Summary: Natsu and Gray have been forced to complete a quick simple mission together. That is until they are attacked, knocked unconscious and forced to be put on auction for slave owners and crazy scientists. Now they have to stick together for support and strength because if they don't, they may never see their Guild again.
Word Count: 3013
A/N: I don't know when the last chapter is coming out, but I will hopefully have it out soon! Also, keep your eyes open for another story that I've been working on that PokeTail suggested, so that should be up soon (hopefully). That story should be about 4 to 6 chapters long. I also have another long story planned! All right, next chapter is the last. I don't know how I'll feel – kinda bitter sweet I guess…but let's do this! BRING IT ON!
Warning: cussing is in here (obviously) OH! Blood, not too much. Some spelling/grammar errors if I didn't catch them
Disclaimer: I don't own anything, but I would be great at telling stories…pfft, no way, y'all would get so annoyed
They both rushed forward, arms reaching back as magic forms around their hands. Both spring at once, and with an imposing battle cry, they feel their magic intertwine as it reached their target. Shiro brought both hands up at once, the air around him turning green and it solidifies in front of the two Fairy Tail Mages. However, their attack quickly cracks the green material and their fists drill forward, driving into Shiro's chest. Their 'owner' flies backward but he remains standing, along with his sadistic smile. "You boys sure know how to throw a punch."
Natsu didn't take the time to respond because he quickly forces his flames beneath his feet and shoots forward. His head crashes against Shiro's chest pushing their opponent back even further. Gray quickly follows, as he slams his hand against the ground and watched as ice shoots out from the ground, quickly rushing towards Shiro. The ice quickly pierces out from the ground, striking Shiro, ripping the bottom of his white pants and into his legs.
Shiro stumbled backward, blood dripping from his stomach and limbs. "Shit," he curses and looks up heatedly. "Once we're back, Natsu-san and Dorei are going to be in big trouble."
Natsu snorts as he sat backward, his arm resting on his knee. "You act like we're going back with your ass."
"Probably in the next few minutes," Shiro shrugs and runs a hand through his hair, which is clotted with dirt and blood.
Natsu sneers, however, Gray spoke up, his voice slightly distant and winded. "No," Natsu looks back at Gray who was struggling to his feet. Gray's legs tremble underneath his weight, "He's probably right. Not with the 'few minutes part', but the whole going back part."
"What?" Natsu and Shiro said in harmony.
"I mean we have to go back for your muffler," Gray says and gives Natsu a tired smile.
Natsu sat back, his arms supporting his weight. To be honest, he hadn't really remembered that Shiro had taken it, most of the time he was talking to that black figure, hearing things in his head, and worrying about Gray. "Holy shit," Natsu blinks, "you're right." His eyes land back on Shiro who was nonchalantly wiping off the dirt that had littered his white lab coat. Natsu snarls as he stands, "Hey, jackass, where the hell is it?"
"That dirty scarf?" Shiro looks up and shrugs. "Somewhere. I gave it to Ms. Kamio and told her to take it out of my sight."
Natsu pushes himself off the ground and feels his limbs tremble. He wasn't feeling too hot – and in his situation, that was a really bad thing. His chest and shoulder stung with uncanny agony while his muscles stutter like an old car's engine. He knew Gray wasn't doing well too. The injury Shiro gave Gray on the neck was still dripping blood, skin hanging off and flapping with each wheeze the Gray managed out. He'd probably have a scar if they make it out of this. But he didn't want to worry about that because Shiro was still standing.
Natsu shot forward, knowing Gray is quickly behind him. He quickly ignites his fists and watches as Shiro is caught off guard as Natsu brings his hands together and feels the world explode in front of him with his flames. The trees tip backward as Natsu's attack expands across the field, igniting them in flames and burning the flowers. Gray follows next and jumps above where Shiro stood encased in flames. His head tips back as he breathes in quickly. And in the next moment, he opens his mouth feeling the air around him freeze as he roars a blizzard of ice and sharp snow towards their foe. Gray lands harshly next to Natsu, his legs giving out under his weight. Natsu swallows and stumbles to his feet watching as his flames, now encased in ice, slowly shatter and fall towards the earth. Fog clouds the field and a laugh emits from within. "You boys are pissing me off," Shiro snaps brightly. As the fog clears slowly, Natsu could vaguely see Shiro open the bottle of pills and dump the rest of the capsules into his mouth. Natsu slides his foot back, deepening his stance in front of Gray, and watches as Shiro swallows with a sadistic smile. Nothing happens, but the two Fairy Tail mages watch as Shiro slowly cracks his neck, his smile lingering in utter bliss. "Now," Shiro calls out, "let's go home."
