His eyes snapped open.

Sweat dotted his forehead and rolled down his skin as he sat up, his hands trembling with fear. His breath came in huge gasps that did nothing for him, and it took him quite some time to find the oxygen his body needed. No one stirred in the hammock beside him; nobody came from another room to check on him.

Because there was no one.

Happy was staying at Wendy's for the night, exhausted after dealing with Natsu's terrible nightmares for the past few months. He'd been regretful and largely apologetic. Natsu had told him it was fine.

Now, he somewhat regretted it, because it was lonely. But he'd do as he'd always done and walk the path to the canal, and then walk the road to Lucy's.

So, he hauled himself out of his bed.

Lucy had them, too, she'd told him once. Dreams where he was hurt and that she lost him, and she'd told him that they killed her every time. They made her a mess, and it was on those nights that he was welcomed into her bed.

The dream had been as normal as any other time he had them. He was used to them, but it didn't make it any better. He found himself exhausted after them, leaving him cranky and nowhere near hungry the next morning if he didn't head to his partner's.

They all started the same.

He was peacefully enjoying his time with his best friend. They'd gone on some sort of job, an easy one that he had fun on. He'd eat a lot, she'd mess with him about his motion sickness, a normal day between both of them.

And then it began to turn dark.

He'd wake up in the middle of an open field, trees surrounding him, his body slicked with blood. He'd pray that it was his own, but knew better than to believe it. So he'd shoot to his feet, shouting her name, pleading that she answer him. His gut would wrench with terror when he found her, dead on the ground, a gentle look of understanding on her peaceful face.

She wouldn't even blink when he collapsed, screaming and wailing as he clutched her to him.

And then...he woke up, and it was all just a dream.

Natsu listened to the silence around him as he made his way to where Lucy was, seeking comfort. He had to make sure that she was alive and breathing.

Only…

She wasn't, he realized as he finally stopped nearly half an hour later, standing before her head stone. She was long gone, dead for months now. He stared at her name with wide eyes, confused for a brief moment as if wondering why it was there.

It struck him.

There were no nightmares.

There were only memories. Memories of how he'd screwed up, memories of what had happened.

Memories of the blonde that no longer breathed and lived like he'd needed.

Biting back a groan, he dropped to his knees before the grave and simply curled up into a ball beside it, closing his eyes to sleep.

The next morning, Erza came to fetch him, just as she did every morning, her gaze miserable and apologetic when she found herself coaxing him away for the sixteenth time that month.

The next morning, he faked a smile, reassured them all that he was fine and ready to work. That he was all fired up to do what Lucy would have wanted and help people.

No one was fooled.

But life went on.

And so did he.

It turns out I'm quite fond of torturing Natsu. The prompt was "nightmare".