Life After Near Death

Right Place, Right Time

"After all, love is all about timing. If you don't say the right thing at the right moment, no matter how much fate was involved in the relationship, everything will be ruined. Even if you regret it, it'll be too late."

— Obata Yuki

Natsu sat in a doctor's office, rubbing his face with stressed lines on his forehead and dark circles under his eyes. It had taken him a while to build up the courage to come here, needing to sneak behind Gray's back. He hated hiding anything from Gray, but he also did not want to worry anyone: not Gray or Happy or Lucy or Erza, nobody at all. Now he had listened to everything the cardiologist had to say, and he stared forward.

"So, that chest pain? I don't have to worry?" he asked, not sure if he believed that, although it was good news.

The doctor pushed her glasses up her nose. "I wouldn't say you're perfectly normal. Something definitely happened out there. All I'm saying is, whatever that mystery pain was, it wasn't so bad where it showed up on your current tests. I would guess it was a case of arrhythmia."

"What's that?" Natsu asked quickly, nervous for any bad news.

"It just means your heart is not beating precisely as it should be. Many people get arrhythmias at some point in their life, a feeling of your heart skipping a beat, fluttering, or beating too fast or too slow." She picked up a file and flipped through his medical records. "All of your tests are within normal levels. I see no new damage, no blockages, nothing that tells me specifically what happened to you."

"So, it wasn't like ... like a heart attack?" he asked worriedly. That was what he had thought it was at the time, and it was his biggest fear.

"Your heart does not show signs of that being the case. Arrhythmia is fairly common, and lacking any evidence of something more serious, I'm prone to lean toward that as a possibility."

"And that's all it was? My heart ... skipped a beat?"

"Even in a healthy person, moments of intense fear can cause your heart to beat erratically." The doctor smiled gently. "I would say that almost being swallowed by a giant shark definitely constitutes a moment of excessive fear."

"I ... I was swimming too, though. It wasn't because of something like that, right? Things like running, swimming ... fighting?" he asked, wringing his hands together worriedly.

She leaned back and folded her arms. "You're a wizard. You're worried about missions."

"Yeah," he admitted, wondering if that was a stupid thing to be worried about. He wanted to do missions with Gray, but on his first major mission since his heart problem, this happened! He was lucky this time—Gray had not seen anything—but next time might not be the same. If he had chest pain in front of Gray, he would worry over Natsu too much and would not have fun on these missions. Gray might even demand that they not do anymore for a while. Natsu did not want Gray to worry over him. He just wanted Gray to be happy and live life to the fullest. That was all he ever wanted.

"I suppose it's reasonable for you to be concerned about your fighting ability. That's your livelihood, after all. At the moment, I recommend you take it easy, but you probably don't need to stop altogether just for one incident. Like I said, all the tests we've run have come back normal. However, arrhythmia is a tricky problem. Sometimes, it's nothing unusual; sometimes, it's a symptom of something truly dangerous happening with your heart. You just had heart surgery, and arrhythmia is common after such procedures, which is also why I think that's all this was. You were facing a terrifying moment, a life-or-death situation, your heart spasmed, and you felt a pain in your chest due to the intense stress placed upon your heart."