Erza's POV

Impossible… This is absolutely impossible.

"Am I dreaming?"

There is no way that he could be here. This has to be a dream. Or am I dead? This guy was holding me bridal style and I turn my head to see Zephyr on the other side with furious eyes.

"So I'm not dead…?"

My heart began to beat faster and faster. I slowly reach out to touch the man's face, to make sure that I wasn't dreaming. I hesitate a bit. Scared to see what happens when I make contact with him. But before I could reach him, he dropped me to the ground.

"AHHHHHH! WHERE DID MT. VOLCANIS GO?!" The man said.

Well that hurt. But since it hurt I guess I'm not dreaming either. Even though the enemy is in front, I just can't seem to get my eyes off of him.

"Oh whoops! Sorry about that Erza!" The man smiled.

Oh how I missed that smile. Right now I just want to bombard him with questions. And give him a beating for leaving me alone.

"WHO ARE YOU?!" Zephyr yelled.

The pink haired male smirked. "The name's Natsu. Natsu Dragneel."

My heart flustered. He's really back. Tears began to form in both my eyes. However, I quickly wiped the tears away, realizing what we were still facing.

Normal POV

Erza stood up on her legs and brought out her arm in front of Natsu.

"Natsu. I want to talk with you, but he's strong. So you need to get away from here. Gray and the others should not be far off. Go meet up with them and think of a plan to defeat him." Erza explained while glaring at Zephyr.

"No."

"Please Natsu. This is not a fight where I can win. However, I can buy you enough time to get away from here." Erza cried.

"Then let me take him on." Natsu replied.

"Natsu, please! This is not a fight where you can win. I know you and I know you're not ready to take on this monster. So I'll buy you some—" Erza was cut off.

"You don't know me at all." Natsu said with his bangs covering his eyes.

"But—"

"I'll be the one to fight him." Natsu glared.

"I can't allow that!" Erza shouted.

"WHY ARE YOU ALWAYS LIKE THIS, ERZA? STOP THINKING ABOUT OTHERS AND THINK ABOUT YOURSELF FOR ONCE! YOU'RE IN NO CONDITION TO FIGHT RIGHT NOW!" Natsu shouted back.

Erza was left with her mouth open, speechless. She had to agree. In her current state, the probability of winning was zero percent. All she could do was step back, nod, and agree.

Natsu then looked at Zephyr.

"So were you the one who destroyed Mt. Volcanis?" the pinkette asked.

"Yeah, I absorbed the ethernanos. And what are you going to do about it?" Zephyr smirked.

"I'll do… THIS!" Natsu quickly rushed up to Zephyr with a flaming fist. He tried to land a punch on Zephyr, but none of the attacks connected. He then caught the dragon slayer's fist.

"I've got you now!" Zephyr smirked. He then landed a punch onto the dragon slayer's stomach. Natsu coughed out some blood, but then he laughed. He wiped the blood from his mouth with his free hand.

"Nah, it's more like… I'VE GOT YOU NOW!" Natsu also gripped onto Zephyr's arm. He then pulled his head back and smashed it into Zephyr's head. This got him to flinch back and release his hold on the dragon slayer. And with a blazing right hand, he landed a heavy hit on the dark mage.

'Just how far did he get…?" Erza said in her mind.

"Not bad. That actually hurt." Zephyr got up from the ground and launched at Natsu. They continue to spar, each landing a blow after another.

"ROAR OF THE FIRE DRAGON!" Natsu unleashed a fire breath towards Zephyr.

"Child's play. ICE-MAKE: SHIELD!" Zephyr summoned a shield made of ice to block the fire attack.

"Isn't that Gray's magic?!" Natsu shouted.

"Yes. I have the ability to absorb magic and use it as my own." Zephyr explained.

"Interesting. Then I'm just going to have to use borrowed magic as well." Natsu smirked.

A shroud of lighting engulfed Natsu's body as it fused with his flames. "Lightning flame dragon mode."

He then lit his hand in flames and lightning and threw a fist at Zephyr. With quick reflexes he caught the fist with both his hands. However, Natsu then landed a kick onto the dark mage's leg which made him kneel. Natsu tried for another kick but Zephyr grabbed onto both his legs.

"Let go! Stop being a sissy!" Natsu yelled as he threw punches at Zephyr who just took it all. He was not moving anywhere.

Frustrated, Natsu lit one hand in flames and one hand in lightning.

"TAKE THIS! LIGHTNING FLAME DRAGON'S BRILLIANT FLAMES!" He clapped his hands together and a fusion of flames and lightning exploded right in front of him. Both fighters were knocked back from the impact.

