Hello, everyone !

I'm back with a brand new fic !

I had this idea while I was napping and I decided to work on it together with 'The Princess and The Dragon Knight'. This one wouldn't be a long one, so I'm guessing it'll be completed at the same time as 'The Princess and The Dragon Knight' or maybe even earlier than the former XD.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy reading this one :D

Disclaimer: Fairy Tail characters belong to Hiro Mashima

When you heard the term of 'Death Angel', what kind of angel did you have in mind? Maybe an angel with black wings? Or perhaps not even an angel, but a skeleton covered in black cloak with its signature scythe? No matter which version you chose, I'm pretty sure the image wasn't something pleasant.

In all honesty, death angels are not that scary. On the contrary, they are pretty much like your average image of an angel. Tall, pretty face, dressed in white only, and have a pair of big wings. Here's the difference, though. Unlike regular angels who possess white wings, death angels have their own colors. The colors' difference doesn't symbolize anything, it just differentiates them from regular angels. However, you cannot decide which color you want for your wings. The process is automatic. You automatically have a pair of colored wings, color that matches to your aura from the moment you existed.

There are a few types of angels in the Heaven. The first type are those regular angels with their white wings. They are tasked to accompany souls in the Heaven. The second type are messenger angels with their small white wings. They can fly as fast as the light, reaching their specific recipients in a matter of a split second. They can only deliver the messages through dreams, though. So, you will never see a high-speed angel flying across the sky while you are awake even if you have a sixth sense.

The third type are death angels with their wings painted in their own signature colors. Their job is to 'pick up' souls that are scheduled to return to God. Some people who have a sensitivity better than others could see their 'respective' death angel, a few days before their soul being picked up. Death angels receive the list of the picked-up souls every week. The amount of the souls depend on how long the death angel has been working and how good he is.

He?

Yes, he.

All death angels are male in gender, unlike messenger angels nor regular angels that also have angels who are female in gender. Since female is more empathetical than male—which can hinder their work when they pick up souls—God decided to make all death angels as males. Now imagine your soul is being picked up by a handsome male with a certain-colored-wings. Pretty nice, huh?

There are still other types of angels, but I won't go into details. Because the story I'm about to tell you concerns a particular death angel. A death angel who violated a taboo for the sake of the one he loves.

Natsu was his name. He was one of the goofiest death angels in the Heaven. His wings were bright red, showing a specific contrast with his white robe. His pink hair also accentuated the contrast. He was practically identified by other angels from hundreds of meters away.

He might be a goofy and a playful death angel, but he was also one of the best. He picked up souls right on time without a second of delay and he had an unbreakable record of 'No Stray Souls'. Stray souls referred to souls who refused to be picked up by a death angel and instead opting to roam on Earth. It was their respective death angel's duty to coax them to return to the Heaven. Because every soul will be reborn when they return to the Heaven.

Natsu had this particular ability to convince people to trust him and that was how he never had any stray souls. His record could only be shared by his number one best-friend-slash-rival: Gray. Just like Natsu, Gray could also be identified from hundreds of meters away because his dark blue wings and hair looked so stood out compared to his white robe.

And today, Natsu was heading to the headquarters to receive his new weekly list.

"Hello, Natsu." Mirajane, the list handler greeted.

"Hey, Mira." Natsu grinned back. "Where's my new list?"

"I have it right here." Mirajane passed a stack of papers to Natsu. "You have less souls to be picked up this week than last week."

"Why?" Natsu raised an eyebrow. "I'm pretty sure I did everything great as usual."

Mirajane chuckled. "Of course you did! Nothing to worry, it's just there are a bit lesser soul this week, that's all."

Natsu nodded nonchalantly. "Alright then, I better start to get to work."

"Work hard, Natsu!" Mirajane cheered.

Natsu grinned back and flew back as he opened his new list. It had been a habit of his to check who would he pick up every week. The human that occupied the first page meant he or she would be the first soul to pick up. Natsu read each soul's biodata carefully as he flew towards the portal that would send him to the human world.

"Hmm…" Natsu lightly nodded to himself.

Just then, he reached the end of his list for this week and his movement stopped. Natsu also suddenly stopped flying and floated mid-air instead as he looked at the last soul he was supposed to pick up.

It was a girl.

Well, nothing's strange with that. Natsu had picked up lots of girls' souls in his entire career. There wasn't anything strange about picking up a girl's soul, but there was something strange about this particular one.

Her name was Lucy Heartfilia.

She was 16 years old this year in humans' calendar. There wasn't anything strange about her name nor age—Natsu knew each and every human had their own lifespan, it wasn't weird for him to pick up souls who died young—but there was something about her face… Her blond hair, her fair skin, her brown eyes, and her smile…

She was breathtakingly beautiful.

Who says only humans could be mesmerized by the angels? The likewise is also true. And for Natsu, this human girl called Lucy was so beautiful.

"Hmm…" Natsu's mouth curved upwards a bit. He closed the list and hid it beneath his white robe, then resumed back to his flying. He flew as fast as he could towards the portal, as if he couldn't wait to descend to the human world.

