Red Threads and White Lies

~ 7 years ago ~

"Summer has started…"

The faint beeping of the machines was the only sound in the sterile hospital room.

Natsu lay back in the bed, eyes closed, pretending to sleep. His chest, wrapped in sterile gauze and bandages, ached, but that wasn't the worst part. The worst part was the feeling in his stomach, a gnawing, empty ache that wasn't from hunger but from waiting. Waiting for something that never seemed to come—relief, hope, a future.

He hated the waiting. He hated being confined to this place, surrounded by white walls and quiet footsteps. He wasn't supposed to be here. He was supposed to be out there—breathing freely, running through the streets, daring the world to chase him. Not here, not hooked up to machines, not tethered to a body that refused to listen to him.

The door opened, and his mother's voice broke the silence, soft but sharp.

"Natsu?" Her voice trembled with worry as she stepped inside, her eyes red from crying. She had been like this for days—weeks. He hated seeing her like that. He hated that he couldn't make it stop.

"I'm fine, Mom," he murmured, not opening his eyes. "Just tired."

His mother didn't respond immediately. She only walked over to his side, her hand brushing his forehead, fingers lingering there for just a moment too long.

"You always say that," she whispered. "But you're not fine."

He opened his eyes then, just a crack, to see her looking down at him, tears shining in her eyes. Her lips trembled as if she were holding something back—something that might break if she spoke it aloud.

"I'm fine," he repeated, though the words felt foreign now. He wasn't fine. None of this was fine. But he wasn't going to make her cry anymore. He couldn't.

Natsu turned his head, eyes scanning the sterile room. The same old machines. The same dull hums.

He hated this place.

"The signs had appeared…"

Hours later, after his mother left to get some rest, Natsu sat up, his fingers twitching towards the wires that ran into his chest. His breath was shallow, but the pain in his body was secondary. His mind kept drifting back to what he'd been thinking about all day: If only I were stronger.

The door creaked open again.

"Hey, Natsu." Igneel stood in the doorway, arms crossed, eyes softer than they should've been. "How's the patient today?"

Natsu forced a grin, though it felt weak. "Oh, you know. Same old same old."

Igneel didn't buy it. He walked over, pulling a chair up to the side of the bed, sitting down slowly as though he understood the weight of it all.

"You're gonna be alright, kid. You've pulled through worse than this."

"Yeah," Natsu said, "but how much worse, huh? I don't even know if I'm supposed to want to get better anymore." His voice cracked at the end. He swallowed, but the lump in his throat wouldn't budge. "Maybe it'd be easier if I just—"

Igneel cut him off, a sharp edge to his tone that was rare for him. "Don't talk like that. Not now. Not ever."

Natsu clenched his fists beneath the blanket, but his resolve was faltering. It was so hard to keep pretending. To keep fighting.

"You don't get it," Natsu muttered, his eyes focused on the hospital window, where the pale light of the evening sky filtered in. "I don't know how much longer I can keep going like this. Every day is a fight. I'm just waiting for it all to end."

Igneel leaned forward, his voice quieter now. "I get it. But you don't get to make that choice, Natsu. Not yet. You don't get to decide it's over until it really is. Do you understand me?"

Natsu didn't answer. Instead, he looked out the window again, watching the last traces of sunlight fade behind dark clouds. He wasn't sure what Igneel was expecting him to say. It wasn't like he had the words for it. His thoughts were too tangled—too suffocating.

~ Present Day ~

The gentle wind is blowing…

Natsu's feet crunched against the gravel as he stepped onto the rooftop. His old rooftop. The one he had visited so many times before. The city of Magnolia sprawled beneath him, lights flickering on in the distance, the night air crisp and sharp. It was the kind of night where the wind made you feel alive, like it was trying to remind you that there was still time to breathe.

Natsu didn't need to hear the wind to know that something had shifted in the air.

He stepped forward, his boots scraping against the concrete as he knelt down to open the old photo album he had kept hidden in the pocket of his jacket. He had forgotten about it, but tonight, it felt like he needed it. He needed to see something real.

The album opened to the first page—a picture of him and Igneel at a beach, Natsu's hair wild from the wind, Igneel with that easy smile that never seemed to leave his face. The picture was old, but the memories came flooding back.

The pages turned slowly. There were other pictures too—ones that filled the gaps in his life he had long since buried. A picture of him and his classmates at graduation. A picture of his parents, smiling, before everything started to fall apart. And then, the last one.

A picture of a girl with long, wet hair standing on a rooftop.

Her eyes were wide, filled with pain, but there was something else there, too. A curiosity. A vulnerability. Something that told Natsu that, maybe, for the first time, she was seeing him for who he really was. Not the reckless, wild troublemaker. But the boy who was terrified of being forgotten.

"Our 'See you again' greetings during sunsets…"

Natsu's fingers brushed over the picture, his heart tight in his chest. Juvia. He hadn't expected to think of her tonight. Not like this. Not when everything felt so fragile.

But she was here, in this memory. The girl who had once stood on this rooftop with him, her hair dripping wet from the rain. The girl who had slapped him, yelled at him, and hated him.

But also the girl he had kissed.

And he still couldn't figure out what the hell that kiss meant.

His fingers tightened around the album.

She hate me… I shouldn't have kissed her.

"Even our friends' lie… And so love do fail…"

The wind picked up again, rattling the wind chime hanging on the far corner of the roof. Its soft, tinkling sound echoed into the night, bringing with it memories of that day—the day everything changed.

Natsu closed the album with a soft sigh. His head dropped, eyes closing as the wind whispered around him.

"I wonder if she still hates me," he muttered, barely audible, his breath fogging in the cold air.

But he knew. Even if she did, he wasn't sure it mattered anymore. Not really. Because deep down, he knew something had already shifted between them.

The question was what now?

~ To be continued ~

A/N: Thank you for reading Embers of Us! This story is officially complete with 16 chapters. I'll be uploading the full story throughout this week. I hope you enjoy the journey as much as I did writing it!