Disclaimer: Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima

ACT VI: Reverberation Time – Gathering what's left

Approximately X793

~ o ~ O ~ o ~

Chapter 44: Saying Goodbye

Lucy was fast asleep with a single droplet of saliva forming in the corner of her mouth, when she was abruptly awakened by a loud scream, that seemed to be so loud that it would echo throughout the entire city.

"What?!" the celestial mage shot up into a sitting position, but she only got a few seconds in that position before something knocked her backwards, making her crash against the Dragon Slayer who made a "ompf" like sound.

"Moooom!" a voice said as something warm and furry snuggled against her boobs.

"Mom...?!" looking down she wasn't that surprised to see a bundle of blue hair, that was evidently crying his eyes out against her lumps.

"And what do you think you're doing?" Natsu said in a rather grumpy voice as he nonchalantly grabbed the cat's tail and pulled him away, causing the crying thing to dangle from the Dragon Slayer's hand.

"I..." Happy sniffled and blinked with his huge glistening eyes "It's just... now that you're making babies with each other, I have a new mother"

"Making babies?" Natsu's eyebrows twitched in annoyance.

"Uhm..." Lucy gulped, her cheeks blushing fiercely because she instinctively knew, that if Natsu hadn't stopped when he did last night, things might have gone into unknown territory.

Seeing her reaction, the cat gasped loudly his tears vanishing like water under the sun as he turned to send a sly look towards his partner.

"Naaatsu..." Happy smirked wickedly "... Erza will kill you when I tell her about this"

"What?!" Natsu squeaked as he released the cat's tail "But we didn't do anything?!"

"Is that so Lucy?" the Exceed turned to look at her, his wicked smile causing a shiver to run down her spine.

"Ye-yeah, we didn't do anything" nodding with her head, she hoped her message would come across, but for some reason her answer only made Happy's smile broaden.

She did not like where this was going... at all!

"Come on, stop teasing her will ya" Natsu grumbled as he turned to exchange a look with Lucy.

Of course she couldn't know what he was thinking, but that second she recalled their little exchange, causing her blush to intensify making it cover her entire body.

"Heh" the Dragon Slayer chuckled somewhat nervously as he started to blush as well.

"Ohhh!" Happy's eyes sparkled as he looked at the two in turn "Geheh, I can't wait to tell Erza about this"

"Ehh?!" Lucy's eyes widened in horror.

"You wouldn't..." Natsu whispered in a barely audible voice, his face looking extremely pale all of a sudden.

"How can you say that?" the cat looked slightly wounded as he spawned his wings and flew over to the open window "You know I absolutely would" he smiled smiled wickedly, before flying outside.

"Ahh..." Lucy didn't know what to say or do, but she didn't like the idea of Happy telling Erza something that might not be true, which could result in some major drama later on.

"Bloody hell!" Natsu jumped up on his feet and ran over to the window "Come back here you stupid cat!"

"... uhm..." she fidgeted feeling rather awkward all of a sudden. Well the fact that Natsu was shouting out of her window was one thing, the other was the fact she couldn't stop ogling him like he was a piece of delicious meat.

"I'm gonna kill him!" the Dragon Slayer vowed to no one as he clenched his fist in anger.

"Uh-huh" Lucy nodded, trying really hard not to look in his direction.

"Sorry about this" Natsu turned around and before she had time to react, he kissed her briefly before he left her apartment, by jumping out of her window.

"Oh..." blushing she just sat there staring into thin air when she realised that the idiot, had just left without wearing anything else than his underwear.

Yeah that wouldn't make him look less guilty, when he arrived at guild, huh?

"Idiot..." sighing loudly she facepalmed herself.

Ohh well, she better get down there too to make sure Erza didn't turn her partner into a pancake.

So with that, Lucy quickly found some decent clothes, before she started her way towards the guild.

~ o ~ O ~ o ~

It didn't take long for Natsu to arrive at the guild, his insides twisting and turning, anticipating that the worst was about to happen. Which could either be him getting killed by his comrade or just getting slowly tortured, until he was a bundle of salty tears on the ground.

