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Natsu? Natsu, can you hear me? Natsu?!
Gray knew that he was shouting into the bond now, probably enough to give Natsu a pounding headache if he was able to hear him, but he didn’t care. A headache could be dealt with. Injuries could be dealt with. He just needed the idiot to reply to him, straining to pick up some sign that the Dragon-slayer could hear him. Come on, Flamebrain, he thought. But the bond was quiet. Not even a faint hum of acknowledgement to let him know that the Dragon-slayer was able to hear him even if he couldn’t reply. Part of him was terrified about what that might mean, as the only times that Natsu hadn’t been able to respond through the bond was when things were dire. He shivered, remembering the Grand Magic Games, and the void that had greeted his efforts to reach his mate when Natsu had been caught on the belief that the Ice Mage was dead. They had come back from that, slowly, and the bond had deepened to the point where Gray barely even needed to focus on it to feel Natsu in the back of his mind, but there was nothing today.
No, not quite nothing.
There was a lingering, distant warmth that told him that Natsu was at least alive, and he hadn’t realised how much he’d needed that reassurance until he stumbled at that realisation. Natsu. He’d needed it, especially as his last memory of Natsu, was of his mate crying out for him in alarm, his name twisting into a cry of pain just before Gray had passed out. He’s still alive. It wasn’t enough. Gray knew better than anyone that there was a vast distance between being alive and being okay. Steadying himself with a hand on the wall, and not just from the relief. There was drying blood making his face uncomfortable, and each step forward send a dull, splintery ache through his side, a pressure rising in his chest, proof that he was lucky to be up and moving. And what does that mean for Natsu? Because he knew that Natsu would have fought to stay with him. Would have struggled until he couldn’t, because that was what the bond demanded of him as a Dragon-slayer, and it was only was fear twisted in his gut that he realised just how much he had come to rely on that. Natsu would always win and come back to him because there wasn’t any other choice.
So, why wasn’t he answering now? NATSU?! He let his desperation and fear bleed into the shout, hating himself for playing on that part of Natsu’s instincts, but telling himself that it would be worth it if it goaded the Dragon-slayer into responding. Natsu, please answer me. Please…
Natsu didn’t reply.
Instead, something else stirred in the bond, and Gray stiffened, the corridor around him fading away. He could still feel the wall that he was leaning on, but he couldn’t see it. Instead, he was surrounded by fire. It roared, a wild blaze that couldn’t and wouldn’t be contained, and yet even as the flames seemed to lick against his skin, it didn’t hurt. Instead, it felt like the gentle warmth of the summer sun. A fire meant to protect, to love, and ignoring the instincts that screamed at him to retreat and recoil from the threat, he found himself lifting a hand to the dancing flames. Natsu? There was a rumble. The ground beneath his feet shifting, as the fire rose in a plume around him, and his hand brushed against something solid, fingers trembling as he felt scales as the flames and flickered, before drawing away, a living curtain pulled back and leaving him face to face with a Dragon.
“N-Natsu?” He whispered, wondering if this was the point where he should start to question his sanity as instead of snatching his hand away, he pressed it against the Dragon’s snout. It rumbled at him, a laugh buried within a growl and as he lifted his eyes to meet amber, cat-like eyes, he realised that he was slightly off the mark, it wasn’t Natsu… “You’re his draconic side?” The Dragon pressed into his touch as it nodded, blinking at him, and he couldn’t but help but stare at it in awe. He’d always known that this part of Natsu had existed, had glimpsed it numerous times even before they’d become mates, but he’d always held it at a distance because it was easier to see the Natsu that he had grown up with. The boy he had bickered and brawled with. The teen that he had fallen for, and the man that he loved; than this piece of a world that he didn’t entirely understand even after all this time. Now, there was no hiding from it, and Gray drank in the sight. This is who Natsu is. This is part of him… The bond was humming, or maybe it was the Dragon, the fire rising around them as in the wake of the awe came fear.
Why was he seeing this now?
Find him, the voice when it came seemed to come from everywhere, within his own mind, and from the dancing flames, and yet Gray knew that it was the Dragon as it reared back with a roar that had the hairs on his arms standing on edge. We…He needs you. I can’t reach him.
“What do you mean you can’t reach him?” Gray demanded. Even when Natsu lost control completely, or when he had been lost in the wake of Gray’s ‘death’ he’d still had his inner Dragon, and the awe was gone completely now as he took a step forward. “What has happened to him?” How could he have been stood here, lost in this side of his mate when he knew that Natsu was still out there somewhere? How could his fear, that was shifting to terror now have been forgotten? The Dragon was looking at him again, bringing its head level and studying him, as though he knew exactly where the Ice Mage’s thoughts had gone.
