Life After Near Death

Left Behind

"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.