Summary: Based on the Avatar: The Last Airbender series 3 episode nine. Natsu is stressed about the fact defeating Zeref dependant on him and is now having horrible nightmares. The rest of the guild struggle with Natsu's insanity.

Pairings: Natsu/Lucy, implied brotherly Zeref/Natsu….sort of, implied Gajeel/Levy, implied Gray/Juvia, Happy/Natsu/Lucy friendship, Elfman/Evergreen, and lots and lots of general friendship feels.

YouTube Prompt: Fairy Tail tribute to 'If Today Was Your Last Day' by Nickleback.

"It's all on you, Natsu," Laxus said in a deadly serious tone, "you have to make that final blow at the right time or the whole world is screwed."

Natsu gulped at the thought. He had been under pressure to save the world before, hell he usually flourished under it and did amazing things, but this one was different. This was truly life or death not just for him, or for his team, or even just for his guild, but for the whole freaking, damn, world, every man, woman, and child was depending on him doing this right in the planned battle in four fucking days' time….

He was so going to fuck this up without a doubt.

"Well on that cheerful note," Cana said sarcastically, "Goodnight!"

"Yes," Erza agreed solemnly, "we shall need all the rest we can get. It is time to turn in before I start us all on our new training regime tomorrow morning."

Most of the guild whimpered at the thought. Erza was a harsh taskmaster when she wanted to do something normal or fun…..she was pure evil when it came to training for something as important as saving the world.

Somehow despite the fact that everyone knew they were going to have the fight of their lives, the ultimate fight, the fight where they will all die or save the world, they all went instantly asleep.

Even Lucy who usually worried about everything had already started to mumble the odd sleepy word as she inched a little closer to Natsu (as she always did in her sleep).

And that left Natsu laying there staring at the stars with big, wide, horrified eyes….

Natsu kicked the door open.

There he stood, flaming with brilliant magic, while wearing one of the coolest ninja outfits from one of Lisanna's favourite mangas. "The day of your tyranny is over!" he bellowed. He pointed upwards towards the gigantic version of Zeref who lounged in a pit of dark purple fire as he titled his head back to swallow equally huge grapes. "Prepare to be defeated by the wrath of a Fire Dragon Slayer!"

"Really, little brother?" the giant, grape eating, Zeref purred. "And how do you propose to do that without your pants?"

It was then when Natsu realised there was a strange breeze round his legs and he quickly ducked down to see that he was missing his trousers which allowed his black boxers with little flames on (a gag gift from one of the girls) to be seen by the whole world.

It was then when all of these eyes appeared and started to stare at him, and then there was a giggle that sounded suspiciously like Lucy, and then –

Natsu woke up with a start.

His heart was pounding like crazy and he felt unnaturally hot and sticky as sweat poured down from his forehead and yet at the same time he felt clammy and cold with fear. "Damnit, you icy bastard!" he muttered darkly. "You infected me with your stripping habit!"

He laid there for what felt like forever as he tried to get his heart back under control (a difficult feat as Lucy had rolled over and started using his chest as pillow while one of her soft hands rested on his stomach) and return to the land of nod, and hopefully have a better dream, when he found himself staring up at the stars, terrified, anxious, and antsy as hell.

He needed to fucking punch something.

He needed to train.

He needed to be ready.

There was no way in hell he was ready to save the world and defeat the ultimate evil, who just happened to be his brother, you know just to make it all the worse, he still had so much to learn, so much to do, so much –

ARGH!

Unable to cope anymore Natsu rolled Lucy off of him harshly, jumped up, and marched right up to Gray before he punched the snowy, sleepy, lazy fuck, in the eye…..hard.

"OUCH!" Gray screamed as he clutched his eye. He rolled over, moaned like a baby, and almost went back to sleep when Natsu gave him a firm kick in the ribs. "WHAT THE FUCK NATSU?!" Gray bellowed as he shot up. "CAN'T YOU SEE SOME OF US ARE TRYING TO SLEEP?"

"Not," Gajeel growled dangerously from the other side of the camp, "anymore. Thanks to a certain screaming snowflake."

At this point everyone else had begun to wake up. Some moaned and merely went back to sleep, others were rubbing their eyes and staring at each other blearily, and the rest were preparing to murder Natsu and Gray for being unable to sleep through one night without trying to kill each other and disturbing everyone else's rest.

"Natsu," Happy groaned as he rubbed his eyes, "what are you doing? Go back to sleep."

"Yeah, you violent nutter," Gray snapped, "go back to sleep and leave me alone."

