He Came Back

I held him in my arms for a long time. Just listening to his steady breathing. As long as I could feel his heart beating and hear him breathing, then I would be okay, and he would be okay. So keep breathing, Natsu. I'm here...I'm here.

I held him tighter to me as I thought back to our battle with the spider. When Natsu was battling that spider and when the spider had hit him, he flew into those webs. That's where that baby Scorpion Spider must have come from. Before he had untangled himself from the sticky webs it must have latched itself onto him and into his nervous system.

Where it had controlled him.

A lump lodged itself in my throat as I thought about it. That thing had almost taken him away from me. I swallowed thickly as I remembered the icy fear that I had felt when I had thought that I had lost him. I buried my face in his scarf and closed my eyes tightly. "Don't ever scare me like that again, you baka." I choked out.

Natsu suddenly stirred in my arms and I watched in frozen fear as he lifted up his head. I was half fearful that when I looked at his eyes they would be glowing red. However, I was also half hopeful that he would be his normal, carefree self.

Natsu shook his head and blinked up at me. Our eyes locked, mine against his...fiery green. When he saw me, he smiled lazily, "Sup, Fey...?" He then blinked slowly at me, "Fey, why...are you crying?"

My eyes widened for a moment and when I blinked a hot tear ran down my cheek. I hadn't even realized that I had been crying. Natsu reached up and wiped the tear away with his thumb, "Don't be sad, Freya..." With a heavy sigh his eyes began to close.

"I don't like...when you're sad..."

His eyes fell shut and he slumped forward in my arms. I swallowed thickly and took a deep breath.

He had come back to me.

I buried my fingers in his hair and held him close to me for another moment. I knew we both needed medical attention. I had to get us to Wendy...where ever she was. With a huff I lifted him up and almost fell back down. My legs were shaking so badly and my muscles ached. I opened my mouth and yelled out Gajeel's name.

I staggered over to the cave's wall and leaned against it. After a moment of waiting, Sting, rounded the corner. "Where's Gajeel?" I asked as I took a small step away from him. "He didn't want to bring Levy here and he wouldn't leave her." Sting stopped a few feet away from me, "You don't like me very much, do you?"

I bit my lip and shouldered Natsu's weight more onto my shoulder. When I didn't answer he sighed and reached out to help me with Natsu. Unconsciously I took another step back from him. He dropped his hand and blinked at me.

"I'm not going to do anything, Freya. You can trust me."

But...I didn't.

I looked at the boy who meant so much to me and then back at Sting. Natsu needed help and the only way he could get that help...is if Sting helped. I clenched my jaw and nodded slowly. The Dragon Slayer took a hesitant step forward.

When he realized I wasn't going to body slam him again he lifted up Natsu's limp arm and put it around his neck. With the help of the White Dragon Slayer, we began to make our way to the others.

"What happened to, Natsu-San?" Sting asked me. I glanced at him and I told him about the little spider.

"So, what? The thing was controlling him?" He asked with a shudder.

I nodded, "It must have tapped into his nervous system and somehow controlled his thoughts and actions...I wasn't aware that they could do that." I mumbled.

"How did you bring him back?"

I shrugged my shoulders, "I cut that thing in half."

Sting gave me a look, "I bet it was more than that."

I paused, was it more than that?

Sting and I brought Natsu back to the others and I was surprised when I saw our missing Guild Mates were all there. "Natsu-san!" Wendy said worriedly and ran over with Carla and Happy right behind her.

Sting and I lowered Natsu to the ground as Wendy began healing him. I sat on the ground beside him and closed my eyes in exhaustion. "Freya-chan, when I'm finished I will help you, too." I heard Wendy say. I chuckled weakly, "That's okay, Wendy. I'm fine."

"Your clearly not." Erza said as she stood over me. I let out a breath and cracked open one eye, "I'm okay enough." I looked over at Natsu who hadn't moved, "He needs help far more than I do." I glanced up and saw Sting looking at me. I looked away from him just as Lucy dropped down beside me.

"How is he, Wendy?" Her voice was filled with worry. Gray came closer to listen to what she had to say and Gajeel lifted his head slightly. Wendy looked at us and said, "He's going to be alright." A relieved breath escaped me and it seemed like the voices of my friends started to blend together.

My vision was starting to get fuzzy and I blinked to clear it. It felt like my whole world was spinning and I was right in the middle of it. I heard someone ask if I was all right and then I felt a hand on my shoulder. I tried to say that I was fine but my mouth wouldn't work for some reason. Then I was falling backward. I landed on my back but I barley felt the impact.

