Okay, I've been neglecting answering/ responding to reviews, so allow me to remedy that first.

- Gajeel/Lucy BROTP is quickly becoming my favorite.

- Answers about the missing kids are coming, I promise! Their absence has not effected other parts of this story, which is why it hasn't come up since Lucy offered to be Natsu's friend. I believe it's... three entries from now? It won't be too long.

- Romance was not originally listed as a genre, because I did not want to spoil it. It only had one genre when I first posted it.

- I love that you guys seem to be evenly divided between wanting Lucy to become human so she can have a better life, and wanting her to make Natsu immortal. I hope that what I've done there ultimately makes you all happy.

This and the next chunk are hefty, progress-wise, so prepare yourself, we're really getting into the interesting bits. I said in the beginning that there were 16 parts I would be posting, but I've had to write a few more to make the transition to the final chunk smoother. I haven't counted how many extras I wrote, but I want you guys to know there are are more than three parts left.

As always, thanks for all the love and happy reading!

Two days after she talked to Gajeel, Natsu visited again, and Lucy finally worked up the nerve to confront him. "Natsu, I wanted to talk to you about something."

"What's that?" he leaned forward, resting his elbows on his crossed legs.

"It's about… what you brought up last time you were here." To Lucy's surprise, Natsu's face fell and he turned away. The reaction had her reconsidering if she should continue, but she pushed on anyway.

"I.. wanted to know if, um, if you-"

He cut her off. "Luce, can you do me a favor?"

"S-sure?"

"Can we… wait to talk about it?" He looked up at her with hard eyes, causing Lucy's stomach to drop. She'd never seen that look on his face before. Had something happened?

"What's wrong?" she asked.

He faltered. "I… I don't know." He held out his hand, asking permission, so she slid hers into his warm palm. Holding it with two hands, he leaned down to press his forehead to it as he sighed. She noticed that he was stiff, not nearly as comfortable as he usually was when he visited. He pulled away to kiss her knuckles and then sat upright again. "There's something I have to figure out, and then we'll talk about... that." When he looked up, her heart began to hammer in her chest in response to the intense look in his eyes. "Luce, I really, really wanna talk about it with you. Especially if that conversation is going to go somewhere." She smiled as she slowly nodded at him.

He let out a long breath as he tightened his grip on her hand. "Then I definitely need to take care of something first. I… don't know how long it will take, but I won't be able to live with myself if I don't take care of it before we talk about…" He hesitated. "Us."

Lucy studied him as her heart hammered in her chest. "Alright... Is there something-"

"No." He cut her off, shaking his head. "No, I need to do this. You've done more than enough." He hesitated for a moment before leaning forward and kissing her knuckles.

"I can wait," she answered, ignoring the heat crawling up her neck and her heart trying to beat its way out of her chest. "Take all the time you need."

"Thank you," he said with a smile. He left soon after, with a promise to be there the following week.

Weeks passed, and while he never missed a visit, he continued to avoid the one conversation she wanted to have with him. They talked about the weather, about foods, about his lessons, which she was still doing with him, about a group of travelling bards that had passed through, everything but the one thing she wanted to talk about.

After every visit, he would hold her hand tightly in his and kiss her knuckles before leaving, a promise burning in his dark eyes.

One day, after a visit she had been certain they were going to have the talk, she didn't immediately leave. She allowed herself to fade from the human world, but sat on the other side of the veil staring across the way towards the flower field nearby.

"Natsu, I think we should talk about us," she said out loud, with no one around to hear her. She clutched her hands together. "You asked me about Hibiki and if I'd ever been interested in humans in... that way. I told you I hadn't before, because I hadn't." She sighed. "Now, though… I am interested. In... you"

Lucy chuckled as she pulled a strand of her hair forward to wrap it around the fingers of one hand. "I know it's a little weird, but considering how much time we spend together, I thought it would be better to be completely honest with you."

After a long breath, she smiled. "I... want to take you with me to my world. I want to spend time doing things with you that the others have done with the humans they've brought to our side of the veil.

"More than that, though, I want you to stay with me so I can keep you safe." She released her hair and held her flowers up to her nose to study them. "I want to keep you to myself in my home, where you'd be safe from this stupid war that's coming. Safe from the other humans and the gods and goddesses. I want to mark you as mine so that you never have to worry about being harmed again.

"I want to spend every spare moment I have with you, getting to know you as well as anyone can get to know someone. Every little detail, down to your favorite spice and color."

She held the flowers close as she stared down at his empty pillow.

"I want to know everything, because you are important to me. More important than anyone else I've ever met. Natsu…" Tears slid quietly down her cheeks as she slowly left the human world.

"I love you..."

I will try to get the next chunk out tomorrow, but the following one needs some love to get it ready. I don't see it taking more than another week, two tops to finish up though, so hope you're all ready!

Stay safe, healthy and happy.