I notice that my fanfic have some recurring theme. My favourite characters will always be hurt and/or lose his memories. Their ending and fate are quite different fortunately.

Chapter 7: Gajeel's Guilt

Her eyelid felt heavy. Someone was calling her name. She blinked to see a silhouette with scarlet red pony tail. Erza and Juvia had found Levy unconscious.

"Erza?" She recognized.

"Help!" She recalled she was on her way to seek help. Gajeel was in great danger.

Gajeel was currently in battle against two enemies, a dog and a chicken. Due to his carelessness, he was seriously wounded. Gajeel decided that he would not fail here. He would at least get Levy out of this mess at the same time informed the rest about the infiltration by Grimoire Hearts. Yes, they were under attack by Grimoire Hearts which were after the power of Zeref. They could not afford to lose Natsu to the likes of Grimoire Hearts.

In a hurry, Levy created a piece of iron to feed Gajeel praying that he could hold on for her to return with help.

Gajeel ate the iron gratefully. He did not want to lose even though he asked for it. He had owed Natsu too much. He decided to participate in this mission in order to find him.

Gajeel thought of the fateful day when he teamed up with Happy and the rest to thwart the scheme by Kingdom Empire. Gajeel and Happy were in charge to destroy the Lacrima all over Edolas. Never did he know that that was a trap. These Lacrima were linked to Natsu who was captured by the Organic Link Magic. If it was not for Pantherlily who arrived in time to stop him from destroying the final Lacrima, he could have killed Natsu.

Gajeel and Natsu were never in good terms. Natsu came to turn his concert upside down due to some misunderstanding and started a fight. Both of them ended up hurt and defeated. At that point of time, Gajeel did not even understand why Natsu was mad at him. Back then, he would not have expected the hyperactive Natsu to end up hurt to within an inch of his life, lying in the hospital in coma.

Gajeel came to the hospital often to visit Natsu. Initially, he cringed whenever he saw Natsu being hooked up with Lacrima-powered ventilators pumping air into his lungs. Natsu was unable to breathe on his own. He had broken down when he heard that Natsu had gone into vegetative state and might not ever wake up again.

Gajeel gave up on himself. He left Fairy Tail. However, Master never gave up on him. He even came looking for him personally in the slum he had been hiding in. By then, he was in a mess. He was very surprised to see Makarov greeting him from behind in the middle of his iron meal that day.

*Flashback*

"Hi!" Makarov greeted cheerfully.

"Why are you here?!" Gajeel yelled in surprise.

Makarov was here to take him home, back to Fairy Tail. He explained that this was a life experience for Gajeel. Life is not always smooth. One had to go through hardship and difficulties in order to grow and become stronger. Gajeel should not be so hard on himself when faced with obstacles.

"You must understand that I'm a sinner. I almost killed one of our own. Can you still accept me?".

Makarov cleared his throat and responded with authority. This was unforgivable if it was intentional but it was just an accident.

"If I gave up and neglected one of my children and leave him falling into darkness just because one of my other children was hurt, I'll never forgive myself". Makarov said in a serious tone. "I believe that Natsu will wake up one day. Like this is a lesson in life for you, he has his own life lesson".

Makarov offered his hand, "You have your own life. Come back to Fairy Tail. Everyone is waiting for you".

Gajeel stared at Makarov with widened eyes. He hesitated for a moment. Makarov was sincere. Gajeel accepted and took his hands. He returned to Fairy Tail.

One day, Gajeel took his guitar to the hospital, hoping that he would wake up from his singing to beat him up. However, luck was not by his side and a situation occurred.

Natsu's heart stopped beating.

He was sent out by the group of healers who rush to check on Natsu. Natsu's twin brother, Tsuna who happened to drop by came yelling at Gajeel in frustration. This had never happened to Natsu before despite being in coma for so long.

"I'll never let you off if anything happened to my brother, you hear me!" was what Tsuna said. Gajeel bit his lip in guilt.

