—in which Natsu has a habit of not sleeping after Lucy's disappearance and someone confronts him about it.
disclaimer: i don't own anything.
It was 3:27am and he sat on the ledge of Strawberry Street's river. It has become a habit to come here when he can't sleep and he often has trouble sleeping since that day. He does nothing but ponder while he looks to the stars in search of an answer he knows he's not going to get.
Lost so deeply in his thoughts, he fails to hear the foot steps growing louder.
"Hey flame-brain! What are you doing? It's like four in the morning." He said.
Natsu turns his body to look at the person who disrupted his thoughts.
"Go away," he says as he turns his back on him.
The man standing quietly takes a seat beside him.
He sighed sadly.
"Natsu, what the hell is wrong with you?" He asks.
"Gray, where did you even come from?" Natsu interrogates back.
Gray can feel the heat and anger radiating from Natsu's stare.
"Go home, Natsu." He sighs.
Natsu looks up and stares at the bright moon.
"She is home."
Gray shakes his head. "You have to let her go," he tells Natsu.
"I can't! You can't tell me to do that."
"You have to! We've all moved on. It's not going to get better for you. She's been missing for four years. Give up already. We know you guys were close but she's gone and you can't keep holding on to someone who isn't coming back."
Gray sees Natsu begin to shake. The tears forming on his eyes are obvious.
"I won't. I can't. I can't give up on her. You talk as if i'm drowning in misery but i'm not. I just miss her. I'm okay."
"You're not okay."
"I just miss her! You don't understand. It was hard for me then and it's hard for me now and it'll never be easy! Let me be. Let me miss her. Let me hope for her. I need to or else i won't know what to do. Don't ruin this for me."
Gray remains quiet and Natsu's hands are still shaking but the tears won't stop. The next minutes were full of Natsu's sobs.
"Hey Gray—"
"Yes?"
"The moon looks sad tonight, don't you think?"
He nods in sorrow, knowing that the moon will always look sad to Natsu as long as Lucy isn't home.