Natsu doesn't realize Shiro's moved until he feels a foot connect to the side of his mouth. His head snaps to the side and he crashes into the forest floor. Natsu quickly rolls along the ground; dirt and burnt grass mix in with his now bleeding cheek and nose. He stops slowly and looks up to notice Shiro attacking Gray.
As Gray brings up his arms, a cracked shield covers around the Ice Mage. Shiro laughs and jumps forward. Around Shiro's fist, a light spotted with colors of green, red, purple, and blue, drives into Gray's shield, and instantly shatters while detonating in front of Gray. The Ice Mage is pushed back, but Shiro follows and Natsu can tell he's not disappearing but dashing forward almost at the speed of light. Natsu rushes forward, but in this time, he sees Shiro scoop up Gray and deliver a harsh kick to the man's stomach. Gray leans forward on contact and blood bursts out from his mouth. Natsu screams, his feet bursting into flames and he rockets himself forward. Shiro turns his attention away from Gray and smirks as Natsu brings his foot backward and delivers a quick kick. Shiro quickly catches the attack and pushes his free hand outwards. Natsu's world is covered in white as he once again flies backward. Suddenly, above Shiro, a large hammer gleaming in ice soars downwards and seems to catch their 'owner' off guard, because he looks up too late and feel the ice crash against him, pushing him towards the floor.
Natsu looks towards Gray and finds the Ice Mage struggle to his feet, one arm forcefully gripping his stomach, and the other holding him up. Natsu growls, his gut mixing with fear and hatred as he looks back at Shiro who is spitting a glob of blood from his mouth. Shiro stands, this time, his legs shake slightly and reaches into his mouth with his dirt and blood covered white glove. "You boys," Shiro growls and rips out his front tooth, "are trouble." Nonetheless, Shiro smiles, his white teeth ruined with a gap. Standing between the two mages, Shiro throws his hands towards the two and with a flash of light the two are pushed backward.
Natsu pushes against the weird magic and finds him racing up to meet Shiro. His fist crashes against his 'owner' and the two tumble to the ground in a heap. He swallows and suddenly finds that he can't stand. Natsu finds his fingers fizz with numbness and he finds that he can't move. Underneath him, Shiro rolls his shoulders and quickly pushes Natsu off of him, then stands. Shiro looks down at Natsu, who is still stiff and unmoving, and chuckles. "I've taken so many pills, I don't know which power I'm on," he laughs again, head falling backward. Shiro then looks down at his hands that feel oddly numb. Looking past his hands, Shiro gives Natsu's arm that is all too stiff and snickers. "Can't move? Tell me Natsu-san, how do you feel? When dealing with Arthur, I always found that within a few minutes I could move. He was a true bastard wizard."
From behind, Gray fights through fallen branches and trembling limbs. He looks up, his left eye twitching from the blood dripping into it, and he finds Shiro's foot digging into Natsu's chest. Gray swallows as he meets Natsu's gaze, which is filled with fear and discomfort. "No," Gray mutters to himself but Natsu hears all to well. He knows they're losing, he knows they really didn't have a chance – but shouldn't they? They're Fairy Tail, the strongest fucking guild. Not only that, but he's a damn Dragon Slayer, sure, he has a few scrapes and bruises (now that he thinks about it, he may even have a collapsed lung because he suddenly cant breath). He's beaten foes much stronger than this bastard – so why is, this time, different.
Shiro pushes down harder on Natsu's chest until he hears a crack and then Natsu lets out a scream, his body twitching and head falling to the side as he struggles to breathe. "Oh no," Shiro sings out nonchalantly, "I think you may have broken a rib."
"Get," Gray speaks suddenly, his broken arm wrapped securely around his blaring stomach. "Get the fuck away from him." Natsu looks over towards Gray who is finally standing, but something seems different. The torn grass around his feet is frozen, caked in ice and snow. Gray looks up; his eyes clouded and tears brimming.
Shiro lifts his oddly heavy foot off of Natsu's chest, and the Fire Mage can feel his chest burn.
The world around the three instantly freezes over and Gray's skin turns black. "I said," Gray shouts, a tear mixed in blood escapes from his eye, "get away!" The ground shakes and ice spikes around the Ice Mages feet then quickly races towards Shiro. The madman laughs as his hand shoots outward and light floods the battleground. Ice instantly shatters around them but Gray is already rushing forward, his hand drawn backward. When the two collide, Gray punches forward, his fist covered in frozen spikes drives into Shiro's chest. Blood leaks from the punctured wounds from Shiro's chest, but their 'owner' laughs and clasps Gray on the shoulder.
