Previously:

"Shit. I was so sure she was here."

Just then his peripheral view caught a light. It seemed like torch light. He turned and followed it, branches and twigs scratching up his skin leaving tiny scars but he didn't care. He was close. So close to her.

"Lucy!" he screamed her name as he finally pushed away the bush that separated his view of her.

A blonde turned to look at where she heard her name. But instead of happily seeing each other again, the salmon haired mage frowned as he caught the sight of the one thing he hated seeing the most.

Tears running down Lucy's face.

"Motivation and sincerity are needed to achieve one's goal. To pursue a thing, or a person, even when the present world is lost, even when comfort has been abandoned, knowing the importance of it that was lost and the pain it brings…yet still yearning for it, still existing for it…that's true determination."

"Yuuko-san who are you talking to again?" the black haired lad calmly asked as if it was already a casual thing as he carried a wooden tray with a teacup and teapot on it. He laid down the tray on the floor, poured tea into the cup and handed it to the woman who was staring up in the night sky. She blew out smoke from her pipe; the smoke rising up in the sky like clouds beside the moon. "You were referring to Natsu, weren't you? You should really try to move on with them. You haven't thought about a customer this long, aside from…them." He stared at her, both knowing the group of people he was referring to. A young boy who wished to save the princess of his kingdom, who was also his dearest friend, along with a black haired samurai who wished to go back to his kingdom and a white haired mage who wished to go anywhere but back to his kingdom.

The witch gently laid down her pipe and accepted the young lad's offer of tea. She took a sip from the cup and stared once more into the dark sky covered with thousands of celestial beings. "Well his journey is still on going, just like them. I'm just keeping a close eye on them. In case something interferes."

Silence filled the hall. Watanuki wondered who on earth would want to interfere with Natsu's wish. Then again he knew nothing about the lad. He might have enemies that would want to kill him.

"You know Yuuko-san, I really believe that Natsu will be able to bring back everything that is important him." He smiled as he stared up in the starry sky, the clouds beside the moon clearing out. "I may not know him personally, but he gives off that feeling of reassurance. He and Lucy-chan are the same. They will meet again. I'm sure of it."

"Watanuki's making a really creepy smile." Mokona suddenly popped out, teasing the lad.

"Creepy smile…"

"Creepy smile…" Maru and Moro repeated in a whimpering tone.

"This is how I smile regularly and you know it!" Watanuki yelled in defense as he chased the girls and Mokona into the room.

"It's gonna be a good starry night tonight." The witch smiled, a gentle wind breezing through, carrying the pink petals of the cherry blossoms into the starry night.

"Lucy?"

The blonde girl dropped her torch light and secured her hands on her right waist. She was wearing a black cloak, covering every part of her body except her feet and her head. The moon finally showed itself behind the clouds and shone above the duo's figures. Her golden hair shone pale yellow in the moon light, her skin was paler and her eyes had bags underneath them. She seemed to be in more stress than before.

"What happened to you? Lucy! It's me Na-"

"Gate of the ram I open thee, Aries!" she suddenly yelled as she pulled out a key, sliced it through the air and summoned the pink haired ram, catching the dragon slayer off guard. "Get him!"

"I'm sorry! Wool bomb!" Aries cried as pink fluffy clouds came out from her hands and violently directed its way to Natsu. Not wanting fight the girl back, he quickly dodged the attack.

"Sagittarius! Shoot him!" she summoned yet again another spirit. "Aries! Use wool bomb again to conceal Sagitarrius' attack!"

Both spirits had second thoughts on attacking the pink haired lad, but followed nevertheless their master's orders. The horse shot 3 arrows which were followed by a pink cloud released by the ram. Natsu thought of counter attacking it using his fire dragon's breath but with the pink clouds around, he might be able to hit Lucy and her spirits. Before he knew it, the arrows were only an inch away from his chest when suddenly he felt himself being held up.

"Happy!" he grinned at the blue flying cat. "Just in time!"

"Aye sir!" he replied with a smile as he brought Natsu flying in the air, dodging more of the horse's arrows. "That's Lucy, isn't she?"

"Yeah, but she seems…different. The Lucy we know would never get this violent. She seems…scared."

"Tch!" the blonde clicked her tongue in annoyance. "Gate of the horse, I close thee." And with that command, the horse man burst into a yellow light and scattered into the air. "Gate of the scorpion, I open thee! Scorpio!"

"We are!" a tanned guy with short red and white hair and an iron scorpion like tail suddenly popped out from the smoke. "I hope this is going to be short. I'm on a date with Aquarius, we are!"

"Scorpio use sand buster together with Aries' wool bomb!"

"Alright, we are! No need to be so serious, we are! Sand buster!" He commented as he got on all fours and pointed his iron stinger tail where a large amount of sand came out powerfully. The ram once again released more pink clouds causing the sand particles to mix with it. The blonde then closed his gate, making the tanned young man disappear.

"Natsu I can't see!" Happy cried with his eyes closed shut as he swayed from right to left and then down.

"The sand!" Natsu realized as he rubbed his closed eyes.

