Three years ago, Edolas-Gray and Natsu took on a mission to liberate prisoners from the Acropolis, but not everything went according to plan.

TW for violence, death, and graphic description of injuries

__________

so just save yourself
and i'll hold them back tonight
- save yourself, i'll hold them back; my chemical romance

Three Years Ago
Edolas

Natsu felt Gray's foot nudge his own, and he looked up to see Gray giving him a firm look. Right. He had to stop fidgeting. He gave a half-nod, then leaned back in his seat, wrists aching from the heavy anti-magic cuffs linked around them. His face was still stinging from the blow that had taken him down, dried blood caking his chin, but it had to look authentic. The ship droned beneath them, and he could just barely see the edge of the island-city of Imperium out of the window.

"They're asking for landing codes, sir."

A voice came from the front of the ship and the large, heavily armored man who had been silently standing guard over them turned to reply. Natsu rubbed his ankle against Gray's again, a silent plea for reassurance. Gray flashed him a quick smile, then wiggled his hand. The light from the window caught the silver band on his finger, and Gray raised his eyebrows at Natsu as he looked at it.

When this is over, you're gonna marry me, okay? Gray had asked Natsu that morning, springing the question while they were still half-asleep and tangled in the sheets. We're gonna frak these guys up and be heroes, and then we're gonna go find a justice in some little town and promise to be together forever. Natsu tried not to grin at the memory, feeling the weight of a similar ring on his own finger.

"Get up." The large man – Lieutenant Colonel Joekel of the First Antimagic Battalion – returned to them and grabbed Natsu's arm, hoisting him none-too-gently to his feet. Natsu snarled at him and stumbled towards the doors of the craft.

The ship shuddered as it descended, then with a slight bump they were on the ground. The doors hissed open, letting in fresh air, and Natsu was shoved forward into the landing area.

Everything here was flash – carbon and steel and crisp datascreens. None of the junky old dregs they'd had to patch together for their system back at Fairy Tail. Natsu admired it as he and Gray were ushered roughly out of the landing bay and into a hallway. As the doors slid shut behind them, Natsu began to tense up. This was real now. There was no going back.

"Breathe." Gray's voice was in his ear for just a moment before Natsu stumbled forward, turning to glare at the Magehunter who had shoved him. He took Gray's advice and inhaled deeply, running his thumb over the ridge of the ring on his finger. The EMP device was still hidden – he could feel the near-microscopic chip under his thumbnail like an unwanted sliver. Hibiki had been right about it being small enough to pass undetected through the scanners. Natsu made a mental note not to doubt the techmage again.

"Take them to the holding cells," Joekel ordered. They had reached the end of a hallway that forked off in two directions, and directly in front of them was... Natsu swallowed, hearing the thrum of energy even from here. He could barely see through the door past Joekel's massive frame, but even if he couldn't catch glimpses of the enormous Purging Stone, he could feel it. It made his teeth ache. How many mages had that stone destroyed? How much magic had it taken?

"Focus." Gray again, this time managing to touch Natsu's elbow even with his bound hands. Natsu shivered, forcing himself to stand straight and not lean into the touch. The guards behind them nudged them with their weapons, and both Natsu and Gray made a show of being angry before turning left and continuing down the hall. After a moment, a door to their left slid open, and they entered a small, sterile space with another door on the other side.

"Place your hands against the wall and don't move." A large man at the desk – the chief of security, judging by the emblem on his jacket – droned at them. Natsu shivered, reaching up and placing his manacled hands against the indicated markings on the wall. This was it. They had gone over the plan hundreds of times, but now that they were here, in Acropolis, with the threat of being Purged held over their heads, it was a lot more intimidating. Natsu closed his eyes and exhaled slowly.

Five... four... three... two... one. He pinched the chip under his fingernail, and for a horrifyingly long moment, nothing happened. Then everything went dark.

Natsu felt his magic rush back into him as the EMP wave flooded outward, overloading the cuffs around his wrists. He spun around immediately, flames dancing from his fingertips to overwhelm the guards behind him while Gray leaped over to the security chief, forming an ice dagger and holding it to his throat.

"Retinals or scancards?" Gray growled as the man struggled against him. Gray pressed the dagger down harder and blood welled up around the tip, dripping down the man's neck. "If I need your eyes, I'll cut them out of your frakkin' head." Frak, Gray could be scary when he wanted to be.

"Take it," the chief growled, ripping his security card from his belt and handing it to Gray. "You won't make it out of here. It will be amusing to watch you—" Gray rolled his eyes, pulling the chief's stun gun from his belt and shoving it into his neck. The guard seized violently, then fell to the floor in a twitching mess.

"He's lucky I didn't put this into his brain," Gray muttered, letting the dagger dissolve. Natsu placed a gentle hand on Gray's arm and he sighed, leaning over and kissing Natsu quickly. "We'd better get going. I'll pull up those maps, you get the cubes."

