Together

"Do you know where exactly we're going?" Happy asked.

"Meh," Natsu answered with a slight shrug, "Wherever we can train, I guess."

"Well, where's that?" Happy asked, floating beside him.

"Dunno," Natsu said, with a slight shrug, "Let's just…"

"NATSU!" Natsu paused to look behind him, who saw that Lucy was running after him. Taking a breath, he rubbed the back of his head. He had honestly wanted to leave before she could catch up to him, since he knew it would be that much harder to leave. But Natsu had a feeling this might happen, so he turned to face her.

"Lu…" Natsu couldn't finish, as he was suddenly tackled into the ground. That he hadn't been expecting, as Lucy pinned him, glaring down through his tears.

"You damn idiot," she all but whimpered, "What were you thinking?"

"I…"

"You didn't even have the decency to face me and tell me yourself?" Lucy demanded, "Just a little note? Are you serious?"

"I…" Once again, Natsu was interrupted, but this time by a sound slap across the face. There was a period of silence, as even Lucy seemed surprised by what she just did, looking at her hand. For a moment, Natsu just stared, before slowly putting his own hand to his cheek.

"Okay," Natsu said softly with a weak smile, "I may have had that coming."

"Yeah, you probably did," Happy added.

(a few minutes later)

Eventually, the "discussion" was moved to the park, where the two were sitting on the bench, with Happy in between them.

"So, what was the long term plan?" Lucy said, "Just wander around aimlessly?"

"I don't think Natsu had much of a plan," Happy piped up.

"I would've thought of something," Natsu protested. Lucy would've laughed about that, but wasn't even remotely in the mood. She just stared at the hands.

"We would've been back real soon," Natsu insisted.

"A year is not 'soon'," Lucy said, glaring at him.

"Well, you wouldn't have been alone," Natsu said, "And you'd have your spirits." While he didn't know, he quickly noticed how much further Lucy's face fell, as she stared straight at the ground.

"What is it?" Natsu asked.

"Aquarius… she's… she's" Lucy couldn't finish, before she resumed crying. Natsu was confused.

"What about her?" Happy asked, "Did you lose her key or something?" Lucy's face tightened even further, as her hands came up to her face.

"Come on, what's up?" Natsu asked, "You can…"

"I BROKE IT!" Natsu and Happy just stared at her in surprise.

"It.. it was the only way to save the guild," Lucy slowly explained, "When everyone got sucked into the Tartaros Cube, I had to summon the Celestial Spirit King and…"

"Why didn't you tell me?" Natsu asked. He had absolutely no idea about such a thing happening. All this time Lucy had been feeling this way and never even told him. He knew what Aquarius meant to her, and the knowledge that she had to actually break Aquarius key to save the guild….

"That settles it!" Natsu declared, folding his arms, "We ain't leaving!"

"Aye sir!" Happy declared, floating next to him. Lucy looked at him, wiping her tears away.

"We're a team aren't we?" she asked weakly.

"You bet we are," Natsu said, giving her the thumbs up.

"Promise me, you won't leave me," Lucy said, leaning forward. For a moment, Natsu was silent, before smiling.

"Damn right," he said, before pressing his forehead to Lucy's, "We're a team. I ain't going anywhere." Lucy's chin quivered more, before she threw her arms around Natsu, sobbing; after a pause, Natsu wrapped his arms around the blonde.

"You looove her!" Happy said, floating next to them.

(next day, at the guild ruins)

The whole guild was gathered at what remained of the guild hall, waiting for the Master to give his announcement.

"What do you think this is about?" Wendy asked.

"Maybe he'll tell us where we're rebuilding," Cana suggested.

"At the rate we're going, we'll blow through all of Magnolia," Levy said.

"At least it wasn't me or Juvia doing it this time," Gajeel said, standing next to her.

As the whole of the guild murmured to each other, Natsu and Lucy were staying quiet while standing next to each other. Happy was perched on Lucy's shoulder, as they waited. Soon enough, Makarov arrived, and stared down at them.

"So, what the hell is this all about, old man?" Laxus said. For a time, the guild master was quiet, as he took a breath.

