"How did you get that scar anyway?"

The question was rooted in lazy urgings, but Natsu had always wondered about it, and, as the two were alone, it was a good time to talk about it. Gray looked at the ruined skin on the side of his abdomen, releasing a bitter smile.

"What is it any business of yours, flame brain?" he asked, and Natsu snorts. Of course, Gray knew that the dragon slayer believed that everything was his business, and he would end up telling him eventually. He closed his eyes, his mouth forming the words he had told everyone since Ultear's death: it was an accident. It would prevent the vomit of emotions that were inevitably going to spill out of his mouth, and the tears that would fall onto his beer and make it salty, but he choked on his words before he could begin to speak. The dragon slayer watched him cough for a minute, chuckling a bit.

"Spill it out already, ice popsicle," he said carelessly, and Gray spoke.

"Ultear gave it to me," he said in a whisper. Natsu moved closer to him, rubbing his hand over the scar. The ice mage's eyes crinkled in pain (although he wasn't sure from what), and he swatted his hand away quickly before he thought too much. Natsu didn't put up an argument, putting his hands behind his neck, and looking up at the guild ceiling.

"I thought you two were friends," Natsu said bluntly.

"We were."

"You aren't anymore?" the dragon slayer asked, looking at him in astonishment. Gray made an annoyed noise with this throat, signalling that this conversation was over, and Natsu, because

Natsu was Natsu, didn't notice his unease.

"Why haven't we seen her around anyway?," Natsu asked him, grinning. "I kinda miss her." The dragon slayer downed his glass, wiping his mouth. He waited for a response, but got none. He shook Gray slightly. The ice mage snapped back to reality.

"Where is she?" he asked.

"I don't know."

"Isn't she with Crime Sorciere? Did she leave? Is she-"

"I SAID," Gray growled, raising his voice, before sighing. "I don't know." The ice mage assumed an indifferent expression, but Natsu saw right past it, and he tilted his head to the side in question.

"If you don't want to talk about it, we don't have to," he finally said, and Gray nodded stiffly. He says it because he knows that Gray, just like his ice, will always break before he bends, and he doesn't want to prod before something terrible happens. There is a whole word of things Natsu wants to say to him right now: promises of avengement, protection, and friendship-but, since Natsu is Natsu, and he knows that there's a chance that they could all die tomorrow, he closes his lips, and doesn't speak.

Gray receives another punch to the stomach, coughing up some blood before grinning up at his tormentor. The brown haired man reels back, not knowing what to think. However, the fright only lasts for a moment, and he brings a sword to the ice mage's neck. His hands are trembling, but his eyes are violent, and Gray, who had seen right through him, does not hesitate a bit.

"I'll let you live," the man growls, "If you tell me where the other one is." Gray scoffs at his words.

"Natsu? You'll never find him," he said confidently, looking down at the ground. The man raises an eyebrow, and all he can see in the ice mage's eyes is trust. It certainly wasn't the kind of behavior he had expected from him, as the two had been throwing death threats at each other the day before.

"No, we will," the man said. "Because you are going to tell me. And if you don't, you will-"

"Die? Is that supposed to faze me?" Gray asks, giving him a condescending glare. The man started to sweat, and he didn't know how to respond. This interrogation clearly was going nowhere, except leaving him with blood stains on his hands, and a rather stubborn ice mage to deal with. He brought the sword back down, his lips beginning to tremble, and he started to cry but was not sure why this was so. The ice mage looked up at him, not saying a word.

"GRAAAAAAAYYY!"

Before the ice mage could respond, his eyes widened, and a body collided into his stomach forcefully. Gray let out a surprised yelp, before both figures fell onto the ground. The man stared at them in disbelief.

Natsu raised his head, smiling before pinching Gray's cheeks playfully. The ice mage, now free from his metal chains, grunted in pain.

"Found you!" he said, before inspecting the ice mage's wounds in worry. "Hey, what happened? You're all beat up." Gray shrugged nonchalantly, but angrily protested as Natsu slung him over his shoulder.

"Put me down!" he demanded, and Natsu laughed as he ran out of the cell carelessly. The man stared at their retreating figures, tear stains drying on his face, and he wipes his eyes to make sure that he wasn't dreaming. His brain wills his legs to go after them, but he stays perfectly still in his silent soliloquy.

"These are Fairy Tail mages...," he muttered, before falling unconscious.