Errant Souls •Gratsu• (Older Version)

The Final Moment

(Gray's P.O.V)

I'm really concerned.

It's been days since the last outburst from his last nightmare. I know I should feel glad, and relieved, but whenever I get close to him, or touch him, he immediately tenses up and scoots away. I know he didn't do it on purpose, but this deep pang of hurt still echoed in my heart.

Sometimes at night, he might just sit bolt upright, and let out a long, single bone-chilling wail. It's frightening to the core, and many a times, I'm too shocked to even move, like I'm glued to the spot. He sounds so scared...

....And I don't want this to go on for any longer.

I've made up my mind.

                                ***

I paddled down the deserted and silent Asylum, poking my head around all corners and trying to sniff him out. No familiar scents and face. It's like he disappeared into thin air. I frowned, knitting my eyebrows together in thought. Something fishy is definitely going on here.

Doors creaked eerily as I moved them to examine the rooms they blocked. Nothing. I inhaled deeply, tasting the foul air with the tip of my tongue. Still nothing. I'm beginning to wonder if he really did disappear with the results of his nightmares.

Up and down I searched, but all my efforts were in vain. I couldn't find him no matter how hard I tried. Swallowing my frustration, I plonked down on a empty chair with handcuffs covered in blood. The metallic wet sheet gleamed in the flickering lights. I sighed heavily. Where could that flamehead be? I hope he didn't do some sort of reckless things.

Just then, my ears pricked up. I could hear slight movements nearby, and I was sure I caught a scent so familiar and so tantalizing that I immediately recognized who it belongs to. I sniffed the air. He can't be that far away. Instinctively, I wobbled up, and followed the drunken smell of my mate.

A faint whimper rose from the other side, and it gradually increase in sound. My steps quickened; I have to find him, before he gets to release that sinister howl. He needs to snap out of it.

I gulped down my rising anger when the smell lingered on a fork in the paths that leds to two doors. I narrowed my eyes, backing up. One of them must be the correct one, and the other is a dead end. But, which one?

Before I even have anytime to start debating mentally, a loud, ringing wail echoed throughout the whole Asylum. It made my skin crawl, and my neck hairs standing up in panic. He's in a frenzy already, and I have to be there to help him though. I growled low in my throat, swiftly glancing at each fork. Another pained screech brought me forward instinctively, towards the right. I breathed in, parting my lips, tasting the tense air. The smell of him is vibrating strongly here, punctuated with the steadying rise of fear.

I slammed through the door, and hurry down the corridor, and flung open the door, just as the last great wail melted away, and to find him laying down on the bed, a scared and worried look written all over his face. He heard the doorframe slam into wood, and he glanced over his shoulder. His dark eyes widen, but soften as soon as they met mine. His body seemed to relax a little, but remain tense. He sits upright, and like me, he can taste the seriousness in the air. I grabbed his free hands and sat down on a empty spot next to him.

"Natsu, we need to talk."

(Natsu's P.O.V)

I gulped silently, shooting the opened door a look full of despair. The thought of running away from all of this seriousness and responsiblites sounds inviting to me, better than being locked here, and maybe discussing serious matters. How I wish I can be free again, without no worries, and no anxiety. Just the plain old Child Natsu, running down the breezy hills without a care.