As the sky was growing darker, Natsu looked down at Lucy and softly said "We should get back before everyone gets too worried about us." Lucy sighed and said, "I know you're right, but I wonder when we'll get another moment like this." Natsu chuckled before saying "Probably not until after Levy and Gajeel's wedding, and that's if we're lucky. Lucy laughed, knowing that he was probably right, what with how both of their families were. She loved them all dearly, but she knew that even if it required sneaking out late at night, she would find a way for her and Natsu to have some alone time.
With another sigh, she brought herself to her feet, Natsu following suit. They both stretched, only now realizing just how long they had sat there. They took a few steps away from each other and transformed into their dragon forms, Natsu letting out a soft gasp as he looked at Lucy once more and said "Luce, your wings!" Lucy looked at her wings and saw the small star like spots were glowing faintly, showing off her wings outlines. Natsu took a few steps closer to examine them as he said "I've never seen wings quite like these."
Lucy wished they would stop glowing, for she was sure they would highlight her blush. No sooner did that thought cross her mind then the lights all faded. Wondering if it was her controlling them or not, she tried thinking about them turning on and off in a few random patterns and every time they seemed to follow it, so she was pretty sure she could control it. Natsu smiled when she informed him of it and he said "That's pretty neat! Let's go home and show the others!"
They launched themselves into the air and flew back to Natsu's house, where all of their friends were waiting for them inside. Lucy was in for a surprise upon entering the Dragneel house, her family stood there amongst her friends. Shortly after her and Natsu had flown off, Laxus, Sting and Rogue had gone to pick up those traveling with her. Turns out Grandeeney had helped to deliver baby Asuka so the Connell's were already well acquainted with the magical beings and dragons.
"Oh Lucy, there you are. Igneel told us Natsu had taken you on a flight. I'm so glad you're both back now." Layla said, rushing to give her daughter a hug. Mavis had witnessed Lucy's confused look and as soon as Layla had pulled away and moved to hug Natsu, she whispered into her ear "We thought it best that you got to break the news of how you used the scale yourself." Natsu's ears also picked up her words and though he was practically bursting at the seams to tell everyone about the glowing scales in Lucy's wings, he refrained himself.
Lucy hadn't told her parents or anyone else about the scale, so she wasn't sure where to begin, but she felt Natsu's hand slip into hers and give her a gentle, reassuring squeeze. Lucy smiled at him before she started saying "It's true that Natsu took me for a flight, but it's probably not in the way you think." She was interrupted when Michelle let out a gasp and said "Did you go without a harness on Lucy?!" Lucy chuckled and said "Yes, but…"
"Lucy you already fell off Wendy once before, what were you thinking?" questioned Jude. "It's not quite like that. Please, let me finish explaining." Lucy begged. Her family nodded their acceptance of this and Lucy took a deep breath and said "Back before he left, Natsu gave me one of his scales. Loke and my Spirits had it placed in a bracelet for me with a matching necklace pendant. When Acnologia had brought me back here, he dropped me and I used the words that Natsu taught me to turn into a dragon. That's the reason I was flying without a harness, I didn't need one."
Her parents and sister stood there with open mouths as Anna chuckled and said "So if Natsu wasn't taking you on a flight, where did you go?" Nobody missed the blushing taking place on Natsu and Lucy's cheeks and a few wanted to tease them about it, but Yukino stopped that from happening inadvertently by saying "Speaking of dropping, I've got your keys for you Lucy." She handed them over to the blonde, who gripped them tightly to her chest as she said "Thank you Yukino!"
Bisca spoked up and said "We're sorry we weren't able to stop Acnologia from taking you Lucy. We didn't want to chance a shot with you in the way and when he finally turned his back he took off so fast we weren't able to get one on him." Lucy smiled and said "Don't be sorry, no one could have foreseen Acnologia becoming a dragon and coming after us! Speaking of which, how did he get his hands on a scale?"
"We found his jailer, Bhikhu, crying in the rubble shortly after he left here. Apparently Acnologia had him fooled, he has always been a kind hearted soul. He is extremely sorry for what happened and I assured him that it wasn't his fault. Acnologia was always a smooth talker, that's how he got the mages to fall into one banner under him." Grandeeney explained. "Was anything ever done for the unicorns? We received word in your last letter that there was a plan, but obviously we didn't hear of it." asked Michelle.
