Summary: The snow bubbled as a river of blood poured from where his leg was supposed to be. Beside him, Natsu laid lifeless, chest cold and unmoving. But Gray wasn't done yet, he had to fix this – he needed to fix this, even if that meant giving up his soul.

Word Count: 2263

Warning: Cussing, graphic images, main character death and spelling or grammar errors if I did not catch them.

Disclaimer: I own no one, 'cept this new macho man Daizo

A/N: This will be set in a sort of authors' universe because it does expand over a long period of time. I don't plan on going way off course with this "universe" because I don't like writing those. So just expect power levels to be different and things of that sort. Also, this is chapter is set before Lucy joins the guild and then continues 6 years later. If I understand correctly, 6 years later will be before the Grand Magic Games, which I really want to focus on. Anyway, please let me know if I have some information wrong down the road by PMing me. Furthermore, I have never had a traumatic experience like losing a limb and apologize if I did not portray it correctly.

So thank you and enjoy!

6 Years Ago

Gray woke up to unnatural warmth radiating from his left leg. He blinked, watching as muck cleared from his vision, only then to be replaced by a raging winter storm. He swallowed; mouth parched and looked around. Not matter how much he tried; he couldn't bring up any memory that explained where he was. Looking around, Gray found that he could only see past a certain point before the blizzard snagged it from view. He gripped the snow beneath his fingers, feeling as the ice crystals melted in against his palms and found that he was shirtless. The oddest thing about his predicament was that he was shivering from the cold. The snow passed between his fingers as he attempted to sit up.

A shout came from in front of him, making Gray look up. He saw past the sideways blowing snow, a small flame burst before the ground shook. Another scream occurred then the flame disappeared and a laugh filled the storm.

Gray pushed himself up, his arms shaking and his eyes widened. He remembered why he was up here, "Natsu!" He yelled but was suddenly stopped when his attempts to stand was blocked. Gray looked down, and his stomach churned at what he saw. The snow bubbled as a river of blood poured from where his leg was supposed to be. The limb was cut at his knee, skin hanging off, blood froze around the wound and coating the red snow. "No," Gray slurred and pain raced up his spine. His leg began to pound as he panted uncontrollably. He found himself in shock more than in pain. Nonetheless, he still freaked out. His arms shook and his gasps increased. "Shit!" He screamed out, fingers digging into the snow and fear washing over him. He was freaking out and panicking hysterically.

A gust of air ruffled his hair and then a form flew past him. Gray looked up, his eyes wide as a shape emerged from the wall that the blizzard created. A shape about six feet tall walked steadily forward, its hands cupped behind its back as a man stepped forward. He looked no older than 25, dressed in a navy and gold tunic, his head shaved down, but his long beard once brown now snow speckled on top of the hair. "Hmm," the man called above the raging storm, "You're finally awake."

From behind Gray, fire burst to life and Natsu emerged. "Natsu," Gray called, his voice shaking as he gazed backward and found that Natsu looked almost lifeless.

"I'm sure you would have died from blood loss by now," The mysterious man brought his hand forward and light burned away the snow. "I'm sure you'll sleep well."

"Bastard," Gray growled. His arm shaking as he reached backward and touched his left thigh, covering his fingertips in blood.

Natsu stumbled forward, his eyes lit with rage but his form sagging from exhaustion. The idiot looked terrible, his clothes were torn, blood dripped down his face from multiple cuts and bruises were already blowing up upon his skin. "Get away from him, Daizo," Natsu snapped, his flames dancing in the storm. "Or I'm going to kill you!"

"Same insults, young man." The man laughed, his hand retreating away from Gray as he shrugged. "When will you ever think, it's not my fault his leg is gone."

