Life After Near Death

A Machine of Hope

"There is no medicine like hope, no incentive so great, and no tonic so powerful as expectation of something better tomorrow."

— Orison Swett Marden

Gray was sitting in his wheelchair by the river, staring out at the water flowing by. A recent rainstorm had swollen the river, making it flow deep and fast. The day was peaceful, cold, but winter had already lost its chilly grip. The cherry blossoms were fully in bloom, and all of Magnolia was celebrating the festival of rainbow sakura. Flowers filled the streets, and as he looked down at the river, he saw tiny pink petals flowing along the surface, their ephemeral existence swept away.

Gray slowly pushed himself up from the wheelchair. He stood awkwardly, and he stripped from his clothes, although the pants came off much slower, unable to simply lift the dead, paralyzed leg.

"Ice-Make: Brace."

Ice completely covered his left leg. He had a normal brace, but it was annoying to wear it all the time. He had discovered that his ice magic could form a brace whenever he wanted to stand.

Still, with the iced leg, the best he could do was slightly balance. Walking involved carefully putting his good leg forward, then using hip muscles to drag the bad leg along, unable to feel where his foot was located. Hopping along slowly like this, he made it to the river. Then he leaped, landing as far out as he could. The ice brace made his bad leg float. That was another advantage to ice.

He leaned back, letting the river flow past him, weightless in the water. Like this, without the confines of the wheelchair, he could almost pretend that he was normal again. He floated along. Then he flipped over and began to swim back upstream, fighting the current. His arms worked extra hard, and his one good leg kicked with more power. The left leg just floated, dead weight bolstered by ice.

If he could just swim all the time, maybe he could do without one leg.

"Gray!"

He growled at Natsu's shout. Just when he was relaxing and enjoying life, that damn Dragon Slayer had to burst in on his privacy. Natsu came racing down the hill, tripped, went rolling, and splashed into the river.

"Stupid," Gray grumbled.

Unperturbed, Natsu swam over to him. "We found it! We know where it is. You need to come with us, though."

"Found what?" he asked.

"The healing machine. The one that could give you your leg back." Natsu grinned with beaming hope. "I found it!"

Gray stared in silent disbelief. Give his leg back?

Gray had spent months lamenting the loss of his leg, and only with the arrival of spring had he finally come to grips with reality. Surgery for amputation was set. He had picked out a prosthetic. He wanted to cast aside that failure, including the leg that kept him stuck in the past, a constant reminder. Like the blossoms of spring, he had to wake up out of the winter of discontent and grow anew. He was willing to let it go, give up the paralyzed badge of disgrace, and accept a life with one leg.

He really thought this miracle machine was bogus, just a rumor.

However, if such a thing really existed...

"Umm ... don't you want your leg back?" Natsu asked sadly when Gray said nothing.

Despite himself, a tear came to Gray's eye. "More than anything!"

Natsu grinned broadly again. "Then let's go!" He grabbed Gray up princess style out of the river.

"What the hell!"