The Stars, they burn. Some even fall to the Earth.

The next week was a tense one for the Dragneels; twice D'Angelis ended up in Nashi's radius at the guild and it always ended with Natsu or Lucy scooping up their little girl to calm her while glaring at the intruder. Erza indeed shadowed him for his days in the guild, going on several lower level missions for supervision, and the day after Lucy's breakdown Warren and Laki set out.

Erza found nothing suspicious, and found him to be an amiable companion. People were getting annoyed when every time Lucy and Natsu were sitting at a table that Michael tried to pass and a huge wailing noise went off. There was a tension between Gajeel, Juvia, Laxus, and Lucy as she continued to treat every move the guy made as a continued move of aggression. They could see themselves in his honest reactions, and it hurt.

Then the month ended and Laki and Warren came back empty handed, claiming that his story checked out with everyone they interviewed. All of them said the same thing, his wife went suicide after the pressures of being noble and Michael D'Angelis left a week later, abandoning his estate, letting his staff go, with a note saying how he wanted to make something of his life and leave the horrors of it behind. It sounded like Lucy's story, making it even more confusing as to why she kept mistreating him. It settled things for the rest of the guild, Erza started getting tired of babysitting and let him go on solo jobs every once and a while, and people started muttering every time the caterwauling rune sounded.

Two months after that and everyone, even Natsu, was getting tired of Lucy's non-stop suspicious glares and over-protection of Nashi. Michael proved himself to be wonderful with the kids and the other parents had no problems with letting them play together. He was charming in all the best ways.

"Lucy, we need to take a mission again," Natsu said one night, "Money is running low. Erza will be back tomorrow, and Juvia is willing to take Nashi for another week."

"You sure? She seems to have fallen for D'Angelis's tricks, what if Juvia leaves Nashi alone with him?" Natsu sighed, exasperated.

"Then nothing happens, if we ask her not to, Juvia will respect that. I don't know if Gray will want to stay with her so pregnant, but the worst that could happen is some unsupervised time at the guild where no one will bother Nashi. You trust Fairy Tail right? They won't let anything happen to our baby. The caterwauling rune will keep them apart if only for the sake of their ears." Their marriage had been suffering because of Lucy's grudge, and Natsu was positive an adventure away from this pressure was exactly what Lucy needed.

"One week?" Lucy asked, one eyebrow raised.

"One week," Natsu promised, grabbing her hand from it's place on her book, their quiet time in the living room after Nashi was asleep was hosting this conversation.

"Something S class that will pay for another two months?" Lucy asked, squeezing his hand back.

"Definitely S class, you'll get to beat something up, I know how much tension you've had. Beating up someone should help with that." He pulled her onto his lap and was whispering in her ear.

"Hmm, beating up people sounds good," Lucy said, distracted by Natsu's lips on her neck.

"We are going to trust our family with our most treasured person and nothing will happen because we are Fairy Tail and we protect each other."

"But…" Natsu shut her up with a kiss.

"Dad," Nashi whined, "I don't need to hear every single time you kissed Mom."

"Well you can't see me kiss your mom anymore," Natsu explained good-naturedly, "I want you to know how much I loved her. We would be even more embarrassing than Juvia and Gray if she was still alive." Nashi pretended to be disgusted, but they both knew she loved hearing it. Only her father knew what a secret romantic Nashi was at heart.

"Okay," Lucy agreed, and the next day they made arrangements, everyone was relieved to have Lucy's tension out of their way. Gray ended up going with them, and it took another round of convincing to get her to leave Nashi, but everyone in the guild helped.

It was while they were away that Levy, Mira, and Lisanna concocted the worst idea in the history of the guild, and that includes Laxus's Thunder Palace.

"We really need to get Lucy to forgive Michael," Levy said, the day after the Dragneels left, "She is normal, lovable, Lucy until she sees his face and it's like a monster comes out. He is actually really nice." Levy and Michael had bonded over some books he had taken from his family's library.

"If there was something wrong we would have figured it out by now, and I know that Natsu is feeling the strain on their relationship," Lisanna frowned, worried about her friends' marriage.

"It is sad that Lucy can't just be happy with her family anymore," Mirajane agreed. "Maybe if we could convince Nashi to like him, Lucy will understand that he doesn't want to hurt anyone. You can't stay angry at someone who your kid begs to see everyday. Trust me." Ellie-Marie was in love with the way Michael called her princess, and it melted Mira's heart every time. Laxus was still suspicious, but he was protective of everything that had to do with their daughter.