"It's time to train," Natsu declared as he grabbed Gray by the hair. Gray squealed, snarled, and instantly punched Natsu hard in the stomach. It seemed to have no effect as Natsu started to drag Gray across the campsite and towards the forest. "Come on! Come at me!" he challenged Gray and all the others. "Give me your best shot! I'll defeat you all with my hand tied behind my back."

"Urgh," Gajeel growled, "I'm too tired for this shit, beat up the snowflake instead," and with that he flopped back onto his mat, grabbed Levy as if she was his teddy bear (she didn't seem to mind, she instantly snuggled into his bulky arm and sighed blissfully), and started to snore.

Everyone else seemed to have followed Gajeel's lead (even Gray as Juvia had managed to pry Natsu's hands off of him before she hid him under her sleeping bag) apart from one person.

"Well then," Erza cracked her knuckles, "if Natsu wants to train then I shall train him." She then summoned a hundred swords and aimed them all at Natsu. "Dodge all of these and I might just let you eat tomorrow."

"EEK!"

Everyone tried to block out Natsu's screams with their pillows apart from a very smug Laxus who just turned his music up louder.

God he loved his headphones.

FTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFT

Even though Natsu had been nearly murdered by Erza, he had immediately dragged Gray away from breakfast and forced him to fight instead, and when that was finally finished the bloodied, incredibly bruised, Natsu attacked BOTH Gajeel and Laxus which resulted with him almost dying if it hadn't been for Wendy's healing abilities.

Despite all of this, Natsu still leaped up onto his feat, screamed; "IT'S NOT ENOUGH!" and then proceeded to start punching a tree over and over again.

Happy and Lucy stood there with wide-eyed worry. "Lucy?" Happy said hesitatingly.

"Yes, Happy?"

"Natsu is going crazy," Happy said slowly, "isn't he?"

"No, no," Lucy bit her lip nervously as she lied, "he's just a little stressed. I'm sure he'll be fine after some sleep."

"DIE YOU LEAFY BASTARD, DIE!"

"Okay," Lucy corrected herself, "a lot of sleep."

And with that, Natsu trained all day to the point he virtually crawled to his sleeping mat as he was too exhausted to move. Despite this, he really didn't want to sleep, and found himself prolonging it as long as possible….by saying good night.

"Good night Lucy."

"Good night Natsu."

"Good night Happy."

"Good night Natsu."

"Good night Gray."

"Fuck you! OUCH!"

"Good night Erza."

"Be nice, Gray! And good night, Natsu. Sleep well."

"Good night Wendy."

"Good night Natsu."

"God night Charle."

"Good night Natsu."

"Good night Juvia."

"Good night Natsu-san."

"Good night Gajeel."

"Whatever."

"Good night Lily."

"Good night Natsu."

"Good night Lisanna."

"Good night Natsu."

"Good night Mira."

"Good night Natsu."

"Good night Elfman."

"Have a MANLY sleep!"

"Good night-"

At this point a lot of people had lost their patience with Natsu. "GO TO SLEEP ALREADY!" Laxus, Gajeel, Gray, Lucy, Erza, Evergreen, and Laki all screamed.

"Fine, just being polite! Sheesh!" Natsu grumbled as he rolled over and tried to snuggle into sleeping mat. "Last time I'll ever be nice to you lot again," he added as his eyes fluttered shut and instantly he fell asleep.

Natsu kicked the door down.

He was once again dressed as one of Lisanna's favourite manga characters, he could never remember which one it was, only this time he had a sleeveless jacket similar to his one-sleeved on, and his scarf wrapped round so high that his mouth was covered. The outfit was complete with a series of chains wrapped round his body tightly.

He clicked his fingers and smoke poured into the room which he glided upon before he leaped into an offensive stance and glared up at the gigantic version of Zeref.

"Your days of tyranny are over!" he declared passionately. "Prepared to have your arse kicked by me!" his eyes flicked down before he then smirked up at Zeref. And this time I'm wearing pants! I've checked."

His chains were tightly padlocked over his white combats.

"Yes, I can see that," Zeref said quietly, and then a soft smirk appeared, "but are you ready for your mathematics test?"

Natsu's eyes popped open at that. "MATHS TEST?!" He squawked. "Since when did fighting involves maths?!"

"It'll take more than brawn and magical power to defeat me," Zeref sneered, "now, then what is thirteen times nine?"

"Err…."

Natsu's heat raced as he realised there was nothing in his head, he could feel a wind howl through his mind as if there was no brain in there, and a little drool rolled down his chin as he tried to desperately solve it.

"I don't know!" he barked. "Fifty four?!"

Zeref looked down at him as if he was an idiot. "You always were terrible with your numbers, little brother," he murmured dangerously. "How disappointing. You're still not ready to defeat me and now your friends will have to die."

