* I wish upon a star, that someday I may own Fairy Tail

Normal POV

Loke stared down at Natsu and Lucy's bodies as he felt the drain of magic energy stop. He looked over at Gray and Juvia to see if they felt it too. The ice wizard stood from his seat next to the blue haired woman and readied his magic. The water wizard was doing the same. If their friends woke up suffering from the madness, they didn't want to be taken by surprise.

Natsu's eyes blinked open the same time as Lucy's. Both of their bodies felt stiff from lying on the floor of the infirmary for a while, but it didn't seem to matter. Their heads turned toward each other, Lucy blushed and smiled as Natsu gave her a toothy grin.

Without noticing the other three people in the room, Lucy turned onto her side and lifted her hand to touch Natsu's cheek. He was amazing, fighting his way through her mind and the darkness that had taken her over to bring her back. He could claim it was for his own selfish reasons but she knew better. He was her hero. She loved him.

Leaning in, she kissed him softly on the lips. This kiss was different from all the others they had shared before. She wasn't paralyzed by a poison, she wasn't acting because of madness, and it wasn't all in her and Natsu's minds. It was 100 percent real and under her control.

Around them, Gray's hands dropped as he gaped at his teammates. Juvia covered her mouth as she blushed, secretly glad that she no longer had a love rival for Gray. Loke was the only one who wasn't surprised. He cleared his throat, which caused the two of them to jump apart from each other.

Lucy blushed. Have they been in the room the whole time?

Loke knelt down in front of them to get a better look at their eyes; he didn't want to take any chances. "How do you two feel?"

"I don't feel like killing anyone, if that's a good sign," Lucy said, then frowned. "I feel really guilty about what happened though. I remember everything I did, it was like I was dream-walking through a nightmare and I couldn't wake up. Are you okay, Juvia?"

The blue haired woman nodded. "Juvia is okay now. Actually, better than okay." She smiled as she took Gray's hand. Gray just blushed.

"Is Taurus okay?"

Loke nodded. "He knows you weren't in control of your actions. He doesn't blame you for what happened. He was more worried than anything, we all were."

The lion spirit noticed tears forming in her eyes. Before he could do anything, Natsu was pulling her into his arms and telling her that it wasn't her fault. Loke couldn't help but smile. He might not like the idea that Lucy was forever out of his reach, but at least he knew that it was for real love and not some fling.

"Let's go tell everyone that we're awake," Natsu said as he stroked her back. "I also want to let everyone know that you're mine now."

Natsu POV

The next few hours were a blur, starting with relieved faces and turned into a celebration of the success of the spell. I could tell that Lucy felt really guilty about what she had done to her friends; the worst were the people she had attacked. I did my best to not let it get to her; I stayed by her side as she apologized to everyone.

Everyone easily accepted her apology except Gajeel. He hadn't cared so much that his arm had been broke, but he was pissed that Levy had gotten hurt. Considering the scent that was coming off of the two of them, I was sure that they had gotten pretty close since Lucy's rampage. Even though I understood why the iron dragon slayer was angry, I wasn't going to let him make Lucy cry again. I was ready to beat the crap out of the metal head before Levy got between us and told him to back off. He did but he still kept a close eye on the bluenette when she hugged and talked to my Lucy.

My Lucy, I smiled as the words rolled over in my head. We hadn't had the chance to say anything to everyone in the guild yet, but we weren't hiding it either. We hadn't moved more than a meter or so away from each other since we left the infirmary. We were constantly holding hands, specifically the hands with the silver designs on them. Lucy had asked me about them and I explained that it was part of the spell. That if we wanted to know more about them, we would just have to ask Loke.

The party went all through the night and into the next day. It was like after we had won the Grand Magic Games, but it meant even more to me than that. Some point late in the night, Lucy got tired and fell asleep against my chest. I leaned against one of the guild pillars just holding her. I saw Reedus painting something while the rest of the guild partied. A while later, he came over and showed me the painting of me holding Lucy. Her face cute with a light blush as she slept, one hand was gripping my vest in her sleep. I had her arms wrapped in my arms with my forehead resting against hers. My expression was one I had never seen in all the drawing he had made of me. Best way I could describe it... I looked totally at peace. I asked Reedus if I could have that painting later so I could give it to Lucy, I had a feeling she would like it. He agreed.

