AN: Last chapter, sorry it took so long to update.


"Gray!? How's-" Erza came running into the room but stopped dead in her tracks as she realized that they were the only two in the room.

"Leave it to the flame head to get himself kidnapped! God...I shouldn't have left the room..he probably wouldn't be missing!"

"Gray calm down..we will send out a search party but first we have to see if there are any clues left that could help us find who took him."

Gray took a few calming breaths before nodding and started scanning the room. Him and Erza probably had been searching for more than an hour before Gray's eyes spotted a piece of paper sticking out from under a book that was tossed around while they were looking. He picked it up and read it to himself.

'Do not fear fairy tail, you will see your little dragon slayer again, you just have to find him. You have 10 days, although he may not be in a state you want to see...he may not even be alive!' - your worst nightmare

"Shit!" Gray tried to control his anger at that little note.

Erza took notice of Gray's anger and sudden outburst, she reached over and snatched the little piece of paper out of his death grip, she gasped and ran out of the room in anger looking for the master with Gray hot on her tail.

After an hour had gone past Master Makarov had decided that one team will go out looking for Natsu but no one questioned why considering the team consisted of Erza, Gray, Lucy, Wendy, and Gajeel. With two dragon slayers on their team they should be able to at least pick up a small scent belonging to the missing dragon slayer.

"Alright let's go!"


Natsu had no idea where he had been taken. He had woke up once while he was being escorted but when the other people realized that he was awake, they didn't take long to knock him out. Now he was slowly coming too again.

'...where am I? I feel terrible...why is everything so cold..wait why do I feel cold!? My body can't alter its temperature to bare this! What's wrong with me?! Calm down Natsu...just open your eyes and look around..'

When he finally managed to calm his mind he tried opening his eyes but found it very struggling to do so.

Once the fire mage managed to open his eyes and let them adjust, he found himself in a dimly lit space with the only light coming from a small torch on a wall just out of his reach. He tried to brighten the room more with his own flames but no flame appeared. He panicked before realizing that there were magic canceling cuffs around his wrists. Relieved that it was only the cuffs being the reason why he could not use his magic, a long sigh exited the pinkette's mouth as he sat back against the wall. 'Will I get out of here?'


Gray was a wreck, he was in a panic so bad it felt like he was going to have an anxiety attack especially when at times the two other dragon slayers on the team lost Natsu's scent for a couple minutes to an hour before finding it once again. He didn't even know that it was possible for a dragon slayer to re-find a scent once they lost it but they did.

What made Gray panic the most out of eveything was the thought that kept coming back to his mind 'would they be able to find him in time?'

The ice mage was also confused..he was confused on why he cared so much for the dragon slayer, sure he would still go and search for him but why did it make his chest ache everytime he thought he would never be found.

The girls all tried to calm Gray down even Gajeel tried to a point of saying he at least tried but it was a futile attempt, the ice mage was far from being calm, and that was how he was going to stay until the fire mage was sitting right next to him.

It began to get late, the day coming to an end on their search, it was their first day searching and they were tired so they decided to set up a small camp for the night. Gray was partially against the idea. He tried to protest to keep going but he lost that battle.

Thanks to worry Gray didn't sleep at all that night and to his disappointment Gajeel was the one to keep watch. Although those two weren't close, they weren't friends either but they didn't hate each other. That night though, the ice mage was jealous of the iron dragon slayer's nose, he wished he could pick up scents as good as him, if he did have a nose like that he would probably go searching on his own even if he got into trouble with Erza by the time he got back or if she tracked him down. For the time being he just pretended he was asleep so as not to be bothered by Gajeel.

Morning came around and they set off searching once more.


Natsu was unsure if it was morning or not but he was sure he could smell someone coming towards his room. Sure enough Natsu was right and someone walked up to the door he didn't realize was there. The smell of food moved past his nose as the person slid the tray through a small opening in the door then disappeared back the way they came.

The small tray of food was just in the reach of the fire mage and luckily enough his hands were not chained to the wall like his legs were. He reached up and took the tray down and ate what ever was layed out on it.

It was far from enough to quench the fire mage's hunger and it tasted terrible but it was food nonetheless and he wasn't about to complain.

Just as Natsu finished eating he heard footsteps, heavy footsteps heading his way, he sat up against the wall and watched as the cell door opened revealing a tall man dressed in a black cloak with a hood to hide his face.

Said man never removed the hood as he walked closer to the fire mage. "looks like you've woken once again dragon slayer"

Natsu never said anything to the man he just grunted in response.

