It was like they were watching this happen in slow motion on a computer screen.
Everything seemed to happen so fast that Gray felt that the Universe just enjoyed the very idea and the feeling of ripping his still beating heart out of his chest, tearing it up into teeny tiny bits before sewing it back together and place it back into his chest only to repeat the process over and over again. It wanted the process to continue for however long it would take until Gray's heart finally and permanently, broke.
Like it was right now.
He was so close.
So close he was to saving Natsu and bringing him home safely so Gray could trap the small pinkette in his arms and never let him go only to have it ripped from just as quickly. It just happened too quickly. Once they had expressed their grief (in a rather odd way), they trudged back up to the dirt path, carrying (dragging) not only a still breathing and now horribly disfigured Montoya, but the skull as well. Gray wished to neither speak or acknowledge anyone's presence at the moment which explained he trudge well behind them, leaving him to his thoughts and they seemed to sense this and respect it as his mind had grown blank as only one thought danced around his head;
He lost.
He lost everything.
Nothing mattered anymore.
Freed was waiting, alongside with Lyon and Gajeel, for them just right outside in the clearing just on the other side of the dirt road a smile full of hope and joy that it actually had Gray halt, keeping him sheltered in the forest's shade. Once the raven haired man stepped into the filtered sunlight of the woods, Freed's smile dropped at the sight of a blood covered and broken looking Gray Fullbuster, an action that was mimicked by both Gajeel and Lyon as the others maneuvered around Gray, the same broken look on their faces as well with Laxus leading them carrying something in his arm under his jacket.
"What happened?" Freed asked, clenching his hands together tightly close to his chest. "Did you find him?"
Nobody answered as Gray continued to stare into nothing, just as the others stopped short of him with looks that equaled Gray's.
"Laxus?" Freed whispered, slowly but cautiously approaching the stone-faced blonde. "Please... Please talk to me."
Laxus, with his back still to the green haired man, shook his head.
"Where's..." Freed seemed to struggle to find the exact words. "Where's- Where's Natsu?"
"Dead." Laxus muttered, voice barely heard as Gajeel reached out to hold Sting, who's whole body shuddered with suppressed sobs and pressed himself deep into the pierced man's chest.
"Dead...?" The word ghost past Freed's lips, making the man shudder. He took a step back. "No... No... Surely, you're joking."
He looked at him, eyes full of unshed tears and he smiled weakly as a weak chuckle followed suit. "You're joking."
Laxus didn't answer settling instead to only shake his head, face still hidden.
"Laxus please," Freed breathed, hand finally resting gently on the back of his blonde lover. "Please tell me that this is all a joke- A cruel and callous joke."
"He's dead, Freed." Came Laxus's voice. It sounded cracked and dead, his whole body shuddered. "The little Firecracker's dead."
"What?"
"He's dead."
With that said, Laxus slowly turned to face his green haired lover with tears staining his face and his arm was a sealed evidence bag that carried a human skull and a few neck bones. Freed covered his mouth, tears spilling as he shook his head.
"No... No..." He took a step back as Laxus hung his head. "NO!"
Freed took another step back before he turned heel and dash out from behind the parked car before he paused and rubbed the palm of his hand into his face. He couldn't be crying. He was stronger then this! But in all due fairness, there was no way that skull and neck bones belonged to their favorite pinkette, no way. On average, it would take a few months to a year for Natsu, if he did die (and Freed refused to believe such things), to decompose and that was impossible, seeing as he was kidnapped no less then a week ago.
It.
Was.
Impossible.
He stood there, on the long stretch of road, his whole body tremble before he heard large footsteps behind him signaling that his blonde lover, his god, had stepped out just as gathered the green haired man into a tight hug. Freed found himself leaning backwards into the embrace instinctively.
"There's no way that can be him." Freed whispered, turning to face Laxus. "No way."
"The bastard admit it Freed," Laxus whispered in a cracked voice. "He hung and chopped him up."