"Damnit Natsu!" Gray cursed as Zeref suddenly plucked him out of nowhere and dangled him upside down as he lifted the wriggling, naked, ice mage to his mouth. "Would it have killed ya to pay attention to Erza every once in a while?!"

Natsu couldn't answer as he watched in horror as Gray was held just over Zeref's giant mouth and those sharp, pearly white, teeth slowly moved down to bite-

"I'VE GOT TO TRAIN SOME MORE!"

Everyone around Natsu suddenly woke up with a start. Lucy squealed as Natsu had thrown her off as he leaped up and burst into flames. She rolled down the slight hill and landed on top of Wendy, who was mortified at the sudden sight of breasts in her face.

"Urgh," Gray groaned into his pillow, "Natsu," he moaned childishly, "go back to sleep."

"Yes," Erza breathed as she snuggled into her teddy bear, "sleep."

"WE DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THAT!" Natsu roared, and everyone whimpered and sobbed as they were dragged further and further away from their dreams. "WE'RE STILL NOT READY. WE NEED TO WORK ON EVERYTHING! SOMEONE QUIZ ME ON HISTORY!"

"…"

Everyone stared at Natsu with an unimpressed or bewildered look mingled with exhaustion and tiredness. They already had to deal with his stupidity this morning, could they not sleep now?!

"Natsu," Lucy said beseechingly, "please, for us" she gestured to everyone else and stared up at Natsu with wide, pleading, eyes, "go to sleep."

For a moment it looked like Natsu would relent but then his jaw seemed firmly set as he patted Lucy's head. "I am doing this for you," he told her, "I'm training so I can be strong enough to protect all of you. Now come on!" he yelled at the others. "Let's get moving, someone quiz me on my time tables."

Everyone sweat-dropped at that while Laxus fixed Natsu with a cool glare. "Go and get some fucking sleep," he growled, "or I'll have Ever turn you into a bra stand."

For a moment the threat seemed to have worked as Natsu bent his knees as if he was about to sit back down on the ground…..and then he suddenly leaped up in the air and kicked Laxus, hard, in the face.

Unsurprisingly, Laxus punched Natsu back in the nose for that one.

It was a long, drawn out, fight, that ended with Laxus, Erza, and Gajeel ALL having to knock Natsu out so everyone could finally go back to sleep….

Damnit, where's Gildarts when they actually need him?

FTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFT

Natsu laid there in the grass, it was cool and damp against his skin, as was the breeze that blew against his hair, but he only sighed blissfully in response. Finally feeling at peace with the world….

A footstep could be heard.

"Wake up, sleepy head," a soft but deadly voice could be heard, "wake up. It's late. You've missed it," Natsu tenses at those words and his eyes shot open to reveal Zeref standing over him, a dark, twisted, smirk on his face. "You missed the battle."

Natsu gasped as the sky was on fire, screams could be heard, and blood splattered everywhere.

"You're too late now," Zeref told him triumphantly, "they're all dead."

And he was right.

Gray and Juvia could be seen not so far, empty shells of what they were, hands reached out towards one another, the Strauss siblings were drenched in each other's blood, Gajeel was impaled by his own iron, Happy laid there twitching ever so slightly, his wings torn from him, and….and….and…

And the very worst, Lucy, who at first appeared to be sleeping but as Natsu reached out for her it had become apparent she was lifeless. Her skin a sickly grey white, her eyes empty and dull, and her body so very still as no life thumped within her anymore.

"I had her preserved especially," Zeref said sweetly, "just for you."

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!" Natsu screamed as he shot up. Immediately Erza shot up to throw a dagger at him, Gray blasted some ice, Gajeel chucked his bag of scrap metal, and Laxus flung a bolt of lightning (and everyone else merely grumbled and plotted to get Natsu back if it was the last thing they did), which Natsu managed to dodge completely as he swept up Lucy and shook her hard by the shoulders. "WAKE UP!" he bellowed in her face. "WAKE UP! WAKE UP! WAKE UP! WAKE UP!" Lucy groaned and glowered at Natsu through her eyelashes, she opened her mouth to scold him but Natsu cut her off; "WHAT DAY IS IT?!" he roared. "WHAT DAY IS IT?! DID WE MISS IT? HAVE WE LOST?!"

"Will you fucking relax already?!" Gajeel growled. "We still have two days before the battle."

"Two days," Natsu repeated numbly, "two days," he slumped in relief and took a deep breath.

"Yes, Natsu," Lucy reached out to pat his back comfortingly, "so we have plenty of time to rest, and-"

"Lucy!" Natsu interrupted loudly causing the blonde to flinch. He immediately jerked his arm away and pointed to a nearby clifftop. "Climb that cliff!"