Ohh love was such a weird thing, huh?

Trying not to dwell on it he barged through the doors, causing the people inside to jump in surprise.

"Happy!" he yelled trying to spot the tiny furball, which he found rather fast, since the cat was sitting on the bar with a satisfied look on his face.

Way too satisfied...

In front of his little friend sat none other than the scarlet haired woman, who turned around that instant to look at him. As she did Gray who sat beside her turned around as well, both of them smirking with a rather weird expression.

"Wha-what?" he asked not liking how they seemed to give him the escalator look, before turning to look at each other.

"Should he have the first round?" Erza asked the ice mage, who nodded in return.

"It only seems fair" Gray smirked before turning his attention back on Natsu "Besides he might just kill him for arriving in his boxers"

"Indeed" Erza nodded stoically.

"What the heck are you on about? A round with who?" the Dragon Slayer crooked an eyebrow feeling rather annoyed.

"Me..." a booming and threatening voice came from behind him, causing him to flinch in horror. The feeling intensified as he heard the sound of the man cracking his knuckles, causing Natsu to have a rather haunted look on his face.

"La... aahhhh!" Natsu screamed in terror when he was suddenly sent flying, by the guild master's clenched fist. It only took a few seconds before the fire mage back collided with the wall, causing the air to get knocked out of his lungs.

"As your master, it's about time you learn your place!" Laxus said in a booming voice, as he stood towering above the frightened Dragon Slayer, electricity flickering all around his body

"I uhm..." Natsu sucked in his breath, a few droplets of cold sweat trickling down his forehead.

"Rule number one!" Laxus continued as he stood towering even higher above his foe "There will be no hanky panky in this guild, you got that?"

"... huh?"

"Second rule!" the blonde mage growled as he pushed Natsu against the wall, before raising a clenched fist that had a huge amount of threatening lightning flickering around it "And you better be listening, ya hear?"

"Ha-hai!" he shivered, the hair on his neck rising with fear.

"If you ever hurt her I will electrify each cell in your body, until your manhood falls off, got that?"

"Uh-huh"

"I say you got that?!" Laxus roared before slamming his fist against the wall, only a couple of millimetres away from his head.

"Yes sir!" Natsu managed to stutter, as more sweat started pouring down his body.

"Good..." the lightning mage nodded to himself as he used his free hand to reach into one of his pockets. Once he found what he was searching for, Laxus slammed it against Natsu's stomach, causing the boy to squeal in surprise.

"Third rule..." Laxus commanded as he stopped emitting lightning "... use that"

"Use what?" Natsu wondered as he looked at the package in his hands with huge imaginary question marks spawning all around him.

"You know what it is..." the guild master chuckled as he made his way to the bar, while waving dismissively.

"Eh?" he took more thoroughly at the item and it didn't take long before he realised what it was "Preservatives?!"

"According to Happy, you might have given him those a little too late" Erza chuckled as she made her way over to the Dragon Slayer accompanied by Gray, who had thrown his shirt off unconsciously.

"Oy!" Natsu raised his voice "We didn't do anything like that!"

"Sure you didn't" Erza said in a serious voice as she unsheathed her sword and pushed it against his neck, causing the Dragon Slayer to gasp "You would never take advantage of an innocent girl, just to fulfil your own desire"

"Yeah, he would never be so selfish" Gray snickered while slamming a clenched fist against his other hand causing ice to spawn on them.

"Guys...?" Natsu started fidgeting feeling nervous again, as the two suddenly had a murderous aura surrounding them.

"I mean him standing in boxers, must mean he was very appropriate towards her, right?" Gray chuckled wickedly.

"Indeed" Erza nodded, as both of their auras started to intensify, causing Natsu's body to shiver knowing that his doom would arrive very soon.

As he sat awaiting his fate, a mighty roar suddenly spawned before a body suddenly collided with Gray causing him to tumble over and knock Erza down on the ground with him.

"Lay one hand on him and I will kick your butts" Lucy in her Taurus Stardress yelled while pointing at the two mages she had knocked over.

