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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
- 52
- 53
- 54
"There is a saying in Tibetan, 'Tragedy should be utilized as a source of strength.' No matter what sort of difficulties, how painful experience is, if we lose our hope, that's our real disaster."
― Dalai Lama XIV
Chapter 53
The Strength in Tragedy
Gray had been in enough fights to know never to take his eyes off the enemy. However, at the ominous words of Mallumo, he glanced over to Natsu.
How would he take this, being faced with the blood on his hands, confronting someone whose father he had burned alive?
There were times when even Gray remembered hearing those screams, although he had been on the cusp of losing consciousness. Certainly, that day was a nightmare for Natsu, who had to deal with the aftermath of that battle, emergency cauterization of Gray's arteries so he would not bleed out, carrying his mangled body to a hospital, and overseeing the arrest of the Sons of Darkness. Likely, there had also been an inquiry about the one person who died that day. The Magic Council would have demanded an explanation. Natsu never mentioned it, and Gray had been unconscious for so long that the aftermath of that fight was concluded before he woke up. Surely, a lot happened that he knew nothing about, and he had never bothered to ask, since that day was traumatizing enough to him.
Natsu's face was empty, his eyes staring with no reaction at all, but Gray realized his fist had tightened, as well as strained tension in his jaw. Suddenly, Natsu spun around and marched out of the room with the altar. Gray scrambled to follow.
Natsu shouted out into the dank cave. "All right, I saw his picture. I remember him. Don't know his name, can't remember yours. Malibu?"
"Mallumo," came the echoing voice. "My father's name was Maljunulo. Take that name with you into the afterlife. You will die here, and your soul will remain trapped in these hills. It's a cursed place, if you haven't figured it out. Souls cannot escape, doomed never to be reborn, trapped by a magic not even the wisest in Fiore have fully unraveled. So remember my father's name as you haunt these lands for eternity."
"Already forgot it," Natsu said mockingly. "Come on and show yourself."
"No. Remember his face, not mine. I am merely carrying out what he would have done, had you not interrupted the noble fight between enemies."
"The fight was already over," Natsu protested. "He won. It didn't have to be to-the-death."
"That is up to the victor."
"Like hell will I allow that!" Natsu shouted in rage.
"You interrupted a fight. For the Sons of Darkness, a fight between enemies is a sacred thing."
"I only butted in because he was about to kill Gray."
"Do you mean like this?"
A purple sphere flew out from nowhere. Before Natsu could react, it bashed into Gray's chest. Gray collapsed with a howl of pain.
No! Not again!
"No!" Natsu shrieked.
The purple orb burst into a cloud that seeped up into Gray's nostrils, mouth, and into his eyes. When Natsu looked down, there was no gaping hole in his chest. Gray was not even bleeding; however, he had collapsed and his eyes were massive with terror.
Mallumo's solemn voice pronounced, "May you die in terror."
"What the hell did you do to him?" Natsu looked all around for the source of that echoing voice.
"I specialize in a different field than my father: emotions and memories. He is reliving the fight with my father. He will experience it as if he is there right now, only this time he's reliving it with his greatest fear."
"You mean like spiders?"
"No. Wait, seriously? Spiders?" Mallumo asked incredulously.
"Um, no?" Natsu shrugged. "I have no clue what Gray fears, besides Erza."
"Whatever his greatest fear is, the spell will rewrite his memory to include that. He will feel every pain all over again, with the addition of his fear."
Sure enough, Gray yelled, "Ice Devil's Instantaneous Freeze!" Natsu had to leap back to keep from getting caught up in the spell. However, in the past, that did not work to stop the attack. Once again, Gray shouted in pain and grabbed his shoulder.
"Shit!" he yelled as tears of agony streamed down his face. "Natsu, where are you?"
Natsu raced over and fell to his knees beside Gray. "I'm right here. It's okay."
Gray's eyes gazed around, seeing nothing, viewing only the past. "Lucy? Erza? Anyone? Where is everyone?"
"I'm here, you idiot." Natsu shook Gray's shoulder. "Snap out of it. It was in the past. We fought, and we won. It's over."
"Interesting," Mallumo's voice intoned. "It seems his greatest fear is being abandoned by his friends. Which means he'll remember the past without you there to save him. That could be fatal."
"Fatal?" screamed Natsu. "What the hell do you mean? I was there. He survived. Barely, but he didn't die."
