Summary: Last part of the Lady and the Highway Man series. Natsu had been sentenced to death, this was surely the end?

Pairings: Natsu/Lucy. And some general family feels between Fairy Tail, and Lucy and her spirits.

YouTube Prompt: A Natsu/Lucy video to 'What If this Storm Ends?' by Snow Patrol because the lyrics really sound like Natsu's thoughts during/near the end of a crisis especially after the Dragon King Festival.

Natsu was to be hanged.

It doesn't surprise him. He knew the moment he had been captured he would hang. It was the price of being a thief in this world, especially one that stole from the nobility and rich. They had been baying for his blood for years.

He snorted at the last charge. Corruption of a lady? Lucy? Ha! There was no need to corrupt her, he and Lucy had always been in one in everything (apart from her strange need of privacy. They always disagreed on that).

The people came out to watch, either eager to see him die for their Thursday afternoon entertainment, or hoping to see him escape. He ignored them. They weren't important. The people that are important to him would not come to see him.

Not because they don't care or anything. It was their policy! If one is caught they were all to leave them behind. No heroic rescues that could get someone killed. They may be one for all, and all for one, but that one might have to die so everyone else can remain safe, and Natsu really wouldn't have it any other way.

He was just worried about Lucy.

They had been captured together but one of the magistrates recognised her as Lady Lucy Heartfilla, something she tried so hard to leave behind, and took her away from him. He didn't know if she was dead, in a cell waiting for her own execution, or back in that mansion of hers in those weird silk dresses, and far too many jewels to count.

All he knew was she wasn't here, and he really wanted to see her weird face one last time. He wanted her smile. Her eyes shining brightly at him. The feel of her arms around him, the touch of her lips against his, and that one last chance to get her all angry when he groped her breasts.

"I told you, those are not valuable goods!"

"They are to me!"

They put a bag over his head as if that was merciful and then there is a tense, dragged out, moment before they pull the lever.

He chokes against the harsh rope and thinks desperately of Lucy. Her laugh, her red angry face, her smile, how warm she felt, how sweet she smelt even when sweaty, how clever she is, how beautiful, how –

A sword flies underneath and he finds himself dancing on the slippery steel blade. He scrambles desperately dying for a chance to live. Then an arrow pierces through the rope and cuts him down.

The bag is yanked off his head and he looks up startled.

His saviour is in all black, hair (if they have any) hidden away under his hat (he was sure it was his!) mask covering their face, and a black cloak covering everything else, and their supporters were odd. Really odd. Some look rather familiar with their pink hair and huge muscular body.

"FOR THE PEOPLE!"

A ginger man shouted that to everyone's cries and cheers, and the person in black took his hand – he grinned and squeezed it tightly, he knew that hand better than his own. They ran through the crowd, their new friends diverting them, and before he knew it he was on the back of her horse, holding on tight, as they raced out of town being pursued by half the law enforcers this county had to offer. They easily out ride them, they always do, and there was no horse faster than Happy (though Gajeel, the stupid iron freak, would argue Lily was faster).

And then the adrenalin fades and nausea sets in when he realises he is not the one riding but rather a passenger which was a bit like transport and that meant….

"Natsu," Lucy growled, "I swear to God if you vomit on me I will wring your neck."

He laughed weakly at that. "Doesn't that beat the objective of saving me?"

He felt her shrug in reply and nuzzled in closer. "We'll stop soon," she promised him, "as soon as we are out of this county, and then once we are a good half a day's ride, anywhere I cannot care at this point, we'll make camp, and then in the morning we'll search for Fairy Tail."

"I don't know where they went," he confessed, "but they won't be anywhere near here."

"Levy left a message. Laxus decided to go north. They'll be leaving signs everywhere for us. We'll just have to look for them."

Natsu grinned. He knew Fairy Tail wouldn't give up that easily and he can imagine how many might still be tied up having been knocked out by an overprotective Laxus in order to prevent them from doing a 'half baked, suicidal, attempt of a rescue'. Natsu should know. He had been on the receiving end more than once, and always, somehow, the person he intended to rescue escaped on their own means. He had no doubt now despite Laxus' strict policy he always sent someone to rescue the other.

He did wonder how he saved Lucy.

And who the fuck all these random new people were.

"Lucy," he spoke up again," who are these weirdoes? They're not Fairy Tail, are they?"

Lucy blushed. He knew she was blushing because her ears turned pink and her neck was rather flushed as well. He liked that colour on her. "Well…you already know Taurus, sort of, he is our coach driver, and then there is Virgo my maid, Aries my lady in waiting, Aquarius my governess turned lady in waiting, and her husband Scorpio a fighting man in my father's pay, and then there is Capricorn the family butler, Loke the steward, Sagittarius our master of the horse and my archery tutor, and Cancer who had been my father's valet."

"Lucy," Natsu said half amused, half slightly disturbed, "did you just turn your father's entire household against him?"

"They wanted to come!" she protested. "And it made escaping and rescuing you very easy!"

"Luce," he chuckled. "You weirdo,"

"I am not!"

He snuggled into her and tried not to laugh when he felt her stiffen against his grin. She was always so sensitive at her neck. It made everything all the more fun. She babbled as they carried on riding, how they were her friends, how they helped her escape from her father's house, and how they helped her plan his own rescue.

He listened while very slowly tried to take advantage of the fact that his hands were placed on her hips, just a few more inches and….

She slapped his hands away.

"How many times do I have to tell you?!" she barked. "They are not valuable goods!"

He grinned wolfishly at her. "They are to me."

And he got to prove it to her as soon as they made camp (much to her flustered embarrassment and her servants' amusement, horror, and exasperation) and enjoy the fact that they were alive and together. All that he ever wanted in his last moments this morning.

Then in the next morning they rode out on the free road where anything could happen. They had many adventures to come, and they would experience each and every one of them together – hand in hand. And you know what? Natsu wouldn't have it any other way.