Hi Readers! This series is nearing its end, and I hope you will continue to read it until it reaches the completion. Unfortunately, updates might be longer than I expected, but will definitely finish this before the year ends. Anyway, enjoy reading!

Chapter 23

Natsu was standing in the middle of nowhere in her human body. Despite being human, she felt like something heavy was placed on her. She looked around but found nothing, she started to walk and run but could hear nothing aside from her footsteps and her voice.

She used her fire to light farther away from her but found nothing. She pouted and tilted her head to the side in confusion. "Where the hell am I?" She asked no one. She decided to sit down and tried to think about what to do next.

"Well, it's great that I am human now, but where is this?" she looked around again.

"Gray? are you there?" she asked but no one responded.

She frowned and stood up again when she suddenly could hear footsteps heading towards her. Her eyes widened upon seeing Gray all of a sudden, and her view had changed from nothingness to a place filled with people and shops. She was about to greet Gray and show off her body to him, however. Gray had ignored her as he went to greet a lady with blue hair.

Her eyes widened in excitement after seeing Juvia, walking towards her, she was about to hug her tight but her body passed through her.

"Huh?" she wondered as she watched her hand. "That's weird"

"What is weird?"

"My body. I can't touc-" her words halted when she heard someone whisper by her ears. Turning her head to see the girl that she has been looking for.

"Ah, you! you're the one who cursed me"

Hikaru smiled, as Natsu finally noticed her presence. Though she ignored her words and walked closer towards her. She placed her hand on her cheeks and smiled lovingly towards her. "Oh, Natsu. you really are pretty. Why can't you be mine?" she asked in wonder. while poking on her cheeks.

Natsu frowned from her words as she stepped back, "I told you didn't I? I'm not into girls" she growled back.

The black-haired lady sighed in annoyance and watched Gray and Juvia from the corner. "It must be because of him then?" she muttered suddenly earning a confused Natsu. "You love him right?" she asked while pointing a finger towards the raven-haired lad.

Natsu felt her cheeks heat up and crossed her arms across her chest. "So what if I am? Gray and I are in love with each other"

Hikaru chuckled and grinned to herself as she asked, "Are you sure about that?"

"What are you talking about?"

Natsu was left surprised and scared when Hikaru suddenly ran close to her and whispered to her ears. "From what I see, he seems to be in love with someone else"

0o0o0

Natsu screamed from her bed and sat up. She was sweating with eyes wide, while Gray sat beside her wondering what happened.

"Natsu, are you okay?" Gray asked worriedly, hovering above her.

The doll remained silent as she stared back to his eyes, remembering her dream, she averted her eyes from him and lied.

"If you say so. come one. It's time for breakfast"

Natsu nodded her head and sat up. She waited for Gray to leave before she placed her hand to her chest. 'That was just a dream' she reminded herself and closed her eyes. Her mind had then wondered back before she woke up. 'Gray is in love with me' she muttered repeatedly, slowly losing consciousness as she fell back to sleep.

Minutes had passed by, and Gray was already done with his breakfast. He raised a brow though when he noticed that Natsu hadn't come down. He sighed and stood up to check her in his room, only to find him sleeping again. He closed the door back and shrugged as he went back down.

"Where's Natsu?" he heard his mother ask.

"Sleeping"

"That's weird, she's usually up early during the morning"

"Oh yeah, Mom. I'll be going out later. I'll leave Natsu to you, please?" he asked worriedly at his adopted mother, who nodded her head as she agreed.

Hours passed, Gray went back to his room to change his clothes. He sighed though at the Doll still sleeping on his bed with a frown. He chuckled as he poked her connecting eyebrows. "Hey, Natsu. I'll be leaving now. Stay with mom today and don't go out" He reminded her but didn't get any response. "Well, not like you're gonna respond while you're sleeping".

The young lad then stood up from his bed and started to change his clothes. Once he was done, he spared one look at Natsu and started to leave after closing the door.

"I'm going" Gray called out from the front door, as he picked up his bag and left.

Gray started heading to a bus stop and waited for a bus to arrive, minutes later it came and he got in. He waited for almost an hour of travel and soon got off when he arrived. He made a stop at a convenience store and bought an Ice cream as it was too hot. He started to head to the met up place hoping that he is just on time. Once he made a turn and came to a view of a small cafe, where he will be meeting them. He got inside and looked around to find two small childrens sitting beside their mother and two other men with her.

