32: still living in a fairy tale.

The lanterns were lighting up the nighttime sky to bring in the New Year. It was a romantic, maybe even magical. However, it was the complete opposite for Natsu and Anna. Their boat was far away from the others so nobody saw that Natsu was getting suffocated by a scarf and that Anna had a gun pointed at him.

Natsu grabbed Anna's leg with a shaking hand. Anna noticed. "Begging won't make me spare your life."

If I go down, you're going down with me! Natsu thought as he set her leg on fire.

In panic, Anna dropped the gun and tried to put out the fire. "What are you doing to me!?"

She put her leg over the boat so the flames would go out. Then, Natsu grabbed her other leg and the flames quickly traveled up her body.

"You forget that I can swim!" Anna cried as she proceeded to jump overboard.

Natsu quickly grabbed the gun and shot her in the back of the head just as she jumped off.

The scarf finally stopped suffocating him so he took it off in a hurry. Coughing, he crawled over to the edge of the boat and saw that Anna's body was sinking. Blood was rising up, making a little red patch in the lake.

He sat back in the boat as he tried to catch his breath. She's dead, right? Of course she's dead. She's obviously dead. After everything, I just killed her like that. No, it's a good thing. Now I can get Lucy back.

Suddenly he passed out. Everything became black.

When Natsu opened his eyes, ha quickly judged from the tall white pillars that he was in the Underworld. Realizing he was laying down on the marble floor, he helped himself up and faced forward.

There was a calm looking Zeref sitting on his throne. He was resting his cheek on one of his fists and his other arm was holding a book, specifically one of the Books of Zeref where all of the demons he's ever created eventually end up.

"Brother," Natsu said.

"Brother," Zeref said.

Natsu pointed at the Book of Zeref. "Am I supposed to go in there?"

"If everything had gone according to plan, yep," Zeref explained.

"And the plan was Anna killing me, right?" Natsu carefully asked.

"Yep. You'll end up here dead and depressed. I'll put you in one of the Books of Zeref where you'll become my servant for all eternity," Zeref explained before studying Natsu from the high thrown he was sitting on. "But you're perfectly alive and fine. Anna is dead and she's in the Underworld again."

"Since Anna's in the Underworld, shouldn't Lucy come back to life?" Natsu asked.

Zeref rose an eyebrow, a sign that he wants Natsu to explain his reasoning.

"I don't get what's going on but what I do get is that Irene put Anna inside of Lucy, just like how she put Igneel inside of me. If Lucy's dead, Anna is free and lives out the rest of Lucy's life. So, I did some thinking for once. What happens if Anna, the one who's supposed to continue living as Lucy, is dead? Wouldn't Lucy come back and live out her life?" Natsu explained.

"You must have done some intense thinking. Did it hurt?" Zeref mocked.

Natsu rolled his eyes. "How come Ignia knows anyway?"

"After Lucy found out the truth herself, I decided to have Ignia tell you everything so I told him to tell you after I explained things to him," Zeref answered.

"So Lucy knows too..." Natsu responded.

"She knows a lot more than you do. You know, Anna killed her mother and took her mother's place. Then, her father killed Anna," Zeref casually said.

Natsu remembered Lucy telling him the story of when her dad killed her mom. Turns out it was Anna that he killed. Still, it made Natsu feel bad that Anna killed Lucy's mom and caused chaos in their family. "...all so Anna can come back to life...I don't deserve to see Lucy..."

"So you're starting to see that everything was your fault?" Zeref asked.

"If I wasn't so hellbent on getting Anna back, Lucy would still be alive, her parents would still be alive, most of the human population would still be alive, and her friend Erza would still be alive!" Natsu cried.

"Oh yeah. That Erza girl, she's Irene's daughter," Zeref said.

Natsu blinked. "How would that work?"

"Irene made it sound complicated when she was explaining it but it doesn't matter. Mother and daughter have been reunited and Erza is currently learning her mother's ways to become a Spriggan 12 with her. So, I guess you did do something good out of all of this," Zeref explained.

Natsu sighed. "Okay, that's nice, I guess, but still. Just because of one person, I went crazy. I've learned a lesson, so can you bring Lucy back to life?"

"Look at you asking me to bring someone back to life again. Seems that you haven't learned a lesson after all," Zeref said.

"Uggg, I'm tired of these games that you like to play! Just fucking bring Lucy back to life! She still has to live her life out!" Natsu demanded, suddenly getting annoyed. "And no funny business! Let her live, and that's it! No hidden plans! No freaky Belserion magic! No catches! No nothing!"

Zeref laughed. "You've been through so much."

