A/N: This is my very first fanfic! Sorry if it isn't very good, but I hope you enjoy it!
Oh, and quick shoutout to my friend and first reader, you know who you are ;D - THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR HELPING MEEEEE!
Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or any of the characters. Please don't sue me.
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It had been a while. More than a while, 19 years actually. 19 bittersweet years since she died. It was funny that while every day passed so slowly, the years had somehow escaped between his fingers. He was a 44 year old man now who knew a few things about love, loss, happiness, and misery instead of the foolish 18 year old boy who believed he could do anything as long as he put his all into it. Though the change was not very welcome considering how happy a fool he was with her, back then.
Not that he was absolutely unhappy now. Somehow he had received a blessing that, for the life of him, he didn't see how he deserved. Their adorable daughter was the light of his life: talented, beautiful, and cheerful, she reminded him that the world was an amazing place, no matter how empty it seemed sometimes. But Akiko was 25 now, happily married to popsicle breath's eldest son, Kuro (how that little relationship happened, he didn't know, but... he was actually pretty happy about it, though he would never admit it), and 5 months pregnant. While she still went on missions and spent time with him when possible, he was no longer needed to protect and raise her.
Natsu sighed and looked up at the branches of the tree in South Gate Park. This was their place, and they used to come here a lot with Akiko before...before Lucy died of an unknown terminal illness. He remembered how it all began...
.-.-.-.-.-.
"Luce, you know what?"
"What?"
"You're a really awesome partner. I mean, just about everything about you is perfect: you're the kindest, most loving, beautiful, strong-willed, and interesting person I have ever met. I love the way you grumble about my crazy stunts without really meaning it (well, most of the time)...the way you always take care of me after every fight...the way you can make absolutely anyone smile...your hilarious stories and the way you get so embarrassed about them!" Natsu laughed, "The list goes on and on and on."
"Natsu, what are you...?"
"Lucy, I can't really imagine life without you anymore. I want to keep all the memories we have, starting from that first day when you didn't know who I was, and make many, many more. I want to always be there, to love and protect you, and to make your life a crazy, never-ending adventure. I just want you to always be happy. So..."
Natsu took a big breath , and then spit fire at the sky, making it form letters and then words. And when he was finished, a fiery 'Lucy Heartfilia, will you marry me?' was floating above their heads. As Lucy looked up at it, Natsu got on one knee, taking out the white gold ring with a little diamond in the form of a heart.
Natsu grinned up at Lucy as she turned around, and knew that now his life would change. After watching Gray and Juvia get married, followed by Gajeel and Levy, he had started thinking about his own future and found that no matter what he was thinking of, it always involved Lucy. And after even Erza and Jellal, the couple that seemed to be stuck on the "tragic" scene of a soap opera (but seriously, since when was "I used to be evil so now I'm never gonna allow myself to be happy or love you" a thing?!) finally figured out their emotions (Erza's one and only weak point) and got married, Natsu had started feeling kinda...moonstruck. How fitting considering that Lucy was a celestial mage.
For a while now, Lucy had been acting a bit weird. She even smelled different: her usual strawberry-sunshine scent was duller, and it almost felt like the "sunshine" part was missing. Natsu had tried teasing, annoying, and even outright scaring the truth out of her, but it was no use. She didn't even yell at him for coming into the house through the window like usual. So Natsu decided to make her happy, no matter what, so whatever it was would just go away. The realization that he would do absolutely anything to make her happy, and that he wasn't really happy until she was, was the final straw. Of course, he could say the same for all of his guildmates, but this was...different. He loved Lucy.
So he decided to propose. For the past month Natsu had made all the plans and preparations to make sure that this day was perfect (with just a little help from Mirajane and Lisanna), and finally, it had come. After an afternoon of walks along the shore, a little cafe hidden in a quiet part of town (where Lisanna was a regular customer), and maybe a few destroyed houses (its not his fault they ran into a dark guild member and had to chase him around a bit!), they had ended up under the tree in South Gate Park, their favorite place, just as the stars came out. They sat there, looking for constellations and making up their own (there seemed to be quite a few constellations of food), until Natsu finally gathered the courage and proposed. Now, at long last, he would be happy with-
"NO!"
Ok, maybe not. Natsu felt his heart splinter into pieces. In that second, everything he had dreamed up melted before his eyes. He tried to get angry like he usually did, but he just couldn't be mad at Lucy, even after this. And for the first time, Natsu Dragneel, the Salamander, felt something ice cold in the pit of his stomach. Within the next few seconds he was silently getting up, snapping the ring case closed, and walking away, too emotional to ask why. There wasn't much he could say to such a...forceful reply anyway.
Lucy ran up and grabbed his arm. "Wait! Natsu, that's not what I meant! I want to! But...I...I...can't! Please!"
Natsu turned around, about to tell Lucy that he needed some time, when he saw that she was crying. "Luce?..."
"I can't Natsu! I...I...I'm s...die...you...can't...but...!" Lucy was so choked up with tears that barely a word she said could be understood, but Natsu suddenly felt like something was horribly, horribly wrong.
Pulling her gently to him, Natsu picked her up and sat down under the tree as her little body was wracked with sobs. He didn't understand what was happening, but for now he just held her.
When she finally calmed down, she pulled away and stood with her back to him, fists clenched at her sides.
"Natsu, I do love you. A lot. If you had asked me a few months ago, I w-would have happily agreed."
"Luce, what-"
"Wait, please let me finish," Lucy shivered and clenched her fists tighter, her voice quivering as she spoke, "A few months ago, I... I didn't know I had an unidentified terminal illness. I didn't know I had a few years left to live."
