In Living Memory

Chapter 2

Gratsu Bingo 2019
Prompt: Scream

Chapter 2

Porlyusica had visited early the next morning, determined to see if she could make Natsu's last hours more comfortable. Despite how much they bickered, and her natural dislike of humans Natsu was someone she'd always been grudgingly fond of.

She'd been treating Natsu since he was a young child and with his penchant for getting in trouble, she saw him more than just about any other mage in the guild. Many of the members of the guild were surprised at the genuine sorrow on Porlyusica's face when she looked down at the boy sleeping on the infirmary bed. Not Gray.

He was well acquainted with how the little bastard could sneak under all your defenses and make himself a permanent home in your heart. After all, wasn't that exactly what had happened to him? No matter how much Gray had fought at first, Natsu had been unrelenting until Gray'd had no choice but to surrender to the feelings he'd suppressed for so long. And now, now all he wanted to do was beat himself up for all the time he'd wasted being stubborn.

Porlyuisica shooed Gray out of bed long before he was ready, pointedly looking away when he kissed the unconscious mage good morning. She was mildly surprised at Natsu's slight improvement, but she didn't seem to think it would make any difference to the eventual outcome.

Gray bit his lip at her diagnosis, wondering if Nergal was playing him for a fool, but the fact remained, there had been an improvement. Even Porlyusica had admitted it. He had no choice but to continue with his plan to get Natsu back.

"Happy, I need your help," Gray had finally managed to get the Exceed away from the others, and it hadn't been an easy task. There was a line of people waiting to see the Fire Dragon Slayer that reached all the way to the guild's entrance and beyond as word got out of what had happened. Hell even Totomaru had shown up.

Everyone was so ready to say goodbye, and on their way out they'd offer Gray their condolences like Natsu wasn't still alive on that bed. It made Gray furious, he would not become a widow before they even had a chance to get married. Natsu had never given up once in his life, and it was insulting for them to do so so quickly.

"Aye, sir," Happy replied, but it was only a shadow of his usual response.

Gray looked around the guild and decided it was much safer to have this conversation elsewhere. There were too many dragon slayer ears around, and he was pretty sure they would try to stop him or even worse tell Erza what he was up to. They walked outside, both heading to the river where he and Natsu had spent so many hours fighting with Happy cheering them on. Once he was sure they were alone, Gray sat down and gestured for Happy to do the same.

"I found a way to help Natsu," Gray explained and told Happy everything he'd done.

Happy looked at him, eyes wide with alarm. "Gray, you know he wouldn't want this."

"I don't care what he wants!" Gray snapped before gazing at Happy pleadingly, "I can't just let him go, not like this."

"But your memories," Happy sighed not liking anything about this situation.

"We can make new ones," Gray assured him, "It's not such a big thing."

He tried not to see the pity in Happy's eyes at the blatant lie.

"What can I do?"

"I just need you to watch Natsu, make sure Nergal doesn't try to pull a fast one," Gray explained, "You're the only one I can trust with this, I don't know what he's going to take from me, I need someone there who knows what's happening and won't try to stop it."