The Real You

Over and Over

"All of us want to bring him back, Gray. You didn't have to go out on your own." Erza chastised him but then in a softer tone admitted. "I can't lose you too."

Gray nodded at her, overwhelmed by all of the emotions the requip mage had shown since his arrival. He understood what she meant, he felt exactly the same way, He took out the map he had been using and laid it out on the table showing Erza where he had gone.

Romeo watched them from the table where he was sitting with Wendy and guilt churned inside of him. Should he tell them what he knew? Both mages looked distraught but Natsu's words echoed in his mind. This was not an emergency. He couldn't betray his friend's trust no matter how much he wanted to. He cursed at his brother figure's stubbornness but held firm. He didn't have to sit and watch though, it was bad enough to see Wendy and Happy's sad expressions every day and carry the guilt of having that letter. He excused himself and went for a walk, ending up as always at Natsu's house, in front of the Natsu & Happy sign.

o-o

For the next few weeks several search parties went out in search of Natsu, determined to bring him back. They divvied up the map and set out to find their missing mage. Each party returned empty handed. People eventually gave up. Either Natsu really didn't want to be found or he had died. Either way they had to go back to work to be able to earn enough jewel to survive. They looked at Erza and Gray with pity when the two refused to give up.

Every once in a while one of the dragon slayers would go out with them but there was no trail to follow. The dragon slayers had all followed what they could the first two weeks but there had been no trace of Natsu's magic, and human scents did not linger long. They had help from other guilds. Sting and Rogue would help out searching the areas around them whenever they had free time. To Gray's surprise Lyon and Jura had been doing the same. The reports were all the same, Natsu was nowhere to be found.

Gray had begun to notice that Romeo had been acting differently around him since Natsu had left. They had never been particularly close before but now Gray was getting the distinct feeling that the Rainbow Fire Mage was avoiding him. Romeo would wait in the guild to hear the results of the search, then stare at him and Erza with an odd expression on his face and hurry out of the guild. Gray found that decidedly strange.

He was determined to get to the bottom of the strange behavior and after he returned from his latest failure, a week in Mikage Forest, he decided to follow the young mage and have a talk with him. Natsu had already been gone for almost 2 months.

He waited for a few minutes after Romeo exited and got up to follow, dexterously avoiding Juvia's advance towards him as he made his way out the guild doors as quietly as he could manage. He caught sight of the young fire mage walking towards the path in the woods that led to Natsu's house. He wondered if the Fire Dragon Slayer had been hiding out in plain sight and for a moment his heartbeat quickened at the thought of seeing Natsu again. That had been happening a lot lately and hell if he knew what it meant.

He watched Romeo stop in front of Natsu and Happy's sign and begin to talk. He got closer so that he could hear what the fire mage was saying.

"Why did you give this to me, Natsu-nii?" Romeo spoke to the sign. "What am I supposed to do? Everyone is miserable without you. Happy doesn't smile anymore, he just sits at the guild staring at the door. Erza and Gray are miserable too, they haven't been on a job since the one where Lucy died. You trusted me but I don't know how much longer I can bear this."

"Where is he, Romeo?" Gray spoke up behind the young fire mage. Romeo jumped, he had not realized anyone had followed him.

"How would I know?" Romeo said as he rubbed his hands over his arms to warm himself up from the sudden chill that had settled into the air.

"Don't play dumb, I heard you." Gray stared at the boy, his blue eyes pleading for the truth. "At the very least you know something. He needs us Romeo."

Romeo stared at the ground as he tried to resolve his moral dilemma. Natsu had trusted him with a secret and he wanted to be worthy of that trust, but Natsu had not been in his right mind when he left. Romeo knew Gray was right, Natsu needed help to work through the guilt he was experiencing and Gray and Erza were probably the only two people left who would be able to help him do that.

"I don't know exactly where he is but I saw him leave town and he gave me an envelope. He said I was only to open it in an emergency and it would help us find him." Romeo confessed.

"Where is this envelope?" Gray asked.

"I hid it in Natsu's house, I figured no one would look there and I wouldn't be tempted to open it."

They entered Natsu's house together and Romeo invoked a small fire to help them see in the darkness. He walked over to Natsu's kitchen, which was still a disaster area and removed the envelope from inside of a canister which did not appear to have ever been used. He handed Gray the envelope and they headed back towards the guild to look it over.

Gray had enough presence of mind to reassure the young mage, "You did the right thing, kid."

"I hope so." Romeo knew Gray was right,but he still felt like he had betrayed Natsu. Even so,he felt lighter than he had since the day Natsu had left, the weight of carrying the knowledge of Natsu's whereabouts no longer bearing down on him.

A/N The next chapter will have the actual Day 7 Prompt: Sun, I just felt it needed this chapter. Our writing group Fairy Tail LGBTales has its website up, You can check us out at https://ftlgbtales.home.blog . There is information up already for our first event, When We Take Different Path, coming up in October. Check it out and participate!