Life After Near Death

Gray's Blood, Natsu's Tears

"Nothing can happen more beautiful than death." ― Walt Whitman

Natsu walked into the guild hall and glanced around. He was looking for someone naked, so he almost did not recognize Gray sitting at the bar with his white coat on.

"Yo, droopy-eyes! Time to go. Erza's already waiting at the train station." Natsu smirked and folded his arms. "Were you waiting for me, ice princess?"

Gray finished his drink and turned around to face the Dragon Slayer. "So what if I was?"

"You lookin' for a fight, one last duel before Erza makes us play nice?"

Gray laughed softly and shook his head. "She'll know we've been fighting again. She always does."

Natsu's eyes narrowed. "Are you running away from me, snowflake?"

Gray gave the Dragon Slayer a tiny smile. "You know I'd beat you."

"Like hell you would!"

Gray walked up to him and gazed down into those narrow eyes. "When we come back, I'll kick your ass so hard, I'll be tickling the inside of your belly button with my toes."

"Oh yeah! Well, I'll kick your ass so hard, you'll have to strip your shirt off just to take a shit!"

"I'll freeze you so thoroughly, you'll be pissing ice cream!"

"I'll burn you to such a crisp, they'll have to..."

"Hey!" Laxus snapped at both of them. "Are you two gonna annoy us with your arguing, or are you gonna get the hell out of here so you don't piss off Erza?" He settled back with his drink. "Stupid kids."

Natsu bristled at that. "Who are you calling stupid, you..."

Gray yanked Natsu by the scarf, choking off his insult before Laxus fried them both. He roughly pulled the Fire Dragon Slayer out of the guild. "Let's go, idiot."

"I'm not an idiot, asshole!" Together, insulting one another the whole way, the two left the guild hall.

Mira chuckled as she watched them leave on their mission. "They argue all the time, but don't you think Natsu and Gray make good friends?"

Laxus arched an eyebrow at her. "Have you been taking sips of the cooking wine again, Mira? The two are ready to kill one another."

"They act that way," she said with a wink, "but I think, when push comes to shove, they really would do anything for one another."

Their seemingly-simply mission had quickly turned into a disaster. Gray saw Lucy down already, and Wendy was kneeling beside her, attending what appeared to be a severely broken arm. Loke was out and fighting to protect her while Wendy did what she could for Lucy. Erza was nowhere in sight, off fighting what they assumed was the leader of this dark guild. Gray felt occasional bursts of heat, so he knew Natsu was in the area.

The enemy before Gray was a tiny old man, and he had been a fool to think such an ancient person would be frail. He had held back his hits out of a sense of respect, and that cost him, badly!

It ... hurt.

No. He had been in pain before. Pain was something he was used to. He had been hit, kicked, stabbed, set on fire, and smashed so many times, pain was common. This ... this was different. It was much worse.

Just breathing was a struggle. His vision threatened to black out. His leg ... dear God, he wondered if he still had a leg. He couldn't feel anything!