Gray growls loudly, his hand clasping tightly onto Shiro's neck.
Shiro looks up confused, his eyebrows frowning while his smirk fell. "What?" Shiro's other hand clasps Gray's other shoulder, "Why, why aren't you…but you're supposed to – stop moving damn bastard." Shiro looks quickly across Gray's arms and suddenly realizes that the Mage's skin in covered in ice.
Gray smirks and his eyes quickly flash before the air explodes around them. Shiro finds himself incased in ice and shooting upwards.
"Natsu," Gray screams and watches as the Fire Mage, who is already standing, engulfs his feet in flames. Gray shares a tired look with the Fire Mage, and then the two jump into action. The ice surrounding Shiro shatters, leaving their 'owner' confused and falling. Gray shuts his eyes, his heart rate increasing as he gathers the rest of his strength.
Shiro looks down, watching as the ground around his Dorei flashes and swords surround him, all different shapes and sizes. Natsu is on the other side of the battlefield, flames licking at the brunt grass and flowers. The Fire Mage shares a look with his other subject and then his fierce gaze locks on Shiro. Shiro swallows fear, which seems so foreign to him, grips at his heart when he looks into Natsu's gaze. Shiro quickly reaches into his pockets searching for anything as he watches the iced swords shoot upward, and Natsu following suit.
Some swords fly past him, but they quickly stop midair and redirect towards his form. Shiro takes no time to realize he's stuck falling in a sword minefield. Before he has time to react, Natsu is sailing up, fire pushing him towards the madman. Shiro looks down, watching as Dorei sway on his feet before he looks upwards, and Shiro meets both of his subject's eyes – and he regrets not ripping out their throats when he had the chance.
Natsu ignites both hands, both covered in fire and flashing light. He smirks as he watches Shiro twitch with fear and dread. "I'll only say this once," Natsu shouts towards Shiro, his eyes flashing. "Don't fuck with Fairy Tail!"
Time seems to stop as Shiro shares a smirk, and then the ice swords fly towards their target and Natsu pushed both hands together and the world explodes in heat and the swords drive forward.
Shiro's body jerks as the swords dig into his chest and stomach, his world burns around him and his fist curls around Dorei's pill as he lets out his last pained breath.
Natsu slams into the burnt, ice covered ground, chest flaring in pain and his vision tunneling. But he forces himself to focus, he needs to get out of here – find a place to rest and get the hell home. Natsu turns onto his stomach and looks across the field. Between the black dots that cover his vision, he sees Gray standing. He cant see much of Gray's face, because of the dark raven locks over his face, but his body isn't moving – no trembling, no swaying…he's just still. "G-Gray," Natsu says, trying to get the Ice Mage's attention, "are you oka-" His voice is cut off when a loud noise detonates beside him and dirt kick up and spans across the field. Natsu coughs, as he covers his mouth and eyes burn. He looks towards the source of the sound and finds that blood is already spreading away from Shiro's still, disfigured form. Natsu stay's silent for a second as he watches Shiro's unblinking eyes stare upwards.
Then he suddenly shuts his eyes and lets out a sob, Natsu doesn't know what to think at this moment, but relief washes over him and he rests his head on the floor.
His chest hurts, he got shot, almost died, held against his will for who knows how long, he cant sleep, he hears and sees things, he's too weak to stand – but Natsu doesn't look at those problems right now, he just feels relieved.
It takes a moment, but Natsu snivels, trying to clear his nose and wipes tears from his eyes as he looks back at Gray. Slowly, Natsu stands, his form shaking under his weight, and he finds that it's hard to breathe, but he stands tall and walks over towards Gray. His vision is tunneling again, but Natsu ignores everything but Gray's still form, and he lands a comforting hand on Gray's shoulder. But Gray quickly collapses underneath Natsu's hand.
Natsu reacts quickly, his arms catching the Ice Mage's form and the two fall to the floor together. "Hey," Natsu shouts in concern. His hand flutters to Gray's neck as he tries to find a pulse. His mind struggles around the fuzz, and his lips are suddenly dry. His heart leaps into his throat when beneath his fingers he feels a faint uneven heartbeat. "H-Hey," Natsu shakes his head, "wake up, bastard."
"Hm," a voice calls out behind Natsu.