Natsu growled, his flames growing brighter as he shook with rage. He jumped forward, but Daizo had snapped to the left making Natsu miss his target and chaotically roll away. The man looked back towards Gray, his beard blowing slightly in the raging storm and his eyes flashed. "Do you think Fairy Tail will try to find me once both of you are dead?" He smiled down at Gray, watching as the Ice Mage shook with shock and blood loss – his face pale against the white snow. "I would love to go against a Guild." Gray pushed his right fingers into the snow, and sharp ice shot up from the ground, but nowhere near Daizo. The man looked towards the ice then back to Gray, frowning. He shook his head as Gray blinked, his vision unfocused and eyelids dropping with exhaustion. Gray felt his left fingers twitch over the stump that drenched the snow with red. He swallowed, his body trembled and black dots formed over his sleep filled vision. From behind another scream exploded and Gray watched as Daizo was caught off guard with Natsu tackling him to the ground and the two rolled away, the blizzard blowing away their form.

Gray paused, his breath hiccupping as he quickly averted his gaze away from where Natsu had disappeared. He pulled his right hand from underneath his chest and with his left hand he dug his fingertips into the bleeding muscle. Ice quickly raced across the damaged muscle and skin, rushing to cover the bone and clogging the opened blood vessels. Gray sucked in a breath and held it as pain thumped its way up his leg. He tried to ignore the pain as his stomach tossed; he was doing a pretty good job until he heard Natsu scream out in pain. Gray looked up, his effort to cast some sort of ice leg was quickly discontinued. "Shit," Gray growled, he knew he had to hurry and help Natsu. Gray shoved past the pain and darkness that hovered over him and pushed himself up. His limbs were shaking as he stood, then agony flew up his spine as he placed pressure on his left ice covered leg. He shrieked, his throat tightening as he tumbled to the floor. Past the sideways blowing storm, Gray caught the glimpse of a light then an explosion shook the ground, forcing the storm to jump away from the flare-up. He crossed his hands in front of his eyes as the storm picked up, changing direction. He came to his hands and knees again, limbs shaking as he pushed himself further and stood again. "Fuck," he cursed wildly as he stumbled to the side feeling the leg crack underneath his weight. He felt the ice peg blow away but quickly formed ice around his hands, helping him stay standing. "Damn it," he cried as his only leg trembled like an earthquake. He needed to get forward, help Natsu – stop the bastard from pushing himself too far. He hopped forward, cursing as his vision blackened then stuttered back to life. Suddenly the ground beneath him shook and he fell forward, tumbling headfirst moving down a hill he hadn't seen or still couldn't see. He came to a halt; head crashing against the stiff snow bank and left leg shouting at his luck. Gray moaned in pain as he rolled to his side, eyes closing as his head pounded in pain. "Natsu!" He cried, but his voice was carried away with the snow. He looked around and all he could see was white. He clenched his hands, feeling fear rise along with anger. "Damn it," Gray snapped to himself. "Get it together, Gray." He looked around, once more and from his right he felt a gust of warm air ruffle his hair. Gray quickly turned his eyes widening as the large man stepped forward his face twisted in glee.

"You know, Gray," Daizo laughed, "he lasted a lot longer than you did." From behind, the large man drew back and then threw something forward, watching as the shape connected against Gray's chest. Gray gasped in pain as the weight pushed against his bruised ribs and his eyes widened in shock and agony. The man turned to leave, his eyes sparkling with glee and strolled off. Upon his chest, the weight jolted with a wet cough. Gray looked up, watching as Natsu pushed himself off of Gray, blood leaking from his mouth as the Dragon Slayer spit globs of blood into the snow, watching as it bubbled, sinking into the white bank. Natsu, from his hands and knees, pushed upwards, swaying to his feet, hands hanging loosely at his side. Behind the blood, cuts, bruises and torn up physique, Natsu's eyes still sparked with emotion. Gray gasped, his chest pounding along with his head. He looked at Natsu, stretching out his right hand towards the Fire Mage and tried to shout at him to stop whatever he was thinking. However, his voice failed him, stumbling between waves of agony and the sudden need to sleep.

"Hey," Natsu shouted and Daizo stopped, his form of blue and gold almost fazing out from sight. Natsu stepped forward, "We're going to come back for you."

Daizo's form turned, most of his features unnoticeable but a toothy grin. The man didn't take a step forward, but the seconds ticked by as Gray felt his head fall back into the snow, eyes drifting downwards. Then the man chuckled, past the raging snow and loud gusts of wind, his laughter surrounded them with dread. "If you two survive, I will gladly take you on again." He then turned, but as he drifted away from view his voice carried along with another snicker, "Oh and tell, mother to next time send better assassins." With that, the man disappeared into the wall of snow.

