Keeping Promises

AN: Finally done!I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to post this chapter this week since I just started with my new work (after being out of work for 2 months… yey for me!), I also had some troubles trying to complete this chapter, hopefully this turned out well.

Thanks to everyone who encouraged me to continue this story! Hope you enjoy this final chapter.

Disclaimer: Yes, FT again does not belong to me…

Chapter 5: Promises

"Oi! What are you doing?"

"Hirake!"

Gray, Juvia and Happy watched Natsu in shock as he put the hand holding the crystal key before him. The same pose when Lucy would do when calling her spirits.

He's lost it. Gray thought worriedly at his friend

Natsu stood there for a few minutes before opening one eye. When nothing happened he looked at his friends, grinning sheepishly while scratching the back of his head...

"It was worth a try..."

Juvia smiled softly at the dragon slayer. Despite the smile on his face, she could clearly see the disappointment in his eyes.

"Juvia thinks you should study celestial magic first, Natsu-kun..."

Happy looked at the blue haired mage, "Natsu already did." at their surprised looks, the flying cat looked at his partner, "Maybe you missed something?"

"Wait, wait, wait... what the fuck do you mean, he already did?"

Natsu grinned at his spluttering friend, "Exactly what you heard, squinty eyed freak." Juvia placed a restraining hand on her husband before he could launch himself to the smirking dragon, smiling gently at his words. It's his way of remembering her...

"Natsu studied celestial spirit magic so that he can call all of Lucy's spirits!" Happy explained to the two before turning back to his partner, "Maybe it's not a celestial key?" he said as he floated beside his friend, who then looked thoughtfully down at the crystal key in his hand.

"Maybe..." came the reluctant response, looking at the crystal key in his hands, he had felt the energy in it... something familiar and soothing at the same time. The key itself was made of clear crystal that shone when light hits on it. The head was fashioned as a star and had the Fairy Tail guild emblem on it.

He sighed, closing his hand on the glittering key before closing his eyes again as he tried to push more magic into it to no avail. After a few seconds more, he sighed.

"Yeah... maybe you're right. Let's get this to gramps so he can check this out."

Before he could take a step, a bright light engulfed his hand then they heard a loud chiming of a bell as door opened before them.

All of them had instinctively covered their eyes at the bright light. When it dissipated they lowered her hands only to have their jaws drop. Juvia felt tears fill up her eyes as she saw the figure before them, while Gray's eyes widened with his jaw slacked open.

Natsu stared at the person in front of him, hands shaking. It was Happy who was able to react first, launching himself to the startled girl who appeared from the celestial door. Bawling out loud, the exceed buried his face on her ample breasts, missing the way her soft hands stroked his fur as she wrapped her own arms around him, hugging him and snuggling her face into his furry head.

"L..Lucy?"

Looking up at the strangled voice, she smiled at the dragon slayer, tears filling her eyes. Her blonde hair flowing down her back, chocolate brown eyes filled with tears... Natsu couldn't believe it. She was standing right in front of him, after two long years of thinking she was dead.

She was right in front of him.

His eyes roved over her form, from her bright blonde locks, to her teary chocolate eyes, her body covered by a sheer dress that ended mid-thigh on the front, while pooling down to her feet at the back, his eyes finally focused on her right hand as it stroked Happy's blue fur... stared at her pink Fairy Tail emblem.

He slowly approached the blonde girl, afraid that if he moved to fast, this dream would shatter.

She waited until he was just a breath's away. She smiled happily at him, lifting her hand from the blue exceed's head, she slowly put it on the dragon slayers cheek, slowly stroking his face. He tentatively lifted his own hand and covered it with his own, eyes locked into her.

"I missed you." came the soft whisper, "Natsu..."

The moment she uttered his name, the dragon slayer moved, wrapping his arms around her and crushing her into his warm embrace. Happy, having an idea of what would happen, quickly moved out of Lucy's arms before he got squeezed between the two. Crying happily beside them as he watched them in each others arms. The dragon slayer openly crying, burying his face at the crook of her neck.

"I missed you so damn much, Luce..."

Lucy couldn't help the tears that fell down her face as well, enjoying the tight embrace of her former partner. "Me too..."

As he pulled back, his onyx eyes darkened, "I never thought I'd see you again..." tears fell from the celestial mage's eyes as well as she leaned closer to him and touched her forehead to his, "I never thought I'd feel you again..."

"Lucy? Is that really you?"

