Chapter Fifteen

A/N: Dedicated to @sasukee-kun for getting it right first. You sicko. (love ya)

Also I wrote this in the car without proofreading it and I'm really tired so I apologize for any mistakes.

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Gray

There were flames in my house.

They were everywhere around me, flickering and weaving under the spell they were sparked into.

I tried to warn you, Lucy's voice rang in my mind. I whirled around, trying to find her, but she was nowhere to be found.

Plastic twisted into curls, wood charred, and vinyl melted like chocolate in summer. The air smelled acrid, infused with chemicals and burning flesh. I coughed as black smoke filled my lungs; suddenly it was difficult to breathe.

The fire threatened to burn my lungs, cooking me from the inside out.

I only had one thought. Escape! I backed up and scrambled for an exit, to get away from the monstrous flames. How do I get out of here?

My once welcome home felt like a maze of life or death, making too many fatally wrong turns until I was cornered, the flames creeping closer and closer, lapping at my feet like venomous snakes.

Help! I tried to scream, but no noise would come out. Someone, save me!

A figure emerged from the fire. Covered in a silhouette of ashen smoke, their identity was unknown until they were right in front of me.

Familiar onyx eyes sparkled happily, and a hand reached out to me.

- - - -

I shot up in bed like a spring, my hand extended out to me, trying to grab onto the hand in my dream. Looking around me wildly for fire, I gulped in air to catch my breath when I realized it was judt a dream.

I wiped the perspiration from my face as I tried to calm down. It was sunrise, the blush of dawn that allowed the tiniest bit of light to stream through my window.

This was something I've naturally been accustomed to doing since being on the run from the Lab. The room was silent, and I heard no movement downstairs. My family must've already left the house, I decided as an afterthought.

I rolled over on my side, seeing Natsu by the window through my half-lidded eyes. Already fully dressed, his back was turned to me, his wings folded neatly across his back. The window was open, and he was staring absentmindedly outside.

When he heard me sit up in the bed, Natsu turned around. "Oh," he said, smiling when he saw me staring at him. "You're awake."

Rubbing my eyes, I responded with a groggy "Unfortunately."

"Did you sleep well?"

"As well as I could, considering the circumstances," I yawned, deciding not to worry him with my nightmare.  I looked up at him, noticing the dark circles under his eyes. "You?"

Natsu looked away. "Not really."

Was he just up earlier, or did he even sleep at all?

Deciding not to push it, I threw the duvet off me and rushed to my dresser to get dressed. The ambush outfit Natsu gave me yesterday morning was folded neatly on top. I dressed quickly, struggling to get the spandex material through the slits for my wings.

When I turned around, Natsu was lacing up his boots, his leg propped up on the windowsill. After tying the knots, he looked at me expectantly, like he was expecting me to say something.

I blushed automatically, at a loss for words. The moment passed, evaporating in the air as quickly as it condensed. A soft sigh passed by Natsu's lips and he slipped on his mask.

"Come on," He ushered before slipping through the open window. "We better get going before the sun fully rises."

The plan was to be ready at the high school before the flock would show up, so we could catch them before they caught us. I only hoped Rogue pulled through with his portion of the plan; if this went seamlessly, this would be the last day I would have to deal with this mess.

"Wait," I stopped him before he ran off the roof. "I should check on my family, see if they left."

"There's no time," Natsu shook his head. "We have to go, we have no idea when the flock will show up. As far as we know, they could already be there."

I narrowly followed behind, only catching a glimpse of him snapping his wings out before jumping off the roof, nose-diving to the ground before flipping back up into the air. I took one last look at my bedroom, taking in every last detail as I had a funny feeling I wouldn't be seeing it for a long time.

We flew side by side – well, as close as we could with roughly twenty-five feet of wings between us – scaling up in altitude until the clouds were an arm's reach away.

It was cold at this height, but necessary to conceal ourselves as much as possible until we'd reached my old high school, which was about fifteen minutes away by car.

Not even two minutes of flying had passed before I realized I forgot something. "Natsu!" I yelled over the rush of the wind blowing in our faces. "I forgot my mask."

