"What if they don't like me?" Lucy sputtered, pitch increasing with every word she spoke.

Natsu made a face, scoffing at the girl walking alongside him. An hour ago, Lucy had been absolutely determined that she would be walking straight into the guild and introducing herself to every single member; she'd been so motivated to regain her memories that she'd been up for just about anything. But, as soon as they left the safety of her apartment, her determination had melted down into a puddle of absolute fear.

"Luce—they already do like you. They know you. They're your friends."

The blonde's eyebrows were knitted together as her face wilted into a frown. "But, what if they don't like me anymore? What if my memories had made me who I was, and now that I don't have them, I don't have the same personality? What if they hate me, Natsu?" Her mind continued to race as she rambled on; a couple seconds later, she let out a little gasp. She turned to the boy beside her, eyes wide. "What if they kick me out of the guild?"

Natsu rolled his eyes. "They won't kick you out. And they won't hate you! You've gotta quit freakin' out." He turned his gaze over to her, searching her worried expression as they walked along. He couldn't help but note how the corners of her lips turned downward—she was more nervous than he'd thought. "They're good people."

Lucy nodded, letting out an anxious sigh. "So, what's gonna happen again? Run me through it."

"We're gonna go into the guild," Natsu began, recounting what he'd already told her would happen a hundred time. "And you're gonna talk to as many people as you feel comfortable talking to. That's it."

"And they know I'm coming, right?" Lucy questioned, voice tight as her eyes flickered up to Natsu's. "No surprises?"

Natsu nodded. "Yep—no surprises."

"Okay," Lucy replied, letting out a tense whoosh of air from her lungs.

They walked in silence for a little bit; Lucy's mind was racing nervously, and Natsu was just watching her carefully.

He'd never been more worried about her. And that was really saying something, considering how many stupid situations the two had gotten themselves trapped into in the past. They'd been kidnapped, beaten and bruised, but nothing had ever really amounted to what Natsu felt right now.

Just seeing that look on her face as they walked made him want to fall to his knees. Her body was stiff with fear, almost like it had paralyzed her joints; her lips were pulled downwards, like she was doing everything she could to stop herself from crying. And her eyes—those big, beautiful brown eyes—were huge and afraid.

Natsu had always cared for Lucy. That was obvious—she was his best friend, his teammate. But now, seeing her like this, seeing the flashes of fear and pain on her face when she remembers everything she's forgotten…well, it was the worst pain Natsu had ever felt. It was like torture. Like a fresh slap of a whip against his flesh every time that look flashed into her eyes.

It was like a deep, raging fire in his belly: he had to make this better. For Lucy.

The closer they got to the guild hall, the more Lucy wanted to throw up. She'd begun to fidget furiously, tugging on her skirt or pulling up her socks or adjusting her hair. Once the guild hall was in sight, she begun to chew on her nails.

Natsu's heart ached, but he didn't let his emotions onto his expression. He nudged her, giving her a smirk. "Don't worry about it, Luce. I've got you."

Lucy gave the boy a nod, blinking a couple times when she peered straight ahead. She was nervous—extremely nervous—but Natsu's presence really did have a calming effect on her. Not only what he said, but his literal being seemed to ease her. She figured that, despite losing all memories of him, her body seemed to recall him; when he spoke, she could feel her blood pressure lower, her muscles relax.

And that kind of made her feel better, knowing that deep deep down, some part of her knew him.

When they hit the guild hall doors, Lucy made Natsu stop for a minute to let her catch her breath, prepare herself. She stared up at the building, in awe of the massive height of the thing. It was interesting, the architecture, and she couldn't help but admire it. Still, it hit her hard that she had absolutely no memory of the place.

"You ready?" Natsu had asked after a couple minutes, searching her expression.

"No," Lucy sputtered, clasping her clammy hands together. "No."

"We don't have to do this, y'know," Natsu offered. "We could wait until another day."

Lucy frowned. "No—I can do this," She huffed out. She met his eyes, the determination she'd felt before sinking back into her pores. "I can. I can do this."

Natsu nodded. "Atta be, Luce!"

She gave him a final nod, and he pushed open the massive doors to the guild hall.

And everything erupted into madness.

Lucy was instantly thrust into chaos, into something she couldn't comprehend; the space inside of the guild was enormous, but filled with so many people that it felt cramped. The second she'd stepped inside, noise burst out, bursting her eardrums.

"Welcome back, Lucy! We missed you!" The people all shouted, smiles and grins on their faces.

There were balloons everywhere, party decorations. Everyone had a drink in their hands—some had barrels of liquor—and a smile on their lips. Food was laid out on the large banquet style tables, filling every inch with exquisite looking desserts.

People were laughing and shouting out greetings, and Lucy was thrust forward by the crowd as they surrounded her, wanting to get a better look at the girl that had been in the hospital for the past week. And she didn't blame them, really. Everyone would be excited to see their sick friend again.