"I can get rid of the caterwauling rune," Levy volunteered.

"Michael is also a fantastic chef; he has shown me and Mira several recipes that are huge hits. Maybe we can ask him to help in the kitchen the day Lucy comes back. Food softens everyone, and that's how he got Natsu to relax around him," Lisanna added.

"If we show how much she is hurting Fairy Tail with her anger, I'm sure Lucy will at least try to forgive him," Levy finalized.

"Levy took the caterwauling rune off you that afternoon, and Juvia was convinced to let D'Angelis play with you and the rest of the children." Natsu said, wanting to delay the next part.

"Are you okay Daddy?" Nashi asked.

"Yeah, it's just that my hour is almost up, and this doesn't end very happy."

"I want to know," Nashi demanded, "I need to know what happened to her."

Natsu nodded, his own words echoing in his ears from years of saying the same thing about his father.

"Okay."

Lucy entered the guild, excited to greet her family. D'Angelis wasn't mentioned at all on the trip with Natsu, Gray, Wendy, and Erza. A week with her closest friends and nights with her husband were exactly what she needed, she felt fresher than ever.

"Oh, hi Lucy, we were waiting for you to come home, how was the mission?" Mira said, immediately blocking Lucy's vision of the rest of the guild, a heavy plate of cookies in hand. Lisanna was munching on one beside her.

"Um, hi, it's good to be back. The mission went like usual, lots of destruction and fighting, just what I needed. What do you have there?" Lucy said politely.

"Just some cookies from the kitchen, take one, it's a new recipe we're trying," Lisanna encouraged. The rest of Team Natsu nearly knocked Lucy and Mira over in their excitement for sweets, even Wendy getting in on it.

"No thanks," Lucy laughed, picking herself off the ground, "Where is Nashi?" But she had been pushed into a clear vision of the guild, more specifically a clear vision of her little girl giggling on the shoulder of Michael D'Angelis.

"NASHI!" Lucy screamed through out the guild, everyone stopping what they were doing. This wasn't any ordinary Fairy Tail yell, this was complete and utter terror. Lucy started running as fast as she could through the guild, but was stopped by a barrier Freed put up.

"Lucy, relax, no harm has come to Nashi as you can clearly see. Your grudge has gone on too far. Laxus left me in charge while he attends a guildmaster's meeting and I must insist you stop this ridiculous behavior," The rune mage demanded.

"Yeah, Michel's a cool guy," Bixlow said from next to Freed, his babies echoing his words.

"I trusted you!" Lucy shouted to the guild, betrayal ringing clear. She threw herself against the barrier, frantically bruising herself as she slammed into wall after wall after wall. Her gaze locked with Juvia, Levy, Elfman, Warren, and anyone else who dared to meet her eyes for even a second.

"That's it," Lucy declared voice shaking, "Give me my baby, Natsu, Nashi, and I are leaving Fairy Tail." A silence roared this time, no one but Lucy's team and Laxus had known how deep Lucy's fear went.

"Think about this bunny-girl," Gajeel said, "Fairy Tail is your home." Lucy shook her head and fumbled for her keys.

"Home is where you feel safe and trusted. My little girl is sitting in the hands of a monster as my family keeps me trapped in a barrier. Fairy Tail is not my home; I'm leaving as soon as I can get to Nashi." She used the same technique when she escaped Gray's ice barrier to get out of Freed's runes, this time with Taurus's key.

"Sorry Lucy," Michael drawled, "I can't actually let you do that. This was impossibly hard the first time, and you know how much I hate for my own hard work to go to waste." Nashi still balanced on one arm, he pulled out a piece of paper and recited a three word spell, causing everyone in the guild besides Lucy to collapse onto the ground, their faces a sickly yellow.

"What did you do?" Lucy cried, "Taurus, get Nashi away from him," and she herself reached for her whip.

"I see you didn't try one of my cookies, or any of the food I had been making for the past month, shame on you, but all for the best I suppose. I wouldn't want to get engaged to someone nearly dead anyway. I would much rather be able to marry you than have to wait for little Nashi here to grow up." Just before Lucy and Taurus reached him, he threw a staff at her, even as she tried to deflect it, it wrapped around her body trapping her and squeezing Taurus out of existence.