Gray felt his breath stick against his throat as he looked towards Natsu. The Fire Dragon Slayer stumbled on his feet as he tried standing still, his hands hanging on his sides and he turned towards Gray. Natsu took a step forward, his feet choking and he stumbled forward. The Ice Mage blinked as the world fell under a dark cover. The storm seemed to cease but hands shook his shoulders and the storm picked back up. Gray found himself blinking back clouds of muck as he watched Natsu crouch over him, his blood leaking from cuts onto Gray's face. "Gray," he snapped. "Gray c'mon, get up."

"Natsu?" Gray mumbled, his lips heavy and eyes squinting against the bright snow.

The Fire Mage's breath stuttered as he pulled Gray up and with a quick heave, Gray found himself draped across Natsu's shoulders.

"We've gotta get you to the old ladies house," Natsu mumbled, his steps slow and heavy against the snow.

The next few minutes were slow, with a dull aching thump washing over Gray with each step Natsu took. Gray felt his head rise slightly as the two came to an incline, his head stuttering to life as he remembered that an injured, power exhausted Natsu was carrying him, one limb missing, up a snow covered hill. Gray pulled against Natsu suddenly, his eyebrows dropping and left leg pounding at the movement. "Natsu," he pushed against the Dragon Slayer again. "Natsu s-stop." Gray felt Natsu stumble backward, the two almost tumbling to the ground.

"Gray," Natsu snarled, "you're being more of an ass than usual, stop."

The Ice Mage ignored the insult and tapped his head sluggishly against Natsu's shoulder, "You – you need to rest."

Natsu scoffed, but it came out winded and pained. "You're the one missing a limb. If we don't get you medical attention, you're going to bleed out." Natsu shifted Gray's weight before taking a step forward, but his vision blacked out and they tipped backward.

.Gray felt himself fall back further, Natsu seemed to reach back with a shout as the two rolled downward. Gray felt his body crack against the ground, head snapping back and the crash pushing out a pained shout. Natsu fell back, head falling first and body crumbling over his neck as he rolled backward. Gray bounced against the ground and one strike against his ice covered leg sent him into a spell of dizzying pain.

He blinked, chest thumping in pain and limbs shaking from exhaustion. Suddenly, as he realized he couldn't take in a deep gulp of hair, he looked down to find Natsu still upon his chest. Quickly, Gray wasn't concerned about their mission that they had obviously failed; he was too alarmed about the pink haired man who wasn't breathing that laid upon his chest.

Gray sat up, his mind going into overdrive as he pushed Natsu off of his chest and onto the ground. He reached forward, his mind forcing pain and fear to the backburner, as his blood covered fingertips pushed into Natsu's neck. His fingers trembled as he noticed Natsu hadn't even twitched from the odd contact. Something was wrong, God something was very, very wrong. Gray couldn't feel anything as he pushed harder under Natsu's chin, trying to feel for a pulse. He trembled, his eyes glancing over the Fire Mage. Gray quickly abandoned the thought that Natsu wasn't alive, because this was his damn rival. He quickly placed his ear against the Dragon Slayers chest and closed his eyes. "C'mon," Gray mumbled. Natsu's chest was freezing cold, "C'mon – c'mon – c'mon!" The storm around them picked up, riffling both mages hair, but only one shivered in response. Gray sat up, his limbs shaking from the cold and his chest started to burn. "Damn it, shit for brains!" Gray swallowed, his hands shaking as he positioned himself above Natsu's chest and pushed downwards in one quick movement. "She won't let us go out on our own again," Gray pushed down further before looking towards Natsu's face. It hadn't moved, haven't twitched. "Fucking dumbass!" Gray quickly began CPR, pushing air into Natsu's lungs, hoping for some type of change. "Wake up, wake up, wake up," he shouted again, his eyes stung slightly against the raging storm.

"Natsu!"

A/N: All right! New chapter story and if everything lines up correctly it should be around 15 chapters, maybe longer. Thank you for reading and I hope you have a great day!

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