Hello everyone and welcome to the last chapter of A Fresh Start. It's definitely bittersweet on my end. I first followed this fic as a reader like you, then almost a year ago I decided on a whim, never having written a single thing besides required essays for school, to continue on this beautiful AU. I hope I did it justice. I am incredibly proud of what I have accomplished, and so happy that I could do you all right with an ending to this fic. So please enjoy the rest of this AU. Thank you for being a part of the journey.
All would be well though. What Lucy didn't know was she was in for the surprise of her life…if she said yes.
Stopping in front of the sports facility they all got out of the car, Kade having graduated from a car seat and now in a booster instead, undid his seatbelt while Natsu grabbed all the materials for the game, including Kades' sports gear. They walked in tandem to the indoor soccer field, Natsu's parents, Wendy, Gajeel, and Levy. They all sat in the front row while other parents were sporadically spaced around the bleachers. Lucy found it odd to see the whole family there but thought nothing else of it. Kade loved seeing his grandparents, and after meeting Wendy for the first time last year he fell in love with her kind nature.
Speaking of the little guy himself, Kade spotted them in their usual seat and sprinted towards them. "Grandma! Grandpa!" arms outstretched to them. Both adults squatted down to meet him in a group hug.
"How you doing buddy?" Igneel rumbled, his voice full of warmth and comfort.
"Really good! Daddy said that if I play well, I get a prize at the end!"
"Did he now." Greendeeny piped in. "We're excited to see you play dear. We'll be rooting you on from the sidelines." She placed a kiss to his cheek that caused a laugh to escape Kade.
"Grandma that tickles!"
"Igneel did you hear something?"
"I think I heard something along the lines of 'Grandma more kisses!' or something like that."
"You know what dear I believe I heard that as well." Greendeeny agreed.
Igneel and Greendeeny shared a slight nod, one that was almost undetectable if you weren't giving them your full attention. They stared for half a second before attacking Kade in a flurry of kisses, his cheeks, face, arms, belly, you name it and it was probably covered by the Dragneels. Kades laughter could be heard echoing through the stadium. Natsu and Lucy happily watched their son get pampered by the grandparents. Greendeeny and Igneel took the whole grandparent thing to heart, spoiling Kade as much as possible. They loved him infinitely. That much could be seen by any stranger. Lucy took in the slight, smiling happily while leaning up against Natsu. A happy growl could be felt emanating from Natsu. He did this occasionally, almost like a purr of a cat, but gravilier. She had questioned him about it before, but Natsu always answered that he has always been able to do it, calling her the weirdo for asking such an obvious question.
Natsu slid his hand to rest at her hip, squeezing it gently. Lucy leaned up to kiss at his jaw affectionately. "Kade honey, time to get ready." Lucy called him over.
"Coming Mom!"
Greendeeny stole one last kiss before letting him go. Kade jogged his way over from the bleachers to stop in front of his parents. Smiling broadly Natsu winked down at him causing him to let out a stray giggle before helping set up the field before the rest of the boys came to today's game. Kade throughout the years had grown to enjoy the sport immensely. He had played almost every position besides goalie. Finding that he liked to be on the offensive side the most, Natsu kept this in mind but also didn't want to show favoritism, moved the boys around each game so that way they had a feel of what position they liked most.
Kade was placed as an attacking midfielder this time around, Natsu wanting him to focus more on trying to make good goals rather than forcing one during a game. You only got better if you practiced. Natsu set up the cones and table that would hold two people, one for keeping track of score, and the other to keep track of who made the goals. Finding where everything was to his liking, Natsu gathered the boys once they all showed up. Gathering them in a group huddle, Natsu went over their strategy, assigning everyone's positions and answering any last minute questions. Kade rose his hand last minute.
"Yeah bud?"
"What about the secret surprise?"
"We'll all go out to the field with our stuff. Does everyone know their positions?"
Natsu was met with eager nods. Their eyes shining in adoration for their coach and the wanting to help one of their favorite people. They had practiced this a million times, the parents from both teams wanting to get in on the surprise. Natsu had sent out an email to both the teams and parents respectfully, asking them if they would be okay if he proposed during half time. Natsu explained that this was where they had met each other and found it rather fitting that this would also be the place where he asked if she wanted to spend the rest of her life with him. Everyone had luckily agreed, and Natsu worked out the rest. He then informed his family of the plan that was to go down, Wendy and his mother working out the finer details, elated that he was finally going to ask the question.
Squeals of happiness came from the children when he asked for their help, and soon the day was upon them. Natsu's stomach was tight with nerves, feeling like he was in a car without any nausea pills, he sucked in a breath, went over both plans one more time and then broke the huddle with a team cheer.