Natsu's heart was restarted and miraculously, he finally opened his eyes which had been closed for more than a year. However, Natsu remained unresponsive to his surroundings. It was as if he preferred where he was to the reality.

Not just Gajeel, even one of the greatest Wizard Saints, Jellal, was afraid that Natsu would remain this way for the rest of his life even though he did not show it. He witnessed him talking to Natsu about how much everybody was worried about him. He needed to get well soon and revert to the Natsu everybody doted on.

The healer told them it was normal as it would take Natsu some time to adjust to his waking life after being out for so long. Tsuna was trying really hard to talk to his brother, to the extent of wheeling him out in the wheelchair to get him a change of scenery and some fresh air in the garden. He was hoping that his twin brother would give him some response but he was always disappointed. Natsu only stared at what was in front of him blankly like an unresponsive doll.

Tsuna had requested the rest to help but they were the only ones around Natsu. Most of them including Lucy were mostly out on mission and were not informed about Natsu's regaining of consciousness.

Finally, Gajeel came in with his favourite white suit and his guitar tried to sing for him again besides his bed. Still, there was no response for him.

It was okay. Gajeel would come back again. He would not give up. He stood up and opened the door. Just as he was about to leave, he could not believe his ears. Natsu tried to call his name.

"Did you try to sing for me?" Natsu managed to utter his very first words ever since he first reopened his eyes. "Are you trying to wake the dead up with your horrible singing? It's so noisy that I can't even sleep". Even though Natsu sounded weak, the tears of Kurogane flowing down his cheek like an opened tap.

Gajeel swore to find Natsu and to organize a concert especially for him. He would get his cousin, Gajeel along to clear up the misunderstanding on a case of confession towards a certain love interest of Natsu.

*End Flashback*

Back to the present, with a sheer determination, Gajeel mustered up the remaining of his strength to come up with his new move.

"Trying to hurt a family member of Fairy Tail is unforgivable! Eat this! Dragon Slayer's Secret Art: Karma Demon: Iron God Sword!" A gigantic sword appeared as he unleashed his finishing move thus defeating both attackers along with large areas of land before him.

Gajeel managed to show a smile of victory before collapsing from his injuries.

"Gajeel!" He could barely hear Levy who was running towards him. "Gajeel, Hang in there!" Gajeel forced his eyes open and gave Levy a smile of reassurance.

"Told you I'll be fine". Gajeel said weakly.

"Take Gajeel back to the camp!" Erza ordered Levy who managed to pull his arms over her shoulders. "Leave the rest to us!" Levy nodded and headed back to the camp.

"What should we do next?" Juvia asked worriedly. Erza shot a flare signal to the sky. It seemed that the enemies who were also after Natsu had infiltrated the island. She needed all to gather back to the camp for regroup.

Meanwhile, Mest, Wendy, Patherlily were up against a member of the Seven Kin of Purgatory, Azuma.

"Arms! Vernier!" Wendy chanted her enchantment to support Patherlily.

"My attack and defense had been boosted. As expected from the Sky Sorceress!" This was the first time he had received support from Wendy's magic. The sensation was something new to him.

He would have obeyed Jellal and followed his order. This time, he must have overestimated Natsu. Pantherlily had never like Natsu. Unlike Tsuna who was a miracle, Natsu would never become someone great. Due to the extensiveness of the situation, he had no choice but to fight even though Jellal was not around to give him orders. He would have let Jellal down should he allow Natsu to land on enemies' hands.

Wendy felt the same. "Natsu-san, I won't hand you over to the enemies! Mest-san!"

"Right!" Mest took Wendy and supported her on her plan to shoot an attack point-blank at Azuma.

"That's it for you! Never underestimate the strength of the mages from the Magic Council!" Lily smiled.

Azuma shook his head as he had seen through them. He raised his hands.

"This is so pathetic." With that he summoned a tower of fire and burnt them all.

Wendy and the rest fell to the ground unconscious and defeated.

"Natsu-san…" Wendy called out weakly.