Dedicated to KotoriLexy over at AO3.
Snowy Meadow
"You're late."
Natsu's voice echoed strangely over the white plane.
Gray huffed and walked towards the fire mage. Plopping himself down beside him on a fallen trunk. The wind blew sharply around them. It felt strangely familiar. It was comforting.
"What did you want? I didn't know we were supposed to meet?" Gray was slightly confused.
"Of course you wouldn't." Natsu rolled his eyes and scoffed a little. "Always late, aren't you?"
"Hey!" Gray elbowed the other and made him fall from the trunk with an indignant squeak.
Natsu was looking slightly annoyed.
"What was that for?"
"You're acting weird." Gray stated. "It was that or a face full of snow." He arched an eyebrow in challenge. Natsu's face went through a series of fleeting emotions, ending in an uncharacteristic serious expression.
"You don't know…" he said, blinking and his eyes widening.
"I don't know what?" Gray turned to sit astride the trunk, now facing the fire mage.
"You're injured." Natsu said in a voice that was devoid of emotion. "It is – was? – pretty serious. And while," he paused to run a hand through his hair, "while you've recovered quite a bit physically, your mind got lost."
"Is that why we're here? How?" Gray asked, standing and starting to pace.
"This," Natsu interjected, standing and walking to Gray, one hand tapping on the inside of his left wrist, "it seems that the connection between the two of us is stronger than predicted."
"The mark, then?" Gray stopped, his right hand curling around his left wrist. "But how?"
"How the fuck am I supposed to know?" Natsu was baffled. "It works, though."
"You are here." Gray said with a nod and a sigh. "Alright. What do we do?"
"I don't know. I have to take you from this icy maze you created for yourself. It's surprising you could do something like that, with that ice block of a brain."
"Ice blo-!" Gray sputtered in outrage. "I'll tell you-!" Gray glowered at Natsu, ready to kick his ass.
This brief moment of levity was broken by the ground starting to rumble.
"What the hell?" Gray said, in shock.
"This is not good." Natsu yelled over the slowly all-encompassing uproar.
"What do you mean, 'not good'?" was the worried reply. Gray placed a hand on Natsu's forearm, trying to keep himself upright.
"Shit!" Natsu cursed as he fell to a kneeling position. As Gray glanced down he could see that Natsu's legs were becoming transparent.
"What the hell is happening?"
"Gray!" Natsu said urgently, looking at him seriously. "You have to go to the snowy meadow."
"Where is that?"
"You're the only person who knows that. But it's our only hope." And with a quick squeeze of his hand, Natsu faded before Gray's eyes.
"What the fuck?" the ice mage said through almost unmoving lips before a sharp pain bloomed across his abdomen, making him gasp and fall to his knees, panting.
"What is this?" he asked himself as the pain lessened and he could stand once again, breathing heavily. He glanced around, taking in his surroundings.
Everything seemed to have changed, stilled.
The quaint clearing had darkened, the light dimming at the same time that mists started to rise from the ground.
His breath finally evened out and Gray looked down at his wrist. A gentle warmth was blooming in there.
Pressing his fingers gently against the inside of his wrist, where the pulse point was, Gray felt a tender burst of heat shoot through his fingers, up through his arm.
It left him smiling, slightly.
For that was Natsu. For sure.
And so, a path formed before the ice mage. The mists parted and a thin, iridescent thread shone before him.
Gray felt compelled to follow it.
He had to find the place Natsu had mentioned anyway.
Leaving the clearing, Gray walked for a long time, in the thick, dark forest. The mists surrounding him and creating a claustrophobic feeling. Fortunately he got out of it before long.
Only to be in a familiar snowy place. The wooden cabin a little ways off to his right, the path to the hot springs right behind it.
There was smoke coming from the chimney and the sight had something squeezing inside Gray's chest. A pang of loneliness.
But the thread was still shining, now a bright yellow, so easy to see among the whiteness.
So Gray went.
Up to the mountains. Walking, walking, walking until the surrounding mountains shrank. They became more tangible, more solid and defined.
Buildings.
Houses.
A town.
A very familiar town, even if it seemed like all the colour of it had been bleached away by the fluffy snow and ice that covered all the buildings' façades.
It was a ghost town.
Silent. Everything was as if in suspense. Waiting.
