"Do you know what it feels like to be left behind?
Losing everyone around you in such little time.
I try not to worry since they're left in the past,
But it's hard going through life knowing nothing ever lasts."
― Melanie S.

Natsu stared, frozen, gawking at the hand streaked in blood as it stretched out to him.

"Natsu," the weak voice called again. "Help. Hurts."

"What..." He stopped and blinked his eyes to make sure what he was seeing was real. "What happened? How? How did this ... what the hell happened to you, Gray?"

"Mis- ... ugh ... miscalculated. Idiot mistake." He moaned in pain. "Please. It ... hurts."

Natsu frowned, but slowly a smile struggled up. "This really is an idiot's mistake. What ... the ... hell!" He began to laugh.

Gray glared in fury. "You asshole! I'm in agony here."

Still, Natsu could not help but laugh. He had feared a thousand things in his mad-dashed race through the forest. He had dreaded enemies, wild animals, hunters, seeing that nightmare all over again.

Instead, Gray had apparently fallen into a thorny blackberry patch. Natsu saw another ice basket dropped in the fall with berries Gray had been picking. He merely lost his balance and toppled over into the bushes.

"Natsu, I'm serious," Gray moaned. "This really hurts. I have a thorn in my ass and I fell face-down at first so ... dammit, a thorn got me in the balls and cock."

Natsu laughed even harder. All of his dread melted away. Although he still smelled the blood, Gray was safe. He would not die from just this. He felt the tension flowing away with his laughs.

"Natsu!" Gray bellowed.

"Sorry, sorry, just ... I thought ... nothing," he muttered, not wanting to mention his dread that Gray might get killed. "Take my hand. We'll go slowly so you don't get scratched by anything more."

They gripped hands, and Natsu eased Gray up. As he lifted, Gray screamed in serious pain. Although Natsu had laughed, he saw that the damage was significant. Gray had fallen face-first, cutting up his cheek, chest, thighs, and blood dripped from his limp cock. Natsu had to cringe at that, unable to imagine the pain of a long thorn stabbing him there. Then apparently, driven by pain, he had made a frantic attempt to flip around and get up. That caused long scratches across his limbs and torso, which were now dripping blood all across his skin. Being unable to extract himself without more injury, he had collapsed back into the bush, and his back was pocked with bleeding holes from long berry thorns.

"You're a mess," Natsu grumbled. No wonder he had smelled blood so potently. Gray was bleeding across most of his body.

Gray was on his feet, but he pointed to the basket. "Berries," he said, and that was all.

"We can eat later," Natsu assured him.

"No! I got injured for those damn berries. I'm not leaving them for birds and squirrels."

Natsu shook his head at such stubbornness, but he fetched the basket. Gray limped along with one arm around Natsu. He walked oddly with that injury to his groin. When Natsu looked down and saw a droplet of blood hanging from the tip of Gray's manhood, he flinched. Now he felt bad for laughing. Gray was seriously injured, and if any of these got infected, especially that area, it could be really bad for him.

Before they reached the camp, Gray began to slump. He was pale, sweating, and barely dragging his feet. Instantly, Natsu grabbed him up into his arms and began to carry him, able to walk faster this way.

"Hey!" Gray cried out.

"This isn't for you, it's for me. I seriously hate the smell of your blood," Natsu said, edging toward anger as fears began to renew.

Gray barely had the strength to protest, and he honestly was glad he did not have to move anymore. The pain was growing, and he was beginning to feel nauseous. He leaned his head into Natsu's chest. It felt weird without the white muffler. Natsu had run off so suddenly, he left the scarf by the river. Gray looked at the ragged neck scar, fixating on it to focus his mind off from the pain.

"I hate relying on you. You know that?" he said, panting with the hundreds of burning stabs and scratches aching his nerves. "I hate it when you have to pull me up when I fall."

Natsu smirked at the stubborn pride. "The feeling's mutual. Do you think I like it when a freaking snowman has to rescue a dragon. It's an insult!"

Gray smiled privately at hearing that. Indeed, how many times had he saved Natsu's life? This was only fair.

He was also secretly proud that his feisty boyfriend was strong enough to carry him.

Natsu returned to the river. "Can you stand?"

"That much, yes," Gray assured.

Natsu carefully set him back on his feet right on the shore. "Wash off as much blood as you can. Don't do anything stupid! I'm gonna fetch the medical kit." Then Natsu turned and ran back into the trees.

Gray sighed. What a horrible way to ruin what was such a good trip so far!

