Disclaimer: Mashima-sensei owns the magical world that is Fairy Tail and its characters :)

Warnings: Language, Violence, Blood, Fluff, Shounen-ai/Yaoi, Potential OOC-ness

The guild lay crumpled…

It was happening.

Echoes of screams saturated the blackened sky…

It was his nightmares come to life.

Blood was splattered like a grotesque form of art on the debris covered ground…

Once again, his life was levelled right before his very eyes.

His guild mates, his family, broken like toys that were played with too roughly…

He was destined to lose everyone he ever cared about.

Even the one he loved, the most determined of them all, lay lifeless on the gravel…

How had it come to this?!

FTFTFTFT

Natsu groaned loudly as he pushed himself to his feet; his bones and muscles protesting with every slight movement he made. The pink haired dragon slayer cursed under his breath as he finally righted himself and took in the destruction of his home. He centered himself and gathered his fire to his hands, prepared to start where he left off before he was knocked out, only to have all the tension leave his body.

Instead of seeing a power crazed maniac standing over the corpses of his family members, he saw that some of the members were actually awake and were helping the wounded. The pinkette sighed in relief as he let his legs collapse from underneath him in exhaustion. He ran his fingers through his hair and laughed under his breath; somehow, they had managed to survive. His eyebrows furrowed slightly as he wondered exactly how that was possible.

Now, he would be the first to admit that he didn't usually think about these types of things. Usually all that mattered to him was that they won, everyone was safe and sound and the jackass who decided to make their lives hell was beaten so badly that he or she wouldn't have the balls to go after them or anyone else ever again; he would leave it at that and life would go on…but something just wasn't sitting right with him and he didn't know what it was.

He scratched his cheek and looked up at the overcast sky, maybe he was overthinking things. After all, he wasn't exactly conscious to see the defeat of their attacker so maybe he was unsure because he wasn't the one to put the bastard down; yeah that sounded right. Natsu smashed his fist into his palm as the lingering tension left his body, everything was going to be alright; he was sure of it. Suddenly, his ears twitched as a familiar voice called his name. He turned his head to the right to see a blonde mage and an Exceed running towards him with an armoured mage in tow.

"Lucy, Happy, Erza!" He called back; waving tiredly, "It's good to see you guys made it out alright, that was definitely a close one!"

"Yeah," Lucy chuckled weakly when they finally reached him, "That battle was a little too close for comfort."

Natsu hummed in agreement as he took in his friends' bedraggled appearances; there wasn't a spot on their body that wasn't covered in bandages. He shifted slightly and hissed under his breath and quickly realized that he'd probably match them once Wendy got her hands on him; not that he'd be complaining too much, he was freaking sore. He shifted his gaze to the quiet red head only to see that Erza was looking around them; she was probably still wired from the battle.

"Natsu!" Happy chirped as he flew into Natsu's chest enthusiastically; nearly knocking the breath out of him, "I'm so happy you're alright; I was so worried about you!"

The pinkette smiled brightly at the blue Exceed and patted his head soothingly,

"You don't need to be worried Happy, I'm the best mage in the world remember!"

"Aye sir!" Happy cheered as he hugged the fire mage even tighter; though despite the happiness he had from seeing that his friends were alright, he couldn't help but think that something was missing.

"Natsu," The celestial mage tilted her head to the side curiously, "How did you manage to defeat him? The last I saw he was practically immortal…it was as if he was…"

The pinkette's eyes narrowed in distaste as he thought of the silver haired bastard who attacked their home. As if the first time he did it wasn't bad enough, he actually had the gall to try again; only this time he was there for revenge instead of under the pretenses of obtaining Éclair and the Phoenix Stone. The dragon slayer definitely wasn't expecting to see him again, let alone alive, as far as he knew the head of the Carbuncle Guild, Dyst, was destroyed when the Phoenix was put down…apparently that wasn't the case.

He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly,

"Actually, I was hoping that one of you guys would know; the asshole managed to knock me out before I was able to land the final blow."