"Is there a special thing you need to to do!? Alright, I'll fucking do it! Just let Lucy live and leave her alone! Why's that so hard!?" Natsu cried.

Zeref stared at his fuming little brother for a while. "I'll help you remove your demon half."

Natsu blinked. "What? That sounds like a reward instead of a punishment."

"This is a punishment," Zeref said.

"How?" Natsu asked.

"Once your demon half is removed, the heavenly realm will have the power to punish you however they want. And you know how harsh their punishments are," Zeref answered.

Natsu was about to object but he closed his mouth. He's definitely pissed off the heavenly realm. And compared to Zeref, they come up with the best punishments. At least they don't play around with their victims, unlike Zeref.

"I wonder what punishment they'll give you?" Zeref wondered out loud. There was a large smile on his face that would give anyone the chills.

"If you knew how to get rid of my demon half, how come you didn't do it this whole entire time?" Natsu asked.

"It was different back then," Zeref simply answered.

Natsu sighed. "Okay. Whatever. What do I need to do?"

"It might take centuries to complete. Then you end up getting punished by the heavenly realm. You sure you want to do this?" Zeref asked.

"Anything for Lucy to come back and for nothing bad happen to her," Natsu answered. "Remember. No games."

"For a god to become a demon, they need to have killed a lot of humans. So, for a demon who was once a god to become a god again, all they have to do is to somewhat do the opposite," Zeref said.

"The opposite?" Natsu asked.

"I said somewhat the opposite. Humans will still get sent to the Underworld, but the way of how would be different. You'll be like a grim reaper. The human will die and you will help the ghost of the human to deal with their grudges. Once the grudges are dealt with, Bloodman will take them to the Underworld," Zeref explains.

"How will that help me get rid of my demon half?" Natsu asked.

"You're doing a god's work," Zeref explained.

Natsu sighed, "Fine."

"Oh yeah. You'll still be able to see Lucy, but she won't be able to latch onto your lifeforce. You also can't take her to the heavenly realm since you're still not allowed there. It would suck seeing her living her life and going through the phases of life while you, in the meantime, can't go through them with her," Zeref said.

"I'm not even planning on meeting her. I don't have that right," Natsu said in a small voice.

"The world will move on without you and you won't be part of that world. This process seems like a punishment already. Do you still want to go through it?" Zeref asked.

"Of course I do," Natsu answered before asking another thing. "If I said no, what would you do?"

"I'll send both you and Lucy to the human realm and work on a plan for Lucy to kill you. Then, you'll be dead and absolutely depressed and I can put you in one of my Books of Zeref. I'll even play around with Lucy's life," Zeref answered.

Natsu clenched his fists as anger flared up inside of him. "Don't touch her!"

"Then work your ass off to earn points back into the heavenly realm," Zeref said.

"Bring Lucy back first, then I'll gladly do it," Natsu demanded.

"Done," Zeref said, snapping his fingers.

When Natsu opened his eyes, he found himself laying on the floor of the boat. He sat up and saw Lucy sitting on the boat and looking up at the lanterns.

That's Lucy...right? He wondered.

Lucy looked away from the lanterns and sent Natsu an intense look.

"A-Are you mad at me?" Natsu slowly asked.

"Mad is an understatement," Lucy answered.

"What's the last thing you remember?" Natsu asked.

"You burning me alive on that roof," Lucy answered.

This is Lucy! He thought as he pulled her into a hug.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" He kept on whispering over and over as he broke down.

Lucy was unsure on how to responded. Angry that Natsu had actually killed her for Anna? Happy that Natsu is showing that he cares about her instead of Anna? Sad that Natsu is crying over her instead of over Anna?

"I know that sorry won't cut it, and I'm not expecting you to forgive me. In fact, don't forgive me. Because of me, so many things went wrong. Yo, I even fucking killed you! I was so selfish, I only cared about myself. I didn't think about how anyone else would feel, especially you," Natsu said through his tears.

Lucy was about to say, "yeah, that was a pretty dick move of you to kill people left and right just because of a girl," but she decided against it. Instead, she rubbed Natsu's back in reassurance.

They stayed that way until no more lanterns were released into the sky. They rowed back to the shore and began walking to Gray's penthouse.

Lucy shoved her hands into the pockets of her jacket as she judged her outfit. This outfit is ugly. I definitely didn't choose it. Was it Anna? Damn, she has no sense of style!

She glanced over at Natsu who hasn't said anything since they were on the boat. The last thing he told her was that he'll help her move her stuff from Gray's penthouse and back into Fairy Hills.

When they arrived at Gray's penthouse, Lucy noticed the book Princess Flowers slipping out from under the couch. She smiled and picked up the book. "You actually bought it."

