How Writing Fanfiction Saved Me

Someone To Fall Back On

Disclaimer: All Fairy Tail Characters Belong to Hiro Mashima. I am not a medical expert or any kind of expert on ARVD. It is being used for literary purposes only. From what I understand most people who have this disease respond well to treatments, Zeref and Mavis have a severe case of it.

Chapter 8: Someone To Fall Back On

Natsu managed to make it outside before emptying the contents of his stomach all over the Fullbuster's back yard. He couldn't have stopped it even if he'd tried and he was still heaving, his body doubled over as it tried to empty itself of everything he had eaten.

He heard the door open behind him and tried desperately to get himself back under control. He was having trouble breathing though, it felt like he couldn't get enough air in. He tried breathing quickly in an attempt to get more air to his lungs but everything was starting to turn black.

"Are you alright?"

He heard a voice behind him. He couldn't tell right away who the voice belonged to but even as he tried to respond he found that his tongue had dried up and felt too big to fit in his mouth. He was starting to panic, he'd never felt this way before. Was something wrong with him too? He felt someone, he assumed it was the same person who had spoken to him a moment ago, put an arm on his shoulder and try to turn him around.

"Natsu? Natsu, are you ok?", Laxus asked urgently.

Natsu could hear the concern in the voice even as he couldn't make out the words themselves. He tried to calm himself down, to speak, to make this moment not be about him but his tongue was even drier now. He realized with guilt that his brother was dying and he had just rushed out of the house without saying a word.

"Pinkie, you're scaring the crap out of me right now. Say something!", Laxus finally managed to turn his cousin around and tried to comfort him by putting his arms around him.

"What are you doing?", Zeref yelled, "Get the hell away from him."

Laxus flinched at the fury that Zeref did not even try to hide. He knew he deserved it but he'd really thought that they had been making progress the last few years. He guessed he'd been wrong. He wouldn't hold it against him, he could only imagine what Zeref must be feeling at the moment.

He moved away from Natsu and said "I wasn't doing anything to him Zeref. I was just trying to see if he was ok." He looked at his older cousin sadly, "You were busy with Wendy and I was just trying to help."

Zeref pinched his nose and swore under his breath. "I know. Look, I'm sorry. I.... just please don't touch him right now. Ok?"

Laxus nodded and looked at the two brothers. "What's wrong with him?"

"I don't know, but if you really want to help can you just go get Silver please?", Zeref asked as he watched his brother continue to struggle for breath.

Laxus ran back inside already yelling for Silver.