Author's Note: First off there is rape in this fanfiction so if that's not your thing than don't read any further than this. Secondly, I have this story posted on ao3 so if it looks familiar to you that's why. Anyway, please enjoy the story and review.

Disclaimer: I own nothing from Fairy Tail. All rights belong to the writer and creator of the manga.

Gray was just throwing his jacket on when his eyes landed on his Avatar guild mark. Not for the first time since joining the dark guild so many months ago its presence made him pause for a second. Well, it wasn't actually the mark that was there that made him pause, but the mark that wasn't there. He sighed pulling his jacket on all the way so it covered the mark. Maybe it hadn't been a good idea to place his new guild mark in the same spot as his old Fairy Tail mark. He'd be thinking about his old guild for the rest of the day, and by default Avatar's current captive.

"Natsu," Gray sighed as he exited his room. It had been three months since Natsu, Lucy, and Happy had infiltrated Avatar's base. Well, old base, they'd been forced to find a new one after the incident with Natsu and then the battle against the Magic Counsel's army. Avatar had won the battle, taking out many of the Counsel's best soldiers, Gajeel and Levy included, but their base had been demolished in the attack. They now resided in another old, abandoned church that was even more remote than their first base. High Priest Alok wanted no other interferences to get in the way of the purification ritual. He was furious enough already that thanks to the counsel and Gray's old comrades that the ritual had had to be pushed off for a whole year.

Gray had honestly been surprised that the high priest hadn't called for the execution of his old comrades, instead demanded that they be imprisoned. However, Gray had insisted they let Lucy and Happy go free, claiming that the two alone would not be able to stop Avatar's plans and would stop trying to bring Fairy Tail back under the threat of Natsu's death. Much to the rest of Avatar's, and Gray's, shock, High Priest Alok had agreed and Gray had watched a devastated Lucy and Happy leave Natsu behind. In that time Gray had not gone to see Natsu once, but now, with his old guild on his mind he found himself wandering down to the dungeons under the church.

He walked past three empty prison cells before reaching Natsu's and froze at the pitiful sight of his old comrade. Natsu's arms were chained above his head and he had been stripped of his waistcoat and scarf. The lack of clothing made it clear to see that the dragon slayer was being starved. Gray could count every rib and he was standing three feet away at the door of the cell. God only knew when the last time someone had fed him. He could also see the many angry, purple splotches covering almost every inch of Natsu's skin. Gray felt his heart sink as he realized Natsu had been beaten, most likely every day for the past three months, and he had known nothing about it.

"Natsu!" he cried rushing forward and kneeling in front of his old comrade. Natsu's head raised up as he called his name, but Gray was shocked to see him flinch at the sight of him. "Natsu?" The pink haired teen looked away from him again and cowered back against the wall of the cell, seemingly trying to get away from the ice mage. Gray frowned at the strange behavior the flame-brain was exhibiting. What exactly had his new guild mates done to the dragon slayer to take all the fight out of him? Anger coursed through Gray's veins and he reached up to the chains holding Natsu down and froze them until they shattered.

He bent down and hefted Natsu up into his arms, ignoring the terrified look on Natsu's face. "You're not staying in this cell," he told the struggling mage and began to carry him out of the cell. He hadn't yet cleared the dungeon when the voice of one of his guild mates behind him brought him to a halt.

"Gray? What are you doing?" Jerome asked.

He didn't even bother turning around. "I'm taking him to my room," Gray replied and started moving again. He scowled further as he heard Jerome chasing after him.

"You can't do that," the blonde mage argued. "He's a prisoner, and the guild's play toy." Fury washed over Gray, but he knew he couldn't let anyone think he might be trying to protect his old comrade. He needed to keep these new alliances if he wanted to reach his goal of destroying E.N.D, so he forced himself to remain composed as he turned around to face Jerome.