"You and your wretched guild, my goodness I have been wanting to say this for ages. Your guild is so pathetic; you claim that every battle fought is won by the power of friendship, how childish. Everyone here is so annoying, so retarded, especially that Erza girl you stuck me with. Always demanding respect for your puny guild and demanding that I learn about how to honor and 'respect' my family. I almost gave up on you, so softened and idealistic in this disgusting guild, but you remembered your lessons. You knew that my vow to own you would be swayed by nothing and did everything you could to fight me. Someone gets an A plus for recalling her lessons."

He laughed then, and Lucy was unable to make a sound, the black staff gagging her even as she tried to chew through it. With a scary gentleness, he put a now crying Nashi down in the crib kept in the back of guild. He took his time walking across the guild, a gleeful smile on his face.

"I bet you tried explaining how deep an oath like that goes, how black we train our hearts to be, and how much we learn to enjoy it. Don't worry love, I understand you, and we'll make sure Nashi grows up the same way." Light started gathering around Lucy as she called on her magic power, he just looked on amused. Then he stooped down and stole her key ring from her belt, tossing it out the window, it was the same scene Lucy remembered from her sixteenth birthday, and by his grin, he knew it. All around the guild people were protesting trying to stand up, trying to move even their mouths, only to be stopped by some physical force. Lucy knew it wasn't pain, her family was all but immune to that form of coercion.

"Tempesta," Freed managed to spit out as Lucy's power continued to crackle through the air.

"Ah yes, some your friends seem familiar with the poison of the demon Tempesta. Did you know I was one of the biggest backers of Tartarus? Of course you did, you knew before you were seven that other families kept their prestige through darker means, but not the Heartphilias, oh no, they were too much the self-righteous fools. Your family was doomed the moment your mother ran to a merchant guild. Your father was an idiot who didn't know the first thing about running the business of Nobles. Everyone knew that once you married me, your family could have had the propriety it once was famous for, but then you ran away as well." He kicked Lucy in the stomach and laughed, then he did it again.

Natsu was in hell. He had never bothered to find out what the poison felt like to the Thunder Legion, poison couldn't feel anything but bad, but it was worse than just pain, it was complete paralysis. He had chomped down six of those cookies before Lucy saw Nashi, and every muscle in his body was seized up. It was worse than motion sickness, his insides were rotten and his vocal cords were frozen. The only thing that seemed to be free were his eyes, tears of frustration welling up as the person he loved was being hurt over and over again before his eyes. The faint whisper of her name fell from his lips and he hoped more than anything it was a nightmare.

He had experienced this so many times before, and whether it was a pile of boulders holding him back, Lucy's own desire to fight for herself, or poison, being helpless was a fear that only grew. That bastard kicked her again and again, and no matter how strong he knew Lucy was, and no matter how many times he was stuck watching her get hurt, there was terror and there was pain.

This week had been so perfect, he had gotten Lucy to relax after the first day, and he knew that Nashi was safe. Now he was paying the price for his choice. Tears of frustration continued to leak as Natsu strained against the poison, the power of a dragon failing in its grip.

"I've been wanting to do that for ages! Can you imagine the indignation; your fiancé would rather work as a wizard, than marry you? The only thing more embarrassing was how your father went about trying to get you back. I mean, hiring another wizard guild? It was shameful, effortless, and lacking in all style or brains. Trust me, you were one month away from this plan being enacted when we were both seventeen, but then the entire town of Magnolia is ripped off the map for two weeks. After that you and several of the vermin you associate with disappear for seven years. I had already gotten married by the time you got back." He was angry, but stopped for a second to create a calm, almost more terrifying than his anger.

"This isn't nearly as fun as it should be, it's too easy," he snapped his fingers, "I know, I'll let you talk. Hearing your screams should be more than enough pay back for the uncultured hell your guild mates put me through." He leaned down and tapped the thick black ropes covering Lucy's face, she spit at him.

"Of course I knew how it would be seen, it was meant to shame you to hell," Lucy growled. Lucy had the advantage, her voice could echo to the celestial world and he didn't know it, but she needed to find out more. "You also killed your wife and made it look like a suicide right? Your family was fond of that tactic to get more power, your grandmother especially if I recall."

"Ah yes, my dear late Silvia, she was the younger daughter of the Mortimers, nothing in her head, ugly features on it, and unable to give me a son, it was almost too easy to kill her. Not like you, you plan and you know how to keep your head in this Game of Houses, it took months working on turning your entire guild against you before I even got to touch Nashi and you are even more beautiful than the day of your sixteenth birthday, I relish the chance to relive that day over and over. Once you are married to me, and we knock this silly notion of power and independence out of your head, you will be the perfect wife."