"Luce!" Natsu beamed with happiness towards his saviour.

"You okay?" she asked keeping her eyes focused on Erza and Gray, who sat down with a sheepish look on their faces.

"Ye-yeah..." he answered while rubbing his neck "Thanks"

"Come on, it wasn't like we would do anything serious to him" Gray pouted looking mildly annoyed.

"Maybe not, but knowing you guys it would easily get out of hand and turn into a brawl" she placed her hands on her hip, sending them a challenging look.

"Your perception is good, I applaud your move" Erza smiled and got into a standing position "Very well, I shall not pursue this any further, however rest assured that I share the master's decision and will join him, if he ever hurts you"

The armoured woman turned to give Natsu a fierce look, to assure him that she was serious about her treat, causing him to shiver in fright once again.

"Uhm..." Lucy looked confused as she followed the woman with her eyes, as she walked back to the bar.

"I share her opinion" Gray sighed and got on his feet "Harm just one single hair and I will freeze your balls off"

"Seriously..." Natsu groaned loudly pretending that it didn't affect him, while turning to look up at the celestial mage.

"What happened?" the blonde enquired earning a deep sigh of frustration to escape the Dragon Slayer.

"Nothing really... something about rules and stuff" he slowly got up on his feet, feeling somewhat pissed all of a sudden.

How dare those idiots try to intimidate him like that?! If anything he would beat himself up harder than the three of them combined if he ever hurt Lucy.

Ohhh but he wanted payback...

Thinking that, he could feel a rush of adrenaline rush through his system, making his skin prickle with excitement.

"Is something wrong?" Lucy asked in concern, before placing herself in front of him.

"Heh..." Natsu snickered playfully before placing his hands on the girl's shoulders, who sent him a puzzled look "... I do wonder..."

"About what?"

"Mmm" licking his lips there was a teasing glint in his eyes as he brought the girl closer to himself, causing her to blush.

"Uhm..." she trembled ever so slightly, looking rather nervous all of a sudden.

Not saying anything, Natsu gently took her left hand and kissed her guild mark.

"Ehh..." Lucy's entire body froze and turned slightly pink, the colour intensifying as his tongue slipped out of his mouth, trailing the skin up her arm and further up her neck until he eventually reached her eye. Stopping his action there he quickly kissed her mouth, before leaning backwards to look at a Lucy who looked super shocked.

Well she wasn't the only one, the entire guild had suddenly grown really quiet, almost as if everyone had suddenly decided that they didn't need to breathe anymore.

"What the heck was that?!" Gray was the first to say while pointing a shaking finger at the duo.

"Natsu..." Laxus growled furiously about to make his way over to punish the kid, but someone else beat him to it, because the Dragon Slayer's actions were not appreciated by his victim.

"You idiot!" Lucy snapped angrily as she raised her arm and slammed a clenched fist down on the pink haired brat's head, causing him to squeal and fall forwards, down on his face "what did you do that for, that was super disgusting!"

"Heh..." Natsu smirked while rubbing the sore lump on his head "... it was worth it"

"Worth what?!" she stomped with her foot, fuming with anger.

"It doesn't matter..." he answered cryptically while getting back on his feet.

"Mmm..." Lucy grumbled while tapping with her foot, still looking rather annoyed.

"I'm sorry, hey I know what will make you feel better" the Dragon Slayer smiled wholeheartedly.

"What...?" she pouted clearly not in the mood for more shenanigans.

"Breakfast! You always get grumpy when you're hungry" he grabbed her hand and started his way towards the bar, with the girl following close behind him.

"Now that you mention it I am kinda hungry..." Lucy admitted as they sat down, ready to make their order.

"What can I get for you lovesick kittens?" Mirajane asked while smiling profoundly at the two in turn.

"Pancakes!" Natsu said eagerly as images started rummaging through his mind, making him sit drooling at the prospect of eating the delicious food.

"How about you?" Mirajane asked Lucy, who sat ponding on it for a second before ordering pancakes as well.

