Solitude.
To say Natsu had become well acquainted with it wouldn't do their relationship justice.
As right Natsu found himself in the one state he could do no harm.
Alone.
In the middle of a burnt down forest that hovered on cliffs that bordered canyons, Natsu sat at an extinguished campfire, alone.
No songs of life echoed, just a barren army of charred stumps that stretched meaninglessly and produced deafening silence. A blaze had taken the forest but weeks before, smothering the earth with ash.
The night sky stood starless above Natsu as he sat on a flaky log, staring at the last few cinders of his campfire as they burned their final goodbyes. There was no one there to be cold, so he had no reason to reignite it.
He had sat in the darkness, waiting for the sun to yawn and stretch over the horizon so he could continue his journey.
The sound of him shuffling was the only noise louder than the dutiful chirp of crickets, as Natsu cast a bored glance to his sleeping bag, still rolled up atop his backpack.
Sleep was a chore, a chore he was tired of doing.
While he had pulled himself into productiveness during the latter half of his month-long vegetation, the first few weeks had consisted of quite literally, nothing.
Natsu had laid in bed, not sleeping, not resting, and done nothing.
When one shoulder grew sore from lack of movement, he absently shifted to the lay on the other one and merely stared.
Just stared.
At the walls to his left and right.
At the cobwebs that stretched out in the untouched crannies of his home.
At the eternal movement of night and day through the confines of a window in desperate need of cleaning.
Anything and everything, he had just stared.
All the while his own thoughts, unhampered and dissolute, lay waste to his head.
Like vultures so famished they plucked at their own feathers, experiences and memories of the past conflicts ate away at his brain, rotting each wrinkle with one dizzying reality after another.
Despite having long since broken from that stupor, some habits remained unscathed.
The most important one being, not sleeping.
Sleep seemed meaningless now.
As his hatred for sudden loud noises and large chaotic crowds grew, so did the frequency of nightmares.
Each one was meticulously brewed and crafted from the plentiful ingredients his mind provided, specifically tailored to wake him with a start, to ignite fighting instincts.
After the thousandth attempt at reaching his hand into the land of dreams, only for his fingers to get gnawed on by nightmares, Natsu finally gave up.
Natsu didn't like this.
The fact remained however, until he could muster enough energy to pull himself together, this was for the best.
Because as much as Natsu hated it, it really did help him think. There was no one, no distractions, no excuses, no reasons to do anything other than think, make sure everything everyone had said wouldn't be lost on him.
After hours of quiet, Natsu grew bored.
With but a few short hours before the sun would claim its throne in the sky, Natsu acknowledged his grumbling stomach and left his campfire.
This was the very last environment to hunt in, as the wildlife had long since moved on for more dappled shade and greener pastures.
It was a nice hike back to the valley Natsu had navigated a few hours prior, even on the trip back with a burly buck draped over his shoulder.
He gently set the buck down, gathering a few sticks to toss back onto the campfire.
The buck lay motionless on the ground, a swift chop to the back of the neck instantly separating vertebrae, resulting in a painless end.
Cracking his fingers, Natsu breathed new life into the campfire, blustering flames stretching eagerly to paint his drab surroundings with tones of warm orange.
Drawing a hunting knife, a gift Asuka saved up to give him after helping her get back her prized snow globe, from a travel holster he wore behind his waist, Natsu quickly began to skin it.
Beneath his breath, Natsu quietly murmured his thanks to the buck as he sliced fur from flesh and flesh from bone.
Natsu smiled to himself as he let in a distraction, just for a little bit.
He was used to doing this away from camp, or else gross out Erza, Lucy, Wendy, and Carla. It had been quite the sound, Erza of all people squealing at him to do all this out of sight.
By the time Natsu was done, he had more meat than he knew what to do with, and a full deer pelt in good condition.
Distant movement registered in his ears, the snapping of twigs and crushing of dried up leaves such a chorus that it told him whatever was moving felt as if they owned the place.