"There's no way he could still be standing after that." Natsu said while catching his breath. However, unfortunately for Natsu, Zephyr was still up.

"How can this be?" Natsu was shocked.

"You got some deadly techniques up your sleeves." Zephyr began to laugh.

"However…" Zephyr smirked.

"NATSU!" Erza screamed as the salamander dropped to his knee, his lightning flame dragon mode deactivated.

"What's going on? I feel so weak." Natsu tried to catch his breath.

Zephyr began to laugh. "I wasn't being a sissy! You gave me enough contact time to absorb most of your magic. And now that I have most of your magic, there is no way you can defeat me!"

"Don't underestimate me!" Natsu slowly tried to get up on his feet.

"Stop acting tough. You can't possibly win now. I'll give you a quick death since you were an honorable opponent. Roar of the… FIRE DRAGON!" Zepphyr yelled.

"That won't… work against me…" Natsu said weakly.

"NATSU! DON'T LET THAT HIT YOU! HE CAN FUSE TWO DIFFERENT MAGIC INTO ONE! THAT'S NOT ONLY FIRE!" Erza yelled.

The dragon slayer didn't move and took the attack full on. He was blown back as Erza watched wide eyed in what may be the death of Natsu Dragneel. All he could mumble before he was sent into the crater of Mt. Volcanis was 'I'm sorry… Erza'

"Wow I got such good aim!" Zephyr laughed. "Well there's absolutely no way for him to survive in magma so he's done for."

'Erza didn't move. She was frozen in fear. She already lost him once, and now she's losing him again. Zephyr walked up to Erza, but she didn't flinch. It was like she was a statue.

"Now, what to do with you." Zephyr smirked. She didn't even try to retaliate.

"I guess I'll just send you after him. After all, I'm such a nice person." The dark mage laughed.

Zephyr created an ice sword and was about to finish Erza off before it quickly evaporated.

"What?!" Zephyr shouted. "Why is it so hot?!"

Erza finally got back into reality from the heat and landed a kick on Zephyr and retreated away from the heat source that was focused on Zephyr.

"What's going on?" Erza said in her head.

She then looked at the crater of Mt. Volcanis and saw a flash of blue. It disappeared almost instantly before she could see what it was. Suddenly, Zephyr began to scream and Erza looked to see that someone with a blue aura had punched the dark mage.

"No way…. It can't be…" Erza started.

"IMPOSSIBLE! HOW CAN YOU STILL BE ALIVE AFTER FALLING INTO THE MAGMA CHAMBER?!" Zephyr yelled.

Natsu, who was covered in blue flames began to laugh. "HAHA. You say that you absorbed the ethernanos, but when I was in there, there was still about 90% left."

"WHAT?! BUT I ABOSRBED IT ALL!" Zephyr yelled.

"Wrong! What you absorbed were the ethernanos that were released from the fumes of the volcano. The real ethernanos are in the magma itself." Natsu explained.

"What?! Even if the ethernanos were in the magma, there is no way anyone can absorb it or they'll burn to death." Zephyr yelled.

"Well, not this guy!" Natsu pointed his thumb at himself. "I trained around here for the past year. My body got use to the heat, and since I'm the fire dragon slayer, I got an advantage."

"So you're telling me that you managed to absorb the ethernanos?!" Zephyr asked.

"Well not absorb. I drank the magma, and with the temperature combined with the ethernanos, I was able to convert my flames into blue flames, which are the hottest of flames." Natsu explained.

Not wanting to lose, Zephyr tried to get closer to Natsu to attack him, but the heat was too much for him to handle. He had to fight from far.

"ICE-MAKE: ICE CANNON!" Zephyr molded a cannon made of ice and fired it. However, the ice cannonball just evaporated right before it hit him.

Natsu then got into stance. "I'll end this with one hit. CRIMSON LOTUS: EXPLODING ROARING FLAME!" The fire mage swiped his arms in a circular motion and a torrent a blue flames barraged at Zephyr, knocking him out instantly.

Seeing that the fight was over, Natsu deactivated the blue flames and went back to normal. However, the technique exhausted his magic and he fell to the floor.

"NATSU!" Erza yelled!

The scarlet mage quickly went to his side to see if he was okay.

"Hey, Erza!" Natsu smiled weakly. Erza sat him up and let him lean his head on her shoulder.

"You're amazing, Natsu." Erza smiled softly. Erza re-equipped into her flame empress armor. She used a little fire magic and Natsu ate it to replenish his own.

"So… you can ask me questions now. I'm ready to answer." Natsu replied.

"No no, it's okay. I can wait until you're better." Erza replied.

"Well fine, let's go back to my house. Gildarts is also there." Natsu suggested.

