Hope you are all ready for the final chapter. :)

Thank you... for freeing me... Taku... Send them... send them home..."

He looked at all of them. Lucy was holding his hand. Tears threating to spill from her eyes. He took his other hand and put it on top of hers.

"Goodbye... My friend."

He closed his eyes and let out his finally breath.

"Natsu!"

~start of the Final Chapter~

3rd person POV

Gray, Lucy, Erza, and Happy looked at their friend. His normal unnaturally warm body, was slowly turning cold. Lucy started crying, along with Happy. Erza was in shock. Gray was trembling. He was the one that struck the demon though the heart. He was the one that killed his friend. He wanted to save him, not kill him.

"I-..."

"DON'T blame yourself, Gray! We didn't know that was going to happen!"

"But this IS my fault, Erza!"

"He didn't tell us this would happen! How were we supposed to know!?"

"I don't know! Maybe it was obvious? That isn't the point! The point is that I killed my best friend!"

Lucy looked at Gray. Natsu had a big impact on all of their lives. He was Happy's father, Gray's best friend, Erza's brother, and Lucy's partner (and lover). Lucy got up and put a hand on his shoulder.

"We-"

Lucy stopped talking as she saw something approach them. When Happy noticed, he hid behind Lucy. Erza stood up and narrowed her eyes at the person who was walking to them. When the person walked into the light, they saw that it was Taku.

"What are you doing here!?"

Erza yelled at the man. He ignored her question and his gaze fell on Natsu. The young wizards were tense, ready to fight him, but what shocked them is that he genuinely looked sad. He walked over to Natsu and gave out a sigh. He ran his hand through Natsu's hair.

"Get away from him."

He looked over at Happy, who was trying to act all brave, but was struggling. Taku looked at each of them as if he had just now noticed that they were there. He took his time to look each one up and down.

"Erza, Gray, Lucy and Happy. Correct?"

They were hesitant for they knew nothing of this man, yet he knew of them. How? Gray was the one that responded to orange-eyed man.

"Yes, that is us. How do you know who we are? We have never met you before. We met you once and that was it."

He sighed before answering the ice wizard.

"It doesn't matter how I know you; what matters is that you have managed to kill two demons and yet, you seem sad. Why?"

"Of course, I would be sad! I killed my Best Friend! I…. I killed him…."

Gray hung his head. Taku observed Gray's behavior. He just hummed in response. He turned to Erza. He spoke to the young red-head.

"You were okay with him not in your guild, right? He always made messes where your guild would have to clean up after him, correct?"

"What? How…...? No, I want him to be there. It wouldn't be Fairy Tail without him."

"And what if your master never found him, would it have mattered? Someone you have never met before?"

"I…."

Erza didn't know how to answer this. How could she say that if what he said could have been true? He turned to Lucy.

"And you. Do you honestly believe Natsu was your only way to get into Fairy Tail?"

"Well, he did bring me there-"

"What about here? When you asked about Natsu, they knew not him, but you. Therefore, you joined without him."

Lucy thought about it. He was right. Wait a minute. Lucy looks at the strange man.

"How did you know all that?"

The others all looked at him. Lucy was right. He shouldn't know any of this. His normally calm, none expression changed to a smug smile. It made each of them strangle uncomfortable. He stood up and walked toward the group. They were going to get into a defensive stance, but for some reason they couldn't move. The strange part was that this man before them gave off nothing to sense that was dangerous. He stopped arms lengths away from them.

"I will allow you to return home."

He raised his right hand to the left side of his face. His eyes flashed and he swung his hand practically through the wizards, as well as the small cat. The felt no pain, in fact they didn't feel anything at all. The only thing that happened was their vision blurring. It went all black for only a mere moment before they were able to see. They became shocked at the scene before them. It was…. That night they had the argument. Natsu was looking at them and he looked really hurt.

"Okay. I get it. I am just a distraction to you. You want me gone. I will give you your space for now. I will see you around... or not." He paused. "MAYBE FARIY TAIL WOULD BE BETTER OFF IF GRAMPS NEVER FOUND ME!"

Natsu ran off. Déjà vu? No, it wasn't. This is what happened. They got another chance. They all exchanged a look with each other before running off to find Natsu.

"Natsu!"

