31: if a dandelion got lost in the wind.

"...fire occurred at a local news station. The cause of the fire is currently unknown but what we do know is that temperatures in the building before the fire had occurred were freezing. We want to say that the power source was frozen in the blizzard but we are digging into it. There were casualties, both from freezing to death and from the fire. There are also some who are currently in the hospital to recover from the collapse of the building..."

The news on the TV in Gray's penthouse continued to play on low volume.

Natsu was sitting on the couch in the living room with his face in his hands. Anna, who had formed from Lucy's ashes, was currently sleeping in his bed. He was waiting for her to wake up.

Two bowls of ramen were sitting on the coffee table along with a bunch of cans of beer, a stack of Uno cards, and the book Princess Flowers Lucy had made him get. He never gave it to her since the book had completely slipped his mind.

"Wait. I need to put a drama on," Natsu realized, pulling out the remote.

He stared at the buttons as he tried to recall how to get to Netflix. Eventually, he decided to go on guide instead and flipped through the channels. He chose the channel that was playing Forbidden Love.

She'd like this, Natsu thought, placing the remote down on the coffee table.

When the sound of slippers walking down the steps, Natsu quickly stood up and faced the stairs. Don't forget to smile, he reminded himself before painting a smile onto his face.

He was still baffled by the striking resemblance Anna had to Lucy. Her eyes, her body, her lips, everything was the exact same. Natsu was unable to keep the smile on his face and instead was staring at Anna in complete shock.

Anna smiled when she saw Natsu's shocked face. "Long time no see."

Natsu slowly made his way to Anna. "You're Anna, right?"

Anna nodded. "You killed Lucy."

"Of course I did. I had to get you out," Natsu answered.

"Thank you," Anna said, bowing.

Natsu gently took Anna's hand as if she'd fell apart and lead her to the couch.

"I made ramen," he said, sitting down next to her.

Anna looked at a bowl of ramen. "What's ramen?"

"The greatest thing ever!" Natsu cried.

Anna glanced at Natsu before taking one of the bowls and trying the ramen. After trying the ramen, she put the bowl on the table. "It doesn't taste good."

Natsu blinked. "It doesn't?"

"It's unnecessarily spicy and slippery. How can you enjoy something like this?" Anna asked.

Natsu grabbed one of the beers and opened it. Then, he handed it to Anna. "You can wash out the taste."

Anna took the beer and took a sip from it. Immediately, she started coughing and cringing. "What is this!? It's bubbly and bitter!"

"It's beer," Natsu answered.

With a frown, Anna placed the can on the table. "Get me a water."

Natsu quickly ran to the kitchen to fill up a cup of water for Anna. Then, he scurried back to the couch and handed it to Anna.

Lucy loves ramen though. And she drinks alcohol like her life depends on it, Natsu though, glancing at Anna.

"What's this?" Anna asked, pointing at the stack of Uno cards.

"It's a game," Natsu answered.

Anna furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. "A game?"

"I'll show you how to play," Natsu said, shuffling the cards the way Lucy had showed him.

5 minutes later, Natsu had fully explained the rules and they were now playing the game.

Every time Natsu looked up at Anna, he saw that she was bored. She was yawning and a frown was on her face. He looked back at his cards and saw that he had 4 colorful +4 cards. Smirking, he decided to do what Lucy had done to him.

He grabbed the cards and put them down. "Take 36 cards from the pile!"

"Okay," Anna simply said, proceeded to collect 36 cards.

"You're not mad or anything?" Natsu asked.

"It's just a game," Anna said. "What's the point of this game anyway?"

Natsu rubbed the back of his neck. "I told you. Whoever has one card lef-"

"I know, but why are we even playing this?" Anna asked, cutting him off.

"Cuz it's fun," Natsu answered.

Anna put her cards down. "I don't find it fun."

"Oh," Natsu responded, grabbing Anna's cards. He put the cards and his cards in the bigger Uno stack.

"What's this?" Anna asked, pointing at the TV.

"Forbidden Love. It's a drama that's airing. I think you'd like it," Natsu said eagerly.

Anna turned her attention to the TV and decided to see what was so great about the drama. However, by the time the next commercial break came, she was annoyed by it.

"All of their problems would have been solved it they acted mature and acted like adults. Everything was overly complicated," Anna said, crossing her arms.

"Yeah...but that's what makes it fun to watch," Natsu answered.

"I can't stand to watch all of that stupidity," Anna answered.

Natsu frowned. "Oh."

"Is there at least something entertaining here?" Anna asked.

Natsu pointed to the book Princess Flowers that was sitting on the coffee table.

Anna took it and read a page of it. Not even up to a minute later, she closed the book and had a look of absolute disbelief on her face as if she was just offended. "What is this!?"