"Let's find a table" Erza said from behind them, causing Natsu to squeak in surprise "We need to talk"

"Ohh kay" the Dragon Slayer's eyebrow flickered for a second, not feeling entirely confident about the situation. He followed her nonetheless and soon Lucy, Erza, Happy and Gray arrived there as well.

"So..." Natsu briefly exchanged a look with the celestial mage who was sitting next to him "... what's up?"

"Nothing much..." Gray answered while placing an arm on the table, before resting his head against his hand "... just wanted to make sure you guys are okay, after all we haven't seen you guys since we celebrated Natsu getting out of the hospital"

"That was only two days ago" Lucy said sounding curious "And it isn't like my apartment is that far away"

"Ohh but we couldn't be sure you guys were there" Erza nodded stoically to herself "and it is rather uncommon, not to have your presence here unless you're out on a mission"

"And considering his condition, we wanted to give that brat some space" Gray smirked knowingly "Besides it looks like a little nursing from a kind hearted person, was enough to get stuff moving in the romantic department"

"But we haven't..." Natsu started but stopped because Erza had raised her hand, demanded his immediate attention.

"Hush!" she said in a firm voice while shaking her head " I do not wish to partake in a discussion about what you have or haven't done"

"You just say that, because you haven't had any action with Jellal lately" the ice mage chuckled, until an armoured fist smashed against the ice mage's head with so much force, his head slammed against the table.

"... ehhh..." feeling rather nervous Natsu scratched his neck, not wanting to earn a hit like that.

"Speaking of that, it's been awhile since we heard from Crime Sorciere" Lucy wondered out loud, while rubbing her chin.

"Indeed" Erza sighed loudly "But then again, we knew it might take a while before they finish their mission"

"Mission?" the Dragon Slayer asked, but didn't get an answer right away because at that moment Mira-Jane arrived with two plates filled with pancakes, she very smoothly placed in front of her customers.

"Thank you" Lucy smiled brightly at the white haired woman who nodded in return.

"Yeah thanks!" Natsu said, looking confused as Mirajane also handed him a bundle of cloth "What's this?"

"A blanket" she answered politely "We don't want you catching a cold now do we"

"Ahhh no... thanks" he managed to say, before he quickly wrapped it around himself, creating a hoodie as well as he somewhat hid himself.

It wasn't just because it felt nice, but he was also slightly paranoid about Mirajane going into demonic mode, if he didn't follow what she had hinted about his lack of clothing.

"So what mission were you talking about?" Natsu asked before he started wolfing down his meal, while trying his best to follow the conversation as well.

"Crime Sorciere is out searching for any remains of Zeref's demons and creations that might not have been dealt with" Erza answered trying not to be bothered by the Dragon Slayer's loud way of eating.

"You might not know this" Gray spoke avoiding looking in Natsu's direction "But after the war Crime Sorciere was somewhat pardoned by the council, however to make sure that the world was indeed free from any more demonic creatures, Jellal offered to take his guild on the hunt for any remains. In exchange he pleaded that all crimes committed by his members was removed"

"Which was granted, however that stupid idiot thought he still needed to get punished for his crimes, so he did not wish to get pardoned" Erza grumbled in a vicious tone.

"What?!" Natsu yelled causing some of the food in his mouth to fly out and splash against the table "Why?!"

"Don't worry, the rest of Crime Sorciere refused to take that deal, because they demanded that Jellal was pardoned as well" Lucy said in a knowing tone "So once they return from the mission, they are all free to live a civil life, without having to live like refugees or hermits"

"Ohhh... neat!" the Dragon Slayer said in an eager tone, while emptying his plate.

"Yes, it is indeed neat as you proclaim" Erza smiled warmly looking rather satisfied.

"There is just one thing I want to know" Happy suddenly said, as he placed himself on top of the table "We never got to know whether or not E.N.D was romantically involved with Kyôka"

"... mmm..." Lucy growled her hand clenching the fork she was holding.

"We might never know" Natsu answered recalling the image of his demonic version, where his arm had been wrapped around the woman while both of them looked rather happy.

