Chapter 29: The death of a reaper

"Do you understand it as yet, the nature of my flames? This Lost Magic is called the Flames of Osiris. These flames are powerful but dead. It must have made you sick eating them." Lahar explained. "You should have figured it out when flames this powerful couldn't send you into the dragon force."

Lahar then dropped Natsu to the ground and turned around just in time as Lisanna attacked him.

The youngest Strauss was in her Animal Soul: Tigress form. Her hands had become feline-like paws with sharp claws at her finger tips while she wore a tiger-skin, 2-piece bikini. She swiped at Lahar with her claws but it had no effect.

"These claws can cut through steel..." Lisanna muttered stunned.

"Limitless raw magical power is coursing through my entire body, including my skin, increasing my durability." Lahar clarified. "Even if you were to injure me with that feeble attack, I would have healed faster than you could have reacted.

"Natsu, are you alright?" Lisanna shouted as she stepped away from Lahar.

Natsu didn't respond as he picked himself up. His mind tried to fathom the power before him. Everything that he had been through, all the experiments, all the dark guild hunting, all the power he had gained seemed insignificant now. The burning desire inside him for revenge forced him back to his feet to continue.

"You're supposed to be on a train heading to Magnolia." Lahar said.

"I turned into a bird and flew out a bathroom window. I know when I'm being followed." Lisanna smirked.

"It is no concern of mine whether you die here or in Magnolia." Lahar replied raising his hand. "Fire Make: Claw."

In a burst of fire Lahar was upon Lisanna, as he swiped at Lisanna she disappeared from his view in a golden flash and he missed.

"Jellal Fernandez." Lahar turned to his left.

A safe distance from Lahar was Jellal who was carrying an embarrassed and relieved Lisanna.

"I thought you left." Lisanna said thankful.

"I stayed to see Behemoth fall." Jellal confessed placing Lisanna on her feet. "I wanted to get involved earlier but I was worried I would just get in Natsu's way."

Lahar's face remained detached and unaffected by the change in situation. To him the numbers didn't matter, only his power.

It was now Doranbolt decided it was time to finally appear. He teleported behind Lahar and placed his right hand on his friend's shoulder.

"Even though I saw everything I still can't believe it." Doranbolt gritted his teeth. "I want answers as your friend."

Lahar spun around and swatted Doranbolt's hand away. Lahar allowed his radiating fire magic to flare briefly as he swung and blew away Doranbolt's arm, incinerating everything below Doranbolt's elbow before he could teleport away.

"I don't need friends." Lahar answered.

Doranbolt appeared beside Jellal and Lisanna as blood dripped from the semi cauterized appendage. Lisanna turned away from the smouldering limb trying not look at the injury. Jellal remained focused on Lahar knowing he couldn't afford to be distracted.

"Jellal, I know you can't fight at your best in the middle of the city. If I can get you to Domus Flau, will you fight him?" Doranbolt asked trying to ignore the pain.

"If you can, then I will fight till my last breath." Jellal nodded.

"Good." Doranbolt cursed as he grabbed Jellal with his remaining hand and teleported.

Doranbolt, Jellal, Lahar and Natsu were all transported in the middle of the Domus Flau stadium. They were all standing in the exact positions they were when they were in Crocus.

"What is this?" Lahar asked trying to figure out how he teleported.

"When I grabbed your shoulder, I tagged you with a bit of my magic. I also tagged Natsu earlier. I can do a once off teleportation on any person or object that I tagged and then the magic on them disappears." Doranbolt laughed before passing out.

Jellal then grabbed Doranbolt and moved him away from the battle field using meteor.

With Lahar's focus on Jellal, Natsu attacked. Natsu engulfed one hand in lightning and the other in flames. He swung his arms around, creating a devastating vortex of fire and lightning, which fired that Lahar.

"Crimson Lotus: Exploding Lightning Blade!"

Lahar turned in the crushing force of the attack and was blasted violently dropping him. A wicked smile appeared on Natsu's face as he thought he was getting the upper hand. The instant Natsu attack was done; Jellal reappeared on the field outlined in golden heavenly body magic.

Jellal bowed down and pointed his hands downwards, with all his fingers closed except the index and middle fingers. He then began to slowly move his right hand until it pointed upwards, causing the clouds above to turn dark and begin circling; creating what appears to be a cyclone with a golden eye.

