Disclaimer: Even with all of the five extra days I took with this one, I still haven't gotten the rights to Fairy Tail nor do I own even one of the less popular characters.
Anxious Heat
Gray should have known that a fight with a fire demon could cause an avalanche. He ought to have anticipated that he or Natsu might get swept down the mountain.
Still, he'd been a bit preoccupied getting a point across to a dense idiot. The ice mage had protected himself with his magic during the snow slide. A few minutes of tossing taunts toward Natsu with no response told him his rival hadn't been as fortunate.
It didn't matter. As weird as it felt, Gray had learned that his devil slayer magic let him pick out the smell of demon with extreme accuracy. Since Natsu had awakened his demon form, his scent had caught his attention. He'd find the fire mage and kick his ass out of whatever trouble he might end up in.
At least, Gray intended to tell Erza as much if the redhead found Gray first. Thinking of the consequences if she didn't approve of his explanation, the ice mage quickened his pace, tramping through the snow.
"Zeref!"
Natsu woke up gasping for air and arms ablaze. The fire wizard felt something shift and land on his shoulder. He lashed out with flames in a wide arc. Liquid pooled around his feet. He blinked a few times before he registered his surroundings. He'd been buried in snow, and the puddle came from an instantaneous melting process.
The dragon slayer had woken in a cold sweat, his nerves still on edge from a dream. He already had trouble pulling anything about the nightmare back to his mind.
Natsu felt his exhaustion crash over him as he calmed down. He couldn't remember how he'd ended up on a mountainside. He reached up with his left arm to scratch his head.
Pain shot through his side and he hissed. The fire mage glanced down and saw a gash bleeding over his hip.
"Damn."
Natsu skirted his hand across the wound. Crusted flecks fell from the edges when he touched it, and fresh blood coated his hand. He started down the mountain, favoring his left side, to look for water.
He wondered where his vest and sandals had gone.
"That stripper pervert better not be playin' pranks," he said. Mortification that sad snowman's habit might have rubbed off on him caused Natsu to lose track of his footing for a moment. Rocks shifted and slipped under his feet.
The fire dragon slayer fell and grunted with each bump against stone and dirt on the way down. He cried out when he came to a halt by means of collision with a tree. He groaned, rubbing the back of his head.
"Stupid snow queen."
Natsu felt a little less perturbed by his long tumble if he could blame his rival. He grit his teeth and pushed onto his feet.
Snap.
A tree branch cracked under the pressure of his weight. An image from his nightmare flashed across his mind's eye. The fire mage brought a hand up to his neck to feel the comforting fabric of his scarf.
Natsu's fingers touched skin instead. He realized his precious muffler had been one of the clothing articles missing when he woke up.
He shook his head.
"Just a stupid dream," he told himself. Natsu focused on his injury as a distraction and wandered into the forest. Tall firs towered overhead. A vast network of branches formed a canopy and blocked out the waning sunlight and left him in the shadows. The image gnawed at him with greater aggression. His stomach churned a little. He almost missed the sound of running water in his confused unease.
The fire dragon slayer followed a creek to a small pond. He knelt down by the water's edge and splashed some of the liquid over his injury. Fresh blood brightened a shade with the water and leaked down his hip. He maintained a steady flow to bleed the cut as clean as he could. After he finished, he focused his fire magic into his fingertips to cauterize it.
Natsu glanced at the still water and saw his reflection. He squinted at it; something didn't look right.
The fire mage's hands faltered over his wound. He stared hard at the mirror image.
The Tartaros guild mark was on his chest. It didn't have any color to it, but even after trying to blink it away, he could see the mark outlined.
Natsu growled. He lifted a fiery fist overhead.
A breeze ran through the branches and shifted them. Moonlight filtered through an opening in the canopy. The snowy mountains showed behind him in the water. The white peaks caught the moonlight such that it created a wavy halo around the mirror image of his head. A trick of the light changed the color of his fire magic.
Natsu almost choked on air at the momentary image. It changed back to his face and his flames in the next second. Another disturbing piece of his nightmare played out in his mind. One word echoed in his head to describe his reflection-
Demon.
"Shut up!" He shouted.
Natsu smashed his fist down through the water and into the soft dirt below its surface. Flames flared up from the impact point and steam erupted in a sizzling mist. The pink-haired dragon slayer's breathing grew shallow and harried until he forgot how to breathe.
"Natsu?"
The fire mage's head snapped up at the familiar voice.
"Lucy," he murmured. He got up to move toward her scent, but hesitated. He clenched his hands into fists and ran toward her before he could think about it too much.
"Luce?"
The celestial spirit mage turned toward him and he stopped dead. His nerves went numb once he saw the bruise on her neck.
One more memory of his nightmare appeared at the forefront of his mind; his own hand clasped around his partner's throat.
Natsu shivered. He staggered away from Lucy and his vision went hazy. A violent storm brewed in his stomach. The fire mage fell backward to the ground. He twisted his neck around and retched.
Lucy needed a moment to recover; her emotional state shifted from immense relief to jarring concern in less than two seconds.
Natsu groaned and retched again. Lucy's nose twitched at the smell.
"Natsu," she said. "Are you"
Lucy flinched at how fast Natsu's head whipped around. She couldn't discern all the feelings swirling around in his eyes. She wouldn't have believed it if she didn't see it, but he looked scared.
"What's wrong?"
The dragon slayer didn't say anything. Lucy stepped toward him; he scrambled backwards on his hands and feet, shaking his head. The celestial spirit mage couldn't help feeling a little hurt.
"Natsu," she said again. She softened her tone, trying to coax him. "What's wrong?"