There is a wall between us, a divide. The Dragon sounded lost and afraid, an echo of the voice in Gray’s heart that whispered that time was running. I cannot help him, so you must. There was a reluctance in the plea. Natsu’s draconic half struggling with the concept of being the one needing protection, and Gray reached out again despite himself, brushing the scales under the closest eye.
“I will, but…” I don’t know where he is, and I can’t reach him. Somehow it was harder to put into words, with part of Natsu right in front of him, and perhaps the Dragon realised because its voice had softened to distant thunder as it pressed into the touch, as the fire around them started to fade.
I will help you, oh mate of mine…
*
Gray stumbled, startled to find himself back in the corridor, his hand pressed to cold earth rather than the Dragon’s scales, but he wasn’t alone. Between him and the distant warmth that told him Natsu was still alive, was another mind, and Gray’s lips quirked up in a feral smile, as he felt the Dragon’s mind press against his. The inferno of its presence burning through his human limitations, and he staggered as the world around him came into focus in a way that it had never before. He could see everything, the grains in the wall holding him up, the shadows in the spaces between the flickering torches fading away as though they didn’t exist, everything crystal-clear as he blinked, trying to take it in. There was a drum echoing through the air, and it took a moment for him to realise it was his heartbeat, as clear as though his ear was pressed against his chest and he drew in a ragged breath and froze, as a whole other world opened up to him. He could smell it. He could smell the coppery tang of blood, mingled with sweat from the fight. He could smell the ice and pine forest that Natsu talked about so fondly when speaking about him, and beneath, he caught a trace of what could only be the Dragon-slayer’s scent, cinnamon and the deep, smoky wood of an open campfire.
Natsu.
It was almost too much. His mind struggling to make sense of all the information coming at him from every direction. Was this what it was like for Natsu? For all the Dragon-slayers? They’d all watched in awe as Natsu had heard or smelled a threat from a great distance, but Gray had never given much thought to what it must be like to be open to that kind of information overload. His stomach rolled, head pounding as he squeezed his eyes shut. I’m so sorry Natsu, this is too much, I can’t…I can’t… He couldn’t make sense of it, couldn’t breathe for fear of being overwhelmed again, and there was a frustrated snarl in the back of his mind, more Natsu than the Dragon. However, he knew it was the latter as the burning heat pressed against him once more, shielding him against the worst of the world pressing against his senses.
Breathe, I will help you.
Gray obeyed, not knowing what else to, and this time when he took a shaky breath the scents were still there, but they were bearable, more like he was curled up in their own bed with his nose pressed against Natsu than a tidal wave threatening to sweep him away. Thank you, he thought as he took another breath, and then another, feeling his stomach settling a little. Everything was still more, but no longer overwhelming, and as he took another deep breath he paused, realising that he could still smell Natsu, and not just as a secondary scent mixed in with his own. Lifting his head, he sniffed the air much as he had seen Natsu do a dozen times, eyes narrowing as he picked out a dozen other scents but focusing on Natsu’s, as he pushed himself upright. I can find him now, thank you, he thought to the Dragon in his mind, feeling rather than hearing its triumphant rumble as he stepped forward, chasing the scent of his mate.
Natsu, I’m coming.
****
Gray stared at the scarf in his hands. It was the last thing he’d expected to find, especially without any sign of his mate, and his hands clenched on the precious item, the white marred by blood and dirt, as growl rose in the back of his throat. Was it deliberate? A clue from Natsu to let him know what direction he’d been dragged in, but Gray dismissed that thought as quickly as it came because Natsu would never have willingly left it behind, a tough echoed by the Dragon lurking in the back of his mind. No, it had either been torn away on purpose, or it had fallen without Natsu noticing, neither of which were options that Gray wanted to think about. Natsu… He smoothed the scarf, brushing away some of the dirt, before draping it around his neck and tying it carefully in place, not wanting to risk yanking it off without realising what he was doing.
Natsu? He tried again through the bond, but while the Dragon rumbled at him, the distant warmth of his mate remained unchanged and gritting his teeth against the pain of his injuries, Gray broke into a run as he chased the scent of his mate.
The tunnel twisted and turned, sometimes going back on itself and other times crossing others, and Gray knew that without his new sense, he would have lost the trail. As it was, he was almost fooled a couple of times, as though Natsu’s captors had hauled him a short way down several of the side tunnels to confuse him, although they had no way of knowing that the Ice Mage would be tracking them like this. Each false lead fanning his temper, and his magic was welling around him, ice creeping across the ground and up the walls, sparkling veins that glistened too bright to his heightened sight. He made no effort to rein it in, not caring if they knew that he was coming for them.
He wanted them to know.
No, he wanted Natsu to know.