"A book that's really popular right now. I thought you'd like it since every girl likes it," Natsu answered.

"How can something this vulgar be what's popular right now!?" Anna cried, throwing the book to the side.

"And I went through so much just to buy that book for Lucy..." Natsu mumbled.

Anna heard Natsu. "Ah. I see how it is."

Natsu blinked. "What do you mean?"

"I'm not Lucy," Anna said.

"I know. You're Anna," Natsu said.

"Did you play that Uno game with Lucy?" Anna asked. Natsu nodded.

"Did you drink beer and eat ramen with Lucy?" Anna asked. Natsu nodded again.

"Did you watch dramas with Lucy?" Anna asked. Natsu nodded a third time.

"And you bought that vulgar book for Lucy, correct?" Anna asked.

"Yeah, she wanted to read it so I bought it," Natsu answered.

"You did all of this stuff with Lucy, and I know she enjoyed them. But what made you think that I'd enjoy them too?" Anna asked.

Natsu didn't say anything.

"Is it because I look just like Lucy?" Anna asked.

Natsu sighed. "Maybe?"

Anna didn't look happy. "You got Lucy confused with me because we looked the exact same. Now you're getting me confused with Lucy. Do you have feelings for her? What about your feelings for me?"

Natsu knew what to say but for some reason, he couldn't bring himself to speak it. Whenever he tried, Lucy's last words would play in his mind.

"I hate you..."

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of Lucy's phone ringing. Anna dug into her pockets and pulled out the phone. "Who's Mirajane?"

"One of Lucy's friends," Natsu answered.

Anna simply declined the call. "She's Lucy's friend, not my friend."

"You should answer anyway. She must be worried about Lucy," Natsu said.

"But I'm not Lucy," Anna said.

Natsu was about to say something but he realized she had a point. "You're right."

Mirajane called Lucy's phone a few times. Soon, the rest of the girls did. It got to the point where Anna took the battery out of the phone like it was nothing.

"Problem solved," Anna said, placing the battery and the phone on the coffee table.

Natsu stared at the battery as he imagined Mirajane and the rest of the girls freaking out. If they were watching the news, they would have seen that Lucy's workplace had caught on fire and has collapsed. They're obviously trying to see if she's okay. The fact that Lucy isn't answering would automatically make them think of the worse.

But the worse did happen, Natsu thought, looking at Anna who had stood up and is looking out the window.

"We should do something that the both of us enjoy. Is there a festival being held?" Anna asked.

Natsu took out his phone and searched it up. "Yeah. It's called the Lantern Festival and it will be opening tomorrow. Whoa, tomorrow's New Year's Day?"

Anna turned around and smiled. "We should go there tomorrow. You know how much I love festivals, after all."

Natsu nodded. "Sure."

The minute Anna left the living room and went upstairs, Natsu finally dropped the smile he was forcing himself to hold and opened a beer.

I should be happy. I finally got what I wanted. Anna's here and I sacrificed everything to have her. I even sacrificed Lucy. So why am I not jumping for joy? He wondered, taking a sip of his beer.

Meanwhile, upstairs in Natsu's room, Anna was looking through Lucy's stuff when she noticed a white scarf. She took it and ran her hand on the fabric. "I was making this when I was posing as Layla, but I had lost it when I was done. I'm so lucky it ended up with Lucy..."

She placed it on the bed and searched for a sharp object. She found one of Lucy's earrings and with the sharp part, she pricked her finger and allowed a few drops of blood to fall onto the scarf.

"Sorry, Natsu. The fact that you still keep on thinking about Lucy means that you will betray me. I hope that the effects of this scarf won't be activated," she said softly.

Red decorated the streets of the city and everywhere was crowded. It wasn't as cold as yesterday and snow wasn't falling. Stalls were open and people were going from stall to stall.

"This reminds me of the festivals our village used to throw," Anna said as she and Natsu walked down the streets.

"It does," Natsu agreed.

Anna had them stop walking and she dug into the red shopping bag she brought with her. She pulled out the scarf and showed it to Natsu. "A present from me to you."

Natsu smiled, although he felt like he was trying too hard to make his smile look genuine. "For me? I didn't get anything for you though."

"You brought me back to life despite the odds. That's more than enough," Anna said with a giggle.

She stood on her toes so she could wrap the scarf around Natsu's neck. Once it was secure, she stood back so she could admire the scarf. "It looks good on you!"

Natsu felt the fabric. "And it's soft too."

With a smile on her face, Anna grabbed Natsu's hand and dragged him down the street. "The festival's just started! Let's make the most of it!"

As they explored the festival, Natsu was reminded of the time he went to Tenrou Island with Lucy. He smiled as the memory appeared in his mind.

"What animal is that supposed to be?" He heard Anna ask, snapping him out of his thoughts.

