Gratsu Week 2019

Prompt: Dreams

"A book?!" Natsu looked at the object in his hands with equal parts disgust and dismay. "I didn't do all this for a stinkin' book, Lady!"

The woman shrugged and showed Natsu the part of the request where it listed the reward before walking away with a wave.

Damn it!

Natsu looked at the item in his hands with dismay. He didn't want to return to the guild with nothing but a moldy old book to show for his efforts. It was his first solo mission after all.

He certainly didn't need another lecture from that Erza on how he needed to learn how to read better. She thought she was so special 'cause she was scary. And he certainly didn't want to have to deal with Gray's stupid smirking face.

What he did want was to make jewels so he could eat. He had half a mind to burn the insulting book, but then he wouldn't even be able to eat the fire, and it would just be a complete waste. Maybe Levy would like it.

Levy McGarden was a sweet girl who had joined the guild after he had. She didn't talk much yet, and not much was known about her, but one thing was for sure, that girl sure liked to read. Maybe if Natsu gifted her the book, she would be his friend. Natsu liked making friends, it kept him from feeling lonely.

The busier Natsu kept himself, the less time he had to think of Igneel. So he practiced his magic every day, determined to impress Igneel when they met up again. He sparred with Gray as often as he could. He might not like the ice mage all that much, but he had to admit the bastard was a good opponent. He ran errands for Jii-chan and basically filled his day with noise until he fell into an exhausted heap on his bed in the boy's dorm.

Natsu decided to go in search of odd jobs that would pay him jewels he could then pretend to have earned on his job. He lucked out at the first place he went and did some boring manual labor for a few hours before heading back to the guild. Take that stupid Gray!

Natsu kicked the door of the guild open and announced loudly, "I'm back everybody!"

A few of the guild members welcomed him back and asked him how his first mission went. He looked over to where Erza was standing and gave her a big toothy smile when he saw she looked proud of him. The half-naked pervert looked flushed and out of breath and Natsu had no idea why but he shrugged it off, happy to bask in the affection he received from the older guild members.

Remembering the reward he'd earned, Natsu walked over to the table where Levy was sitting and plopped across from her. He placed the book on the table and gently pushed it towards the girl. Levy smiled at him shyly, before grabbing it from the table.

"What's this?" She asked with great interest, looking at the cover. Her eyes widened when she saw the title. "Natsu, this is a book of magic spells!"

"You can read that?" Natsu could see how excited the girl looked just from reading the cover, and he was happy to have thought of giving it to her.

"Well, kinda. I've been learning some languages, and this one seems very familiar," Levy admitted, her eyes never straying from the symbols in front of her. "May I?"

"Knock yourself out," Realizing he was starving, Natsu left her with the book as he hurried to order some food. The bartender promised to deliver his order to the table, and Natsu rushed back, curious to see what Levy had uncovered.

"Well?" Natsu asked curiously, noticing the excitement on Levy's face had not diminished one bit.

"There are a lot of spells in here, look at this one," Levy pointed to the page she was reading, "This one lets the caster inject themself into someone else's dream."

"You can see what someone is dreaming?" Natsu asked, trying to sound impressed although that idea didn't interest him much.

"No, it's so much more than that. You can go inside the dream, and you can interact with stuff," Levy explained as she continued reading the contents of the pages.

When Natsu still looked confused, Levy thought about how to explain it better, "So say you went into Erza's dream," Levy giggled as Natsu immediately scoffed in protest. "You could challenge her to a fight, and even if she beat you up in the dream you'd be totally fine!"

Now that sounded more interesting, it had definite prank potential, and Natsu loved nothing more than a good prank. He didn't even mind being on the receiving end. He looked over at Gray, who had taken his regular spot next to Cana. He appeared to be back to normal now.

What did Gray dream about? Natsu wondered before dismissing the thought. He was sure it was probably something stupid, but wouldn't it be fun to surprise him in his dream and challenge him to a fight? Natsu thought something like that would definitely be worth his while.

"Listen, Levy," Natsu smiled his most charming smile, his insides churning with glee, "If you teach me that spell, the book is yours!"