Natsu nodded, settling himself into the chief's seat and closing his eyes, breathing deeply. This was the integral part of the plan that he couldn't, couldn't mess up.

If you know what you're looking for, it will give you what you need.

Erza's words rung in Natsu's head as he tried to focus, feeling for that extra dimensional space where she stored her requip gear. Gods, he wished she was doing this instead of him. He hoped to hell that she was in one of the cells they were about to liberate, and not dead.

The space opened up to him, slowly, and he reached out a hand, feeling around for the spellcubes. He could feel blood trickling from his nose again at the effort of opening this tiny portal – how the hell did she do it so easily?

"Natsu, hurry it up..." Gray's voice was tight and Natsu was sure he could see incoming guards on the security screens. Natsu nodded, squeezing his eyes shut in concentration. Just... a little...

"Got 'em!" he shouted, pulling his hand out and releasing the portal. He gasped as pain flooded through his temples, but he didn't have time to catch his breath as Gray hoisted him from the chair.

"All of them?" Gray asked. Natsu looked down at his palm. Seven tiny spellcubes rested there – three red, four bluish-silver. Natsu grinned.

"Ready to get the hell outta here?"

~

The first 'port was easy enough – both of them grasped one of the silver-blue cubes, focusing on the location displayed on Gray's newly acquired datapad. As soon as the spell activated, Natsu dropped one of the explosive cubes, leaving a nasty surprise behind for whoever was currently banging down the door.

They reappeared right inside the first prison cell. Natsu stumbled, and Gray grabbed his shirt to steady him. 'Porting spells always made Natsu nauseous – not unlike riding the maglevs.

"Frak me, you two idiots actually made it."

Natsu turned around and was overjoyed to see a familiar figure making her way towards them.

"Erza!" he shouted, flinging himself at her and hugging her tightly. It was only then that he noticed the Purge mark on her arm. "I'm so sorry we couldn't get here sooner." She shook her head, clasping his arms gently.

"I'd rather be Purged and alive than a dead mage," she said softly. "I'm so proud of you two."

"All right, we don't have much time, everyone get over here," Gray called out. They'd timed this down to the second. The doors of the prison were starting to slide open, and he turned and blasted an ice barrier over them to keep out the guards. "All hands on the cube, or on someone touching the cube." The group of prisoners – around fifteen mages, some Natsu recognized, some he didn't – shuffled forward, eyes filled with hope and trepidation.

"We have a craft waiting just outside Louen," Natsu said to Erza as she strode over to the group. Even with the nasty scarring from the Purge and her dirty prison outfit, she still managed to command the room. "Levy's piloting – she knows to wait for us."

"All right. Only other cell is block B7, down the other side of the Purging Stone," Erza said. Gray nodded, tapping the datapad.

"We'll blow this one, pop there, then catch you at the landing pad." He gave a wry grin, then grabbed Natsu's hand, pulling him away from the group. "Go!" The cube in the center of the group began to dissolve, pieces of magic traveling along everyone touching it, and after a second, they were gone.

Just as they disappeared, the guards broke through Gray's ice, shards of it spraying back into the room. Gray tossed one of the red cubes towards them and it burst into flames as he and Natsu disappeared.

The second prisoner block was a scene of chaos.

"Son of a bitch," Gray whispered. Something had gone wrong in their calculations – the guards weren't supposed to be here yet. They had already entered the room and were preparing to drop the energy barrier that separated them from the prisoners. Gray quickly iced the panel over, then turned to Natsu and shoved him toward the group of prisoners in the back. "Get them ready to jump."

"Not so fast," a low, deadly voice growled from the other side of the barrier. Gray turned to see Joekel, grinning darkly at them and holding out a small, red stone. "You two are going to give me the perfect opportunity to test this." He raised the stone and pointed it directly at Gray.

"Get down!" Natsu grabbed Gray and threw him to the ground. Immediately the smell of burning flesh and the sound of anguished screaming filled his ears. Natsu realized after a second that the sound was coming from him.

"Natsu!" Gray's voice was frantic. Natsu rolled over and immediately threw up, chest shaking and back heaving from the pain. Beside him, Gray threw up an ice wall between them and Joekel. "Natsu, look at me, c'mon."

Natsu had taken the blast on his right forearm, and the skin was rapidly turning black and beginning to peel away. In one area, the flesh had been eaten away almost down to the bone. The pain was agonizing, and Natsu felt his vision darkening at the edges.

"Natsu, you have to use your flames to cauterize it." Gray's face swam in and out of his field of vision. Natsu blinked, wishing he could stop screaming, could stop the bone-deep pain that was spreading up his arm. He couldn't breathe, nothing but pain, pain, pain. "Natsu! Get it together!" A sharp slap on his cheek brought him back to reality momentarily, and he blinked. "Burn it or you're gonna lose your arm!"