"True Heavenly Body Magic: Sema!"

A blinding, golden ray of light rained down from the eye of cyclone like a meteor and struck Lahar. When the light faded away and clouds in the sky turned normal, what remained was a crater in the middle of the field.

"Impossible, there should have been more damage." Jellal exclaimed.

When Jellal looked closely he saw Lahar on his knees with both arms cross above his head. His body was damaged from Crimson Lotus: Exploding Lightning Blade and True Heavenly Body Magic: Sema but he was recovering as Impulsar began to flicker.

"Natsu, attack again with your strongest attack." Jellal shouted.

Lahar extended his arms, pointing them at Natsu and Jellal. "Fire Make: Serpent."

Lahar unleashed wicked snakes made of fire at his two opponents. Natsu and Jellal dodged instead of trying to counter to save their magic.

"That combination was almost strong enough to wipe you out. It was the gap between our attacks that allowed you to start healing." Jellal scoffed. "Natsu, we have to work together."

"Shut up, I'm going to kill him on my own." Natsu coughed.

"You can't. We have to fight together." Jellal pleaded.

"Fire Make: Grenade." Lahar muttered as he sent the highly compressed attack in Jellal's direction.

Using Meteor, Jellal was able to dodge and move out of the blast radius. Lahar then used Fire Make: Launch to spring on Jellal.

"Killing you first is the best course of action." Lahar stated as he prepared to take Jellal out.

Lahar gathered fire around his fist and used Fire Make: Knuckles as he was about to take Jellal's head off from behind. Before he could, Lahar was blasted aside by Natsu's Lightning Flame Dragon's Fist and Jellal was saved.

"Don't go ignoring me." Natsu exclaimed.

"This shouldn't be happening." Lahar muttered as he stood up.

"You may have stripped away your emotions and gained immense power but you're still the same person. You were never a fighter, you were a tactician." Jellal responded.

Jellal raised his arms as he drew in shadows from all round the stadium, forming a small black orb which rapidly grew in size. The power of the orb was incredibly dense, manipulating gravity around Jellal.

"Altairis!" Jellal fired the attack at Lahar.

"Fire Make: Twin Serpents." Lahar unleashed two powerful streams of fire at Altairis.

The flames wavered under the warped gravity but deflected the attack enough so that it missed Lahar and crashed into the stands in a massive explosion.

Natsu charged Lahar and tried to hit him with Fire Dragon's Crushing Fang but Lahar was too fast and grabbed Natsu by his hair. Lahar then swung around and flung Natsu into Jellal painfully. Jellal had the wind knocked out of him as Natsu got up and tried crawling towards Lahar.

"Fire Make: Kunai." Lahar fired his thin blades of fire at Natsu.

Again Natsu was saved as Lisanna tackled him and pushed him out of the way. They tumbled together dodging the fire kunai. Lisanna was out of breath in her tigress form after rushing to the stadium.

"I made it… just in time…" Lisanna huffed.

"I'm losing power." Natsu coughed.

"That's to be expected after eating my dead flames." Lahar spoke.

"Natsu, you're hurt. You can barely stand." Lisanna fretted as the dragon slayer tried to rise.

"I'm fine, I can sta…" Natsu didn't get a chance to finish his sentence as the flame knee brace burned out and his knee gave out. "My flames are fading…"

"Lisanna, we have to buy Natsu some time." Jellal said joining the youngest Straus.

"I don't know how long I can keep him busy but I will fight even if all I get is a few extra seconds." Lisanna gulped.

"Don't be stupid, he'll kill you." Natsu shouted trying to reform his flame knee brace but struggled with his waning fire magic.

"You're not alone in this Natsu, you have us. We will help you even if everything seems hopeless. You might not accept us but we're your family Natsu." Lisanna shook her head refusing to back down.

"We're not here to steal your prey; we're only going to keep him busy for a while. This is still your fight." Jellal assured.

The moment that was building between the three wizards was interrupted by Lahar clapping. The clap was slow, deliberate and mocking.

"All that sentiment means nothing in the face of my strength. You both are too weak." Lahar said as he applauded.

"I'm not sure if this will work but it looks like I'm going to have to borrow a trick from Mira-nee." Lisanna sighed. "Animal Soul: Demon Tigress."

A black magic circle appeared beneath Lisanna and unleashed a burst of dark magic that latched onto Lisanna's body. Her hair became wilder, jutting upwards and getting curlier while her cat ears grew extending backwards gaining pointed edges.

