"I thought that I missed you a lot today, but when I thought again, I've been missing you a lot for the entire time."
The first words she'd spoken since she arrived.
She'd been staring at his grave for what seemed like hours, arms hanging uselessly by her sides. Lucy hadn't seen it before, had refused to believe that it had happened. Even now, she didn't want to think it could be true.
It was ridiculous, really. How could he be dead?
He was Natsu, for Mavis's sake. The same guy who'd come out on top time and time again. The guy who fought for what he believed in with his very last breath. Her closest friend.
The one who'd taken one too many blows during their war against Acnologia. The one who went down and never came back up, no matter how many times she had screamed.
Shudders wracked her body as, finally…finally, the tears fell. It'd been a month. A month of avoiding every thought of him.
Natsu was gone and she was alone.
Lucy screamed in a cry of rage and kicked at the headstone. She felt the sting all the way up her leg, but she didn't care.
"You promised!" She lashed out at the stone again, ignoring the stares that turned her way. The same ones that turned away in understanding.
"You promised you wouldn't leave me again!" She bent at the waist spewing the words from chapped lips.
She slumped to the ground, the fight leaving her in a single rush. She was just so tired. Tired of seeing him everywhere she looked. She just wanted to forget him. Forget everything.
No, that wasn't true, she knew.
She just wanted to stop hurting.
Someone was sobbing, the sound loud and annoying in her ears. It took a moment before she realized the sobs were her own. She wasn't sure how long she sat there, staring blankly at the words carved into the stone.
She couldn't read them, not that she cared. Nothing they said could offer her any sort of peace.
Because Natsu was gone and she was alone.
She sat there for an hour more before she heard the crunch of leaves behind her and the weight of Gray's coat dropping around her shoulders. He didn't say anything. He just sat beside her, throwing an arm around her shoulder and pulling her close.
He wondered if she'd even felt herself shivering, the thin fabric of her clothing offering little protection against the biting wind.
She didn't acknowledge his presence in the slightest, outside of resting her head against his shoulder.
Together they sat, both wondering when they were going to stop losing the people they loved.