"Memories are potent. If he remembers that he died abandoned and alone that day, that's what will happen. His body will think it should be dead, and it will simply stop."
"No!" Natsu saw Gray gasping for air, and he shook his head in anguish. "He didn't die, though."
"Not in his old memory. In this new memory, there is only him and my father. He won't recall that you were ever there to save him. That will become his reality. He'll die remembering only that he was struck down by my father that day, and he died alone, abandoned by his friends … his greatest fear coming true at the very end."
"No. Gray wouldn't fall for that trick."
Gray suddenly lurched up, and his stomach tensed. He lost all air, and his hand shivered as it went to his stomach.
Natsu cringed. "Oh God, no!"
That was the shot that took out much of Gray's intestines, the nearly-fatal shot that Natsu had to cauterize. Natsu had seen it from a distance, fighting his way through a mob of dark guild wizards. Now, he got to see the agony up close. He rubbed Gray's hair and wished he knew how to wake him from this nightmare.
"Natsu? Er- … Erza? Shit, where is everyone? Help … help me. Someone."
"Gray?" Natsu felt tears on his cheeks as Gray's eyes widened in terror. "I'm right here, you idiot. Look at me," he yelled, squeezing those cold, trembling hands. "I'm right here."
"It's pointless. You have been written out of his memory. As far as Gray knows, you abandoned him that day."
"No!" Natsu leaped to his feet and spun around, snarling in rage. "Come out here, you bastard. Where the hell are you?" He heard another groan of pain and looked back down to his suffering boyfriend. "Shit, no. Don't you dare forget that I was there." He kicked Gray in the hip. "Come on, you stupid ice dick, wake up!"
Was he really having his memory rewritten? He would forget that Natsu struggled so hard to reach him. He would forget that Natsu killed that man, that he lived through it, he survived. He would forget all those months of therapy, forget Natsu being there for him, forget his leg getting healed, forget falling in love and becoming a couple. Even if Gray survived, he would forget everything.
Gray began to convulse as if he was being shot over and over again. He sounded like he was choking, and blood began to seep out of his mouth.
"No." Natsu dropped to his knees and held Gray down as he lurched in agony. "Oh dammit, no. Not that part."
"It's probably almost the end," Mallumo said unemotionally. "Are you afraid he'll die?"
"He won't!" bellowed Natsu, yet his own memory was recalling those hits, how he had been held back by enemies, unable to reach Gray in time. Natsu had always felt guilty about that, about not being strong enough to make it to Gray, help him, save him. That anguish was surging up as he watched Gray gasping for air, shivering in death throes, dying in his arms. Again.
"You're struggling to be brave in the face of fear. Good. Very good."
A dark purple cloud drifted up from behind, soundless and odorless. Natsu did not realize it was there until it was in his face and smothering him. He gasped in surprise, and the magical cloud filled his lungs. He tried to cough it out, but it forced itself in through his nose and mouth. Natsu felt himself trembling. His eyes widened in terror.
Gray was going to die!
He couldn't protect Gray back then, and there was nothing he could do now.
Gray would forget that Natsu saved him.
He would forget that Natsu loved him.
He would die, and his soul would be trapped in these hills without even the memory of love.
They would not even be able to be reborn together. Gray would die, his spirit trapped here, and Natsu would lose him for all eternity.
Mallumo's voice echoed through the cave. "The stronger the fear, the more potent the magic. You truly must love this man to be so petrified at the fear of losing him. I could probably walk right up behind you and snap your neck, and you'd be too scared to move a muscle."
However, the fear of losing Gray came with more emotions. He loved Gray so deeply, there was no way he would let him forget the passion they had shared. How dare Gray forget even a single moment they had together, let alone the whole thing! How dare this walking snowman lose his memory and forget just how much Natsu loved him!
FUCK THAT!
Magically enhanced emotions surged through Natsu and blasted out in fires of intense fear, anger, love, and outrage. He screamed in terror mixed with rage as the flames filled the cave, melting all the candles, burning the picture of the old man, even melting the gold frame it had been in. Only Gray's cold body was protected from the inferno that swallowed up every nook of the cavern and blasted in a raging fireball out the cave entrance.
He no longer even felt the shots riddling his body with holes. His brain shut down all sensations of pain. Pain was everywhere. The brain did not need to know that there were more places that hurt.
He was going to die here, all alone, abandoned once again. If only someone would come, but he knew they wouldn't. He was alone, and he was about to die.