Her tiger-skin bikini was now covered in black scales and her claws were now more like demonic gauntlets reminiscent of Mira's Satan Soul Takeover.

"I think you should have started off with that." Jellal remarked noting the increased power.

"Actually, this is the first time I've used this form." Lisanna confessed.

"I'll distract him." Jellal whispered. "When he's concentrating on me, attack."

Lisanna didn't argue and used her new enhanced speed to disappear. Jellal then walked towards Lahar, his steps slow and calculated measuring the distance between them as he got closer.

"Jellal Fernandez, you destroyed the council I served but I don't blame you. It was the actions of the new council that led me to this." Lahar spoke.

"I never expected things to come to this." Jellal gritted his teeth.

Jellal slammed his palms together before separating them. In the space between his hands were four tiny magic circles with each circle representing an element; fire, earth, water and wind. Jellal unleashed the elemental magic and the magic circles surrounded Lahar growing to enormous proportions as they did.

"Abyss Break? This was pointless." Lahar responded unleashing a burst of flames at Jellal's fire magic circle destroying it.

"He disabled the spell so easily…" Jellal cursed.

With Lahar's attention on Jellal, Lisanna appeared suddenly trying to stun Lahar from above. The youngest Strauss attacked him from above with a vicious punch. Lahar reached out and caught the armoured fist as the tremendous force of demon powered attack passed through an unfazed Lahar as the might of it caused the ground beneath him to crack. With Lisanna's fist caught in his own, Lahar slammed her to the ground wickedly causing her body to convulse in pain as she bounce of the hard surface.

Sensing that Lisanna was in trouble Jellal tried to intervene but Lahar was too fast this time after getting a measure of meteor's speed earlier. Even with his meteor Jellal was caught by Lahar as he tried to save Lisanna. Jellal heard the sickening sound of his lower and upper rows of teeth making unplanned contact as Lahar's uppercut caught him flush on the jaw knocking him several feet in to the air.

"That was not entertaining." Lahar seemingly yawned as he stepped on Lisanna's midsection.

The simple step was much more potent and weighty that it actual seemed as Lahar unleashed his power into it. Lisanna coughed out blood as she felt herself being crushed. Her new form vanished as she returned to her normal Animal Soul: Tigress.

Natsu watched as Jellal and Lisanna both were defeated with ease. He had been unable recover in time and all hope seemed gone.

"Natsu, if you want to destroy him then take my power. It's the only way." Jellal called holding out his shaky left hand.

A bright golden flame appeared in Jellal's hand, a flame that Natsu knew all too well. The dragon slayer dragged himself shakily towards Jellal unable to properly stand. Lahar walked away from Lisanna and towards Jellal intent on ending the battle.

"That punch should have killed you; I guess I held back too much." Lahar berated himself as he walked towards the former wizard saint.

"Stop ignoring me!" Natsu screamed as he threw a rock at Lahar head.

The piece of debris hit its mark, knocking Lahar's glasses of his head and shifting the Grimoire Heart guild master's focus to Natsu.

"If you want to die so badly, I'll accommodate you wish. Fire Make: Serpent." Lahar said as he fired the attack at Natsu.

Even in her injured state, Lisanna dug deep and sprinted, like a real tiger on all fours, to Natsu's side to put herself between the flaming snake and Natsu. She used her claws to hold back the attack as best she could until Natsu pulled her away and blocked it with his body. Lisanna's claws were burned off, leaving her hands singed as she passed out.

Defying his body's limits, Natsu rose to his feet and stood in front of Lisanna acting as her shield. With Lahar's attention on Natsu, Jellal then created another golden flame in his right hand. He placed his hands together releasing a bright, golden blast of fire at Natsu who accepted and ate the fire.

With new power coursing through his body Natsu picked Lisanna with his right hand and placed her on his right shoulder before walking towards Jellal. Lahar unleashed another Fire Make: Serpent but this time Natsu was able to easily block with his left hand.

"Get out; this entire place will be nothing but ashes soon." Natsu said as he handed Lisanna to Jellal. "Protect her with your life."

Jellal was left with no magical power and completely exhausted he carried Lisanna away towards the place he hid Doranbolt.

"I can kill them before they even leave." Lahar warned.

"I would stop you." Natsu responded.

