Wheels of Fire

I Won't Let You Die

It was another hot day in Edolas. Natsu Dragneel normally loved summer, so he felt weird shivering, although he was sweating in an unnatural way. His limbs barely wanted to move. He stayed in bed most of the time, but occasionally he got up to look out the window.

Being sick sucked!

Wendy Aranya did her best to care for him. The young woman knew only basic healing, and she had no idea what was wrong with Natsu. He was not fevered, yet he trembled and moaned at times, as if he had the flu. He had so little energy, she had to help him with even basic things, like bathing him. That had been embarrassing for Natsu, but he was too drained to protest much.

As for Edo-Wendy, it was hard not to seduce him. She had bathed many men before, but never one who was sick. She had to struggle between a desire to mount him and ride him hard into the bed, and a desire to stroke back his sweaty hair and kiss it all better.

There were way too many clashing emotions for her to handle.

Argh! Why am I like this? Why does he mess with my heart so much?

Natsu mostly just slept, and Edo-Wendy liked to watch him. She had never seen her own universe's Natsu as being handsome, but even innocent in sleep, helpless in sickness, this Earth-Natsu fascinated her. She stroked through his hair as he dreamed. Such soft pink hair! He was so warm, too. One evening, she had thought only to rest her head on his pillow, and she woke up the next morning in bed next to him, her body wrapped around his. Luckily, he had slept the whole time and never knew she was there.

"Fight me, Gray," Natsu mumbled in his sleep.

Edo-Wendy had to chuckle at that. Many of his nighttime grumbles were challenging people to fight. It hurt to hear him mutter a challenge to Laxus. Wendy missed her own guild's Laxus. Back then, she had mostly just picked on him, but Laxus had been rather handsome, in a nerdy sort of way, along with that bad-boy Freed Liberty whom he followed around like a puppy. Those two had totally fucked, it wasn't even subtle, so since her Laxus was flamboyantly gay, she had never been interested in seducing him.

Back then, that was the only thing that interested her in men: how fun would they be to seduce?

Muttering about challenging someone named Sting was also intriguing. Who was he? Did he even exist in Edolas? Maybe, like so many others, he was already dead.

Day after day, Natsu was increasingly in pain, and his lethargy left him barely able to lift his head to eat. Wendy had to spoon-feed him on really bad days. When he was awake, he talked a lot, as if his brain desperately needed to escape reality and go to a happy place.

And that happy place was Earthland.

He talked about the guild, about Happy, about his team, and he gushed about how powerful and awesome and terrifying their Erza was.

Edo-Wendy began to realize more and more, Natsu Dragneel could never stay with her. He needed to get back home. That was where he was happiest.

First, she had to nurse him back to health ... if that was even possible.

"You've really been taking care of me," Natsu noted one day. He had been shivering earlier, but wrapped in many thick blankets with the window shut until it was stuffy in the hotel room, he finally looked better.

"Isn't that normal?" she grumbled, hoping her warm cheeks could be blamed on the hot summer afternoon.

"Is it here?" he wondered to himself.

"Of course it's normal to care for someone you're close to."

"Close?"

"W-Well," she stuttered. "We're friends, right?"