"You mean, you weren't the one who took him down?" Lucy's eyes widened as he shook his head, "But, if you didn't…then who did?"

Natsu was about to open his mouth to ask her what the heck she was talking about when suddenly Erza moved drawing their attention to her once frozen frame. Her brown eyes shifted towards him as she addressed them.

"Have," She swallowed tensely, "Have either of you seen Gray anywhere?"

At that moment, the dragon slayer felt a stone drop into his stomach as the feeling he had earlier returned full force. He jumped to his feet and simultaneously stretched his draconic senses out towards the apparently wayward ice mage only to come up empty; what the hell was going on?

"No," He raised an eyebrow, "No one's seen him?"

The requip mage shook her head,

"No, I just assumed he was with you…that's usually where he always is; fighting or otherwise."

Natsu folded his arms across his chest,

"I don't even think he was near me when I was knocked out; in fact, before I was knocked out I thought I was the only one left standing. Are you sure that the Ice Princess didn't just wander off somewhere? He isn't really one for being fussed over after all."

"I guess that's true," Erza conceded reluctantly.

The pinkette scoffed under his breath,

"See, the ice bastard is probably fine; he's probably hurting because his ego was bruised, you know how he is."

Yeah, he told himself, that's what happened to the dumbass stripper; the loser was making them worry for nothing. Not that Natsu was actually worried, no sir, there was absolutely no way he was worried about Gray Fullbuster. The ice block could handle himself, even if he had the snot beat out of him just moments before; there was no way he would do something stupid, even if he had the chance to do so…

"But Natsu," Lucy's nervous voice pulled him out of his mini self-reassuring pep talk, "I overheard Juvia talking to Gajeel and Levy and she doesn't even know where he is; that's why we thought that he'd be with you."

The corner of his lip twitched slightly,

"Well maybe he managed to avoid her; she's good at keeping an eye on him, but not that good."

The blonde mage stared at him flatly,

"We are talking about Juvia; I wouldn't be surprised if the girl had some kind of chip on him somewhere."

His hands clenched into fists,

"I'm telling you Lucy, you have nothing to worry about; the popsicle is perfectly fine…"

A firm, armoured hand wrapped around his wrist dragging his attention to Erza who was staring at him evenly. He gulped out of reflex and prepared himself for a smack down, after all why would the Queen of the Fairies need a legitimate reason to discipline him, when nothing seemed to happen.

"If you truly believe what you're saying Natsu," She stated sternly, "Why do you look like you're ready for a fight."

"What are you…"

The dragon slayer glanced down at his hands and his eyes widened; when exactly did his hands catch fire? He willed for the flames to die, just so he could prove Erza wrong (the ice prick was fine after all), only for a vaguely familiar scent to brush against his nose with the passing wind; only the scent smelled off somehow…it smelt like…

Natsu's heart thudded painfully in his chest as he yanked his wrist out of Erza's grip and made a mad dash towards the smell of the distorted scent. There was no denying the fact that the scent he was smelling was winter mint and pine trees; the scent Gray gave off (not that he actually paid attention to what Gray smelt like, because that would be weird), but at the same time it was different and it wasn't a good kind of different...

"Natsu!" He nearly jumped as Happy's voice shouted in his ear, "Where are you going?"

He simply shook his head and kept his mind on following Gray's scent. There was no point in giving Happy's hopes up; the ice mage might not even be there anymore and that was why the smell was so tainted. He could faintly hear the girls following close behind him, but he pushed that to the back of his mind…

Gray wouldn't do something stupid…he promised.

He promised that he would live to walk a path with his comrades…didn't he?

Didn't Natsu's voice reach him that day on Galuna Island when he told the dumbass not to die?

As he was about to enter the brush of the forest that resided just outside Magnolia, Natsu found himself tripping over something and landing on his face. He groaned as his wounds were jostled and he slowly pushed himself to his knees; this would be the moment where Gray would normally curse at him for not watching where he was going…he never thought he'd miss hearing that. The pinkette shook his head from side to side in an attempt to get his thoughts back in order. He lifted his head when he started to push himself off his knees only to completely freeze.

