"This is stupid," the pinkette grumbled with a pout, his arms were crossed tightly over his chest. Erza sighed at the stubborn Dragon slayer.

"I disagree. I think it will be very beneficial. Not just for the both of you but for our team and the rest of the guild," Erza replied stirnly. Natsu huffed and sunk further down in his seat.

Lucy decided to chime in, "Yeah Natsu, it won't be that bad!"

"I have to spend time alone with that idiot, stripping, ice princess. Of course it will be bad," he mumbled with distaste. The two girls frowned.

Erza shrugged, "whether you like it or not you or Gray have no choice in the matter. It's the Master's orders that you and Gray take a mission together as a bonding experience so maybe you guys could work better as a team and stop fighting all the time," she said. Natsu rolled his eyes, he'd already heard it.

"This is going to be a distaster not a 'bonding experience' I dunno why you all keep saying that," he replied bitterly.

"Sheesh Natsu you need to lighten up," Lucy chuckled, trying to cheer up the Dragon Slayer. Natsu just grunted and averted his eyes to the wall. Erza sighed again and left the table, she decided she'd much rather order some strawberry cake then argue with a grumpy Natsu. "You guys really do need to try and get along more," Lucy said.

"He hates me," Natsu spat. Lucy's eyebrows raised in surprise.

"I thought the feeling was mutual?" She asked curiously.

"It is, because he hates me," he said bluntly. Lucy hummed thoughtfully.

"I don't think he does Natsu. Try and be positive about this mission, and think about that poor girl you need to save! Maybe if you actually try and work with him I think you guys could make a good team! Hell, you already do, sometimes."

Natsu sneered, "fire and ice don't mix."

"Opposites attract," She said with a smile. Natsu shot her a glare. "Hey, the money's good and you'll only have to split it between the two of you!

"Yeah, guess so," Natsu didn't care about the money.

The guild doors abruptly swung open and Natsu's eyes lazily drifted over to see who it was. Much to his dismay, it was Gray. Atleast he was fully dressed for once Natsu thought. He had a large bag swung over his shoulder, and a scowl painted clearly on his face. His dark eyes met Natsu's and Natsu quickly looked away. He knew Gray was walking over. Natsu really did not want to go on that mission, alone, with Gray. The ice mages scent got stronger and stronger, and finally Natsu could sense him in his presence, standing over the table. He refused to look at him.

"Hey, flame brain. You ready or not?" Gray asked, his voice low and full of discontent . Natsu sighed and grabbed his duffel bag and slid out if the booth.

"See ya guys! Have fun!" Lucy chirped with a massive grin on her face that annoyed both of the boys. They all said their goodbyes and left for the train.

"You don't have to act so obviously miserable about having to go on a mission with me," Gray broke the silence as they walked down the street.

"You're not acting any better!" Natsu snapped, his eyes shone with anger. "You've been moping around the guild and complaining just as much as I have!"

"That's because I know you're going to mess something up and I'm going to be the only one there to fix it," Gray retorted. They glared at eachother with silent rage.

"Why the hell did the Makarov think this was a good idea?!" Natsu groaned. Gray shrugged.

"Your guess is as good as mine."

...

"Yuck!" Natsu whined as he kicked a massive spider off his foot, he oggled at it's size before it scuttled away. "That spider was about as big as my hand!" He exclaimed.

"Don't be such a baby," Gray muttered with disinterest.

"I'm not scared of spiders, idiot! I was just saying it was a really big spider!" He cried back.

"Shut up," Gray hissed. "This filthy cave is bad enough without you annoying me."

Natsu's eyes narrowed, "I was just trying to make conversation," he huffed. Natsu suddenly got distracted as he heard a high pitched sound in the distance. "Did you hear that?" He whispered alarmingly. Gray looked at him confused. Natsu heard it again, and he was sure Gray heard it too as his head snapped back to stare down the dark tunnel.

"That was definitely a scream," Gray gulped. Natsu felt his insides stir as he heated up with determition.

"Well, what are we waiting for!" He roared and charged forward. Gray's eyes widened with horror.

"No, Natsu!" He yelled, but it was too late.