"What?!"

"In one of my dreams we had to escape through mountain climbing," Natsu explained hurriedly, "you were too damn slow and useless that they caught hold of you and…and….and…." he finished off in a shudder.

"Natsu," Lucy's face softened once more (she had been almost ready to Lucy Kick him when he said 'damn slow and useless'), she reached out and pulled him into a comforting and loving hug. "It's going to be okay," she murmured against his neck, "we have each other's backs. No one is going to let anything to happen to anyone else. I promise."

Natsu breathed deeply into Lucy's hair and tightened his hold on her, several people smirked at the sight, Happy prepared to start teasing his partners as soon as possible, while others immediately rolled back to try and get another few minutes sleep before Natsu's latest freak out.

"DON'T DRINK THAT!" Natsu screamed.

Too late.

Natsu tore himself away from Lucy and stalked right across the campsite towards Levy before he ripped her water flask out of her hands and chucked it over into the ocean.

"W-w-why did you do that?!" Levy spluttered indignantly. "Was it poisoned or something?"

"No, why would anyone poison you?" Natsu looked at her as if she was a moron. "It's just in one of my dreams you needed to go to the bathroom while we were all being chased by Zeref's demonic army. We all died because of your ridiculously tiny bladder!"

Levy stared at Natsu, unimpressed, before she turned to Gajeel. "Aren't you going to say something to him?" she demanded, further infuriated by the lack of defence.

"What?" Gajeel shrugged. "He has a point. Your bladder is ridiculously tiny."

"Hmm…" Levy pressed her lips together tightly and turned her back on Gajeel. Not that he cared, he was too busy cracking his knuckles, and hunting down something to eat.

"And all of you!" Natsu gestured to the girls, Freed, and Gajeel, "Wear your hair up, in one of my dreams you all get it trapped in something and that allowed Zeref's insane cult to behead all of you."

"…"

Several people were no longer hungry for breakfast now.

"You two!" Natsu pointed at the Connells. "Sort your guns out, in my dream you didn't take good care of them and they jammed in a crucial moment, leaving us all to be slaughtered." Both Bisca and Alzack looked offended at the suggestion that they didn't do maintenance on their guns. It was tempting to shoot Natsu just to show how they worked perfectly due to their good care. "Juvia!" Natsu flew into Juvia's face, making her stumble back. Gray snarled wordlessly at that. "Get the fuck over Gray! You were too busy mooning at him that you let everyone else die and then got shot yourself!" Juvia's eyes welled up with tears but she didn't argue with that. "And you!" Natsu whirled round and pointed at Gray. "Padlock your fucking clothes on. You were so busy stripping like a pervert in my dreams that Erza tripped over your boxers and was quickly impaled by the enemy."

"Oh aye," Cana smirked, "is little Natsu-Chan having perverted, symbolic, dreams about Gray and Erza?"

Gray looked nauseated, Erza fingered her katana, and Natsu turned to stare at Cana in a flat, unimpressed, manner. "And you, Cana," Natsu said coolly, "need to stop drinking your Daddy Issues away. You were so pissed in my dream that you were no help at all."

"Okay," Cana growled as she dropped her whiskey bottle, "that's it!" she pounded a fist into the palm of her hand. "Knock 'em out Erza."

"That's not going to help!" Levy snapped irritably. She had lectured the others for a good part of the night as to why knocking Natsu out had been such a terrible thing in the first place. "He's going to need to actually sleep," she stressed, "if we knock him out, his body and brain will be too focused on healing to actually rest."

"I can't sleep!" Natsu snapped. "I'm too fired up. I need to fight someone. I need to prepare for the battle. I need-"

"To stop stressing out," Mira said softly, "and actually relax, and get some sleep. You won't be any good if you're tired.

"I know," Natsu said miserably, "but I can't stop being so stressed out!"

"Well duh," Bickslow rolled his eyes, "You're fighting Zeref. The biggest, most evil, and most powerful, and deadliest, mage out there. If you don't do it right we're all so screw-"

"BICKSLOW!" Lisanna shrieked as she yanked his helmet down. It clanged horribly and the armoured mage squealed as his head pounded against the metal. "You're not helping!"

"Look," Levy pinched the bridge of her nose, "it's simple, all we need to do is help Natsu get de-stressed. Then he can finally relax and get some sleep, and then we can all sleep, and then all our troubles will be over."

"Apart from the all-powerful, fucking evil, never been defeated-"

"BICKSLOW WILLYOU JUST SHUT UP?! YOU'RE NOT HELPING!"

FTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFT

Throughout the day everyone in the guild tried to do something to help Natsu calm down and relax.

Nothing worked.

And they mean nothing.