"I have a husband," Lucy barked, pushing her bound body to her knees, "I have a family, and you know I won't hesitate to put a knife through your neck. I would say your heart, but you weren't born with one." He reached a hand down to pet her head, ignoring the way she snapped her teeth at him.

"You have a husband now, but don't worry, I'll make your time as a widow very short, and we'll be taking dear Nashi along with us to make sure that you play your part. She was the key you know, the weakness you haven't had since the Grand Magic Games. Her Heartphilia name will be a problem though, once we have a child, so she may have to go before she becomes a threat." He looked, considering, over to where Nashi was still screaming for her mother.

"Big mistake," Lucy growled, knowing all she needed to "Virgo! Leo! Cancer! I open thy gates!" three spirits materialized and as Cancer started cutting Lucy free, Michael found himself fighting off two spirits at once. She had specifically never used these three while on her job, holding them in reserve, just in case Michael tried anything.

"Thanks Cancer, I need you to go back now, Virgo, take Nashi and get to Porlyusica's. Tell her all of Fairy Tail is infected by Tempesta's poison, take that plate of cookies with you as a sample. Leo, you are with me and Capricorn! Open the gate of the Goat!" Her spirits followed her orders without question, they could sense her emotions nearly better than their own at this point, and knew this was not the time for backstory.

D'Angelis had definitely been working below his skill level on jobs; Lucy's two strongest spirits and herself were evenly matched against the crazed heir. Then Lucy stepped back, signaling she was going to turn him into stardust with Urano Metria, and that her spirits needed to keep him occupied.

"Survey the Heavens, Open the Heavens," Lucy started, but was cut off by the knife in her chest, her spirits turning to her in disbelief when they felt her distress skyrocket.

"You forgot." He stated amusedly through his bloodied mouth, "You forgot that there is more than one reason we wear all these clothes!" He cackled, "They hide weapons, and that particular one is poisonous. Pity, I'm going to have to take your A and turn it into an A minus now. Since that I can't have you, I'll have to go track down Nashi and wait 13 years for a bride, but such is life."

Lucy was in so much pain, the knife was wiggling even as her heart fought to keep pumping, but like hell was this bastard going to win, D'Angelis winning meant death for her husband and slavery for her child. Hell itself wasn't going to stop her from defeating him. She took her power away from Loke and Capricorn, kept a little to sustain Virgo, and let them stay on their own terms. She felt her other spirits using their power to break into Earthland, but paid them no mind. Then they gave her strength, reading her will, and Lucy felt their presence as a force.

"All the stars far and wide…," Lucy continued, as he laughed at her attempts.

"Show me thy appearance…" She felt Aquarius's hand fall on her back, even as she fell to her knees. The guild ceiling disappeared, replaced by a black sky filled with celestial bodies.

"With such shine, Oh Tetrabiblios…"

"You can't honestly think you are going to finish that spell? There is a knife in your chest, give up and die al—" Lucy cut him off with the next line of the spell.

"I AM THE RULER OF THE STARS" she proclaimed raising her hands above her head as two magic circles appeared.

"Aspect become complete," Loke's hand joined Aquarius's and she could feel tears landing on her shoulders.

"Open thy malevolent gate," The pain of the knife, the burning sensation of the poison, and the excruciating pressure of the spell forced Lucy to close her eyes, the only way to finish.

"Oh 88 stars of the Heavens," this spell held at least twice the power any of her other casting did. Layla Heartphilia had taught her daughter that love was the true one magic, and it was coursing through her veins as her celestial magic called upon its power. Now to channel it with those last words, only one fate resided for one who defied the one magic.

"Shine!" Lucy demanded, eyes flashing with the magic of the swirling cosmos above.

"Urano Metria!" He was laughing even to his last. The Fairy Tail guildhall crashed under the weight of the spell, eight-eight stars bursting through the ceiling to hit one man, his laughter stopped at the same time as his heart, all crushed to a pulp by Lucy of the house of Heartphilia. There was silence as the spell finished, Michael of the house of D'Angelis, was no more, but he wasn't going alone.

"You were always a stubborn one," Aquarius said wearily, as she kissed the top of Lucy's head. Lucy didn't know how she was still kneeling, but she managed a smile for the spirit she had fought so hard to reclaim.

"We had a good run, eh Aquarius? Interesting? Something to brag about?"

"The best," the water bearer said as she fled to the Celestial spirit world to cry.