"Well, now he's my play toy," he replied lacing his words with all the possessiveness he could muster. "You and the rest have all had your fun with him. Now it's my turn."

"You can't do that!" Jerome cried. "You can't just claim him as your own! You have to share!"

Gray shrugged as he turned around and continued up the dungeon stairs. "Take it up with the high priest," he called back completely unconcerned. He had no doubt Alok would favor him over Jerome. He was the most useful member of Avatar. If he wanted to keep Natsu to himself he knew it would be allowed. "And in the meantime have someone make a broth and send it up to my room. And whoever has his white scarf should deliver that to me, too." He tightened his grip on the fire dragon slayer as he pushed open the door of his room and then placed him on the bed. His brow furrowed in concern as he realized the flame-brain's skin was glistening with sweat, and the boy only seemed half conscious. He placed as hand over Natsu's forehead and his eyes widened as he felt the hot skin underneath his palm. Natsu had always felt too warm to Gray, but now he felt boiling hot. A twinge of fear crept through him. If the fire idiot had a fever than he must be in really bad shape.

Gray cooled his hand that was resting on the boy's forehead to try and cool the dragon slayer down a little. He ran his hand through Natsu's pink locks hoping to provide his old friend some comfort. He frowned when the pink haired teen flinched at the gesture. He sighed and stepped back from the bed and headed to his private bathroom. He immediately ran the cold tab on and let it fill the tub. When the water was high enough he shut the tab off and added his own ice cubes to the water for good measure. Surely, this cold bath would bring down Natsu's fever. He walked back out to his bedroom and saw that Natsu had remained exactly how he'd left him, lying prone on the bed.

Gray walked back towards him and felt his concern growing at the drawn look on the dragon slayer's face. He needed to get him in the cold bath as quickly as possible. Not thinking anything of it he reached out and gripped onto the waistband of Natsu's pants and began to pull them off. He hadn't even gotten them past the hips when Natsu flipped and screamed before kicking out at Gray. Gray stumbled back in shock at the flame-brain's extreme reaction. He watched as Natsu curled into a ball on the bed and began to shake uncontrollably. He was even more horrified to see angry, red welts covering the whole of Natsu's back.

"Natsu?" he asked concerned as he rushed over to the distressed mage. He grabbed onto the dragon slayer's shoulders and flipped him onto his back. "Natsu! What's wrong?" Natsu just screeched and tried to pull free from Gray, but the ice mage held on tighter. "Natsu, I can't help you if you if you don't tell me what's wrong."

"Don't touch me!" Natsu screamed still struggling against him. "Don't touch me!"

Gray frowned and stared down at his old friend. "Natsu, you have a fever and you need to get cooled down," he said sternly. "I don't think you you'll appreciate getting your pants soaked in the bathtub." He grabbed onto Natsu's pants and began tugging them off again. Natsu continued to try and resist, but Gray still managed to peel the pants and boxers off of the fire mage. And the second he did the reason behind Natsu's troubling behavior became instantly clear. Gray stared in horror at the blood stains he'd failed to notice earlier. Blood stains and old semen. Gray's eyes raised back up to look at Natsu, who had curled up back into the fetal position, and saw caked blood on the back of the dragon slayer's thighs.

"Natsu," he whispered horrified, and then, without thinking, pulled his old friend into his arms. He held on tightly to the pink haired mage. He ignored Natsu's struggles to get free of his grasp in his desperation to offer any comfort he could. He only held on tighter, one hand stroking through the spiky pink locks on Natsu's head. It was bad enough to have found out that his old friend had been being beaten for three months without him knowing about it, but to find out that this had been done to him, that his old friend had been raped... Gray felt tears streaming down his face. This was his fault. He should have taken measures to prevent this. He could have stopped this from ever occurring. Why hadn't he?!

He lifted Natsu up into his arms and held him close as he carried him to the bathroom. "They're never going to touch you again," he vowed. "I'll keep you safe. I promise." Gently, he placed Natsu into the iced water. The dragon slayer flinched as most of his body was submerged in the freezing water.

