Be Careful What You Wish For

Scars

Erza's POV

I looked around. Natsu was nowhere is sight. How could he leave that quickly? Lucy was looking around too, until her eyes laid on that griffin. She stopped and stared at the beast and started to walk over to him. I didn't understand why, that was until I saw Natsu's pink hair. He was out of my sight from my position, but Lucy was able to see him. I headed over to the griffin. Sure enough, our pink haired dragon slayer was there. The griffin had his head placed on top of Natsu's head. He turn his head to the right and looked at me. He quickly looked away. 

"Natsu....."

"What do you want? I told you to stay."

"We couldn't stand by and watch you get harassed."

"Harassed?"

"Attacked. Hurt by anything, dear boy."

Natsu nodded his head at Carys. I looked over to the colorful bird. She was flying just next to Lucy. Lucy started to walk over to him from his left. He quickly turned his head away from her. 

"Lucy...."

Lucy's POV

"Lucy...."

I looked at Carys. She had warning and sadness in her voice. That made me a bit concerned. The way she spoke made it seem like there was a problem. Natsu moved away from me. He could tell I was coming close to him without even looking at me. 

"Natsu....."

He stopped moving and just hung his head. I put my hand on his right shoulder and started to walk in front of him. He kept moving his head to the left. Why was he doing that? Is he embarrassed or something? I moved where I was directly in front of him. I used my other hand to cup the left side of his face and had him turn his head. I was not expecting to see four scars on the left side of his face. His left eye was closed and three of the scars ran through his eye, the fourth was just under his eye. It looked like he had these for years. They weren't new. 

"Natsu... what....."

"I was....... attacked by someone....... similar...... who attacked your friend....."

Erza had walked up next to me and saw the claw marks on his face. She looked stunned. This was not what we were expecting to see. We knew that Natsu was raised by a dragon in the woods. It never crossed my mind about other creatures. I always saw Natsu as someone who fights back, even when he was hurt. I thought about Gray..... He was attacked and it was just a scratch. A deep scratch, that pretty much paralyzed him. Paralyzed and poisoned him. If Natsu didn't help Gray when he did, he would be dead. Natsu was out here alone. However, he was clearly still alive so maybe there was someone who looked out for him. It couldn't be Taku, could it? He didn't seem to like Natsu too much. I couldn't read him that well. He really creeped me out. How he was just straight up reminddd me of a goth boy. (That was for you Sora.) I looked Natsu up and down. He looked fine, and for the most part, unharmed. They only thing that showed any injury was the claw marks on his eye. I wonder......

"Can.... Can you see out of your left eye?"

His gaze goes to the ground. He shakes his head slightly. He looked up at me and he opened his left eye and his normal onyx eyes was a slight gray haze. It would look like he had two different color eyes, but I knew better. He looked over at Erza. She had her head bowed not looking at him. Seeing this made Natsu's expression change. He looked...... Uneased and slightly angered.

"It's... It's fine.... I have been like this since I was younger. I have learned to live with it. I don't need help."

He backed away from me and Erza. The feeling I was getting from him was slightly hostile. That feeling went away quickly as his gaze softened and he looked conflicted. I don't think he clearly understands what to do. 

"Natsu....."

"Stop that!"

Now I was confused. We weren't doing anything...... Were we? Erza spoke up. 

"What are we doing?"

"I'm not helpless! I know that people see me as helpless, or a pain, or............ "

He looked down. His expression filled with sadness. 

"A monster."

Carys flew over to Natsu and pecked him on the head. He winced from that.

"I have told you to not listen to them. Haven't I? You are not what they say."

"Carys.... I know you are scared of me too. Don't tell me otherwise."

The rainbow feather bird went silent. 

"Carys... you don't have to "protect" me. I can take care of myself. I have for the last few years of my life!"

"Calm down."

"Don't tell me what to do!"

Carys let out a sigh. Natsu looked at each of us before running off. I was going to run off after him before Carys held her wing out. 

"If you go after him... be careful. He always gets a bit angered after dealing with Taku."

I nodded and looked at Erza. She looked conflicted.

"Erza. We have to go find him."

"What if we wait for him to calm down?"

"You can, I'm going after him. You can stay here and watch Gray. I am sure he should be able to move soon."

She thought for a moment before nodding her head. I look at the woods and ran after our pink haired Dragon slayer. Oh Natsu..... What happened to you?

A/N: SO, I almost forgot that today was Friday. It has been a strange week. This chapter felt way to short, but it's fine. I needed to post a chapter and I have. If you have any questions, feel free to ask. I'll try to answer them without giving away anything. Hope you guys are okay and safe. See you in the next chapter. 

~Zolf

Posted: 7/3/2020