But it was too much. Too many people, too many faces that she didn't fucking recognize. They were smiling and laughing and reaching out and touching her shoulder. Too many strangers, not enough space, not enough understanding. She was confused, she was lost. Everything was spinning; her stomach lurched in fear.

"Lucy! Nice to see you!"

"You look great, Luce!"

Too much.

"We missed you, Lucy!"

"So glad to have you back, girl!"

Too much. Too much.

She looked back, reached back for Natsu, but the crowd and pushed him back away from her; panic flooded through her body as she saw him get pushed further back, shepherded away from her.

Not enough space. No one she knew. Her worst nightmare. Totally alone. She was breathing too heavily now, heaving out the air and sucking it in too quickly; she felt like she was floating, getting too light-hearted. She didn't belong here. This wasn't right. This wasn't where she was supposed to be—she didn't know these people.

It was all too much: the surprise welcome party, the food, the balloons, the giant guild hall. The giant crowd of absolute strangers that knew her, they knew her name and they called out to her and they touched her shoulder and arm and back. They'd missed her and she didn't fucking know a single one of them.

She was breathing too fast, far too fast, but her head throbbed and her chest ached and the nausea was getting worse now, and she didn't know if she was going to throw up or black out or something else.

And it was like she wasn't even in her body, that was the sensation. Her heart was beating so hard it hurt and she couldn't get enough room and too many strangers were calling out to her and it was so fucking loud, and she just couldn't handle it.

Lucy fell to her knees, clapping her hands over her ears, and let out a scream. Tears streamed down her cheeks. People gasped, crowded her even closer because they were worried. She didn't care. She just kept screaming. She wasn't even aware of anything anymore.

Natsu had gotten separated from her once they'd entered and everyone had crowded around her; he was shoving through the people, trying to get back to her, trying to reach her. And then that shriek pierced through the air, and everything went quiet for a single second before erupting into even more noise as people tried to help, and Natsu fucking lost it.

He shoved people to the side, not caring if he knocked them over. "Out of the way!" He shouted, voice harsh. But he didn't care. Lucy was upset and this was too much for her and she wasn't ready for all of this, and—

Through people's legs, he could see Lucy's body, curled up into a tiny ball; she was sobbing, screaming. Looking at her, hearing those sounds coming from her, Natsu could feel his heart crack and then shatter in his chest. Tears welling up in his eyes, he let out a shout, willing everyone to back away from her and get out of his way.

"Move it!" Natsu screamed. "Let me see her!"

Natsu yelling in the guild hall was a regular occurrence, considering how many fights he'd get into with Gray in a single day. Normally, people paid no mind to Natsu and his screeches of anger—it was just another sound of regular life at the guild. But this scream—the anger, the pain resonating behind it—was enough to get everyone was far away from him as possible.

The crowd gasped and shuffled out of his way, leaving a straight path to the girl that lay screaming on the ground. Natsu ran over, sliding on his knees to her, wrapping his arms around her instantly.

"Luce? Lucy, talk to me, it's okay, really, please—" He cooed, trying to calm her down. "Please, it's okay, I'm here. Natsu's here."

Lucy didn't seem to be able to hear him; it was like she was unaware of what was going on anymore. Her hands were still clasped over her ears, despite the only noise in the place being Natsu trying to calm her; she was still screaming at the top of her lungs, her eyes and face red and puffy due to the lack of oxygen as she screeched.

The crowd—their guildmates, their friends—watched on in horror.

"Lucy!" Natsu whispered to her, tears beginning to fumble over the edge of his lids and slipping down his cheeks.

He wasn't much of a crier, honestly. He didn't cry very often—and he especially didn't cry in front of people. But he'd always had a soft spot for Lucy, and he'd been so fucked up over her forgetting him. He'd been even more fucked up about how the whole memory loss had messed her up.

If seeing her upset was torture, seeing her like this—incapable of understanding or words, screaming out of fear, falling to her knees sobbing—was bad enough to kill him. And that's just what it felt like. Like he'd died, right there.

He was supposed to protect her, after all. He'd said he was there for her. But he'd failed, hadn't he? He'd let this happen. She'd trusted him and he'd let her down.

"Please, Lucy," Natsu begged, whispering into the girl's ear, trying to push a few locks of blonde strands behind her ear. More tears slid down his cheeks, now. How could he bare to see his best friend like this, in this state? "I'm right here, I'm here."

She screamed for a couple more minutes, but seemed to falter when she truly needed a breath of air; her face was nearly purple from the deprivation. She continued to sob, still unable to speak or open or eyes or even comprehend what was happening around her. Natsu rubbed her back in small circles, petted her hair. After a couple more minutes, her sobs had lessened to silent tears; she still wouldn't speak, still didn't really know what was going on. But she turned to Natsu and threw herself at him, wrapping her arms around his neck. She hugged herself tight against him, her tears now falling onto his neck and she snuggled herself in.

