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Life After Near Death	By : Rhov Category: +. to F > Fairy Tail Views: 14426 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: Fairy Tail is the property of Hiro Mashima. I make no money, I just do this for my own pleasure.

Chapter List
- 14
- 15
- 16
"When people are protecting something truly special to them, they truly can become … as strong as they can be."

― Masashi Kishimoto

Chapter 15

A Steep Price to Pay
The progress was slow, but every day Gray improved little by little. By the third day, Erza stopped going into the back room. The last time she went, she came back looking like she just vomited. Lucy was worried about Natsu, but Erza was stern: "Don't go back there!"
After a week of treatment, Gray could feel most of his left leg. His breathing was clear. The horrific surgery scars across his stomach began to fade. During one particularly painful session, Kenta had to do an emergency operation as the healing device began to regrow the leg bone that the hospital doctors had replaced. He showed his true skill in surgery and healing by numbing Gray, quickly cutting open his leg, and removing the metal rod the doctors had inserted. By the end of that day, the bone had replaced itself, and the surgical cut had healed until not even a scar was left.
Gray began to smile as he walked more. He felt amazing! It was like this machine was giving him life.
Then suddenly, after ten days, the machine quit. At the same time, the stone that Kenta held onto made a strange noise and began to glow. Cursing, he ran into the other room.
"What's going on?" Gray asked, trying to sit up, but the straps over him prevented that. "Why is he running to the lady's restroom?"
"Stay there," Erza shouted, chasing after Kenta. "Lucy, stay with him. Don't get off the bed." Then she ran off, too.
"Seriously, what's going on?" asked Gray.
Lucy stood beside him, but her worried gaze was at the doors. "Something must be wrong with … the battery."