Turning her head, she grinned at the ice demon slayer. Feeling Natsu's arms drop from her waist, Lucy grinned at her friends and gave them a peace sign. At this, Gray ran and wrapped his arms around the blonde girl giving her a bear hug, lifting her up, going in circles, tears ran down his face unabashedly. When he put the girl down, Juvia hurried to wrap her arms around the celestial mage, tears of joy running down her face as well.

"Juvia is so happy to see former love rival!"

At her words, both Gray and Lucy sweat dropped and laughed at the blue haired mage.

"How did this happen?" Gray looked at the celestial mage then back to the dragon slayer who was now grinning from ear to ear. The same grin that they hadn't seen for a long time.

Lucy looked at Gray then back at Natsu before her eyes took notice of the key in his hands. Slowly taking his hand into hers, she opened his hand to reveal the crystal key. She smiled mistily at it as she traced its outline "So... this is what my key looks like."

Natsu grinned and closed his hand over hers. "It was Juvia who found your key." At his words the girl beamed and smiled at the water mage. "Why don't we look for someplace to camp on before Lucy tells us her story?"

"Aye sir!" And with that, Happy flew of ahead of them to find a secure place for them to stay the night and rest.

As Juvia and Gray moved ahead of them to follow the blue cat, Lucy turned her head over to Natsu only to blush as she found his dark onyx eyes focused on her. She smiled sheepishly at him only color even darker as he cupped her face in his calloused hands, slowly stroking her face as if she was made of spun glass.

She smiled softly at him as she touched his right hand, covering it with hers, sighing contentedly before a thought occurred to her, tightening her grip on his hand, she looked at him worriedly. "I should go back... you're not yet used to summoning a spirit..." she scrunched up her nose prettily, "which reminds me, you'll have to tell me how you did that."

Natsu merely snorted at her words, hands dropping from her face but kept her right hand entwined with his. Moving to follow their friends, he pulled her to walk beside him. "I'm fine. All things considered, you don't consume that much magic." Grinning cheekily at her, "So stay here by my side."

Flushing red at his words, Lucy merely huffed but let the dragon slayer pull her beside him. Preparing to settle in for the night, they fixed camp at the location Happy found for all of them. After settling in comfortably, they all sat down beside the camp fire facing each other.

"So... let's hear it. What happened to you? We all thought you were dead." Gray started

Lucy smiled softly, remembering what had happened two years ago. "I honestly don't know as well. I was already low on magic when I used the spell for that One Magic." she nibbled on her lower lip as she contemplated her next words, looking worriedly at the dragon slayer. Looking down on the grass beneath her, she continued her story. "I really was expecting to die back then..." wincing at the low growl coming from the dragon beside her, "However, it seemed that the celestial spirit king used his own power to save me."

Drawing circles on the ground, she smiled wistfully, "Maybe not all of his was his power, but, I think all of my celestial spirits lent a helping hand in turning me into one of them." Looking up, she was met with the confused stares of her team. "I felt their energy when I was using my magic." She smiled ruefully.

"When I opened my eyes, I was back in the hall of stars...Loke and Aquarius..." she winced remembering their shouts and threats, "they weren't happy with what I did, but it was their powers that had saved me."

Happy flew over and snuggled in her arms, his eyes wide up at her, "Lucy...you left us..." came the soft wail.

Smiling at the blue cat, she slowly stroked his blue fur and sighed. "I know... and I'm sorry..." she sighed as she continued with her story, "From what Virgo told me, I lost consciousness after. I was asleep in the celestial world for about four months...when I woke up, they explained to me that I had been turned into a celestial spirit too."

"Wait..." Gray grumbled, "So you're saying that you've been in the celestial world all this time..." at the blonde girl's affirmative nod, he continued, "then why the hell didn't Loke or that maid tell us?!"

Lucy smiled ruefully, "They weren't allowed to... that and the fact that even if they did, they didn't know if I was going to be a spirit that could be summoned. They didn't want to give you hope that we might have the chance to see each other again when even they didn't know."

Breathing in, she then turned to the dragon slayer beside her. "Your turn. How did you open my gate... and how did you know that's my key?"

The fire dragon slayer merely grinned at her, "I didn't know it was your key. Just ask Juvia and Gray over there."

At her confused look, the bluenette smiled at her and told her about their last mission and how she saw the key beneath the mountain rubble.