Slowly, he fell backwards, like drifting on a cloud. His head landed on cool grass, and he looked up into a calm blue sky.
If only the world could be so peaceful. If only he could spend just one more happy moment with his friends. He didn't want to die alone. It was so scary.
Suddenly, there were flames all around him.
'Dammit, am I going to hell?'
However, as he looked up, he saw Natsu standing protectively over him.
'Where did he come from?'
The Fire Dragon Slayer's face was more grim than Gray had ever seen. He was seething in fury. Those sharp eyes gleamed in the haze of fiery heat and reflected golden sparks of lightning. The scales of Dragon Force marked his skin, and his fists were clenched so tightly, the veins all up his arms stood out.
Deeply, dangerously, Natsu sneered at the enemy. "I'll fucking kill you!"
"I'll fucking kill you!"
Gray felt heat, but the pain was gone. Still, it took him a few seconds to figure out what was going on. He had been in a field on a mission to stop the Sons of Darkness. Now it was dark, a stone ceiling … a cave?
"Found you, you bastard."
"What did you do?"
"Gray would never forget my flames. I've burned them into his memory deeper than you could ever rewrite."
Natsu? He was fighting now, some robed wizard who almost looked like the old man, only with dark hair and a younger face.
That old man was in the past. He was dead.
Gray shook his head as his thoughts struggled to clear up. He had not been alone that day. Natsu had saved him, cared for him, found a way to heal him, and later fell in love with him.
Natsu had been there! And he loved Natsu.
He loved him for always being by his side.
There were now two memories in Gray's mind: in one, he had faced the enemy alone; in the other, Natsu had roared and fought his way over to him. Gray believed the second one. Natsu was definitely there on that mission, and he would have fought through an entire army to rescue a teammate.
Gray struggled to his feet and touched his stomach once more, but there was nothing, not even a scar. He remembered! He survived that day, and now they were facing the son of the man who almost killed him. Still, the fear was somewhere inside of him.
"Don't leave me, Natsu."
The Dragon Slayer was battling the robed man, but he smiled over to Gray. "Are you finally awake, ice princess?"
The fear was there. He might lose everyone. He did not want to be alone. He needed Natsu. They needed to beat this bastard and get out of there … together.
"I will at least finish what my father started," snarled Mallumo. "May you suffer eternally."
The balls of magic were familiar. They were different from the purple smoke balls earlier. Gray recognized them right away, having just seen them in his memory.
"Natsu, watch out!"
Natsu saw them, but Mallumo had flung them off the other way. Gray! Dammit! Gray stood still, not fully out of the spell's effects yet, trapped between past memories and present reality. Natsu took off running toward the blasts of dark magic. He was not even looking, he just wanted to protect Gray.
Damn, this is gonna hurt.
He stood in the way, taking the hits to protect Gray while he continued to regain his senses. Natsu cursed as the magic pierced into him.
Shit. Shit, shit, shit!
One hit close to the spine, the other pierced straight through his abdomen. Blood splattered out, and red droplets landed on Gray as he watched in horror.
"No!" he bellowed.
It was like the past, only Natsu was the one getting hit.
"That … hurts," Natsu muttered. His eyes rolled back as he collapsed. Gray leaped forward and caught him as he fell. He laid Natsu down as gently as possible and saw blood already pooling over the cavern floor.
"Shit, no," Gray whispered. He knew precisely how damaging those blasts were.
Natsu's hand trembled as he reached to his stomach. Flame lit, and he cringed in agony. The air smelled of burning flesh. When the flame stopped, Gray saw that Natsu had cauterized his own wound.
"Can't … get the other one," he said, just before going limp in Gray's arms.
"Natsu? Natsu!" However, Natsu had lost consciousness. Other one? That was right, Mallumo had shot two blasts. Gray flipped Natsu over and saw the massive hole in his back. A fraction to the right and it would have severed his spine. As it was, the blast was right over Natsu's kidney. That was bad! However, he had to worry about it later.
Gray reached his hand out to the hole in Natsu's back and filled it with ice to stop the bleeding. Natsu groaned, but he did not regain consciousness.
Mallumo panted hard in exhaustion. "May he die swiftly to lessen the pain. Those blasts were meant for you, Gray Fullbuster. I never liked my father's magic, but I learned it just to kill you properly. I had hoped I wouldn't need to resort to it." He held himself up against the cavern wall. "It takes a lot out of me. My father truly was a powerful wizard."