People were surrounding me and their worried voices all blurred together. I blinked slowly and against my will my eyes started to close. Voices started to blur together until I couldn't decipher who said what.

Freya...?

Come on...stay with us...

Wendy...!

Help...!

Dammit...!

I faded into the darkness.

******

Voices broke through my dreamless sleep and the darkness. My eyes fluttered open and I had to blink rapidly so my eyes could adjust to the sudden bright light. I titled my head to the right and that's when I realized that I was laying down in soft grass. So that meant that we were now out of the cave.

"I'm telling you bakas that we're going the wrong way!" A voice said in annoyance.

"Ha! How would you know? You suck at directions."

"Your just as horrible as ever I see."

"Everyone, I know exactly where we are going."

"Erza, I don't think you do."

"Of course I know!"

"We are all going to die out here!"

"Lu-shee, its your fault."

"Shut it, cat."

"Will ya all shut the hell up!"

"Shut it!"

I groaned and shook my head as I tried to sit up on my elbows. "You shouldn't do that." A deep voice said. I jerked my head and grimaced when my head gave a sharp throb. "Told you." The voice said again. I opened one eye and glared at Sting who was sitting a few feet away from me.

"Oh, thanks a lot, Sting." My voice was dripping with sarcasm. He leaned back against a fallen tree and put his arms behind his head, "That's a nice way to thank me." He muttered. I gave him a confused look, "For what?"

He smirked at me and shrugged his shoulders, "For carrying you." I shot up and bared my teeth at him. "What?"

He put his hands in front of him, "Calm down. I thought I would do you a favor and help you out." He gave me a sour look, "I guess it didn't work, eh?"

"What didn't work?"

He relaxed again and closed his eyes, "I thought if I helped you then you would at least be civil to me. For some reason you don't like me or Rouge, I mean Rouge I can understand, but why me?"

I gave him a look, he just dissed his friend. I looked at him for a moment and muttered, "Thanks." He nodded his head with a satisfied smirk on his face, "No problem." I tilted my head at him. "I don't like you for what you did in the Grand Magic Games."

He sat up straight, "I apologized!" He said in his defense. "Besides I didn't do anything wrong!" I shot him a look that was full of venom. "But that's the reason. If you have a problem with that then you can keep it to yourself." I smiled evilly at him, "Or you can say it to my face. I mean, that's probably gonna be a lot of fun, for me anyway." He paled and shook his head. "Nope I'm good."

Heh, that's what I thought.

I stretched my arms above my head and cracked my neck. My eyes suddenly widen and I frantically looked around. "Oi, where's Natsu at?" I asked him, worriedly. He pointed behind him. "He's over on the other side of the tree." I got up and looked over the fallen tree. I let out a sigh of relief when I saw the familiar cherry blossom color of my best friend's hair. Natsu was laying on his back in the shadows of the tree, looking peaceful, and untroubled in his sleep.

"Why did you put him back here?" I asked Sting as I reached down to touch his cheek. "He was burning up out here." Sting answered. "Or it could have just been his natural body temperature." I deadpanned. The blond headed Mage rubbed the back of his head and chuckled. "Yay, that could be it, too."

I ran my fingers down his warm cheek then turned back to Sting, who I found staring at me. "How come you didn't tell us you were hurt?" I looked away from him. "How bad was it?"

"You had a sever burn on your back and stomach. Not to mention the many bruises and cuts." He paused for a moment and then he spoke in a hushed voice. "Wendy and I saw the scars..."

I closed my eyes.

"Freya, what happened to you?"

"Something bad." I answered as I reopened my eyes. "Don't...don't tell him...okay?" Out of the corner of my eye I saw him nod.

"Who else saw?"

"Nobody else. Just me and Wendy...and maybe Happy." I put my head in my hands, "Great...he's such a blabbermouth." I said from behind my hands. Sting laughed, "Your right. But I bet he won't tell anyone."

"He tells the whole Guild everything!"

"Huh..." Was Sting's answer.

I glanced over at my Guild Mates who were still arguing.

"Can't find which way to go?"

"Yep."

"We gonna die out here?"

"Most likely."

We looked at each other, smiled, and started laughing. He had a nice laugh, it was real, and it made me laugh harder.

Hmm...forgive but never forget, eh?

I looked over at the blond haired boy who was still laughing and smiled thoughtfully.

I forgive you...Sting.

Have to dedicate this chapter to my sister, Christina or Christinap357
She's a total Sting Fangirl, so I thought I would please her with some of her fav Dragon Slayer! Well, Natsu is okay now, Freya has admitted to herself that she loves him full on, now can Natsu love her back? #NaFe XD thank you Christina for that ship name! Perfection