"We all know Natsu-kun hoards anything related to you or your magic...", ignoring the way Natsu had turned red and started flailing his arms, much to the amusement of Gray and earned him an endearing smile from the blonde mage, "so when Gray-sama and I saw it, we decided to let Natsu-kun have it. We didn't know it was a celestial key... we just thought that it might be, considering where we found it, it's design and what it was made of."

Lucy bit her lip as she tried not to grin happily at what Juvia said, a warm feeling spreading through her as she heard that Natsu hoarded anything related or connected to her. She coyly looked at the still blushing dragon slayer, "Ok, so next question... how did you open my gate?"

It was Happy who easily answered her question, piping up from her lap, "Natsu studied celestial spirit magic so he can summon all of Lucy's spirits!"

Blinking at the cat's words, she looked at the salmon haired mage in question only to be met with his face covered in flames causing Gray to roll in the ground in laughter.

"Ha-ha-happy! D-da-damn it, shut it!" came the stuttering response.

The blue exceed merely chuckled behind one paw, eyes twinkling as he looked up to Lucy, "He wanted to take care all of your spirits! Just like you ...mppph!"

Grabbing the blue exceed and clapping his hand over his big mouth, Natsu laughed nervously and held down the struggling cat, hissing "traitor" under his breath.

The celestial mage blushed deeply at the information that the cat had given them while Gray was on the ground rolling in laughter, holding his stomach as he howled in mirth. Juvia merely giggled behind one hand as she watched the three around her, dark blue eyes twinkling merrily.

"Lucy?" turning to the water caster, Lucy tilted her head in response, "Loke and Virgo are both your spirits, right?" at her responding nod, she continued, "are they still considered your spirits even after you, yourself, turned into a celestial spirit?"

At her question, Lucy beamed happily at her, "They still are. Their contracts have been cancelled when I was transferred to the celestial realm, however, when I woke up, they all gave back their keys to me."

"Wait-a-minute...Natsu summoned you... and you summon the spirits..." Gray scrambled up, pointing from the blonde girl to the salmon haired mage, Lucy grinned at his reaction and chuckled. "Yes... that means Natsu is automatically in possession of my gate keys as well."

"Holy shit!" That's not fair!" yelled the dark haired mage. "Isn't it enough that he's already powerful as hell, and you still have to add on all your celestial magic?!" At Lucy's smile, "And to think you're just as powerful! THAT'S FREAKING UNFAIR!" he howled out.

Turning to the blonde mage, Natsu looked at her mischievously, "Summon Loke..."

"Eh? What for?"

He gave her a fanged grin, "I want to challenge him of course!"

A tick appeared on Lucy's head, "You idiot! How many times do I have to tell you that spirits are not used for fighting!"

"Awww, come'on Luce... let me try my powers on him!"

Glaring at the dragon slayer, she yelled out, "I said, no!" Just as she was about to hit Natsu, she felt herself weaken, she blinked and looked at her hand, then looked up at Natsu. The dragon slayer looked back at her in confusion before they were surprised by Virgo.

Lucy blinked at her spirit in confusion as she slowly lowered her hand. "I passed through using my own power, Princess." She then turned to look at the salmon haired mage, "Natsu, princess needs to get back to the celestial realm. She still needs to rest."

A shadow passed over the dragon slayers face, "Isn't her magic supposed to feed from me?"

Virgo nodded. "It should, however, this is the princess' first time out of the celestial realm since she became a spirit. It would take some time before she would be able to get used to being summoned."

Natsu frowned before he nodded, noticing her wan appearance. "Go, Luce… I can always call you back."

"But.."

The fire dragon slayer smiled and lifted the key in his hands. "I have your key. That means you belong to me right?" the celestial mage flushed red at his words, grinning at her, "That also means I can call you anytime, anywhere, so for now, you go rest."

Biting her lip, Lucy rolled her eyes at what he said before slowly disappearing. As soon as she returned back to the celestial realm, Virgo looked at Natsu and bowed, noting the melancholy look in his eyes. "Call her every now and then so she can adapt to being summoned, it would also restore her powers as a celestial mage. In time she should be able to pass through her gate on her own power."

Natsu smiled at her and thanked her, as soon as the other spirit disappeared. He huffed and pouted, looking down at the key in his hands, looking for the world like a kid who had his favorite toy taken away from him. The blue cat in his arms looked up and patted his arm, "Don't worry Natsu… you'll see her again…"

The dragon slayer merely pouted, "But it was just a short time… I didn't get the chance to stay with her for that long…"

Gray merely grinned at the pouting dragon slayer, "You managed to wait for two years. What's a few days more? Give her a chance to rest." At this he stood up and pulled his wife towards their makeshift bed at the other side of the camp fire.