"Really?" Levy's eyes widened as she thought about it, she hadn't been in the guild long enough to realize what sort of power she was handing over to Natsu. "Okay, let's do it!"

While Natsu ate his mountain of food, Levy read the page over and over making sure she understood everything so that she could teach Natsu. They went out the back door and Levy spent the next few hours learning how challenging it was to teach Natsu anything that required attention, but they muddled through, and when she was sure he had it she ran back inside with her new treasure and Natsu was sure he'd made a new friend.

Natsu went back to the boy's dorm, rubbing his hands together with glee.

Oh Fullbuster, you are in for it tonight!

He practiced the words over and over, he hadn't actually been able to try it out on anyone since everyone was awake so he'd have to hope for the best.

When Gray finally arrived at the dorm, Natsu tried not to show any more interest than he usually would. He knew Gray's going to bed routine as well as his own, although Natsu tended to fall asleep before the ice mage.

He pretended to be asleep when he heard a faint knock on his door, along with a whispered Congratulations on your first solo job, the words so soft Natsu thought he'd imagined them. He felt a sudden warmth in his chest he couldn't identify. Gray had complimented him, and even though he knew he hadn't been meant to hear it, it still brought a smile to his face. He really did have a new family.

Natsu thought about what he was planning to do, feeling a tad guilty about it but the prank potential was too high. He couldn't wait to see Gray's reaction when he popped up in his dream! He waited impatiently for the Ice Block to fall asleep, waiting for an agonizing extra hour to make sure he would already be dreaming.

He cast the spell and then....

Natsu looked around, trying to understand his surroundings. Just where was he supposed to be, and why the hell was it so cold? He knew the Ice Prick liked the cold, but he dreamt about it too? Creepy!

Natsu found himself shivering at the unexpected temperature, not sure how this whole thing worked he wished for a coat but when it didn't materialize, he figured he only had limited control over the dream.

Why couldn't the prick dream up a nice warm beach instead of this cold dark place?

Natsu grumbled through the discomfort as best he could, reminding himself he'd be warm enough once he and Gray began their fight. He called on a bit of his fire magic to keep him warm and was glad to see he could at least access his magic.

He picked a random direction and began walking. Silence saturated the air, and it felt ominous to him, although he couldn't pinpoint why. Natsu was growing impatient.

Where the heck was Gray hiding? He came looking for a fight, not whatever this was.

He seemed to be in a small town, smaller than Magnolia anyway. It looked pretty nice, although the frigid temperature was enough to make Natsu never wish to visit it in real life. Was this where Gray was from?

Natsu didn't really know much about Gray's life before the guild. The ice mage was so private it was almost like pulling teeth to get him to disclose anything about himself, including his favorite color. Natsu rolled his eyes, he was such a prissy Princess. An Ice Princess. Natsu giggled at the nickname he'd just come up with.

Oh hell yeah he was saving that one for later. He and Gray engaged in an almost constant war, and insults and nicknames were a large part of it. He'd yet to come up with anything as demeaning as Pinky, but this might do it. His eyes lit up with anticipation at the thought.

Natsu studied the buildings curiously, was Gray dreaming about his childhood? Then he'd probably be at his house. Natsu scratched his head, trying to figure out where that might be precisely before shrugging in defeat.

All the buildings looked similar to him, he crossed his arms behind his neck and continued walking until he detected a familiar scent. Once his nose had locked on to it, he zeroed in.

"Found you!" Natsu yelled triumphantly as he snuck behind Gray, who looked a few years younger than he did now.

He wasn't sure what he'd been expecting, Gray was hard to figure out after all, but nothing could have prepared Natsu for the fear that blazed in Gray's eyes.

"Natsu?"

Natsu was about to respond, but before he could say anything, Gray had grabbed him roughly by the hand and pulled him behind him as he moved between the buildings.

Hell no! Natsu struggled against Gray's grip, his cheeks flushed with rage at the idea of his rival holding his hand even if it was only to be dragged behind him like a sack of potatoes.