"I'm sure it's nothing..." Gray said in a nervous tone, noticing how a malicious aura spawned around the celestial mage.

"Yeah, don't worry about it" Natsu tried appealing to the girl, as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders "Besides it's in the past, right? There's no reason to..."

He didn't know how or why, but all of a sudden he felt something trying to drag his consciousness away, making him gasp loudly while his eyes widened with fear.

What was going on?

Natsu briefly wondered as his heart suddenly started hammering violently inside his chest, making the blood rush almost loudly through his skull.

"What's wrong?" Lucy asked in concern sounding rather frightened.

Not knowing himself what was going on, his breathing seemed to become more staggered, until his vision started to blurry, while black spots started to appear.

"Natsu!" Lucy called his name, but he could barely hear it as his eyes suddenly rolled backwards, his entire body slumping over as he lost his consciousness.

~ o ~ O ~ o ~

Natsu had no idea what was going on, but for some reason he was suddenly falling, while being surrounded by darkness all around him.

What the heck was going on?!

He thought feeling agitated by the entire situation. That was until he remembered that there was something similar to the darkness he had felt in a dream, back before the war where the demon had taken contact with him for the first time.

But the demon shouldn't be there any more?

His body stopped falling, making him float in front of his own soul that was glistening in multiple colours, still formed like a sphere as it had the last time. Back then a orange ball had formed next to it, which was his demonic part but it was no longer there. However there was a really small bubble, which had something that looked like liquid gold inside of it.

"A memory" Natsu whispered, remembering that the demon had promised him, what felt like ages ago, that he had left something behind before he vanished.

Wondering what it was, he started focusing on his body feeling and searching for his spirit in his physical body down on a cellular level, causing small droplets from the ball that contained his pure glistening soul, to once more manifest so he had a physical form in that realm.

Feeling curious, but also prepared for the pain that was to come he extended his hand and gently grabbed the bubble.

Forming a cub with his hand under the shiny thing, he used his free hand to poke it causing the bubble to burst, making the liquid fall down into his hand.

"Ohh well, at least that bastard isn't here to force it down my throat" he shrugged and brought the fluid up to his mouth, making it flow into his mouth before swallowing it, hoping that the demon was correct and it wouldn't hurt so much the second time.

Thinking that he felt his throat starting to itch and prickle with pain, but fortunately it was nowhere near as painful as the first time. Nor was it as frightening when he felt the darkness suddenly drag him away, as he left his spiritual place to enter the lost memory.

~ o ~ O ~ o ~

It didn't take long before Natsu could move again and it took him only a few moments to realise that he was in E.N.D's body and evidently he was at some party with the guild members from Tartarus.

Great, this is just... great...

"Oy!" Jackal's voice boomed and soon he spotted said person walking in such a weird way, that it was rather evident that he was drunk "I wanna challenge you!"

"Piss off!" Natsu heard himself say, which actually made him feel rather good.

"Ahhh come on!" the blonde demon moaned in such a childish tone, it sent a shiver down E.N.D and Natsu's spine.

"Is he bothering you?" Kyôka tilted her head to the side, throwing some of her hair over her shoulder.

"Ohhh..." Jackal smirked wickedly ignoring what she said "... so you really do want to go to my chamber"

"Disgusting..." the female demon snickered, her entire body flinching when the pesky idiot wrapped his arm around her shoulder.

"Cooome oooon, you and me..." the flirting Jackal tried kissing her, earning a growl from Kyôka.

"That's it!" E.N.D snarled in anger "I can to an extend accept your annoying attitude when you're sober, but I will not allow that you're harassing other guild mates!"

"Eh?" his target managed to say, before a clenched fist surrounded with black fire smashed into Jackal's face, causing the idiot to fly backwards until his body crashed into a huge cabinet, where he tumbled down and laid unconscious.

Heck yeah that felt soooooo good!

"Thank you master" Kyôka bowed gracefully with her head.

