Birdie 4

I gotta say. The whole time I was writing this, I kept thinking of Naruto and Sasuke. Kinda similar, don't you think?

He ran. Ran faster than he ever had in his life. His legs begged for him to stop, but he ignored them. The burn felt good. He finally felt another type of pain that didn't hurt him emotionally.

He's running away from the pain. Running from revelation. Running from his destiny. Running from END, his best friend.

He's running from himself.

He feels the markings of his magic wrap around him, engulfing him into an embrace. They start from his chest, crossing down to his right oblique and ending on the side of back.

He stops. Surrounded by trees and bushes. The river flows soundly across from him. His feet were planted into the ground until he collapsed on his knees, feeling a sudden pain in his eyes. He grunted at first, feeling it as a minor twitch before it evolved into agony; balling his fist and dug his nails in his palm in the process, trying to fight pain with pain.

Gray howled and shut his lids shut, fighting the torment up the best he could. He lifted up his newly blistered fist and slammed it into the dirt, emitting another scream.

"IT HURTS!" Gray screamed again as he pressed his hurting palms against his hurting eyes. He used his magic to cool off the pain. Thankfully, it seemed to work, but he kept his hands there.

He was too frightened to open his orbs. He didn't want to know what was going on with him.

He knew crap like this was bound to happen when his father gave him his magic. The magic he thought he wanted, but immediately regretted getting. Yes, he wanted to get stronger so he could prove to everyone he's strong, but apparently; in order to get strength you have to pay a fee.

He tried to convince himself that it was the pain that was making him cry. He repeated it in his head as if it was his new mantra. But he knew. He knew why the water works were happening. And it's not because of Tartaros, his dad, Fairy Tail or any of that.

It was because of the one person that he hated and cared for at the same time. The one person who he has never beaten in a fight and vice-versa. The one person he would punch for being an idiot one day, then uppercut for helping him out during something personal the next.

"...screw you..." He muttered, finally opening his eyes. Instead of his normal dark blue orbs, they were a frightening blood red. He glared at the sky, cursing its color. "Screw you!"

He stood up, ice seeping from every corner of his body and flowing upwards. He was slightly squatted. His arms were tucked into his sides at a ninety-degree angle as his fist were, once again, balled up.

"SCREW YOU NATSU!"

His young face scrunched in anger. It was his fault! His fault for being a demon! It was his fault for even stumbling upon Fairy Tail! If he hadn't joined, none of this would never had happened!

He refused them, but the tears ignored him as they fell. He let out a shaky and a breathy sigh.

Maybe he should follow his destiny. END is a demon made of rage and destruction anyway right?

'Maybe if I...k-kil-'

'No! I will not let it come to that! The day I kill my best friend will be the day I kill myself!'

He was tense. Everything surrounding him seemed to freeze. The birds stopped flying, the wind stopped blowing and the time seemed to stopped.

'But...If I kill Natsu-'

He didn't like the sound of that but he kept thinking.

'...will it help the pain?'

'No! Why would killing Natsu help!?'

'He's a demon!'

'But he's my best friend!'

His raging breath finally fell labored before it stopped. He couldn't move a muscle. The Ice Magic that was surrounding him halted as well. His mind continued to speak, knowing full-well that soon he would crack.

'Is he really your friend Gray? Your best friend for that matter? All you guys do is fight!'

'He never cared! The only thing he cares about is fighting!'

'With his reckless behavior, he could turn on the guild anytime he wanted! He's even more likely to with his new powers!'

...

'You're wrong.'

His mind replied angrily. 'What?!'

"I SAID YOU'RE WRONG!" Gray yelled aloud, sending the birds in the trees scattering.

'IF YOU REALLY THINK THAT ABOUT NATSU THEN YOU'RE NOT ME!'

His anger rose notch by notch with no way of release. He never felt this before, it was foreign. He told himself to get rid of it with his Maker magic but his instincts did otherwise.

"ICE DEVIL'S RAGE!"

Ice roared from his mouth as spun on his heel, unleashing a blizzard upon the forest. To a normal Mage, the pressure and cold could freeze them to death. He continued to release the torrent of ice, not letting the urgent feeling to stop bother him. It was then the sky grew dimmer and snow started to fall.

Gray finally closed his mouth, stopping the frozen tornado of doing anymore damage. His newly blood colored eyes glared at the ground.

"Natsu..."

The name...he didn't know what to think of it.

"Natsu!"

He needed to know.

"NATSU!"

•••

The voice echoed.

"NATSU!"

"Was that..."

"Gray?" Natsu finished. He knew it was him. He felt his roar. He assumed Erza did too. The pink headed and onyx eyed Salamander stood.

"Let's go find him." She nodded her head and they walked back into the forest.

"It feels like Gray, but it's much more powerful. The spell didn't even sound human. His magic power seemed to have tripled ever since we came back." Erza concluded, slight suspicion in her eyes.

Natsu slightly stiffened next to her. "Wonder why."

