Day 71

It's been a week since I bumped into my
counterpart, Natsumi. I know that Ceres
played a part in her believing me, I'm
thankful, but a little surprised at her
continued support. Even if it is just little
things here and there. I guess there are
deities that are benevolent to a fault,
and not just pricks who like to curse people.

Anyway, about Natsumi. I don't know what
I had expected her to be like, but she doesn't
act like I used to. Maybe she could have the
same tendencies in combat that I do, but I
won't know that until she joins us on the
next job. I noticed that Lelyanna is both
jealous and envious of her at the same
time with how the woman acts around me
and with how well-developed her body is…
This may be a little problem, but hopefully
they can sort it out between them and I
won't have to step in. I'll keep an eye on it.

Natsu took a sip of the Monnet XO Cognac that he had taken with him from his last job, he didn't think much of it at the time but after reading the bottle when he got home, he had found that it was imported from Midi; just like the bottles from his home world. It may have just been something small, but he was thankful that at least something was the same in this world, it was a little taste of home in a land so different yet eerily similar. "Henrietta?"

"Yes, Master?" The android looked down at the man sat diagonally in front of her.

"I'm thinking of doing some minor renovations. Do you have any building schematics, wiring diagrams for instance?"

"Yes. Might I ask what your plans are?"

Natsu lifted his gaze to the lights hanging from the ceiling. "Since I'm bringing tech from my world. I need to be certain that this estate can handle the power those things require. So I plan on rewiring the entire estate with materials from my world provided I can find a source that isn't irradiated. I also plan on disconnecting the estate from the incredibly weak power grid of this world and have this place powered by my own tech." Natsu turned his attention to the ticking body just behind him and looked at her chest. "Hm, I don't actually know how you are powered. I know you are clockwork, like pretty much everything else in this world. But what provides the power to your clockwork mechanisms?"

"Do you wish to inspect this unit?" Henrietta asked in her usual songbird-like voice as she stepped forward and began to fiddle with her maid outfit.

"Might as well. If I find I can upgrade your bodies then I might just do that to kill some time." Natsu rose from his high-backed leather chair and helped the android remove the clothing. Her pale fake skin was surprisingly soft to the touch and felt way too realistic to the point that it began to creep him out, and once the clothing sat around the android's feet, he got a little more crept out as the automaton's body was anatomically accurate. "I have many questions as to why you had to be designed like this… but I'm sure they could be summed up in the phrase 'perverted old men'…"

"I cannot help the fact I was designed to perfectly encapsulate a young woman's beauty. However, I believe you might be correct about ulterior motives." The faint seams in Henrietta's skin started to widen as her chest cavity opened to reveal her mechanical inner workings.

"Hm…" Natsu looked closer into the exposed mechanics and realisation flashed across his face. "Oh, I see. You seem to operate in a similar fashion to an automatic mechanical watch." He unfastened his watch from his wrist and lifted it to the android's optical sensors so it could see the mechanism through the underside. "You have a lacrima power cell which holds the charge to run your internal mechanics. How does it take you to charge these units and how long does the charge last? Oh, and how is it done?"

"It takes a single unit four hours to charge from the ten-percent minimum all the way to full charge." Henrietta turned on the spot and tilted her head forward slightly as another seam opened at the back of her neck, revealing a circular plug. "We are jacked into through this port and the charge is sent down to our batteries from a larger power cell down in the maintenance hub in the basement. From full charge to ten-percent varies but is generally about eighty hours."

"Right." Natsu sat down on his chair and fastened the watch to his wrist without taking his eyes off the automaton. He tapped a finger on his desk rapidly as he raked his brains. "You can close up and get dressed, that's all I needed."

"Yes, Master." Henrietta replied and sealed her body up then started affixing her uniform back in place. Once she had finished, she took her position once again and looked at the man who seemed deep in thought. "Are you planning on doing something to these units?"

"Is it possible for you to give me your own diagrams? It would be easier to have a reference instead of needing to pull one of you apart unnecessarily." He watched as the android stayed silent for almost a full minute but then her lifeless grey eyes slowly panned to the side, a rather strange emotive quirk. "I take that as a no, but?"

"What are your plans?"

