Natsu stared blankly at the grave in front of him, still unable to believe who it belonged to. In delicate cursive it read:

Lucy Heartfilia

Loved and cherished friend

Part of the reason he couldn't believe it is because, within the two years the tombstone had been errected, there was never a body buried under it. Natsu clenched his fists as he remembered the day Lucy had died.

Gray had wanted to stay at the guild and rest while Erza had already gone off on her own job. Lucy needed money to pay for her rent and Natsu needed money for food so they decided to tag-team a job.

When they arrived at the village the job request had originated from, everything looked broken and deserted. Lucy found this to be suspicious, but Natsu brushed it off and insisted they just kill the monster they were after and collect their prize afterwords.

Later, Natsu would regret that decision more than anything.

They were seriously out-matched. Lucy was beaten and bloody, barely able to stand. Happy had tried to help, but the poor cat had been knocked unconcious. Natsu was in worse condition than Lucy, but he refused to stay down and kept getting back up.

The beast took a swing at Lucy and knocked her off the edge of the mountain they were on, catching the blonde by surprise. Before either of them had time to react, Lucy had already fallen out of sight and she wasn't able to catch herself.

The dragon-slayer had jumped up and ran to the cliff, praying Lucy had somehow survived, but she was nowhere to be seen.

Natsu spun around to face the creature, only to be hit in the face then everything went black.

When he woke up he found himself in the hospital back in Magnolia, covered in bandages. The first words out of his mouth were "Where's Lucy?"

Everybody around him shifted uncomfortably, averting their gaze. This only agitated the dragon-slayer and he started thrashing around. "Where the hell is she?!"

"Natsu, calm down!" Someone from the back of the crowd bellowed.

The pinkette instantly settled at the sound of the voice. He turned his head and saw the tiny guild-master standing on a stool next to his bed.

"Natsu, we couldn't find her." Makarov said after a moment of silence.

Natsu's eyes widened. "What?"

Makarov sighed deeply and looked pained. "You've been out cold for over a week and the entire time we've had people out looking for Lucy. Erza and Gray are out there right now looking for her, but nobody's been succesful so far."

Natsu went numb, taking in the information. Lucy was probably dead, and it was his fault.

"Natsu."

The tiny voice snapped him out of his memories and made him look down. Standing at his feet was his best friend, Happy. The little blue cat was looking up at him with wide, worried eyes. Natsu picked him up and set the cat on his shoulder.

"Don't worry, Happy. I'm fine." He lied.

Happy looked like he wanted to protest and point out that Natsu hadn't been fine in over two years, but decided against it.

Natsu turned around and left the cemetary, but not without casting a glance back at the tombstone.

The two wandered around town for a few hours before heading for Lucy's apartment. Even though she was gone Natsu kepting paying her rent, not wanting anybody else to take it. He hardly ever went to his house anymore, and when he did it was usually for a change of clothes.

When they entered the room Natsu inhaled deeply, drinking in Lucy's slowly fading scent. Sighing, he walked over to the bed and layed down on his back. He stared at the ceiling for what felt like hours, but was only a few minutes, before falling asleep.

Lucy stood in front of Natsu and Happy's house, shifting around nervously. She had been gone for two years and had no idea what to expect. Taking a deep breath, she stepped forward and opened the door, only to be met with silence. Curious, she took a few steps inside and looked around. It was cold and, aside from what Natsu had kept from their previous jobs together, it looked like the house had been abandoned.

Confused, she called out "Natsu?" But she didn't receive a response.

Seeing that nobody was there the blonde turned around and headed for her old apartment building, hoping nobody had taken her apartment while she was gone.

Without opening his eyes, Natsu rolled over with a goofy grin plastered on his face. He didn't understand why he hadn't been yelled at yet, but he didn't bother to question it and instead called out "Morning, Lucy!"

When he didn't get yelled at or hit, he slowly peeled open his eyes and saw that the apartment was empty. Then everything came crashing back to him like it did every morning and his smile turned into a frown.

Sighing, he got up off the bed and stretched his stiff muscles. He didn't want to go anywhere, but he knew he had to go to the guild and find a job or else he wouldn't be able to afford the rent for the apartment.

Natsu's head snapped up when he heard the front door being opened. The only other person that went to the apartment was Happy but he was already there. The dragon-slayer looked at the foot of the bed, where the cat normally slept, but he wasn't there. Natsu figured he had left in the middle of the night, which wasn't too uncommon, but he was confused because Happy always came in and out through the window.

Hearing a soft creak dragged the dragon-slayer's attention back to the front of the room, where his green eyes locked with a pair of brown ones.

"Hi, Natsu." She whispered.

Without a second thought Natsu almost launched himself at the blonde, enveloping her in a hug.

"Please tell me this is real. That it isn't just another dream." He whimpered in her ear.

Lucy smiled guiltily and hugged him back. "This is real."

Natsu tightened his grip and buried his face in her neck. "Where have you been?" He managed to choke out.

Lucy sighed and closed her eyes. "In a village two hours away." She grumbled bitterly. "After the fall off that mountain top, I woke up not remembering anything, not even my own name."

Natsu then pulled back, making Lucy think she had made him mad. Instead of walking away like she thought he would he picked her up walked over to the bed, sitting down with her on his lap.

Natsu looked away from her, a blush evident on his cheeks. "I thought you might want to sit down." He mumbled.

Lucy couldn't help but smile at how cute he was. She took a deep breath before continuing, "When I woke up, the village elder was in the room with me. He had told me that some hikers found me at the base of the mountain, almost dead, and brought me to the village to receive medical treatment."

Lucy paused for a moment to make sure Natsu was keeping up. When he nodded his head, she resumed, "I was told I had been in a coma for three months, and the elder was surprised that I had woken up. He asked me a few questions, none of which I could answer, and then offered to let me live in the village and run the local bookshop. Since I couldn't remember anything, I accepted his offer. I lived with them peacefully for a year by the name Kiyomi, before I started to get random flashes from before I lost my memory.

After several months, I was able to piece together that I was a Celestial Spirit mage and that I belonged to Fairy Tail. Once I remembered how to summon my spirits, I brought out Loke. This was about a week ago. I told him everything I could remember, and he filled in the rest of the blanks. I explained it all to the village elder, and he told me to go home again. So here I am."

They sat in silence for a while, lost in their own thoughts, when Natsu asked "What about your guild mark? Wouldn't have given away that you were part of Fairy Tail?"

Lucy looked around nervously, twiddling her thumbs. Natsu noticed this and also realized that Lucy was wearing gloves.

"I guess the best way to explain is to just show you." She mumbled, pulling off her gloves.

Natsu hissed through his teeth when he saw the back of her right hand. It was badly scarred, and all you could see of her guild mark was a little of the tail. Without really paying attention to what he was doing, Natsu reached out and grabbed the blonde's hand. He slowly rubbed the back of her hand with his thumb.

"Lucy." He murmured.

Lucy smiled softly and leaned her back against his chest. "It's ok, Natsu. I can always get a new one."

Natsu dropped her hand and hugged her tightly. "That's not what I meant. It's my fault you had to go through all of that."

Lucy started squirming in his grasp until he let go. She got up and stood in front of him, hands on her hips. "If you honestly believe that then you're an idiot. It's just as much my fault as it is yours." She huffed.

"But-"

Natsu was silenced when Lucy firmly placed her lips against his in a kiss. When they broke apart, Lucy rested her forehead against his. "No 'but's. I'm back and that's all that matters now. No more having to say goodbye"

Natsu smiled one of his infamous, toothy grins. "You're right. That was our last 'goodbye', I'm not letting you go again."