"C-cold," he muttered feverishly.

"I know, but it'll help make you feel better," Gray said comfortingly as he placed a cool washcloth over the fire mage's forehead.

"Gray?" a small, sweet feminine voice called out from his bedroom. Beside him Natsu flinched and began to panic, sloshing water onto Gray.

"Hey calm down!" Gray urged grabbing onto Natsu's shoulders to hold him still.

"Gray, are you in the bathroom?" the girl's voice called out again, although this time it sounded closer. Natsu began to thrash around harder.

"Hold on, Mary, I'll be right out," Gray called before turning to Natsu. "Do not move. I'll be right back." He got up and quickly walked into his bedroom, closing the bathroom door behind him. Mary was standing at the foot of his bed carrying a tray with a bowl of beef broth and a cup of water on it. He also saw Natsu's white scarf slung over her arm.

She smiled up at him. "I brought you the food you asked for the prisoner and his scarf," Mary said brightly. "Jerome wasn't happy to give it up but Priest Alok told him he must."

Gray forced a small smile in return and took the tray off the small girl and placed it on his bedside table. "Thank you," he said and turned back to face her.

"I don't mind," she told him laying the scarf on the end of the bed. "But can I ask a question?" Gray hesitated, but nodded his consent. "Why are you going through all the trouble of getting him healthy again? He's just a prisoner." Gray knew he had to be careful here. Mary may seem sweet, but she was far from it. Of all the members of the guild he was the most wary of her. If he showed any sign of compassion for Natsu she would report it to the high priest immediately, and not only would he be punished for it, but Natsu would pay the price for his compassion as well.

He smirked and chuckled slightly. "For what I plan to do to him I need him in top shape," he replied menacingly. "He's so beaten down right now it would be no fun for me to torture him right now. No, I'm going to get him back to strength just so I can bring him back down again."

Mary laughed. "That's pretty evil," she said. "I'll leave you to it then. Good night."

"Good night, Mary," he called after her as he turned back to the bathroom. He was sure she would report back what he said to the rest of the guild. Hopefully, his fellow members would become less suspicious of his motives after hearing that false declaration. He opened the door and was relieved to see Natsu had calmed down. He walked over to the dragon slayer and placed his hand back over his forehead and sighed in relief to feel that his fever had come down. Gray picked up the washcloth he had used to cool Natsu's head before and poured some soap over it before pulling Natsu forward in the tub so he could get his back. Gently, he began to wash the welts that decorated the dragon slayers back. Natsu hissed in pain as the soap went over the few welts that were still open.

"Sorry," Gray apologized, but continued to clean the wounds thoroughly, "but some of these look nasty. They need to be cleaned if you don't want them to get infected." Natsu didn't say anything, just winced as his wounds were taken care of. Gray finally rinsed off the soap suds and handed Natsu the soap and washcloth. "Can you take care of the rest? I need to get some work done." Natsu nodded slightly and took the offered items off the ice mage. Gray walked back to his room and sat down at his desk. He had paperwork he needed to fill out for the high priest. He went on for fifteen minutes before looking back towards his bathroom. Surely, the flame-brain had to be done by now. He got up and walked back to the bathroom and found Natsu standing, dripping wet, outside of the now empty tub. He frowned. Why hadn't he just used his fire to dry himself off?

Gray sighed and grabbed a towel from the rack before approaching the pink haired idiot. "You're done?" he asked and didn't wait for an answer as he rubbed his old comrade dry with the towel. When he'd finished he wrapped Natsu in the towel and led him back onto the bed, laying him down on his stomach. He left him lying there as he began to dig through a bag nearby for his bottle of medicinal salve and gauze. Finding both he walked back to the bed and knelt beside the dragon slayer.