"Yes, one of the wizards called Mest was able to teleport himself into the area where they were keeping them. He cut the cords from the adults and freed the foal. Once they knew for sure the foal was safe, they broke free and joined us in the fight against the mages. They have returned to their homeland now." answered Zeref.
"I hate to break up this party, but the hour is getting late. Why don't we all go to bed and we can visit again in the morning." Igneel suggested. "Oh wait!" Natsu exclaimed excitedly, "You have got to see Lucy's wings!" Everyone exchanged confused glances, before Rouge asked "Umm, besides those that were traveling with her, didn't we already see them?" "Not like this! Come on Lucy, let's go show them!" Lucy blushed in embarrassment as Natsu pulled her out the door, giving the others little choice but to follow them.
Once outside, Lucy shifted at Natsu's insistence, all admiring her dragon form, what they could see of it in the dark. They were about to head inside, when Natsu said "Come on Lucy, show them!" Suddenly her wings were alight with star like patterns. Everyone oohed and aahed over them. Lucy shifted back into her human form, embarrassed by the attention but smiling at Natsu's exclamations about how cool it was. Soon everyone went inside, accept for her and Natsu. He took her hands in his and said "Thanks for showing them Lucy."
Lucy chuckled and said "No problem Natsu, I think you're more excited about them then me." Natsu laughed and said "I'm excited about everything about you Luce, I wish I could show off just how amazing you are to the whole world, not just on the outside but on the inside too! I mean after hearing such horrible stories about not only dragons, but all magical beings you kept an open mind! Not too many could say that these days."
Lucy could feel her face growing red once more, Natsu's praise being a bit much but also making her feel really happy. "And what about you? You came to my aid when you didn't even know me or the situation. You could have just turned your back on me, on what was taking place, but you put yourself between me and the danger. Thank you Natsu."
It was Natsu's turn to grow red on the cheeks, but instead of answering her with words, he pulled her into a hug, resting his forehead against hers. Softly he whispered "I love you." Lucy smiled, looking into his eyes as she said "I love you too."
XXX
Several months had passed and a lot had happened in that time. Some of the higher up mages had been caught, including Invel, since they were trying to reignite the mages fight against the magical beings. Invel added a little more to the story of the vortex. Acnologia had set it up at roughly the same time Lucy had been kidnapped, charming it so that those in the Celestial Kingdom could not see it or sense it. He had heard a false story of Anna having died and thus he thought Layla would have been the only one to have knowledge enough on how to put an end to it.
Since she was the one that was supposed to have been kidnapped, this would have eventually wiped out all of the Celestial Kingdom, giving him the power of the Celestial Spirits, the Zodiac Spirits and the Celestial King himself! He had been furious when he had felt it being destroyed and even more so when he realized he couldn't set it back up again.
When Hisui heard about Lucy becoming a dragon, she longed for her friend to be accepted by the human population. Her father had summoned her back to the palace in order for her to be crowned queen and so with this new power, she had been moving her people to start being open to accepting the magical beings once more. Many of the older generation started telling their tales of living side by side with the magical beings and already many were starting to become more open to opening their doors to them.
Levy and Gajeel had gotten married, Levy's scales were more of a feathery kind then a solid and were the same blue as her hair. Her wings also maintained their color, blending into where her wings met her back in a pretty pattern. But this wasn't all Levy had been up to.
With Hisui working so hard to get the magical beings accepted by the humans, Fairy Tail no longer really needed Warrod to be a guardian. While Levy hadn't been able to work out a spell to return him to the elf he once was, she did find one that could give a tree life and allow it to walk around. By reworking it slightly, since Warrod already had life, she was able to get it so that upon using the spell, Warrod could walk around and be back down to human size so that he could fit into most places he went.
Warrod was extremely grateful to now be an Ent. He enjoyed getting to go and see his friends that he hadn't seen in years. While Warrod was no longer bound to the land around Fairy Tail, nor was Fairy Tail really needed in the same aspect, Yajima and Makarov still ran it as an inn and bar, the Strauss siblings rejoining them there as well, though they all took some time off for the wedding.
Yukino had struck up a friendship with Sting when she had been out at the Dragneels and often the white dragon would fly to Magnolia to visit her. The Heartfilias, minus Anna and Michelle, had moved out to where the Dragneels were. Michelle had several friends she couldn't bear to move away from just yet and Anna was still teaching Yukino and Hisui, when she could make the run to Crocus. When she was done with that she would join her family out by the Dragneels.