In front of him was the partially frozen body of the leader of the Carbuncle Guild, Dyst. The man's silver-turquoise hair was tipped with edges of frost while his entire body up to the base of his left wrist was covered in ice. Dyst's onyx eyes seemed to laugh at the pinkette as he continued to stare at him; it was more than a little unnerving…more importantly…

"How…" Natsu blinked stupidly, "How did you get here?"

The dark mage smirked tiredly,

"I made a wager and it seems as though we've come to a bit of a stalemate…although it's pretty hard to tell seeing as I am unable to determine the status of the other participant."

"The other…"

The words got caught in Natsu's throat as he once again took in the ice that engulfed Dyst's frame. Robotically, the dragon slayer's head turned to look behind him…towards the object that he had tripped over when he entered the brush…no, towards the person. Without even a second glance at Dyst, he scampered on his hands and knees to the fallen body of his rival…his best friend…his…

His heart clenched painfully as he took in Gray's torn and bloody hands as well as what looked like faint cracks that outlined his body. With hesitation that was not normally attributed to him, Natsu reached out and touched the ice mage's neck in an attempt to find a pulse; however, his hand immediately withdrew with a hiss escaping his mouth as he felt how cold Gray was to the touch. He also noticed the lines of blood spilling from Gray's ears, eyes, nose and mouth…

Even he knew that this wasn't a good sign.

"Natsu!" Happy's voice cheered as he entered the clearing; Lucy and Erza in tow, "There you are; you're not allowed to just disappear like that; we have to look for Gray!"

When he heard his comrades' feet come to a sudden halt he knew that they saw what he was looking at; he couldn't draw his eyes away. He felt an armoured hand clamp down on his shoulder causing him to shake his head and bring himself back into reality once more. He watched as Erza slipped off her gauntlet and carefully brushed her hand under Gray's bangs so that she could feel his face.

"We need to get him help immediately," She muttered loud enough for Natsu to hear, "Happy, grab Lucy and bring her to the guild; we need to get Wendy to start heading here quickly."

"Erza…" Lucy's voice quivered.

"Now!"

"Aye sir!" Happy saluted tearfully as he flew over to Lucy and grabbed the back of her tank top and flew back to the guild hall.

Natsu thought that he could hear the Exceed complaining about Lucy being too heavy, but he pushed it to the back of his mind and brought his attention back to Gray, Erza and Dyst who was still frozen in Gray's ice.

"You," Erza called a sword to her hand a stalked towards the trapped mage, "You're going to tell me what happened right now! And Natsu, you need to try and keep Gray warm or else he's not going to make it until Wendy gets here."

The pinkette flinched as though he had just been stabbed in the gut; Gray wouldn't make it? That…that just couldn't be possible…there would be no such thing as Fairy Tail if Gray wasn't there by his side. He called upon some of his magic, enough to heat him up, and then carefully gathered the ice mage into his arms; clenching his teeth as he felt Gray's ice cold skin come into contact with his own. He really didn't like this look of this; he didn't like it at all.

"Tell me what happened," Erza ordered the dark mage tersely, "Or I'll eviscerate you right where you stand."

Dyst smirked darkly at the red haired mage,

"There really isn't a need for that now Titania; especially since this ice is already doing the job for you."

Erza's blade lowered slightly at his words,

"The ice…"

Natsu's eyes widened in disbelief as he looked at the hairline cracks that laced Gray's frozen figure,

"He used it, didn't he."

The silver haired man turned his bored eyes on the pinkette,

"If you're asking if that fool used Iced Shell in an attempt to defeat me, then the answer would be yes; it was part of the deal after all."

The dragon slayer nearly choked on his breath as Erza spoke,

"Deal, what deal?"

Dyst went silent once more as he seemed to contemplate something; his onyx eyes lingering on the motionless form of the ice mage. Natsu growled under his breath and tried to keep Gray as far away from the mage's gaze as possible. The telekinetic mage smirked at the action before turning his gaze towards Erza's imposing figure once more.

