A Fairy Tail Gratsu.

Natsu's POV:

When we get to the roughest part of the tunnel, the part I know is way to narrow to fly in, I wrap my tail firmly around Gray, making sure he's secure enough so I can lift him off my back as I spin around in the air and grab hold of the tunnel roof with my claws. He yells at me of course, but I ignore him as I place him on my chest, safely wrapped in my tail still. He's somehow still got my scarf around his mouth, but his ice air-bubble shatters as I move him from my back to my front. The air isn't fresh enough yet. Even with a dragon scale scarf filtering the worst of it, he won't be able to last long.

My half dragon half demon lungs work just fine in this air, but a human, even a demon slayer like the stripper, wouldn't cope all that well. It could and would kill him. And I really really don't want that. I wanna be able to kiss him more. Anyway..... I crawl along, cling to the roof of the tunnel with my long claw-like fingers, using my folded wings to feel the way ahead of me as I watch the Stripper like a monstrous hawk. We're nearly there now, but this is the worst bit, if I remember right. It gets really narrow, the widens out into where I wanna be. Can I even fit through there like this? I mean, I was like seven when I last explored this place. It's been a real long time. But then, when I first joined fairy tail, I found the main hall to be Clos... claust... claustrophobic. I guess I viewed size like a dragon, basing it all off Igneel's size. I hoped the narrow passage was still there. It might even be a bit wider than I remembered. If it wasn't.....

"Nat...su?" The icicle wheezes. Ok. I have to get him into that big cave. Now! He needs fresh air, and I can somehow sense the special barrier just up ahead. I fleetingly (another word Lucy taught me!) wonder if the icy bastard (love him really!) can sense the magical presence up ahead too, or if it's just me because it was me and Igneel who put it up in the first place.

Whoa. The narrow passage is way smaller than I remember. Or is it bigger? I remember it being really narrow, but my idea of narrow spaces has changed a lot since I joined Fairy Tail. I think Zeref would call it 'a drastic change' on my 'spatial awareness', whatever that means, it's not like I listen to him, or anyone much, for that matter.

Well, I can squeeze through on my own no problem, but I don't think I can carry the half conscious Stripper currently clinging onto me like his life depended on it. (Which it probably did.) the biggest problem was there wasn't enough room to put him down and drag him through, and I knew I wasn't good enough to carry him using just my tail through such a narrow passage. I could go back into my human shape, because I know I'm much smaller as a human, but my hands can't grip the rock like my demon claws can. I'd probably fall into the river of lava below us that veered off into the darkness. Falling into lava wouldn't kill me, hell, it probably wouldn't even burn me much, even in my human form, but it'd kill Gray.

"Oi, pervert." That should get his attention. Hopefully. I could smell the sweat beading all over him, and I expect the heat is probably getting to him. He's never felt flames or air so hot, after all. I tended to tone down my fire, keep it fairly cool so I wouldn't burn everyone to a crisp. I know my fire is hot enough to melt rock, but I think Erza might just murder me if I accidentally vaporised a person or turned them to ash. I doubt anyone else knows that though. Bet they don't realise how hard it is to control the temperature of my fire all the bloody time.

He raises his head, but his stormy blue eyes are cloudy, not all that focused. "Got enough energy to make an ice ledge by that little cave there for a few moments? I won't drop you, I promise." His eyes go sharply focused for a second, a silvery glow announcing he'd done as I asked, but then his eyes went back to cloudy grey and his head lolled to one side. He smells a bit distressed. I'm guessing he's overheating, and too stubborn to say anything, so I hurriedly land on the fast melting ledge of ice, do a rapid change back to human shape, make sure the Stripper is secure in my arms, and leap into the narrow passage, realising it was much wider inside than the entrance suggested.