And what was with that idiot laughing at him?

He eased into the water and hissed as the flowing stream irritated his wounds. They were small, but they were all over him. He watched the river in front of him turning dark with the blood.

Gray stared in shock. Was he bleeding that badly? He looked down and saw that, indeed, he had blood all over him. He thought about that day, that fateful fight, and he suddenly found himself barely able to breathe. He had laid in a puddle of his own blood, but he did not really have to see it. The others did. The others must have heard his screams and saw the blood.

I seriously hate the smell of your blood.

Gray stared at the red-tainted water flowing away from him.

Had Natsu been fearing the same tragedy? Was that why he laughed when he saw it was nothing more than a stupid thorn bush? He had been out of breath when he arrived. Just how frantically had he run to reach Gray in such a short amount of time?

"Gray?"

He gasped. How long since he last breathed? He had not even heard Natsu returning, although he now stood waist-deep in the river alongside Gray.

Natsu's eyes were tight with concern, but he said nothing. He saw for himself, Gray had been staring at the bloody river. It was only natural that he was remembering back then and got lost in some dark memory. He held the ice wizard's arm now, as if he could pull him back to the present. Gray was shaking, but Natsu did nothing that might damage the ice wizard's pride. He just stood there and tried not to touch any of the cuts.

"Let's wash you up," he whispered.

He went back to the shore where he dropped off some supplies. Gray immediately missed the warm comfort beside him. The pain had seemed to go away just by having that hot body nearby. Natsu got a small towel and returned into the river. He carefully washed all the cuts, including some to Gray's neck, ears, and face. So many tiny cuts! He then washed himself, since his torso still had Gray's streaked blood. Then they both came out of the river, with Natsu slowly helping Gray as he limped.

"Sorry," he hissed. "It's that cut to my balls."

Natsu teased lightly, "Good thing we got our fun in first."

Gray laughed through the stinging pain and felt his cheeks blush. "Yeah ... good thing."

Natsu took a clean towel and began to dab disinfectant on every single cut, starting with Gray's face and working down to his feet. Some spots stung worse, some deep punctures refused to stop bleeding, and Natsu had to keep using the wet towel to wipe dripping blood.

"You'll be a mummy if I wrap every single one of them," he muttered. "We don't have enough bandages."

"Just get the worst ones," Gray muttered. "We'll stop in the next town and see about more bandages."

Natsu said nothing, but he had a bad feeling already that Gray was in no condition to walk all the way to the job site, let alone fight. Even a slight touch of the disinfecting towel to his injured manhood sent Gray howling in pain. One deep puncture on his back in particular refused to stop bleeding, even after Natsu held pressure on it for over a minute.

He used their supply of bandages to get most of the big cuts. Natsu climbed a tree to get some bird eggs and cooked them up with his fire. They ate eggs and berries for breakfast. Then Natsu hurriedly packed up the camp while Gray attempted to relieve nature without causing himself too much pain. By the time he returned to the site, the fire was out, the tent was down, and Natsu had both his own pack and Gray's on his back. The ice wizard glowered, but he did not complain. He was still having problems just walking without breaking into a sweat from the genital pain.

They returned to the main road and began to set out. Their pace was a crawl, with Natsu stopping frequently while Gray breathed hard and tried to pretend he was not reaching down to rub the stinging pain in his balls. After an hour, they heard a cart rattling toward them, and Natsu flagged it down. He asked the old farmer for a ride, which the man kindly offered. Then he helped Gray to the back of the farm wagon.

"Natsu!" Gray cried out in protest. "You'll get sick."

"You're one to talk! You look ready to pass out. I can manage."

Yet as soon as the wagon started up, Natsu's face went green. He struggled hard not to let it show, but Gray rubbed his back in comfort.

"You're an idiot," he whispered to the nauseous Dragon Slayer.

"Back at ... urk ... you," he muttered, holding a hand to his mouth.

On the cart, it took only two hours to get to a city. The farmer pulled over in front of a hotel for them. Natsu gladly got off the cart and thanked the old man. Then he helped Gray into the hotel.

"I don't need to rest," Gray argued. "If we stop here, we won't make it to the client by the time we promised."

"If you keep walking at the pace you're going, we won't make it before the year is over," Natsu argued back. "Shut up and take care of yourself. One room," he ordered.

He paid, and they were shown up to a room. It was a modest place, a single bed, a private bathroom, a fireplace, and a window overlooking the avenue that was busy with an upcoming harvest festival.