"Yeah," Natsu simply answered as he went upstairs.

Lucy smiled as she sat down so she can read the first page of the book. Her smile grew wider as she continued to read. Erza and Levy were right! This book really is a masterpiece!

Natsu returned with bags of Lucy's things. "We should take your car," he said.

Lucy quickly closed the book and stood up. "Yeah, we should."

A few minutes later, all of Lucy's stuff were in her car and she had even changed out outfit.

"Make sure you drive safely," Natsu told her.

"Sure, but you're not coming with me?" Lucy asked.

Natsu shook his head.

Lucy frowned. "Why?"

"Cuz I'm saying goodbye," Natsu answered.

"Wait, but why?" Lucy asked

"It's not right if I'm with you. Besides, I'm working to get back into the heavenly realm so I can properly get punished for my crimes," Natsu answered.

Lucy grabbed Natsu's arm. "I'm still mad at you, but I'm be even more mad if you just leave."

"Lucy, I have to," Natsu said, removing Lucy's hand off of his arm.

"I know you don't want to," Lucy said.

"Does it matter whether I want to or not?" Natsu asked.

"But I don't want you to leave," Lucy answered.

"Why, after everything, do you not want me to leave?" Natsu asked.

Lucy hid her hands behind her back and looked down at her feet. "I'm in like like with you."

Natsu blinked. "Like like?"

"You're so loyal, and you're willing to do anything for whoever you care about, even if your methods aren't the best. You've realized you fucked up and now you're taking responsibility for your actions. Many people aren't like that and they'd usually find someone to blame their misfortune on. I know I won't find anyone else like you and I'm so happy I met you," Lucy bashfully explained, digging one of her heels into the ground.

When did I even start getting feelings for you? Natsu wondered as he stared at Lucy.

Lucy looked up. "If you stay, we can make things work."

"But if I stay, Zeref won't leave you're life alone," Natsu said.

"So?" Lucy asked.

"When we went to Mavis' grave, you prayed for good things to happen and to continue happening. How can good things come to you when I'm with you? Me leaving is the best thing that will ever happen to you," Natsu answered.

Lucy grabbed his hand and held it tight. "Will you come back?"

"No," Natsu answered, looking away.

Lucy squeezed tighter. "Not even to see how I'm doing?"

"All I want is for you to be happy. You'll be happy when I'm gone," Natsu answered.

Lucy shook her head. "I won't be happy when you're gone."

"It'll hurt, but you'll get over it. You have a lot of life to live," Natsu reassured her.

"Natsu," a familiar voice said.

They turned in the direction of where the voice was coming from and saw Erza standing there with her arms crossed.

Lucy's eyes grew wide. "E-Erza!"

She let go of Natsu's hand and hugged Erza. "Are you a ghost!? But how come I can touch you? Does it matter!? Erza!"

Erza chuckled. "I'm still dead, but I'm not a ghost."

"How are you here?" Lucy asked.

"I'm a Spriggan 12 member. Well, we're not 12 anymore since Natsu killed a lot of them. I'm here to tell Natsu that time is up," Erza answered.

Lucy broke the hug and looked at Natsu. "So you're actually leaving?"

Natsu gave Lucy a fake smile in order to cheer her up. "Gotta earn points into the heavenly realm so I can be punished. Might take centuries. But it's all good!"

The smile only made Lucy's mood worse.

"Lucy, tell the girls I say hi," Erza said.

"You could go and see them yourself, you know," Lucy said.

"I could...but my job is to make sure Natsu is doing his tasks right now. If I take my eye off of him, who knows what he'd do?" Erza explained.

"Does he really have to go?" Lucy asked.

Erza nodded. "Yes."

Lucy looked away. "Fine."

Erza faced Natsu. "Don't think that I've forgiven you for killing me!"

"Understandable. At least you're not like Lucy who still wants me around even after I've killed her," Natsu said.

Suddenly, Lucy grew annoyed. "Natsu!"

Natsu laughed. "But I'm right!"

Lucy found herself laughing. "I guess you do have a point."

She's laughing. Now I can leave knowing that she'll be okay, Natsu thought. He turned to Erza. "Let's go."

Lucy watched as Natsu and Erza poofed away in a cloud of smoke. She stopped laughing and stared at the spot where the both of them were standing. Tears started to silently run down her face. "I'll miss you..."

Season change. Time moves on.

A whole year after the events from the year before, Natsu was currently sitting at an outdoor bar as he impatiently waited for a ghost couple to stop arguing over the amount of money their children should get.

"My biological children should get the money, not your children from your affair!"

