Strangled Love

Chapter 1 – Stolen Gift

A/n: This is my second story and first multi-chapter fic. Criticism is highly encouraged. Towards the end of this chapter, there are some references to anime only episodes, so for those who only read the manga it won't make much sense. It is not too important to the plot but I'm warning you now.

Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail

Natsu paced up and down his bedroom. It had happened again. Another dream. Another nightmare. It had been becoming much more frequent as of late and it scared Natsu. Not so much the dream itself, but rather how he could never remember the dream, only how it made him feel when he woke up. He knew roughly what the dream was about; strangulation. Natsu's one and only phobia. He never knew how he got that fear but he did know that Igneel's scarf used to help ease the fear away. The scarf didn't help any more. Nothing did.

He decided the best thing to do would be to get dressed and go to the guild hall, he had to be there in a couple of hours for his latest mission anyway so getting there a little early wouldn't matter. To be honest, Natsu wasn't really looking forward to his mission like he usually was. The mission itself was great with little transportation compared to usual, a good hotel and LOTS of food, it was just who the mission was with. Erza had decided she was fed up with his and Gray's constant bickering and wanted them to go on a 'bonding' mission. Alone. Natsu grabbed his small bag of belongings, put his scarf on and headed off to the guild hall.

He decided to take the scenic route through the east side of the forest. To say Natsu was paranoid was an understatement. He kept all of his dragon senses on high alert and clutched onto his scarf tightly. He felt like everyone and everything was out to get him and strangle him. "Get it together." he mumbled to himself. Despite taking a longer route, he was in front of the guild hall before long.

Gray was already at the guild, slumped up against the outside wall, looking quite pissed. "You're late flamebrain."

"No I'm not. We agreed on meeting at 10:00 and it's only 9:15."

"I think you shouldn't make up excuses. You and I both know we agreed on 9:00."

"Are you calling me a liar, ice princess?"

"So what if I am?"

"You call me a flamebrain yet it's you who needs to get their brain checked out. It was 10:00."

"9:00"

"10:00"

"9:00"

"It. Was. 10:00" shouted Natsu who punched Gray after each word to make a point. Gray kicked Natsu in the side. Now he was pissed. Not only had Natsu come late, but he had also decided to pick a fight with him. If a fight was what Natsu wanted, a fight was what he was going to get. Kicks, punches and insults flew all around the front of the guild hall. Just as both Gray and Natsu decided to invite magic to the party, Erza appeared and bashed their heads in.

"This is supposed to be a bonding experience! No violence!" shouted Erza.

"Hypocrite." Gray mumbled under his breath.

"What was that?"

"Nothing ma'am." it came out more as a squeak than a sentence. Natsu snickered. Gray shot Natsu a glare that read You're dead.

"Do I have to bash your heads in again?" threatened Erza and both Natsu and Gray shook their heads vigorously. "Look, just try and get along on this mission. I've booked you a magic mobile as you missed your train. Now hurry up and get along already!"

Gray smirked at Natsu. "Told you it was 9:00."

"Shut up." Natsu hated it when Gray was right.

At the hotel that evening…

"WHAT!?" shrieked Natsu.

"We have to share a room!" shouted Gray.

"Please can you be a little quieter. You're scaring our other guests." said the friendly receptionist. Why was she always stuck with the crazy mages?

"Sorry" responded Gray. "Come on idiot, we need to go unpack."

Natsu was not happy about the situation. Not at all. Not only did he have to share a room with the annoying jerk Gray, but his secret phobia could come out if he had a nightmare. Natsu knew Gray would never let him live it down if it did.

As Gray opened the door to their room, he sighed in relief. For a moment there he was worried they were going to have to share a bed. "I'll take the left bed."

"Fine. I'll take the right." said Natsu. "You going to bed now?"

"Yeah. I'm exhausted from driving the magic mobile the entire way because a certain someone gets motion sick."

"Whatever."

"You going to sleep with your scarf on?" Natsu nodded. "Weirdo. Night."

"Night."

And with that, both boys fell asleep. Natsu did have a nightmare however it wasn't too bad and it didn't wake up Gray. At some point during the night, Natsu's scarf fell off and wind blew it under the bed.

The next morning Natsu woke up with a bad feeling and he immediately knew that he had had a nightmare. He searched for his scarf but couldn't find it anywhere. Panic and dread filled Natsu. He needed that scarf to protect his neck. Gray was in the bathroom taking a shower, so Natsu seized the opportunity to look for his scarf in Gray's stuff to see if he had taken it. He still couldn't find it. He needed at least something to protect himself, anything would do really. That was when he caught sight of Gray's cross necklace on the table. It wasn't a scarf but it was going to have to do. He put it on and then put a top over that would cover it.

When Gray came out of the shower, he went to go put his cross necklace on but couldn't find it. "Oi flamebrain, you seen my necklace?"

Natsu shook his head. "Watch who you're calling a flamebrain!"

"Ugh. We're already slightly late, guess I'm going to have to leave without it. Where's your scarf?"

Natsu shrugged. "Let's just go already."

After the mission...

Natsu decided to take a nap on the way back from their job. It had been rather tiring and no amount of motion sickness could stop Natsu's exhaustion.

Natsu awoke from his slumber with no bad feeling. He hadn't had a nightmare. It must have been the first time he had slept peacefully in months. Natsu touched where the necklace was hidden under his clothes and smiled, it filled him with the same wonderful feeling of security his scarf used to.