Lucy tried first with meditation which was always going to be a lost cause because….welll….it was Natsu they were talking about. He could never just sit there and relax. However everything was made worse as his mind was filled with horrific visions and he leaped up, panicked, and punched the passing by Max, hard.

Juvia took over with something similar only in water and a lot more movement. It ended with Juvia just as panicked as Natsu and an unimpressed Gray had to sooth her.

Elfman then took over and tried to give Natsu a MANLY aromatherapy bath but as Elfman waved too much lavender oil under Natsu's nose while making said bath, the fire dragon slayer sneezed, and immediately set Evergreen's hair on fire.

While it was nice for everyone else to have Natsu as a silent, still, statue, both Lucy and Levy insisted it wasn't good for Natsu's health and regrettably, they had to let Evergreen turn him back to normal.

That was when Wendy took over with deep breathing exercises….and ended up causing a panic attack as Natsu managed to convince himself that he couldn't breathe.

It took Gajeel punching him and then dragging him across the grass, half concussed, to knock some sense back into him, and then Gajeel tried to have him relax by making music.

It did not end well.

At all.

Gajeel was left to sob over the remains of his beautiful guitar while Natsu decided to finish his training by attacking a helpless tree.

This was when Happy, prepped by half the guild and all the psychology books Levy happened to have in her possession, put on a fake beard, made Natsu rest against a stump, and tried to talk his feelings out.

Happy thought it had been rather successful, he got Natsu to admit he was terrified of failing, that he didn't want to lose Lucy, and that it had been him who ate the last of Happy's fish nine years ago and not the monster under the sink.

Erza, who took in the sight of Natsu rocking back and forth as he clutched a sheep to his chest, disagreed, and decided it was her turn to help Natsu.

Unfortunately her idea of a soothing massage might have broken a rib or two, she pounded him so hard against the makeshift table.

She then tried acupuncture but Natsu took one look at the million needles she had hovering round her and fled right across the island.

Eventually everyone just gave up and as the stars started to come out for another night, they all fell onto their mats, drained, exhausted, and desperate for sleep.

All apart from Natsu who laid there, wide-eyed, and frazzled. Too frightened to go to sleep in case he had anymore –

"Zzzzzzz," Natsu snored, "Pfft!" he snorted before he rolled round. "Zzzz…zzzz….Luce…..Zzz…"

The sky rained with fire and blood as it flashed with lighting and thunder. Natsu stood, frozen with horror, as he watched Igneel fall to the ground.

A strange flash and he was floating in some yellow liquid and beyond the weird shell he could see Zeref's dark eyes piercing into him.

Then all of his friends flashed before him, in various states of being perilously injured until suddenly the flickering and flashing stopped and Lucy, blood dripping from her mouth as she gargled his name and reached out for him, only to fall away into nothingness before he could take her hand.

"I did promise you great tragedy."

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!"

Natsu shot up awake and screamed until he was unable to. Unlike the last few times no one shouted at him for waking up. Instead most of them moaned and whimpered before they rolled over and ignored him. "Christ," Gajeel grumbled, "I'm too tired for this shit, one of you deal with him."

And instantly he went back to sleep.

"Natsu," Lucy said blearily as she reached out for him. He snatched her hand before she could touch him and pulled her close, as she nuzzled her hair. She smelt alive, she felt warm, and he could hear her heart beat, and yet it wasn't enough. For all he knows this could be another dream. "Natsu," Lucy repeated, "talk to me. Tell me what the problem is. Perhaps I can help-"

"The nightmares just keep getting worse and worse," Natsu moaned, "I keep seeing the most horrible things."

"I'll go and put my beard on," Happy said, "we can give him some therapy and-"

"No that won't help!" Natsu yelped. "Nothing helps! I just can't rest until the battle is over. Every time I do I keep having these horrible dreams, it's obvious that I cannot relax because I am nowhere near ready to defeat Zeref, and I need to spend all my time training." He stood up, took a deep breathe, and then shot a determined look at the forest. "I'm just going to have to stay awake right through the battle."

"Natsu!" Levy protested. "That's not healthy at all!"

"I don't care," Natsu spat out, "I'll do what I have to do to keep my mind sane for the battle."

The remaining members that were still awake took one look at Natsu who had deep shadows under his eyes, which had a crazed look in them and glittered insanely, the shaking of his shoulders, and the fake, wobbly, insane, grin on his face, and all shuddered.

"Well then," Gray said uncomfortably, "we're fucked."

FTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFT

After what Natsu bet was a lot of arguing and voting, Lucy was the one that got nominated to speak with Natsu.

He had been in the middle of making one fire attack after another, burning the air around him, when he suddenly heard footsteps behind him and almost kicked her in the face with a flaming foot.