He looked up and saw a stand with a bunch of Plue toys. Lucy said that she likes to think that her mom's spirit is in them...

"Should we get one?" Anna wondered out loud.

"Nah," Natsu answered. Plue is a Lucy thing, not an Anna thing.

"They're quite ugly anyway," Anna said.

"Where else do you want to go?" Natsu asked.

Anna scanned the area they were in. Then, something caught her eye. "Let's get a portrait of us done!"

Natsu nodded and the both of them went to the area where portraits of couples were being painted.

"Make sure you stay still," the painter said as Natsu and Anna sat down on a bench together.

Anna wrapped her arms around Natsu's arm as their portrait was getting painted. Natsu flinched when he felt her on her and he looked down at her.

"You've...never done something like this before," Natsu said.

Anna looked up at him. "I was very modest back then. Now that I have another chance at life, I've decided to do what I want to do."

"Oh, Natsu said responded. This is a good thing, right?

When the portrait was finished, they stood up and took the canvas that their portrait was on.

"Natsu, look! It's so nice!" Anna cried.

Natsu gave Anna a fake smile. "It is."

With Anna clinging onto his arm, it didn't look nice. However, when he told himself that it was Lucy instead of Anna, it suddenly looked nice. Why?

He shook off the feeling and noticed a food stall. "Do you want something from there?" He asked, pointing at the stall.

Anna nodded and handed Natsu Lucy's wallet.

"We've been using Lucy's money!?" Natsu cried.

"Of course we have. I don't see the problem," Anna answered.

It's a huge problem! Natsu thought before calming himself down. "What do you want from the stall?"

"Anything that you're having," Anna answered before sitting down on a nearby bench. "I'll be waiting here."

Natsu nodded and made his way to the stall. As he waited in line, he felt someone behind his tap his shoulder. He turned around to see who did it.

The culprit, Mirajane, was looking dead at him. "So coming here to find you was a good idea after all."

Natsu was hoping that he wouldn't run into Mirajane. "Hi."

"You're walking around freely. That means Gray never got to you," Mirajane said before adding, "Well, he's in the hospital right now and he's in a coma, so I guess that's understandable."

"Yeah..." Natsu responded.

"Where's Lucy?" Mirajane asked.

Natsu nervously gulped. "Lucy?"

"We thought that she was one of the people who died last night, but we looked at the casualty list and saw that she wasn't on it. She's missing actually," Mirajane explained.

"Oh..." Natsu said.

Mirajane noticed the scarf. "So she finally put the scarf on you after we've begged her to."

Natsu touched the scarf. "Lucy?"

"Yeah. I gave it to her," Mirajane answered.

But Anna gave it to me, Natsu thought.

"She's the only one who knows about the scarf, which means she's with you," Mirajane concluded.

"Um..." Natsu trailed off as he debated on whether he should tell Mirajane the truth or not.

"Where's Lucy?" Mirajane asked.

"I know where she is, but she's not with me right now," Natsu answered.

"Really!? Where is she!?" Mirajane asked eagerly.

Natsu glanced at Anna who was looking down at the portrait. Then, he faced Mirajane. "I'll take her to you." I can get Anna to act like Lucy.

"Good. Just so you know, once she's back with us, she's going to break off all contact with you," Mirajane said.

Natsu blinked. "What do you mean?"

"Reason 1: You're END. Reason 2: You killed Erza. Reason 3: You're going to kill Lucy, although we don't know when. To be frank, the girls and I don't ever want reason 3 to actually happen so we're preventing it from happening," Mirajane explained.

"That makes sense," Natsu said, feeling guilty.

Mirajane sighed. "After the lighting of the lanterns, take her to Fairy Hills. The girls and I are throwing a mini New Year's party."

Natsu nodded. "Okay."

Mirajane bowed and left the line. When Natsu turned around, he saw that he was at the front of the line.

What should I do? He wondered as he made his way back to Anna after buying their snacks. Mirajane made a really good point. Why should Lucy even be with me if I'm going to kill her? But the thing is...I've already killed her. Just so I can have Anna back, I killed Lucy.

He stopped walking as he processed his realization. "I killed Lucy so I can have Anna..."

He dropped the snack he had just bought and dug his fingers into his hair. Just so one can live, I killed another. I've killed so many people over the years, all for what? Yes, it's unfortunate that Anna had to die, but to bring her back to life, is it really worth all of those lives? The the fact that she's living out the rest of Lucy's life is just...wrong! Lucy should be laughing with her friends right now! She should be enjoying the New Year! But I just had to be selfish and kill her! If I had never even met her, she'd still be alive...

"Natsu?" Lucy's voice asked.

He snapped out of his thoughts and saw Lucy standing in front of him. "Lucy?"

