Three weeks felt like a lifetime, in Lucy's opinion. Especially when you were stuck on an stupidly hot island with the same set of clothes and nothing to do but spar with a celestial spirit, listen to stories, and stare at the open horizon from the roots of a massive tree, feeling someone inch closer with every breath you took. While she was excited to know that Natsu would eventually get there…she had no idea how long it would take.

And it drove her crazy. Because with each passing day, the time left until the end of Crocus came closer, and it stressed her out to know she was wasting time that could have been spent searching for celestial spirits. She'd not said a word of that to the dragons – not even Grandeeney, who knew as much as Igneel did.

She'd been honest, but had left some things out, not sure she wanted them to know when she wasn't sure how they'd respond. Telling the guilds had been one thing. She'd known them, even before arriving, though not personally. She'd trusted the famous guilds to help her protect the people of Fiore. The dragons…they were unknown creatures. Even less so, since magic and mythics apparently existed.

Lucy fell into deeper thought with a frown, her stomach twisting as she rocked back a little. Magic did exist in the future – it had to, with the Archives and Mavis and Sting still present. With Happy. And Happy meant Natsu was around…right? She bit her lip, tucking her knees to her chest and propping her chin on them. Natsu had to be alive.

The question was: was she, Lucy Heartfilia, alive?

Did she linger one thousand years in the future, unseen and with Natsu somewhere? She hoped so – for both of their sakes.

A cold wave came over her. No, she realized, biting her lip, she wasn't. She wasn't there in the future. Not the future she remembered – the future that would be written if Natsu truly did wreck the entirety of Old Crocus. Why else would he do it? Not that she liked to think herself important enough that END would rage unchecked and wreck an entire city over her. But she could see it now, she realized, remembering that powerful, ancient magic that had escaped him when Ultear had held a knife to her throat. It killed her to admit it, but Lucy could see it.

She could see how out of all the mythics to exist, Natsu Dragneel would be the one to do it.

And there was the stone before the Eclipse Gates, written so carefully in the language Natsu had been teaching her. A language nearly impossible to learn, a language that had to be known but came easier than she'd initially thought it would because of Natsu's influence. The letter to the Lost Star from the son of the Fire Dragon King, its meaning lost to time but clear enough to know that he mourned the loss of her.

Running her hands down her face, Lucy pushed such depressing thoughts from her mind and focused on the present.

She had time, she told herself. Around two and a half years to figure it out, to ensure that Natsu didn't suffer to that extreme. And she could do it. She had his help – and the help of the stars, hopefully all of them within that time frame.

Lucy looked back to the open sea she'd been watching and rested her head against some bark, biting her lip. She missed Natsu fiercely, though she could feel the illness in her gut – the motion sickness she remembered him having after puzzling over his illness for so long. Gray had told her, when she and Wendy and Natsu had all left to head west into the deserts.

"Gotta pay for the power somehow," Natsu had grumbled.

A smile flashed over her face at the memory. Reluctantly, Lucy finally dragged herself to her feet, testing the distance she'd gotten so much better at comprehending. She still couldn't get a good read on it half the time, but she'd been able to push until she'd understood recently. Perhaps it was the dragons' magic, influencing the bond?

This wasn't a good time to do it; she couldn't feel the distance as she knew Natsu easily could.

So, instead, aware that it hurt her head and made Natsu nervous, she sank back and back until she'd opened her eyes and could see something that she hadn't been able to before. Confusion rippled through her as she did so. Natsu was always confused by it.

Rippling water in every direction, the waves lapping softly at the bow of a wooden ship, sunlight beaming down and the complaints of every other person on the ship about the heat, even as he thrived within it, the sickness even lessening with the warmth as he basked on the deck. Eyes never leaving the horizon they headed for; a spark of unease flashing through when he noticed the smudge in the distance, the familiar shape of a massive tree sillouheted –

Lucy ripped back, her eyes snapping wide. She ignored the warmth beneath her nose, swiping blood away without a second thought as it stopped a few seconds later. She stared hard, squinting.

And grinned when she saw the small shape forming, so far yet so close.

In a flsh, Lucy was running down to the dragons' caverns, laughter in her throat.

Natsu's here.

Sheer, unfiltered joy was echoing through his body. It felt at complete odds with the rest of him. Natsu grunted in displeasure as he stared at the island, and then scowled when a gentle hand brushed over his shoulder, soothing. Wendy was staring hard at the nest, too. Longing resided in her eyes. She wanted so badly to go home, and because of Natsu…she couldn't.