Finally managing to wrest himself free, he stood before Gray, not exactly sure of what to do since he didn't understand what was happening. Gray Fullbuster was not the type of mage to cower from anything, so why was he acting like a scared animal?

"What's the matter with you?" Natsu yelled loudly, "Why are you hiding like a coward?"

"Be quiet," Gray hissed urgently, "He'll hear you!"

"He? He who?" Natsu lowered his voice a bit, knowing that he wouldn't be able to get anything out of Gray if he just went into their default fight mode. What the hell had he gotten himself into? This was nothing like what he'd expected.

Natsu studied Gray carefully, letting his enhanced senses pick out details he'd ignored before. The way Gray's normally droopy eyes were open wide as he stared at Natsu with pupils blown wide, beads of sweat dripping from his forehead.

His nose detected the faint smell of rust well before his eyes noticed the blood that was covering Gray's hands. What the hell? He looked down at his own hands, but they were clean.

"Gray?" Natsu called out to his rival softly, not wanting to spook him but he was too late because Gray chose that moment to notice.

"No, no, no...not yet," Gray pleaded, although to whom Natsu had no clue.

Natsu felt the ground beneath them begin to shake, followed by screams and an unintelligible grunt both loud and terrifying. The change in Gray was more confusing still, his body tensed up, and his eyes darted around them even as they regularly fell back to Natsu.

"I have to get you out of here before it's too late," Gray muttered to himself, and frankly Natsu was getting seriously freaked out.

Of all the fucking times to try this spell, he'd picked a night when Gray was having a nightmare.

"Gray, it's fine. It's only a dream," Natsu tried to calm his friend down, but he was having none of it. "Oy, Ice Princess, dreams can't hurt you."

Gray looked at him strangely, for a moment looking like he wanted to react to the new nickname, but instead, he just snapped, "That's what you think."

Once again, he grabbed Natsu's hand and pulled him along behind him, ignoring the fire mage's loud protests. There was no furtive sneaking this time around. No, this time, Gray was running as fast as if they were in the middle of one of their challenges. His grip was like steel, and it didn't matter how hard Natsu pulled there was no give. With an internal sigh, he decided to play along until he could figure out more of what was happening.

Natsu could see that some of the buildings they ran past were now covered in flames and there were lots of other people running around screaming, but only Gray seemed to know where to go.

Bodies were lying scattered on the ground, some of the injures were hard to look at, the bodies mangled and Natsu couldn't think of what could do that much damage, but others looked like they'd merely been trampled and Natsu wanted to stop and help them.

He kept telling himself this was only a dream, these people weren't really hurt, but Gray's reaction to the whole situation was making it hard. Natsu looked down at the snow sadly as the previously pristine snow was now covered in a dull red coating.

Gray finally stopped behind a large building, he was holding on to his stomach, looking as if he was going to retch at any moment, and Natsu couldn't blame him cause he felt the same way.

"I," Natsu panted, having a hard time getting any words out, "I - can't - run - anymore."

He slid his body down the facade of the building, letting it sink into the snow, for once enjoying the cold wetness that seeped through his clothes as it cooled down his overheated body.

Gray mirrored his movements, and they rested briefly.

"Where are we?"

"This is Isvan, it's where I grew up," Gray explained, his voice sounding more emotionless than Natsu had ever heard it before. Whatever happened here, it was important.

"You mentioned He, who is He?" Natsu demanded, even as the bestial sounds they'd heard earlier got ever closer. "Is it whoever's making that noise?"

Gray nodded, and there was so much that Natsu wanted to ask, that he needed to know so they could handle this situation, but Gray was remaining stubbornly tight-lipped, and Natsu had had enough.

He couldn't stifle his natural curiosity, even with all the death and destruction that surrounded them, or maybe because of it. Natsu needed to know what was causing it and if Gray wouldn't help, he'd just have to see for himself. No matter how bad the situation was, it was just a dream, and he knew that. Nothing terrible could happen to him while he was in here, Levy had said so.

