A/N: Behold, the final chapter of Finding Home. Hope you like!

It turned out to be a very difficult fight. His opponents' long legs helped them in the snow, and they outnumbered him. The only thing Natsu had that they didn't was brute strength. Of course, that meant that he used it as much as he possibly could.

After some time - it could have been minutes, it could have been hours, as far as Natsu was concerned. Time is funny like that when you're in a battle - he was out of breath, he had a long scratch down his arm, and his side was aching from where he had fallen on a stupid rock that he couldn't see because of all the snow. On the bright side, he had taken down one of the monsters. Too bad there were seven left. And they had the high ground.

But, they were grouped together. Sort of. Actually, they were more spaced out than he would have liked. However, since he didn't stand a chance if things kept on as they were going, he decided to risk a final, all-out attack. His most powerful attack.

With a loud battle cry that echoed across the mountain, he raced forwards. Judging his path carefully, he managed to step on the rock, and used the sure footing to jump as high as he could. In the air, he screamed,

"Fire dragon wing slash!"

The monsters shrieked and leapt sideways, narrowly avoiding the lethal attack. Still, the long ropes of fire Natsu forged slammed into the mountain with a loud crash. Natsu blinked as he tried to get his breath back.

"Aw man..." he muttered, as he turned to face his unharmed opponents. There was no way he was giving up, but he knew he wasn't doing very well. If only his blows would connect...

He started a little as he realised that he hadn't been attacked yet, even though he was wide open. He took a closer look at the wolf things, and noticed they were staring at something behind him. Just then, with a terrible crack, a huge chunk of the mountain crumbled away. Natsu's eyes widened in surprise. Had his attack done that? It must have. Maybe that part of the mountain had already been relatively fragile, and Natsu's hit had pushed it over the edge. He wasn't sure, but it wasn't his main problem.

The monsters were staring at him now. If the young Dragon Slayer didn't know any better, he would say they were utterly gobsmacked. Suddenly, without further ado, they turned tail and ran, as fast as their long legs would carry them. Even the one Natsu had knocked out staggered to its feet and took off with the others. Natsu froze. Then jerked back into action.

"Hey! HEY! Get back here, you cowards! We aren't done! You can't just leave in the middle of a-"

Then the ground moved under his feet. He looked down. "Uh-oh..."

The snow supporting him slipped, tumbling down the slope, dragging him with it with its unstoppable force. Avalanche.

Maybe if he was in better shape, he could have escaped somehow. As it was, he didn't stand a chance.

xxx

The villagers weren't quite sure what had happened. First the weird pink haired boy had shown up. That, they could get their heads around. After all, wizards were funny sorts. It seemed awfully irresponsible to send a small child into danger like this guild of his was obviously willing to do, but then Fairy Tail was unusual even by wizard standards. Besides, they had accepted a contract with the guild, and the guild had sent the boy, so there was no backing out of it. And they had to admit he seemed eager enough. He probably would have insisted to go even if they had tried to talk him out of it.

Then the boy had put away more food than they had thought possible. Again, they attributed it to the oddness of wizards. Although they were starting to believe that this one was strange by nature, not just by virtue of being a wizard. Still, he had paid, so he couldn't be all bad.

This opinion was revised when they had been going about their business, minding their own affairs, when suddenly a chunk fell off the side of the mountain. Jaws dropped throughout the village. Faces were pressed against windows, people rushed outside, a few fainted, other screamed. One person laughed. He was glared down by his peers, and had to excuse himself quietly. For a few minutes, everyone stared. Because they were mountain folk, and they lived here, of course they knew how this worked. When part of the mountain come down - which it never ever does - a whole lot of snow does too. So while no one was surprised when the avalanche started, they were all still pretty appalled. They watched the white tide continue its inevitable trajectory, picking up as it went. Luckily, it stopped before it hit any buildings. The townspeople hurried over to where it stopped, driven by the need to witness whatever was happening. After all, this kind of event was uncommon for them.

What they were not expecting was to be met with an uncomfortably familiar pink head pulling itself out of the snow. It huffed as it freed itself, revealing itself to be attached to the rest of the boy. He got to his feet, albeit a little shakily, and staggered over to the group of amassed villagers.

They stared in abject horror. He had snow in his hair and on his clothes, he was resting his hands on his knees and was gasping for breath, his face looked bruised, his shirt was torn and - was that blood? And then he looked up, and smiled widely, his expression one of angelic happiness.

"They won't be bothering you ever again. I promise." He panted, still grinning proudly.

Everyone sweat-dropped. The woman who hired him went white as a sheet.

"You're some kind of monster..." She whispered.