The slinking blob that crept through the night towards him distinctly canine in size and shape.
As a pair of piercing yellow eyes stared at him from the darkness, Natsu merely spread the deer pelt over the log he sat on and took a knee beside the campfire.
Seeing as wolves were too intelligent, too shy, to further approach a human and their campfire, Natsu tended to the fire and waited.
Large paws kissed the earth lightly as the lone wolf grew closer, the welcoming glow of the campfire chucking out portions of light that in turn temporarily revealed the canine's brilliant silver coat.
Finally stepping into the light without natural caution, Natsu finally got a good look at what was most likely the forest's only remaining occupant.
The wolf stood tall and stood broad, exuding valor despite how obviously aged the wild animal was.
His fur was thin against his muscled yet malnourished frame like a windbreaker in a gale, had several stories of harsh battles written across his mane in the form of deep scars and gashes.
The coarse white hair that tapered its marred muzzle twitched as the wolf soaked in every new scent stoically, as if studying the new phenomenon that graced his now broken home.
Natsu, even from yards away, could cleanly count each of the wolf's ribs, noticing how the elderly canine's tired eyes immediately settled on the buck corpse.
Lisanna used to read him books about wolves, he didn't think they were all that cool, not compared to dragons obviously, but he turned a corner when he found out wolves could lick their own nuts.
He had respected that as a kid, he respected that now.
Natsu made no motion to assert his position of power over the campsite, he merely stuck one of the chunks of meat onto the end of his hunting knife and held it over the fire.
Nose tickling the burnt forest floor, the wolf didn't even acknowledge Natsu, seemingly in disbelief that there was fresh prey in place where it hadn't been in a long time.
Finally giving in, the wolf darted across the campfire to feast on all the remained of the buck, but not after glancing behind him, as if habit told the wolf to alert its clan to the existence of food.
However, after realizing the thing he had evidently fought tooth and nail to protect was no longer with him, the wolf decided to use the last of his waning strength to fill his belly.
Under a glitter-less night sky, two warriors enjoyed a meal.
An ear with a noticeable chunk bitten from it swiveled in Natsu's direction every so often, but other than that, the wolf lacked enough energy to do anything other than eat from a kill it didn't make, back turned to what usually would have been an intruder.
Natsu, of course, finished first, the taste of meat bouncing off of his sterile taste buds like unaware birds against a sturdy pristine window pane.
Natsu positioned himself back onto the log, holstering his knife before he grabbed the crinkly stack of bounties from his bag.
The commotion did little to disturb the wolf, who scarfed down intestines and tendons alike.
Straightening a dog eared edge of one of the quests, he thumbed through them, finally stopping upon catching a gander of a few familiar key words.
None of the other quests seemed too special, despite the bounties attempts at painting their threats as if it was the end of life in the galaxy.
There was a so-called 'Mistress of Time and Space' looking to expand her slave trading empire who needed stopping, a rogue clan of mages who needed banishing, and a legendary beast called the 'Shrike' that needed slaying.
It was bland, boring, and endless, all the evil that kept surfacing its ghastly head the moment peace tried to settle.
Folding the stack in half, forming a horizontal crease so that he could stuff them back into his pack's side pocket, Natsu looked back at his new acquaintance for the first time in a few minutes.
The wolf rose his head, compulsively licking the blood from his chops before breaking into a light pant, having neglected his need to breathe for too long.
Hand diving into his pack, Natsu produced a water canteen and a small stainless steel pot. The sound of swishing water caught the wolf's attention, inquisitive eyes turning to stare at the curiously shiny object.
Natsu set the pot near his feet, gesturing to it with a tilt of his head before taking a swig himself.
The movements the wolf made caught Natsu's attention, how his creeping movements now lacked the par for the course fluidity.
The wolf seemed old, very old.