Natsu's features scrunched up as he gave me an annoyed look, before sighing impatiently. He knew the real reason why I had to go back. The mask wasn't necessary; the flock would recognize us no matter what. But the uneasy feeling in my stomach wasn't going away; I had to check the house one last time just to calm my nerves.

"I'll be back before you know it," I saluted him assuredly before allowing myself to drop, flipping around and flying back home. I forced myself to flap my wings harder, to to go faster, pushing against the strong wind current that tried to set me back.

Lucy's voice rang in my mind, making my head spin from how loud she was. Turn back, Gray, She warned me. Please, just listen-

Why, Lucy? I thought back exasperatedly. What could you possibly have to say to me?

Lots of things, actually. But I can tell you them later. For now, you need to trust me. You can't go home. Please turn back. Your family-

"What about my family?" My voice was rising angrily, trying to shout over the staticky radio waves I heard in my mind. "Lucy? Lucy?!"

The noise drowned out in my head, her voice wavering in the static before becoming incomprehensible and eventually fizzling into nothing.

Confused and worried, I landed clumsily, stumbling over my feet but not stopping until I reached my destination. I ran from the inertia of my landing but didn't slow down until I was at my front door.

I reached into the plant, fumbling for the hidden key tucked into the side of the dirt. Brushing it off, I was about to insert the key when I noticed the door was already cracked open.

"No, this isn't right," I laughed shortly at the door and myself. "This is the second time in a row. Clearly I'm just losing my mind."

I pushed the door open slowly, uneasiness slowly creeping up on me and infecting the rest of my body. With shaky hands, I pushed the door shut behind me. My mask was left in my backpack, which was hanging on one of the dining room chairs. I dug inside for it and slipped it over my face.

Something didn't feel right, I thought for what felt like the millionth time. Shouldn't they be gone by now?

The smell of gasoline and burning hair filled my senses, clouding all sense of reality. All the lights were off, the small slivers of sunlight casting early morning shadows on the hardwood floor of the foyer. My body moved on autopilot, thundering down the hallway and turning the corner into the living room.

I saw her white hair first, sparkling like fresh snow, save for the bits of black ash tangled in her hair. My eyes trailed down slowly, widening as I saw her arm torn clean off, metal wires and electronic attachments spilling out of the appendage.

She doesn't look that shocked to see my ghastly expression. "Oh honey, I thought you already left," She commented lightly, looking down at the mutilated arm attachment in her hand. Sparks of electricity pop loudly like popcorn between the wires.

My eyes flickered behind her, where the fireplace was roaring and smoke was billowing out into the room. But I wasn't looking at the smoke; no, the only thing I could see were body parts, hardly recognizable. In the pit were robotic limbs, glassy eyeballs, even the dark silky hair of what looked like my younger sister, and the smell of burning hair becoming forever ingrained in my mind. It was attached to her melting face, dripping like wax before splattering on the wooden logs and disintegrating.

"Oh my God," I whispered, my voice choking up as a lump formed in my throat.

Mika looked back at the fireplace calmly, rubbing gasoline on her arm like it was moisturizer. "Sorry, Gray," She apologized when she saw my expression, her cruelly monotonous voice sounding sorry at all. "But it's not like we were the ones who killed your real family. We just sat in their place."

She turned to face me, her eyes bright but deadened and soulless. I couldn't tear my eyes away, feeling myself being sucked into her gaze. I tried to speak, but I was already shutting down. I couldn't even move; the only thing I was capable of doing was staring, my jaw unhinged and tears running down my face.

"I tried to warn you," Mika said. Gasping, I felt the wind being knocked out of me as I stumbled forward and fell on my knees. "Natsu or you. You made the choice, Gray," She explained unapologetically.

Taking a step forward, she got on one knee and lifted my chin with her finger. The touch was so cold, like the touch of metal. Her eyes narrowed, and for a second, I felt like she was staring right through me. I shivered distastefully, too frozen in fear to move.