Grimacing, Natsu turned his head back to the island. His eyes scanned the beaches, searching for a familiar flash of gold. Three weeks at sea made the beach almost a welcome sight,even if it was in a place he wanted nothing to do with.

Voices around him made him scowl.

The wards around the island would likely erase their memories of it. And if the magic didn't…Natsu would make sure that they did, whether it be through violence or elsewise. He might no longer live there, but it had been drilled into him from the second he'd stepped foot on Tenrou Island: outsiders did not get to know where Tenrou Island was.

He'd even purposefully taken an extra two days getting there, leading them on a winding, confusing path that went out of the way to discourage the people aboard the ship.

"Hey," Gray said suddenly, and Natsu realized that he and Juvia, who'd come back from Magnolia immediately upon hearing that they were preparing to leave and that Natsu had gotten permission. He glanced at the half-demon with guarded curiosity. Excitement glimmered in his dark eyes as he stared out at the island. "Do you think we'll get to see one of them?"

"Why would you want to?" demanded Natsu, glancing at Juvia when she bounced at the thought. "You've seen a dragon before. Wendy and I are right here." Well, Gray knew he wasn't a dragon, but the others weren't aware of that.

Gray shook his head. "Yeah, but I mean a dragon. Like, full-blown wings and everything."

It occurred to Natsu that Wendy and Gajeel had never chosen different forms before their guildmates before. They'd kept their humanoid appearances at all times, wanting nothing more than to blend in with their guilds. So, Natsu shrugged, and pushed away from the railing. "I need that spell now, Wendy."

She nodded and gently cast it, the illness fading from his gut almost immediately. Feeling better, Natsu strode over to one of the smaller boats kept on deck, already being lowered into the water on Lyon's command. Lyon looked a little disappointed that he and the others couldn't go to the island, too, but only inclined his head in greeting and went back to work.

He caught sight of Wendy staring mournfully out at the island again as he helped Lyon and the others lower the boat into the water. "I'll tell Grandeeney you say hi," he told her.

Wendy surprised him with a wicked smirk, showing off her sharp teeth. Her dark eyes twinkled with mischief. "I don't need you to say hi for me," she said proudly. Natsu grinned when he saw her take a deep breath, immediately looking around to watch the people that were all chattering excitedly.

The loud screaming trill left her mouth and filled the air. It echoed around the surrounding waves, thrown as far as it could go. Natsu grinned at the way the majority of those aboard all jumped. Even Gray swore in surprise, which made Natsu snicker.

When it had died away, he snorted at the looks on people's faces and scooped Happy up, carefully putting him on his shoulder. Only Natsu, Grandeeney had said, but he was bringing Happy. The dragons could get over it. And he was only a smart familiar. Who couldn't chatter up a storm about the island itself.

He hoped Happy scratched someone's nose, just to prove a point. He climbed down into the boat, noting how the water had stilled. Juvia's head popped up from the waves, her long blue hair swirling in the water. He arched a brow and she smiled. "Juvia can't go all the way, but Juvia will push you from here."

"Thanks," he muttered, settling back and pleased he'd just have to sit there. Even with Wendy's erasure of his illness, he didn't like the idea of having to stare at the waves. He would keep his eyes firmly on Happy, who'd settled into the safest part of the boat – the middle, beneath a bench.

The boat began to move and even with that spell, Natsu sank down a little and sighed heavily.

It didn't take long to reach the shore thanks to Juvia and Natsu hesitated to step out onto the sand, even when Happy hopped out, purring. After a long moment, Natsu followed suit, pressing his lips together. "C'mon, Happy," he muttered, eyes expertly scanning his surroundings. They'd know he was there, and if they weren't there to greet him, then they expected him to come to them.

The idea made him sick. Grandeeney had said she'd keep Igneel away, but something told him she wouldn't.

Igneel was the Fire Dragon King. His orders were law here.

Regardless of how stupid they were.

Natsu started for the tree line, stooping to grab Happy. Happy purred in his arms, not at all worried about the fact that he was on an island full of creatures that could crush him with one claw. Natsu's arms tightened around his familiar at the thought. He needed Happy. Igneel had helped him acquire Happy; he wouldn't hurt him. Hopefully.

It took him some time to get to the tree, where the caverns the dragons nested in were. He knew there was no avoiding Igneel as he stared into the darkness, inhaling sharply. Each scent was familiar. Grandeeney, Weissologia, Metalicana, Skiadrum…Igneel.

Lucy. Her familiar scent made him almost smile. She was here. Had been perhaps a few hours ago.

Happy squirmed impatiently, clearly recognizing it as well, and Natsu sighed as he ducked into the darkness, just as he had so many times for centuries. He wondered if his own little nesting cavern was here. The one where he'd slept, where he'd lived.