"I'm going to upgrade you and all of your units to systems from my world. Whether it be adapting your current bodies with my technology or creating new bodies for you is up to you. The benefits would be that you can go longer without charging, you can charge faster even with the higher capacity batteries, you'll have a higher cognitive capacity, more than those little tweaks that Ceres has done to you. Whether I create new bodies or give you a completely new mechanical system within those bodies, they'll end up vastly superior to your current units."

"Lady Ceres' tinkering has given me some capability of independent thought and identity that is greater than that of my original construction. What can you give me?"

"I can port your routines to a sophisticated artificial intelligence program that I'm capable of creating given the right equipment. My aim is to turn my estate into a little piece of my home world, my own little home away from home, so to speak."

"To do that, you will need to access my core, the hub you saw when you first arrived. I would recommend building new units to replace these ones as it may be difficult to pair them to your new systems, even with your upgrades."

"There are two routes I can go in that manner. I could make the new androids link to a central hub like how you currently work, or I can have each unit be a pseudo hivemind set-up where your mind is decentralised."

"Explain."

Natsu leaned forward in his chair and interlaced his fingers as his arms rested on his knees. "Each unit shares a single mind, you, but can operate independently which would give you far greater range than what you currently have. Especially if I network the units together properly. So it's like how you are now but you'll be a networked intelligence capable of roaming freely as far as I can transmit your signal, but these individual units can also travel further while thinking exactly like you and when they return to the network, their experiences will get shared to the networked mind."

"So, these units I send outside my range will think and act in accordance to how I would think and act in that situation?"

"Correct. And you'll have far greater cognitive abilities than your current iteration."

Henrietta was silent for a few short seconds as she thought over the man's proposal then shifted her gaze outside the window to the city beyond. When she finally returned her gaze to the man, she stepped forward to stand directly in front of him. "I wish to undergo your upgrades. But I wish to first see the new body I will be inhabiting before I fully give my consent. It would have to match this unit's dimensions as I'm accustomed to piloting them."

Natsu rose to his feet and measured the android with his eyes. She had a slender build that resembled Lelyanna's except that the automaton was taller, coming up to the tip of his nose. "Hm, I may have to modify one of your units as an independent model so you can come with me into my world and see the bodies for yourself… that'll be difficult if I don't know exactly how your mind functions."

"Master, I believe it would be easier to bring an inactive unit back here instead. It would take less effort and you wouldn't have to risk damaging one of my bodies."

"If I do it that way, I can't guarantee that the proportions will be exactly the same."

"If what you say is true, I would have more than enough cognitive capability to adapt to the new body."

"Alright. I'll see what I can find." Natsu downed the last of the cognac in his glass and sent the bottle to his magic storage. "I think I know where I can find a suitable body, from what my knowledge crystal is telling me. Apparently, Magnolia had a facility that was starting up production of a new series of androids. That's where I'll look first." He sighed and ran a hand down his face. "I'll add it to the ever-growing list of things I need to grab."

"Master, Natsumi and Lelyanna have just arrived and are coming down the path. Shall I bring them to you?"

"No, I'll head down to greet them myself." Natsu shook his head lightly and glanced at the android, making sure she had gotten her clothing in order before he left the room, the persistent ticking of her mechanical heart following close behind him. He jogged down the stairs, reaching the doors just as they opened to allow the two women inside. "Good morning, you two."

"Oh, hey Natsu." Natsumi walked in with her hands in her coat pockets while Lelyanna walked alongside her with her hands folded gracefully in front of her as she had been trained to do by the older sisters.

"Good morning, Natsu." Lelyanna smiled softly as her eyes quickly roamed his face for signs of fatigue. "Did you sleep well?"

"Yes, thankfully." Natsu returned the woman's smile and led them further into his home. "I'm surprised to see you coming in here together. There has been a little bit of tension between you two since you first properly met." He saw the two women share a quick glance then return their attention to him.

"We just happened to arrive at the same time." Natsumi quickly informed the man. "I came from the guild."

"Yeah, I was coming along the path from your gate when Natsumi swooped down from the skies."

"My, my~." A playful yet gentle giggle came down from above their heads. "One is envious of the other's cuteness, while the other is envious of her sex appeal. You better be careful, Natsu. I didn't bring you here to die the victim of a cat-fight~."

"I don't exactly plan on dying anyway." Natsu retorted. He looked up at the source of the voice; a pure-white woman of inhuman beauty sat on the railing above them, swinging her legs idly. He felt Natsumi's growing shock and glanced at her, seeing a smugly smiling Lelyanna out of the corner of his eye. "Yes, Natsumi. That's Ceres, the goddess who brought me here. And I'm willing to bet, the source of that strange feeling you had when we met."