"I'm just going to rub some medicine into your wounds okay?" Gray told his old friend. "It'll help them heal up." Natsu didn't respond, but didn't protest as the ice mage rubbed copious amounts of the salve over the wounds. Gray then wrapped the gauze around the dragon slayer's torso, being careful not to make the bandages too tight. Satisfied that he'd done what he could for Natsu's back he shifted down on the bed and spread the flame-brain's legs apart so he could see the damage that had been done to the boy's anus. However, the second his hand touched the muscular globes of Natsu's ass, the boy began screaming and squirming, clearly desperate to get away.

"Natsu! Hey Natsu!" Gray cried leaning up over the dragon slayer and pinning him down. He stroked his hand comfortingly through Natsu's pink hair. He lowered his head so he could speak softly into the fire mage's ear. "I'm not going to hurt you. I just want to see if they did any damage. If they have you all torn up down there I'm going to need to put some medicine on the wounds." Natsu was still trembling beneath him. Gray brushed his hand through the pink hair again. "Do you want to lay on your back? That way you can see me." Natsu nodded and Gray carefully rolled the boy onto his back. He shifted back between Natsu's legs and spread them further apart again. Still, Natsu flinched when Gray's finger brushed against his puckered opening.

Gray sighed and, with his free hand, held onto one of Natsu's hands, squeezing it comfortingly as he probed around the flame-brain's asshole. He sighed as he saw that Natsu had quite a few healing and non-healing tears. He looked up at Natsu's face and frowned to see him crying. He squeezed Natsu's hand reassuringly. "You're all torn up down here," he told the fire mage as he squirted more of the medicinal salve onto his fingers. "I'm gonna have to put some medicine on these tears, but I promise it won't hurt. Well, not any more than it has to." He didn't want to promise Natsu it wouldn't hurt at all. Gray was no stranger to ass play. He was bisexual and had fooled around with a few guys over the years. Although, anal fingering was more discomforting than painful, it wasn't completely without pain. And since Natsu's ass was currently in rough shape from the abuse he'd suffered, there would most definitely be pain.

"I'm sorry," Gray whispered as he rubbed the salve around Natsu's hole, taking care of the small tears before gently pressing his finger inside of Natsu. He bit his lip, feeling guilty for the pain he was no doubt causing his old comrade. He didn't want to do this to him. He didn't want to be adding to Natsu's trauma, but he knew if he let these wounds get infected it would be even worse for the dragon slayer. So he continued to press his finger deeper inside Natsu and rubbing the medicine around the walls of the fire mage's rectum, making sure he covered all of the wounds.

"I'm sorry," he kept whispering as Natsu cried. "I'm so sorry." He felt even worse as he felt his dick stir in interest and become semi-erect. How could his body show any interest in this? He scowled and ignored his arousal as he finished up. He got up off the bed and walked into his bathroom and washed his hands. He took his time, giving Natsu some space. When he came back into the bedroom he dug through a dresser's drawer and pulled out one of his sweatpants before helping Natsu after his had been destroyed during a fight he'd had to hold the pants up so they wouldn't fall down past his ass. Natsu had eventually loaned him his scarf to use as a belt until they got back to Magnolia from their mission. Seeing that now Natsu had been starved down enough to be thinner than him reminded him of the food he'd had made for the dragon slayer.

He helped Natsu to a sitting position and placed the tray of food over his lap. The broth was probably cold by now, but it was still better than nothing. Gray watched as Natsu gobbled the beef broth down and gulped down the water. When the flame-brain had finished, Gray took the tray off of him and placed it back on the bedside table before helping Natsu slide under the covers of his bed. Remembering the dragon slayer's scarf, he picked it up from the end of the bed and wrapped it around Natsu's neck where it belonged. Natsu clutched onto it tightly as he curled into the fetal position and closed his eyes. Gray settled in beside the dragon slayer. He ran his fingers through Natsu's hair one last time before closing his eyes. "Goodnight, Natsu," he whispered.