The Runaway

Chapter 39: 10 long years

Natsu sneezed as Gray blew the dust off the boxes. Sting was still grumbling about this not being his fault and the world is just one fucking bitch that wants to see him suffer all the way to hell. Natsu and Gray kept snickering at him.

"Why do I have to participate in this again?" Natsu grunted.

"This is our room," Gray retorted.

"But it was those two who messed it up," He pointed an accusing finger to the ever so innocent looking Rogue and Sting.

Sting stuck his tongue out and Natsu threw a dust-filled pillow at him, causing the dust to explode at his face. Gray and Natsu burst into laughter, while Rogue was chuckling. Sting was having a coughing fit. As soon as he recovered, he chased Natsu and Gray around until Rogue got pissed and gave them a big bump in the head.

"We're doing this spring cleaning shit to lessen the mess in the room, not to add more!" and he went on and went with his scolding.

'It's not even spring...' the trio thought in unison, Rogue's berating passing from one ear to another. 'and, did he just curse?'

After what seemed to be an hour, they began cleaning again. Rogue went out to throw the garbage bags. Natsu was crawling under the beds to check if there was anymore mess. Well, besides the porn magazines he found under Sting's bed,in which Sting denied and reasoned that it was Loke's... it's actually more believable that way (somewhere around the dorm, Loke sneezed and Lyon handed a tissue packet at him), nothing else seems to be messy and dirty.

"Hey. What's this?" he mumbled to himself and pulled out a small box under Rogue's bed.

It was pretty dusty. Natsu eyed the box then noticed that Sting and Gray were having a competition at who can lift more boxes, just boxes. How stupid. Natsu opened a box and found a glass bracelet where there was fire swirling inside. Natsu's eyes widen and then Rogue entered the room.

"Is this yours?" Natsu asked, staring at Rogue directly, eyes field with bewilderment and shock. Rogue's eyes widen when he took notice of the bracelet.

"I was wondering where that went," he smiled softly. Sting and Gray finally took notice of them and decided to join.

"Funny. Where'd you get that? I've never seen you where it," Sting asked. He took the thing it of the box and turned it  around, examining it.

"Oh. I kinda forgot but... When I was seven, a boy gave this to me as a present. Though, I can't remember him," Rogue absently answered, he look up in hopes of remembering the vague memory.

"You know, it's kinda familiar to mine," Natsu said. Rogue turned to him.

"Why's that?" Gray asked.

"Hmm. Let's see..." Natsu hummed.

"I made something similar to that. You see,when I was a kid, I found this guy sitting alone in the park, crying about something and shivering in the cold. It was around winter... I think," Natsu smiled awkwardly.

"You think?" Gray and Sting repeated incredulously, Natsu laughed sheepishly. 

"Yeah. So anyway,I kinda went and talked to him," he began. "We became friends and would always meet at the park," Natsu sat down. "He would always tell me that he's dad is very busy and his twin is loud and always somewhere... getting... uhh.. lost?" Gray and Sting exchanged glances, and Rogue can't help but pay close attention. 

"Then one day, we were talking in the park while it was snowing. He mentioned that they were moving in about a day. Well, to be more precise, on the day his birthday will take place," Sting's eyes widen in shock. He was starting to put the pieces together.