"Ahh it was nothing" E.N.D smiled at the woman an idea suddenly spawning in his mind "Hey, you wanna dress him up and draw on his face"

"You mean... you wanna pull a prank on him with me?" she sent him a baffled look.

"Sure, it's been ages since we did anything fun together" his smile widened as he winked at her "so what do you say?"

"Yes... it would be an honour" Kyôka smiled sincerely as they made their way over to the unconscious demon, they immediately stripped down. Once that was over with they found a pink dress they managed to put Jackal in, before they started drawing on his face, while applying some rather unfortunate make-up on him, all the while the culprits kept giggling and exchanging looks with each other.

"Let's give him ponytails" Kyôka suggested, causing E.N.D to nod eagerly.

Once they had fixed his hair, Jackal looked rather fabulous or so they both agreed as they positioned themselves on the floor, laughing loudly.

"We should do this more often" E.N.D chuckled as he placed his arm around Kyôka's shoulder "My new partner in crime"

"Yes, master" the female demon smiled wholeheartedly her cheeks blushing ever so slightly.

"Hang on a second" Seilah said as she suddenly stood before them with a book in her hands "I will draw this as an evidence of your success"

"Awesome!" he smiled towards Kyôka "Let's remember this as the day we form team: we hate Jackal"

"Yes, let us do that, master"

After that they just sat talking, Seilah joining in on their conversation once she finished her drawing.

"Mard Geer approves of this new look" Mard said as he eyed Jackal up and down.

"Come join us" E.N.D encouraged him while motioning with his hand. Not saying anything the stoic demon sat down next to Seilah, his cheeks blushing for some reason.

In fact Mard seemed to look rather uncomfortable as he sat fidgeting with his hands while casting small glances at the long haired woman beside him.

That moment E.N.D swore to himself that he would use all means necessary to get those two to kiss each other before the night was over. Even if that meant using a trick or two!

Unbeknownst to him, he wouldn't need to do that, because it happened without him having to do anything at all.

So besides that the rest of the night went by with the demons celebrating and having fun until the break of dawn. It was a smashing party and one that Natsu almost wish he hadn't witnessed because he saw a side of the demon's he didn't expect.

Once the time came E.N.D made his way to his own quarters, where he crashed on his bed and after a few seconds, the demon was fast asleep snoring loudly.

So was Natsu, as his spirit left the memory and entered the world of dreams.

~ o ~ O ~ o ~

The Dragon Slayer didn't know for how long he was out, but the sun was up once his eyes shot open making him stare up at a rather white ceiling, he didn't recognise at first.

Grunting and still feeling rather exhausted, Natsu slowly got into a sitting position where he sat scanning his surroundings, making him realise rather fast that he was back at the hospital.

Ohh snap...

Feeling like facepalming himself he let out a groan, as he sat staring outside. Not thinking about anything in particular he noticed that Lucy was curled up on a chair next to him, sleeping ever so peacefully.

She looked absolutely amazing, with her long blonde hair falling down above her soft skin, that he felt an urge to touch it. Not because of desire, but Natsu just felt like he needed her to be closer to him.

"Luce..." he called making her stir a bit "... oy, Luce"

"Mmm..." she slowly opened her eyes and once they spotted him, she yelped in surprise before launching herself at him, engulfing him in tight hug.

"Ohh!" he said while returning the gesture "There's no need to assault me you know"

"You just fainted all of a sudden" she sniffled while crying against his shoulder "It... really scared me"

"I'm sorry..." giving her body a squeeze he rested his jaw on her head.

"... you better be..."

"It kinda wasn't my fault though"

"What do you mean?"

"I got sucked into a meditative state, where my demonic part had left a memory for me"

"Ohh!" Lucy gasped "Please tell me about it"

"It might take a while..."

"Okay..." she chuckled while crawling up onto the bed, where she through motional gestures encouraged him to lay down. Obeying her silently, they got comfortable making them lay down beside each other, where they looked into each other's eyes, only a few centimetres separating them.

At first Natsu wasn't sure what to say, but once he started talking it wouldn't stop. He explained about the party and how they made a makeover on Jackal making him look more dashing. Which caused both of them to laugh, before he continued.