The fire mage mumbled something and fidgeted with his hands. Lucy watched him try to stand. His legs shook with the effort. She raised her voice when she noticed him picking at a long scabbing scar on his side.
"Stop that!"
The blond wizard closed the distance between them and swatted his hand back before he could retreat. Natsu yelped.
"Don't!" He shouted.
The celestial spirit mage stared hard at her partner. She kept a hand on his arm to prevent him from escaping. She didn't trust herself with words given her frustration. Natsu squirmed under her grip but didn't say any more.
"Natsu," Happy said in a raspy voice, shifting in Lucy's arm. The dragon slayer's ears perked and he leaned forward. He took the Exceed from Lucy and cradled him.
"Happy," he whispered. The quiver in his voice cut through to Lucy's heartstrings. "What- how did you"
Natsu's voice tapered off. Lucy heard Happy give a relieved sigh and watched his eyelids crash down. He hadn't slept during their whole search for Natsu.
"Lucy," Natsu said. The celestial spirit mage looked up at his face. "Did I do this?"
"What?" She said, struck with understanding. "No!"
Lucy waved her hand in front of her face. She couldn't help answering the way she did; it was her first impulse and felt right. Natsu looked up at her; the teenage wizard held her eyes on him under his scrutiny.
"You don't know, do you?" He asked.
Lucy's aggravation boiled over.
"Why don't you trust me?" She snapped. She threw her hands up.
"I know you think I'm too weak to keep up with you," she said. "But the least you could do is tell me what you're thinking!"
Natsu murmured something. Lucy didn't stop to listen, even though she knew she should.
"I'm your partner! You're supposed to let me help you," she said. "You don't just leave me behind or close yourself off from me when you so obviously need"
"Lushi."
The blond mage paused at the sound of Happy saying her name. The blue Exceed had a sad frown and wide eyes aimed at her. After taking a moment to catch her breath, she realized Natsu had started shedding tears.
She felt her anger melt and waves of guilty sympathy replace it. Natsu sat slouched forward, his head hung over Happy, and his shoulders trembling. She'd never seen him look so small.
Lucy composed herself as best she could. She ghosted a hand over the fire mage's arm before she touched him. He didn't pull away.
"Natsu," she whispered. "Let's go back to the guild."
The dragon slayer gave a slow nod. Lucy sighed.
"My lady."
The celestial spirit mage started and whirled around.
"Loke," she said. "When did you"
Lucy paused as she took in the Lion spirit's appearance. Loke's hair lacked its typical sheen. His eyes seemed dark and lined with several bags. The stellar magic she sensed from him didn't seem as bright as usual either.
"Loke, are you all right?"
The Zodiac leader waved off her question.
"Peachy, my dear," he said. "I just wanted to offer my services in getting you both home."
Lucy wanted to press about Loke's condition, but given the spirit's stubborn nature and Natsu's exhaustion, she decided against it.
"How?"
"Via the spirit realm, of course."
Lucy processed that little nugget of information.
"That's possible?" She asked, unable to keep the incredulity from her voice.
"Well," Loke said. "It's technically illegal according to celestial law."
The Lion spirit flashed his flirtatious smile at her.
"But I've been known to bend rules before," he said, winking at her. "And these are rather extenuating circumstances."
Lucy glanced at Natsu. She had to agree.
Zeref wiped his brow. The immortal dark wizard had worked nonstop, and he still had projects to fill his time.
"Thankfully, the 'books' this time will be more like 'pamphlets'."
He tore off the garbs of several soldiers and sewed the threads together with his magic. Runes materialized in the night sky as he began writing.
A/N: It lives! Finals are over, and I'm here to give you more story!
This one was tricky from the beginning, in part because the tone and pace is very different from the earlier chapters (though maybe that's just my insecurity about flow). I also had to change a few of my initial ideas for this one just because- well, they didn't seem to fit quite right. It's a brief one, I know, but again, it plants the seeds for further developments (the character kind! One of my favorites!) Hopefully the tension isn't totally lost.
If you enjoyed reading this, leave a review! If you didn't, give me and others recommendations for FT fan fictions to read in a review post!
Holy Crumbs a lotta Reviews this time:
0FairyTail0: Thanks for reading and reviewing! I'm glad you think so!
thebooknerdgeek (that's a proud title): Thanks for reviewing! Glad you enjoy it! Here's an update for you, hope it's to your liking!
IndigoWolfie: Oh yeah! Salamander out and... um. Well, he's back at least! Thank you! I'll do my level best!
The Age of Awesomeness: Oh, hardly, but thank you very much! I'm so happy you enjoy it as much as you do, thank you for your patience and continued readership! Have an update! (Though I guess if you're down here you've read it already. I'll get to work on the next one ASAP!)
Si-chanwantdragon: Ah yes. The cute ones always suffer. As for your questions, I'm tight-lipped! You'll just have to wait and find out! All I'll say is I promise to try to make it awesome! Thank you for reading and reviewing! Hope the updates satiate you!
XMissFortune: Oh... Oh dear. You've got me all grinning and flustered. Really, you give me extremely high praise! Thank you so much for reading and reviewing! I'm ecstatic you enjoy the story as much as you do! I did try my best to make each scene have a purpose and feel right. Hopefully I pulled it off with this chapter too. I must agree, BrOTP DragBuster (that's my name for it) is glorious. I'm pleased that the story gets the attention it does already! I hope the story remains engaging for you and other readers!
Aggie12: Thank you for reading and reviewing! The story has had a few surprises for me so far, and I've enjoyed each of them! Here's hoping you and the readers enjoy them too!