"It was simple really," Dyst scoffed, "I wanted to destroy Fairy Tail for their interference in Veronica, which in doing so nearly destroyed my dream, while the ice mage wanted nothing more than to protect his only family from my menace."

Natsu's grip tightened around the ice mage,

"Stop beating around the bush and get on with it; I'm not in the mood for listening to your psychotic bullshit."

"Natsu," Erza warned sternly; her eyes still firmly on Dyst, "Let the man speak as he pleases, he hasn't much time left anyway. Now tell me, what was the deal that you made with Gray?"

The telekinetic mage cackled,

"Isn't obvious you Fairy Tail worms? The deal was that the ice mage was to sacrifice himself so that I would let you trash live!"

FTFTFTFT

It's been two weeks since that day.

Natsu's knee bounced up and down as his honey eyes watched over the ice mage as he slept. How could the asshole do this to them…their family…to him; how could Gray even think of throwing away his life for them. The dumbass Ice Princess should have known that they were able to survive anything. Even if their opponent was nothing short of an immortal monster, Gray should have had faith that they would be able to pull through; they were Fairy Tail wizards after all, they were strong.

Why didn't Gray see that?!

The pinkette rubbed his hand through his hair and sighed through his nose loudly; Gray pissed him off. He took in the ice mage's still form on the bed, with his arms set perfectly by his side and his face looking straight up at the ceiling. Natsu didn't like the unnatural way that Gray was laying. For as long as the pinkette knew the raven, Gray never slept perfectly straight; he was often sprawled out on the mattress with his legs hanging off the bed. With Gray sleeping the way he was now, Natsu could almost convince himself that it wasn't the ice mage lying in the bed at all.

But that was just a pipe dream.

Natsu's eyes lingered on the faint lines that persistently littered Gray's pale skin; no matter how much Wendy tried to heal him they wouldn't fade. When the old hag came to check on him, she said that the lines wouldn't disappear; they would remain as a testament to what would happen if one relentlessly tapped into the forbidden magic that was Iced Shell. He knew that if Gray ever woke up from this, the ice mage wouldn't care about more scars on his body; he'd only care that he was able to keep his family safe…

Idiot, even if they were safe, there would've been a hole left where the ice mage used to be if he didn't make it. Natsu rubbed his forehead in exhaustion as he slowly reached out to Gray and wrapped his hand around the cool fingers of his rival and best friend. He couldn't help but smile at the fact that he was able to at least touch the ice mage without worrying about getting frostbite; Wendy was at least able to heal him enough that his magic was able to start replenishing and his internal temperature was starting to return to normal.

"Natsu-san," A small voice called from the doorway, "You should really eat something, Gray-san wouldn't like it very much if you got sick because of him."

The pinkette turned his head and noticed the small form of Wendy standing in the entrance of the room with her hands clasped tightly. He slowly released Gray's hand and rested his elbows on his lap as he addressed the younger mage.

"I'm fine Wendy, you don't have to worry about me."

The young blunette fidgeted,

"I know you're scared Natsu-san, but he's going to be okay, I promise."

The older dragon slayer laughed under his breath,

"Who said that I was scared? Of course the Ice Princess is going to be okay; you're the best healer Fairy Tail has."

"Thanks for the praise Natsu-san," Wendy's cheeks turned pink, "But I know that you're worried about Gray-san…Erza-san, Lucy-san, Happy, and everyone else they're worried too…has something like this happened before?"

Natsu pursed his lips as his eyes wandered over to Gray once more,

"Something like this, only last time I was able to stop him from going too far; Gray's an idiot."

Wendy's laugh caused him to look at her again,

"What's so funny? I'm being serious you know!"

The sky dragon slayer smiled at the fire dragon slayer in a way that could only be 'Lucy'. The young girl was clearly spending too much time with the celestial mage lately and was starting pick up on her crafty ways. He jumped slightly when he felt a slim hand resting on his shoulder; he glanced into the brown eyes of the blunette as she smiled at him.

"I just find it funny that you and Gray-san are so alike, yet so different."

