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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.

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"When we meet real tragedy in life, we can react in two ways - either by losing hope and falling into self-destructive habits, or by using the challenge to find our inner strength."
― Dalai Lama
Chapter 57
Inner Strength
Gray was at home read a book about the culture of a border town where they just had a mission. The town mayor had given Lucy the book, and she insisted it was fascinating. Gray was skeptical, history was not normally his thing, but the rough and rowdy town honestly did have a thrilling history of outlaws, bandits, and some of the greatest heroes in Fiore's history.
Gray wondered if they would now be written in a chapter in this city's list of daring feats and grand battles.
He paused and thought about that. To leave a legacy! It seemed like an amazing thing. Ever since facing death and the long journey of recovery, he had been thinking more and more about that. What was he going to leave behind? Was he making the world a better place? Would anyone even remember him in fifty years?
His near-death experience had changed his view on a lot of things in life. It made him cherish each day, and it made him less reckless, more defensive, protecting his teammates and being just a little more cautious. After all, he had to make sure he was not hit just wrong.
He looked down. His shirt had vanished once again, but he had managed to learn not to throw off the waist armor that he now wore all the time to protect his last remaining kidney. Once, he had left it at home and the guild got attacked. He was sternly ordered not to fight, with Erza pointing her sword at him to keep out of it for his own protection. He ended up running home, putting on the armored waistband, but by the time he came back the fight was over. Ever since then, he simply put it on first thing in the morning.
Same with Natsu. It was their routine. Wake up, shower together, brush their teeth and shave, put their waistband armor on, get dressed, and go to the guild. It was a nice routine.
Nice and domestic.
He laughed to himself as he looked around the room. This was not his old place; that had been too small. It was not Natsu's hut in the woods either, which was too far away and starting to fall apart. When they moved in together, they opted for a little house in town. It had three bedrooms, one for them, one for Happy who was excited to get a bedroom all to himself, and one…
Well … Gray liked to be optimistic about the future.
"Graaaaay!"
He grinned as he heard Natsu's call and set the book aside to hurry forward. He peeked out the window to see Natsu with his hands full of groceries. Gray rushed to open the door, and Natsu greeted him with a massive smile.
"Natsu! You didn't tell me you were going grocery shopping. You were just gonna walk."
"Yeah, well, we got hungry." He walked in and put the bags down.
"Where's…?"
"With Happy. He wanted to push."
Gray went out into the autumn breeze, with leaves changing color. Happy was just coming up, pushing a stroller.
"Hiya, Gray. He just woke up."
Gray came up and reached into the stroller, pulling out a baby with purple hair and golden eyes. The baby cooed as Gray lifted him into the air.
"Hey there, Kasai," Gray said with a gentle smile.
Natsu stood in the doorway and smiled to himself as he watched Gray cooing over the baby. He had not liked the idea of leaving his house in the woods, but for what Gray wanted in their future, he knew this was the best option. That old hut had been fine for him and Happy, but it was dusty, moldy in places, there were probably splinters everywhere that his callused feet simply did not feel; in general, it was not a place for a baby.
And Gray, it turned out, really wanted children. He wanted someone to teach, someone to pass on his legacy. As for Natsu, of course he had always wanted a child. Raising Happy had been fun, but he grew up far too fast, plus he was an Exceed. Little Kasai would be someone he could raise over many years, and with Gray by his side.
When Gray turned around and grinned at Natsu, his heart fluttered. No, not badly. That was all over—the weak heart, the chest pains, suddenly passing out—Wendy had cured him, corrected the damage, although it had been a long healing process going very slowly to make sure nothing went wrong.
Natsu looked down at the golden ring on his finger. The road over the years had been rough at times, but he always knew he could rely on Gray. Always!
"Didya tell Gray yet about who we met?" Happy asked.
Natsu felt a lump rise in his throat. He had hoped not to bring this up. "Yeah, we … we bumped into Rei-chan at the market."
Gray merely nodded, keeping his face neutral. "How is she?"
"Doing well. She started up another business, a maid café. It's a huge hit. She's really busy with that."
"A maid café, huh?" Gray muttered. "Well, good for her. Hey, I heard Erza talking to Lucy about a new maid café. She said the cakes there were some of the best in town. Maybe we could check it out, all of us."
Natsu sighed in relief and nodded. He was glad that Gray had put aside that awkwardness of the past. He knew Natsu did not need that sort of training anymore. If anything, the Dragon Slayer had taught him a thing or two about pleasure, and they had discovered how to use their magic in their play as well. Definitely, they had more than enough of each other to not need help. At the same time, Natsu was friends with Rei-chan. She had even come to their wedding and gave them a nice gift basket of bath oils and lotions as a present.
The baby suddenly squealed with excitement, and a burst of fire shot out of his hands. Gray had to back away, then rush to put out a fire on the stroller.
"Natsu!" he bellowed. "What the hell did you teach our son?"
Natsu grinned mischievously. "I didn't teach him that. Romeo did."
"I bet you told Romeo to teach him magic. That's not what we agreed upon."
Natsu came up to Gray and draped an arm around him. "Didn't you notice that his hands get really cold at times? He's already learning your magic, Gray. In time, he'll learn both fire and ice, and maybe even some hidden magic of his own. I wanna pass on a legacy too, you know."
"Then maybe we need two kids."
Gray paused, and Natsu blushed while biting his lip with a surge of emotions. Happy perked up instantly.
"Another baby? Yay!"
Gray looked aside and muttered, "We can talk about it." Still, he felt his heart quivering with happiness at the idea.
Natsu reached over and took Gray's hand. Another baby? He loved the idea! "It'll have to be a girl. If we have two boys, you know they'll fight all the time."
"Our daughter would kick everyone's ass … once we teach her ice magic."
"Fire magic!"
Happy leaped up and spread his wings. "Flying magic!"
They laughed, and Natsu finished pushing the baby stroller into their home. Gray picked up Kasai and placed him in a playpen. Then he stood back and wrapped an arm around Natsu.
"Another kid, huh?" he mused.
This was their inner strength. They had fought through dark times to reach this sort of simple bliss, growing together as a family, passing on what they had learned, and preparing a new generation of Fairy Tail wizards. Maybe it was not the sort of legendary climax like the heroes written in that book he was reading, but maybe even those heroes gradually settled down to raise a family.
To be the best father he could be, and the best husband to the most wonderful partner … it was the sort of simple life Gray wanted.
As he leaned his head on Natsu's shoulder, he knew that—despite all odds and all the hardships they had faced—there really could be life after near-death.
The End
A/N: Kasai 火災 is Japanese for firestorm. I thought with Gray representing winter and stormy, and Natsu being summer and fiery, it was a good blend of them.
After almost four years, I have finally finished this story. Thanks to Moonlessnight126 for collaborating on this with me, and thanks to all of you for reading. Cheers!
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Life After Near Death