think very hard about that. When he felt like this, it was pretty easy to turn his brain off.

But the nausea had kept growing until it had gotten to the point where it was definitely no longer fun. It had been all he could do to keep from gagging, and it made him sad that Gray was having to go around feeling like this.

Natsu really had no way to track time down here - there were no visible windows, and his meals didn't seem to come at regular times. He didn't even know how many days it had been since he'd been taken, let alone how long it might have been since Gray had started feeling sick.

But after some amount of time, the feeling had gotten to be too much, and Natsu had had no choice but to turn his head and vomit onto the ground. He could feel that Gray was throwing up too, although he couldn't tell if he was throwing up because of Gray or if Gray was finally throwing up because of him.

Natsu coughed and spat on the ground, raising his bound wrists to his mouth and swiping them across his lips. He let his head fall back against the pole, panting softly and welcoming the momentary release from nausea.

It only took a few minutes before his stomach was hurting again. Natsu groaned, clenching his teeth. This was different than the nausea before. He was feeling hunger pangs, and he didn't think they were his own. He was hungry, yes, but up until about ten minutes previously, he'd had at least something in his stomach. The way his stomach was hurting now, it felt like he hadn't eaten in days.

"Aw, Gray," Natsu muttered, closing his eyes. He knew the ice wizard occasionally went without food when he was particularly stressed, like he was now. Gray probably hadn't eaten since he'd found out Natsu was captured.

Natsu squeezed his eyes shut tighter and swallowed hard, wishing that he could do something to stop the feeling of his stomach digesting itself. Unfortunately, if Gray wasn't eating, nothing Natsu did would make a difference while they were linked.

He wished Gray hadn't thrown up whatever meal he'd tried to eat, for both their sakes. He felt horrible for thinking that, especially since Gray was probably literally worried sick about him, but Natsu wasn't sure how much more he could take. Between the pain, the hunger, the occasional nausea, and now the boredom, Natsu was getting stretched thin. He didn't even know how long he'd been here, and he didn't know when the trial was, or when Gray would come to get him. Hopefully, it would be soon.

"You got this, snowflake," Natsu mumbled, trying to find a semi-comfortable position against the pole. At this point, there wasn't much he could do except try to sleep. He wished Gray could hear him, but just talking to him made him feel a little better either way. "You're gonna get me out, and we're gonna kick some ass. I'm waitin'."

Natsu sighed, trying to push away the pain. He didn't really feel tired, but when he closed his eyes, he was so exhausted that he could feel himself fading. Hopefully, if Natsu slept, Gray could get some rest too.

Erza sat bolt upright in bed, automatically reaching for the sword on her nightstand. She'd heard something, or at least thought she had. But no one was in the room with her, and intruders weren't generally known to wait for an invitation before entering.

Frowning, Erza checked the clock. It was the middle of the night, almost 3am, and the trial was the next morning. Erza had specifically requested to get a good night's sleep beforehand, just in case anything was required of her.

It had to be Gray.

There was a small knock at her door. It was so faint that if Erza had been anyone else, she wasn't sure that it would have woken her.

"Come in," she said softly, sitting up and turning on the light on her bedside table. The door cracked open, and for a long moment nothing happened. It was clearly Gray, and he was clearly nervous. "Gray?"

Finally, Gray slipped through the small gap in the door. He was looking a little unsteady on his feet, and before Erza got a good look at him, she had a split second where she was sure he was drunk. But when she looked into his eyes, there was no haze there. He just looked pale and tired and scared.

He didn't say anything.

"Gray?" she prompted gently.

"Were…were you asleep?"

Erza thought that was self-evident enough - she was wearing pajamas, sitting in her bed, and it had been approximately 3am when he'd come knocking.

She realized Gray hadn't come all the way into the room. He'd opened the door and then remained in the doorway, leaning heavily against the wood frame. His head was tilted slightly so his forehead could rest against it, his back slightly bowed. It looked like he hadn't slept in a week.