His eyebrows furrowed slightly,

"What do you mean? Ice bastard and I are fire and ice, we couldn't possibly be more different than that Wendy."

"If you think about it Natsu-san, fire and ice kind of depend on each other." Wendy tilted her head cutely, "Without ice the fire could rage out of control while without fire the ice could remain in solitude forever; it's a strange relationship, but an important one, don't you think?"

Natsu couldn't help but stare at the sky dragon slayer owlishly as she smiled at him before walking towards the motionless Gray. He watched as she sat down in the chair on the other side of the bed and set her hands over the ice mage's body; a bright green glow stretching from her fingertips to rest on Gray's torso. After a few moments, Wendy pulled her hands away and smiled at the pinkette tiredly.

"Gray-san should probably wake up soon," She told him brightly, "There isn't much else I can do, it's up to him now."

The fire mage nodded,

"Right, thanks Wendy; I'll keep an eye on him for a little bit longer."

"Of course," She laughed, "But remember to keep an eye on yourself too Natsu-san, we don't need Gray-san worrying about you when he wakes up."

He smirked softly as he watched Wendy's retreating back,

"As if the ice bastard would worry about me."

FTFTFTFT

Natsu's eyes burned as he struggled to keep them open.

Goddamnit, he was tired; he hasn't felt this tired since the battle with Hades and Grimoire Heart back on Tenrou Island. He forced back a yawn as he placed his hand back in the ice bucket to drench the wash cloth that rested at the bottom of it. He grimaced at the cold feeling, but ignored it; he may hate it, but the ice mage needed this right now.

Sometime that afternoon after Wendy had checked up on him, Gray had come down with a high fever; a fever so high that it was next to impossible to bring it back down again. The old hag was called in again, much to her distaste, to check on the raven to see if he was alright. According to her, it was the result of what the Carbuncle bastard did to him; not that the asshole actually told them what happened. After revealing the deal that was made between him and Gray, Dyst had shut his mouth and refused to say anymore on the matter. Erza believed that it was because even if the forbidden ice covered a little over half of the man's body, the ice was doing what it was intended; it was sucking the life force right out of Dyst's body.

Natsu rung the rag out and, with gentleness that many thought he didn't possess, he wiped Gray's brow. He smiled softly as Gray, though he was unconscious, leaned slightly into the coolness of the cloth. The pinkette relaxed when he noticed the action; that probably meant that the ice princess was going to wake up soon. He put the cloth back into the ice bucket and found himself with his fingers hovering over Gray's face. He didn't know why, but he wanted to touch him; he wanted to make sure that his comrade was alright…

Comrade…

Was Gray Fullbuster truly just his comrade?

He laughed to himself under his breath; who was he kidding, he could answer that question himself. Out of all his comrades, his family members, Gray was special to him. His relationship with the ice mage was far different than any of the relationships he shared with the other members of Fairy Tail. They fought like brothers, they protected each other as brothers would, but at the same time it always felt like there was something more.

Something that he never truly let himself think about.

Of course, he probably wouldn't have thought anything of their strange relationship if it weren't for what Gray said to him during the Lullaby fiasco with Eisenwald; the moment when Gray had asked him not to die. Until that moment, he had thought nothing of their friendship/bro-ship; after all it was nothing more than a love-hate relationship that consisted of more hate than love…but then the ice princess had to go and say something like that.

Since that moment, their way of living changed.

He pressed his fingers to his forehead and glared at his bedridden rival; why did Gray always make him think so much…he hated thinking. He preferred when things were simple. He preferred when Gray and him would fight about everything and get in each other's faces. He preferred when they barely tolerated each other; their interactions just seemed much simpler then. But, at the same time; he was happy that he and Gray had changed. For the first time since they met each other they could talk about things without wanting to rip each other's head off…

Well, most of the time anyway; Gray was an idiot after all.

"Ah!" Natsu growled to himself, "What the hell is wrong with me?!"

A harsh, dry chuckle suddenly reached his ears:

"What the hell isn't wrong with you flame brain?"

