The setting sun cast an orange hue along the walls of Lucy's room. As she walked into her apartment, she couldn't help but search for signs of the break-ins that used to happen so frequently. Every day for a year, she found herself walking into an empty room, and this time was no different. With a sigh, she dragged her feet to her desk, plopped her bag on top and began to remove its contents. Random flyers, newspaper articles, and post-its riddled with her neat handwriting came flooding out. Lucy looked over each article carefully to see if there were any recent updates on the locations of her friends. Ever since she became a journalist, she hunted down every piece of information she could in order to track down the guild's members. She has had some success in pin pointing where every one was, all but one person.

Lucy walked over and added the new contents in their appropriate place on the wall. Her wall was covered in a map of Fiore as well as pictures and name tags of her friends. Each picture had a red thread tying it to a specific article and location. She glanced over to the one picture that had the least amount of information surrounding it.

"Natsu.."

Even by uttering his name, she felt the familiar emptiness spread throughout her chest. Lucy had tried to keep herself busy after Natsu's disappearance and it worked to a certain extent. Having such success as a journalist did make her happy. She now lived in the vibrant city of Crocus and was able to do what she loved the most. However, these distractions only dulled the pain. The emptiness was still there, and she felt it most when she was home.

After every thing was hung up, she added a few last notes before tidying her desk and putting her bag away. With one last look at the wall, she headed over to the bathroom to take the bath she'd been craving the whole day.

—

Still wrapped in her towel, she threw herself on her bed and landed with a happy thud. She lay sprawled out on her bed long enough to see the final traces of the sunset fade from the sky, leaving stars behind in its absence.

With a groan, she lifted herself up, figuring it would be best if she put her pajamas on before she fell asleep. Her footsteps filled the silent apartment as she flicked the light on and made her way to the dresser. She reached for her usual oversized bunny shirt and tugged it over her head before slipping on her favorite pair of black underwear. It was fairly plain, well plain in

comparison to other pairs she owns, and it hugged her hips comfortably. It also didn't ride up between her butt, which was a plus.

She brushed through her damp, strawberry scented hair and removed the last traces of smudged mascara from underneath her eyes before making her way to her bed. She shut off the light and dug herself under her covers. Though she felt the familiar empty lull in her chest, she looked out at the night sky and felt confident in herself. She missed everyone terribly but she was doing well enough on her own. She thought about the past adventures she had with Natsu and before long she drifted to sleep.

—

Lucy heard the sound of papers shuffling. She was dreaming about having her very own book signing so she thought the sound came from her dreams. Brushing it off, she rustled under her blanket and fell back to sleep.

It wasn't long before she heard the footsteps. Not being able to ignore the sound, she slowly opened her eyes to find the source of the sound. Her room was nearly pitch black, apart from the dim light the moon offered from outside her window. Lucy rubbed her eyes and thought she saw a shadow move. Her hands froze and panic began to sweep through her body.

As usual, her mind thought of every worse possible outcome and only made her feel worse. Lucy tried to slow her racing heartbeat by taking deep breaths. She slowly raised herself up off her pillow to try and get a better look at the shadow in her room.

"Where the heck is the light in this place?" an annoyed voice muttered.

Before she could think of any rational response, she grabbed her pillow and yelled, "WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?!"

Lucy jumped off her bed and darted towards the figure, swinging her pillow furiously. She managed to land a hit and heard a loud thud where her pillow made contact with the figure. "Ow!"

"Get. The. Hell. Out. Of. My. Room." she said in between hits.

The figure stumbled away from her and fumbled around desperately searching for the light switch.

"Luce, it's me!"

"GET OUT YOU CREE- huh?"

She heard more shuffling until finally the light came on. After a few seconds of her eyes painfully getting adjusted to the blinding light, she finally turned to see who broke into her room.

She froze. Her stomach dropped and her heartbeat grew louder. It was him.

Natsu rubbed the back of his head with a pained expression. "Did you really have to hit me that hard Luce?"

Lucy stared at Natsu, not believing that he was right there in front of her. She stood there, mouth slightly open, gripping onto her pillow as if it was the only thing keeping her grounded.

Her eyes took in his spiky pink mane, slanted onyx eyes, and the same white scaled scarf he never took off.

It really was Natsu.

Without second thought, she dropped her pillow and tackled him into a warm embrace. She held him tightly as if to convince herself that he was really there. The familiar scent of smoke filled

her nose. She buried her face into his shoulder as the tears began to flow.

"It's been a while Lucy. I'm glad to see you too" Natsu wrapped his arms around her as if he wanted to envelop her completely.

After a few moments of embracing one another, Lucy pulled away just enough to leave her head against his shoulder. She balled her hand into a fist and punched his chest.