Natsu's skin turned hard and scaly as the rest of his body changed. He now had longer, sharper canines and his finger nails grown into claws. The golden flames around his body erupted into a torrent of fire that clung to his skin. The bright golden fire was blinding, like staring directly at the sun. Lightning then surged across his body like a thunderstorm.

"Fire Make: Dragon." Lahar raised his hand in to the air.

A massive red magic circle appeared above Lahar and unleashed a violent flow of blood red flames that banded together to form a long Chinese dragon. The dragon flew into the sky just like it before.

The time Natsu jumped into the air and surrounded by his new power he easily passed through the dragon and descended on Lahar.

"Hidden Fire Form- Lightning Flame Dragon's Fist!" Natsu screamed as he unleashed a wicked punch on Lahar that sent tremors through the stadium.

"This is impossible." Lahar coughed as he felt his broken bones heal.

Lahar looked to Natsu and saw that there were thin blue marking between his scales. In his heighten sense of being Lahar could sense remnants of Sky God Slayer magic hidden in Natsu's Impulsar. The fragments of Chelia's healing magic had been activated by Natsu's surge in power. It was almost as if the ghost of Chelia was standing by Natsu's side healing him.

"I don't believe it. You still have your cursed Impulsar." Lahar muttered. "That will kill you."

"I know it's going to kill me but not before it gives me enough power to kill you. I only survived because Chelia healed me the first time it tried to kill me and put a pause on its lethalness. Every time I activate it, it picks up from there and tries to end me." Natsu snarled as blood dripped from his eyes.

A burst of fire magic erupted from Lahar as Natsu back flipped away not wanting to be caught off guard.

"I will succeed where that Impulsar failed." Lahar replied. "Fire Make: Titan!"

Lahar slammed his fists together and created a gigantic red magic circle beneath him. A giant ribcage made of fire exploded from the magic circle and formed around Lahar. More fire erupted from the magic circle and began completing the giant skeleton of an upper body around Lahar. Flames then encircled the skeleton forming flesh.

"Let's see you get to me now." Lahar challenged.

"Man always thinks about the past before he dies, as if he were frantically searching for proof that he truly lived. Ridding the world of you will be proof that I lived." Natsu laughed.

Natsu used his Fire Dragon's Claw to launch himself high into the sky above Domus Flau directly above Lahar.

"Hidden Fire Form- Lightning Flame Dragon's Swan Song!" Natsu screamed.

Natsu's body burned brighter than the sun before a sea of flames and lightning erupted from his body and formed into a massive dragon that took the shape of Igneel. The dragon was twice the size of Lahar's giant Fire Make: Titan. The colossal attack of fire and lightning crashed from the sky directly on Lahar.

In the chaos that sent Domus Flau into oblivion Natsu was able to watch as Lahar was killed by the unmatched power of his attack before he faded into the nothingness of unconsciousness.

XXXXX

Smoke and ash rose out of the smouldering remains of the Domus Flau. Jellal held up Doranbolt as Lisanna supported the former wizard saint. The three watch from atop a tower of Mercurius Castle. Doranbolt was able to get them there with his last bit of magical energy.

Lisanna tried not to choke up as she watched the inferno that was Domus Flau sink into the ground as it collapsed into the catacombs below. The dragon slayers final suicide attack was enough to eliminate Lahar and end the battle.

One year later

Gran Doma stood out on a balcony of Mercurius Castle and watched as Domus Flau was being rebuilt.

"It's hard to believe that an entire year has passed by." Gildarts mused joining Gran.

"How did you get passed my guards?" Gran demanded to know.

"Your guards aren't exactly the sharpest tools in the shed." Gildarts laughed.

"So what brings you here?" Gran sighed.

"I came to see Domus Flau and I heard you were at the castle. I just had to visit." Gildarts replied.

"You're still upset about my decision." Gran muttered.

"You buried the truth and forced our silence." Gildarts spat.

"I did what I had to. It was a necessary evil, the truth can never be known for the sake of order." Gran responded.

"You lied to world about Behemoth and you manipulated us to go along." Gildarts cursed. "You told the world Lahar died fighting Behemoth and disbanded the Rune Knights under the excuse you wanted to reform them as the Council Knights."

"It was not easy for me to say those things after Lahar's betrayal, but the anarchy would have torn Fiore apart if the truth was known." Gran cursed. "Laxus understood that."