Natsu's breath caught in his chest as the familiar voice reached his ears. He was immediately drawn to the deep blue droopy eyes of Gray Fullbuster and the asshole had the balls to be smirking at him. The pinkette growled angrily and grabbed onto the nightshirt that was put on Gray after he was brought to the guild hall infirmary from the forest; he pulled the ice mage forward so that they were virtually nose to nose.

"After pulling a stunt like that, you're seriously going to say that to me?!" He hissed, "You almost died this time you ice bastard!"

The ice mage's smirk quickly turned into a frown,

"As you can see I'm not squinty eyes…"

Natsu shook him furiously,

"That is not the point! What the hell did you do that for Gray?! Did you not have faith in us?! We always manage to pull through, you had absolutely no reason to give up your life like that!"

"No reason," Gray spat dangerously; a shaky hand quickly latching onto one of Natsu's wrists, "Goddamnit flame head, you have no idea what it was like for me do you?! I thought that you were all dead! I came to and Dyst was the last one standing; he was standing over your body! The guild was in ruin, the town was going to be next; I thought I had nothing left!"

"Nothing left?" Natsu whispered, his grip on Gray's shirt slackened, "Even if we were dead, which is impossible by the way, you still have Lyon and Ultear; what would happen to them if you died Gray…especially through casting Iced Shell, did you even think of what that would do to them?"

The ice mage shut his mouth stubbornly and resolutely turned his head away from the dragon slayer. Natsu huffed under his breath in annoyance as he slowly dropped the grip he had on Gray's shirt. His anger still thrummed through his veins like a drum, but a small part of him also understood Gray's actions. He knew Gray's past and he knew that the raven would always be afraid of losing the people he cared about again; this battle with Dyst must have brought all his fears back to the surface. But still, that wasn't an excuse for Gray to give up his life, he still had so many people who cared about him.

"Lyon would have been fine," Gray finally muttered, "He has his guild and our relationship has always been tense; he would've found a way to move passed this. As for Ultear, I don't even know where she is, so there was that slight chance that she wouldn't even have heard about it."

Natsu scowled at his rival,

"Do you honestly believe that? If you do, you're more stupid than I thought."

Gray glared at him darkly,

"I don't deserve to hear that from you; if there's anyone stupid here it's you fire breath."

The pinkette rolled his eyes and glared at the wall behind Gray's head; why was the ice block so damn infuriating. He cursed under his breath as he moved closer to the ice mage and placed the back of his hand against Gray's forehead. He felt the raven jump under his touch, but he kept his hand there as he tried to determine how his fever was fairing; he was willing to admit that being a fire mage had a few drawbacks.

"What are you doing?" Gray asked incredulously.

"Trying to see if you still have a fever dumbass," Natsu shrugged his shoulders, "Whatever that asshole did to you is causing you to have a fever; I was tasked with making sure it went down."

Gray's eyes looked at him flatly,

"And how would a fire dragon slayer be able to tell I have a fever; your body is already several degrees hotter than mine."

Natsu smirked at the annoyed ice mage,

"My, my Gray, I didn't know you thought of me in that way."

Instead of the squawk of outrage and maybe a few curses he thought he was going to get for the comment, Natsu was surprised to see that Gray snapped his jaw shut and his fevered cheeks seemed a little redder. The pinkette narrowed his eyes at him curiously, but was taken out of his thoughts when Gray huffed shakily under his breath.

"That's not what I meant dumbass." He folded his arms across his chest.

"I know what you meant," Natsu raised an eyebrow, "And I can tell if your fever is still there because your skin isn't as cold as normal; I thought that would be obvious."

Gray rolled his eyes once more and avoided his gaze once more. Natsu huffed under his breath; he's been doing that a lot lately. The pinkette frowned as he noticed that the ice mage took notice of the hairline scars that marked his forearms and covered the rest of his body. The raven sighed as well before glancing up at Natsu who had finally pulled his hand away from Gray's forehead.

"So Iced Shell really did nearly get me this time huh," He whispered, "I guess performing magic like that doesn't come without a price."