The blonde, who unknowingly stood on a nearby cliff (the only spot where the sand cloud couldn't reach her) then took off her cloak, closed Scorpio's gate and took out her whip. She swayed her arm and made her whip extend to reach the dragon slayer's ankle. It then tied itself on it. She then pulled them down, making them fall on the ground face flat.

"Gate of the bull I open thee! Taurus!"

The bull standing on two legs while carrying an axe then appeared. "Finish them off Taurus while I hold them down!"

The bull took out his axe and was about to swing it forward when he stopped suddenly as he saw the face of his target. "What are you doing Taurus?! Do it now!"

The bull shifted his gaze towards the ram who stood on the side, watching them with despair in her eyes. "Taurus!" It was then he knew what was going on. He lowered his axe and disappeared the same way the horse did.

Suddenly the ground, where Lucy was standing, shook. Small cracks appeared on the ground and multiplied until one big crack finally appeared making the ground gave away with Lucy falling into the deep cliff. Her sorrowfully chocolate eyes widened in more fear as she met the onix eyes of the dragon slayer as she fell. She saw him yelling, but she couldn't hear him though she was positive he was calling her name.

How did he know her name?

While on the ground near the cliff, he reached out his hand for her to reach while yelling her name. With a confused mind, she tried to reach him back, but she was already too far to reach him. She closed her eyes, waiting for her end to come. Little did she know that the dragon slayer had jumped off the cliff.

"Lucy!" he cried out, reaching out his hand for her, desperately trying to reach her. She opened her eyes in shock and quickly, without any second thoughts this time, she reached out her hand for him. The wind was fiercely blowing behind her head and on his face; they were getting closer to the hard ground by the second. Their fingers would touch, just an inch more…but the blonde would only fell faster and farther away from him, much to the dragon slayer's annoyance.

"Fists of the fire dragon: boosters!" Round flames completely surrounded the pink haired lad's fists, speeding faster down to ground and nearer to the blonde. The flames went out as soon as he was near enough to her. He wrapped his arms around her, much to the blonde's surprise, making her tear up again.

"I'm here now Lucy. You don't need to be afraid anymore." He whispered on her ear as soon as he felt her tears on his face. Even though she didn't know him, his presence made her feel at home, safe and warm and so she nodded and closed her eyes and prepared herself for impact.

"Wool bomb!" the ram yelled as she summoned yet again another wall of pink clouds to stop the duo's impact on the ground. The two bounced on the pillow like clouds, with the dragon slayer's back hitting the clouds first and the blonde resting on his chest.

"Natsuuu!" Happy yelled as he chased them down the cliff. "Is Lucy alright? Are you alright? I'm sorry! You guys fell too fast and there was still sand in my eyes and and…"

"Lucy…" the dragon slayer whispered as he rested his head atop hers. With a relieved smile, he held her fainted figure tighter and closer to him. "Finally…"

"Natsu?"

"Yeah she's alright, Happy. She's just asleep, that's all." The blue cat sighed in relief and followed the two as Natsu climbed down the pink clouds.

"Thanks for that-uh…" the lad thanked the pink haired girl as he landed safely on the ground. He scratched his head in embarrassment as he was trying to remember her name.

"Aries. I'm sorry!" the ram cried as he approached her.

"Riiiight…" Natsu sweat dropped. He gently laid the blonde on the ground and sat next to her while Happy stood on the other. He cleared her face from her dishevelled hair and passionately stroked her face as if making sure she was not a dream. "By the way Aries, do you remember me and Happy?"

"Yes. I'm sorry!"

"Don't apologize. You did nothing wron-wait what? You remember us?" Natsu almost stood up in surprise and even Happy's attention was caught. The girl nodded in response.

"Our time in the celestial world is different from yours, have you forgotten that Natsu?" a young man wearing a black suit with orange hair suddenly approached the lot, making Natsu and Happy gasp loudly in surprise. "Our world exists on a different dimension so whatever changes happen in the present world will never affect our world."

"Y-You're…" the dragon slayer's voice shook as the young man got nearer and stopped right in front of him.

"I'm sorry!" the pink haired girl cried beside the young man.

"It's alright Aries. You did a great job. We finally found them. You can go back now." He smiled sweetly at the ram as he patted her head lightly. The girl blushed and nodded and slowly disappeared into a yellow light until she was no longer in sight. He then faced back the duo.

"Loke!" the two yelled in unison at the man standing in front of them.

How are you guys doing? hahaha I'm not dead yet if that's what you're thinking XD I was too busy with school, took up a lot of major subjects last semester and currently taking a full load of units this summer. Plus I was on hiatus, had a hard time to think about how to write the next chapters of my stories. lol Sorry.

Yey Loke in the next chapter! Hope you're looking forward to it :D

Please do leave a review after reading.

It's really nice to know what you guys think of the story (as long as they are not offensive XD) I'll upload faster with more reviews!

Thanks! See you guys in the next chapter!

Disclaimer: Quotes used by Yuuko here are from xxxholic and are made by CLAMP, not me. Credits goes to them.