She was very ill, a patient with late-stage Leukemia or was more commonly known as blood cancer. But even though her days were numbered, she wasn't sad at all. At least, Natsu didn't see her being any sad during these past five days of watching her from afar.

The cherry blossom tree that was located right across Lucy's hospital ward's room was Natsu's new favorite place for the past few days. He spent his days sitting on the highest branch to watch over Lucy, then flew off when it was the time to pick up souls, then returned to that branch and watch over her again. Lucy was pale—much paler than her photo on his list—but she radiated warmth.

Every day, she would spend her days playing with other children in the hospital or playing the piano to entertain other patients. She never stayed in her room being cooped up and had always managed to find something to do. The only thing that gave away her illness was her pale face and really thin body.

As an angel, Natsu was gifted with enhanced senses. His eyes could see much farther than any human possibly could, his ear could hear even the slightest noise, his nose could smell even the faintest scent, his tongue could even taste the air, and he was sensitive to even the slightest breeze.

One thing Natsu realized from his five days of watching Lucy was that she was so different from any other girls he had ever met—angels included. The air tasted sweet whenever she was around, and the breeze felt so good. Her blond hair was shining bright although its color was getting duller, especially when she was under the sunlight. Her smell was sweet and comforting, a mix of vanilla and cinnamon. And her laugh… God, her laugh! It sounded so clear like a bell, so comforting and addicting.

Her entire presence completely calmed Natsu down.

He didn't even know a human could have this kind of effect to angels. If there was a perfect human created by God, Natsu wouldn't hesitate to say that Lucy was that human. Natsu had never watched over a human so intensely like this before, he was being too drawn to Lucy.

Not that it was a problem actually. God bestowed feelings to all of His creations, which means the angels could feel love as well. Falling in love with a human isn't a taboo in the Heaven as well, although no angels have been known to have that kind of feelings up to this day. When an angel fell in love with a human, God will give him or her two choices. First, to relinquish his or her status as an angel and descended to the human world as a plain human, allowing the former angel to live and grow old with the one he or she loves. Second, to stay as an angel but bear the consequences of seeing the human leaves first due to their limited age.

Just then, the souls' list hummed from beneath of Natsu's robe, alarming Natsu that it was time for him to pick up the souls for today. Natsu's focus snapped back and he stood up. He gave a final look at Lucy who was reading some stories to the children this time, then spread his wings and flew away.

Watching Lucy had never been boring, but now he has a job to do. He shall watch over her again once he was back.

The sun had gotten really low when Natsu arrived back at his usual spot on the branch and Lucy was asleep. Natsu smiled to himself and flew closer. He then closed his eyes when he arrived right in front of the closed window, willing himself to dematerialize and passed through. One second later, Natsu was inside of Lucy's room already.

The room was just like her. Warm but cozy, and full of her scent. Natsu took a deep breath, inhaling the smell he had grown addicted to. He then looked at the sleeping Lucy for a while in smiles, before passing through the closed window once more and flew back to his usual branch. Lucy turned her body to one side, her back was facing the window and she opened her eyes slowly.

That angel came again.

Lucy was aware of Natsu's presence around her since five days ago and she knew the end of her days was coming. It was sort of an instinct that told her that he was the death angel supposed to pick up her soul when her end comes. Ever since then, Lucy would always unconsciously drifted her eyes to look for the angel's presence. It wasn't hard considering he had beautiful red wings.

She also knew that the angel had made that particular cherry blossom's branch as his favorite spot whenever he came to watch her. Sometimes he would fly away—Lucy guessed that he was probably had to pick up other souls—and then returned to that branch again to resume his gaze on her. Sometimes he would pass through her closed window and lingered there for a moment when she was asleep. Since seeing him from day one up to this day, Lucy kept wondering whether it was a usual occasion for a death angel to watch over a human like that or not. Not that she was complaining, the death angel's presence mysteriously calmed her down.

Lucy had always been a quite frail child since she was born. When she was diagnosed of having a late-stage cancer, honestly, she was devastated. She was only 12 years old back then and since then, she had been battling against the illness for four years. She went through all of those excruciating chemotherapy sessions, gritting her teeth through the indescribable pain that suddenly shot through her entire body, and basically doing everything she could to get better and to stay alive.

Her parents and family kept hoping she could be cured, but Lucy knew she wouldn't be able to beat her illness. It wasn't like she gave up in fighting, she just… knew. She had had that feeling from some time ago, but she didn't say anything because she didn't want to worry her parents. It was thanks to that knowledge that Lucy decided to do everything she wanted, so she wouldn't bring her regrets with her when she returned to the Heaven. Even when she was finally left with no choice but to stay at the hospital, Lucy still didn't waste her time sobbing over her numbered days and did her best to spend her days in happiness. It was also because of that knowledge that she could calmly accept the death angel's presence around her.

Now that she thinks about it… Do death angels have a name? If they have, what is the name of that particular death angel? She was quite curious to know…

Done !

Man, I love this couple way too much XD While writing a fic, another idea for another fic popped out instead *LOL*

Anyway, what do you think about this chapter ?

Don't forget to leave your reviews and/or flames :D