"Oi! Mira!" Natsu shouted as he kicked open the heavy double doors of the chapel. "Elfman! I know you're in here!"

His shouting earned a glare from an old woman sitting in the pews, but he ignored her. He had his sights set on a pair of white-haired heads at the front of the room.

"Natsu?" the older girl looked up in shock. "How did you know we were here?"

"Never mind that," he said, running up the aisle to reach them. When he reached them, he winced. They looked horrible. Mira's shiny hair was greasy and unwashed, and her normally beaming face was tear-stained. Her eyes lacked their intimidating glint of confidence and she sat with her shoulders rounded in defeat.

If Mira looked bad, Elfman looked even worse. He had dark circles under his eyes, which were ringed red with held-back tears. He was covered with bruises and cuts that Natsu could only assume had gone untreated in the aftermath of the mission gone horribly wrong.

"Are you here to beat us up?" Elfman asked dully. He fully expected Natsu to come attack them eventually, and he lacked the energy to defend himself. He deserved it anyway. This was all his fault.

Natsu grabbed the larger boy by the shoulders. "I should, with the sorry state you're in," he said menacingly. He shook him. "What the hell are you thinking?"

"Natsu…please don't," Mira begged him, pulling on his arm. "I know you loved her, and think this is our fault, but she was our sister. We loved her too. So much…" Tears filled her eyes. "Please just let us be…"

Natsu turned his furious eyes on her. "No."

Her eyes widened. "What?"

"I said no," he repeated. "I won't just let you be." He let go of her brother and grabbed her wrist roughly.

"Natsu…" Mirajane was an S-class mage. She had the power to break the little dragon in half if she wanted. But she couldn't find the energy to do so.

"Get up and listen to me," he said, pulling on her wrist and forcing her to her feet. "You too," he snapped at Elfman as he grabbed his arm as well. He positioned the confused siblings so he was facing both of them.

He took a deep breath. "It's not your fault."

They both stared at his in a daze, unable to express any thought to break the silence. After a minute, he said it again.

"It's not your fault. You hear me?"

Hearing him utter the words not once but twice caused Mirajane to burst into a fresh bout of tears. Elfman began to sob as well.

"It's not your fault," he repeated a third time, refusing to let go of their arms as they succumbed to their emotions.

"Natsu," Mira choked. Hearing his declaration only caused the white-hot guilt to boil hotter in her stomach. "Why are you saying that? It is my fault."

"No!" Elfman shouted through sobs. "It's mine, it's all mine…"

"No, it's not," Natsu said. "It's nobody's fault." He paused, then let words rush out of his mouth before he lost his nerve. "I wanted it to be your fault, so I could blame someone. But then Gramps made me realize how stupid that was. It's not your fault. If…if Lisanna was here she'd be telling us how stupid it is to think like that, you know?"

Mirajane's lip quivered, and suddenly, she jumped into the younger boy's arms, crying into his shoulder. He tensed for a moment, not used to this side of the demon Mirajane, but then relaxed and wrapped his arms around her. "It's not your fault," he repeated weakly, feeling tears well up in his own eyes again.

Elfman stared at the two of them. Seeing Natsu comfort his remaining sister only filled him with an even more profound sense of guilt. Not only did he fail to protect Lisanna, he couldn't even help Mirajane now.

As if sensing his comrade's despair, Natsu looked over Mira's shoulder. His eyes pierced Elfman. "I told you, Lisanna would be telling us how stupid this is," he said. "Are you going to be a baby and get wrapped up in your self-pity, or are you going to be a man and deal with the situation?"

The words struck the takeover sibling like a punch to the gut. But he knew Natsu didn't mean them unkindly. In fact, the dragon slayer's even gaze caused him to straighten up to match it.

"Are you a baby, or are you a man?" Natsu repeated.

"I'm a man."

The End...for now