The strangeness tightened something in Gray's gut. It felt off.
His own body seemed to start to twinge and ache.
It shouldn't feel this way, he knew that for sure.
Yet, at the same time the warmth made him keep going.
Suddenly, Gray remembered. And Natsu's words made sense.
With large strides Gray followed the thread that crisscrossed through ghost Magnolia.
He knew where he was going now.
Would he be finding Natsu in there? He had to.
It was the place – their place.
The pain in his abdomen started to make itself known once more but Gray ignored it. Still, the pain started to radiate outwards but was contained by the gentle warmth that allowed Gray to endure.
It was a delicate balance, which Gray hoped would hold until he was at the place.
He started to run. No longer paying attention to the guiding thread.
He knew where he was going.
Not too far from Magnolia, siding the path that led to the town, there was a forest. It seemed to be overlooking both the river and the path. And in there, as a companion, a meadow spread down towards the river.
Usually it was painted green, sprinkled here and there with colourful flowers or as a sea of gold.
At this one moment, as Gray reached it, the whiteness was immense.
But it was it.
The snowy meadow.
Where he and Natsu had-
Gray paused and took a look around. The thread had vanished. And there was no-one there.
"Where are you, Natsu?" he asked himself out loud as he walked towards the river.
As if conjured by his words, Natsu appeared right in front of him.
"Took you long enough." He said with his usual cheek, yet there was an undertone of anxiety radiating off him.
"It's not like you gave me a map here… what's going on? Why did you want to meet here?" Gray asked as he sat down on the cold snow, looking at a still standing Natsu. He arched an eyebrow and the fire mage plopped down on the snow in front of him. An echo of an almost forgotten memory fluttered deep inside him. Disappearing before being consciously noticed.
"You were lost. I couldn't think of a better way to bring you back." Gray could see the tension irradiating from Natsu's frame.
"Lost?"
"Yeah." Natsu extended his hand towards Gray, who took it. He was immediately flooded by that familiar warmth. Natsu. "It was pretty touch and go for a bit – still is. But you're back."
"I didn't go anywhere."
"You nearly died." Natsu said in a growl, his expression darkening dangerously.
"What? No. I doubt it was that bad." Gray shook his head, disbelieving his friend's words.
"Do you remember the mission? No? Well, you got hurt – really bad. And they managed to stabilize you. But your mind got lost in the fog – Lucy's words, not mine." Natsu said with a small snort. He pressed his right hand on the inside of Gray's left wrist. "In the end our connection was what kept you here."
"Ah. So that's the reason for you to mention this place." Gray said, slowly understanding.
"Yep. But now you have to wake up." The fire mage said urgently. "It's about time you do."
"How do I do that? I thought I was awake, before."
"Easy." Natsu stood and extended his hand to Gray. "You follow my lead."
"You do realize how bad an idea that is, right?" Gray quipped, but took the other's hand and got hoisted up. "Because you have some pretty bad ones."
"How funny…" Natsu said in mock-offence. He stepped closer to Gray and leaned towards him.
"You're kidding, right?" Gray said, amused.
"Don't you know that a kiss always wakes the princess?"
"Hey!" Gray objected but a press of lips against his had him shutting up and leaning into the kiss.
There was a flash of light and then, nothing.
Gray came to and instantly wished he was back out cold. Awful pain erupted from his abdomen, it was as if a burn was spreading inside of him, hurting all that much because of the strong reaction against his ice magic.
His eyes slowly focused on Wendy who was glancing anxiously between him and someone on his left side.
Gray turned his head slightly only to see Natsu open his eyes and smile weakly at him.
"Welcome back." Natsu said in a slightly hoarse voice.
Gray closed his eyes and let out a sigh, trying to focus through the ebbing and flowing waves of pain coursing through him.
A squeeze to his left hand made the pain recede a little bit.
Gray opened his eyes once more, looking at the fire mage once again. He was grinning.
"Who knew this soulmate thing could be handy?" he said, a cheery tone in his voice.
"Oh, shut up, flame brain." Gray grumbled, feeling sleepiness seeping into his limbs once again, muting the pain.
"You shut up, ice princess."
And Gray fell into a light sleep, a smile on his lips and a warm hand in his, anchoring him.
Things were going to go well now.
And maybe, soon, he could go with Natsu and visit that meadow of theirs.