"HE CHOPPED HIM UP?!" Freed felt hot tears rolling down his cheeks as he turned around in Laxus's arms, wild eyed. Anything but that. "Oh gods-"
"He also mentioned submerging his limbs individually into a vat filled with a mixture of acids that melted the flesh off of his bones before burying the remains," Laxus locked eyes with his distraught lover. "Is it possible?"
Freed paused before after a long moment before he finally nodded. It was possible as he remembered doing a project similar back in college. He blinked as he felt strong arms tightening their hold on his body before sighing and returning the hug as quiet sobs and tears escaped. There was no longer any denying this reality.
Natsu was dead.
It had to be the hardest thing for anyone to ever admit.
"Laxus... Freed."
Both men jumped and blinked, startled by the sound of a hoarse yet oddly familiar voice float through the stillness of the air around them. They looked everywhere before they looked at each other, confusion etched on both of their faces. Did they just hear... Natsu?
"Freed...? Laxus...?"
Both men blinked as they looked back to the forest and found themselves staring face to face with an equally confused Gray.
"Did... Did you..." Hope seemed to shimmer in Gray's vacant and dead eyes. "Hear...?"
"Did you?"
"Gray..."
Gray, along with Freed and Laxus, swiveled his head left and right, trying find the source of where the voice was coming from just as Gajeel, Sting and Lyon made their way to the three men. Just as lost, confused and befuddled.
"Did you guys..."
"Are we being haunted-"
"Have we..."
"GRAY! GRAY!"
They all froze. Briefly sharing a look among each other before they slowly turned to look behind them. They all felt the color in their skins drain away leaving them all very pale. In the middle of the road down a slight angle was- Natsu. Or maybe a ghost of Natsu but they ruled that out as they didn't recall the pinkette wearing anything like what he was currently wearing. From a fair distance, they could see his face and what exposed skin there was was covered in dark, ugly bruises and possibly fresh to half healed cuts. He wore a rather low-cut white blouse that was wrinkled and covered with dirt and what looked to be blood, with sleeves starting at the upper part of his arms with a dark orange, corset-like, article of clothing that hung loosely around his waist and a long, midnight black colored skirt that had a two long slits that reached up to and underneath the corset to his hips, allowing his long legs and bare feet to be exposed at any given angle, like they currently were but parts of the skirt was ripped; torn and exposing more of Natsu's legs.
After a long while of staring, Gray's eyes shone with tears as a smile began to appear as he took a step forward.
"Natsu...?" He breathed. "Natsu...?"
The 'ghost', Natsu, smiled widely as tears poured down his own face and nodded. Gray didn't need any further explanation as he began to sprint toward Natsu as the pinkette began walking painfully toward him, smile wide. But that was torn from him the minute the sound of a roaring car engine and screeching tires as bright lights appeared right behind Natsu at an alarming rate. Natsu's eyes grew wide as he slowly turned to look behind him as everyone froze and let out cries.
Gray screamed.
But there was nothing that could stop a familiar 2006 dark red Mercedes car from hitting Natsu head-on with a sickening crack as it swerved trying to avoid him in the first place; with poor results. Natsu seemed to have enough sense to try and was thrown on top of the car and rode on its hood before he was flung off and was sent flying to the side of the road, away from Gray and the others, bouncing along the way as the car finally veered and came to ear-shattering halt.
"NATSU!"
This was it.
His heart couldn't take it anymore, he could feel the poor muscle literally breaking in half. He felt his own legs propel themselves forward into dashing toward his fallen lover just as his heart felt like it was about to heave and burst from his chest tears began to fall in large torrents just as the owner of the Mercedes jumped out and began dashing at them, tears in her own eyes followed by an equally upset passenger while the car continued to roll slowly down the hill before rolling right into a steep ravine; Erza and Jellal.
"NATSU! OH GOD! NATSU!"