Mavis noticed his presence and immediately waved her hand to him. Gray nodded his head in response and went to their seat.

"Eh? Aunt Natsu isn't with you?" One of the twins complained, as he slumped his head down to the table and started to sulk.

"Come on Larcade, you will see her soon. Since your father is excited to meet his sister as well" his Mother scolded him a bit for sulking and grinned towards her husband who was sprouting red on his cheeks.

"Come here, Gray. Sit here" She smiled and pointed to a seat beside a red-haired man with scars on his right face. The older man turned towards him and nodded his head in greeting, Gray did the same as he sat beside him.

"Okay. Now that you're here. I'll introduce you to these gentlemen first" The blond-haired woman smiled, and pointed her hand to her husband. "This is my husband Zeref Dragneel. He's Natsu's older brother, and the man beside you is their Uncle, Igneel."

Gray nodded his head at them, "Nice to meet you. I'm Gray Fullbuster."

"I heard. Also, how is Natsu? Is she okay? is it true that she was turned into a doll?" The man beside him suddenly asked, looking frantic as he shook his shoulder.

Gray's eyes started to get dizzy, as he tried to respond to the older man. Igneel got told off by his nephew's wife, tilted his head to the side. He then turned to the younger lad and widened his eyes.

"Oh, sorry about that boy. I was just excited to see Natsu later."

"No, it's fine." Gray smiled with fear, from the treatment.

"But may I know why you didn't bring Natsu with you?" came a question from the older brother.

"I actually wanted to, but weeks after we visited your house. Natsu has been falling asleep a lot. She's usually full of energy every day, but at this time she is only awake for at least a couple of hours then goes back to sleep again. I am starting to wonder if she has something to do with her."

The adult frowned at his response and asked what he meant.

"She's been mumbling a lot in her sleep, and I always hear her speak her name. I tried asking her about her dreams, but she always lies to me every time" Gray sighed.

"Then where is she now?" he heard the Uncle ask.

"She's currently at home, still sleeping. I left my mother to take care of her while I am away. She also knows what is happening with Natsu, so she's keeping her safe"

Mavis then clapped her hands and smiled, "Then what are we waiting for? Let's go?" The blond woman grinned, earning approvals from the other two adults. Gray stood up from his seat and started to follow the family behind. He suddenly felt someone holding his hand, turning his attention to the tiny hand, he smiled.

"Are we going to see Aunt Natsu? August asked curiously, gripping on his hand tightly.

Gray nodded and smiled, as they left the cafe. They went inside the car and started to drive towards his house.

0o0o0

"Hey! Where are you?" Natsu yelled to no one, as she was trapped again into nothingness.

She started to run for as long as her legs would allow too but found no one in sight. Annoyed, she sat down and glared to no one. "Fine, you can hide for as long as you want. I don't care anymore"

"Are you really?" The black-haired woman asked as she was suddenly standing in front of her.

Natsu looked up to her and glared, "Finally deciding to show up?"

Hikaru smiled, "Well, I was having fun watching you looking for me" she kneel down in front of her and placed her hand to her cheek.

"Can you please stop this already? I don't want to be stuck here anymore" She complained, as she swats her hand away from her cheek.

The black-haired lady only smiled though and stood up, she started walking away from Natsu. Making Natsu even more pissed as she followed the woman from behind.

"Hey! I am talking to you!" Natsu exclaimed.

"It's not up to me if you don't want to stay here anymore."

Natsu frowned and asked her what she meant.

"Well, you need to accept that Gray isn't in love with you. Since you only forced him to be your lover, right?" she smiled again while facing the pinkenette.

Natsu shook her head and denied her claims. "No, Gray has been in love with me ever since he got me"

Hikaru tilted her head to the side and asked, "Are you sure about that?"

Natsu glared back at her, aggressive in believing that Gray has feelings for her.

"Then why don't you see for yourself?" Hikaru chimed in as she reached out her arm to her and swung it back to her side. It was in an instant that the view changed. Natsu could see people walking and passing them by, Shops being visited by customers and cars running on the road.

The pink-haired girl frowned, as she wondered when and how did they even get there.

"Can you see them over there?" Hikaru asked as she pointed towards a shop.

Natsu steered her eyes from her finger to the area where she was pointing, her eyes then bulged when she saw Gray with Juvia again. She was about to come running towards them, and talk to them. However, they didn't hear her words.

Natsu pouted and turned towards Hikaru, but the girl was nowhere to be found. She turned back to Gray and Juvia, to find them a bit weird for some reason, but disregarded the thought.