The other man merely huffed before lying down on his bedding, looking up to the night sky, Happy snuggling at the top of his bedding before curling up and going to sleep. Natsu started a bit before a fanged grin made its way to his mouth. Chuckling quietly before closing his eyes and going to sleep.

Get some sleep, you idiot. Call me when you get back to the guild…

Lucy blinked at her surroundings, slack jawed when she realized where she was at the moment. It had been three days since she was summoned by from the celestial realm and Natsu, Gray and Juvia returned to Magnolia. She slowly faced the dragon slayer who was grinning from ear to ear. "You kept my apartment?" she asked him incredulously.

Natsu chuckled nervously and scratched the back of his head, "Yeah…"

Lucy snapped her mouth shut before sighing, sitting beside the dragon slayer on her bed, she lifted her legs and wrapped her arms around it, resting her chin above her raised knees.

"Why?"

At his silence, she turned her head to him, "Natsu?" her eyes widened when she saw how his shoulders were bunched up, hands fisted on the covers beneath him.

"Natsu... why did you keep my apartment?" when he didn't respond, she continued, "why did you study celestial magic? Why did you..." not able to continue her questions, she stared at him intently, part of her happy that he deemed important to keep a part of her with him, but a more sinister part in her mind chastised her, told her that he did this because he blamed himself.

"Natsu?"

"Because I wanted to have a part of you with me."

"But you shouldn't have..."

He snorted, still not looking at her, "It's not a question if I shouldn't have...I did it because it's what I wanted."

She breathed in deeply, "Because you blame yourself for what happened?" she asked him softly, voicing out her deepest fear to him.

Onyx eyes blazed at her words as he stood up and glared down at her, finally snapping. "Why did you do it?" he hissed at her.

Gritting her teeth, Lucy bit her lower lip as looked up at his imposing form, throwing back his response back to him.

"Because I wanted to."

"You wanted to kill yourself?"

Brown eyes glittered in fury at his words, she was about to retaliate when she realized that his anger wasn't directed at her... but at himself. She sighed and slowly stood up, she approached the enraged dragon slayer until she was directly in front of him. She lifted her hand to his face and leaned her head to his chest, listening to the thundering beat of his heart.

"Because I couldn't live in a world where you wouldn't be in it."

Natsu clenched his fists at her soft confession before exhaling out loud, lifting his own arms to wrap around her soft form. He buried his face in her golden locks and inhaled her sweet scent.

Lucy's eyes snapped open when she felt his tears on her neck just as his embrace tightened, locking her closer to his form. "I'm sorry... I'm so fucking sorry, Luce..."

Dropping on his knees, bringing her with him, he cradled her in his arms as he continued to weep. "I couldn't control myself... I remember you calling out to me...I should have been stronger..."

The blonde girl closed her eyes as tears fell, this is what she had been afraid of... that he would take responsibility for back then.

"You heard me. That's all that matters." she whispered softly

He shook his head wildly at that, "I lost you because I was weak! I should have been stronger. I shouldn't have turned into that monster..."

"You were strong. You came back to us... even when the darkness consumed you... you came back to us."

Natsu lifted his face from her neck to look into her eyes, "I should have been strong enough to hold it back, if I had, you never should have gone through that..." his hold tightened on her, "We... I... I thought I'd never see you again. I thought I lost you completely."

Lucy smiled gently and brushed his salmon fringes off his face. The dragon slayer closed his eyes and sighed contently, enjoying the feel of her hand on him. Breathing in deeply, he enjoyed taking in her scent... another reason why he kept her apartment was because her scent was all over the place. He had holed himself up in her apartment after the incident... even after a few months, he could smell her faint scent in the apartment until his scent covered hers. But even still, there were faint traces of it... even up to now.

He smiled faintly, this was something she didn't have to know.

Natsu pressed his face into her hand before opening his onyx eyes, deeply looking into her own surprised orbs. He tightened his hold on her waist before he lowered his head to hers, capturing her lips in a gentle kiss. Bringing her closer to him, he closed his eyes and let his other senses take over, deepening his kiss.

Lucy's eyes widened when Natsu pressed his face into her palm, a dark flush coloring her face when he looked hungrily down at her. She felt his hand tighten on her waist before he claimed her lips, eyes closing as she surrendered to his warm embrace. Leaning her head back, she moaned softly, letting her body lean into his.