Part of Gray realized he could attack Mallumo now while he was weak, but he was still stunned as he watched Natsu struggling to breathe. He blinked aside tears and shook his head.
Why would he do that? How stupid could he be?
A memory flashed through Gray's mind, something Natsu once told him.
"If giving you my blood was just enough to save your life, then I will give anything to bring your life back completely. I'll give anything to have you back in Fairy Tail. And I mean anything, because I was the one who reached into your body. I was the one who had to carry you back, and I don't ever wanna deal with that again. I don't … I can't … deal with that again. I can't deal with almost losing you. I just can't."
Rage seared away Gray's fears. What right did he have to fear Natsu abandoning him when Natsu had lived through much worse? He had lived through Gray almost dying in battle, lived through watching his heart stop in the hospital and bringing him back when the doctors were ready to pronounce him as dead, and he lived through Gray's depression making him suicidal, talking him out of jumping off a bridge to end it all. Natsu had suffered almost losing Gray many times over.
What right do I have to be a goddamn coward?
The rage shattered the spell of fear. Gray's eyes narrowed as he glared up at Mallumo.
"You're dead," he said in quiet, dire tones.
Mallumo straightened up, weak but determined to finish this fight. He faced off with Gray. Fighting in the open was not his thing. He was at a disadvantage now. Still, faced with this father's murderer and the last man his father had fought, his pride was on the line, and he would not back down now.
"One down, one to go," he said.
"Natsu's not gonna die." A tattoo faded onto Gray's arm, and black marks spread over half his body. "Like hell will I allow that."
Gray clapped his hands together and called forth a massive sword, but Mallumo fought back with balls of black destruction. Gray found himself dodging and parrying those attacks, knowing too well how fatal they could be. One of the black orbs grazed his shoulder, and blood poured down. That did not stop Gray. He was fighting to save Natsu's life now.
The cave filled with ice, and Mallumo's breath smoked in the subzero temperatures. How that man still managed to fight and move so quickly was impressive, but Gray did not have time to admire his determination and stamina.
Natsu was not going to die.
They were going to get out of here together.
Gray saw a larger black ball of magic blazing toward him. By instinct, he put up a shield, only to remember a second too late, ice shields did not stop these blasts.
Just as he saw the magic shatter his ice to pieces, Gray was tackled from the side. He went sliding over the frozen cave floor and slammed into the wall. He struggled to get up and realized it was Natsu who shoved him out of the way.
"You're an idiot stripper," Natsu shouted. "You should know by now, ice doesn't work. How stupid are you?"
"Are you okay?" Gray asked in dread.
Natsu stood and yanked Gray up by the hand. "Less talk, more fight." He still had blood all over his body, a cauterized hole in his gut, and a chunk of ice in his back, but Natsu still managed to light his hands into flames. He turned toward Mallumo with determination.
"Ready, ice princess?"
Gray smirked and squeezed Natsu's hand for just a moment as he faced the enemy as well. "I'll follow your lead, flame brain."
"Does that mean you prefer me on top?"
"Idiot! I didn't say that."
Natsu chuckled with a massive grin, then he blasted Mallumo with fire.
"Now!"
"Ice Devil's Rage!"
"Fire Dragon's Claw!"
Mallumo sneered as dodged fire and ice, fighting both at once. He had planned to take these two out by himself as a matter of pride, but right about then he really wished Daegan was there, if just to distract one while he dealt with the other. His hand swirled, and a deep purple orb formed.
"Dark Despair!"
The ball flew and hit Gray straight on. He doubled over as terror blanked out his mind once again.
"Gray?" shouted Natsu.
"Shit…" He shook his head, but this was a different fear, deeper, quickly overwhelming him. "Natsu!"
"Launch me!"
Gray clasped his hands together. "Ice-Make: Frying Pan!"
Natsu ran at him, and Gray caught him in the massive pan, pulling Natsu back for momentum. Gray met his eyes and nodded.
"End this."
Natsu grinned widely. "Yep."
Gray swung with all his strength. "Out of the frying pan…"
"…and into the fire!" Natsu shouted as his entire body blazed with fire and lightning mixed as he went soaring at Mallumo.
He was hit with another dark ball of smoke and felt the terror surge up, only now it was the same as he already felt even without magic. He was not about to lose Gray. He would not let this bastard kill the man he loved. Losing Gray was already his greatest fear, but Natsu had training to take fear and use it to drive his attacks.
As he flew toward the enemy, Rei-chan's words ran through his head.
