Tearing Down His Walls ~ A Gratsu Fanfic

Chapter 7: Mental Pain

Gray sat snuggled next to Natsu. The movie had started over again and was softly playing in the background as Gray watched the cute pinkette sleep. Nothing had ever felt so right to him at that moment. Gray wished that this moment could last forever, but he knew it would be late if he didn't wake up Natsu soon. Reluctantly Gray decided that is was time for Natsu to get home.

'Maybe he'll let me walk him home'

Just as Gray was about to wake his sleeping beauty he heard mumbled words come from Natsu. His body had started to shake and his breathing increased rapidly. Gray was starting to worry. He didn't know what to do! Gray stopped and tried to listen to what Natsu was mumbling as twisted and turned, struggling against some unseen force.

"no! n-No! Stop! I'm sorry! Please! It hurts! S-stop!"

Soft whimpers were coming from the smaller boy. Tears were steadly flowing down his cheeks and his breathing was becoming frantic. Gray's heart broke and he knew had to do something to wake Natsu up. He had to save him from his nightmare.

He tried everything. He shook Natsu furiously and smacked on the cheek a few times, but nothing worked.

"Natsu! Natsu you have to wake up its just a dream!" he called and Natsu seemed to respond.

"No! No I'm sorry! It's not true" Gray had to do something quick! He ran down stairs and grabbed an icepack out of the freezer. His Aunt used to put it down his back whenever he wouldn't get up for school. He hated it himself and really hated to have to do this to Natsu.

Gray knelt next to Natsu, his face covered in sweat and scrunched up in pain. In terror. 'What has Natsu so scared?' Gray wondered. He stopped thinking about it and started putting the ice down Natsu's back as he started screaming instead of mumbling. Once the ice reached his lower back, Natsu shot up.

He panicked. He had forgotten where he was and  saw himself trapped back in that attic. The images, the sounds, the smell all surrounding him. He didn't want to be there he needed someone to save him. He didn't want to be there,

"Help me! Don't leave me here please! Save me! It hurts! She'll come back again, please! Don't leave me here!"

"Shhhh shhh, Natsu it's alright! Your safe here I promise!" Gray tried to console Natsu as much as he could but nothing seemed to get him out of his panic. He decided to dial Lucy and ask her what to do. He picked up his cell and waited for her to pick up.

Ring, ring, ri- "Hello, Lucy here!"

"Hi Luce it's Gray-"

"Omg! Hi! how's the date going? I tried texting Natsu earlier but he didn't respond are you having fun? What are y-"

"Lucy! Not now! Natsu is here panicking! I don't know what to do!"

"Shit! Okay Gray, Natsu is probably having a panic attack. I need you to tell me something. Did he come wearing a white scarf? Looks scaley almost?"

"Yes, why?" Gray didn't understand the relevance. He was more worried about Natsu's well-being at the moment instead of his taste in fashion. Not that it didn't look absolutly adorable.

"That's a story for another time but, you need to remind him he has it. It's something meaningful to him and will bring him to the present moment. He...he's stuck in the past right now Gray and it's not pretty okay. Just bring him back with the scarf."

"Okay" Gray picked up Natsu's scarf off the floor next to him. He wasn't sure what to do exactly but he put it in front of Natsu hoping he would see it.

"Natsu. Here it's your scarf. Come back to me, please Natsu." Gray pleaded. Lucy spoke again over the phone and told him to put it on speaker.

"Natsu! Can you hear me! Gray put the scarf in his hands!" Gray did as instructed and stepped back.