Gramps called us into the office the next morning when the guild started waking up to party again. I could tell Lucy was nervous, I was too, but I did my best to comfort her. We sat down in his office, still refusing to release each other's hands.

"I'm glad that the both of you are okay, you had everyone worried there." Makarov said, with a small smile on his face.

"I'm sorry, Master," Lucy apologized, her head hanging. If I hadn't been so careless…"

"Stop with that nonsense, child. From what Natsu told me, you kept him from getting poisoned as well when you were first attacked. The entire guild knows that if Natsu had been affected by the Black Pit, the damage would have been far worse; not only to the guild but to everyone in the surrounding area. I do not want to hear you doubting or regretting what you have done again. Understood?"

With tears in her eyes, Lucy smiled and nodded her head.

"Now for the main reason I asked you both here. It has to do with the marks you received during the ritual," he said with a sly grin on his face.

I lifted our linked hands and looked at them curiously. "I thought Loke said it was to create a doorway from my mind to her mind. Does it do something else?"

His grin got bigger as he looked at us and explained the truth behind the silver tattoos. When he said "soul mates," Lucy's hand gripped mine so tight it felt like my bones might break. I was a bit stunned, but it made sense in a way. After seeing Lucy's mind and how she felt about me, I couldn't imagine myself with anyone but her. Looking over at her, I could tell that she felt the same way.

I couldn't help but grin at her. "See, I told you we were going to be more than boyfriend and girlfriend. You're my mate, Luce." She ducked her eyes as she started blushing, but I didn't miss the smile that stretched across her face.

"There's more to it than you think," Gramps said as he pulled Lucy's keys from his desk. I had given him the keys for safekeeping since I hadn't wanted to leave Lucy's side but I wanted the keys out of her reach. I was surprised when he handed me the keys instead of Lucy. "Try summoning a spirit," he told me.

I was confused as I looked down at the keys in my hands. I don't know how to summon spirits, what am I supposed to do? Not sure what else to do, I picked one that I recognized and held it out the way I had seen Lucy do it. I don't know how, but I somehow knew how to focus my magic as I called out, "Open, Gate of the Ram, Aries!"

In a poof of pink, Aries appeared in the room with us. "I'm sorry. You called for me, master Natsu."

"Umm… ah…" I didn't know what to say. I had no clue how to summon spirits and even if I did, Aries had a contract with Lucy. She shouldn't have come when I called. I did know that much. "How did I do that?" I finally asked.

"I'm sorry, I'll explain," Aries said as she fidgeted shyly in front of us. "Soul mates who are marked by the Cord of Destiny share magic. In the case of celestial wizards, it means that all the contracts Lucy-sama has are also shared by master Natsu now. I'm sorry if that displeases you."

"It's okay, Aries," Lucy said beside me. "Thanks for telling us, you can go back now."

She said "I'm sorry" one more time before poofing away again. I couldn't believe it; I could summon Lucy's spirits now. It also surprised me now much magic it took to summon her, it felt like a huge chuck of my magic had been used in that one shot… yet I'd seen Lucy summon four of them in one fight and sometimes two at once. It gave me a whole new respect for the type of magic she used.

But if I can summon her spirits, does that mean she can use my dragon slayer magic too? Before I could ask, she held up her free hand and it ignited on fire. The flames looked a little different than mine; there were gold sparks that crackled as it burned. I watched her face for a moment to make sure that she wasn't hurt, but I didn't see any pain on her face. Instead, she looked absolutely amazed.

"Loke explained that this was a possibility should the two of you emerge from the spell alive," Gramps said, looking serious. "Both of your magic will have increased a great amount due to the change and may be unpredictable for a time, so I expect both of you to take at least two months off from doing missions to become better acquainted with how your magic works. At the end of the two months, I will decide if you have enough control to take missions again."

I didn't like the idea of taking so much time off, but thanks to the job we had just done, Lucy and I had enough to cover expenses, specifically her rent, for that time. It also meant that I would get to spend the next two months training with Lucy.

Lifting our joined hands, I kissed her knuckles and looked at her. "Looks like we're going to be spending a lot of time together."

"I wouldn't have it any other way," she smiled back. "I love you, Natsu."

"Love you too, Luce."

A/N: It's close! One more chapter and this story is officially done! Will work on posting it as quickly as possible. It won't really be necessary to the story line, but I felt like this story deserved a romantic ending.. well, more romantic ending. ;-)