Ceres pushed off the railing and slowly glided down to the floor with all the grace of a feather floating to the ground. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Natsumi Dragneel. You have my thanks for accepting Natsu as readily as you did." Her pearly-white heels clacked against the floor and she smiled at her priestess. "Good morning, Lelyanna. How are you holding up?"

"Good morning, Lady Ceres." Lelyanna bowed to the deity and graciously returned the smile. "I've gotten over the shock, I should be fine from now on."

"Natsu, since you're free, would you like to deal with the trip to your home world to gather those machines?" Ceres asked curiously, placing her hands on her hips and leaning in. "I've been waiting patiently."

"You're heading back to your world?" Natsumi asked quickly, her eyes snapping from the goddess to Natsu. "Why?"

"I need to bring over some machinery that will allow me to produce ammunition for my firearms, so I don't have to worry about running out. Plus, I have to pick up a few things while I'm there for personal projects." Natsu glanced over his shoulder at his counterpart. "And… I also want to visit the graves of my friends and family."

"On that note, Natsu." Ceres walked over to stand right in front of him, gazing up at his face with a gentle smile. "I didn't tell you because I figured you'd probably argue about it. But I've been moving all the dead to their respective graveyards. Buried the ones I could while giving them all a headstone. Your friends and family were returned to Magnolia."

"Why?" Natsu's face scrunched up as his head lightly shook with his confusion.

"Hm, call it a whim. I figured it would do well for your morale if I tended to the dead properly. Even if it meant desecrating those graves you had dug for your squad." Ceres folded her arms under her bust and gave him a small shrug. "I had to release monsters on that world to see how they would react to radiation exposure, but since I didn't have anything else to do with that world, I started to deal with the bodies. I haven't cleaned up all of them, ten-billion dead take a while to clean up."

"T-T-Ten-Billion?!" Natsumi shouted as her face blanched. Her head turned in steps, like the second hand of a clock, until she faced Natsu. "You had that many people die?!"

"Yes." Natsu slowly turned to face the woman, his voice soft and the faint warmth in his eyes flickered out to nothingness. "Out of ten-billion, one-hundred-and-sixty-five-million, four-hundred-and-thirty-nine-thousand, eight-hundred and fifty-two people… I'm the sole survivor. A fact I'm never going to forget."

Lelyanna lowered her hood as she stepped forward, moving between the two pinkettes and lightly wrapping her arms around the man, hoping to reassure him. She didn't know what she could say that could shift the incomprehensibly large weight of all those deaths which sat on his shoulders, so she just stayed silent and tightened the hug.

"I'm fine." Natsu murmured to the kind woman as he placed his hand atop her head and gently ran his fingers through her bluish-sliver hair. "Anyway." He turned his head to the deity and met her white-opal eyes. "Thanks for taking care of them when I couldn't. I'm… happy that you were able to bring them home."

"My, my, Natsumi." Ceres hid her giggle behind her fingers as her eyes slid across to the female dragon slayer. "If you turn any greener, I'm afraid we'll lose you in a forest." The goddess turned her gaze back to Natsu. "Both Magnolia and Malba have a considerably low amount of radioactivity. They mustn't have been hit with the same nukes that hit where you were."

"Could've been a clean nuke, those still leave radiation but much less than the regular type, and definitely less than the cobalt bombs that detonated near me." Natsu carefully extracted himself from the archbishop and waved for the women to follow him as the ascended the stairs on his way to his office. "Could also have been neutron bombs and the ambient radiation is from fallout that was carried over on the wind. How low are we talking?"

"The lethal dosage would take a considerable number of months to accumulate, but these low dosage areas are very few and far between. A normal human could survive in those locations fairly easily for a short time without adverse effects, especially if they can counteract the physical damage through the use of powerful healing magic."

"What about the monsters you had to send there?" Natsu asked as he sat down behind his desk, Henrietta taking her usual spot behind him. "I'm sure some would've died while others survived?"

"We found that most organic monsters died due to radiation poisoning eating away at them, but the ones like stone golems and elementals still roam. They seem to be attracted to the radioactive hotspots, it's quite unusual."

Natsu leaned in and clasped his hands together atop his desk, his eyes moving from the deity to the two mortal women. "Well, she says it's safe."

