All rights to Hiro Mashima

~ First ~

-Natsu-

Everything was dark. No, not just dark, everything had an emptiness to it.

If I could put a name to the sensation then it would have to be…blank. It was as if my mind was wiped clean, like someone digging up a tree trunk and extricating it with no care for the entangled roots.

I took a mental check of my faculties. Most everything seemed to be in order, on the inside of my mind at least. I could still feel my extremities, as I was laying on something rough and hard, the cold seeping into my back and legs. I could hear as well. Light scuffles and moans from all around me assaulted my eardrums.

So all in all, the situation wasn't all too horrible.

'Alright, it could be worse...I guess, I could be in pain.'

And this is the point where I cracked open my left eye a fraction and deemed it the worst idea I've ever had in my relatively short life.

"Shit!" My voice echoed back to me. Obviously I was in a large room of some sort, but that wasn't the point. The light was too damn bright. Quickly I shut my burning eye and relief stole over my senses.

Ah, it was all blissfully black again. Something was nagging at me though. I just couldn't put my finger on it. Oh, that reminds me. Did I even have fingers?

I wiggled said digits. Apparently I do have fingers. Wonderful.

'Time to check out this situation.' Inwardly I grimace. Hopefully the light wouldn't sear my eyeballs this time around. Opening my eyes slowly, the light was still bright but didn't assault me. I was staring at an unremarkable ceiling. It gave no clue about my location or any helpful hints about why I was laying haphazardly on what can only be described at the most uncomfortable floor known to man.

At this thought, I slowly sit up - moaning like a spoiled child the whole way - and I'm graced with the vision of yet another unremarkable object, this time a chair, and just behind it, a wooden table. 'What in Earthland...'

Just as this thought was rumbling around in my mind, I heard a slight shuffling noise from beside me. Quickly turning my head, my eyes meet another pair.

However these eyes were wholly remarkable in contrast to everything around me. All I could see was deep, rich amber, warm and inviting. These eyes seem to suck me in and I'll be damned if I fought against them. Absolutely gorgeous.

"Damn it! I wish he would stop doing that to us every time he comes in to talk to Master."

I jolted, belatedly realizing that the shimmering eyes I had been staring into where in fact attached to a young woman. She was small in stature, golden blonde hair, cute nose, full lips. Overall her face was very beautiful.

"You okay, Natsu?"

"Uhm," I said lowly. Something about the situation seemed delicate. So I go with what I can only hope is a delicate tone.

The woman's eyes dart around and she huffs lightly. "It looks like we wound up on the floor again. That guy has less than no manners when it comes to his sleep spells. He could at least write a 'sorry-for-putting-you-under-again-hope-you-all-come-out-of-your-magic-induced-traces-alright' note. Or pick up our bar tab or something. What if someone hit their head on the edge of the table?"

I have to say something, most of what this woman was babbling about was making absolutely no sense to me. All the names and situations that she mentioned weren't ringing any bells. The woman was quietly cursing someone named 'Mystogan' under her breath while slowly getting up off the ground.

As eloquently as I can, I speak to my confusion; "What?"

'Oh well done, I'm sure that she understands the situation now.' My brain was a cheeky bastard apparently.

"Natsu are sure you're alright? You look really pale. I don't think I have ever seen you this colour before, even when you're on the train curled up with motion sickness." She scrunched her nose up and squinted her eyes at him. "Hmmm… maybe you need a little something to eat, huh?"

I ponder the idea for half a second. Well, I am was hungry. But I still need some questions answered first. Slowly, of course, so my mind can properly sort through the information I get.

"Who are you? Where am I? What is this place? Why am I so damn warm? Oh, why do you keep calling me 'Natsu'?" I ask in one breath.

'Oh yes, bombard her with questions, that's got to be sooo helpful.' I inwardly rolls my eyes. Dear Mavis my mind was so sarcastic. Not to mention completely unhelpful.

"What do you mean 'who are you'? Did you somehow forget your partner of nine years?" She was sniggering slightly and rolling her eyes playfully. "Come on Natsu, cut it out. Let's get you some fire from Mira, she says she has been switching up the wood she uses so that is tastes different."

Panic was starting to set in. "No, seriously, who are you? Who am I?" I all but plead with her. 'Please tell me something!'

The woman turns around and sets those dazzling eyes on me yet again. "Natsu, stop toying with me. It isn't funny at all." She folds her arms under her generous bust and glares at him good naturedly while tapping her foot on the stone floor.

A couple of seconds pass and she drops the playful act and I can start to see something akin to fear start to show in her eyes. "You're not screwing around, are you? You seriously don't remember me?" I shake my head slowly. 'At least I'm getting somewhere.'

She drops to her knees in front of my prone figure, putting both hands on my shoulders, and looks me dead in the eyes. "Natsu, it's me Lucy." She smiles at me, though it seems a bit strained. It still knocks the breath out of me. I can't think of anything to say to her so I stay quiet and just look at her some more.

After a beat, she drops her gaze and her shoulders slump a bit in a defeated manner. "What do you remember?" She asks in a small voice.

I rack my what's left of my brain that hadn't been melted by her ridiculously bright smile while staring at a crack in the floor.

And that's when it hit me. The nagging feeling in the back of my mind that said I was missing...something, it wasn't that I had forgotten anything.

It was that I had forgotten everything.