Nursing Natsu

Prologue

"Come on Plue! You ready for a major shopping spree?" Lucy called to her celestial spirit. "Eee!" He replied sarcastically. Plue didn't like shopping with Lucy much, but Lucy did like when he was in her company. Plus; they always went for ice cream after, which meant Plue would follow Lucy to the ends of the Celestial World to swallow cold refreshing goodness. "Alright let's go!" Lucy cheered as she skipped to the nearest store with Plue waddling right behind her.

Two hours and about twenty shopping bags later....

"Oooo.." Plue whined. His little legs could only last so long, he was about to give out. "Hang on Plue! We have one more store to go to and then we can go get ice cream!" Lucy reminded him. He perked up with a hence of hope and remembrance, and followed Lucy to the last store. It was her favorite store, she would never skip it during any kind of shopping. "We're Here!" She grinned wide. Standing outside the shop, she already spotted a few items in the window she simply couldn't leave without. "Let's go in!" She gestured at last. "Eee!" Plue squealed eagerly, knowing that he was that much closer to receiving his reward. "Welcome to... Lucy!" The store lady greeted. "It's been awhile! Welcome back!" She held out her arms for a hug. "Hey Marie! It's nice to see you!" She said excepting the hug. "Well since you've been gone we've gotten a whole new line of clothes in! I think you'll be walking out of here in style!" Marie grinned wide. "I'm sure I will!" Lucy chuckled. "Well I won't keep you waiting! Let me know if you need anything!" Marie called over her shoulder. "Thanks Marie!" Lucy waved as the store lady retired to the registers. "All right Plue get ready for some serious shopping!" Lucy grinned from eye to eye, confident that she would leave overly satisfied. "Eee...." Plue replied growing impatient. "Ok where to start...."Lucy took a moment to pan around the store until...."Ohhh!" She cried running over to a rack of skirts. "This skirt is super cute!" She giggled. She stared at the beautiful fabric design of the short, red, lacy skirt. "It's perfect!" she cried, "I have a super cute tank top that would be perfect with this!" She hugged the skirt to her chest as she twirled around like a child. A particularly snobby women across the store gave Lucy a raised eyebrow of disapproval. Lucy grew embarrassed with pink cheeks as she turned her attention toward her next must-have item. "Ahhh! I've gotta have that dress!" she squealed as she drew her attention to another clothing rack.

About ten minutes later.....

"Alright Marie! Here I come!" Lucy announced as she approached the register with a mountain of clothing. "Wow Lucy, you think you got too much?" Both girls stared at each other before bursting out with laughter, "That's a good one Marie!" Lucy giggled. " Isn't it?!" Marie agreed. "Alright just hang tight while I ring this up for you." she said. "Alright, no problem!" Lucy smiled patiently. As she waited, she took one last pan around the store to check and see if she grabbed everything she desired. As she turned back to Marie, she noticed a white piece of cloth peeking out from a cabinet behind the counter. "What's that?" Lucy gestured with her eyes towards the cabinet. "This?" Marie pulled the fabric out from the cabinet. "Yea...." Lucy eyed the item carefully. "What is it?" She asked. "A scarf, I was supposed to put this back on the rack ages ago, but I must have forgotten about it." she chuckled. "Oh, may I see it?" Lucy asked. "Sure why not." Marie handed Lucy the scarf and returned to Lucy's haul of a purchase. Lucy slowly ran her fingers along the plain fabric of the scarf. There appeared to be nothing special about it, but something about it was definitely familiar to Lucy. She couldn't place her finger on it, until.... she froze, breath shallow, and eyes wide. Marie noticed this out of the corner of her eye. "Lucy? You alright?" she asked concerned. Lucy didn't reply. She remained frozen for several more moments, until... "EEE!" Plue jumped as Lucy grabbed him and sprinted out of the store and down the street as fast as she could, leaving her large haul of clothing behind.

At the ice cream parlor....

Lucy and Plue sat at a small table outside the shop on a deck that over looked the ocean. Plue was happily eating away at his five scooped, waffle cone, buttercream flavored heaven. Lucy, for the first time didn't get anything. She sat in silence as she stared at the wooden deck. Unable to forgive herself for what she had just done. I forgot, how could I forget!? She scolded herself consciously. How could I forget about him, how could I be so careless?! Why. Why.. Natsu... She threw her head into her folded arms on the table, feeling the same doomed depression she felt years ago. "Ehh?" Plue curious, his mouth half stuffed with ice cream. "It's okay, Plue I'm fine." She lied raising her head to find that the large ice cream cone she purchased had disappeared. "Eurp!" Plue let out a burp of satisfaction. Lucy let out a small giggle before releasing him back to the Celestial World.

On the way home....

Lucy walked slowly to her apartment in shame and depair. I should have gone with him. She thought. It was a little over two years ago when Natsu left for his job. As much as everyone pushed to tag along, he insisted on going alone. Even Lucy and Happy were turned down. He was supposed to return after about a week. After two weeks, people began to worry. Erza, Gray, and Lucy went to the location in which Natsu's job was supposed to be taken place. The man that requested him claimed that Natsu never arrived. Everyone panicked. They began searching everywhere, but Natsu was never found. They kept it up for a while, but after about a month or so people began to give up. They stopped searching and worse, they stopped remembering. Oh Natsu. A tear ran down Lucy's cheek.