Behind The Scenes ~ A Gratsu fanfic

Chapter 9

"So we meet again."
That voice. His hot breath tickled Natsu's left ear, making Natsu shiver. It was very uncomfortable.

"I can't wait to have fun with you again." The man whisper laughed, it barely audible. His back faced the team as he faced Natsu, so no one saw the sadistic smile and wide eyes full of malice he gave Natsu. The said pinkette gave out a low yet scared whimper and took a step back, eyes widened slightly with fear.

The team could only watched as their interaction played out. Erza knew it. When Natsu had mentioned that he and the man had once crossed paths, she assumed that he was a victim. But she couldn't be entirely sure, so she never shared her thoughts to the group. It was vague, after all.

Gray wanted so badly to comfort Natsu, to coax him back to a calm state. But, seeming as luck wasn't on their side today, he didn't think that that was going to happen any time soon.

He could only watch.

"Aw, don't be like that." The mans smile only widened more, if even possible. Natsu was beyond horrified. Not only was the thing he had hidden so well for so long was being revealed in front of the people he wanted to keep hidden from the most, but his wall, his once strong facade:

It was crumbling.

Natsu couldn't even bring himself to speak. His throat felt contradicted again, as though he were underwater again with those cruel, cold hands wrapping themselves around his neck, strangling, hurting...

Natsu also felt sick just thinking about it. Those hands, which had caused so much pain and suffering towards innocence beings, touching him as though it were nothing, crushing his airway whiteout a care in the world.

How could someone be so sick, so vile? How could he live with himself knowing what he had done? Didn't he feel strong surges of guilt and remorse, as did Natsu with anxiety?

"Oh, how rude of me. Where are my manners?" The man chuckled. He directed his gaze towards the group.

"These are my 3 new assistants." He said. "After you've gone, I've decided to add some...reinforcements." At this, Erza definitely knew he was a victim.

"That, over there," he pointed at the women next to Erza. " is Kuro Hayashi."

She remained silent.

"And his name is Takeshi Takashita." He pointed towards the black haired man.

"And that is Susumu Kobayashi." He pointed at the man with brown combed hair. "He's a new addition, nevertheless very helpful, very helpful indeed."

"And you already know who I am, Pinkie. Why don't you introduce me to them instead, hmm?"

After a few moments, Natsu spoke.

"A-Asagi. Asagi Sakamoto." His voice shakily said.

"Mhmm." The man now known as Asagi hummed, satisfied.

"And I'm already fond of you guys." He looked towards the group, ignoring Wendy's questioning gaze. "Shall we get going then?"

And with that, everything went black.

30 m̘͈̺̪͓ͩ͂̾ͪ̀̋i̞̟̫̺ͭ̒ͭͣn͉̠̙͉̗̺̋̋̔ͧ̊u̟͎̲͕̼̳͉̲ͮͫͭ̋ͭ͛ͣ̈t̘̟̼̉̈́͐͋͌̊e̮̟͈̣̖̰̩̹͈̾ͨ̑͑s̪̭̱̼̼̉̈́ͪ͋̽̚ l͕͖͉̭̰ͬ̍ͤ͆̊ͨa̘̫͈̭͌͛͌̇̇̍t̘̟̼̉̈́͐͋͌̊e̮̟͈̣̖̰̩̹͈̾ͨ̑͑r̼̯̤̈ͭ̃ͨ̆

Natsu grabbed onto consciousness as he slowly awoke from his dazed state. He looked around and he could've sworn that his heart skipped a beat.