Reaching through the bond once more, trying to brush against the distant warmth to reassure the Dragon-slayer that he was coming for him and that he wasn’t alone, and for a moment, he felt something. A flickering of a candle flame, the fluttering of warm breath against his skin. Natsu?! He tried hopefully, and he felt the Dragon shifting too, trying to reach for the Dragon-slayer, and for a split second Natsu was there with them. Warm. Alive…and hurting, a sickening sensation of pain sweeping through the link, strong enough to make Gray stumble and the Dragon snarl, and then the connection was gone. Shattering as though someone had just taken a hammer to it and dashed it into a thousand pieces.
The Dragon roared in the back of his mind, and Gray howled.
Any caution he’d been clinging to melted away then. Natsu? NATSU! There was no response, and even the warmth of his mate’s presence in the bond seemed dimmed, it’s loss enough to make him shiver, and he bolted, each step sending ice cascading up the walls. The anger wasn’t entirely his, a burning, surging rage that felt like liquid flame as it coursed through his body, but he didn’t care. It fuelled him, driving him forward and pushing the pain of his wounds to the back of his mind. Was this what Natsu felt when he was in danger? A rumble of agreement dulled the edge of his anger but sharpened it into something stronger, a resolve that couldn’t and wouldn’t be broken.
We’re getting him back.
**
It seemed to take forever before the tunnel finally widened out, and it was clear that they hadn’t expected him or anyone else to find them in time because they’d made no effort to hide their passage at this point. The blood on the ground giving him pause, and as much as he hoped it belonged to the mages who’d dared to lay a hand on his mate, he knew even before he sniffed it that it wasn’t.
Natsu was hurt.
That was the final straw, and when the tunnel ended in a large, natural cavern, Gray stepped out into the open without hesitation, ice flowing out ahead of him, silent and deadly. Freezing the first man in place before they’d even realised, he was there, but he didn’t have eyes for them, barely aware of his magic snaking out, the ice sweeping over two others before the rest scattered, leaving him with a clear view of his mate. “Natsu,” he whispered, eyes trailing over the Dragon-slayer, the air around him growing colder as he took in the chains binding Natsu to the wall, pulling him up onto his toes. It had to be painful, especially as his eyes swept over the other injuries, unsure whether the growling was coming from him or the Dragon as he took another step into the cavern and then another. If it was hurting him, which it had to be, there was no sign of it in Natsu’s expression as the Dragon-slayer hung there limp, but conscious. Or at least his eyes were open, although there was a blankness in them that terrified Gray, as even this close the bond remained dimmed, as though Natsu was a million miles away from him.
Natsu? Natsu. I’m right here, he tried, the silence expected but no less painful for it. Natsu…
Pain exploded across his cheek, and it took him a moment to realise that one of the mage’s had shot at him, the bullet grazing his cheek, blood trickling from the cut as he snarled. He didn’t waste his breath on threats or insults. It had always been Natsu who had made him talk more in battles, and right now, he didn’t have the words. He didn’t need them, as he and the Dragon growled in unison as he lunged forward, ice swirling up into a shield as they tried to slow his charge with a blitzkrieg of attacks. He almost laughed. As though that would be enough to stop him from getting to his mate, as though they could stop him when Natsu was right in front of him, and his growl became a roar of challenge, as he dropped the shield, bringing his hands together as dozens of lances shot towards the mages. Only it wasn’t just his magic that responded, and he wasn’t sure who was more startled as flames wrapped around the ice, not touching it, perfectly in balance before blasting into the mages.
He didn’t have time to worry about it, not wanting to give them a chance to regroup especially as a couple eyed the defenceless Dragon-slayer, connecting the dots, and he was already moving. Ice forming, shifting and reforming as he glided under a sword, throwing his hand up to catch the flat of it, encasing it ice and locking it to the ground when the mage dropped it at the unexpected weight. Natsu! He shouted through the bond, as he left another encased in ice, before stumbling under the force of a flurry of blows, before flames erupted around him, forcing his assailants away with startled cries. Still shielding themselves against the fire, they never saw the ice hammer that formed over their heads until it was already slamming into them. Gray was already moving again, side throbbing in protest as he had to lurch out of the path of another attack.
NATSU! NATSU!
It was a mantra. A chant in the back of his mind, echoed by the Dragon as they pushed on the bond, even as together they forced a path through to the Dragon-slayer. Gray was bleeding, fresh cuts and bruises a sharper counterpart to his other injuries, and his left arm was limp at his side, as he snarled, frustration and desperation, his own and the Dragon’s bubbled up. “Enough.” It was and wasn’t his voice, just as he was more and less than human at that moment, and if he had been able to see himself, he would have seen crimson scales creeping across his cheeks and forehead as his eyes burned amber. As it was every pair of eyes apart from Natsu had turned towards him, fear the prevalent expression as drew himself up to his full height. “Natsu, I told you I was coming for you,” he whispered, as his magic burst out of him in a wide arc, as he pushed everything, he had into it. Ice swept across the cavern, encasing everything that wasn’t already frozen, chasing down those foolish enough to try and run, until every single mage was frozen in place.