Thankfully she ducked in time so he only just singed the top of her hair. If it had been worse and he burned her face he would never hear the end of it and would have definitely been Lucy Kicked.

"Lucy!" he yelped. "Didn't anyone tell you to not sneak up on a dragon?"

"No," Lucy grinned, "but I've been told to never poke a sleeping dragon."

Natsu scrunched his face up in confusion. "Why would you want to do that, you weirdo?" he asked bewilderedly.

"I….never mind," Lucy shook her head, "Natsu…..you look dreadful," Lucy said bluntly, "are you sure you can't lie down?" she asked in a persuasive voice that made Natsu consider saying yes. He could easily imagine lying down on the soft, green, grass, with the sun shining on him, and the feel of Lucy lying beside him, and he would turn to see her smile and - "Just shut your eyes for a few seconds?" Lucy continued, "Maybe take a little nap?"

The fantasy vanished as Natsu saw the horrific prospect of his nightmares returning. "No," Natsu said quickly, though a yawn betrayed him, "I told you," he asserted stubbornly, "I can't go to sleep until after the battle."

"Natsu," Lucy nibbled her lip worryingly, "I'm concerned for you, after all staying up all night cannot be good for you, and you want to do it for another night?"

"Actually staying up all night has been really good for me!" Natsu said brightly. He grinned sweetly at Lucy but she didn't look as if she believed him. "No seriously!" he carried on, "it has given me some time to think and I realised some big things, Luce."

Lucy blinked and eyed him curiously. "What big things?" she asked.

"I see things really clearly now. All the big and important things. Why I'm doing this," he placed his hands on her shoulders and looked at her directly in the eye. "I'm doing it to save the world but more than that, I'm doing it for the people I love. I'm doing it for you, Lucy."

"Natsu," Lucy said breathlessly as she blushed, "what are you saying?"

"I'm saying that I love you."

And then he kissed her. It was light, brief, and made his stomach do somersaults and a few flips in celebration before he pulled away and grinned at her.

She beamed back, her cheeks pink, and her eyes bright with joy. "What are we doing?" Lucy whispered ecstatically.

"What our hearts have been telling us to do for a very, very, very long time," Natsu declared as he pulled Lucy closer to him, so that her body was pressed up against his, and could feel everything she does to him, "Baby," he purred, "you're my forever girl."

And then he suddenly swung her down into one arm, so her back rested against it, her hair spilled over it, and she stared up at him with wide-eyed shock.

"Natsu!" she squawked indignantly.

But she cupped his cheek and stared at him adoringly, and accepted his kiss as he leant down and brushed his lips against hers. He pressed his lips harder and more firmly, and then before he knew it their kiss turned passionate and open as he tried to steal the air from her lungs and replace it with his own….

Meanwhile some of the boys were taking a much deserved break from their training and were watching Natsu with a disgusted, morbid, fascination. Laxus had been wandering past when he froze, turned, took a few steps back, and blinked repeatedly. "What the hell is he doing?" he demanded to know.

"I don't know…." Gray said slowly as he helped himself to some berries, "but it creeps me out."

They stood there for a moment in silence as they watched Natsu make fish faces and sucking noses, it wasn't until Natsu moved his hand up and groped…..well nothing, that they cottoned on to what he was actually doing.

"Ah Jeeze, Natsu," Gray grimaced as he squawked loudly enough, "have you gotten so desperate that you decided to make out with thin air?!"

Natsu's eyes shot open and he suddenly turned white and then bright red as he realised whatever he had been dreaming about hadn't been real. "W-w-where's Lucy?" he stuttered. "Did she leave?"

"Lucy?" Bickslow repeated. "She was never here mate."

"You've been by yourself all morning Natsu-Nii," Romeo informed him, "….well, apart from when we started to watch you."

"Oh God," Natsu moaned as he pulled at his hair, "are you saying everything I just did wasn't real?!"

"Gihihihihihihihihihi."

"You were making weird fishy faces," Happy said, "what were you trying to do? Scare Lucy?"

"While it's probably not his intention," Gray smirked, "I suspect that would be the result."

Instead of screaming at Gray, like Natsu usually would do, and then punching him, like Natsu always does without provocation, the Dragon Slayer blinked sleepily at Gray and frowned in confusion. "Psst, talking tree," he whispered to Freed, "why has Gray got a dancing mushroom growing on his head?"

"Natsu," Freed sweat-dropped worriedly, "I really think you should take a nap."

Freed's advice was promptly ignored as Natsu decided to attack a boulder and break it to bits but this really didn't surprise Freed…sensible advice was always ignored in Fairy Tail.

FTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFT

Natsu had become increasingly aware that he was slowly going insane.

After all, Plue never spoke normal words before, and after finishing his conversation explaining to the cute, little, snowman why hearing Plue speak meant Natsu was insane, Natsu looked up to see Lucy and Levy staring at him in wide-eyed concern.

It got worse as the day dragged on.

Soon enough it had reached its peak as Natsu was unable to look at anything. The ground spun beneath him, the sky looked as if it was about to fall in before it bounced back, the rocks were moving round him like snakes, the sheep were cheering and chanting as they jeered Happy and Plue on for what looked like a samurai fight, , the guild members were all looking weird, and doing strange things, like Laxus seemed to be doing ballet, and Erza's face was melting away, and Mira and Lisanna turned into one person, and it looked like Elfman and Evergreen were making out behind a bush too!

"Natsu," Lucy cried out worriedly as she reached out for him, "Natsu," her body glowed gold and he could see really weird tattoos move under her skin as if they were snakes too. "You don't look very well, I think you ought to-"

And suddenly Loke, Taurus, and Capricorn all burst out of her pocket, dressed as can-can girls as they wrapped their arms round one another and danced. They kicked their legs so hard in the air that their skirts flew back to reveal that they weren't wearing any underwear….

"ARGH!" Natsu screamed, disgusted and horrified, it was then when everything vanished and it was just Lucy standing before him, blinking in confusion. "I JUST NEED TO JUMP INTO A COLD WATERFALL!"

And with that he ran away from all the horrific hallucinations (Elfman and Evergreen were still making out) and dived into the cold, refreshing, water for a very much needed wake up call.

"Christ," Gajeel muttered disgustedly, "we didn't need to know that."

"He didn't meant that!" Lucy snapped. "Get your head out of the gutter!"

"Yes, Gajeel," Elfman agreed as he stumbled out of the forest, "it is unmanly to think of dirty things."

"Right," Gajeel snorted, "you do know it can be considered unmanly to make out with a girl under a bush as well?"

"I-I-I-What do you mean?!" Elfman flushed indignantly. "I did no such thing!"

Gajeel and Lucy took in Elfman's dishevelled state which included several twigs and leaves stuck in his hair, and then they looked over to Evergreen who was trying to sneak away, her blouse buttons done up wrong, even more twigs and leaves tangled in her hair, and several scratches from the bush on the back of her legs. "Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight," they both drawled sarcastically.

"Guys," Happy interrupted them before Elfman could bluster an answer, "we really need to help Natsu I just saw him hugging and crying on a tree thinking it was Igneel, he really, really, really need to sleep," Happy said worriedly, "if he doesn't get any sleep, he's going to lose it before we even fight Zeref."

"Think you're a little too late on that one," Lily observed, "and we already tried. Nothing worked."

"We just have to entice him," Happy said stubbornly, "I bet if we had Lucy's bed, the best bed in the world, Natsu would go to sleep right away!"

At this an idea formed in Gajeel's, Elfman's, and Lily's head as they all suddenly turned to look at Lucy. "What?" she blinked at them. "What is it? Have I got something on my face?"

"Gihihihihihi."

FTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFTFT

It had become cold and foggy and misty, and Natsu felt like a zombie as he wandered round the island in an attempt to keep himself awake. The cold, apparently, helps people stay awake but his body temperature was running too high for that to be effective, it was why the cold waterfall did virtually nothing and he continued to hallucinate about cheering sheep for the rest of the afternoon.

Now, it appeared he was having a different hallucination altogether as he drank in the sight of something pink, and fluffy, and smelt like stardust and something extra special. "Oh great," he sighed heavily, "another hallucination. A bed made of pink clouds…" he took a big sniff and smiled just a tiny bit at the lovely, but probably fake, scent, "and smells like Lucy."

"Hey!" Gray barked irritated. Natsu jumped and was surprised to find the entire guild standing behind him. "It's real, you dingbat," Gray continued, "We spent all day making it!"

"It was hardly all day," Lucy rolled her eyes, "and you didn't do anything I did all the hard work."

"Don't you mean Aries did all the hard work?" Happy pointed out. "You just summoned her and then rolled all over it…..and we had to bribe you to do that."

"It was weird!" Lucy protested. "And a little creepy!"

"Yes," Happy agreed, "but that's because you are weird and a little creepy."

"Look guys," Natsu interrupted before Lucy screamed at Happy, "It's really nice of you but I'm fine," he stressed, "I don't need any sleep, I'm perfectly healthy and in good shape," he held up his fists and moved into an offensive stance, "Go on, try it out," he encouraged them, "Hit me!"

"Okay," Gajeel smirked as he cracked his knuckles, "I've been wanting to do this all day now."