"you were sick, you were actually losing your magic..did you know that? And when we took you, you were close to death"

Once again Natsu didn't say a word, his eyes widened at what he was told. 'I almost died? I almost lost my magic? Was that what Wendy was saying to everyone?'

"I can tell from the look on your face that you had no idea of this happening, now before I say anything more you must know that we have no problem killing you and we are not the good guys..far from it..we took you for a reason and that reason is because we need information...information on Zeref. We think you know things about him considering you share a last name. Natsu Dragneel"

"I don't know anything!"

With that the man took another few steps toward the dragon slayer and gave him a quick and painful kick to the stomach, and not only one.

Natsu grunted in pain but also tried to punch him back

"now, now that's no way to treat the person who saved you"

"No but it's how I treat the person who gives me a kick!" With that said the only thing Natsu got was a kick to the head and his hands chained to the wall.

"you will tell me what you know about Zeref!"

"again I don't know anything! " he received a few more kicks until he couldn't even sit up, he coughed as he curled up in a ball, the chains holding him were long enough for him to still move to do so.

When the man was through trying to beat information out of the fire mage he decided to leave and try again the next day.

It felt like hours of enduring those kicks to Natsu, he didn't even know the time of day anymore, all he knew was the horrible pain all over his body. 'someone please get me out of here…'


It was nearing the end of the day and exhaustion finally crept up to Gray.

"Gray? Are you okay, you look like you haven't slept in days?" Lucy rested her hand on his shoulder as he swayed a little.

The truth was that Gray hadn't slept since Natsu was sick, so it was only natural for him to feel tired.

"I'm fine Lucy, we should keep going"

Erza took in how tired Gray looked and much to his disappointment she called it a day and said that they should set up another camp.

The ice mage sighed 'another day gone finding nothing'

He sat down but toppled over right after and fell asleep.

Gray was running, was he running from something or to something, he could tell there were no lights, everything was dark but Gray knew he was moving. All of a sudden there was a light ahead of him, he ran towards it until he seen a familiar head of pink hair, he ran faster burt the image of the fire mage got further away 'NO, WAIT! DON'T GO!' Gray reached out for the fire mage's hand which was outstretched towards him but he just couldn't reach it. The ice mage looked at the face that kept getting further away and he just noticed the look of fear etched onto that face

The ice mage woke up with a startled cry leaving his lips. Thankfully no one woke up from the sound. Gray sat up, calmed his breathing and thought over the dream he had just seen.

"What the heck was that about?" he whispered to himself. "Was that dream trying to tell me something? was that Natsu in my dream? He looked scared.."

He looked around and noticed that it was close to daylight 'no point in going back to sleep now..not like I could anyway..' he sighed and stood up.

A couple hours went by and the rest of the group woke up, after everyone had a snack they started on their search once more.


Natsu felt horrible, his whole body ached and he was exhausted. The fire mage had just taken another beating because the people who brought him here were still insisting on getting information about Zeref from him when he absolutely knew nothing about him other than his name and that he was the black wizard.

This continued for what seemed like days, he had stopped eating after the third beating but not at his own will, they had stopped bringing him meals, they only brought water when he had started to become dehydrated. At this point he didn't even know why they were keeping him alive anymore.

'please come get me...'

It had been nine days since Natsu had been taken, he had began to lose body mass, he was covered in cuts and bruises and he also could barely stay awake very long anymore. He wanted to be with his friends...he missed them terribly, even that stripper, Gray, he missed him the most. A few tears slid down his now pale and bruised cheeks.

To the fire mage's relief no one came in to torture him that day but it also confused him. He had heard a few voices outside his door but they suddenly went quiet. His door then opened but he couldn't stay awake long enough to see who came in but he did catch a glimpse of raven hair before he passed out.


Natsu woke in a familiar room, the guild's infirmary. As he was able to focus on his surroundings he realized that there was someone right next to him, he jerked away quick which caused him to fall off the bed, he groaned as he sat up, now realizing how bad his injuries were. The noised caused the other person in the room to snap awake and rush over. A hand reached out but the fire mage yelped and jerked away, hugging his knees to his chest and shutting his eyes tightly. "Don't touch me!"

"Natsu, It's me Gray!" The ice mage looked utterly shocked by the fire mage's reaction. 'how badly did they hurt you?'

The fire mage slowly looked up at Gray, he was shaking visibly. "Gray? am I dreaming? are you actually real?" He reached a shaky hand out towards the ice mage.

"I'm real Natsu, I'm right here, you're safe now."