Natsu was a complete and bloody mess. His entire body seemed to be covered in a thin sheet of blood, dirt and bruises, his head and pink hair was caked in a thick layer of dark red blood while his left leg looked as though the flesh, up along an invisible seam, had burst, allowing blood to ooze freely. His left shoulder looked to be dislocated and his right arm sustained a terrible compound fracture to either the radius or the ulna bone, Gray couldn't tell which, and was causing the poor pinkette into bleeding worse. Gray landed on his knees, skidding the rest of the way as he reached where his love fell, not caring if he gained new wounds or if he placed more blood onto Natsu's body or if he was caked in blood as well, all that truly matter to him that his pinkette was okay. He prayed to any and all gods to spare him and give him a blessing just as Freed, Laxus and the others came running up behind him as he pulled the broken and bloodied form of Natsu into his arms.
"NATSU!" He screamed, pulling him against his bare chest and placing an ear to the pinkette's bloody and bruised chest. "Please. Please. Natsu. Wake up. WAKE UP!"
"Gray..."
He could hear a faint heartbeat over the sounds of Jellal's and Erza's breathless sobbing, but that alone could not satisfy the raven haired man.
"NO! NO! NATSU! STAY WITH ME!"
"Gray. Put him down." Came a voice.
"I can't. I won't." His grip tightened around the poor pinkette. "I won't."
"Gray, I need you to trust me." Gray looked up and found himself staring into the surprisingly calm Freed Justine. After a long and lengthy silence, Gray complined earned a small smile from the green haired man. "Thank you."
He turned to the others behind him.
"Lyon. You and Gajeel grab every last shred of blanket, cloth and towel from both my car and if Erza's car has any, take those too." He then turned to face Laxus. "Laxus. Grab the emergency first aid kit I keep under the passenger seat, Gajeel get the one that Erza keeps in the trunk of her car."
Both men grunted before they turned heel and ran toward respective cars. Freed turned his attention to Sting.
"Sting. Call 911 immediatly! Tell them to hurry or step on it, whatever the lingo is that you guys use in this day and age! Just have them hurry!"
"Right."
Freed smiled before he turned to face Natsu. He gently cupped the pinkette's cheek.
"Natsu." His voice just barely above a whisper. "Natsu... Can you hear me... My Little Firefly?"
Gray blinked and looked to the green haired man who was staring steadily into Natsu's face. He couldn't remember the last time he heard Freed calling Natsu by that old nickname, it must've been so long and yet- it was giving Gray hope. There was a long and tense pause as Laxus and Lyon appeared before Gajeel and Lyon with the items Freed had sought. The only thing that could be heard was Erza's soft sobbing and pleas for forgiveness before a pain filled groan erupted from Natsu's chest and he coughed delicately rendering everything silent.
"Y-Ye- Yes..." Came a hoarse response that had Gray crying in relief.
"Good- Good." Freed nodded as he reached out toward Laxus and pulled the first aid kit from his arms. "Now, my Little Firefly... I need you to listen, okay? The Paramedics are on their way, but- But I'm going to clean you up a bit... Okay?"
A long pause.
"O-okay." Came a gurgled reply.
Freed smiled warmly as he pulled a large bottle of Antiseptic. "I can't promise you this won't hurt but it needs to be done... Lyon, can you place one blanket under head for me and another right under that arm, please? Gajeel, grab me a clean towel for the cleaning process."
"Sure."
"Right."
"Thank you." Freed looked to Laxus. "I need you to dampen these clothes here, Love. Then hand the largest roll of gauze. We need to halt the bleeding on his leg and arm once they are both clean."
"Hmm."
Never before had Gray thought he would ever feel this helpless ever again as he watched Freed frantically worked to clean up Natsu. The last time he felt so helpless and didn't know what to do was when a gangster from a gang called the 'Etherious' named Deliora came to his town when he was just but a child and slaughtered his parents right before his eyes. He attempted to avenge his parents when he grew a little older only to be reacquired with the same feeling when Deliora killed the closest thing he had to a mother, Ur. Now, it was like he was back and this time Gray didn't know what to do and the feeling seemed to increase now that Natsu's life was on the line.
"Gray...?"
Gray jumped at the feeling of a cold, clammy hand touching his wrist. He turned his tear-stained eyes until they landed upon the pain filled face of Natsu Dragneel.