When finally the second door opened and Erza rushed in, rather than the moans and screams of Natsu in pain, the room was silent. That immediately alerted her to something being very wrong. Then she realized Kenta was breathing into Natsu's mouth. He puffed air in, and then he pounded on the Dragon Slayer's chest.
"Oh my God," Erza whispered. "Is he…?"
"I won't let him die," Kenta insisted. He breathed more, inflating Natsu's chest.
"How did this happen?" Erza screamed.
Happy sat to the side in tears. "He kept saying he was okay. I kept asking, and he kept insisting he was okay."
"You!" Erza yelled at Kenta.
"Not now," he snapped back. "Unless you really want him to die." He compressed Natsu's chest again, counting softly to himself, then plugged Natsu's nose and breathed into his mouth.
"Ten days!" Erza shouted. "He's been living with you for ten days, under your roof, in your care. You should have seen signs."
Kenta glared up in annoyance. "Yes, I saw signs! I saw his fatigue the very first day. I warned him!" He focused back down, thumping into Natsu's chest. Then he felt the side of his neck again and cursed in frustration. "I've been warning him for days. I saw it was bad. He'd look pale, unable to sit up, he'd sleep for hours, but by evening he'd look perfectly normal again. He kept insisting he felt fine, that he was a Dragon Slayer, and we all know those sorts are super powerful. He laughed and told jokes through dinner. He smiled the same as always. Yes, I saw how pale he was after sessions, but after a few hours he showed no signs of fatigue. None!" The man glared up at Erza again. "I'm a healer who uses magical devices because I'm not a wizard myself. How the hell should I know if he's not okay when physically he looks perfectly fine?" He began to pound Natsu's chest harder in anger. "Damn stubborn boy!"
Suddenly, they heard Natsu gasp. He continued to lie still, but when Kenta felt the side of the neck, there was definitely a pulse. Slowly, unsteadily, Natsu began to breathe again. The healer sighed in relief and went over to a cabinet to pull out some medicines.
"I won't let him do this anymore," Kenta told Erza. "I have no way of knowing just how much life force was drained from him. I think this was lucky."
"Lucky?" Erza shouted.
"It was sudden, right?" Kenta asked Happy.
"Yes. He was fine, and then he passed out."
Kenta injected something into Natsu's vein. "His heart gave out from sheer physical exhaustion, handling the pain for this long. I've had the machine on a really low setting for a week now just because I was worried if he really could replenish his magic overnight. It shouldn't have siphoned much of his life force, but the pain would still be a strain on his heart after ten days." Kenta dug through drawers and pulled out a hand-held device, which he placed against Natsu's chest. "Hmm. That is strange. Reassuring, though."
"What?" Erza looked at the readout on the device, but it seemed to be another language. Where did this man collect these medical tools?
"He actually still has a deep reservoir of Eterano, far more than I ever would have imagined possible for a wizard, let alone one who has been expending vast quantities of magic for over a week straight. Seriously, just what sort of humans are these Dragon Slayers?"
"So his life force is not in danger?" she asked.
"If this reading is correct, I could have run this machine at full power and still not depleted his magic. He lost no life force at all. That's miraculous. Still, we can use this as an excuse to force him to stop."
"What do you mean?"
"We lie," he said bluntly. "We say his magic was depleted, his life is in danger, and force him to rest. Gray has only one or two more sessions before the nerves fully reattach and tendons reconnect. However, one more day on this…" The healer shook his head, showing that continuing was out of the question. "He has magic to spare, but his heart muscle is damaged. There is no way it would hold out through another session. If you could…"
Erza did not even wait for him to finish. She easily lifted Natsu into her arms. "Get it ready for me. I'll put him to bed."
She walked through another set of doors, which led to the living quarters of the clinic. Up some stairs she found bedrooms, and she figured the one with the messy bed was Natsu's. Happy flew along behind her looking worried.
"Is he gonna be okay?" the little cat asked.
"I want you to keep watch over him. His heart is weak, so he's not out of danger."
"I'm sorry, Erza," Happy sniffled with his ears drooping down.
"When Natsu gets this stubborn, it's hard for anyone to tell where his real limits are. At least it seems his life force was never really in danger. He's still an idiot for not resting more."
She laid Natsu in the bed. He moaned, and one eye peeped open a crack.
"Erza?" His voice sounded raspy.
"You overdid it. You almost died, and we had to revive you."
"Gray…" He began to cough with a pain in his throat from all the screaming.
"He doesn't know. I won't tell Lucy about this, either. You're forbidden from using that machine, though."
"No … gotta heal Gray."
"What part of you almost died don't you understand?" she snapped. "Use that fire-filled head of yours and think about it. Do you really think Gray would want to live with the knowledge that you gave your life just so he could walk? The machine is off-limits. Kenta said one more session really would kill you."
Natsu laid back in exhaustion. "I wasn't strong enough to protect him. Now I'm not strong enough to heal him."
Erza smoothed back his pink hair. "You don't need to be strong enough to shoulder everything. You're not alone in this."
"Still … wanted to … on my own."
Erza smiled down as she stroked his hair. "You did more than enough. Gray can already walk."
Natsu looked up with massive eyes, and he smiled as childishly happy as always. "He can? He's walking?"
"Yes. You healed him, Natsu. It's just a little bit left to go. You don't need to do anything more."
"Walking." A tear slipped from Natsu's eye. "He's walking. It really worked. I'm so … happy," he sighed, and suddenly he collapsed backwards, immediately falling to sleep and snoring.
Erza sighed and shook her head. "You two fight all the time, but deep down, Gray really does mean a lot to you."
She left Natsu to sleep it off and went back downstairs to the room with the machine. Kenta had everything prepared for her. Erza Requipped out of her armor and into something loose and comfortable.
"Don't you dare tell Lucy anything more than that Natsu passed out and he's sleeping."
The healer nodded. He hooked Erza up to the machine and put a new mouth guard between her teeth. "I'll start low and slowly work up. Happy?" The Exceed nodded and showed that he still had the stone in his hands. "Good. Now, I'll tell you the same thing I told him. Don't internalize it. You'll destroy your heart like he did. If you need to scream, do so. Let the pain out. Being stubborn and holding it all in could mean death. I know you're the Titania of Fairy Tail, a strong and independent woman, but just this once please realize that with pain this bad, it's okay to scream." Then he left back to the other room.
Erza shifted around to get comfortable on the hard bed. She suddenly felt grooves down near her hands. She looked over and realized they were claw marks. Natsu had clawed right into the metal bed.
Suddenly, she gasped as she felt something almost exactly like getting stabbed in the stomach. It was such a horrible feeling, she felt ready to throw up. Slowly, the pain spread. Burning, stinging, stabbing, and a feeling like shards of glass were running through her veins and tearing away all of her nerves from the inside out. Despite herself, Erza screamed.
This was pain that Natsu had been suffering with daily for ten days, yet he never asked for a break. Even when he almost died, he wanted to continue suffering alone for Gray's sake. Even Erza had to admit, dedication like that went way beyond a feeling of attachment between teammates.