"Laxus only agreed to go along with your lies to protect Natsu's memory and ensure Erza's happiness." Gildarts reminded.

"I am sorry that I went back on my word and forced Fairy Tail's silence as part of Jellal's deal." Gran apologized.

"That's not all you did. You never explicitly said it but you also threatened to release the council's files on the crimson reaper to public along with his true identity. Those same files would have also lead Jellal's enemies to him." Gildarts accused.

"That was not a threat, merely a warning of what would happen." Gran coughed.

"Only seven people outside the council know the truth…" Gildarts muttered.

"Seven… Lisanna Strauss, Jellal Fernandez, Doranbolt Ryder, Erza Scarlet, Laxus Dreyar and you. There should only be six!" Gran shouted.

"You're forgetting about Natsu Dragneel." Gildarts replied.

"You still believe his alive." Gran sighed. "False hope is still hope, I guess. Natsu and Lahar were both destroyed in that final attack."

"I don't have proof but I can just feel it, I know Natsu is still alive." Gildarts scoffed.

"A year has one by and no one has seen or heard from him, you should start facing facts." Gran suggested. "Since you're here, I have to ask why Laxus never revealed Natsu's identity as subject 45 to the guild."

"Laxus said he would only do that with Natsu's consent." Gildarts answered. "So now we just have to wait for him to come home and he has to decide whether to tell everyone."

XXXXX

Jellal collapsed exhausted onto the ground. Scattered around him were the unconscious bodies of Eisenwald members. Eisenwald, the last remaining remnant of Behemoth had finally fallen. After Lahar's defeat, Behemoth lost its chain of command and internal strife tore the once mighty organisation apart.

Jellal and Fairy Tail had spent the last year tracking down and putting a stop the different factions that were born from Behemoth's collapse.

Jellal looked up and saw Erza extend her hand to him. Jellal grabbed her soft hand and was forcefully yanked up to his feet.

"How does it feel to be free?" Erza asked.

"I guess it hasn't sunk in as yet." Jellal laughed.

Erza dragged him and pulled him through the building and lead him outside. Jellal shielded his eyes from the sun as he exited the building and found Laxus and Mirajane waiting. Laxus had done his part and taken out the Eisenwald wizards that were hiding around town.

Laxus gave Erza the thumbs up and red head nodded. Jellal was left confused until a horse and carriage pulled up in front of them. Erza then tried to throw Jellal into the carriage but he was able to stop the overzealous red head.

"What's going on?" Jellal questioned.

"This carriage is going to take us far away, so we can get married and go on honey all at once. I don't want to wait any longer." Erza explained.

"Erza, I'm sorry I can't do that." Jellal turned away from Erza.

"What's wrong? I thought you wanted…" Erza mumbled.

"This isn't what you want." Jellal explained.

"No, this is what I want. I want to be with you." Erza yelled.

"I know you too well Erza, this isn't what you want." Jellal sighed. "This is what you want."

Jellal then held Erza's hand and got down on one knee.

"Erza, I want to spend the rest of our lives together so that I can grow old with you. I can't imagine a life without you in it. I want to give you everything you want, I want to give you that big, over the top wedding that you've always fantasized about. I want to start a family with you. I want to give you everything you've always dreamed off. Will you make me the happiest man alive?" Jellal smiled as he slipped a ring on Erza's finger.

"Off course, you didn't even have to ask." Erza cried as she practically crushed Jellal in a hug.

"I told you, I want to give you everything you've always dreamed off, starting with the dream wedding." Jellal whispered as he ignoring the crushing pain.

As Jellal and Erza embraced, the other couple present could only watch the scene unfold. Mirajane had to be held back by Laxus as she became overly excited.

"Lisanna would have loved to see this." Mirajane smiled.

"Mira, I think we should head back home. We should relieve the baby sitter." Laxus reminded.

"Oh, don't worry about that. The baby sitter was busy so I left our little angel with Elfman and Evergreen." Mirajane explained.

"Are you sure that's a good idea? Evergreen is seven months pregnant after all." Laxus reminded.

"It'll be fine; this is the perfect practice for when they have they have their child." Mirajane responded. "Elfman was so excited to watch his niece."

"You've made me even more worried now. Let's head back home quickly before your brother teaches my daughter about being a 'man'." Laxus sighed.