"Gildarts?!" Erza asked, shocked.

Natsu led Erza to where his house was. It was a small cottage in the forest about twenty minutes away from where Mt. Volcanis was used to be. It was similar to his house back in magnolia. Erza opened the door to see a bunch of familiar faces in the room.

"You guys. You're all here already?!" Erza yelled.

"Gildarts-dono found us and brought us here." Jura explained.

"Hey hey, it's Erza!" Gildarts cheered.

"Gildarts what are you doing here?!" Erza yelled.

"Hehehe, I think we should all leave and let the boy and girl have there… PRIVACY!" Gildarts tried to hold in his laughter.

Everyone understood and got up to leave the house.

"ITS' NOT LIKE THAT! And Zephyr is still fainted at Mt. Volcanis. Go pick him up and we can leave." Erza blushed.

"Yeah yeah." Gray smirked before closing the door.

Erza and Natsu both sat on a chair on each end of a wooden table so that they could look at each other.

"Okay Natsu. I'm going to be straight forward. WHERE DID YOU GO?!" Erza yelled. Natsu freaked out from the sudden mood change.

"Well… well… you know when I got you mad and you wished for me to disappear?" Natsu started.

"Yeah…" Erza looked down, in disappointment.

"Well, I was sad after you said that and I ran off. At that time, Gildarts was also at the guild and he saw everything, so he went to cheer me up. He told me that girls have these things called Menstruation and that it causes mood swings because blood comes out—"

"That's enough Natsu, just get to the point." Erza cut him off from embarrassment.

"Well uhh… anyways. He told me to come with him on his next mission so that he could personally train me. At the time I was excited and all, but you know Gildarts. He leaves for years and I didn't want to leave you and the guild. But then, he said 'Natsu, if you become stronger and more of a man, not only will Erza fall for you. EVERY GIRL IN THE WORLD WOULD!' and like that I was convinced to get stronger." Natsu explained.

"Wait… you didn't want to leave me?" Erza blushed.

"Yeah I didn't want to leave you. Anyways, back on topic. Gildarts thought it would be funny to play a prank on you. He and the master told the guild and all other guilds to pretend that they don't know me and to make it seem like that your wish had come true." Natsu explained.

"Well that's mean…" Erza frowned. "I'M GOING TO PUNISH THEM ALL! MAKING A FOOL OF ME?!" Erza slammed the table.

"Calm down Erza… It was only a few months." Natsu sighed.

"Anyways, then who was the masked person that came to my room at night?" Erza asked curiously.

"Huh? What masked person." Natsu asked, confused.

"Huh? The person that granted my wish." Erza replied.

"What? I was never informed of this…" Natsu replied.

-Back at the guild-

Mavis' POV

That masked person was me. Huehuehue. I thought it would be funny to play a part in it as well. Erza sure didn't see that coming. *giggle*

Normal POV

"Strange… well anyways are you going to come back to the guild now?" Erza asked.

"I don't know… are you still mad at me?" Natsu asked.

"Oh I don't know. Should I be? I mean everyone lied to me for a few months." Erza faked a smile with tick marks on her head. Natsu faked a laugh.

"And besides, back there. What did you mean when you said that I don't know you?" Erza questioned.

"Oh it's nothing." Natsu replied.

"Tell me." Erza commaned.

"Fine… Erza I liked you for a long time now, okay?"

Erza blushed.

"And when you said that you wished for me to disappear, my heart really started to hurt. I didn't know what to do afterwards. All I could do was cry in my room. I know it was unintentional because you don't know how I feel. But it's okay. Just forget about it." Natsu said with his bangs shadowing his eyes.

Erza stood up. Natsu closed his eyes, getting ready for the punishment for confessing to the redhead. But there was no impact. Erza wrapped her arms around the dragon slayer from behind.

"I'm sorry, Natsu." Erza began to cry. "When you left, my heart hurt too. I couldn't sleep at night. I went searching for you but I couldn't find you. I was scared. Scared that it was my fault that you were gone. When I realized that you might be gone forever, that was when I found out I had feelings for you. I couldn't stop thinking about you. I wanted you to be with me."

"Erza…? Is this true…?" Natsu blushed.

Erza knocked him on the head and hugged him again.

"Of course you dummy! So don't you dare leave me again!" Erza laughed.

"Okay…" Natsu smiled softly and stood up to return the hug.

The end

A/N:

Well that concludes the story and I hope you all enjoyed reading this fic of mine.

Anyways, since most of you want NaZa as my next story, majority rules. I'll do another NaZa story. It's probably going to be an AU high school fic.

Well anyways, stay tuned for it and see you guys next time!