Noticing him straighten, Erza squinted her eyes and pushed. "You too. I don't know how, but your power seems different." Natsu stared ahead blankly, purposely not giving his companion an answer, irritating her.

"Why?"

He stopped then. He positioned his head until he was looking at her feet. He was hoping she wouldn't ask that question. He's been avoiding everything about Igneel, Tautarus, Acnologia (even though he slipped when talking to Erza), and EN-...

He doesn't know how to address the demon anymore. Does he call him Natsu or...END? His names in it so maybe he should just call it himself.

'Wow...I'm a freakin demon...'

Coming to terms of the fact that he was a demon wasn't as hard as one would think. He never thought anything about being a human anyway. And the term, "Your only human" never really felt right to him too, to be honest. The only fact that bothers him about being a demon that doesn't suit him is that he was the most brutal and bloodthirsty one there is.

Plus Igneel tried to kill him, so it was only natural for him to be a little wary of his demon side.

"Dunno." He answered simply.

Erza glared at him, looking down only to avoid a fallen branch before looking back up. "Natsu." Her voice was stern.

He flinched a bit at her gaze before sighing, realizing she wasn't going to let this go. He lifted up his hand, uncurling his small fist to show his palm. In a blink of his eye, he set it ablaze, examining it. Erza did the same.

"A bunch of crap happened in that hell hole. I know you know that as much as I do. That weird Mard Greer guy, holding that book-"

"The Book of E.N.D?"

"...yes." He closed his eyes, feeling down from hearing the name. The scarlet haired girl noticed it and noted it. "Something in that book...changed things. Changed everything."

"Like wh-"

Crash!

Before the Knight and Dragon knew it, a giant tree seemed to break from its root and it came falling. As the descended tree made its way to the two, Natsu dived and tackled Erza, just in time to save her from a possible crushing death.

The pinkette turned his head, astonished at how the tree was so close to them. He noticed a hole in the center and inside of it was sides covered in ice. Natsu felt suspicious.

"Well that was a close one, eh Erza?" He received no answer, which made him curious. "Erza?"

He turner his head till onyx eyes met chocolate. Her face was emotionless, even though his hands were on top of her breasts. Either of them noticed.

She gazed deep into his eyes. He did the same. She looked into his soul, which was usually ignited with fire and passion. Now, the fire was dim, but it was getting brighter by the second, especially now. Her presence and her helping attitude made his shine in this grey situation.

But she also saw compassion. He stared back with loving eyes, unbeknownst to himself though. A slight upward curve of his lip played. All this caused the young scarlet haired girls mouth to open in shock. She could see...everything. His depression, his anger, his happiness...his love.

Love for the Igneel. Love for Happy. Love for Fairy Tail. Love for Lucy, Wendy, Gajeel, Cana, Sting, Rogue, Levy, and -even though he would never admit it- Gray. Love for...her.

It made her want to cry. Tears of joy most would call it.

Tears that were threatening to spill out her eye began to fall as she closed them.

Natsu tensed. Erza was...crying? His heart began beating fast. Did he do this? Did he cause her pain? He couldn't bear with that.

He moved his hands from her breast and place them on the ground. He started to push himself up but was immediately push back down, right in her cleavage. Her arms wrapped around his back tightly as did her legs around his waist. Natsu's eyes expanded at having his face connected with the soft cotton that was Erza's blouse.

"Erza?"

He could feel her optimistic aura; even if he was several miles away he would feel it. And, though he couldn't see it, her face was so bright it practically shone like the sun. Her smile was one that he could practically hear.

It made him happy. The happiest he's been in a while.

"Natsu..." He looked to see Erza's tear filled, flushed and joyful face. She kept her beautiful smile intact. "I...I think I l-"

"NATSU!" A surge of ice rushed to the sky. It connected to the clouds, which in turn caused to turn to an even darker grey. A few seconds later, it began to snow.

Said pinkette pushed himself off of Erza, to her disappointment, and looked in the direction of north, where he heard Gray's voice.

There he was. Standing there with no shirt and tattered shorts. An aura of ice hugged him as his newly blood colored eyes widened at looking at his rival.

Natsu squinted his eyes as he looked at his friend. Erza stood, brushed the dirt off her skirt and blouse and did the same, except she had more suspicious in them, unlike Natsu. "What happened to your eyes?"

"Fight me." The Devil Slayer offered, dead serious.

The pinkette stared at him with emotionless eyes.

Well, Erza looked like a combination of pissed and surprised. Why the hell would he want to fight him now of all times?

"Why the hell would you want to fight him n-"

She was interrupted by the man who had a question to answer.

And once she heard the answer, she knew there was nothing she could do.

"Fine."

No questions asked.

It was then that Gray had a surge of immensely powerful ice surround him and go to the sky. Natsu's fire did the same. His fire wasn't alone, so when golden lightning mixed with his flames, it only made his power increase.

They need to do this, right?