"Gray?" she asked. "What's wrong?"

"I…couldn't sleep."

Erza knew this couldn't possibly be all that was wrong, but she thought there was a fair chance that if she pushed him, he would simply leave.

"Why don't you come in and sit down? You look completely exhausted."

Gray hesitated for a second, and then slowly made his way into the room. He still looked nervous, and if the situation were anything different, Erza would have felt offended, not sure what she had done to merit such cold behavior from Gray.

As it was, she moved to make space for Gray on the bed, but she wasn't exactly surprised when he went for the floor instead. He lowered himself to the ground carefully, stiffly, and stretched his long legs out in front of him.

"I didn't realize it was so late," he said, staring at a patch of ground next to him. There was an apology in his voice.

"That's all right," Erza said quietly. "I'm here for you, whenever you need me." She knew from long experience that Gray would hold things back as long as he was able, and even if the cracks were beginning to show, he wouldn't ask for help until he was on the verge of a breakdown. If he was showing up at her room in the middle of the night, he was very, very close to falling apart. Erza still didn't know what was wrong, but this was probably one of her last chances to find out.

She waited, but Gray didn't say anything. Still looking away from her, he started picking at the carpet, yanking out threads and dropping them into a pile beside him.

"What's wrong?" Erza finally asked, after Gray had built up a decent-sized mound of carpet fibers. He didn't respond, but in the silence, she thought she could hear him swallow hard.

It took a few more minutes, but eventually, Gray cleared his throat. His voice was barely above a whisper, and Erza found herself holding her breath in order to catch the words. "Would…would you ever do something wrong, something, like, immoral, if it meant helping someone important? Im-important to you, I mean." He looked up at her then, and the fear in his eyes was all she could see.

In a flash, Erza finally understood the situation. She didn't know how, but someone must have gotten to Gray. They must have threatened to hurt one of the Guild, probably Natsu, if Gray didn't go on the stand and give false testimony.

It was lucky that Natsu was on a job. He was out of town, and therefore out of danger. Gray clearly still didn't want to admit to her what was going on, but as long as she said the right thing, she could set his fears at rest without making him acknowledge the problem directly.

"No." Erza said it with all the certainty she could summon. "No, I wouldn't. If I did that, I would be betraying myself and the person important to me, as well. And…in Fairy Tail, things have a way of working out."

Gray looked like he'd been punched in the face. He'd been pale before, but now, he looked ashy and very ill indeed. He swallowed convulsively, and looked back down at the rug. "O-oh." His voice was soft and shaky, and he sounded close to tears.

Erza winced. She'd wanted to encourage Gray, not make him feel guilty over considering lying on the stand. Gray was a good person, and she knew he would make the right choice - he was just scared, and Natsu wasn't here, and he felt isolated. She'd also meant to remind him that no one stood a chance of hurting Natsu - the rest of the guild would do whatever it took to protect him. But it clearly hadn't worked, and Erza wasn't sure what else to say.

"It's alright," Erza said softly. "You're doing the right thing, Gray."

"I-" He cut himself off - it sounded like he hadn't even been sure what he wanted to say. He looked down at the patch of carpet beside him, slightly away from Erza, and Erza could see the faint rise and fall of his back as he breathed. She wondered if she should invite him to sit on her bed again. Did he need further reassurance?

But before she could say anything else, he started pushing himself to his feet. Normally, he moved with visible grace regardless of the situation he was in. But now, he looked achy and stiff, like he couldn't quite get his body to move the way he wanted. He had to lever himself up on his hands to get his legs beneath him.

"Thanks for your help," he said. "I…I think I feel better now."

"Where are you going?"

"The trial is tomorrow. I think I need to just try to get some sleep."

He started to limp towards the door.

"Gray," Erza said sharply. "Are you injured?"

"No," he said softly. "I'm not."

And then he softly slipped through the doorway and was gone.