Broken Soul

Chapter 3

By the time Natsu turned 10, his mother had been murdered. The authorities never found the man who did it, but even an idiot could guess who did it. In that same year, Igneel learned Gray was not his son, he was Zeke's. Igneel began treating Gray almost as bad as he treats Natsu, cold. He beat them, burned them. One night ,when Gray was 12, Igneel was drunk he threatened Gray with a knife, Natsu jumped in the middle of them, getting cut on his neck, leaving a trail of blood rolling down his neck.

"That should teach you not to get involved, brat." Igneel hissed. The boy's ran to the bathroom, aiding to Natsu's new flesh wound. However the internal wound on his heart only grew.

"Shit, shit, shit," Natsu spat. Holding a napkin to his wound. Gray sat in the corner holding his knees. "What's wrong?"

"Is this all we are good for, trying to survive a life of hell?" A single tear ran down his face. Natsu walked over to the weeping boy, placing his free hand on his shoulder.

"I will protect you, have faith in me. I will get us out of here one day away from him, away from our father." Natsu tightened his grip on the boy's shoulder.

"How could you even claim me as his, you know I'm not his son." He buried his head into his knees.

"Look, I don't care if you are or are not that mans kid. You are still my brother no matter what, understand? That doesn't mean I'm not going to protect you. I would die than seeing you get hurt. I think I just proved my point." He said motioning to his flesh wound. Gray smirked, hugging his brother. "Plus, you are the toughest 12 year old I know." Natsu told his brother. They got up, rummaging the cabinet, in search of band-aids.

"Tomorrow, I have a surprise for you after school." Natsu said putting a band-aid over the cut.

"What is it?" Gray asks, leaning on the counter.

"It wouldn't be a surprise if I told you what it was." Natsu huffed. Gray nods, knowing that was true. Natsu unlocked the bathroom, peering out to make sure the coast is clear. He signaled gray to make a dash for his room. For the past couple of years, Gray has shared a room with Natsu, too afraid that something will happen to Gray in the middle of the night. When they reached his room, Natsu quickly locked the door, grabbing a pocket knife and keeping it under his pillow. They went to sleep.

(Time skip) (TRIGGER WARNING: death)

Natsu went to Fairy High, he was a freshman. As soon as the bell rang, he darted out to the front of the school, where Gray had been waiting for him. Gray was still in middle school, an 8th grader, they got out of school a couple of hours before high school gets out. Natsu and Gray didn't have to many friends to begin with so they mostly relied on each other.

"Ready for your surprise?" Natsu grinned. Walking up to Gray.

"Hell yeah, I've been wondering about that all day."

"Ok follow me," Natsu said heading to the towns center. Gray was a bit confused on why they would go to the towns center. They walked passed store after store until they got to one, when they got close, Natsu had put his scarf over Grays eyes, preventing him from seeing where he was actually going. Gray had gotten Natsu the scarf on Natsu's 14th birthday. They suddenly stopped.

"Ok take your blind fold off," Natsu said excitedly. Gray quickly removed the blind fold, to his surprise they stopped I from of a body piercings store.

"Hey Natsu, why are we here?" Gray asked in confusion.

"Well you said you always wanted snake bits, sooooo I came up with some money to take you to go get some. You can look even more like a stud than you already do." Natsu ruffled the top of Grays head. Grays eyes light up, Natsu was the only one to make his eyes light up like that.

They went into the store, Gray picked out black studs. In a matter of seconds, the man pierced Gray's lip. He now, could proudly show off his new snake bits. Natsu felt like things were turning around, like he could finally be happy. When their mother died, both boys almost completely gave up on life, until Natsu was convinced himself and Gray that life was still worth living. After they left the shop, they went to go get some food. It was getting late and Natsu knew it. Dusk had broken over the horizon, it would be dark in an hour. The boy's started to head home.

"Hey Gray is your lip numb?" Natsu mocked.

"Shit the fuck up Natsu," Gray yelled.

Natsu laughed, "you can't even say shut right."

The sun had set, it was dark now, the time where members of Sabertooth where out causing mayhem. They walked quickly and quietly down the street, hoping not to draw any unwanted attention to themselves. When they turned the corner a group of 4 members of Sabertooth waited for them. Natsu stood in front of Gray, reading himself to fight.

"Your the bosses kids Huh?" One of them spoke up, having a shaved head, tattoos completely covered his arms and neck.

"Yeah, what do you want?" Natsu said sternly.

He walked up to Natsu, looking him up and down, almost challenging him. "You look like a bitch, how bout you can be my bitch, I will have your brother be my sisters bitch."

Natsu tired to walk past, however, the guys made it impossible for them to leave. "Move out the fucking way!"

"I don't think so," he got into Natsu's face. "What are you going to do about it?" He looked down at the scarf, trying to yank it off, Natsu punched him in the face.

Pretty soon they got into a full out brawl, the man's goons, soon came to his aid after he was getting beaten by a 14 year old. Gray tried to get them off, he wasn't strong enough by himself, he managed to get one off. He noticed the one with all the tattoos was beating Natsu. He charged towards him, tackling him to the ground.

BANG.... BANG.... BANG!!

All the members in Sabertooth ran, Natsu looked down, horrified. Gray had been shot, three times in the chest, his breaths shallow, he was gasping for air, blood stained the concrete.

"GRAY, GRAY, stay with me buddy," Natsu scram, tears flowed down his face.

"N-Natsu," Gray whispered. Extending his hand, Natsu grabbed it.

"Y-yes, I'm here hold on I'm going to get you help." Natsu shouted, screaming for someone to help, no one came.

"T-thank you, you showed me what happiness was, in the depths of hell, if it weren't for you I don't know what I would do." Gray said, his breaths began to grow shorter.

"Don't say thing like that, your going to live man, I promised. GOD DAMMIT." Natsu slammed his fist into the ground.

"N-Natsu," Gray called.

"Yes?"

"I-I can see mom, she looks so beautiful, j-just like how I remember her, s-she says hi." Gray said slowly slipping away, his grip on Natsu's hand began getting loose.

"Come on man stay with me," Natsu said. "HELP ME."

"T-thank you for being my big brother," Gray let out his final words. His breath seized. His chest didn't move, he lost his grip, he was gone.

"Gray... GRAY!!!!" Natsu hugging the corpse, he roared, he cried. One man had taken everything from him, his mother, now his brother. The only things he had ever truly cared about, were now gone. He was left with nothing. He felt like the man that helped create him had taken his soul, he had no soul, his will to feel was gone. He felt like he had nothing to live for, he was living just because he was breathing, he was just a broken soul. No one could mend him, help him, or fix him, he was broken in a world he knew that only brought him pain and suffering.

*************************************

I let my sister read this, and she cried. I'm sorry to those of you that cried, I got a little teary eyed myself.