They all called for the dragon slayer. Natsu, however ignored their calls. He could hear them, but he knew that they were going to say something that counteracted with what they meant. He ran off to the woods that was just off to his and Happy's house. He wondered to the lake that he and Happy fish from, from time to time. He liked coming here for it reminded him of his old home. It made him feel safe. He sensed someone walk just a few feet away from him.

"If you are going to say anything, just say it and leave."

"I just got here and you already want me to leave?"

Natsu's eyes widened. He knew that voice. He turned his head to see a man smiling at him.

"You-"

"Natsu! There you are!"

Happy flies into Natsu's chest, knocking him in the water. The both got soaked.

"HAPPY!"

"Natsu! You're alive!"

"I…. wait what?"

The other members of team Natsu had followed close behind Happy. Happy was able to track down Natsu because he knew his scent so well.

"Natsu, everything we said, everything that happened…. We didn't….. we didn't mean it."

Natsu looked at each of his friends. They all went through something. They were looking at him with anger, now….. it was fear and sorrow. He turned his head to Taku.

"Hey, Uncle, what did you do to them?"

"Huh? Uncle!?"

They look at Taku who had his normal calm expression change to a soft smile.

"Nothing, my young nephew. I just showed them one of the scenarios that could have happened if what you said actually happened."

"Wait, hold up. You and Natsu….. are related? And what do you mean a scenario that could have happened?"

"To answer your first question, no, we are not related, but I was close to his family that he ended up calling me his uncle since I came over a lot he considered me family."

Taku, as he talked, walked over to Natsu and wrapped his arm around the young wizard and ruffled his hair. Taku gave a small smirk as he was teasing Natsu a little bit.

"And for your second question, Miss. Lucy, is not what you think. It wasn't an idea planted in your head. Young Gray over there is proof enough."

They looked confused, even Gray. Natsu examined Gray.

"Gray… who hurt you?"

Gray followed Natsu's gaze and looked at his arm. The wound he got was still there.

"I…"

"Uncle….. what did you do exactly?"

Taku's brown eyes looked sad as said with a frown.

"I sent them to the reality I hate the most. I sent them to the reality where you… where I was supposed to end your life. Where I hated you."

"You sent us to another reality? How is that possible?"

"You have been to Edolas, correct? That is another reality, and dimension. I can use my own magic and send people by force. You remember when we first met? My eyes were orange, right? Now they are brown. That should be proof enough that you are in your reality, your world. When my magic is active, my eyes are orange, when I am not using my magic, they are brown."

"So, your magic teleports people to a different world?"

"Um, not exactly. I didn't send you to a different world, just a different reality. Reality is all based on our decisions. There are infinite choices, and ideas. Say you decide to go to a restraint and they had two choices of your favorite dish. You have quite a few choices. You can leave and get something else. Choice the first one. Choice the second one. Get both. Or even have anyone choose for you. Because of that choice, you have four set choices and then the other choices are based off someone else's choice. It all started with one choice, and then every other choice branched off to make other realities based off those decisions."

"How do you know all of this? Isn't this just theories?"

"How can you say that when you were in a different reality and you got hurt?"

"Why did you do that? What was the point?"

"Well, Erza, I sent you there because I saw what happened. I know what happened. You, on the other hand didn't. If Natsu didn't give himself away during that mission, Miss. Lucy would have been killed or severely hurt."

"What are you talking about?"

"There was someone behind the four of you. Someone cloaked in an invisibility spell. Natsu could smell him because of his sense of smell is stronger than yours. He made the right call. If he alerted you, that person would have hurt you and called for backup. If he attacked the guy from where he was, he would have trapped you guys and they would have attacked you. When he attacked them in his own way, they were still in minor shock that you were able to get away from that guy and managed to get your mission done with less damage. None of you bothered to ask him why he did that on impulse. He acted that way to protect you and all you guys could think was that he should have never been found? You agreed with him when all he did was risk the mission because he cared about you? I sent you to a reality without him so you could at least live a day or two without him, but you went to find him, almost immediately. There were a few choices you could have made; you made the choice I wanted you to make. I was hoping you would choose Natsu rather than your anger toward his actions."

"I thought that there were different realities built on other decisions that could have been made."

"Well, Miss. Lucy, that's where my magic comes in. You are from a different reality, I control what happens, in terms. To make it where you won't have more than one of you in the same world from this world, I imprinted your decisions to be the only decisions able to be made. It is a strong spell and puts strain on my body and spirit, but I'll do anything for my Nephew."