'How far would you go for love?'
'For Gray, I'd sacrifice it all.'
Natsu gave a shout as he attacked one final time.
Erza managed to meet up with Lucy and Wendy. While the Sky Dragon Slayer healed Happy's injured head, Erza picked up the sword of a fallen enemy and used it to fight, while Lucy fought with her whip and heeled-boot kicks, and Loke blasted away hordes of dark guild wizards with his brilliant light.
In just minutes, the field was littered with enemies. Erza looked at the borrowed sword and frowned in distaste.
"Erza, that's not one of your usual swords," Wendy pointed out, holding Happy in her arms as he continued to recover.
"It's a long story," she muttered. "Loke, can you go into town to alert authorities? We'll need a lot of wagons to cart all of these people away. Lucy, are you able to call out Virgo? She can bind them."
"Yes, of course." Lucy pulled out a key. "Open the Gate of the Maiden! Virgo!" In a puff of smoke, the pink-haired maid appeared.
"What is my punishment?" asked Virgo.
"Restrain all of these people."
Virgo blushed in excitement. "Will I be tied up later as well?"
Lucy cringed back. "W-we'll see." As Virgo set about chaining and roping groups of mercenaries and dark wizards together, Lucy shivered. "Why is she always like that?"
Erza had turned away, though. She walked up the hill and looked back into the cursed valley. Execution Hill! She saw flashes from the cave, blue puffs of frost and billowing fireballs rolling out of the entrance. After a while, it all stopped.
"Erza?" Wendy asked in concern.
"I was about to head over there to help them, but it seems to be over." Still, she got a chill down her arms. Deep in her soul, she knew something terrible must have happened. "Lucy, can you take care of this?"
Lucy heard the anxiety in Erza's voice. She had complete trust that Natsu and Gray could defeat anything if they worked together, but she still had a strange, foul vibe about that valley. "Sure, we've got this under control, thanks to you."
Erza wasted no time and ran down the hill alone.
Something wasn't right, she could feel it; however, she was not sure why her heart knew with such certainty, and that prescience worried her.
The cave was in shambles. Part of a wall had fallen in. Icicles still clung to the ceiling, dripping from flames still burning on the ground. Gray ached as the black markings faded from his skin.
The fear was gone. The magic ended as the flames ahead of him dimmed. Natsu stood over a charred body.
"Maybe … I went too far again."
Gray slowly raised to his feet. "Is he dead?" Natsu would not answer. Gray figured as much. The magically-induced fear that had been haunting him was gone, which meant the enemy was probably…
Natsu turned around and smiled weakly. "Are you hurt?"
"Not badly," he said, despite blood dripping from his shoulder. "I'll be fine. Thanks," he said with deep gratitude. He knew, if it was not for Natsu, he would have died.
"Good," Natsu sighed, but he began to wobble on his feet. "I'm … glad you're safe."
"Natsu?"
"Y-yeah … yeah, I'm … I'm … fi-…"
A stabbing pain suddenly shot through his chest. Pressure radiated up his neck, and a noise like sirens filled his ears. Natsu coughed as he felt his chest spasming. In a moment of horror, he knew what was going on. He only wished Gray was not there to watch.
Clutching his chest, he collapsed forward. Far too rapidly, the world around him faded.
"Natsu!" Gray ran forward and grabbed up the Dragon Slayer. "Hey, don't pass out yet. We gotta get out of here, and I'm not dragging your heavy ass up that hill." Although he joked about it, Natsu did not move. He saw Natsu's eyes open but blank. "Hey," he whispered. He shook Natsu, but those eyes stared out with emptiness. "Hey! Wake up." Natsu was not moving, and not even his chest was moving. "Hey!" he screamed. "Natsu! Come on. Wake up," he shrieked.
Tears beaded in his eyes. This couldn't be happening.
Natsu was covered in blood. Although he had been fighting so viciously, Gray realized that the cauterized area was literally just a hole straight through his body. How in the world had he managed to fight like that? Now, some of the cauterizing had torn, and Natsu was bleeding again. Gray filled the entire gaping hole with ice. He felt Natsu's neck, but there was no pulse.
"No … oh God, no. No way."
Tears spilled over his eyes. Natsu gazed up, no light in his eyes, no shine to them.
"No!" he screamed. "Natsu!"
Gray set him down flat, put both hands on Natsu's chest, and thumped down hard and rhythmically, hoping to revive him.