"Hey, Gray when are you going to give Natsu to me?"

Natsu heard Juvia ask Gray, causing her to raise a brow knowing that Gray wouldn't hand her over to anyone. She observed his facial expression and noticed him frowned, she was about to smile as she was happy that they have the same thoughts.

"But, handing the doll to you now isn't a good idea"

Her frown was back after she heard him saying those words, noticing their hands entwined to each other. She walked towards them and tried to pry their hands off each other but failed as she was unable to physically touch them. "Gray, I demand you let go of her hand now" She shouted to the raven-haired man's ears, but Gray didn't hear her. But instead, the lad had placed his arm around the blue-haired girl.

"You bastard. How dare you try to cheat on me" Nasu threw flames from her mouth to the lad, but Gray acted nothing happened.

"Well, if you say so." Juvia suddenly said, smiling as she grabbed the hand around her shoulders. "Oh, what if we ask Hikaru about it" The water user advised while grinning towards Gray.

"No. Don't agree with it Gray" Natsu shouted back. Her heart started to get heavier as she noticed how the man was thinking about it. She suddenly felt the pain when Gray agreed with Juvia's advice. Nasu fell silent from his words, she clutched her fist tightly as she bit on her lip. "No. I won't fall for this for the second time. Gray isn't like this" Natsu shouted to no one, as she turned and started to look for Hikaru. "Get your ass out there you witch bastard. I'm gonna beat you up for thinking that you will fool me this time"

"I am not fooling you Natsu" the black-haired woman smiled, as she wrapped her arms around her. "You're just not able to accept the reality right? Poor Natsu. Don't worry, I'll love you more than that man"

Natsu tried to get away from her hold but failed. Her body was starting to lose its strength, blood started to fall from her mouth, her eyes slowly trailed down to her chest, and could see Hikaru's hand going inside her.

"The hell you bastard. Turning me into a doll wasn't enough for you?" she gasped, as she held on the wrist that was pierced on her chest. "I'm not gonna let you" she tried to pull the hand out from her, but her movements suddenly halted, and all she could see was Hikaru smiling at her with a wicked grin.

0o0o0

"Mom, I'm back and I brought Natsu's relatives with me" Gray smiled and greeted his mother who immediately came and suddenly a surprised face was planted on her face. Gray tilted his head to the side and wondered what was wrong.

"I should have known" his mother suddenly claimed.

"Huh? Why? is it bad that I bought them here?" Gray asked worriedly, wondering if what he had done isn't good.

"No that's not it" Ul let out a sigh again and faced the man with scars on his face. "It's been a while Igneel. I might be getting older since I didn't realize that Natsu is the little girl you've been looking for."

"Greetings Ul" The man smiled back. "Well, I didn't know as well that your son has been taking care of my niece."

Ul grinned, "Well, whatever" her eyes had then averted to her adopted son, "Natsu is still in your room Gray" she then turned to the others and greeted them after introducing herself. The family responded with a nod, while the two kids are now running around the house. Mavis turned to Ul and apologized for her twins. Ul just waved it off and guided them to the living while Gray went up to his room to wake Natsu up.

Gray went up the stairs after he saw them getting inside the living. Heading up towards his door, to find the room slightly ajar. He thought that Natsu must've been awake by now, and smiled at the thought of her seeing her uncle again. He opened the door to find it darker than usual, turning on the lights. Natsu was still sleeping on the bed. He sighed and sat beside her, trying to wake her up.

"Natus, your Uncle, and Brother are here" Gray called out, hoping it would wake Natsu.

But Natsu only squirmed in her sleep. Her head was tossing, and her mouth was slightly open as if she was having a hard time breathing for air. He thought that it was weird, he tried shaking her again, but was horrified when her face started to crack. his body was stilled as he watched the crack, slowly placing her down to the bed. He stood up and looked outside his house from the window. He turned back to the bed and kneeled. "Natsu, what's wrong with you?" Gray asked worriedly as he tried to hold his hand from grabbing her.

It was then he could hear someone chuckling by his ears. He turned to find the missing girl that they have been looking for.

"You, what are you doing here?"

Hikaru just smiled back and nonchalantly responded, "Nothing, I was just here to fetch Natsu, and she's already with me", it wasn't later that Hikaru just suddenly disappeared. Leaving Gray confused about what she meant, he turned around to find Natsu laying on his bed, not breathing.

TBC

Laters,

-B27