Life After Near Death

Feel Nothing

"How nice - to feel nothing, and still get full credit for being alive."

― Kurt Vonnegut

"Hey, over here!"

Natsu shouted as the guild played a game of volleyball by the swimming pool behind the main building. He jumped up and down, but taller players easily hit the ball. Just as Natsu thought the ball would come to him, Elfman pounded it back over to the other side.

"That was my hit!" the Dragon Slayer raged.

"Stealing hits is manly."

"It is not, you asshole! We're on the same team."

Gray sat to the side with Lucy, Levy, and Juvia.

"I can never play volleyball with everyone else," Levy sighed. "Gajeel, Laxus, Elfman: they're all too tall."

"Juvia can't play either," the rain woman lamented. "Everyone says Juvia makes the ball wet." She clung to Gray's arm. "But that means Juvia can stay with Gray-sama."

He rolled his eyes at her clingy attitude. "I'm only side-lined because I pulled a muscle in my leg yesterday."

"You overdid it again," Lucy scolded.

"How else am I going to get better?" he snapped. "I have to push myself. I need to get stronger. Being this weak is annoying, especially when everyone else is still having fun without me."

Juvia rubbed her cheek on his bare arm. "Gray-sama and Juvia can have fun together anytime!"

Gray tried to pull away from her with an annoyed grimace.

"Hey, I'm clear over here," Natsu shouted. "Erza, pass it to me! To me!"

Gray glared and grumbled, "That idiot. Isn't he rather short to be playing on Gajeel and Elfman's team?"

"Erza is holding her own well," Lucy admired.

"Maybe we should start our own game with Wendy, Romeo, Lisanna, and Kinana," Levy suggested. "The short-people league!"

"Freed, you bastard!" Natsu raged. "I was going to hit the ball."

"It was served by Laxus, which means it must have been meant for me," Freed said haughtily, "because anything from Laxus is meant for me."

"Weirdo!"

Erza shouted out, "Natsu, head's up. This one is all yours."

"Yosh!" he snickered. "All right, Erza. I'm gonna smack this ball out of the park, just you watch."

He eyed the oncoming ball, ran forward a little, and then leaped up to spike it over the net. As soon as he jumped into the air, something changed in Natsu's face. He looked stunned, then pained, and the ball soared right past him.

"Idiot," Gray muttered. "All that fuss for a miss."

Lucy sat up and put her sunglasses to the side. "No, something is wrong with him."

Erza raced forward and ran under the net. "Natsu? Natsu!"

The Dragon Slayer laid on the ground, his eyes massive, one hand pressed against his chest. His face was quickly turning pale.

"Wendy!" screamed Erza.

Gray leaped up, but people were trying to push the rest of the players back to make room for Wendy. For a moment, Natsu was completely encircled and Gray could not see what was happening.