When they got back to their room, Natsu took off his top, completely forgetting that he had hidden Gray's cross necklace under it.

"You took my necklace!" shouted Gray. He was both shocked and weirded out. Why would Natsu even want his necklace? He hadn't just hidden it to annoy him, he was wearing it.

"Shit." Natsu was busted. He didn't know what to say that wouldn't make him sound like a pathetic little kid.

"Explain." His tone was demanding and Natsu knew he wasn't going to be able to talk his way out of this. He'd have to tell Gray the truth.

"Laugh and I'll fucking burn you to ashes." Gray was slightly taken back by Natsu's threat. Whatever this was, it was serious, so Gray decided to listen. He nodded his head slowly as to signify Natsu to continue.

"I have a phobia of being strangled. When I was younger and living with Igneel, something happened. I can't remember what exactly but it had something to do with strangulation. All I do remember is Igneel coming and rescuing me."

Gray frowned. Natsu not being able to remember what happened sounded like an example of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) that Gray had heard about called psychogenic amnesia. What happened to Natsu must have been bad.

"Ever since then I've always used Igneel's scarf as a form of comfort and protection. Even after he disappeared, I always believed that if anything like that was to ever happen again, he'd come and rescue me just like back then. The scarf doesn't help any more. Igneel is dead. He won't save me if I'm being strangled. I've started having nightmares. I don't know what they are exactly about, but after waking from one, I feel uneasy and paranoid. You don't know how fucking frustrating it is to be suffering from something but you have no idea why you're suffering and therefore can't do anything about it!" Natsu shouted the last sentence and punched the nearby dresser, which cracked under the force.

Gray felt an overwhelming urge to comfort the dragon slayer but kept quiet, wanting Natsu to finish his story. After all, he still didn't understand what his cross necklace had to do with any of this.

"This morning, when I woke up, I couldn't find my scarf. It doesn't do much for me any more, but still, I need it. I looked for ages and when it still didn't turn up, I decided to use your necklace instead. It's no scarf but it's better than nothing. When I fell asleep on the way back, I actually had a nightmare-free sleep. It must have been the first time in months. I like having something of yours around my neck."

Gray's eyes widened drastically at Natsu's last comment. He wanted to say something but he was literally rendered speechless.

"I know we fight all the time, but when it comes down to it, I know you'll never let anything really bad happen to me. We have each other's backs. I trust you to protect me." Natsu looked down before continuing "I was actually wondering if I um, if I could, ya know, keep the necklace?" He ended in nothing more than a quiet whisper.

"Hell no!" shouted Gray. "That necklace is mine. Like you said, we have each other's backs, a stupid necklace ain't gonna change that."

"If it's so stupid, why can't I have it?"

"Because it's mine."

"You're an icy prick."

"And you're a pink haired, good-for-nothing lizard!"

"I'm gonna keep it anyway."

"No you are not." Gray tore the necklace off Natsu who gave him a disgusted and angered look.

"I don't get why I can't keep it! I know it wasn't a gift from your old master or anything like that since you never used to wear it when we were kids. You're just a cold-hearted bastard! Why can't I keep it?"

"Because it's the only damn thing I can control in my life!" snapped Gray. "It won't die or leave me. I have full control over it. No matter what happens, no matter what life throws at me, I have that necklace. Its' consistency is about the only thing keeping me sane!"

Natsu decided to drop the subject. Gray looked like he could murder Natsu just about now. Natsu guessed that he probably would have reacted harshly as well if someone had asked to keep his scarf. "Fine. Keep the necklace. I'm going to bed." He did just that and tried to get some sleep.

Gray was glad Natsu dropped it but he couldn't help but feel a little guilty. Natsu had opened up to him about a phobia he had and Gray had probably just made things worse. He decided that he shouldn't feel guilty. Natsu had been unreasonable and selfish. He had done nothing wrong. So why then did he still feel guilt when looking over to the dragon slayer's sleeping form?

It would be a few hours before either of them fell asleep. Both mages had too much on their minds.

The next morning, Natsu woke to an empty room and his usual unsettled feeling. Taking a brief look around, he realised that Gray must have left early. Whilst scanning the room, he noticed a small box and letter on Gray's bed. He walked over and found they were addressed to him. He read the letter first.

Dear Flamebrain,

After much thinking, I have decided you can keep the necklace. It's not because I care or anything - just think of it as an apology for the whole Daphne dragonoid thing. I have left to take the earlier train as I cannot sit by and watch your sorry ass hurl out the window for two hours straight.

Later,

Gray

Natsu smiled and opened up the box to retrieve the necklace. He immediately put it on and the unsettled feeling he had woken up with dissipated. 'Stupid Gray' thought Natsu 'that was a lame excuse. You're an arrogant bastard, there's no way you're still held up on the Daphne situation. I guess you aren't completely cold-hearted after all.'

Natsu started packing up his stuff. As he checked under the bed for anything that may have rolled under there, he felt something scaly. Pulling out his scarf, he chuckled. "Don't need that any more." he said out loud and he carefully packed it in his bag. Although the scarf didn't make him feel the same way it used to, he was still protective over it as it was the only thing he had to remember Igneel by. Natsu smiled. Today was going to be a good day.

Next chapter – Dealing with the Devil (slayer)