Plopping down onto his haunches, he brought his nose to the metallic bowl and gave it an examination. H
is whiskers twitched before he finally began to fervently lap up his share, sending tiny crystal globes to splash against Natsu's ankle.
Closer inspection let Natsu hear how the canine's ribs creaked with each breath, his decaying body quivering with each movement.
If he was forced to guess, Natsu would assume the rest of this wolf's pack, if it had one at all, had fled to greener pastures.
Yet this wolf remained, stayed with his broken home to be alone with his broken body.
Maybe because it knew it had done its job. Those scars must have been well earned.
Or maybe because the fire that took his forest had taken his pack as well, and guarding this place was all the wolf knew how to do.
Either way, Natsu understood.
A chillingly wet nose pressed against Natsu's calf, snapping him from his thoughts.
The wolf, jowls still damp, now panted harder as he took in Natsu's scent.
Natsu made no movements, letting his new acquaintance decide whether interacting with him was worth the precious energy.
A thankful nuzzle to the thigh told him the answer was yes, as Natsu held out a shaky hand to give the wolf's side a few pats.
The canine gave a low warble as it pressed its weight against the log, slowly sliding down to lay on his side, legs limp as they no longer held the capacity to hold him up.
Hearing his heart beat slow, Natsu joined the wolf on the burnt forest floor, crossing his legs as he let the canine rest his head in his lap.
The fur beneath his fingers was coarse and matted, shed hairs and flakes of dirt sticking to his hand as he continued to stroke the wolf's back.
The bumpy sensation of scarred desiccated tissue Natsu felt as he brushed over scab after scab was painstakingly similar to the texture of his own skin.
The sigh that escaped the wolf was so heavy it practically sunk to the planet's center, so hesitant as if the animal was saying 'this is just for a minute, I'll get back up soon'.
Natsu knew better.
The ghoulish sound of the wolf's lungs fighting for all their worth just to continue breathing was a familiar noise to Natsu.
The wolf wasn't ready.
Maybe he still had a point to prove to his family, whether they were alive or not, that he was still capable of protecting them.
An almost angry huff came from the wolf, like he was annoyed with his own mortality.
However, with body far more content than mind, there was nothing the wolf could do but growl softly at no one.
His belly was full, and his thirst was quenched. Sleep must follow suit, however infinite it may be.
Natsu wanted to say something.
To tell him he was sure that he had done his very best.
To tell him that he understood better than anybody.
He understood wanting to do more, of believing that there had to be more left in the tank, that there was so much more to give.
Natsu finally rested a gentle hand atop the wolf's head.
'You did a good job.'
The only thing he could do other than that was ironically enough, making sure the wolf wasn't alone.
The wolf had more than earned the ability to accept his fate.
Natsu just sat there with the wild animal, reassuring him until the very end.
The hollow rise and fall of the wolf's white underbelly eased, gradually slowing without push-back.
When the wolf's eyes inevitably closed, his serene golden pupils were sealed forever, never to be seen blazing with the wilderness of life ever again.
In the presence of a fellow warrior, the old wolf drew his last breath.
Natsu stared at the little grave he had made for his late acquaintance, the rising iris that rose past the horizon painting the darkness around him with a gold mascara of light.
With his campfire extinguished behind him, and the buck's corpse serving as breakfast for a family of ravens, Natsu stood over the carefully built pile of scorched stones.
This was probably a little silly, but it felt right.
The wolf would have appreciated this, if he could have understood the gesture.
Fire destroyed stuff. It destroyed forests sometimes. The forests came back though. An end for a beginning.
In a few months time, the wolf would be the reason for a big open pasture.
In a few decades, the wolf would be at the heart of his thriving home once more.
Dragons were way cooler, but Natsu decided wolves were pretty cool too. Dogs in general were super neat, like Plue.
Natsu finally turned on a heel and walked away, intent on putting the peace and quiet to good use until he reached his next adventure.
In the end, the wolf had done his job.
Natsu wasn't quite sure whether he could say the same for himself.