"You may not have believed it," Loke said, trying to smile even as tears cascaded down his handsome face, "But I always loved you, and I always will." He kissed the same spot as Aquarius and left as well.

"I love you too Lucy," Aries cried, making a bed for her friend and lightly guiding her down. "Don't forget us, okay? because we will never ever forget you." Kiss. "I'm Sorry!" Poof.

"You have never looked more beautiful-ebi," Cancer said, tears leaking behind his glasses. Kiss. Poof.

"I am sorry I wasn't able to protect you this time," Taurus lamented, baying his sadness. Kiss. Poof.

"Your heart is and always will be filled with the most love and the most courage," Gemini said in Lucy's form, crying in that ugly red shade Lucy hated. It seems she was always meant to die in the arms of her likeness. Kiss. Poof.

"You rocked harder than anyone, no one could compare," Scorpio said, losing his own battle against tears. Kiss. Poof. Aquarius had better not accuse her of trying to steal Scorpio again, her pain addled mind thought. So it went until her mother's spirit, Capricorn, was the only one left.

Capricorn had the same tears streaming down his face that streamed down the others, all running unchecked.

"I have served your mother, and I will have the pleasure of serving Nashi, but Lucy of the Stars, Lucy of Fairy Tail, you will always shine the brightest." Kiss. Poof.

There was silence in the decimated guild. Not one muscle could move, and not one voice could speak, but there was not one eye that was not filled with tears. Everyone had watched the whole thing, heard the whole thing, and felt emotions even through their paralysis. There was nothing anyone could do as they heard the panting breaths of Lucy fight to hold on.

Then slow down.

Then stop.

Death was silence.

This was the scene Porlyusika, Virgo, and Nashi strode onto: Lucy laying on a cloud of pink wool, a clearly dead man lying in the center of a demolished guildhall, and every other member of Fairy Tail, green-faced and immobile, crying as much as the poison would allow.

Nashi's crying was the only noise in the area, and even that quieted as Virgo rocked her. The maiden's normally dispassionate face was streaked with tears. She set the child down next to Natsu, and slowly made her way to Lucy, while the physician wiped at her own face and mixed ingredients together.

"You were the only master that has ever truly loved us," the spirit said slowly, falling to her knees beside the body, "And the one we have loved the most in return. I speak for all spirits. Thank you, Princess." The maiden kissed Lucy's forehead as well, and faded quietly, not a poof, and soon enough the only remnants of her presence were the tears drops on the ground where she knelt.

The healer first poured the antidote down Natsu's throat, before moving onto the rest of Team Natsu, purposely not watching the man she had brought back to health constantly as a child, drag his sobbing body towards his wife. Clutching Lucy, he bawled, wanting to deny it, but unable to hear the heartbeat he loved tell him it wasn't real. When it became too much, he released a roar of fire into the sky, larger than anything he had produced before or since.

The stars didn't shine that night, they had no reason to.

The constellations were dark, the moon mourned alone in the sky.

"How did you deal with it Daddy?" Nashi asked as her father's voice grew too tight to continue. She felt him swallow.

"There was one thing I had to live for Nashi, I had to live for you. Gray and Erza took care of you while I mourned for three days, not letting anyone come close to me and Lucy, but then I heard your voice cut through everything, asking for your momma and papa, and I knew I had to keep living, keep fighting and playing."

"Was it hard?" Nashi asked, instantly feeling stupid.

"Yes, I was really bad at living for at least a year, and there still isn't a day that goes by I don't think about your mother. She was that special and that important. That is why I haven't been strong enough to talk to you about her before now, and why she isn't mentioned around the guild. Every single person who was there feels responsible, and it took a long time get over that. We know whose fault it was, we know it, but that didn't stop every single person there from reliving that day over and over again, wishing they had done something different.

"Is it okay to say that I love Mom? Even if I don't remember anything about her?" Nashi asked, trembling.

"It is very okay, because she loves you too, and she will be proud of you no matter what,." Natsu kissed the top of their daughter's head, and finally let the tears fall. He had finished his story in an hour, just like he promised, and now he could let the emotion out. Father and daughter cried together, and fell asleep clutching each other.

Even if the skies get rough

I'm giving you all my love

I'm still looking up, still looking up

A/N: So I couldn't post this chapter after 416, I was two sad and instead wrote a different fifty page fanfiction in response to that Chapter, now that that story is up, I present you with the end of Nashi Learns. I hope none of you needed a happy ending. I have other fluffy things if you need that. Please tell me what you think of my first really angsty piece in a review!