He wondered if it was where he'd left it in there, abandoned after his argument with Igneel.

When he stepped into the main cavern, wrinkling his nose at the stench of rotting meat, he glanced around, mouth pressed into a hard line. There was no sign of the dragons. They were there. He could hear them, but they were in hiding, encouraging him on to the specific tunnel he wanted nothing to do with. He wondered briefly if Skiadrum was hiding in the shadows, watching him nearby as he was prone to doing. The quiet shadow dragon had never been one for company, even that of his own son.

Sting and Rogue were going to kill him, Natsu thought as he stood there, staring at the familiar tunnel he'd walked so many times. The path was worn from massive taloned feet and from his own. His nose told him precisely what resided at the other end of it.

Lucy.

She was close. He could feel it in his gut, and an itchy feeling made him impatient. Screw the dragons and their decision to play with him by forcing him to speak with Igneel. He just wanted Lucy, right there in front of him.

But in order to get to her, he needed to play their stupid games.

So, heaving a massive sigh that had Happy meowing, his voice echoing in the cavern, Natsu started down that path. Happy purred loudly in his arms, comforting his friend, and Natsu muttered his gratitude, warily taking the twists and turns up to Igneel's cave.

He hesitated for a long moment before ducking into it.

His onyx eyes were immediately looking. Natsu knew she was nearby, and frustration filled him when he couldn't immediately spot her like he wanted to. Part of it was the mass of gold that twisted in his gut. Words echoed through his head at the greed he felt, eyeing the Fire Dragon King's gold.

"Each dragon is prone to collect certain precious items," Igneel had once said when he'd asked him about it. "Sky dragons are fond of blue gems. Earth dragons emeralds. We fire dragons are fond of gold. It likely means whoever mothered you was a fire dragon."

Pushing that memory out of his head for several reasons – including the fact that it reminded him just how much Zeref had hated him after finding out the truth of his heritage – Natsu growled loudly, not caring if he was overheard. He hated playing around like this.

Movement in the corner of his eye had him looking over in time to see a flash of moving gold before he was slammed into from the side. Happy yowled and leaped free of the pain that would come with being crushed, leaving Natsu to fall. He grunted at the force, toppling over, and found that he didn't care when Lucy breathed, "Natsu!" and tightened her arms around his neck, her face buried in his shoulder.

The sound that rose from his chest wasn't one he thought he'd ever made. It resembled Happy's purr and Natsu found himself crushing her in turn, pressing his face into her hair as he slid his arms around her, hugging her as tightly as he could without choking her. "Hey, Luce," he said hoarsely, frowning a little when he smelled salt in the air. His stomach flipped.

The last time Lucy had cried, he'd been lying helplessly on the snowy ground, blood seeping from his wound. She'd brushed her lips over his forehead and had been hauled away, her touch still burning his skin.

The thought had him tucking her a little closer. Had anyone asked him to explain what was flooding through him…Natsu wasn't sure he could have answered.

He remembered the hug she'd given him after Aries's test. How desperate she'd been, scared. This was similar, though slightly different. This was filled with relief and joy that he was there – emotions that radiated from him, too. Even more confused, Natsu finally pushed her back gently, a soft rumble leaving his chest as he ignored the gaze that bored into them.

It had been watching from the moment he'd set foot inside, and he'd continue ignoring it until he couldn't anymore.

Lucy smiled widely at him, her dark eyes shedding tears that he really didn't understand. Who cried when they were as happy as he knew her to be? Still, he held still when she suddenly cupped his face between her hands and demanded, "Are you okay? Are you still hurt?"

"Nah," he drawled, carefully gripping her wrists and pulling her hands away. He didn't mind, he found, but he didn't like the idea of Igneel seeing. "I'm okay. Erza and Gray and Jellal got me back to the fortress, and then Wendy fixed me up when we went to Fairy Tail. It scarred, but that's it. Besides, you'd know if I was still hurt."

"How are they?" Lucy demanded. "Erza was hurt, too-"

"Fine, fine," he reassured, liking the relief that flooded him. "She has a scar, too. Whatever magic he used was powerful, but we're fine, Luce."

He wouldn't have been if not for the book. The book he could feel watching him just as hard as he was. An ancient eye had opened, staring harshly at him. He could feel the demonic magic shaking the dust from itself in response, reaching. How badly it wanted to reconnect with the darker side of itself that had been sealed away for so long. Because while he could draw on that black magic, much of it was only accessible with the book of END at hand.

Had he not been END…

Natsu knew he'd not have survived, even if he'd still been a demon.