Lucy frowned. "I'm Anna, not Lucy."

Natsu rubbed his eyes and remembered that it was in fact Anna that was standing in front of him, not Lucy.

"What's wrong?" Anna asked.

"We're going on a boat to light up our lanterns, right? I forgot to buy some motion sickness stuff," Natsu said. It wasn't exactly a lie. He had actually forgotten to get some motion sickness stuff.

"Okay. Let's go and buy some," Anna said.

"Wait here. I'll be back," Natsu said before running off.

Thankfully, Gray's penthouse wasn't far away. Natsu entered the penthouse and took the motion sickness stuff that Lucy had bought for him. He was about to leave when he remembered something.

He went to his room and took out one of the shoe boxes filled with Juvia's love letters to Gray. He dumped out the letters and a glock fell out. It was the very glock that Jacob had used to kill Jude. It was also the very glock that he had used to kill Erza.

He grabbed the glock and, sitting down on the bed, he reloaded the bullets into it. Once the bullets were in, he shoved it into his pockets and left the penthouse.

I will get Lucy back.

When he returned to the festival, he saw that people were decorating lanterns and renting boats so they could fly their lanterns over the lake. Anna noticed Natsu making his way towards her so she waved at him.

"Anything you want to add to our lantern?" Anna asked.

Natsu looked down at the lantern and saw that Anna had written a proverb: A fall in a ditch makes you wiser.

"What does that mean?" He asked.

"You'll make mistakes, but once you've made mistakes, you can learn from them and do better next time," Anna answered before handing Natsu the paintbrush. "You should write one."

Natsu took the brush. "I don't know any proverbs though..." He decided to settle on something simple: Karma's a bitch.

The both of them soon rented a boat and took it out into the lake. Natsu was rowing them away from the other boats and Anna was admiring the lanterns that were already up in the night sky.

"I think this is far enough," Natsu said.

Anna smiled and held their lantern. Natsu lit it up with his magic.

"I can't wait for our beautiful lantern to join the others like stars!" Anna said, clearly excited. She turned around so her back was to Natsu and let the lantern fly away.

I'll make this quick and painless, Natsu thought as he swiftly pulled out his glock and pointed it to the back of Anna's head.

However, before he could pull the trigger, the scarf around his neck suddenly wrapped itself tightly around his neck, suffocating him. He dropped the gun and fell onto the floor. He was gasping for air as he tried to pull the scarf off him.

"My special mission has been completed," Anna said calmly without turning around.

What special mission!? What's up with this scarf!? Natsu frantically thought.

"In exchange for me to come back to life, I have to kill you, and it has to be me specifically. After all, death by the hand of a lover is a perfect punishment for one who killed many because of that lover. So, I made that geumganggo that you're wearing around your neck," Anna explained.

This is a fucking geumganggo!? Natsu thought, fury rising inside of him.

"If you betray me, you'll die. You tried to kill me, therefore betraying the trust I had in you. I never expected you to try to kill me. Was all that time we spent together and all of those lives lost because of me for nothing?" Anna responded.

Natsu tried even harder to pull the scarf off but it wouldn't budge.

Anna finally faced him. She no longer had a pleasant look on her face. Instead, a look of extreme hatred was on. "Because of you, nearly all of humanity was wiped out. Now, all of my descendants are dead just so you can be punished. You have no idea how much I hate you."

Natsu was losing consciousness. If he lost conscious, that means he wouldn't be able to heal himself. That also means that he will actually die.

Anna grabbed the glock that was on the floor and pointed it at him. Her finger was on the trigger as she looked down at Natsu. "This is where everything ends."

Random Fact: When I was younger, my friends and I had joined the vampire craze. Like, we'd take red marker and put two dots on our necks and tell people that we were bitten by vampires, and one of my friends and had a huge My Sister is a Vampire book collection. My Babysitter's a Vampire was OUR shit and we later go into Twilight (I actually hated Twilight and I still do to this day) and The Vampire Diaries. Yo, we even looked up spells online to become a vampire (they obviously didn't work. I still get squeamish whenever I see blood that's not mine)

Wassup!? It's ya gurl sugarsugarrush!

I'm laughing so freaking hard right now! I bet none of y'all was expecting that I'd actually have Natsu burn Lucy alive! I feel a sense of accomplishment!

Reviews:

Amanny- Unfortunately

shrinemaiden05- Ahhhhhhh ikrrrrrr!?

Copperreign12- Awwww thank you so much! And I'm still cringing over that kiss scene though but I'm glad you liked it!

Guys...only 1 chapter left then we're done! Like I said before, there are two endings (I still don't know how I managed to get two endings) so I gotta decide which ending to give

Ima close this! Don't forget to PM me or leave me some reviews! Later, yo!