A pained shout escaped Natsu's lips as he felt something sharp pierce into his arm and leg, and very gracefully he tumbled to the ground with a solid thump.. Gray had tried to warn him, but he was going too fast. There was an extremely obvious glowing, red magic circle on the ground. Three arrows had appeared in the air and shot at Natsu, one landed in his calve, the other just above his wrist and the third had merely missed him and bounced off the wall.

"Natsu you moron!" Gray was seething as he ran up to the Dragon Slayers aid. Natsu still managed to keep his ball of fire lit so Gray could see him grimacing in pain, canines ground tightly together. "This is what I meant! You always manage to do something stupid, it was so god damn obvious if you would've just paid attention and slowed down!" Gray ranted.

"Shut up Gray.. I.. I feel weird," Natsu said softly. Gray snapped out of his rage and examined Natsu's condition. Two arrows stuck out of his body, his face was as white as a ghost and his eyes half lidded. Gray furrowed his eyebrows with concern, Natsu shouldn't have been suffering blood loss yet.

"What do you mean weird?" He asked.

"I feel.. tingly, and sleepy," Natsu smiled dopely and began to close his eyes.

"Hey! Hey! Don't sleep," Gray yelled and slapped his cheeks. Natsu's eyes widened with shock and he stared at Gray silently. "I think the arrows may be laced with something," Gray said thoughtfully and with worry. Natsu didn't answer and started to drift off again. "Natsu!" He shook the Dragon Slayers shoulders.

"Gray, I wanna sleep," he groaned in frustration.

"Hey, who's there?"

"Looks like someone's fallen into one of our traps!"

"Hopefully they'll be unconcious by now."

Three unknown male voices echoed through the cave and Gray's heart rate spiked. "Shit! Natsu?!" Gray whispered. He panicked even more, Natsu's eyes had fluttered shut and he was down for the count. Gray tried shaking him and slapping him again, but to no avail. He quickly hoisted Natsu's limp body over his shoulder.

"Why have you got to be so heavy!?" Gray grumbled quietly.

"Oooo, I see some pink hair, how pretty!" Gray heard a voice snicker. He didn't even look back before lunging into a sprint and trying to bolt away as fast as he could but Natsu weighed him down considerably. Gray knew what those people were capable of, they were an extremely dark guild who kidnapped people and forced them into sexual slavery. A small group had been seen hiding out near a village and had taken one of the villagers daughters, it was Natsu's and Gray's mission to get her back. He needed to get Natsu somewhere safe before he fought them.

"There's no use running!" A deeper voice taunted. Gray swore loudly as something whipped around his ankles and bound him, causing him to fly face first into the ground, his nose broke with a sickening crunch at the collision. Shrill laughter pierced his skull and he felt the anxiety swelling in his chest.

"Take pinky and dispose of the other one, I doubt he'd sell for much," a male voice drawled.

"Yes sir," Someone cackled.

Gray rolled around and weakly pushed up his body into a sitting position, "There's no way that's happening!" He growled threatingly, blood dripped down his face. He studied his assailants with squinted eyes, trying to make them out in the darkness of the cave. Three men engulfed in an aura of darkness and evil, Gray's lips curled up in disgust. One man was clearly the Alpha male, built like a tank and towered in the middle, a smug smirk decorated his sharp features.

"Look at this pathetic creature," the larger man purred. The smallest and skinniest of the three chuckled, his voice was much more high pitched and grainy than the others and made Gray flinch as it reached his ears. He tried to stand but his ankles had been bound with some sort of magical chain.

"We've got you now," the third man said smoothy and stalked forwards towards the two wizards.

Gray quickly outstretched his arms, "ice make-"

"I don't think so," he smirked and another chain emerged from his palm and rapidly snaked around his wrists and scorched his flesh, Gray yelped in pain.

Before he could even register what was happening, a boot flew into his face and he fell back into the ground. Pain radiated from his skull and the cave ceiling began to waver out. "no no don't pass out," he whispered to himself under his breath. Gray's head spun and he couldn't move a muscle. Tears of desperation welled in his eyes as he tried to do something, anything, but he was useless as they picked up Natsu's rag doll form and hauled him off.

"Can I please have the honours of finishing him off, Sir?" The smallest squeaked.

"You can discuss that with Melchior," the leader said.

"He's yours Chop," and that was the last thing Gray heard before his vision went black