Standing up suddenly, she chucked the arm into the fire forcefully, knocking ashes everywhere and casting a large, bursting flame to erupt into the chimney. She turned back around before sitting by the fireplace. After ripping off her legs and tossing them into the fire, she grabbed the bottle of gasoline in one hand. After spilling it all over the floor, she doused it all over her body and struck a match.

Her voice was exactly the same as my mothers, and yet the woman I was looking at was not my mother in the slightest.

The flames casting shadows on her face, she whispered just loudly enough over the roar of the crackling fire, "And you chose him, Gray."

Her eyes flickered between the match's flame and me, shooting me a half smile before dropping it on her breasts, immediately lighting up in flames. The fire began to spread across the room, and before I knew it, the room was filled with flames.

I screamed when they came in contact with my arm, white-hot pain searing through my body. Snapping out of my trance when I realized the immediate, life-threatening danger I was in, I scrambled to my feet and making a run for the door.

I was too late; the flames had already spread. She must've covered the whole house in gasoline with that giant bottle, I realized as I bolted towards the only place of escape; the stairs. Tears blurring my vision and my fear blurring any sense of rationality, I practically ripped the attic door off it's hinges trying to get up the ladder, scaling up and crossing the room in a matter of seconds.

My bedroom window was unlocked, open as I forgot to shut it when I first left. The smell of smoke filling my nostrils, I pushed myself through the window, sliding down the sloped roof just as Natsu landed.

"Gray!" He shouted. "Lucy was in my head. She told me to go find you," He teetered on the roof as he rushed to my side.

Brushing my tears away, I hardly acknowledged him and jumped off, flying away.

I made the mistake of looking back. Natsu was flying right behind me, closing the distance between us. I could see the flames through the windows, the windows starting to turn black. The smoke alarms were ringing now, loud and piercing cries blasting my eardrums.

Get away from there, I screamed at myself, willing myself to fly faster.

"Gray, what's happening?" Natsu screamed from behind me. Ignoring him, I continued to stare straight ahead. My arm was still in searing pain from where the fire burned me, but I ignored that too. I figured if I ignored everything, it wouldn't hurt me as much. Whispering to himself, I heard him wonder, "Is that... fire?"

Screw ignoring. Every second felt like a thousand stabs to the heart. I felt the adrenaline and strength burning off me, and suddenly I was in free fall, skyrocketing towards the ground as I felt myself fade to nothing.

"Gray!" Natsu's voice was too far away; so quiet I wondered if he was even there.

I waited hopefully for the impact that never came. The world was blissfully quiet, save for the distant cry of a mother eagle. Slipping out of consciousness, the world was spinning as my world faded to black.

A sharp slap to the face startled me back awake.

"Shit!" I screamed, grabbing my face and rolling off whatever I was on. I sat up to see I had just rolled off Natsu's lap, with him angrily glaring at me. "What the hell was that for?"

"You fainted, you dumbass! Allowing yourself to fall out of the sky like that..." He trailed off, biting his lip. "What happened back there?"

The memories returned in response the question, all my senses alighting with what I just experienced. The smell of burning hair and rusted metal, the sight of my own mother, taken over by an artificial life force and tearing her limbs off, the feeling of fire singing against flesh.

My whole body shook with fear and rage, and I tried to explain, but I didn't even know where to start. All that came out of my mouth was a choked sob.

Natsu moved towards me, picking me up and pulling me into a hug. I was overwhelmed by how it felt and began to tear up, burying my head into his shoulder.

"They're dead," I sobbed. "They're all dead."

"Shh," He soothed. "It's alright. Everything is going to be okay."

I wished I could believe him, I really did. But I couldn't get myself to believe in anything right now, not even myself. Time slipped from my grasp as I cried into his shoulder, knowing I had to save the rest of Starlight City but I couldn't even save my own family.

One thing's for sure, I thought as Natsu held me, whoever did this to my family, was going to pay.

It was when I had that thought that the bombs started to go off.

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A/N: I'm sorry. This was the hardest chapter I've ever had to write by far.