Life After Near Death

Care For You

"Some old wounds never truly heal, and bleed again at the slightest word."

― George R.R. Martin

Gray rolled his wheelchair into the guild hall. He saw Natsu sitting in a corner, drinking something strong, his eyes already glazed with inebriation although it was barely in the afternoon. Lately, this scene had become such a standard, people glared at Cana to blame her for it. She insisted, she was not the one who suddenly turned the Fire Dragon Slayer into a beer-guzzling, depressed sloth. No one was even sure when it began. Some time after the spa trip, he just started to lose himself in alcohol, and it worried a lot of people.

Gray scoffed that Natsu had taken up drinking all of a sudden. He was an idiot, but now he was a drunk idiot. Gray was about to go over to Elfman's table, but instead, for reasons he did not fully understand, he maneuvered over to Natsu.

"We need to talk."

"No, we don't," Natsu said gruffly, hiding half his face inside a mug.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Gray shouted. "You've been avoiding me for two weeks, ever since the trip up north. Look, if sleeping with those girls bugs you that much, it's my life, so I can do what I want. Do you really think I would care if you went around sleeping with girls? I don't care. It's your business. So this, what I do, it's my own damn business."

"You're right," Natsu said softly, sipping his drink. "It's none of my business. What I think, what I do, it doesn't matter to you at all. You don't care. You don't even like me, so why should my opinion mean anything."

Gray sighed and rubbed out his head. "It's not like that, stupid." He looked worried as Natsu took another sip. "What the hell are you drinking?" He leaned forward, sniffed, and pulled back with disgust. "Oh God! Is that a whole mug of pure whiskey?"

"So what if it is?" Natsu slurred out.

"You never drink things that strong." Gray's brow furrowed. "Seriously, are you okay?"

"Okay?" Natsu mumbled. "Why do you care if I'm okay?"

"Sheesh! I'm just trying to be friendly here, but you know what? Screw you, ash-breath! You're not a fun drunk." Gray folded his arms and glanced around, trying to figure out which group would cheer him up and make him forget his troubles with the Fire Dragon Slayer.

Natsu stared waveringly into his drink. "How can you do it?"

Gray glanced over in annoyance. "What was that?"

"Pick up girls. Pretend you're okay. Pretend like it never happened. How can you bounce back so fast?"

"What other choice have I got? Be celibate? Stay depressed? You're the one who pointed out that I need to stop acting like I'm totally helpless."

"Yeah, but ... but still..." Natsu's head dropped heavily down to the table. "Never mind."

"Exactly. Never mind it. I'm doing what I can. It's a living hell, but I'm trying, and I don't need you patronizing me."

Natsu just grunted, forced his head back up, and took another deep sip of the alcohol. "Hey, Gray? What did you mean back then?"

"When?"

"That day. Do you remember that day?"

"Which day?"

Natsu muttered numbly. "That day. Getting shot."

A memory flashed through Gray's mind. Pain. Agony. The fear of death. "I ... I don't like to think about it."

"You said something that day. It bugged me for a while, and then I forgot about it. I've been remembering it again, though. You were trying to talk."