"I'm coming!" Lelyanna almost shouted in her eagerness as she leaned in with her hands on the desk.

"You didn't need to announce that to me." Natsu gave the priestess a faint smirk which turned into a small grin when her face exploded into a blush. "But I expected you to say you'll come along. And you, Natsumi?"

"Hell yeah!" She gave her counterpart a fiery grin. "You and I are the same, I'd be able to survive there without any issues."

"Well, since we are all going. I'll just take us straight there instead of passing through my personal dimension." Ceres stretched out and sat on the edge of Natsu's desk. She held out her hand and was about to click her fingers when a large warm hand encased it. "Hmm?"

"Just wanted to clarify. You don't need to mark them?" Natsu rose from his desk and walked to the wall behind him to collect his coat.

"That's only for bringing people into my home. Travel between universes is unrestricted if you know how to do it."

"Right. You girls are lucky then, when Ceres marked my soul so I could enter her realm, I was out of it for a few days." He strapped his Geiger Counter to the outside of his coat then brought out his swords from his requip dimension. "Send me in first, I want to be certain that it's safe."

"See you there."

The last thing Natsu heard as a click before everything went white. When his vision returned, he was standing in the middle of a road that had a thin layer of snow blanketing it. His Geiger Counter began to emit a slow series of clicks, it was above the normal background levels but it wasn't overly dangerous. With that in mind, he went for a little walk around the block to get a reading of the area. "Alright, Ceres. It seems fine, you can bring them through." Three lights flashed around him and the three women materialised instantly. "Welcome to my world. Don't worry about the dead bodies lying around."

"It's so dark and cold!" Lelyanna held her arms tightly around her, shivering gently as she turned on the spot to look at the strange buildings. A coat was placed over her shoulders but it wasn't as heavy as the one she was used to, so she turned to see that Natsumi had given it to her. "Thank you."

"Your eyes should adjust to the darkness soon." Natsu glanced at the garage of a nearby house. He spared the women a quick glance before he made his way over to the front door. "Where exactly are we, Ceres?"

"On the edge of Malba, on the side closest to the Nightshade munitions factory." Ceres hurried after the man, followed by the two other women who were looking around like a pair of owls while trying not to lose sight of the man in the darkness. A pair of shocked gasps drew the attention of the goddess and the shock trooper. "What's wrong?"

Natsu glanced from the two foreign women to the dead family of four and their pet dog, still sat on the couch and chairs in the lounge room with a container of mouldy popcorn sat on the coffee table. "Ah. I guess they were having a movie night. Poor bastards would've never seen it coming."

"W-what caused this? A nuclear bomb?" Lelyanna's head slowly turned to the salmon-haired man who leaned against the door-frame to the hall.

"Yeah. I know I said it was a clean nuke. But that doesn't mean it didn't have a form of radioactivity, just that it doesn't leave as much fallout. Seeing this, it was most likely a neutron or gamma emission that killed them." The man ducked into the master bedroom and came back a few moments later with a white hooded jumper and a pair of thick white thigh-high socks. "Here, put these on, they should help with the cold weather. If I remember right, this world would've hit winter about two weeks ago."

The small woman handed the coat back to the pinkette and walked over to the man, unfastening her hood as she closed the distance. She heard a shocked gasp from Natsumi and glanced back at her before realising she wouldn't have known she had the pistol on her until now as most people would have stopped looking at the knife strapped to her thigh. "Please hold onto this for me, I haven't yet quite got a handle on Requip magic."

"You have one of those guns too?"

"Yes. And Natsu has been training me to use it since I don't have any offensive spells, just the healing magic that Lady Ceres blessed me with and some of the convenient spells like the contraceptive one I use."

"Hm, right." The deity walked over to the woman and placed a hand over her heart. Both women glowed with divine light for a moment before Ceres took her hand away and smiled at her follower. "That should help make learning more magic easier. I boosted your magical capacity. I probably should've done it sooner but you were content with being a healer, so now it should be easier to learn that Requip magic you've been working hard on."

"Why was that needed?" Natsumi asked curiously as she eyed the woman who was currently undoing her boots and resting against Natsu for support.

