In Living Memory

Chapter 1

Disclaimer: All Fairy Tail Characters Belong to Hiro Mashima

When We Take Different Paths Week 2 MLM/Slash
Pairing: Gray x Natsu
Prompt: Memories

In Living Memory

"I can't believe you're getting married before I am," Lucy said looking at the two of us wistfully.

"I can't believe the two of you are getting married," Erza shook her head, her smile warm and proud. She'd already smashed us against her armor when she'd heard the news.

Happy snickered and let out one of his favorite phrases to say whenever he was around us. "They're in loooooooooooooove!." He smiled at us as he munched on his fish. He had been the first we had told and that had made him feel secure in his place. He couldn't be happier.

Natsu grunted at him and held on to me for dear life as the train started moving, and his motion sickness began to affect him.

"Shh love, I've got you." I kissed the top of his head and placed my hand on the back of his neck, letting the cold relax him and cool him down enough to overpower his nausea. He molded himself against me with a small grunt of thanks. I smiled into his head as I kissed it again."I'll always have your back."

I still couldn't believe that he'd agreed so readily. I looked down at the rings that were on both our fingers. Neither one of us had wanted to come on this job, but Lucy needed rent money, and we couldn't just abandon her, not even to celebrate our engagement. We were going to have a party at the guild when we returned though.

We arrived at our destination. There was nothing out of the ordinary at first. We'd been walking hand in hand, laughing at each others' stupid jokes, still too drunk on the events of the previous night to bicker about anything.

The girls were walking ahead of us to give us some privacy. We were just headed to the hotel before we started looking for the members of the dark guild we were supposed to take down. But Natsu, he's always alert with those damn senses of his, and he must have heard something because the next thing I knew he was running as fast as he could towards Lucy.

I chased after him, ready for a fight the moment I noticed he was focused on something, but I was left behind as he propelled himself using his flame jets. He was just in time to position himself in front of Lucy, arms crossed in a blocking stance.

It all happened so fast.

The rest of us stood there, ready to fight, but not knowing what we were up against. The first attack came, seemingly out of nowhere. It was a tremendous burst of magic, black in color and carrying an overwhelming smell, like rotting meat. It was like no magic we'd ever encountered before, and it went right through Natsu's block and straight through his chest.

He wobbled briefly, shaking his head as if to clear it before going on a full out assault on the five men that had managed to surround us as we'd watched the initial attack on Natsu. They were all wearing the same style of black cloak, the mark of their guild emblazoned on it. It was the men we had been looking for, they had somehow found us first.

We were all a bit shaken at how quickly the attack had pierced Natsu's block, but we fought hard, our years of training moving our bodies in familiar patterns. Natsu took out the mage that had attacked him while the rest of us went after the others. The Rune Knights arrived quickly probably alerted by the sound of fighting.

We'd managed to complete our job before we even checked in to a hotel. We'd all started talking excitedly about the party that would begin as soon as we returned to the guild when we first noticed that Natsu wasn't alright.

He'd stopped in the middle of the road, his hand going up to his chest, covering the spot where he'd been hit. I moved it out of the way and saw a black emblem disappear, seemingly absorbed into his skin.

His breathing was ragged, but he smiled at me and told me he was fine. He grabbed my hand and squeezed, pulling me towards the train station, I should have known then. Natsu Dragneel did not willingly head towards transportation unless something was very wrong.

I felt him slow down, but he played it off as waiting for the girls. Happy and I shared a look. By the time we got back to the station, his skin was clammy, and I was helping him walk. I looked at the schedule desperately, the town we were in was tiny. It had no hospital that could deal with magical injuries, but Magnolia was only an hour away by train. It was only when I realized that I couldn't read the words in front of me that I realized I was crying.

Lucy stood in front of me and looked at the schedule. I felt Erza put her hand on my shoulder as she hovered over Natsu, like the older sister she had always been. I saw the concern in her eyes and that cemented it more for me than anything else.

My insides felt colder than anything I'd ever experienced before, I'd always heard of fear leaving you cold, but I'd never felt how true that was until that moment.

Lucy told us there would not be a train departing for another hour. We all huddled together, watching as Natsu deteriorated more and more. An old woman had seen us and ushered us towards the bench she had been sitting on. We laid Natsu on it. Soon after he began to bleed out of his eyes, nose, and ears but he wouldn't let go of my hand.

Happy and I looked at each other in desperation, both of us desolate and unused to doing nothing.

"I'm going to fly him back to Fairy Tail." Happy cried. "Wendy can help him, I just know it!'

"Happy, I know you want to help, but it's a long distance. I don't think you can make it carrying Natsu." Erza told him as she petted him gently. She was holding on to Natsu's other hand. I could have sworn that hers looked paler than mine as if Natsu was sharing with her what he wouldn't with me.

"I don't care, I have to try!" Happy sobbed. "We have to do something, or it'll be too late. Gray, please!"

"Take him, Happy." I knew Erza was right, but I was selfish. I needed Natsu to be ok, even if it was at Happy's expense.

Lucy stood off to the side, her hands in a constant wringing movement and her eyes fixed on the ground. I knew one of us should talk to her, tell her that we didn't blame her. That Natsu would have done the same for any of us, but I couldn't worry about her now. She could wait, I wasn't sure Natsu could.

"I'll always love you, Ice Princess." The words sounded strange, almost gurgly as we helped him sit up. Blood was dripping out of his mouth, but I kissed him anyway. Kissed him like I've never kissed anyone before, as if my entire existence was dependent on it. He must have felt the same because he kissed me back the same way. Like we needed to imprint the kiss into our souls, or we might never know each other again.