"You left me," she mumbled under her breath.

"What was that?" Natsu pulled away and put his hands on her shoulders in an attempt to hear her better.

Not wanting to get into the subject, Lucy quickly changed what she said.

"Why the hell did you break into my room? How did you even know where I lived?"

"Dunno, just did some searching," Natsu said as he moved away from her and plopped down on her bed.

"You don't know?! You thought breaking into my house in the middle of the night was a good idea?! I thought you were some kind of robber or monster or something!" Lucy stared at her seemingly careless friend incredulously.

"You would attack a monster with a pillow? You're so weird," Natsu said with a grin.

Lucy's heart skipped a beat. There it was. That toothy grin she could never stop staring at. The smile she lived without for a whole year.

Natsu lay down on her bed and patted the spot next to him, beckoning her to lay down with him. Lucy was sure she was beet red at this point. She suddenly grew very self conscious about

what she was wearing, or rather what she wasn't wearing. Tugging on the hem of her shirt, she walked over to Natsu and lay down next to him.

Almost instinctually, Natsu raised his arm, placed it behind her head and snuggled closer. "N..natsu…what are you doing?" Lucy stammered out, almost certain that he could hear her heart banging against her chest.

"Aw come on Luce, we used to always do this stuff" he said as she shifted to look at her directly. He was right. The two used to spend hours cuddling with one another. Natsu particularly liked it when she read her stories to him, even though Lucy was still pretty embarrassed.

She looked up into his onyx eyes and felt the heat creep into her cheeks. She wasn't sure when Natsu started driving her crazy but she knew its been going on for a while. Then, all the memories of her desperately searching for him came flooding into her mind.

"Yeah, we used to," she said as she looked away, unwrapped herself from his embrace and sat at the edge of her bed.

No response came from behind her. She didn't want to bring it up, but she felt the words eating away at her.

"Why didn't you take me with you? I mean, I know you needed to deal with things on your own, but to just disappear? Without saying goodbye?" Lucy couldn't stop the flow of words coming from her mouth.

"And now you just waltz back in here and want to pick things up where we left off? It's not fair." "I needed to have some time alone, y'know, just me and Happy. I left you a letter and everything," Natsu replied, his voice barely audible.

"I get that Natsu. I do. What kills me is just… you left so easily", Lucy gripped her blanket.

She felt a shift behind her and saw Natsu move to sit next to her. "You think it was easy leaving you?"

Lucy felt her breath catch in her throat. She glanced up at him and saw him staring into her with a frowned expression.

"Leaving a note was the best thing I could do for me. If I said goodbye to you in person, I wouldn't have left" Natsu shifted closer and put his hand on top of hers. She loosened her grip on her blanket at his warm touch.

"Natsu.."

"I thought that if I left without seeing you, it would make it easier. I needed to focus on getting stronger, I needed time to feel more confident in myself so that I could better protect my friends. I thought it would work, but, I only thought about you more."

Lucy felt her face flush. Her heart was at its bursting point and she wasn't sure if she could make it through if Natsu kept speaking.

She felt his eyes gazing at her profile, waiting for her, but she couldn't do it. She had conquered many trials throughout her 18 years, and right now looking at Natsu seemed to be the most difficult. Feelings of anger, sadness, confusion, and deep, deep, love were running through every cell of her body.

"…Lucy? You there?" Natsu's voice cracked. He gave Lucy's hand a little squeeze.

"I don't know what to say. This is…I-I'm… I'm just a little overwhelmed. Did you really think about me this whole time?" Lucy's voice was barely above a whisper. She kept her gaze fixed on the blue rimmed rug. Even though Natsu had already mentioned that he thought about her the entire time he was gone, she needed to ask again to hear it one more time. Her face was on fire and probably an entirely new shade of pink, which almost made her wish she kept the lights off.

Suddenly, she felt Natsu shift slightly and place his fingers gently under her chin, guiding her face towards his. Lucy's eyes followed last as she was determined to avoid his gaze. She wasn't sure what she was afraid of. She didn't know what would happen if she looked into those familiar onyx eyes as she did so often before.

Natsu tried to meet her gaze, but Lucy kept looking in every other direction. He let out a soft laugh and let go of her chin.

"I can give you your space if you want", Natsu said gently. Their faces were so close, she felt his warm breath brush along her cheek.

Lucy shook her head. That was the last thing she wanted. She just got him back. If anything, she wanted desperately to cling to him and never let him leave again.

"Okay. I'll stay."

The words she didn't know she wanted to hear finally came out. While she still felt confused, an overwhelming rush of happiness pulsed through her. She looked into Natsu's eyes and laced her fingers through his.

"I'd like that", Lucy said.