"So much has happened now," he said, "Too much for you to remain tied to anyone place. You all need to spread your wings and find your ways." Everyone just exchanged looks, having no idea what he was talking about.

"Is there a point to this?" Laxus asked. There was a period of silence, as if Makarov had to actively reach down and pull the words out.

"As of now, I'm officially disbanding Fairy Tail."

Nobody said anything, as they all just stared at the master, as the words loomed over them. It seemed like it would be a joke, but everyone knew that Makarov would never, ever joke about such a thing. The silence seemed to last for an eternity, until quite possibly the most expected person spoke up.

"ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME?!" Natsu all but roared, leaping up to the where the Master was, "You can't disband the guild!"

"I just did," Makarov said plainly, "It is my right as guild master."

"How could you!" Gray shouted this time.

"What the hell are we supposed to do?" Elfman shouted.

"I'm not sure," Makarov answered, "But I have no doubt you will find your way." Before anyone could say anything, he turned to walk away.

"Don't walk away from us!" Natsu shouted at him, "You can't…"

"DO AS YOU'RE TOLD!" Makarov bellowed, "My decision is final!" That silenced even Natsu, as he just stared as Makarov just slowly walked away, leaving everyone alone.

Eventually, everyone dispersed to figure out what they were going to do. Natsu, however, stayed, sitting in the rubble, staring at the ground. Happy was standing next to him, looking up. When Lucy approached, he looked at her, and just pointed at the Dragon Slayer.

"So what do we do now?" Lucy asked, as she sat beside him. It took what felt like a full minute for him to fully answer.

"I don't know," Natsu said, "After Igneel disappeared, all I had was Fairy Tail. It… it can't be gone." He buried his face in his hands, which made Lucy's heart plummet.

"It may be gone officially, but everyone's still here, right?" she asked, putting a hand on his knee.

"Its not the same!" Natsu snapped, looking up, where Lucy saw tears dripping down his face, "They're all leaving!" Lucy wanted to comfort him, and say it would all be alright, but couldn't found the words. Instead, she just stared at the floor, trying to think of anything to say. Finally, she found at least some words.

"We're together, that's what matters most, right?" Lucy said, reaching up to touch Natsu's face. The Dragon Slayer was quiet for a time, as he kept his own eyes on the floor, before finally looking at the blonde.

"We're a team, and long as we're together," Lucy said, stroking his cheek, "we'll be fine."

"Yeah," Natsu said, rubbing away some tears, "I guess so."

After that, the two stared at each other, as they savored the moment they had between each other. The two then slowly leaned forward, and gently kissed.

"I knew you loooved her," Happy said. And the night only took off from there.

(one year later)

Lucy yawned and stretched as she got up, glancing over, she saw that the other side of the bed was empty, save for a note.

Lucy, Happy and I went to work early. See you at lunch.

Lucy sighed slightly. One would think after a full year his handwriting would've improved at least some. She supposed that was too much to hope. Climbing out of bed, she went into the bedroom to take a shower. It had been a year since Fairy Tail disbanded, and everyone went on their own. Natsu, Lucy, and Happy had all stayed together in that time, as they had to.

After finishing the shower, Lucy started to get dressed, but once she was finished, her attention was drawn to some soft noises coming from the other side of the room. There sat a small crib, and in that crib, a baby boy with a mop of spiky blonde hair.

"Good morning, Iggy," Lucy cooed as she walked over and reached into the crib, and picked up up, "Did you have sweet dreams?" Her son, and first child, Igneel Jude Heartfilia-Dragneel, just giggled and smiled at his mother. As he did, Lucy found it hard to believe that he was already three months old. It almost made her dread the coming years.

"Come on, sweetie," she said as she carried him into the kitchen, "We've got a day to seize."

Note: Sort of just a little pet project I've had mulling in my head all the way since boot camp. I've said it before, and I'll say it again, more stories need to take this disbandment concept. I've only seen a few that set the story in this period, particularly ones centered around Natsu. There is so much story telling potential that the manga didn't use that I feel it is almost our obligation to write more about it. I urge people to take these kinds of stories and seize them. This is just one of multiple disbandment stories I've been considering.

Anyone wanna guess what Natsu and Happy's new job is?

Be sure to review.

And don't worry, they didn't do it in the rubble.