I hugged him as tightly as I could without making his condition worse, then I lied to him for the first time. "Everything's going to be ok, Flame Brain." I'm sure he knew, I never could use his name if I didn't mean it.

"I'll see you at the party," he told me with his smile, the one that my world revolved around and I wanted to believe him so badly. I wished I could possess his unshakeable optimism, but life had never been particularly kind to me and I was in the middle of reliving my biggest heartache.

Happy gave me his most determined look. "I'll get him there in time, I promise."

I watched him fly away with my heart, and I begged every deity I knew to watch over him, but when I got back to the guild, I learned that gods no longer exist. Neither Wendy nor Porlyusica had been able to help him. Natsu had been hit with a Death Curse, and he was going to die at any moment.

"Is that what you wanted?" Gray snarled at the creature that was standing by Natsu's bed. He wiped at his eyes uselessly, his tears refusing to retreat.

If gods wouldn't help him, he'd had no problem asking the competition for help. It hadn't been hard, a stolen book from the guild library, a name, a few ingredients.

The first thing that had surprised Gray when his summons of the devil called Nergal had been answered was how nondescript the devil looked. He had the outward appearance of a human male. Average height, average weight, shoulder length dark brown hair. In fact, the only thing that even hinted that he was anything other than human was his eyes. They were black, a thick black devoid of any reflecting light. The second had been how quickly the creature had agreed to help.

He should've known it had been all too easy, but he didn't care as long as he could find a way to save Natsu. He would deal with the repercussions later.

"Oh yes! That will do nicely." Nergal said as he licked his lips in anticipation. Gray shuddered at the implication but he couldn't back out now, not if he had the ability to cure Natsu.

"Such strong feelings! I think we have a lot to work with here, oh my yes!" The devil grinned giving the ice mage a rather good view of his very sharp teeth. "I'm so thrilled you summoned me."

Nergal was in front of him, moving faster than the human eye could track, and Gray found himself suddenly surrounded by the sickening smell of sulfur mixed with bubble gum. He had but a second to think about the fact that Natsu would surely have vomited at the stench before a clawed hand was pressed to his forehead.

Gray had but an instant to startle at the devil's sudden appearance before he found himself screaming in agony as the memory was torn from his brain. His head throbbed long after the disgusting hand and smell were removed, and he felt shaky, but what he felt most of all was a loss. A part of him had been taken, never to return. What had he given up? He had no way of knowing.

"You've done your part, time for me to do mine." Nergal made his way over to Natsu slowly enough to get on Gray's nerves. He fought against every instinct he possessed that was screaming at him to keep the devil away from his love.

Gray looked over at his fiance, lying in the infirmary bed. He was still slowly hemorrhaging, his body occasionally shaking. Natsu had not said anything since his final words at the..where had they been?

Gray didn't even know how much of Natsu was still in there, but he had to try to get him back. There was no way he would ever give up on him. They were going to share the rest of their lives dammit, they'd planned it, and no fucking disease was going to take that away from them. So he kept himself under control while watching to make sure the devil was not trying to make things worse.

"I didn't realize how bad off he was." Nergal immediately said as he looked down at Natsu's body. "This is a rather nasty curse."

Curse, what's he talking about, Natsu was just sick wasn't he?

"Don't you dare back out of our deal, you bastard," Gray growled, immediately getting into his battle stance, hands at the ready.

"Relax, I didn't say I couldn't do it, did I? It's just going to take longer than I thought." Nergal looked at Gray with black, dead eyes that still managed to look greedy. "And of course, I will need more payment."

"You sonofabitch!" Gray hissed, "That wasn't our deal!"

"Let me show you what I'm capable of." Gray saw a flash of teeth that was meant to look like a smile but made the devil look bestial.

Nergal placed both of his hands, claws no longer visible, over Natsu's body. They began to glow, and Gray observed, with ever growing hope, as some of the black sickness came out of his lover's body and became absorbed by the devil's hands. The bleeding appeared to stop, and the once deathly pale body regained some color.

"Would you want me to keep treating him, or should I stop?" Nergal looked at him, his head tilted to the side as he waited for an answer. "After all, memories are such little things."

Gray couldn't argue with the results. He thought about it, how much longer could it take? Gray had plenty of memories. He and Natsu had known each other most of their lives after all.

"Not all memories are equal, wizard. The more emotions associated with a memory, the more power I get to help your love."

Nergal winked at him as if he knew what Gray had been thinking. Gray supposed it wasn't an uncommon ploy in the devil's line of business.

"Alright." Gray agreed, his heart already mourning the imminent loss while he still could. There was no other choice to be made, no price too steep at this point. He was all in.

"No games, either you keep your end of the deal, or I will make it my mission to end you." Gray threatened, letting his arms become covered in the marks of his Devil-Slayer magic to bring home his point.

"No need for violence wizard, I am bound by my word." the creature bowed to Gray.

"Now that I know what I'm dealing with, I need to prepare appropriately. I shall return tomorrow night. Make sure we are not disturbed."

Gray wondered what he had gotten himself into, he was betting on Natsu's Dragon Slayer regenerative abilities to help the healing along. That was his ace in the hole. He had a bad feeling Nergal was going to try to milk him for as much as he could get.

His head was still throbbing, and he was exhausted. Gray changed Natsu's bandages and stripped down to his underwear, climbing into the bed and holding Natsu close.

"I know you'd hate this, but you look so much better already. Please don't be mad."

Gray liked talking to Natsu, it made it feel like the Dragon Slayer was there with him, even if he couldn't answer, yet. He kissed Natsu as he had done every night for the last few years and whispered his secret before falling asleep.

"Please come back to me, I need you."

To Be Continued...