The True Origins of Natsu Dragneel

Chapter 34

"Natsu....6 months ago, Juvia was killed by your father"

Natsu stared at the master with eyes wide open...Juvia.... Juvia was dead? Everyone in the room looked down at their feeds, eyes filled with sadness and pure pain. Gray on the other-hand, shot glares at Natsu, he blamed Natsu for the death of Juvia. It may be irrational but he need to blame someone, he needed to vent his anger at someone and he decided to vent it on his best friend...former best friend.

Natsu clenched his fist, "Natsu" Erza said softly, she reached out and put her hand on his shoulder, everyone in this room had time to grieve while Natsu didn't, he didn't think it was even there was a possibility that one of his comrades was going to pass away.

Natsu pushed pass Gray and Erza to exit the meeting room, Lucy sighed sadly, "He needs time", she muttered sadly.

"Time? Are you joking? JUVIA IS DEAD BECAUSE OF HIM AND YOU WANT TO GIVE HIM TIME. WE DON'T HAVE TIME" Gray shouted angrily, Gray took her death the hardest since he was with her when she was killed.

"GRAY" Erza shouted angrily, "Juvia was Natsu's friend, she was family to everyone here, Natsu is your friend and comrade whether you like it or not, Natsu is not to blame for this"

Gray knew that Erza was right, he knew that Natsu was his friend and it wasn't his fault but... hating Natsu was easier than accepting the fact that she was gone. "Natsu didn't love her like I did" Gray muttered before leaving meeting room. Happy who was still on Lucy's shoulder decided to go after Natsu, he flew out of the room as fast as possible to catch up to Natsu.

Lucy was going to go after Gray but Erza shook her head, "He had a different bond to her then us", Lucy understood what she meant, she felt the same bond between Natsu just as Erza for Jellal.

Happy found Natsu sitting up in a tree close by to the camp, he was looking down at the fairy tail members below, he now just noticed how the numbers has decreased, how the spirits were broken and how much pain they had held within their eyes. Happy came and sat on Natsu's shoulders, it was comforting in a weird way.

"How.... How can things change so much over the course of a year?" Natsu muttered, he didn't want to admit that Juvia was gone.

Happy looked up at his best friend, he had just now noticed how much older Natsu looked, he didn't know how to reply so he just kept his mouth shut.

"How did she....how did she die?" Natsu asked, he was afraid of the answer but he needed to know. Happy didn't want to be the one to tell Natsu what happened so he thought of Juvia's final moments.

"She died smiling" Happy replied, he didn't know if that would lessen the pain but he had to say something.

Natsu shook his head, "It only takes 365 days for things to change, all this time I was training, fighting and bleeding to be able to gain the power to protect everyone here, while you guys.... were in a war zone with MY father, fighting MY battles" Natsu began to tear up, his anger was building up, the heat began radiating from his body and his blood began boiling.

"Juvia is gone...because of ME, everyone here is suffering from an unbearable pain all because of my stupidity...." Happy began crying, he couldn't comfort his best friend, he couldn't do anything back then when Natsu literally died, or when Natsu was forced to watch his ex-lover die...he couldn't help Natsu at all...and that hurt more than anything right now.

"I understand why Gray hates me, I understand why Lucy and Erza were angry with me...... I should've stayed dead, the first and second time" Natsu muttered, his hands were covering his eyes, Happy stared at his best friend with shock.

"HOW COULD YOU SAY THAT?" Happy screamed at him, "If you died, I wouldn't be here, I wouldn't have found a family, I WOULDN'T BE HAPPY" Happy shouted at his best friend while tears rained down his face like a water fall.

Happy got off of Natsu shoulders and flew into his chest which temporarily shocked Natsu but he but he regained his composure and hugged Happy as he cried, "Did you forget that you hatched me straight from an egg? I had no-one but you, it was always you and me against the world. We were each other's family, we had so much fun together, all those adventure, DO YOU REGRET ANY OF THAT?" Happy shouted into Natsu's chest, Natsu let a small smile form.

"No" Natsu muttered honestly, Happy cried harder, "THAN DON'T EVER SAY THAT YOU WISH YOU DIED BECAUSE WITHOUT YOU I WOULD BE NOTHING"

Natsu allowed Happy to cry into his chest, "Thank You.... Happy" Natsu whispered

Gray stormed off out of the village, he couldn't handle it, the pain was so unbearable, he just kept walking, his pace got faster and faster, he started to run. Running was easy, it was easier to run then face the truth. He ran for a solid 10 minutes, he didn't know how he ended up here out of places but he did, he was at Juvia's grave.

He hadn't visited her grave since the funeral, he looked down at the Grave that spoke her name, he hated this place, he hated seeing this grave. He raised his fist, ready to punch the grave to particles but just as he was about to break it he stopped.

"I'm sorry" He whimpered as he collapsed to his knees, he placed his hand softly onto the grave, he shook his head trying to make the tears disappear, "I...I couldn't.....I couldn't save you" Gray sobbed out through his breaths, this is the first time since the funeral that he had cried like this.

"I PROMISED" Gray shouted out as loud as he could, but his voice turned into a whisper, "I promised you that I would protect you"

"Do you hate me? I hate me... The way I'm acting...the things I've done...they're unforgivable" Gray muttered, "I bet you would be ashamed of me huh?"

"No, she wouldn't" a voice spoke softly, before Gray could turn around the person put him in a tight embrace from the back.

"Erza?" Gray asked softly, he was shocked that Erza had found him, he was even more shocked that she was hugging him like this.

"She loved you....Juvia loved you no matter what, she would never blame you for anything, and she most definitely would not hate you" Erza stated firmly, she had followed Gray despite what she had said to Lucy, it was surely hypocritical of her to do so but she knew Gray since he was child, she knew love and pain. She knew what the pain of love can do to someone.

"But...the things I've done.... what I did to Nats-" Gray began to rant but Erza stopped him, "Was understandable, you are grieving Gray, you loved her more than anyone in this world, you cannot blame yourself for the faults of an evil man" Erza stated, she knew how Gray was beating himself up about the way he was acting towards Natsu and what he had done.

Gray began crying harder than he had ever cried, snow began to fall around them, "I loved her Erza...I can never tell her that I loved her" Gray cried into Erza's arm.