Glory and Gore

Not A Monster

He looked like shit.

He was sitting up in a bed, in an old medical cot. It looked uncomfortable, stiff and unforgiving. Draped over his legs was a crisp white sheet; it was tangled up in his feet, twisted from the restless sleep he'd had. His torso was bare, aside from the various bandages wrapped around his body. His arms were wrapped in soft dressings, some sort of medication below them to help treat his bruising. His hands were bandaged, too—gauze and thick bandages covered his knuckles, now bruised and battered and torn.

He glanced around, but the action made him flinch; he opened his mouth to complain, but that hurt, too. He winced, his bandaged hand slowly coming up to touch his face; he felt his busted lip, his swollen eyes, his bruised cheek. He sighed, leaning back in the bed to try and relax only to realize that that movement hurt, too. His nose wrinkled in annoyance.

It took him a few seconds, but he quickly seemed to understand where he was. The memories of the fight came back to him. The bruises on his skin and the raw wounds on his knuckles served a constant reminder as to what happened.

"See?" Gajeel whispered to the girl, gesturing towards the boy in the bed. "He's fine."

"Fine?" Lucy repeated, not tearing her eyes off of Natsu. "He got the shit kicked out of him."

Gajeel's expression crumpled up into a frown. "It was a tie."

She rolled her eyes. "One of them got up," Lucy whispered back, "And the other didn't. That's hardly a tie."

"Igneel had the upper hand."

The pair were standing in the doorway of the medical ward of the base, watching as Natsu slowly awoke from his slumber. They had been waiting patiently for him to wake up—he'd been admitted several hours ago, but the nurses had administered some medication that knocked him out cold. To waste some time, Gajeel had given Lucy a tour of the base, but she'd been too worried to pay much attention. Gajeel returned her to the medical ward—she felt better seeing Natsu, for some reason—but the nurses insisted the pair give the boy some space until he was in a better state.

So, they'd stood directly outside of the door, watching him sleep. It hadn't appeared restful—he'd been tossing and turning the entire time.

Lucy turned, crossing her arms as she did so, to face Gajeel. "How can you be so nonchalant about this?" She asked. "Your best friend was just attacked by his dad, and you don't even care?"

Gajeel let a breath out through his nose.

They were both in the doorway of the ward, leaning on opposite sides of the doorframe. Lucy had never been so close to Gajeel before—this was the first real chance she'd had to see his face, up close and personal.

From afar, he looked terrifying. But from here, from this close, the intimidation in his features was hard to see. All she could notice was the gentleness in his eyes, the smile lines around his mouth, the sharpness of his jaw. He wasn't the pierced monster she'd first seen him as. From here, he looked...nice.

"I do care," He muttered, turning his gaze to the pink haired boy far across the room. The lights in the ward were dim, and they were far enough away that Natsu wouldn't be able to notice them—not in his hazy, semi-drowsy state, at least. "I hate seeing Natsu deal with this shit. I hate seeing them fight. He doesn't deserve it."

"Do they do this often?" Lucy asked.

"Fight?" Gajeel murmured, glancing at the blonde again. "Constantly."

Lucy's bottom lip jutted out as she frowned. She'd been horrified by the dark intensity Igneel had forced onto Natsu—but to realize that this was a common thing...well, it just made Lucy feel sad. She blinked, turning her head to watch the pink haired boy in the cot again.