"Even hurt him?"

"Excuse me?"

"Taku would never hurt me!"

"Yet, he did. In that other reality, he hurt you. We saw him."

"That wasn't him, that was the personality of that world him."

"Why do you understand any of this? You're an idiot, Flame Brain."

"Maybe I understand this, Ice Princess, because I grew up with him for a while? And he taught me a thing or two about it."

"I did teach him about it because he asked so many…. Many questions. But like how Natsu was different there, we are all different in other realities. Edolas should have shown you that."

"I guess that makes sense."

"That's why I hate it there. He was tough on Natsu and hurt him. I hated going there."

Taku lowered his head. Natsu hugged him and Taku gave a small smile.

"Taku… I do have one more question."

Taku looks at Gray. Gray looked hesitate to ask and Taku knew exactly what he wanted to ask."

"Yes, Gray…. That world's Natsu is dead and will never come back. Don't think of it as him Dying. He wanted it. He didn't want to lose control, and hurt, or even kill anyone. He said that if he ever lost control and couldn't go back, for me, or The Black Airs to end his life. He was happy to at least see the world once. You made his final day a happy one. He knew what I did and kept it from you. He felt me hold back and saw my eyes. He knew what I was doing, but wanted to hold off telling you because he was scared you would leave him if he did. He wanted you close, yet he didn't. Even though you "killed" him, you didn't end him. I hope that gives you some clarity."

Gray nods his head. Taku sighs.

"I'm sorry I put you through that. I just wanted to show you what would have happened. Make you think about your actions."

"We understand, and Natsu, we're sorry for snapping at you. We shouldn't have."

"Eh, don't worry about it. I'm just glad none of you are hurt, or, uh…. Not dead. Gray got hurt, but not too bad, by the looks of it."

"Heh, yeah, I guess you are right."

"Well, guess I should head out now."

"What? But you just got her!"

"Sorry, my young Nephew, I must go see my mother and father now. As well as Carys. She will give me an earful."

"Alright…. Say hi to Aki for me?"

He nods.

"Will do. Take care. I will return…. Someday. I promise."

He gives Natsu a hug and dips his head to the others before heading off into the woods.

"So, tell me, what was it like in the other world?"

Natsu immediately started to ask question after question and the team headed back to the guildhall to get something to eat and talk. They ate, talked, laughed. Gary and Natsu almost started another fight, but they just laughed it off. Taku was looking in the window and smiled.

"Well, Zeref, your brother has grown. Igneel, do you see your son? I hope to see the both of you again. I will keep my promise to the both of you. I will continue to watch over him, until he no longer needs me. I think he will be fine for now that I can let him be, at least for the time being. I will be back, you can count on it."

He takes a camera he got from another world and snapped a photo of them, smiling and laughing. Looking like a family. He looked at the photo and smiled. With one last glance at his nephew, he left with a smile on his face.

A/N: So, this wraps up this story. I really did have fun writing this and I hope you guys enjoyed it too. I am both sad and happy this is completed. Sad because the story has come to an end, but happy for I can work on my other stories I have been putting off since I decided to put all my attention here. This story has helped me in more ways than one. For the longest time, I would write stories and was too scared that people would make fun of me. I didn't like it when people read my work. It wasn't until I posted this story two years ago (2018) that I started to feel confident in my stories. I first posted this on and I really wasn't excepting people to read my story. It was just something I wanted to try and put out there. Within that first day, people started to favorite and follow my story. I was shocked that there were some people out there that actually liked what I wrote. At first it was really amazing, but at the same time it was terrifying. I had people who read my work and I would have to keep up with their expectations, but that slowly went away as I continued to write. I had fun writing this story and people who do read this story are still reading it because they like it. This would be my first real completed fanfic that I have written. I did write a one-shot before this one, but that is only on . I consider this one more of my first fanfic because it has more depth and wasn't for a challenge between a friend of mine. Anyway, there is a bonus chapter that is all about Taku and his backstory. I have backstories for all my OCs. I apologize for the long author's note, but I said what I thought needed to be said and I wanted to properly thank those of you who read my work so... THANK YOU SO MUCH! Hope to see you in my other stories.

~Zolf

Posted: 11/17/2020