"NO ONE IS GOING TO HIT YOU!" Levy screamed as she pulled Gajeel's fist down. "How many times do I have to tell you? Knocking him out is not the same as a good night sleep!"

"It is for me," Gajeel smirked, "ow!"

Levy looked incredibly smug as her sharp, pointy, and very bony, elbow did some injury to Gajeel's ribs.

"Come on Natsu," Erza said softly as she forcibly dragged Natsu towards the bed and shoved him down on it, "it's time to have a little lie down and have a rest."

Happy flew over and draped a blanket round Natsu as Erza petted his hair good night. "What if I'm not ready still?" he whispered worriedly.

"Natsu," Lucy murmured as she too patted him on the head, "we have been with you every step of the way. Every adventure, every obstacle, you had overcome it and made great strides with your magical power. Each of us have been in awe of the progress you have made. You are smart, brave, and strong enough to do this."

"You really think so," Natsu blinked, "Luce?"

Lucy smiled down at him with great confidence and radiance that it made his throat close up a little. "I know so," she said firmly.

"We all do," Erza agreed, "Natsu, you can do this," she said sternly, "I have trained with you for years and I know you have improved leaps and bounds since you were a child. Trust me when I say this; you're ready."

"Yeah!" Romeo piped up cheerfully. "We're rooting for you Natsu-Nii!"

"We got your back," Gajeel added, "Salamander."

"I suppose if there was anyone stupid and insane enough to do it," Gray rolled his eyes, "it would be you."

"Just do it quickly," Cana grinned, "so we can party for the rest of the day."

"Thanks guys," he yawned. He drank in the sight of his guild standing over him, all of them were smiling encouragingly at him, well apart from Laxus who never smiled, and Lily who was always so stoic, and Gray just rolled his eyes at him, but still. His family was around him. And he felt safe and loved and more confident than he had in days. "I think I'm ready to go to sleep now."

"Oh thank God!" Lisanna cried out. "We were beginning to run out of options."

"Heh," Natsu smiled sheepishly, "sorry."

"Never you mind," Mira shook her head, "just get some rest."

"Everyone leave Natsu alone!" Erza ordered the others. "It's time we all went to bed ourselves and get some much needed rest."

And with that everyone began to say their goodnights and make their way back to their own bedrolls. Lucy leaned in to whisper good night to Natsu one last time when he suddenly snatched her wrist and pulled him closer. "Stay with me, Luce?" he begged.

He wasn't quite ready to sleep on his own just yet.

Lucy's eyes softened even more and she smiled sweetly as she crawled onto the pink woollen bed, "Of course," she murmured, "for as long as you want me."

"What if I want you forever?"

He didn't get to hear Lucy's reply as she started to splutter the heavy darkness that had been threatening to take over these last couple days had finally succeeded, and he was asleep immediately.

Natsu kicked the door down with ease, Zeref was a giant like the first couple dreams, though he looked more normal than he had before. Immediately Natsu shot flames at him, which the dark mage dodged, "Your days of tyranny are over, big brother," he growled, finally acknowledging something else that had been haunting him, "Prepare to be defeated by the wrath of a Fire Dragon Slayer!"

"Really, little brother?" Zeref purred, "And how do you propose to do that without your pants?"

"Don't you mean," Natsu smirked, "where have your pants gone?"

Zeref blinked, confused, "What the…" he looked down and flushed bright pink as he realised his own pair of white baggy trousers had gone missing, allowing the world to see his white boxers with the red love hearts dotted all over them. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Zeref screamed, horrified. "DON'T LOOK! DON'T LOOK!"

"Ha!" Natsu crowed. "Take that!"

And with that it took a few punches and kicks before Zeref was completely begging for mercy, Fairy Tail was cheering, and Lucy ran into his arms as if she was the princess to his hero.

She then pulled away and smiled radiantly. "Come on Natsu!" Lucy cried out gleefully as she took his hand and dragged him out of Zeref's demon palace. "Let's go on another adventure."

They run together, hand in hand, into the sun with Happy flying behind them.

("Aw, look at them!" Mira cooed as she took in the sight of Natsu and Lucy cuddling on the woolly bed Aries had made. "They look so cute together!"

"Sure…" Gray mumbled, then he suddenly smirked and his eyes glimmered with a demonic light, "let's draw on his face!"

"You can't do that!"

"Why not?" Bickslow asked. "Natsu would do it to any one of us."

"Yeah!"

"He would!"

"He's an arsehole like that."

"Okay, let me amend that," Mira smiled sheepishly, "you can't draw on Natsu's face until after I have captured this cute moment of his and Lucy's love for one another on camera."

"…Deal!")