XXXXX

Lucy lifted the giggling baby into the air and then brought him to her chest. She raised him up again and lowered the amused toddler again. She repeated the sequence a few more times until Light grew bored of it.

"See Juvia, you have nothing to worry about. Light will be fine with me." Lucy assured.

"Juvia has never left Light alone before." Juvia sighed. "Juvia doesn't know if Juvia can do this."

"Calm down Juvia, we're only leaving for the day, we'll be back tonight. Lucy can take care of Light for the day." Gray assured.

"Juvia is sorry for being such a worry wart." Juvia apologized.

"I understand but you and Gray need some time alone together." Lucy said.

"I'm going to miss Light too but we haven't been out on date since he was born. We need this." Gray nodded.

"Juvia knows. Juvia wants to go out with Gray." Juvia sighed. "Juvia has decided, Juvia is going to be strong and leave Light with Lucy for today."

"Good luck making Light a new sibling!" Cana cheered from the bar causing Gray and Juvia to blush.

Lucy then joined Levy at a table on the second floor. The guild bookworm was deep in concentration reading a book on pregnancy. Lucy put Light in his high chair at the table and gave him a teddy bear to play with.

"You just found out you're pregnant a week ago and you're already studying up on it." Lucy sighed.

"You can never be too prepared. I'm just worried with my small body; it might just complicate things for the baby." Levy confessed.

"Hey, don't worry about it. Juvia was worried that her ability to turn into water would affect Light and look at him now, healthier than ever." Lucy reminded.

The blue haired baby giggled and sniggered at hearing his name.

"I'm happy for Juvia, last year she was so worried about her relationship with Gray failing and now their marriage is rock solid." Levy marvelled.

"It's amazing what an attack on a town by a dark guild can do." Lucy chuckled.

"It must feel lonely being one of the few single people here, there's this guy at the bookshop who asked about you the other day. I could introduce you to him." Levy suggested.

"Who said I'm still one of the few single people in Fairy Tail." Lucy replied.

"You have a boyfriend?" Levy exclaimed.

"Not really a boyfriend as yet, just a friend who I've realized is much more." Lucy admitted.

"Who is he? What's he like?" Levy pressed for details.

"I don't want to say anything to jinx it but I feel comfortable around him. He's the only guy I can talk to about my book." Lucy blushed.

Before the conversation could continue, a celestial gate opened and Loke appeared.

"Where's Gray? Don't tell me I missed him." Loke said searching for Gray. "I had the perfect advice for his day out."

"Sorry Loke, Gray is already gone." Levy said.

"You're late…" Lucy sighed.

"It's your fault I'm late. You kept me up all night talking about your book." Loke blamed.

"You two…" Levy smiled deviously as Lucy covered her face while Loke just remained confused.

XXXXX

In the middle of an isolated and treacherous mountain range two dragon slayers trained. The Sky Dragon of Fairy-Tail pushed herself to limits she never knew she had in order to try and best her opponent.

Wendy's body was shrouded in a purple airstream that danced around her. Gajeel's iron scales shun brightly as shadows clung to his body. Wendy's movements were swift and elegant, almost as if she were a leaf drifting the breeze. Gajeel's attacks were a stark contrast, bulky and graceless but nonetheless powerful.

The dual element around Wendy died away as she reached her breaking point and couldn't maintain the form.

"Is that the best you got?" Gajeel joked as he deactivated his form. "A year of training with Erza and Mirajane, and you can only hold that form for an hour."

"I'm sorry, I must be tired today." Wendy retorted.

"You're improving, gaining more control and building up your magical reserves." Gajeel noted.

"You never did explain why I need to go through all this endurance training. I can pretty much take down anyone in a few minutes in my Poison Sky Dragon Mode." Wendy replied.

"It's for when you face opponents that can't be beaten in a few minutes. Your problem is that you start off strong, all guns blazing and then wear yourself out faster." Gajeel explained.

"That's the way you fight as well." Wendy retorted.

"That's the way I've always fought, my natural fighting style. You changed your balanced fighting style to an offensive one and it's just not you." Gajeel clarified.

"You say balanced but I know you mean timid." Wendy said deflated.

"That's not what I meant; it's really hard for me to explain this. I'm not good with words." Gajeel sighed.

"Relax Gajeel, I was just teasing. I understood what you meant. I know that I'm trying too hard to emulate Erza and Mira's styles." Wendy sighed this time.