The ice didn’t stop there, racing towards the wall where Natsu was held, and snaking up the wall towards the chains. Gray was panting and trembling. Nearly spent, but refusing to relent until the chains were broken, yet the second his ice touched the metal the magic shattered and splintered, much as the bond had when they’d managed to reach Natsu. The magic was not only deflected but sent back towards him, and Gray gasped as the cold pierced him, harmless but strong enough to drive the breath from his lungs, the Dragon raging in his mind before he released the magic. Pressing a hand to his chest where the ice had burrowed deep, he took a ragged breath. “Natsu?” Nothing, Natsu continued to stare out through empty eyes, and Gray ruthlessly buried the thought that he was too late as he moved forward, ignoring the frozen mages as he moved across the ice to the Dragon-slayer.
It wasn’t just magic that was being deflected he discovered when he reached Natsu, his attempts to reach up and touch the Dragon-slayer thwarted by an invisible barrier that pulsed threateningly against his touch. What the hell is this? He demanded as he and the Dragon examined the chains. Gray had just noticed the runes etched into the metal, when he felt the Dragon snarl in the back of his mind, recognising the fear in the sound from the times that Natsu had thought that he was about to lose him. But before he could react, fire engulfed him inside and out as the Dragon surged to the forefront of his mind, blasting through his attempts to hold it back until he knew what was happening, and he was a passenger in his own body as the Dragon lifted his – their – hands towards the chains. Now he could see the barrier, a pearlescent swirl in the air around Natsu that flared brighter in warning as their hands pressed against it, and he could feel it trying to push them back.
They wouldn’t be denied, though.
The Dragon roaring, in his mind and aloud, as their flames swept across Natsu and the barrier keeping them apart and pressed into the chains. Burn. Burn! BURN! Gray wasn’t sure which of them was chanting it, maybe both, as the chains glowed and pulsed, fighting against them, drawing a snarl of frustration from their lips. Give him back, he thought, no longer just a passenger as he gathered the shred of his magic and pushed it into the fire. Fire and Ice. Gray and Natsu. It had got them through so much, and he would be damned if it wasn’t enough now, as he reached through the bond, searching for Natsu.
A flicker.
Natsu!
His ice was merging with the fire now, turning the dancing flames a dazzling blue as they swept up and over the barrier, lapping hungrily at the chains. The runes were glowing now, first gold in defiance of their efforts, but then it shifted and turned blue, mirroring their magic, and Gray felt another tentative brush against the bond. The Dragon felt it too, and Gray had the impression of immense fiery wings curving protectively around them, as Natsu’s warmth, still weak, but closer than before blossomed beside him. Natsu, he stretched for the warmth, and this time Natsu reached back.
Gray…
Natsu’s voice had just registered, when the chains themselves blazed a brilliant, blinding blue before disintegrating, the magic they held no match for their combined power. Gray had a fleeting feeling of triumph, not sure whether it was his or the Dragon’s before the world exploded, and he was flung back across the length of the cavern.
*
He must’ve blacked out for a moment, because when he came too the ice-coated cavern was nowhere to be seen, and instead he was surrounded by fire once more, as the Dragon moved into view in front of him. For a long moment, they just stared at one another, exhausted, but bound in a way that he would never have thought possible before today. Then the Dragon was moving, leaning in to press his nose to Gray’s forehead with a soft huff, before stepping aside. Tilting his head, as he lifted a fiery wing to reveal the sprawled figure of the Dragon-slayer cradled by flames. “Natsu,” Gray whispered, looking at the Dragon before bolting to his mate’s side, uncaring of the fire as he dropped down beside Natsu and pulled him into his arms.
Natsu was warm, and as Gray cradled him close amongst the flames, and under the watchful gaze, he felt the bond flare to life even before he felt the Dragon-slayer stirring in his arms, and he lifted his head to look at the Dragon as he felt the fire giving way to the chill of the real world. “Thank you,” he murmured, as Natsu’s fingers curled against his arm, the Dragon-slayer groaning softly as his eyes crept open, blinking up at the Dragon as it leaned over them with a soft rumble.
Look after him…
“I will,” Gray replied, at the same time that Natsu thought it, the words echoing through the bond, neither of them sure who the words had been for, and the Dragon chuckled as both he and the fires faded away.
I never doubted it.