"They're still my children, even the ones I had with Becky!"

"That fucking Becky with the good hair! Fuck her and her kids!"

"Man, I wish I divorced you while we were alive!"

Natsu groaned. "Are y'all done!?"

"No!" The couple yelled before they continued their argument.

Natsu was about to lash out on them but he stopped himself. Remember. I'm earning points back into heaven. I'm earning points back into heaven...

Erza entered the bar and noticed the couple arguing. She shook her head and pulled up a chair so she could sit next to Natsu. "How are things going?"

Natsu sighed and dug his head into his hands. "They just never stop!"

"Would you like to continue dealing with issues like this, or would you like a promotion?" Erza asked.

Natsu looked up. "Promotion?"

"The heavenly realm is offering to promote anyone if..." Erza trailed off and looked at the arguing couple. "Actually, you're good at what you're doing. You should continue."

"No! Tell me about the promotion!" Natsu cried.

Erza glared at Natsu. "How dare you talk to me like that!? Do you want to die!?"

Natsu shrunk. "No, ma'am. I apologize for my actions."

Erza cleared her throat. "The spirit Ophiuchus, known unofficially as the 13th Zodiac, has somehow came out of the spirit realm and is causing misfortune everywhere. So, whoever captures Ophiuchus gets a promotion. In your case, you'll be allowed back into the heavenly realm."

"What!? No way!" Natsu cried, standing up.

"I'm serious," Erza said.

"Wait. Gajeel and the others must be onto Ophiuchus, right?" Natsu asked.

"Yep, so it's best if you start hunting Ophiuchus down immediately," Erza answered.

"Yes! Definitely!" Natsu cried, jumping up and down.

"Ophiuchus is hard to handle as they don't have an exact form and they operate in the shadows. They also possess the bodies of other humans and feed off of their negative thoughts, causing humans to commit evil deeds. It would be easier if you worked with a Celestial wizard since they can control the spirits. I'm pretty sure the heavenly realm would award the Celestial wizard for their help in dealing with Ophiuchus," Erza added.

"But where can I find a Celestial wizard..." Natsu trailed off when he remembered that Lucy is a Celestial wizard. Would it be okay if I worked with her?

"Zeref won't do anything to Lucy since you're still earning points into heaven," Erza told him, aware of what he was thinking.

"You sure?" Natsu asked.

"Of course I am. Besides, you two can spend time with each other before you become a dragon god again and get punished," Erza answered.

"Would it be okay?" Natsu asked.

"I'm giving you my blessing! Just make sure that you two get Ophiuchus first!" Erza cried.

Natsu smiled but he quickly hid it from Erza. "Okay. Whatever."

"Okay. That's nice. Get out of my sight," Erza said.

Natsu bowed before he ran out of the bar. I haven't seen Lucy in a year! I wonder what she's up to? What do we talk about? Would things be awkward between us?

He stopped walking and dug his fingers into his hair. Fuck! Things would be awkward! What do I do to make things not awkward!?

He shook his head and continued his journey to Fairy Hills. If I just tell her about the mission, things won't be awkward! Yeah! Things work out!

Suddenly, he was pushed into the alleyway by an unknown figure. He tried to stand up but the figure tackled him to the ground.

"Yo! What the fuck!?" Natsu yelled, fighting with the figure. When he got a good look as to who it was, he saw that it was Gajeel.

"Ha! You think I'm gonna let you try to get Ophiuchus with Lucy's help!? You're funny! I'm in the process of trying to get Levy to convince Lucy into helping me!" Gajeel cried.

"Levy's mad at you so she's not talking to you," Natsu guessed.

"Fuck, how did you know!?" Gajeel cried, letting go of Natsu.

"Doesn't matter! I need the promotion more!" Natsu cried.

"Does it look like I care!?" Gajeel cried.

The both of them glared at each other for a few seconds before they crossed their arms and looked away from each other.

"We have a few common enemies. Wendy's friends with Lucy so she would get Lucy to help. Then, Sting and Rogue have Yukino," Gajeel grumbled.

"So you're saying we should work together to get Lucy on our side?" Natsu asked.

"Yeah," Gajeel answered.

"Fine," Natsu decided before facing Gajeel. "This is the first time in a year that I'm meeting you and you up and attacked me!"

"Oops, it's not my fault that you have a punchable face!" Gajeel yelled.

"Why are they always like this...?" They heard Levy grumble from the entrance of the alley.

They turned around and saw Levy standing there with Lucy.

"Levy! Are you talking to me now!?" Gajeel asked.

Levy looked around the plays. "Y'all hear something?"

"I'm right here!" Gajeel cried.