Millianna was staying near Erza and Jellal now at the wizards' hometown, but she still stopped in to visit with Lucy every now and again. The two had grown close to each other during their short time together, but Lucy was happy to hang out with Natsu and Millianna was busy getting caught up with Erza and Jellal.
But of course the most important thing was that the bond between Natsu and Lucy had grown stronger and stronger. Both were very good friends with the other's friends, so much so that they were just their friends now. They knew the other better than anyone else did and hardly were they apart from one another, they were practically joined at the hip.
They spent a lot of time flying together, Lucy thrilled to feel the wind beneath her wings and Natsu thrilled in watching the expression of pure joy on her face each time they were in the air. Lucy had become addicted to flying while she was still just a normal human and so now that she could do it every day at any time she found it hard to be one the ground for long.
Today they had flown to the lake that they had flew to on her first day as a dragon. They dived into it from the sky, both laughing as they surfaced as well gasping for air. Even for a dragon there were parts of this lake that were deep and they enjoyed just barely moving their legs or even their wings to keep themselves afloat.
It was almost too cold to be swimming, at least if you were a normal human it would be and even though Lucy had a small amount of fire as most dragons do, even she felt the slight chill in the air. The warmth of Natsu's fire, however, was enough to keep her warm, so she snuggled tightly against him as they gently paddled in the lake, enjoying the contrast of the cool water and his warms scales.
When finally they tired of swimming, they headed closer to shore, standing there nuzzling each other. Natsu pressed his forehead against hers as he whispered "You know how much I love you, right?" Lucy whispered back "As much as I love you." Natsu grinned and they both shifted into their human forms, momentarily sinking beneath the water before resurfacing, gasping for air. They had forgotten how deep it would be for their human forms, so lost in the moment were they.
Lucy giggled and Natsu laughed as they did their best to stay above the water while doing so and moving towards the shallow edge. Once that was done, Natsu pulled her against him and gave her a deep, toe curling kiss. When they finally broke free, gasping for air, Natsu said "Say you'll be my mate Lucy!" Lucy looked surprised and he softly asked again with slightly different words "Say you'll be my wife." Tears filled her eyes as Lucy said "Of course I will! You didn't have to ask twice."
Natsu grinned and pulled her into another kiss. Both couldn't wait to tell their families the good news, but neither were in that much of a rush to leave this moment behind. Pulling back from the kiss, Lucy smiled and said "I bind myself to your way of life, for you are everything to me." Natsu chuckled, nuzzling his face against her neck as he said "I can't wait to make you mine forever." "I already am, just as you are already mine." Lucy responded. And with those words, they kissed again.
Aww I loved this ending guys! I really wanted to spend a bit more time with them post Acnologia/Lucy becoming a dragon, but I still think this wraps things up nicely! If there are any errors still in this chapter, I apologize, I forgot until I was just about to go to bed at 2 am last night/this morning that this chapter was due to be uploaded, so I may have missed something. Many thanks to Ant for mentioning way back when I first introduced Warrod to the story that you thought he would be an Ent, it made the ending way more satisfying for him, in my opinion :D So without further ado guys, here is your last magical beings info!
This chapter we'll be covering Ents! Now just like with other versions of Ents, Warrod maintains a tree like appearance, however with human facial features, etc. Basically picture Warrod in his tree looking form instead of back when Fairy Tail was first founded and you've got it! The Ents in my story can be tall, their heads reaching as high as any trees or they can shrink down to human form. Warrod is the only known Ent, however it doesn't mean there aren't others out there. He can use magic, it would be all nature related, just like his Fairy Tail counterpart.
Answers to Reviews!
Ember Reverie: I'm so glad you enjoyed the last chapter! Ugh yeah, I actually debated on changing Acnologia's fate as I was editing that chapter, but when I saw how much grieving, etc I would have to cut out and add new stuff for, I was like even though it is a bit gruesome for me, I'm just going to leave it. But I hope all the fluff and stuff in this chapter makes up for that!
FTAnt: *face palm* okay, I admit, I chuckled at the "rip" Acnologia bit :'D Glad you liked the ending and yes Nalu 4 life!
FireShifter: I'm so glad you enjoyed the last chapter! Yes thank goodness she did! I think this is probably my favorite version of Lucy's dragon form I have done so far, it's up there with A Dragon's Wish version though, meaning I can't quite decide which I like better. I am partial to this one because stars and probably the other because my first dragon Nalu story :'D I love getting to the point where the profess their love in my stories, its my favorite part :D
Amanny: Thank you and so am I :D