"Rest," Natsu insisted. "I'll buy some bandages. One of the wounds is still bleeding through."

Gray did not protest lying on the bed. It felt good, and after Natsu left he stripped his clothes off. He glanced down at his cock. As much as he was trying not to make a big deal of some stupid scratches, that one hurt the worst of all. His entire groin had swollen with the irritation of walking. Damn, it really hurt!

He then saw blood on the shirt he had thrown off. He picked the clothing back up. On the back was the brown color of dried blood. He tried to reach behind him, but he could not feel where it might be.

Still, he figured he should lie face-down, if his back was bleeding. When he tried, the pressure on his groin almost made him scream. He finally found some comfort lying on his side.

"This sucks," he grumbled, glaring into the shadows of the quiet room.

It felt like hours before Natsu returned, although the shadows had not moved much. He had a new bottle of disinfectant and a large roll of bandages. He had Gray sit in the bathroom so he could clean all the wounds again. When he got down to the swollen penis, Natsu's face tensed. That ... looked bad!

He still said nothing until everything was cleaned out and fresh bandages were on. The smaller cuts were already scabbed and would be fine in a day. It was the long gashes and deep stabs that were a problem.

Gray limped back to the bed and collapsed, glad to be lying on his back where it was more comfortable. He heard Natsu cleaning up and stared at a rotating ceiling fan stirring the early autumn heat.

"If we stay the night, we could take the train," Gray said. "I know you hate that, but there's a station in this town."

Natsu walked over and laid in bed beside him, combing back Gray's raven hair. "No, I can make it there in time."

"No offense, but I can't walk fast," Gray admitted.

Natsu smiled sadly. "I know. That's why you're staying here."

Gray's eyes shifted over to him in alarm. Staying? "I can do the mission," he protested, but Natsu simply shook his head. "No! Natsu, this is our mission. We planned to do this together—"

Natsu put a finger over his lips, hushing him. "I asked you to come because I wanted to go camping. The camping part was wonderful, so you don't need to worry about the rest. I'll make good time on my own. I'll do the mission, come back here, and we'll head back together." He smiled and laid his head down beside Gray's on the pillow, resting the edge of his face against the scratched-up shoulder. "We'll get to spend another night under the stars on our way home. I'd like that."

"Natsu!"

"Gray," he snapped, sitting up and sharply glaring down. "You're hurt. You're bleeding. Your cock looks like you've been stung by a bee. Call me greedy, but I want your cock to heal so I can suck it again."

Gray's face instantly turned crimson and he stuttered out spitted words before he was able to shout over the shock of Natsu's bluntness. "I can fight! They're stupid thorn scratches, they're not going to—"

"Will you shut up and take care of yourself?" screamed Natsu.

Gray's mouth snapped shut. Why was Natsu so mad? He had expected snarky remarks about his stubbornness, not angry shouting.

Natsu turned his face aside, and his gaze landed on the legs. A year ago, Gray could not even stand on those two legs, bound to a wheelchair, going through surgeries to repair his organs, sometimes barely clinging on to life, depressed and fatalistic with the grim prospect of life as an invalid. It felt like another lifetime ago, and yet at times it felt like only a few weeks had passed.

"Please," Natsu added softly, and his fists drew up. "For me. Please. Stay here, rest, heal your wounds, and I'll come back in a few days. Just ... I can't take seeing you in pain, even just scratches."

Gray flopped back onto his pillows and sighed. He still felt this was ridiculous, but if it was mentally agonizing to Natsu, how could he force the matter?

"I didn't bring enough money for more than two nights," he muttered as one final attempt to argue against him.

Natsu smiled that at least he was not blatantly refusing. "I'll take care of it. A city of this size, I can find a quick job. Rest here."

Natsu leaned over and kissed Gray on the forehead. Then he got up, straightened out his scarf, and left the room with a quick wave.

Gray let out a long sigh. Lying there made the wounds on his back burn and itch. It was such a light ache, but it was everywhere. Moving even slightly made the wounds on his genitals flash with pain. He was confined to just look up at the ceiling.

He closed his eyes, angry at his clumsiness. Slowly, he drifted off into sleep.

***

There was a darkness in front of him and fire behind. Gray stood between the two. Although the fire was threatening, he felt it was safer. That darkness, though ... that was dangerous. He feared it. Like clouds of bubbling evilness, it loomed before him.

The darkness was coming for him. The bubbling clouds were stretching forward. Gray could not move. His legs refused to work. He looked down, and they were not his legs. They were made of wood with ugly metal braces on them. He could not escape the darkness reaching closer and closer.