"If you wanted to die to protect us," Natsu found himself asking, "Why the hell would you use Iced Shell? The one spell that you said you were never going to use again."

Gray bunched his fingers the blanket that pooled around his lap,

"I wasn't planning on it at first, but then I realized that even if I traded my life for all of yours, there wasn't a way of knowing if he'd actually follow through on the deal; I wanted to make sure that he wouldn't be able to hurt you or anyone else ever again…and the only way I knew of that could stop a potential immortal was to use Iced Shell which had the ability to suck out the life force of the being it was casted on.

"As soon as the ice started to spring up around him, he decided to up his ante…it felt like my brain was going to explode."

Natsu thought back to the day he found Gray lying in the brush; the blood that streamed from all his orifices clearly pointed out to the fact that it nearly happened. If it weren't for the ice sucking out Dyst's immortality and thus siphoning his magic power Gray probably wouldn't have survived; Natsu has tasted the silver haired bastard's telekinetic magic many times and it was strong.

"But I'm alive and all of you are alive," Natsu nodded at Gray's implied question causing the ice mage to smile, "So everything is going to be alright."

The pinkette frowned,

"But it's not Gray, you don't seem to get that you were one step away from dying. One fucking step, if we didn't get you to Wendy any sooner…"

"I couldn't live without any of you!" The raven cut him off, "Goddamnit Natsu, I thought all of you died! When I saw you lying there, I thought you were dead! I've loved you all this time and I never…"

Natsu's heart stuttered in his chest as the flustered words tumbled out of Gray's mouth. He could tell the exact moment when Gray realized what he said because his mouth closed with a resounding snap and his bandaged hands shook with tremors. The pinkette reached out to try and grab onto the ice mage's hands only for the injured raven to jerk away from his touch.

"I did not just say that."

"Gray…"

"Nope, I most definitely did not say that." The ice mage muttered to himself, "This is a dream, yeah that's it, I'm dreaming."

"Gray."

The slightly older teen whipped his head towards him; his blue eyes bright with anxiety and apprehension…an apprehension that Natsu himself did not feel. As if on automatic, Natsu felt his arms reach out and felt Gray's warmed cheeks as his hands touched the alabaster skin. He watched as the ice mage's eyes widened as Natsu brought their faces closer and closer together… and then it happened.

Natsu's lips closed over Gray's in a searing kiss; his hands on the ice mage's face being the only stabilizing factor. All the confusion that he felt while Gray was unconscious, all the questions he had since that day when Gray told him not to die were finally answered. The worry, the hate, the anger, the happiness, the warmth, everything he felt up until this very moment…it was all because of Gray. The ice mage wasn't only just his rival or his comrade or even his brother, Gray was so much more…

He pushed back the need to take anything further and slowly pulled away from the frozen ice mage; if he was in his right mind, he'd probably find that statement very ironic. He stared into Gray's confused eyes as the raven seemed to be processing what just happened. After a few brief moments, Gray snapped out of it and grabbed the front of Natsu's muffler and pulled him forward so that their noses were practically touching once more.

"I swear to whatever is out there that if you're screwing with me Natsu Dragneel," He hissed darkly, "I will end you."

"Nah," Natsu smiled as he flicked a dark strand out of Gray's face, "You wouldn't do that, fire and ice can't live without each other aye?"

A small smirk wormed its way onto Gray's face,

"Don't sound like Happy stupid."

THE END

Happy Canada Day Minna! :D

Here's the first story for my prompt-fest as was donated by the amazing EternalFlame401! :) I hope that I met your expectations, I'm not too sure how I feel about it yet (especially the end) sigh…it just seems so rushed! This was so hard to write lol but that's because I'm at the point where I have no confidence in my writing whatsoever! So if you guys are waiting for my other stories, I promise that I'm working on them; it might just take a while! I'm sorry!

If anyone Guests or otherwise would like to send me a prompt, I still have free spots for this month so don't be afraid to PM me (if you're a guest you can leave your prompts in the comment box :D) Waiting on your awesome reviews!

-sktrgrl