A/N: I just thought I'd leave a little timeline, to help lower any possible confusions that arise from time inconsistencies (The periods with Natsu have been slightly off in comparison with the others. Maybe. I don't really now, heheh... )

XXX – 1 (3 weeks ago) – Team Natsu minus Natsu leave on mission

XXX – 2 (1 day later) – Natsu leaves on mission

XXX – 4 – Natsu arrives at mission town

XXX – 5 – Natsu begins to head home

XXX – 19 – Team Natsu minus Natsu arrive back at the guild, also leave to find Natsu

XXX – 21 – Gray-tachi set off to find Natsu

XXX – 22 (Current Day) – This chapter's beginning

Natsu's been sick for about 12-14 days, if that makes any difference. He was still fine on his mission.

Thank you to Audie the Gothic Alchemist and Foxy from Dattebayo Devon for helping me find some way to make Gray's trip more… eventful *evil grin* Please enjoy!

Disclaimer: Fairy Tail probably would've disappeared by now if I owned it.

Pushing his legs ever harder, the ice mage continued to move. By now, he was moving purely on instinct. The others were far behind. He didn't even know if they had followed him or not. He didn't care. He had to save Natsu.

For once, Gray still had his clothes on. Everything, from his boxers to pants to shirt to even his white jacket. He had focused so solely on finding Natsu that even his subconscious habit was suppressed. That was a good thing too, because if Natsu was in need of something to cover him, Gray had the materials.

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Happy, Erza and Lucy were all surprised when Gray ran off. He didn't say a word to the other members, just jumped off the train as soon as it stopped and ran. They had never seen Gray like that before, and they never expected Natsu to be the cause.

Released from the shock, the others set off as well. The only one that even had a clue as to what direction to go other than Gray was Happy, so the two girls followed his lead. Before leaving, however, they grabbed first aid supplies and a bunch of other things – because who knows what condition Natsu would be in by the time any of them got there.

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Gray kept running. Further and further he pushed on. He had never been in this forest before, but he knew where Natsu was. The issue was that he couldn't get there. No matter how far he ran, he couldn't get any closer. It was as if something was controlling the forest.

Once that thought had run through the young ice mage's mind, he realized that it could very well be true. He wished he knew what was going on. But he also knew that it wasn't necessary. Anything in his way, he would make it move. He had to get to Natsu. And nothing, nothing would stop him.

Or so he thought.

It was only a matter of moments until Gray's legs gave out from under him. Pushed to the brink and farther, stopping had given them the chance to release. He tried to get up. Tried to fight the pain and numbness. But he couldn't.

Wincing, Gray pressed against the tree. He couldn't wait for his legs to rest. He didn't have the time. Natsu didn't have the time. So onward the ice mage pressed. Further and further into the endless forest. Willing the pain and any bodily thoughts from his mind, Gray kept running. As long as his mind was blank, as long as he ran only on sheer intuition, as long as he went on the way he'd swear Natsu did every day, he could keep moving. And as long as he did that, he felt he could reach the pink-headed boy.

Gray had been running nonstop for quite a few hours by now. He was completely oblivious to everything. Everything, that is, except Natsu. His mind was so empty that he didn't even notice when one of his legs failed to move forward. Because he didn't stop, the boy tripped. And he fell hard. He had been about to make a turn when his leg gave out, and as a result he had gone over the edge of the mini-cliff near him.

Once he hit the ground, the raven-haired boy immediately tried to get up and get back on his path, but a sudden, sharp pain from his leg made him fall back to the ground.

Upon closer inspection, Gray realized that with all of the running and not allowing his legs to rest along with the fall, his leg was broken. And it was broken pretty badly. There was a bit of bone sticking out the back through his pants, and Gray guessed that there were at least 3 other fractures throughout.

With a bit of his ice make magic, Gray created a brace. It allowed him to stand, and slightly subdued the pain. Running was out of the question now; he could barley take a slow walk. But he had to. Because Natsu was definitely wosre off than him.

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The clearing where Natsu lay was dying. The irrepressible heat had gotten to a point where the plants could no longer stand it. There was no water left in the stream, and the grass that had only been dead underneath him was now dead all around him.

The body that was radiating the heat no longer moved. There was still a pulse, he still took breaths, but the body no longer moved. The boy was on his last reserves. Even his mind had gone blank long ago. There were no last-minute memories, there was no life flashing before his shut eyes. There was nothing. Absolutenothing.

If he was to survive, he had to be found and taken care of before the next turn of the week. Even that would be pushing it. There was no way to tell how soon until he died. His only hope resided in the chance of a something, human or other, finding him quickly. After all, once you've given up on life, there's nobody that can do much to change that.

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A few hours had passed since Gray had fallen, and he had managed to get back on the path. His walk – stagger might better describe it – was quite slow, and only the knowledge of experience that going faster meant falling and falling meant he would waste more time getting up than his current pace would take to let him cross the same area kept him from speeding up. His leg was aching; each step he took made his head throb, but what hurt him the most was the fact that the ominous feeling persisted in growing as time went on. And now he didn't even have the chance of keeping up with it.

Gray winced. The ice on his leg needed to be fixed, his other leg was about to give out on him, he was dehydrated, he was exhausted, and he was damn worried about Natsu. What has that stupid hothead gotten himself into now?

Little did he know just how hot Natsu's head really was.

Attending to his issues, Gray began with fixing the brace on his leg. The part where the bone was sticking out was the biggest issue, but the boy found a way to hold it. To allow his other leg to rest, the boy had sat down with his back against a tree. Dehydration was fixed somewhat by popping some fresh ice into his mouth, and exhaustion, well, Gray just allowed himself rest for mind along with his legs. There wasn't anything he could do about his 5th issue.

Gray wished he could sit there and fall asleep. He wished he could wake up to find this was all a dream; that he, Natsu, and all the rest were just lazing around the guild. He wished, but since when has wishing done anything? Even if wishes could be granted, the ones granting them would twist them horribly into something worse than whatever it was before. That was one thing. Gray's cynicism hadn't been affected.

In reality, Gray had rested for no more than twenty minutes before setting out again, but to him and the horrid, ominous feeling, it felt like an eternity. Of course, the feeling had continued to grow and Gray's care for his body only went so far. His care for his nakama went much further.

Getting up was a painful process. If it wasn't for the fact that Gray had no clue what was up ahead he would've just used his creation magic to make something that could get him there fast, but there was the chance his magic power was gonna be needed. And if that was the case, Gray couldn't afford to be borderline-empty upon arrival.

Staggering out once again, Gray now had quite a clear path behind him. The drag marks left a surprisingly visible imprint on the forest floor, and all Gray could hope was that it would make finding both Natsu and him that much easier for his teammates. His attention couldn't waver for long, however. Pain once again shot through his injured leg, and it took nearly all the raven-haired boy had to keep from collapsing.

'Damn. My leg is worse than I thought. What did I fall on?'

With that question in mind, Gray pulled on. He would've made crutches, except…

The forest was not an easy place to be in when you were injured. Sick, maybe. Depending on what and how much. But injured? Not a chance.

He could only hope that Natsu wasn't hurt that badly…

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A/N: To me, it seems like Gray should black out after that last line. What about the rest of you? Any opinions? Suggestions? Please share.

Just as a note, classes resume on Monday, which means there's only tomorrow left for me to be able to work diligently on my fanfictions. Updates will be slower because of this, but I will try to do at least one chapter from at least one story a week. I don't like working…