His precious little ruby.
"Natsu..." He whispered as he weakly and automatically found himself crawling back toward Natsu, who gave off little whimpers as the cleaning solution continued to assault his open wounds and gathered the broken man into his arms leaving only his broken arm on the ground without bringing more injury to the pinkette. Cradling him like one would with a child. "It's okay- It's okay baby. I'm right here. I'm not going anywhere... Not this time... I-I-" He heaved a shuddery sigh. "I promise."
"I know." Came a barely audible whisper.
Gray pulled away long enough to share a teary smile before Natsu's face turned suddenly from a weak smile into pain and he released an ear-splitting scream.
"NATSU!"
Gray found the source of Natsu's pain; Freed was bent over his compound fracture, cutting open the flesh around it with a long silver knife that he seemed to produce out of nowhere, allowing more blood to gush forward.
"NO! STOP! YOU'RE HURTING HIM!"
"LAXUS! RESTRAIN HIM!" Freed called over the din. "GAJEEL! STEADY NATSU! QUICK!"
Gray raised his hand to try and stop Freed just further harming his lover only to be snatched by the wrist by none other then Laxus Dreyar who pulled him roughly away from Natsu and trapped him against his arms and chest. Gajeel managed to snag Natsu, without causing farther harm to the pinkette, and gently laid him back down.
"I know I know little dove," Freed breathed, snapping on gloves as tears began to show. "But it has to be done. It has to be down. I'm sorry. I'm so so sorry."
"STOP IT!" Gray screamed as he struggled to escape Laxus's strong hold. "STOP IT! HE'S ALREADY IN PAIN, CAN'T YOU SEE THAT?!"
"Here Pinky." Gajeel suddenly said holding out a thick towel toward the pinkette's face. "Bite into this."
And to the surprise of everyone there, he did as Gajeel told him. As Freed began to gently, yet firmly, push the jutting bone back into place, Natsu chomped down hard on the towel just as a deafening scream ripped itself out of his throat. Gray struggled harder to escape Laxus as tears began to flow freely from Freed's eyes and the sounds of a faint emergency siren pierced the still air.
"I know I know." Freed breathed as continued pushing Natsu's bone back into place. "It'll be all over soon, I promise... Just a few more-"
After a tense moment with the sirens coming closer, they could hear a faint pop as the bone slide back into its vessel followed by shallow sobs. Freed quickly clamped his hand around it and held his only free hand out, turning to face the men behind him; sweaty faced but calm.
"Lyon! Quick! Get me the Antiseptic!" He turned to Sting. "And Sting! Get me the roll of bandages and a few dozen patches of gauze! Quick!"
The sirens grew louder and louder as Freed made quick work of tightening the bandages tightly over Natsu's arm. Gray had finally broke free from Laxus's hold and skidded back toward Natsu. His heart was so close to bursting from his chest at the sight of the broken boy, who's breathing became shallow and was struggling to remain awake.
"No..." Gray breathed as he pulled Natsu into his arms with little resistance from Gajeel. "No..."
"You saved him..." Erza breathed. Her voice sounded far away. "You saved him..."
"No..." Echoed Freed's voice. "It's just to hold him until we can get to the hospital."
"Don't be modest." Came Jellal's voice. He sounded... Scared. "He's going to be okay. You're making it sound like he's going to die- Die anyway."
"He will if he doesn't get the proper treatment." Freed's voice echoed in retort. "What I did was only to prolonged it."
The sirens that sounded so close began to sound so far away once more. Gray numbly looked over his shoulder as a large ambulance screeched in front of them and two men jumped from the back toward them.
"You're going to be okay now." Gray whispered, looking to the silent pinkette. "You're going to be okay. We're going home."
Gray closed his eyes and held Natsu close as the world dissolved into a blur of color and then darkness.
This was rather heartbreaking to write in the first place and re-editing didn't help it any.
My poor Natsu-Bae! ;A;
You didn't deserve this, you truly did not!