Okay, so most of this I wrote in a dark car with my dad in a foggy country road next to a huge old house at night no joke. I hope Slendy doesn't come to take me away.

They were all around him. He had no viable escape route. He was surrounded.

"Heeheeheehoohoohoo"

Laughter echoed around in the darkness.

He kept running. He tried to create some light with his flames but found he could not call them. He ran on, panting harshly.

"Heeheeeheehee"

He could hear his own footsteps echoing and still he ran.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

Every sound seemed to be amplified one hundred times and they all thundered inside his head.

"Please! Just leave me alone!" He cried out.

Suddenly, all noise was gone. The silence was louder than anything; it was deafening.

"H-hello?" He whispered.

There was no answer.

Suddenly the floor he was standing on vanished and he was falling.

All sound returned at once. Echoing and screaming in his head, tearing his mind apart. It was pure agony and he clutched at his head and ears in a futile attempt to lessen the pain and shield himself.

"Heeheeheehoohoohoo"

"Huhuhuhuhuh"

"Haahaahaahaahaa"

Thud. Thud! THUD! THUD! THUD!

"STOP! PLEASE! STOP IT!" He screamed, tearing at his skin and feeling blood on his fingers.

"Heeeheeheeheehoohoohuhuhuhuhhaahaahahthudthudthud"

"LEAVE ME ALONE!"

"Natsu~"

"N-no. Please, don't!" He curled in on himself, still falling.

"But Natsu, it's your fault. If you had never existed, I would never have been a problem for him. HE LOVED ME BEFORE YOU WERE BORN! I WAS TOSSED ASIDE LIKE I WAS NOTHING BECAUSE OF YOU! I protected you from him and he killed me, Natsu. It's your fault."

"N-No! NO! You loved me. YOU LOVED ME, MOTHER!" Tears streamed down his face and he felt a gentle hand wipe them away.

"You're right. I'm sorry, Natsu. I did love you."

He looked up and saw the face of his beautiful mother. He reached out to her and sanguineous tears dripped from her eyes. More of the substance flowed from her mouth as her skin began to peel from her face and body.

"I loved you, Darling." The rancid scent of rotting flesh filled his nostrils and he tried to get away as moist, skeletal hands wrapped around his throat.

"I loved you, Natsu."

"Natsu. Natsu. NATSU! WAKE UP!" His mother's rasping coos morphed into the voice of his best friend and rival.

He opened his eyes to see a concerned face hovering above him.

"G-Grey…" He whispered. It was a question, he needed to know that this, right now, was real.

Grey wiped away Natsu's tears with a cool hand, which Natsu grabbed with his own.

"It's okay, Natsu. You're okay. I'm here and Lucy's here and Happy and the whole guild are here. It's all over. Do you want me to stay? I could get Lucy or-"

"Stay?" Natsu looked up pleadingly, clinging to the ice mage like a lifeline.

Natsu never looked more vulnerable than after one of his nightmares. Grey knew that Natsu had trouble sleeping, but it got especially bad after a teammate got hurt. This time it had been Cana who came close to being drowned by a sea monster. Erza had needed to perform CPR for over thirty minutes before she regained consciousness.

Everyone knew that the Dragon Slayer was incredibly protective and felt the weight of the lives of every guild member, since often they did all depend on him, but he was always hit the hardest when someone was hurt or worse.

Grey settled in the bed beside his friend and the younger mage immediately curled as close to him as possible, clutching at him like he was the only thing keeping his demons at bay.

Grey didn't mind one bit.