He's sweet as sugar, I'm hard as ice. Hurt him once and I'll kill you twice.

Chapter 7

I'll be ending this soon real quick so make sure to stick with me till the end!

{Gray POV}

4 years.

4 long years.

4 long years since I've last seen Natsu.

4 long years since I've last seen the light of my life.

4 damn long years since I've last felt love for someone.

It's been 4 years. Natsu hasn't returned. I refused to believe that he was dead, even though there was a grave made for him at the church. How could the guild members just believe he was dead? Natsu isn't that weak. He's strong.

The guild's changed. It's unusually quiet whenever I go inside, and there's always some form of tension. Some members left. We haven't taken much jobs, and Gildarts stays everyday, waiting for his return. Even Laxus stands by the door everyday.

"Hey, Gray," Lucy sat next to me, putting her chin into her hands.

"Hey."

"You know what day it is right?" She asked.

"Sunday?"

"It's the day that Natsu 'died'." She put the word 'died' into air quotes. Most of the guild members lost hope in ever finding him. Some actually believed he was dead. Even Master thought he was dead. Or so he says.

"Are you going to the church today?" I asked. She shook her head.

"What's the point? No need in going to a grave when the person's alive." She said. I agreed with her.

Natsu, where are you?

{Natsu POV}

It's been 4 years. 4 long years since I've last seen...anyone. Sting's face is engraved into my head. All I can think of whenever I close my eyes or go to sleep is white.

I looked at myself again. My once toned chest and big muscles flattened to thin pieces of skin. I was nothing but a twig for Sting to play with now. My once bubbly, jumpy, excited personality disappeared throughout the years. Every single noise scares me. I'm used to the cold, like Gray is.

Gray. I miss you...

"Natsu-San~!" Sting opened the door. He was already bare. He released my chains and did his thing.

. . .

I lied on the floor, panting heavily, his fluids flooding out of me. My legs shook.

"Alright, Natsu-San! I have some sad news for me, but great news for you!" Sting said. I waited, staring at the ceiling. "I'm going to be releasing you into the forest so that you die. I've had my fun, and you're getting boring. You don't moan or scream out in pain anymore. That's no fun."

I stood up, immediately feeling a strong pain in my back. I ignored it, barely managing to sit up. "What...You can't...! I can't survive...!"

"Oh? Are we talking back?" Sting leaned down and stroked me roughly, making me gasp and shiver on the floor again. "I'm leaving you out in the woods to die. So deal with it. Once I leave you, you will have no other protection. We leave today. Right now."

"Right now?" I asked, he nodded, and gave me a familiar looking vest. I gasped slightly.

Clothes.

I quickly dressed, and the warm feeling of clothes draping my body almost made me cry.

"Alright, time to die!"

He led me into the middle of the forest and left, in the middle of the night.

"Bye bye~!"

I shivered, standing up and wandering around. "Where..." I tried remembering what we did on jobs together 4 years back. I couldn't remember anything. I heard a twig snap behind me. Almost on instinct, I flinched, before yelling out a strangled yell. My nose told me....no way. No, it can't be.

{Gray POV}

I stopped. Someone's here? I took a job and was on my home, when I accidentally stepped on a twig and it made a loud SNAP!

"I-I won't hurt you." I said, recognizing that the voice was human. The voice was very familiar, but I couldn't pinpoint where I heard that voice.

"There's no way..." the voice said. "No way!"

"W-What's wrong?" I asked. It was dark so I couldn't see who was talking.

"Gray...?" The voice said timidly.

"How do you know my name?"

"Gray, it's me...." It took me a second to realize, before taking a shaky breath.

"Nat...Natsu?"

"It's you..."

"Natsu!"

I ran towards the voice and stepped into a clear area. A skinny boy, with Natsu's clothes, was sitting on the floor. I ran towards him. His pink hair grew long past his ears.

"Natsu...you..." I fell to my knees in front of him, carefully touching his cheek with my shaking hand. "Is that...You're alive?"

He was crying, gasping for air. "Gray!" He practically knocked me over, but I didn't care. I caught him, taking sharp breaths in disbelief.

"Wh-Where were you?" I asked, trembling. I noticed that he wasn't muscular anymore. He was skinny, and frail. He was constantly shivering.

"You...Don't worry...I'm here...I've finally found you..." I cried. I finally found him. Four long years of searching, and here he was, right in my arms.

"Th-This isn't a dream, right?" He said. I shook my head no. "I'm finally free..."

"Free?" I asked. He shivered and started to cry again.

"H-He I-I...I don't..." He mumbled. I stroked his head.

"Don't...Dont talk. You look dead." I said, pulling him back into a hug. "Yeah, you're free...You're free, Natsu..."

He hugged me tightly, before his entire body went limp. I pulled him away. He passed out.

"Natsu!"

He didn't wake up. I carried him on my back. He was surprisingly a lot lighter than last time. This shattered my heart. I carried him and ran to the guild. It wasn't far, but it wasn't so close either. I kicked open the door and kneeled from exhaustion.

"I *pant* found *pant* him..." Then I passed out too. The last thing I remembered before blacking out was the sound of gasps surrounding me, and Lucy's yell of happiness as she embraced Natsu in a bone-crushing hug.