"Gnnnngggn..." Natsu ground out a pained sound from between his teeth, but forced himself to keep his eyes open. He reached his left hand across and placed it over the wound, and a burst of flames erupted from his palm. He cried out again as the flesh blistered and burned.

"You're gonna be okay," Gray whispered, and Natsu felt Gray lift him up and dash over to the group of prisoners. He was handed off to someone else, and his head lolled back against their chest. "Everyone has to be touching, it takes a minute to power up." Gray was handing the spellcube over to whoever was holding Natsu. "Get him to a clinic as soon as you can."

"G... ray..." Natsu groaned, delirious with pain. He reached out for Gray and Gray clasped his hand, leaning over to kiss his forehead. "Wha..."

"I can't come," Gray whispered, voice breaking. There was a crash behind him, and Natsu could see the energy barrier powering down. "I have to buy you enough time to get away. Be strong. I'll find you."

"Gray, n-no," Natsu pleaded, grasping his hand tightly. Gray shook his head, tears spilling down his cheeks. "Please..."

"I have to keep you safe," Gray whispered, voice thick. "You have to go now. I love you so much." As he tore his hand from Natsu's and turned to face Joekel, Natsu lost the ability to breathe.

"Gray!" he screamed, watching helplessly as his partner stormed toward Joekel, desperately pushing up another barrier between them. Joekel sliced through it easily with his energy sword. The spellcube hummed to life behind Natsu and he struggled against the arms holding him, ignoring the searing pain in his arm. "GRAY!"

Gray turned to him and raised his hand out as if in farewell. A dome of ice suddenly began to form around the group, growing upward from the ground. The last thing Natsu saw of Gray was Joekel reaching out and grabbing him by the throat, and then the spell took effect and they were gone.

~

"...can't save it, it's completely necrotic..."

Natsu groaned, trying to open his eyes. He was lying on the floor. Everything felt so far away. Pain lanced through his arm, making him scream out and arch his back.

"...tried to cauterize but it's still spreading, we'll have to amputate..."

The floor shook underneath him, a low hum telling him he was in a craft of some kind. He managed to open his eyes for long enough to see bright red hair, a worried face – Erza.

"...can't wait or it'll kill him, hold him down..."

Then there were hands on his shoulders and legs and stomach that he couldn't struggle against. He whined in confusion, and then – then there was nothing but pain.

~

When Natsu opened his eyes, he immediately recognized the guild's "infirmary" – a bedroom with three cots and a box of medical supplies. Erza was sitting in a chair next to his bed, eyes closed and head tipped forward. As soon as Natsu moved, she started and looked up at him.

"Careful," she said, voice raspy. "Let me help you." Numbly, Natsu allowed her to put her arm around his back, tilting him into a sitting position. Something was wrong. His arm ached and his mouth was dry, and he knew he was forgetting something...

"Gray?" A panicked feeling festered in Natsu's chest, mind desperately trying to recall what had happened, what had gone wrong. He looked down at his arm and— "What... wh..."

"Deep breaths, Natsu," Erza said gently, but he couldn't follow her directions. His arm was gone. Everything from just above the elbow was gone, stump bandaged and tied off just below his guild mark. Half of the mark was also destroyed – replaced by the same thick scar tissue that Erza had on her shoulder. "We had to amputate it. You got hit by some sort of necrotic blast, the magic was eating away at your skin and bone and there was no way to stop it. If we hadn't removed it, you would have died."

Maybe that would have been better, Natsu thought, starting to feel dizzy. He swung his legs over the side of the bed, ignoring the nauseous feeling in his stomach.

"You should take it easy, you lost a lot of blood," Erza cautioned, but didn't try to stop Natsu when he pushed himself to his feet. He swayed unsteadily for a moment, and she let him grasp her shoulder for balance. "Natsu, you should sit back down. A lot has happened."

"Gray's still there," Natsu gasped, memories flooding back to him. He squeezed his eyes shut, moving to cover his face before realizing that he no longer had a right hand. The memories were sharp, hard and terrifying. "We have to go back."

Natsu stumbled towards the door, pushing Erza away when she tried to help him. The dizziness came in waves, blackness around the edges of his vision, but he pushed through it, forcing himself out the door and to the stairs.

"Natsu, please, listen to me." Erza begged as she pushed past him and stood at the bottom of the steps, hands in front of her. "Gray is gone."

Natsu snarled at her, stumbling down and falling into her arms. She helped him stand, grasping his shoulders and touching his face gently. He tried to pull away and head for the common room door but she wouldn't let him.

"Everyone is in there right now. Do you want to see them like this?" Her voice held that familiar commanding tone, and it halted Natsu for a second. He looked back at her again, eyes wide as her previous words hit him.

