Epilogue: An invaluable experience.

The light hit Natsu harshly as he struggled to stand upright. The view that greeted him was Gray standing victorious and Hakune lying there exhausted, disbelief written all over her face. When she saw Natsu break through as well she gasped.

"How did you break out?! You were well in sync with the dream. I used a lot of power to restrain you!", her voice was reduced to mumbling towards the end.

"I have my brother to thank for that. Too bad you can't even face him in terms of power.", Natsu replied with pride.

"What made you want to break out, fire brains?", Gray asked

Natsu looked at him before saying, "Saving and cherishing the closed ones who are by my side presently seemed much more important than living in a dream with people who are long gone. All of those sacrifices everyone made during the war were rendered meaningless in that world. Those experiences were what made us what we are today. I can't just disregard all that and stay in that dream. Besides, that wasn't real. I can't make it real. But I can at least try making part of it real..."

Natsu looks around and spots the one he was referring to. Lucy seemed to have won against that other underling. She laid there, exhausted, yet she managed to smile at Natsu. Natsu was relieved to see her. He was about to rush to her side when the thoughts of what happened in the dream rushed back to him. He felt extremely guilty and couldn't face her.

Just then, there was a loud rumbling and there emerged countless 'hands' from the ground.

Natsu sighed in disappointment Not the right time afterall.

The gang, reunited and reorganized, were ready to go on to the next stage of the 100-year quest. He glanced at Lucy who was currently being held up by Gray.

I'll get her… no matter what, I will.

Author's notes:

Thank you very much for reading this fic.

I originally intended for this to be one shot… but I guess this is okay too.

Thank you so much for your love and support.

I hope you enjoyed reading my work.

Love,

Sivame12