"This is really great," Gray exclaimed. He was standing by the bed, going up onto his toes and back down. "All of the numbness is gone. I feel like I could run back to Magnolia." He began to jog in place, but he tripped and almost fell. Lucy caught him under the arms.
"Easy! The healer told you not to overdo it. Your muscles and tendons are reattached, but they're weak after so many months without using them."
"Yeah, guess so," he laughed lightly. "Somehow, it felt much nicer today for some reason. I really do think that's all I need. I stopped feeling the tingling sensation near the end. Maybe that means it's all healed up. Must be that new battery he put it. The other one was probably old and about to die."
Lucy shivered and looked aside. She wished Gray would not talk like that, but she did not dare tell him precisely what was the so-called battery. Kenta had told her that Natsu passed out and Erza was now hooked up to the machine. Of course, Erza was a monster of power. It was not that surprising that she was able to run the machine at a higher level.
Just then, Kenta came back out of the side room with Erza. She was pale and sweaty, but otherwise she looked fine.
"Oh wow, Erza!" Gray grimaced. "I guess the diarrhea really did a number on you."
Erza looked over to Lucy in confusion, who gave her a meek shrug. It was the only excuse she had thought of to explain why Erza went to the "lady's room" and did not come back.
"Never mind that," she said. "How is the leg?"
"All healed. There's not even that tingle in my big toe like I had this morning. That fresh battery really did the trick."
Erza smiled weakly. "I'm glad. If you think there's any more healing, I highly recommend you get it done the day after tomorrow." There was no way she could put up with that machine two days in a row. How Natsu had done it for ten days straight was just insane.
"Nah, I'm feeling great. I'd rather get home as soon as possible." He punched his hand into his fist. "I can't wait to strengthen up my leg so I can kick Natsu's butt for taking off on me like a total asshole."
"Gray," Lucy warned with sad eyes.
"That jackass is just a stupid, selfish, flame-br-…"
Erza slapped him with a resounding crack. Gray stood stunned, his cheek bright red and already swelling. Lucy gasped, but she was not surprised that Erza would lash out.
Erza shook with rage. "Don't you ever let me hear you say something bad about Natsu again," she whispered, barely holding herself back from saying more. She turned sharply and stormed out of the clinic.
Gray rubbed his face. "Dammit, what's up with her? Are you sure it was diarrhea and not PMS? Maybe PMS with diarrhea?"
Lucy could not say anything, and she ran after Erza. If she stayed, she was afraid she might also slap Gray, although it was not his fault for being ignorant about the situation. They were the ones keeping secrets from him.
Upstairs in the house, Natsu stood by the window. He saw Erza stomp off, and Lucy was not far behind. Then, to his happiness, he saw Gray come out. There was no wheelchair, no crutches, and no limp.
"He's walking," Natsu smiled happily. He put his hand up to the glass as tears slipped down his cheeks. "You're whole again. You won't have to suffer like that anymore." His fingers caressed the glass right over where he saw Gray. He wanted to touch that leg, feel for himself that it was okay, and rest assured that Gray really would be able to fight again. He would run and jump and kick and have…
… sex …
Would Gray want to find a girl right away? Would he want to enjoy the return of his body and all the pleasure he could now experience without agony? Natsu figured he might, and he would probably not want Natsu to be that person. He no longer needed to care for Gray, so why would Gray ever fall in love with him?
"As long as he's happy," Natsu whispered to himself. "As long as…" His words faded as he watched Gray walking away. Natsu rubbed out a pain in his chest right over his heart. He grimaced at the ache, but then he focused back on Gray. "It's a steep price to pay I guess, but you're walking and happy. I couldn't rescue you, but I managed to heal you, so … it's worth it." He rubbed his chest again, and his hand clenched over his heart. "It's … worth it."

Next Chapter: "Fake Fantasy"
- 14
- 15
- 16
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Life After Near Death