Once everyone was in formation the game began. Smiling faces from both teams told that everyone was having fun, the air thick with happiness and competitive spirit. With the score almost tied the other team winning by 2 points the air horn was used to issue halftime. The kids all got water before making their way back to Natsu. Giving a nod to Igneel, the plan was set in motion. Lucy, sitting next to Wendy and Levy, was too distracted to notice Igneel waking his way over to a large speaker set. Bringing a microphone along with him for his son.
Natsu took a steadying breath, overlooking the kids one last time before making his way to the center of the field. Igneel gave him a pat on the back, murmuring that he was proud of him and walked back up to the bleachers joining Greendeeny.
Natsu turned on the mic and cleared his throat, happy there was no feedback. And began. "Excuse me everyone." he waved his hand, a shy smile on his face. When he gathered everyone's attention, including a confused looking Lucy he began again. "Hi, yes. Hello everyone. It's nice to see ya out here! Hope you all are having a great time. I know the kids an' I are! I know usually halftimes are usually quiet, but this time it's going to be a little different. There has been a certain something on my mind for a while now, and I felt that this was the right time to get it off my chest. Please bear with me as words aren't my strong suit."
"Got that right Flamebrain." Gajeel said from the stands. Earning a laugh from the crowd.
"Thank you for that. Anyways, before I was so rudely interrupted. I know that most of you know that I have a girlfriend, one of the most beautiful people I have ever met in both looks and heart. She's the reason why I'm still here giving it my all. And I just wanted everyone to know how special she is to me." Natsu locked eyes with Lucy, her cheeks a brilliant red, brown eyes open wide in surprise. "Lucy I want you to know how much you mean to me, you are the first thing I think about in the morning, and the last thing I think about before I close my eyes. The past three years have been the happiest of my life, raising Kade with you has been a dream. One I'm terrified of waking up from. So if you wouldn't mind," Natsu gave a jerk of his head to the kids, each following suit in a specific order before coming in front of Natsu with a large paper almost the size of their body from neck to feet. They revealed the message a moment later.
"Lucy, will you marry me?"
With Kade holding the question mark smile broad and shining.
Lucy got up from the bleachers, tears lining her eyes and a hand covering her mouth. She made her way towards him, only mere inches away before Natsu took another breath and said, never taking his eyes off of her.
"Would you want to make this dream a reality. Because I know that we've had our ups and downs, but Lucy I'm never as happy as I am with you. No matter the day, I promise you I will treat every day with you and Kade as if it were our last. Lucy Heartfillia," Natsu got down one one knee, presenting her a black velvet box that when he opened showed a silver ring with a dazzling oval cut sapphire surrounded by smaller diamonds. Simple and elegant just like Lucy. "Will you marry me?"
Lucy stood there, tears silently falling down her cheeks, before nodding. "Yes. Yes of course!" Her voice wobbled." Natsu instantly got off one knee, picked her up and spun her around, mindful of the kids around. Cheers could be heard around them. Whoops and hollers but they both didn't hear it. Natsu placed a kiss that would leave anyone breathless to her lips, trying and failing not to smile, Lucy an exact mirror to the kiss before muttering on his lips, "Took you long enough." Natsu looked at her then and dipped her down low, Lucy instinctively wrapped her arms around his neck pulling him in close.
"Wanted to make sure you were Dragneel material." A dazzling smile etched into his face that couldn't be wiped away no matter how hard he tried.
Lucy let out a belly deep laugh, that was silenced by Natsu's lips. When Natsu brought her back up from such a spellbinding kiss, he slid the ring onto her finger. A perfect fit.
Lucy gave him a short kiss before a certain little boy made his appearance. "What did you think mom? Was it a good surprise?"
Lucy looked at both her boys, heart full of love for them both, almost to the point where it hurt and then said to them both. "It was the best surprise."
Lucy brought them both in for a crushing hug, one they both eagerly returned before thinking to herself. This was the happiest moment of her life, everything that she had to endure, all led up to these precious moments. If she could go back in time to tell her past self anything, it would only be that she just needed a fresh start.
A/N: Wow I didn't think it was this hard to end a fic, but man. It's hard. You have no idea how long I've waited for this chapter particularly but I have loved writing for all of you. Hope to write more in the future, so keep your eyes open when I post again. I am taking very heavy classes this semester, but will write in my spare time. Again it was a pleasure sharing my story with you. Hope you all have a wonderful rest of your weekend!
Thank you to all those that reviewed my fic,Copperreign12, Ushindi, rao hyuga 18, Nalusniper, MaraDragneel3113. Thank you guys so much. Your reviews made me really happy to see in my inbox each time I went to check.
Goodbye all!