Then the fire washed over him. He felt the wooden legs burn, and as the char broke away, the braces fell to the side, and his own legs were freed.

The fire passed him and stood in front of him. It was a living flame, burning too brightly to look at directly. Light faced the Dark.

"I seriously hate the smell of your blood."

Gray stared at the flame in confusion. Suddenly, the darkness surged at them both. The fiery spirit burned strong, but the dark was pressing it in. The flame shrank. Gray watched it diminish, and he knew that flame would go out.

"No!" he shouted in terror.

The flame turned, and he saw narrow eyes amidst the fire. "I will do anything—anything—to help you."

"I don't want that," Gray cried out.

The flame was dimming. "I'll give anything..."

"No, you bastard," Gray screamed. He felt the chill swirling around him as his emotions gave power to his magic. "I hate relying on you. You know that? I hate it when you have to pull me up when I fall."

He stomped in front of the flame.

"Who said you're allowed to sacrifice yourself for me?" he sneered.

It was scary to face the darkness.

He shivered in fear of it.

But he could not let that flame go out.

He couldn't survive without that fire.

The darkness was almost on him. Gray cringed and braced himself.

The flame was all around him once again. He opened his eyes, and it was burning the dark. However, the darkness was devouring the flame. It was burning away, but it was taking the flame with it. The warmth was fading far too quickly.

"Noooo!" Gray shrieked.

Those eyes looked back at him again. "I can't take seeing you in pain."

"No! Natsu," he cried out in grief.

"You're safe. I'm ... glad you're safe." The flame began to sputter out.

Gray reached toward it. Although the flame burned him, he tried to grab hold. "Don't you dare leave me," he cried out.

Suddenly, the flame was gone. The world around him instantly iced over into a wasteland of crystallized frost. Gray looked around in horror. It was the frozen sunflower fields again, with the ice castle rebuilt, waiting to lock him away, freeze over his heart, and shut him out from the world.

"No," he shivered, dreading this prison dimension of bitter loneliness. "No, I can't go back to this. I won't!"

He wanted his dragon prince. He wanted the man he loved. The flame burned, but only in his heart now. Never again would it warm his embrace and sear his skin. All around was frozen.

His head flew up into the stormy sky as he screamed into the echoing emptiness. "Natsuuuu!"

***

Gray bolted up in bed, panting hard, shaking from the strange nightmare. He rubbed his arms, and the pain from the cuts shoved the dream aside.

What the hell sort of dream was that, anyway?

The sun was setting, and the room had grown stuffy. Gray cringed just to move. The wounds had scabbed and now his whole body felt like it was a crinkling paper bag. Somehow, they hurt even worse now, and his skin was flushed red around the deeper punctures.

On the nightstand by the bed, he saw a folded piece of paper with GRAY scrawled across it. He took it, folded it, and tried to decipher the writing.

Although the spelling was off in places and the grammar was questionable, Gray got the gist of it. Natsu did some minor jobs around town, and he paid the hotel enough money to cover until he returned. He did not want to wake Gray or have him argue, so he left.

"Idiot, going off and doing things on his own," Gray grumbled, but he realized that was the way Natsu was.

Then the dream returned to him. His flame! And it had been fading away, stolen from him by evil darkness. Gray shivered at the auspicious vision.

"Be safe and don't do anything stupid, you idiot," he muttered.

Then he saw something that had been under the letter. He picked it up and laughed. It was a piece of candy from his favorite chocolate makers. Under it was another note, written far messier than the first, as if added as an afterthought.

"I know you like these candies, and I wanna cheer you up. I promise not to destroy anything. Try to heal up, especially down there. By the way, you were really damn hot this morning. I wanna wake up like that more often. Love ya, princess! —Natsu"

Gray felt heat in his cheeks. "Idiot," he mumbled. Even without Natsu there, he felt a bit embarrassed to read a message like that.

He opened the candy wrapper and bit into the chocolate. It melted over his tongue, and he groaned in pleasure. It was sweet of Natsu to get him something. And a promise not to destroy anything? Well, he would hold Natsu to that promise. Heal up down there? Seriously, what was that idiot thinking?

Of course he was thinking about more intimate moments.

And Gray realized, he wanted that too. He wanted his warm flame to burn beside him in bed. He wanted those hot touches and fiery mouth. He wanted Natsu more now than ever before.

"Hurry back," he smiled to himself.

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