Found & Forgotten

Prologue

Natsu was damn annoyed.
More than that - he was infuriatingly helpless to do anything as he watched his nakama being beaten by the enemy in front of him.

It had started as a normal job. Lucy had come up to where he and Gray had been arguing in the guild and shown them the request paper, asking what they thought of it. Natsu hadn't really minded what the job was, so long as he was on it with Lucy.
Lucy had mumbled something about the 300,000 Jewel reward being enough for her rent with some spare on the side. Gray questioned it just being the three of them, until Lucy explained that Erza had gone on a job by herself and Happy had gone with Wendy and Carla to help them with their latest job.
The job itself was simple - to help repair a small village that had been damaged by a particularly bad storm. As she explained that, Lucy had winked at Natsu, telling him it would be good for him to fix things rather than destroy them for once.
They had completed the job within a week, claimed the reward and started back to the guild when the events leading up to this situation occurred. Out of nowhere the three of them had been ambushed. Not just a spur of the moment incident either - this had been planned. The attackers knew to restrain him and Gray first and foremost, and even had magic-draining bindings.So now, Natsu was tied to a tree, unable to use his magic as he watched their attackers punching and kicking Lucy, despite the multiple wounds already covering her body. Gray was in a similar predicament next to him.

As he watched, Lucy sank to the ground, coughing, following a nasty kick to her stomach.
"Where is it?" Growled the man stood before her. "Where is the SunSphere?"
"I don't know what you're talking about!" Lucy wheezed.
"You're a celestial wizard, ain't ya?" The man pulled her head back by her hair.
"Hai." Lucy answered, wincing as a few strands of her hair pulled loose from her scalp.
"Then you know where it is!" The man shouted.
"I'm telling you, I don't! Please, let me go!" Lucy pleaded.
In response, the man sneered and slammed her head into the ground.
Natsu struggled to break free from his bonds, wanted desperately to beat that guy up for daring to lay a finger on Lucy, and then beat him up again for thinking he could cross Fairy Tail and not suffer the consequences.
Suddenly a flash of blue near his feet caught his eye.
"Happy?" He whispered incredulously. "I thought you were with Wendy and Carla!"
Happy made a shushing noise as he began to untie the knots holding Natsu to the tree.
"We finished our job aaaaages ago," he whispered back. "I was getting bored without you, so I came to look for you."
"Good thing you did." Natsu replied. "It was weird without you here."
Happy finished untying Natsu and moved on to Gray. Natsu began to work his way out of the ropes. Beside him, Happy got Gray freed, and together they pulled at the last of their bonds.
The man torturing Lucy, noticing they were free, smirked.
"Uh oh, looks like we're out of time," he told Lucy. "But don't you worry, I'll be back for you."
"If you ever come back, Fairy Tail will destroy you." Lucy told him weakly.
"Oh, I'm too strong for that," he chuckled. "Shall I show you?"
Without waiting for a reply he used his magic to levitate Lucy into the air and throw her away from him. Then he turned to us.
"Because I'm feeling merciful today." He remarked, throwing the pouch containing Lucy's keys at us.
"Now excuse me, I have an appointment to get to." With a swish of his cloak he and the rest of his men, who up until now had been finding entertainment in watching him harm Lucy, disappeared.
"Why those-" Gray started, but Natsu cut him off.
"Lucy!" He said urgently, and they both started running.
"Come on!" Natsu urged, as they saw Lucy about to hit the ground.
But this time, he and Gray couldn't pull off the catch they'd managed at the Grand Magic Games; this time, they couldn't reach Lucy before she hit the ground. They could only watch as her head collided with a boulder. Natsu's ears were filled with a buzzing sound as he watched Lucy's blonde hair become stained with red, seemingly in slow motion. He was by her side, cradling her, without remembering how he got there. Vaguely he became aware of someone repeating the word 'no' over and over, and then realised it was him.
"-got to get her to the guild." Gray was saying.
Too dazed by what had happened to really take in what was going on, Natsu nodded and allowed Gray to lead the way, whilst he tried to stop Lucy's head bleeding. A few hours, or maybe a couple of days, Natsu didn't know for sure, later, they were back at the guild. Lucy's head had been treated by the guild's doctor, and her hair washed and clothes changed, so the only sign of her injury now was the clean white bandage wrapped around her forehead.

"I must warn you," the doctor told the guild, "she hit her head pretty hard and, in order to heal itself, her body has gone into a coma."
Gasps were heard from around the room and Levy, Lucy's best friend, started crying.
"If she wakes within a week, there is a very high chance that nothing serious will follow from this injury. However, she may experience some memory loss, so you must be careful how you treat her when she wakes up." The doctor continued his explanation.
"And what if she does not wake up within a week?" Asked Master Macarov.
Natsu tensed, knowing instinctively that he did not want to hear the answer to the question.
"Then," sighed the doctor, "it is very probable that she will not wake up at all."
More gasps were heard from around the room, and Mirajane looked very close to tears now herself.
"Is there anything I can do?" Wendy asked the doctor. "I specialise in healing magic."
"It is best that magic is not used to heal her. It might interfere with her body's natural healing process, and the consequences of that would be disastrous." The doctor explained.
"OK." Wendy nodded, wiped away the tears now running down her cheeks too.

Natsu was the first to see Lucy stir five days later because he had refused to leave her side until she woke up. In his excitement that Lucy had woken within the week, he quickly alerted everyone to the good news and returned to his place at Lucy's side, eagerly awaiting her return to full consciousness.
Lucy's eyes flickered open and she stared at all the people crowding the guild's infirmary until her gaze came to rest on the boy sat by her side.
"Where am I?" She asked. "Who are you people? Where's my father? What happened to me?"
Natsu's happy mood did an about face and his heart sunk to the floor.
"You don't...remember me?" He asked quietly.
"I've never met you before." Lucy told him.
"Can you tell us what year is it, Lucy?" Mirajane stepped forward when she realised Natsu was too lost to speak.
"It's June X784," Lucy replied, looking confused. "Why?"
"I don't know how to break this to you gently..." Mirajane told her.
"Just tell me. Nothing could surprise me after waking up in a room full of strangers." Lucy told her.
"Very well." Mirajane replied. "It is currently January 24th X792."
Lucy's mouth dropped open in shock.

Konichiwa minna-san!

This is actually my first time writing a fanfic, so I hope you guys like it! Please comment and tell me what you think of it - I'll take all feedback on board!

I'm really excited for this fanfic - I have loads of ideas, so I hope I do them justice :)

I've already got the next chapter written, so I'll try to upload that next week, though I don't how frequent updates will be after the Christmas holidays are over and I have to go back to school.

Speaking of, I'm so excited for Christmas! I can't wait to both get and give presents XD

Anyways, sayonara minna-san! Don't forget to leave a comment and tell me what you think ;)