Pulling back, Natsu breathed in deeply and grinned roguishly down at her, caressing her face with his hand, enjoying the way her face flushed pink under his hungry gaze.

"Payback for that kiss you gave me back then."

Lucy's eyes snapped open in shock, "Wha-what?"

"You kissed me back then. I didn't get the chance to kiss you back."

The celestial mage flushed brick red. "Who told you that?!"

His onyx eyes glittered mischievously, "All of them."

Lucy let out an embarrassed squeak and buried her face in his chest, amusing the dragon slayer to no end. He fitted his hands to her waist and lifted her high up, chuckling.

"I love you, Luce."

The blonde girl blinked and smiled softly down at him, her brown eyes reflecting the love she had kept for her dragon slayer.

"I love you too..." she whispered softly.

Natsu grinned at her before setting her down and engulfing her in his scorching embrace.

"Hey! Let's go down to the guild!"

Lucy grinned at him, "I'm sure Gray and Juvia told them already."

"Heh. I told them not to."

Lucy's jaw dropped before laughing out loud.

"Go back and I'll call you once I get to the guild, ok?"

"You idiot." came her laughing response before she disappeared.

"Yo, Natsu!"

Natsu hurried over to where Gray and Juvia sat, grinning from ear to ear. Mirajane blinked at the smile that was on Natsu's face. It had been a while since they had seen that specific grin on his face.

"Yo!" Looking at the demon take-over mage cleaning the bar, "can I have one fire whiskey, Mira?"

Mirajane smiled at Natsu as she prepared his drink.

Natsu grinned at Gray before taking note of the people in the guild, his grin widened when he saw Happy fly to him. Both snickered at each other.

"So, Natsu, you seem quite happy today, did anything happen?" Mira asked him as she placed his drink before him.

The fire dragon slayer grinned at the beautiful bartender. "Nothing much, Mira."

Gray merely snickered. "Just being the same idiot as always."

"Wanna go at it, squinty eye?"

Gray snickered and took his shirt off, "Give it your best shot, flame head."

Mirajane sighed and shook her head in resignation, chuckling at the two mages preparing to battle it out. Erza merely shook her head as she sat beside the water mage.

"It's been a while since we saw Natsu go at it with Gray."

Mira nodded at Erza's comment as they continued to watch the two brawl, throwing punches, upending tables and chairs in their midst.

Natsu grinned and jumped back, grabbing the crystal key, he snickered at Gray who grinned back at him. Channeling his magic to the key in his hand, "Hirake!"

At his yell, all eyes in the guild turned to the dragon slayer in confusion. Their jaws dropped when they all heard a bell chime then in a flash they heard a voice they haven't heard in two years.

"Loke!"

Another light shone before Loke appeared beside Gray, grinning as well

Mirajane gasped, hands going over her mouth. Erza stood up, eyes wide as she saw the figure standing beside the dragon slayer.

Levy dropped the book she was holding when she heard her voice. Tears falling from her eyes, jumping up, she launched herself to the girl who was now openly laughing. All of their guild mates stared in shock before going into an all out commotion.

"Lucy!"

"It's Lucy!"

The blonde celestial mage grinned at her friends who had now surrounded her, tears streaming down their faces.

"How is this possible?" came the soft whisper from Mirajane as she hugged the celestial mage.

Natsu and Lucy grinned at one another before explaining to everyone what had happened to her.

"So, does that mean Lucy is Natsu's celestial spirit?"

Natsu draped a possessive arm over the celestial mage's shoulders, "She's mine!"

Jaws dropped at his words, looking from Lucy's blushing face to Natsu's exuberant grin. Mira screamed happily at the two before the entire guild joined in.

"This calls for a celebration!"

With Mira's announcement, the entire guild went all out and celebrated the return of the celestial mage as well as the relationship of the two mages.

Watching the merriment inside their guild, Natsu wrapped a possessive arm around Lucy's waist, "Since I'm your summoner, this means you'll stay with me."

Lucy grinned at him and nodded as she leaned into his embrace, "I promise to stay by your side..."

Touching his forehead to hers, "And I promise to take care of you..."

Natsu grinned at her, "One day… we'll find a way to keep you here in earthland, but for now, I'll content myself that I can call you anytime…and that you're mine."

Laughing merrily at his words, "Greedy dragon…" eyes softening as she looked at him, "Fine, you can hoard me as long as you want."