"Natsu! Don't you dare die."
He breathed into Natsu's mouth, then compressed his chest again, counting to himself. One-two-three-four-five…
"Not like this. Please. Not here." He took a deep breath and forced the air into Natsu's mouth. "You promised, bastard," he shouted. "You promised! Always! You said you'd … always…" He pounded on the chest some more. "Don't you dare leave me."
He felt the neck again. Still, there was nothing. Natsu's empty eyes were dilated and clouding over.
"Noooooo!" With tears streaming down his face, Gray clapped his hands together. His voice trembled as he shouted, "Ice-Make: Sarcophagus!"
Ice sparkled, crackled, and completely covered Natsu's body. This ice would freeze all the way down to the cellular level. With any luck, it would preserve Natsu's brain from completely dying for up to an hour.
"There's no way I'm letting you die," he said with a stubborn sneer. "If I have to go to Hell and drag you back, I will." He gazed down at the encased body. "Is this how you felt back then? I truly get it now. I will do anything—anything—to bring you back. So don't die on me. It's my turn to be the goddamn hero."
He began to lift Natsu's frozen body when he saw Daegan standing in the cave's entryway. Gray blinked aside tears and sneered at this enemy. He was not mentally ready for another fight, not with Natsu's life on the line.
However, Daegan's focus was on Mallumo. "He's dead, isn't he? I told him not to fight here. You foolish brother!" He turned his eyes to Gray. "There is a cart just outside. Use it. I sense that your friend's soul is still intact, so he is still alive. Get him out of this land, or his soul will be trapped here for eternity."
"Where's Erza?" snapped Gray.
"On the other hill. She's probably tending to your cat. He was accidentally injured after Titania lost her weapons."
"Erza … lost?" That seemed impossible.
"Go to her. Get him help if you can. Just get out of this land before he dies." He walked past Gray and to Mallumo. "It's too late for him. His soul is eternally trapped here. Pride truly is the worst downfall." Daegan shook his head in grief, but then he looked back to Gray. "Tell Titania, the darkness at the end of my road is gone. Perhaps it's time for me to try the light. I will see her in a week and decide. If she can beat me, perhaps I will take up her offer. Now, hurry, and may the goddess of darkness be in your favor."
He knelt by Mallumo and closed the empty eyes. Gray ignored them and rushed to the wagon. He placed Natsu's frozen body in the back, strapped on an SE-plug, and forced the cart to go as fast as the hills allowed. Time was short, and Natsu's life was truly in his hands now.
He met Erza on the next hill and picked her up. She took over driving, since Gray was an emotional mess. He sat back in the wagon next to the chunk of ice. That man said Natsu's spirit was still intact, which meant he was still alive although his heart had stopped.
Again, his heart! If his heart was so weak, why would he push himself? Why had he blocked those shots meant for Gray? Why had he jumped up and fought more instead of resting so he would not push himself to this point?
"Why, you idiot?" he asked aloud. He looked down at Natsu's frozen face, and the tears would not stop.
"Because he loves you, of course," Erza said, focused on the road. "I don't know what he did, but whatever reason he had to push himself that far, it's because he loves you, and he would do anything for you."
Those words hurt even worse. Natsu really would do anything for him. He got injured to protect Gray. He got back up to save Gray. He fought when Gray was struck down, although he was far worse off. His heart stopped, all because Natsu had pushed himself too far so he could fight side-by-side with the man he loved.
Gray collapsed over the frozen tomb, as if he could hug the body inside and convince it to live on. He did not even bother to hide his sobbing from Erza. Natsu was on the brink of death … and it was all because Natsu loved him so much.
Which meant Gray had to be the one to save him this time. He had to be the one willing to do anything to bring Natsu back.
Next Chapter: "The Truth Revealed"
A/N: Mallumo's name is Esperanto for "darkness," so his father's name is also derived from Esperanto. "Maljunulo" means old man.
Gray's flashback is almost word-for-word from Chapter One, except for the parts being rewritten, fake memories of being abandoned by his friends.
My sincere apologies for vanishing for a few months. I'll admit, this fight scene was a huge challenge for me. I mean, how can anyone in the Fairy Tail universe last for long when Gray and Natsu team up? I ended up writing five totally different fights, with Mallumo having different forms of magic, but none of those worked and they all had to be scrapped. Hopefully, this one is "passable." Major cliffhanger, so I will try to get the next chapter up quicker.
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Life After Near Death