The Dragon Slayer turns his head to the voice and finds Schiff rolling forward, a cigarette between his lips. Natsu growls, his arms tightening around Gray who he finds is struggling to breathe.
Schiff doesn't seem bothered by the deadly glare Natsu is sending him because he just looks between the two and frowns. "I never liked Shiro," Schiff mutters as he blows smoke out. "The man always was so…annoying." Schiff rolled closer, watching as flames burned behind Natsu's gaze. Schiff took the cigarette out from his mouth and tapped the tip, "Always wanted to kill him – but, he was my partner in crime," Schiff glared towards the two. "He had great dreams, great ambitions. He knew what he wanted and he took it, with little to no care about who was hurt by his efforts." Schiff sat there for a second, then looked toward Shiro's fallen form. "But then he saw you two…damn jackass didn't know how to hold his excitement in. He was always so excited about every fucking subject that came in, but with you two – the idiot couldn't contain himself. He was very unprofessional. He allowed you to escape." Schiff shakes his head and brings the cigarette back up towards his lips. "If he listened to me, we wouldn't be in this mess – Shiro wouldn't be dead," he growls out, his fists clenching. "He wasted two great subjects," Schiff quickly looks at Natsu, "Do you know that we couldn't find a power reading on you?" Natsu frowns at this statement. He remembers the chair that was supposed to test his limits, his power, or whatever… Schiff laughs humorlessly. "We've never had that happen! Never! We've been doing this for 12 fucking years and never has that happened! Sure we had powerful Mages, sure Shiro mentioned Dragon Slayers – but we never had any, you were our first and you fucking surprised us. Because we found a limit on everyone else – every other useless subject – but you…" Schiff trails off, his eyes blinking back memories, "We missed out on you two."
Natsu blinks away the fog that is taking over his perception and finds that his limbs are dropping. "You won't take us back," Natsu says, "I won't let you."
Schiff looks at the Fire Mage in wonder, "Do you not understand what is going on, boy? You're about to pass out, the Devil in your arms is dying – I'm very sure you are too. You can't fight me." Schiff blows air out his nose and leans towards Natsu. "If I let you go, I'm losing all of my research – I just have notes back at the lab, so if I let you go, I've got nothing!" Schiff shakes his head and faces his palm towards the two, "I don't think you understand how lucky you are."
"Huh?" Natsu frowns as Gray shifts ever so slightly in his grip.
"Natsu," Schiff mutters, "continue to protect your friends. Take care of that Devil of yours and grow stronger – or I'll regret letting you go."
Natsu frowns towards Schiff who is taking a final hit on his cigarette and then Natsu sees a flash of light before he smells burning charcoal. He hears a train whistle and hears people screaming. He tries to blink but he's already passing out, hearing people scream for help.
PokeTail- I do have something cool following this fic! Your story :D Lol, that was super tacky! And I guess its kind of noticeable now, but nope – I planned from the beginning that Gray wasn't going to die. I loved the fact that you guys thought he was going to!
Viperhat- Holy crap I forgot all about that! Sorry, I'll go jump onto your profile and read and review ^_^ Anyway, thanks!
Lilymoon9- Hopefully I managed to conclude the battle correctly. I found it difficult to write the chapter because of the fight scenes – I didn't want to repeat myself to much, but I feel like I did a good job…anyway, THANKS!
Anniegirl132- Thanks xD And ya, pretty much – thanks for the review, hopefully I surprised everyone
Cristallina- Lol, when I first read the comment I was like…whaaaaaat? Then I got it xD Thanks!
Guest- I totally agree, thanks for that! Hopefully I ended it better (I honestly feel a lot better about this chapter) Thanks again!
AsDarknessSpreads- Lol, thanks! Hopefully you liked this chapter ;D
SashaMonroe- THANKS! I tried writing more fighting in this chapter, hopefully you enjoyed it!
MO-5431- Oh thanks xD
Animefan- thanks!
Deboo- thanks for the review!
Just Me- Well hopefully Shiro's death was oddly satisfying! And next chapter should make everyone happy!
Shadow- thanks!
DeltaGrayFraza- Omg, stooooop *blushes* Thanks so much! Hopefully you enjoyed this chapter!
FalynELF- Lol, well its not, I had 1 death planned, and that was Shiro's. Hopefully you enjoyed this chapter and omg thanks so much!
Akiyama7Koharu- That's a very good point. I started writing that chapter when I didn't know Natsu was E.N.D. so I tried explaining at the end…anyway, thanks so much!
AwesomeA101- Thank you so much! You are really to kind! Hopefully you enjoyed this chapter and the next one that will come out!