Natsu's brows furrowed a little, mostly because he couldn't see how 'I just saved your village' translated into 'monster'. But he was a little too tired to care, so he just shrugged. Someone else pushed to the front.

"You damned punk! What did you do to our mountain?" He yelled furiously. Natsu straightened slightly and turned his head to see the damage.

"Oh yeah. That. Well, " he said, still breathing heavily, "I hit it. And it broke." He said, as though this explained everything. It sure shut everyone up. Unassisted, Natsu made his way back to the village. It had been a long two days. He got food and fell asleep for a while. When he woke up, it was to jewels being pushed into his hands, before he was unceremoniously ushered to the edge of the village. His bag was dropped next to him. He spent a moment trying to catch up with events. Then he marched proudly away, a huge, smug grin on his face and arms folded behind his head. People stopped to watch him leave, utterly baffled at his attitude. They couldn't know the thoughts running through his head.

That had been his first solo mission. And it had been a total success.

xxx

He spent the next month and a bit travelling, searching for Igneel. His search led him far and wide, but though he saw many extraordinary things, he was too caught up in his own quest to pay much attention, and many of these encounters slipped from his mind as he moved on. As he went, he sometimes heard new rumors, new stories to follow to their roots, for even the faintest hope of finding the absent dragon. He ran into many monsters on his search, for not all these tales were baseless, but despite everything, he could not find hide nor hair of the fire dragon.

Igneel was well and truly gone.

Eventually, the jewels Natsu had amassed for this trip started to run out, as they were bound to at some point. And though he refused to admit defeat, because dammit, Igneel was out there, somewhere. Natsu wasn't sure where he was or why he had left or if he was okay, but he was out there. And he would be found.

But not now. Now it was time for Natsu to go back to Fairy Tail. And though he was soul-crushingly depressed about failing to find his father, part of him gladdened at the thought of returning to Magnolia and the guild he had been absent from for so long. He could picture Lisanna's cute smile and white bob. The tiny master's strange hat and drinking problem. Mirajane's rebellious attitude. Elfman's quiet presence. Levy's blue hair only just visible as her face was hidden behind a book. Imagining Gray's annoying scowl put a damper on Natsu's slowly improving mood, but he cheered up when he remembered he could punch that irritating face when he got back. He managed to avoid thinking about Erza.

These thoughts kept him company as he made his way back, spending what few jewels he had left on travel and food. He found himself walking some of the way back, but eventually he was once again standing in the now familiar city of Magnolia. The sight brought a smile to his face, and he picked up the pace, until he was sprinting through the streets, ignoring stares and shouted comments as though they weren't there. Within minutes he was standing outside the doors of Fairy Tail. He hesitated for a moment, suddenly nervous. It had been a while, after all. He listened for a few seconds to the trademark sounds of chairs being thrown, magic being used, and insults being tossed back and forth. Then he pushed the door open.

For a moment, no one noticed him. They were too absorbed in their latest brawl. But then someone said "Hey, Natsu?" and slowly everything came to a halt. Natsu looked around a little awkwardly. Then Macao and Wakaba were in his face.

"Hey, kid!"

"Look what the cat dragged in!"

Mira pushed them aside. "You're back, huh?" She smirked. Natsu's sensitive hearing picked up Gray's muttered "Oh great, that idiot's back" but was too distracted by everyone else to go start a fight. Erza appeared and gave him a curt nod.

"I see you have returned, Natsu." She said. Mira's attitude darkened, and she left Natsu to exchange words with her rival. The sight was oddly familiar to Natsu by now. Levy looked up from where she was reading, and smiled shyly with a small wave, before diving back into her book. Elfman and Cana both shouted their greetings from across the guildhall. Other people Natsu barely knew did the same. Then Makarov came over.

"Good to see you, my boy! I hope your trip was a success?" He said cheerfully. Natsu's shoulders dropped slightly.

"Well, actually -"

"Natsu!"

The pink haired Dragon Slayer looked up at the familiar voice. His eyes met Lisanna's sparkling blue ones. She was wearing a huge smile as she ran across the guildhall to meet him.

"Natsu! You're finally home!" She exclaimed.

Natsu's jaw dropped as her words hit him. And he took in the sight of all the guild members assembled in the hall. His friends. His rivals. All of them welcoming. All of them happy and smiling (except for Gray. But he doesn't count). All of them family.

He hadn't been able to find his father. But, he finally realised, he had found home.

He grinned, and dropped his bag.

"Yeah. I am."

A/N: There we have it, the conclusion to Finding Home. Many thanks to everyone who read this story to the end, especially those who reviewed! You've all been great.