"Gone?" Everything went blurry for a moment and he backed up against the wall, tasting copper in his mouth from where he'd bitten his tongue. Natsu slid down into a sitting position, knees up against his chest. "I saw... he's there, we can... with more 'port c-cubes..."

"Natsu." Erza crouched down in front of him, tipping his chin up to look at her. "I'm so sorry. Gray saved so many people, and he is a hero to everyone he got out of those prisons." Natsu could see now that her eyes were red-rimmed and full of pain.

"But..." he protested weakly. "Maybe they—he's just in prison. Like..." Erza shook her head.

"Imperium put out a holo," she said shakily, looking at the ground between Natsu's feet. "They executed him last night."

Natsu stopped breathing. Erza was still talking, but the sound was far away, and it felt like he was seeing everything from deep underwater. Every breath he took echoed in his ears and they were coming sharper, faster, louder...

"Natsu, please, look at me," Erza begged, and he raised his head slowly, not realizing that he had been shouting. "I'm so sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," she sobbed.

Natsu vaguely acknowledged that someone else was in the room now – Gajeel, apparently – and that he was attempting to help Natsu up and carry him back to the infirmary. Natsu lashed out at him, scrambling back down the hallway and storming into the command center.

"Wha—" Wendy stood in the corner of the room, eyes scanning reports and media on the vidscreens. Natsu leaned against one of the computer terminals, panting and trying to ignore the pain where his arm had been.

"Show me," he demanded, voice breaking, and Wendy gave him a heartbroken look.

"No, Natsu," she said softly, coming over to him and placing a hand on his cheek. "Please, you don't want to see it." He shook off her comforting touch, biting down a sob that was pressing its way up his throat.

"Please, I have to, I need—I can't..." He knew he wasn't making any sense, but Wendy nodded sadly at him, guiding him to a chair and handing him a datapad.

"Are you sure?" she asked quietly, and Natsu snatched the datapad from her hand, feeling hot tears at the corners of his eyes. His face felt tight, and he gestured for her to go.

"Leave me alone," he whispered. "Please."

There was a pause, and then the sound of footsteps and the click of the door closing. Natsu let out the sob then, feeling it burst from his chest like something living. Gray had promised to find him. He couldn't be dead.

The holo was titled Infamous Terrorist Gray Fullbuster Executed for Treason. Natsu tapped it with a trembling hand, watching numbly as a woman's voice spoke over an image of Gray.

"The AntiMagic Division caught wanted terrorist Gray Fullbuster today after he brazenly broke into the Acropolis, setting off bombs that killed more than twenty-five security personnel," the woman said. "He managed to release several other dangerous criminals, who are being hunted by the AntiMagic Battalion as we speak." The image changed to a video of the Acropolis, where Gray was being forced to his knees by two Magehunters. Joekel stood behind him, pistol in hand. "Viewer discretion is advised for the rest of this clip as it does contain graphic content."

Natsu nearly hit stop, nearly threw the datapad across the room, but some tiny part of him refused to believe that Gray was gone until... oh. No. Joekel brought the gun to rest on the back of Gray's head, then leaned forward and spoke to Gray, who spit on the ground. Then Joekel's finger tightened on the trigger, and Gray slumped forward, unmoving.

"The AntiMagic division is hoping that this public display of discipline will help to deter further terrorist..." the voice continued, but Natsu flipped the datapad off and threw it on the desk. Tears pressed at the back of his eyes again, and he struggled to inhale against the pressure in his chest.

"Gray..." he sobbed, clenching his fist and realizing that he still wore his ring. He brought it to his cheek, pressing the cool metal into his skin and letting out a mournful cry. They were supposed to be together. Gray had promised.

"Hey," Erza whispered, crouching down next to the chair. Natsu hadn't heard her come in. "Why don't you come back upstairs, you need to sleep."

Natsu shook his head, face buried in his arm, and let out another sob, and then another, and another, and soon he was crying so hard his whole body ached. Erza pulled him down to the ground and into her arms, stroking his hair as he mourned.

"I don't... I can't..." he gasped, and she kissed his head, holding him tightly against her.

"I know," she whispered, her own voice rough with tears. "I know, I'm so sorry."

They sat like that for what felt like hours, until Natsu's face was red and swollen and his head was pounding.

"I'm gonna kill him," Natsu said eventually. His voice was shaky but determined. "I'm gonna make it back there, and I'm gonna dust that whoreson, and he's gonna regret ev-ev-ever..." He rubbed his face with the back of his hand.

"We'll get our revenge," Erza agreed, standing slowly and helping Natsu to his feet. He swayed unsteadily and she caught him by the elbow. "Right now, you're going to sleep. But tomorrow we're gonna start planning the next attack, and we're not gonna stop 'til Joekel and Faust both have a bolt in their brains."