"Lalalala!" Levy cried, walking away with her hands covering her ears.

"Levy!" Gajeel cried, running after her.

Natsu and Lucy were left alone with each other.

She's changed, Natsu thought as he inspected her.

Her hair in the past was wavy, but her current hair had some wavy curls and it even looked longer. It would usually be put in a high ponytail but this time, it was in a low ponytail. Other than that, there were no other dramatic changes to her. Usually, she's wear stylish outfits that were mostly skirts and high heels. However, this time she was still wearing a stylish outfit but she had on sweatpants and sneakers. Natsu deducted that she's out to run a quick errand.

"Hi," Lucy said, breaking the silence that had formed between them.

"Uh..." Natsu trailed off. He suddenly forgot how to talk.

"Last time we talked, you left me alone in the cold," Lucy said, walking closer to him.

Natsu started panicking. "Shit, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done tha-"

Lucy snorted. "I'm just messing with you."

She was soon standing right in front of him. She looked down and played with her fingers. "I thought I'd never see you again."

"Same," Natsu answered.

Lucy looked up at him. Then, she lightly punched him. "Did you know I tried going on a few blind dates but I kept on comparing every guy I met with to you?"

"You did?" Natsu asked.

"Yeah," Lucy answered, crossing her arms.

Natsu suddenly felt a sense of pride. Lucy noticed and smiled.

"Did you ever finish that book I got you?" Natsu asked.

"I read it 5 times," Lucy answered.

Natsu blinked. "Whoa."

Lucy grabbed Natsu's hand and smiled up at him. "I don't know how long you can stay, but we have a whole year of things to catch up on."

Natsu squeezed Lucy's hand as they walked out of the alley. "Did that Lyon guy's movie ever come out?"

"Yeah. It was really good. Gray saw it with Juvia and she said he cried," Lucy answered.

"Gray's not dead?" Natsu asked.

"He's perfectly alive. Despite getting discharged from the hospital 6 months ago, he's still the same Gray. Well, I guess some things about him changed. He's actually giving Juvia a chance," Lucy answered.

"What else happened while I was gone?" Natsu asked.

Lucy started to fill him in on everything. As she did, a tear fell from her eye. Natsu stopped walking and quickly wiped it away. "What's wrong!? Are you okay!?"

One tear soon turned into many tears as Lucy sobbed. "I just missed you so fucking much! I though I'd never get to see you again! Man, I used to never be this soft, what's wrong with me!?" She tried to laugh through her sobs as she wiped her tears away.

Natsu hugged her. "I missed you too." I know that I won't get to stay with you for long, but I'll make sure I enjoy the time I have with you. Maybe, if I'm lucky, I might get to spend even more time with you.

Random Fact: This is the very first story that I've finished! It feels soooooooooo rewarding! Casually playing All Of My Love by Charlie Wilson featuring Smokey Robinson as I happily wrap up the ending!

Wassup!? It's ya gurl sugarsugarrush!

Ugggggg I gotta go back and edit for spelling and grammar (I actually suck at grammar so this would be interesting to see)! I'm also thinking about adding some bonus chapters but I haven't decided on what the topics for the bonus chapters would be yet

Reviews:

Amanny- Yep, it's messed up! And Natsu's finally realized that he's wrong! I decided to give them the merge of the happy and sad ending!

shrinemaiden05- Lol that Twilight craze was...I don't have words to explain it! And here I was thinking I did something big lol

Copperreign12- Man, speaking of karma, I got some beef with that bitch karma! Ugggg! Yep, Natsu's learned that he messed up! And you're right about Anna! Natsu kinda fits in that "you've lost the best thing you've ever had" category but thankfully, he's realized it

Looking through all of these chapters, things turned out completely different than what I had plan, but in a good way. The original ending, aka the ending before it got split into two endings for some reason, was too Disney and I didn't really like it. It also felt unrealistic, especially considering everything Natsu, Lucy, and the others have been through. One of the two endings I had was Natsu and Lucy dying and the both of them getting an ending Chinese xianxia dramas get. That was the "happy ending." Then the other ending was that Lucy does come back but she loses her memories and Natsu is tasked with basically being a ghost buster. That was the "sad ending." I'm satisfied with the current ending

If y'all got a Wattpad account, follow me! My name is Cakemellows! I'm not really active on there but I'm slowly starting to be! I even have a story on there called Linked so check that one out (avoid my other two stories since I'm planning on rewriting them)! Remember, Linked by Cakemellows!

I had more that I wanted to say but I can't remember what...

Time to close this, and hopefully I'll be back with the bonus chapters! Don't forget to PM me or leave me some reviews! Later, yo!