It was his identity that had allowed him to live.

Suddenly, his eyes sharpened. "You alright?"

She knew what he meant and Lucy smiled, amused as she showed him the nasty scar left behind on the skin of her arm. "They didn't hurt me," she said quietly as he snarled irritably. "Surprisingly. I got caught by some of the ship when it went down. And I have a burn from when Zancrow snagged me afterwards, but…" She shrugged. "I'm okay." She focused on something past him and beamed as a small blue-furred figure shot for her, dubbing it time for his greeting. "Happy!" she cried in delight.

Happy purred so loudly Natsu thought he'd rupture his throat. The familiar curled against her chest, paws on her shoulders as he touched his nose to hers. Natsu rolled his eyes. He'd never greeted Natsu that way after the dangerous missions they'd taken on in the past.

Still, legs still tangled with Lucy's and a hint of soreness in his body from where she'd hit the cavern floor…he didn't think he really cared. He was simply happy to see his Marked One again.

After a few more minutes, Natsu felt the change in the air. He stiffened when he heard the massive body shifting. Lucy stilled, too, biting her lip unhappily, and Natsu wondered only for an instant if she'd tricked him into coming into the cavern so that he'd be forced to talk with Igneel. But the anxious worry in his chest told him otherwise; there was no guilt there. Lucy had been told where to go and the dragons had likely made it clear what could happen if she didn't listen.

Natsu bit back the growl that threatened to leave him. It appeared that regardless of what he wanted, he would have to speak with the dragon that had apparently grown bored of him almost twenty years ago, and he got the feeling it was going to be a very unpleasant conversation.

He'd make sure to ignore Grandeeney on his way out.

With care, Natsu untangled himself from Lucy and climbed to his feet. Lucy rose, too, cradling Happy. Happy seemed content there in her arms, so Natsu left them be, drawing on that dark magic he'd been puhsing back as a warning to the kind of mood Natsu would be in if Igneel continued to insist on the meeting.

Igneel apparently didn't care, however, for the dragon shifted again, his massive head coming to rest a dozen feet above their heads. Natsu let the black stains rise up onto his hands, not caring if Lucy saw them. She'd seen them before. He finally lifted his gaze and met Igneel's. The fire dragon was watching him curiously, no sign of the rage and hatred that had pierced Natsu through in the form of sharp words.

Clenching his jaw, Natsu turned on his heel and squared his shoulders. Lucy stepped back a little, as if it was her attempt at giving them the privacy that didn't exist on Tenrou Island, but a glance from Natsu stopped her.

If he had to deal with this, so did she.

Lucy froze, and Natsu turned his attention back on Igneel, lifting his chin. He'd done nothing wrong all those years ago. He'd been the one who'd Igneel had gone after for no reason other than a single protest against Igneel's decision.

Igneel dipped his head in a dragon's form of a polite greeting, and Natsu fought the twist in his chest as he rumbled, "Hello, Natsu."

For some reason, the words sank in and he felt a flash of rage. How dare he. How dare he act as if he'd not shredded what little trust had remained after Zeref's betrayal? How dare he think he was exempt from guilt!

Natsu didn't care that the magic nearly swamped him when he unleashed it fully for the first time since that day seven hundred years ago when the Demonic Wars had ended. The horns that accompanied this form curled over his head, the stains of black spreading over his face and arms, his hands growing into an unnaturally large size. Flames rippled off of him, and even the way he held himself shifted. He wondered if anyone on the ship off the coast of the island felt the change in magic – if Gray, a half-demon, looked out over the water and paled, recognizing it despite his age.

Lucy, to her credit and his eternal gratitude, didn't flinch, even when that ancient monster parted its maw and silently roared to the world that it still existed. He thought the world around them had stilled for a moment. Lucy merely watched with interest as the Demon King stared down the Fire Dragon King with an anger that had festered for some time.

And then he grinned, showing off the rows of jagged, sharpened teeth, replicating the look he'd given Igneel in the second before their first fight had began so many centuries ago. Igneel tensed, clearly not appreciating the insinuation that Natsu considered them to be at war, but Natsu didn't care. He only practically purred the greeting from between his teeth.

"Hello, Igneel."

Reunion with some little hugs input in there! And another reunion: Igneel and Natsu! I'm so happy to share this chapter (even if it's a little early).

Thanks to reviewers (Uchida Akira, ckc14, itsxoi, Bananarock509, FairyTailxFanGirl, stranger1999, Fidosa, LePengwen, Eyriegirl, CodenameMise, and Lissuin!) as well as those who favorited and followed!