A dead silence fell, and Natsu felt his world tilt on its axis and shatter around him like a snow globe that rolled off of its shelf.
After a minute, Lucy spoke up again: "S-so, you see you s-shouldn't spend your time and energy on m-me because I'm going to... to die soon. I'm so sorry." And with that she was crying again.
Her tears pulled Natsu out of his dark thoughts. No matter what, this was still his Lucy, and she was hurting.
"You have nothing to be sorry for. None of this is your fault." Natsu got up and, after a second's hesitation, stood behind Lucy and gingerly wrapped his arms around her shoulders. The feeling of rightness mixed with the pain of knowing...that it couldn't last...longer. He felt her tremble and turned her around so he could see her face.
Her eyes were filled with so much pain and longing, he felt his heart break all over again seeing it. "Oh, Luce..." he said, his voice cracking just a little. He crushed her into his chest, putting his chin on the top of her head and rocking her gently. "Shhh, shhh, its okay, we'll figure this out, I promise..."
Hearing his kind words, Lucy sobbed even harder, digging her face into his chest and hugging him tightly. They stayed like that, rocking back and forth, holding each other together for what felt like an eternity. Yet when they finally broke apart, it was still nighttime.
Natsu looked at Lucy's tear-strained face and felt a pang of pain and...anger. This was supposed to be the start of their life together. This was supposed to make Lucy happy! But instead, here she was, crying and in pain. Natsu couldn't stand to see her like this. And in that moment, he knew what he had to do, what he wanted to do.
"Marry me anyways."
"W-what?"
"I love you. Nothing has changed - everything I said still holds true. Marry me."
"B-but Natsu, I'm going to -!"
"But you're not dead yet! Lucy, I love you. And nothing, NOTHING, can change that. It hurts to know that...that we don't have as much time as we should, but it doesn't mean I don't want to be with you. There's no one else for me but you. So...let's not dwell on...your condition, and just live our last few years together to the best of our ability. Please, Lucy, marry me."
"Natsu, a-are you sure?" Lucy whispered "Its just that-"
"I'm absolutely sure. I love you, and if I only get a few more years with you, there is no way I'm wasting them."
"Then...yes. I'll marry you," Lucy said, tearing up for the third time that night, "I love you so much, Natsu. But, there's one condition."
"Anything."
"Promise me, PROMISE ME, that when...I die, you'll keep living, as happily as you can. That you won't shut all our nakama out, and you will go fishing, and take requests, and destroy way too much of everything, and just...live. Promise me."
"Lucy, you are the meaning of my life, and -"
"Please, Natsu."
"...I promise."
"Thank you." Lucy said, resting her forehead on his chest.
"Sure." With that Natsu kissed the top of Lucy's head, took the little black box out from his pocket, and finally put the ring on her finger. "We'll figure this out. These will be the best few years of your life, okay?"
"Okay."
.-.-.-.-.-.
It had been painful, yet joyful to be with Lucy, Natsu remembered. They got married the week of the proposal in a last-second, crazy ceremony with the entire guild, just the way they liked it. Lucy's condition was kept a secret so life would continue more or less normally. They kept going on missions with Erza and Jellal while Gray and Juvia had their first kid, a boy named Kuro, who was the carbon copy of his father. Everything was wonderful, if tinged with melancholy from the knowledge of the inescapable future. But then the next year an unexpected development entered the picture: Akiko, their adorable daughter. The two of them were deliriously happy, but scared of what it would be like for such a young child to loose her mother. But...it happened, and they spent the happiest 6 years of their lives as a family.
Too soon though, time ran out. The last year, Lucy only seemed to stay alive out of pure willpower, and Natsu's heart cracked a little every time he saw how hard she tried. The last few days were spent explaining everything to everyone in the guild and sharing many tearful farewells, trying to explain that it was going to be okay to Akiko, and just spending every last second together, no matter what. And then...she was gone.
After Lucy passed, Natsu lived for only two things: his promise to Lucy and Akiko. He always tried his hardest to keep his promise to Lucy: he at least attempted to act cheerful most of the time, never shut out his nakama, and continued living life as normally as he could. But the times he really felt alive we're when he was with Akiko. In some ways, he really did live happily. Of course there were bad days, when he would lock himself in their bedroom and let the pain take over, but as the years passed, they became rarer and rarer. He had his friends, constant guild brawls, fishing trips with Happy, plenty of excitement, and most importantly, his daughter to keep him sane most of the time.
Yet the pain, the constant nagging reminder that she should be here with him was always there. Even being with Akiko sometimes became a painful experience: the sweet girl resembled her mother in every way, except having her father's pink hair, and as the years passed the similarities became more and more apparent.
And now here he was, 44 and a soon-to-be-grandfather. While 44 wasn't that old, lately Natsu felt worn down and tiered. So, so tiered, like he had used up every bit of strength he had raising a child alone and pretending to be okay. Apparently it was obvious on the outside as well, no matter how much he hid it, if the worried looks he was given by his guildmates were any indication. He knew they meant well, but it was a bit annoying. So he made it a habit to come out here and sit under the tree in South Gate Park, reliving every happy and sad memory of Lucy he had instead of dealing with them.
They say that dragons don't live long without their mates. But they also say dragons will do absolutely anything for family, no matter how much pain it causes them. And only after they are done will they finally let go, calmly leaving the world with their task complete, a small smile on their lips.
That was how his guildmates found him, seemingly asleep under the tree in South Gate Park, smiling peacefully.
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Thank you for reading! Please, please, please leave a review. Constructive criticism is very welcome. :D