Natsu's hand touched the ice mage's cheek and his other hand did the same, feeling the cold skin under his palms he let out a cry and threw himself against him and sobbed.

Gray's heart broke at the sight of his friend's shaking form, he slowly wrapped his arms around the now fragile teen.

"shhh...it's okay...you're okay..." The ice mage rubbed circles on the fire mages back gently.

"t-they...they...s-so much p-pain..." Natsu curled up on Gray's lap and quivered,

"It's okay, you don't have to talk about it now" Gray picked him up and layed him down on the bed again but the fire mage grabbed ahold of Gray's wrist.

"D-don't leave.."

"I won't leave, i'll be right here...get some rest." he gave him a sincere smile and sat down on the chair by his bed and waited until the fire mage was asleep before pulling his wrist away before the others showed up.

'oh Natsu...I'm so sorry i didn't reach you before you became like this...'

Just as Gray sat back to rest a bit himself Natsu started to twist and turn on the bed, he was having a nightmare. The ice mage rested a hand on Natsu's shoulder to try and keep him in place until he could calm down, when he wouldn't calm down he decided to wake him up. "Natsu..C'mon wake up!"

Natsu woke to see Gray's face right in front of his own, he yelped and punched him. he stumbled back 'Stupid ash for brains! What did you do that for?!' was on the tip of his tongue but he didn't dare say it, he already knew why Natsu did that.

The rest of the team walked in to witness Natsu punching Gray. Erza Glared at Gray and was about to lecture him but stopped as Natsu's eyes shifted to her. She could see that he was quivering so she gave him a gentle smile.

"Erza? Is that you?"

The redhead nodded "Lucy and Happy are here too." She gestured to the others standing next to her.

Lucy smiled at the fire mage and happy slowly flew over and sat on the bed, Natsu flinched a little when Happy sat down close to him but soon grabbed ahold of the exceed and hugged him. They were both crying now "I really am safe now?"

Lucy stepped forward "Yes Natsu, You are safe, nothing will happen to you now."

Natsu cried a few more tears of joy and everyone tried to give him a hug, he flinched a little again causing everyone to stop but when the fire mage made no move to pull away they hugged him.

"Natsu, You can go home if you'd like but i wouldn't advise you to be alone." the master walked in when they were hugging, and finally made his presence known.

"Gramps...I-"

Natsu was cut off by Gray "He can stay with me if he wants to."

Natsu looked at Gray and nodded "Okay.."

The master nodded as well "Okay, It's settled then, Natsu will stay with Gray until he is well enough to stay on his own." he patted Natsu's shoulder "It's good to have you back boy" then he left.

Gray sat by Natsu again "Do you want to go now?"

The dragon slayer nodded so Gray stood up and offered him a hand. he took it and slowly got up.

"We can go get your stuff tomorrow, right now it'd be best for you to get as much rest as you can."

The fire mage nodded and held onto Gray's arm to keep himself standing. Gray noticed this and crouched down. "hop on"

Natsu climbed onto Gray's back and clung to him. The girls shared a few giggles at the small smile the made it's way to Gray's face.

the ice mage made his way down the stairs from the second floor, he was on his way out of the guild when he took notice of all the stares Natsu was receiving. He glared at eveyone and shook his head to signal for no one to come near him yet and with that he left, heading back to his apartment.

Once they reached his apartment Gray layed Natsu down on his bed. "Are you hungry?"

the fire mage nodded "Very"

Gray laughed a little and headed to the kitchen, He prepared some food for the dragon slayer and carried it in to him using a tray. Natsu sat up when Gray entered the room with the tray of food and his eyes lit up.

Gray couldn't help but smile as Natsu practically beamed at the sight of the food in front of him. "eat up"

Natsu didn't hesitate, he scarfed down the food almost in a blink of an eye. Gray removed the tray and placed it on the floor when Natsu finished, he then sat next to him and pulled him into a hug. "I'm so sorry it took me so long to find you..."

"It's alright..y-you did find me.." Natsu clung to Gray's shirt that somehow stayed on his body.

"I didn't realize it until you were gone and I thought i'd never find you but I...love you Natsu..."

Natsu pulled back and looked at Gray, eyes wide but a smile on his face. "I love you too Gray.."

Gray gave him the biggest grin he had ever seen and leaned down slowly, he pressed their lips together in a sweet gentle kiss that soon turned to a passionate one.

soon they had to pull away for air, Gray wrapped his arms around the fire mage and lid down so Natsu was resting on his chest. "I promise I will never let anything happen to you again"

Natsu smiled and nodded, "Thank you Gray."