As the story was about to reach it's end, tears suddenly started falling down his cheeks. It wasn't because he felt sad or anything, but they just spawned which he barely noticed.

"Are you okay?" Lucy asked when he finally reached the conclusion, sending him an affectionate look.

"Yeah..." he removed the tears, but more kept coming "... not sure why I'm crying..."

"Perhaps your soul is sad because you lost a vital part of yourself" she suggested "with E.N.D gone, you're now missing something you can't replace. Besides it must be hard seeing your past, where you spent time with your friends, knowing that all of them are gone. Especially because the demon in you never got to say goodbye and now you must feel his pain and sorrow for that loss"

Something seemed to click inside of him, causing his sadness to increase in volume. It wasn't just his past and his demonic side he had to say goodbye to, it was also all the memories the demon had, which he would never regain.

His demonic part had not been purely evil and he had lived a life, that would never get acknowledged by anyone. Nobody would remember what he did, nor would anyone know that the demonic guild was so much more than a bunch of bad demons.

All of that seemed to wash over Natsu, causing his face to twist in pain before he grabbed Lucy and started crying loudly against her chest.

It was all just so weird and sad, that he couldn't stop the tears from falling.

Laying there Lucy didn't say anything but kept stroking his hair, while occasionally kissing him, which he very much appreciated.

It felt good letting it all out, while being comforted by the girl he liked the most.

After a while the crying stopped, making him lay rather exhausted against the girl's bosom.

They really were good for more than grabbing...

Natsu didn't know how long he laid there, but eventually he got a hold of his own feelings.

"Thank you..." he whispered in a hoarse and used voice.

"Any time..." Lucy said in a fragile, yet very gentle tone before placing a soft kiss on his forehead "... my idiot"

"Heh..." holding on tighter to the girl the Dragon Slayer raised his head to look into her magnificent brown eyes, that looked so kind and beautiful. Heck, if he was a poet he might have said something amazing, but currently he had no idea what to say that would sound like a compliment.

Your eyes remind me of a turd I saw the other day!

Naaah, better not...

"Feeling better?" Lucy asked still caressing his hair.

"Yeah... a bit tired though..."

"Then you should rest for a bit"

"That's okay?"

"Of course you silly moron" she chuckled brightly "If you're tired you need sleep, right?"

"Neat!" he snickered while rubbing his head affectionately against Lucy's soft pillows.

Best girlfriend, ever!

Actually he did feel super drowsy, which made perfect sense because saying goodbye can be a hard thing to acknowledge, much less do without feeling sad about it. Sometimes it was necessary in order to move forwards though and depending on the circumstances, it was vital in order to accept the future. To take a leap of faith and see what would come down the road, without being bound by the sorrows of the past.

Natsu and Lucy would do the same, but fortunately they had found a reliable ally in each other. Not only to love and hold, but so be that partner that would secure a long lasting life, where they could live free of worries such as war or demons rising.

The future for all of the survivors was bright as the morning sun, warming each and everyone with the promise of a new beginning and a new tomorrow. After all that ends might rise again starting a new set of possibilities and limits, that would ultimately all reach their end as well.

A/N: Aaaaand cut! That was it! I hate endings... and wow, this took forever to finish. Seriously it's been over a year since I posted this and before that I used half a year on creating the theory and storyline. So it... has been really interesting and I am truly sad it's all over.

But then again I am already planing and typing the next story, which I currently call "Origin: Dragneel and the Dark Dragon"

I plan on posting it all when I'm finished typing the entire story, so stay tuned for when that gets uploaded, if you think it sounds interesting :)

I wanna thank everyone for joining me on this story's journey! It doesn't matter who you are, but as long as you've enjoyed at least something in this story, then that makes me incredibly happy :)

Natsu: "H doesn't know what to say, so I'm gonna say it for her: Thanks for tuning in, we hope you have a nice day and that we see each other in another story!"

H: "What he said! Have a nice one kittens 3"

/H