Without a word to his friend, he took off towards that awful noise, excited at the prospect of fighting a tough opponent. He shrugged off all worry, reminding himself that he'd been raised by a dragon and he fought Erza regularly, how bad could this thing really be?

He tried to ignore the tug at his heart when he heard Gray Fullbuster of all people scream out his name and beg him to come back with a desperation he would never have thought possible. Natsu stopped in his tracks for a moment, feeling a pull he would have denied at any other moment.

He didn't want to hurt Gray, he just wanted to show him there was nothing to be scared of. He made the mistake of looking back and knew he would likely never forget the sight that greeted his eyes. Gray was on the ground, his arm outstretched towards Natsu, tears streaming down his face unabashedly.

Natsu wanted to stay with him, but the creature's draw was too strong, so he turned back around and kept going.

A few minutes later, he dug in his heels as he finally came face to face with the source of all the commotion. His mouth gaped open, his brain struggling to comprehend what he was seeing. It was a monster the likes of which he'd never encountered before, and frankly hoped never to face again.

Igneel might have been enormous, and on occasion, he might have seemed scary, but nothing like this. This monster stood taller than any of the surrounding buildings. It growled loudly even as it aimed a green bolt of energy that disintegrated everything in its path.

Natsu couldn't help but grin, bold in his knowledge that he would be safe no matter what happened. He sauntered towards the monster who was now fixing him with his attention, for the moment seemingly confused by the small child that was fearlessly walking towards it.

Natsu heard the pattering sound of boots falling against the snow and knew Gray had fought against his fear to come for him. Good! Natsu wanted to show him that it was okay to fight against the monsters in your nightmares. It was the only way to keep them from having any control over you.

Gray stood in front of the monster, and even though the ice mage was trembling in fear, Natsu immediately recognized his stance. Gray was going to fight, and Natsu was so proud of him!

He stood next to the ice mage and prepared his own fighting stance, fists lighting up in preparation for the battle. He'd never fought side by side with Gray, and while it was not the fight he'd been looking for when he came into this crazy dream, it was one that excited him. Natsu had already turned it into a competition in his mind. Which one of them would be the one to take the creature down? Or would they be able to work together?

A few minutes later, Natsu snarled with frustration. Gray kept drawing the creature's fire while pushing Natsu out of the way of any danger. Gray's attacks weren't even doing any damage, if anything they were just pissing the monster off more.

Why the hell was he keeping him from fighting?

All of a sudden, Gray tried to move out of the way of one of the monster's energy bolts but ended up tripping over his feet instead. He tried to scramble himself up and out of the way, but it was too late, the beast had already released his energy ray, and even though Natsu knew it was only a dream he couldn't help but react.

His instincts yelled at him to protect Gray at all costs. He quickly positioned himself in front of Gray, ignoring his screams of protest and letting out the biggest roar he was capable of to counter the bolt.

Natsu might as well have lit a match for all the effect it had. He felt the energy bolt go through his body. He screamed in agony as his body disintegrated, furious that Levy had failed to mention that he'd be able to experience pain inside the dream, but part of him felt it served him right for intruding on Gray in this way.

"NAAATSU!" Gray screamed behind him, all the fight going out of him as he watched Natsu disappear into nothingness.

The last thing Natsu heard before finding himself in his own bed was Gray repeating the phrase, "Not you too," as he sobbed piteously while the monster continued to roar in the background.

When Natsu heard Gray moving around the dorm, he feigned sleep and decided right then and there he would never use that spell again.

A/N: I don't usually like to talk about my personal life in these but things are happening that are making it hard for me to write and I'm not sure if I'll have the last chapter ready for tomorrow.

When I'm involved in organizing or running an event I usually work on my entries before the fact because once the event is up and running there are behind the scenes things I have to do that are distracting. For Gratsu Week, I had everything ready but this last story.

On July 16 (First day of Gratsu Week) we found out that my husband was laid off from his job, and in all honesty, I'm having a really hard time focusing let alone writing. So if it's not up tomorrow, I apologize. I'm trying my best, but this is a scary time for us.

Also I will add more tags and characters for the next chapter, it's just too hazy at the moment.