Haunt me (because halloween)
Sometimes, when Lucy closes her eyes she can imagine he’s still there: lounging on her bed, rifling through her fridge, hovering just behind her, peering over her shoulder curiously while she writers, not understanding the appeal of books, but wanting to be there for her regardless. She’ll turn around with a smile, a joke on her lips, only to freeze when she remembers he’s not there, he’s never going to be there again. Her heart breaks a little more each day, Lucy always forgetting that Natsu is gone, that’s he’s not coming home.
Lucy thinks she really should remember after all this time. It’s been three years, he’s been gone for longer than she ever knew him. She doesn’t know how he became so ingrained in her life so quickly, didn’t know how much much she would miss him when he was gone. It wasn’t something she ever thought about, because she always thought Natsu would go out fighting, that she’d get a goodbye, that she’d get something, but he’s gone and she didn’t get to say anything at all, Natsu disappearing as if he was never there in the first place.
Her back scrapes against the wall as she slides down, her hands trembling as she stares at the opposite wall, biting her lip to keep from screaming as she wraps her arms around herself. A sob tears from her throat, tears blurring Lucy’s vision as she breaks down, her heart feeling like it’s been ripped straight from her chest,ribs splintered into a thousand pieces.
Something moves out of the corner of her eye, dark fabric rustling just out of sight. She doesn’t turn towards him, knowing he’s not real and that when she looks he’ll be gone again. He’s been haunting her since he left, Lucy so sure that she can see him in her room, just out of sight, out of reach, but he’s always gone when she looks for him, a ghost.
Lucy could swear she feels someone slide down beside her, an arc wrapping around her shoulders, and she squeezes her eyes shut, crying harder. She doesn’t want him to go.
“Please,” she whispers, voice cracking. She wants to tell him not to go, to stay, but she knows he never will. “Natsu…”
She never got to tell him she loves him.
The arm squeezes around her shoulders, the feeling of lips pressing against her temple making her eyes spring open.
Lucy is left to an empty house, her sobs growing in volume, but he doesn’t come back.