Natsu wrapped his arms around her, holding her tight, not minding that she had nuzzled her face into his neck and was now coating his skin with tears. He didn't care. He'd never seen someone shut down like that before—he'd never seen a person go unresponsive from a panic attack like she just had. His heart was pounding hard.

His dark eyes flickered up, now that Lucy had stopped screeching and had found a place of solace in his arms; to his surprise, the entire guild was still there, watching. Some of them had tears in their eyes; others were simply too shocked to make a sound. He'd honestly been so focused on Lucy he'd forgotten they were even there.

Makarov stepped forward, tears in his eyes. When he spoke, his voice cracked; he was very clearly upset. "Natsu, we didn't mean—"

Natsu wiped the tears from his cheeks with the back of his left hand, not daring to remove his right hand from Lucy's back. She whimpered into him, pushing her nose further into his neck.

"It's okay," Natsu sputtered back, words cracking. He didn't have the energy to get angry, to question why they thought bombarding her on her return would be a good idea. His voice was exhausted, hollow. "It's…okay."

Seeing her like that had drained him. Seeing her breakdown, have a meltdown, have a panic attack to such a degree…he felt absolutely depleted, weary. His chest hurt, like someone had stabbed him right through the lungs.

He sat there for a couple more minutes trying to muster enough energy to get off the floor and carry Lucy home. When he finally did, no one said a single word. He'd never heard the guild be this quiet before. Lucy curled up in his arms, still completely out of it, and he held her tight to his chest.

Natsu walked to Lucy's apartment, desperately trying to stop himself from replaying the scene that had just played out before him. He tried not to think about how upset Lucy was, tried not to replay that godforsaken scream that seemed to pierce him right down to his very soul.

He got into her apartment and carried her up the steps; he laid her carefully on the bed, making sure to pull the blankets up to her chin.

Lucy's face was completely and utterly blank, like she was a robot. Her eyes had opened, and she was watching Natsu as he got her settled into bed, but she didn't say a word. She had no emotion on her face, no expression at all.

"I'm just going to grab you a glass of water, okay?" Natsu spoke, his voice soft. He stood, pushing himself off of the edge of the bed; just as he was about to turn and leave the bedroom, Lucy's little hand snapped out and grabbed his wrist.

Natsu turned back to her, surprised. "Eh?"

Lucy's little voice was muffled by the blankets pulled up slightly over her chin. "Don't go."

Natsu blinked. Her voice was so little, so weak; everything about her screamed fragile. "I'll be back in a second, Luce."

Another little squeak from the girl, although it was different than usual. This wasn't Lucy—this was a broken little shell of Lucy. She was different. Scarred from the experience, surely. Natsu didn't blame her. "Promise?"

Natsu gave her a smile. "'Course," He mumbled, big hand coming down and patting her head. "Can't leave my girl all alone."

A hint of a smile touched her lips, but it was still a bit more hollow than a usual Lucy smile. Natsu hoped she'd be okay—he couldn't go a day without seeing her smile.

He dashed off to the kitchen to grab a cup of water for the blonde, and then ran back to the bedroom. By the time he returned to the bedroom, the blonde girl's eyes had slipped shut and she was fast asleep; Natsu smirked at her and set the water on her side table.

And, simply out of habit, he began to head for the couch. He'd grab a pillow out of the hall closet, flop down on the sofa, and stare at the ceiling, like he usually did. But this time, before he stepped out of the room, he glanced back at his best friend, all tucked up in bed.

His heart stuttered for a couple seconds, watching her sleep.

Every time he looked at her, all he saw was her screaming bloody murder on the floor, afraid and scared and crying, lost and confused by her surroundings. He saw the fear in her eyes, the absolute chaos and disarray in her expression.

She'd been overwhelmed, afraid by the people that were once her friends.

She had to sleep in a bed she didn't recognize, in an apartment she didn't remember, without even a single memory to aid her.

Natsu was all she had, truly.

And he vowed to help her, to protect her, right then and there.

So rather than head to the hallway closet and grab a pillow, Natsu tugged off his vest and turned back into the bedroom; he gently laid on the empty side of the bed, turning off the lamp on his way. He laid on his side, letting his hands fall so they were skimming Lucy's side. He could feel her shoulders rise and fall with every breath, and he finally relaxed, letting out a sigh of exhaustion.

He'd protect her. Forever.

A/N: Hi, everyone! I really hoped you guys liked this chapter…I'm not really sure how I'm feeling about where this story is going, but we'll see! I hope no one thinks I'm being too dramatic about her little meltdown…I'm just trying to make it a realistic depiction of a person whose dealing with the struggles of losing all of their memories! I am also trying so so so hard not to be OOC, but I'm not sure if I'm succeeding. Please review, let me know what you think! It would mean the world to me!