There was an uncomfortable silence as the two really didn't have anything to talk about outside of training. Before the awkward hush could continue, it was interrupted by a teleporter.

"I see you two are done for the day." Doranbolt smirked as he appeared.

"No, we're just taking a break." Gajeel scoffed. "What are you doing here?"

"I just stopped by to deliver this." Doranbolt said as he handed Wendy a letter with his right hand.

"How's the artificial arm?" Wendy asked as she accepted the letter.

"It took a while to get used to but it's starting to feel more comfortable. It's hard to believe that Porlyusica made this in her house." Doranbolt marvelled as he flexed his hand and wiggled his fingers.

"I'm sure a teleporting delivery boy has other jobs to do." Gajeel said trying to get Doranbolt to leave.

"Gajeel, be nice!" Wendy scolded.

"No, he is right. I am a teleporting delivery boy. After the disbanding of the Rune Knights, this was the only job I could get." Doranbolt sighed.

"Laxus did say you could join Fairy Tail, this time for real." Wendy reminded.

"After infiltrating your guild like that, I don't think I can. Well, I'll see you around. I have more deliveries." Doranbolt waved goodbye as he disappeared.

"You didn't have to be so mean to him." Wendy accused as she looked at Gajeel.

"I guess I can lighten up on him, after all the rest of the guild has pardoned him for what happened on Tenrou Island." Gajeel relented.

"Good, let's get back to training. I've got an important role to play at the Grand Magic Games." Wendy smirked as she activated her Poison Sky Dragon Mode.

"Just because you're the B-Team captain, doesn't mean you should get too cocky." Gajeel laughed activating his Iron Shadow Dragon Mode.

XXXXX

In the most northern part of Fiore by a bright blue lake was a wooden cabin. The cabin rested in the middle of a dense forest. Sitting by the lake Lisanna stared at the clear blue water as it reflected the setting sun. She had found this place years ago while searching for Natsu. It became her sanctuary to escape from everything to clear her mind.

The cabin she found was barely standing but after she was done with it, it was a proper home. There was clean water readily available and the forest provided fruits and vegetable and was also filled with abundant wild life.

With slight limp, Natsu slowly walked towards Lisanna and sat down beside her; trying to understand what she was looking at.

"Why must you insist on sitting here every day at this time?" Natsu asked annoyed.

"It just looks so beautiful when the sun sets and it reflects of the lake. It gives me a sense of serenity." Lisanna answered.

"I'll never understand you." Natsu sighed.

The dragon slayer had been sitting beside her every day; in fact he never left her side. After his Hail Mary attack to destroy Lahar, Natsu was left broken beneath Crocus. The force of the attack incinerated Lahar but sent Natsu deep into the underground catacombs where he thought he would die.

Jellal and volunteers of Crime Sorcière searched the ruins of Domus Flau but they found nothing. Everyone had written Natsu off given how devastating the attack had been. Lisanna did not allow failure to deter her and she continued searching.

Through a miracle Lisanna had stumbled into Crocus's deepest catacomb and found Natsu. To keep him safe and help him recover she ran and took him far away from everything to her secret spot by a lake.

After a month he had recovered but was missing something. He was filled with emptiness after completing his revenge and had nothing left. Lisanna didn't stop him and left him to decide what he wanted to do.

He had no clue what purpose he had in life anymore. He just remained with her trying to figure out what to do with the aimless darkness that still remained inside him.

"I like to think that this is some sort of heaven." Lisanna confessed.

"You're getting bigger." Natsu teased as he reach out and placed his hand on Lisanna's growing belly.

After seven months with Lisanna he was about to give on everything, he thought she deserved a better life then living with him in the woods, he thought that until he heard Lisanna throwing up one morning. That combined with her hunger, tiredness and constant aching left him with no other conclusion.

A person could have seen this as a consequence of their time together and their desires winning out. But there was more to it than that; the remnants of a childhood crush that never died were finally reborn in something more. Natsu saw it as his new purpose in life; a family to take care off.

Natsu didn't know what the future held for him, Lisanna and their baby. A return to Fairy Tail? Settling down in a small town somewhere? Living on the road travelling the world? All he knew was that their future held endless possibilities because the Crimson Reaper was dead and Natsu Dragneel had been revived.

End

AN: Thank you all for reading this story and sticking with it to the end. It's been a long journey, 259 days actually. I hope you all enjoyed the ending and join me again in my future stories.