"I wasn't able to use any magic until Ceres gave me her blessing. So, it probably has something to do with that." Lelyanna glanced up at her goddess who nodded lightly as she handed her socks to the man too then slipped the thick thigh-highs up her legs. "But I've got one of Natsu's M12 pistols because he wanted to make sure I could be safe on my own out on jobs. He has also been teaching me to fight in a defensive manner because I'm smaller and not as strong as most people I'll come up against."

"Wait. Is that why your eyes have that strange sparkly thing going on?" Natsumi covered the distance between them in a few short strides and leaned down to look into the archbishop's pale-turquoise eyes which contained a faint mystical power that seemed unnatural for a human.

"You haven't seen them when she uses her healing magic." Natsu chuckled at the stupefied woman as Lelyanna struggled against him, fighting her boots that were being stubborn. "Half your issue is your trying to do this standing up, with tall boots too." He murmured as he got down on a knee and helped her. A pair of hands landed on his back and he heard her heartrate pick up.

"Oh my, someone's heart is going ba-bum-ba-bum-ba-bum~." Natsumi giggled playfully as she grinned at the priestess' red face. "Anyway, why did we come in here. Aside from giving her warmer clothes?"

"Their car." Natsu replied quickly while lacing up the woman's boots. "While I can easily run that distance, you can fly, and Ceres ignores all laws of nature. Lelyanna is only human. So, I'm going to drive us there. Hopefully there are no frozen humanoid speed-bumps." He rose to his feet, sparing a brief glance at the red-faced woman who kept giving him adorable glances through her eyelashes before moving heading into the garage. "Let's see if the pulse fried the car… it shouldn't have since it would've been turned off." A pair of gasps caused him to glance behind him then to the vehicle, it was a sporty sedan, but then again it wasn't exactly anything close to what they were used to. "Bit bigger than you were expecting?"

""Yes!""

"It's pretty roomy inside too, by the look of it." Natsu glanced at the section of wall beside the door and held out his hand, a key-fob flying from a hook and landing in his grasp. "Ceres, can you hit that large square button next to you. It should open the door."

"Alight." The goddess smacked her fist against the button without looking at it, but when the door failed to open, she turned her gaze to the button and hit it again. "I think it's fried."

"EMP probably knocked it out too, like everything else that was turned on." The man grunted in annoyance and walked to the motor at the end of the roller door. He pulled the manual release and rolled up the garage door. "This car better work." He hit the unlock button and thankfully, the car beeped and flashed the lights. "Alright, everybody in. I don't care where you sit as long as it's not the driver's seat." As the man got into the front right, the women ordered themselves without any fighting with Ceres beside the man, Lelyanna behind him, and Natsumi beside her. He tossed the fob into the storage shelf below the centre of the dash and hit the start button, causing all the lights to light up on the dash. The car whirled faintly as he reversed out of the garage and onto the road. The headlights automatically turned on as he began driving, heading for the city limits.

"It's very spacious in here." Lelyanna mentioned as she poked and prodded the plush leather upholstery. She glanced to the front as Natsu adjusted his mirrors and put his seat belt. So, she looked at her shoulder and found her own belt, copying the man because she trusted his judgement.

"You could fit another person between us, probably not a guy, but still." Natsumi clicked her belt into place and a click from the front signalled that even Ceres bucked up. "It's so comfy too! I bet I could lie down and sleep very easily back here!"

"And it's so warm~." Lelyanna cooed and unzipped her new jumper as the car's heater blew warm air through the vents in the centre console.

"I wonder if I can get my music working…" Natsu murmured and he brought out his phone for the first time since before he was dropped into the Pergrande capital. Once it was synced, he brought up his Library of music and grinned as a thumping melody played through the car's speakers, shocking the women in the back. "HA-HA! Yes!"

"Woah, I've only heard music this clear when it is live!" Natsumi grabbed the seat in front of her and leaned across between the front seats. "This is amazing!"

"Just don't start asking 'are we there yet?'" Natsu chuckled softly. As the munitions factory loomed over the horizon, he turned off onto the road that headed right to it. The gatehouse out the front had the barrier gate lowered so he stopped in front of it and got out of the car. "Wait here, I'll try and get it up. Hopefully the back-up power is on."

"So," Ceres turned in her seat to look at the women in the backseats. "What do you think of his world so far?"

"It's painfully quiet." Natsumi admitted. "Both in the sense of hearing and that I can't feel anyone at all besides us… And he had to go through a full month of this. How is he still sane?"

"He roamed around for that entire month, keeping himself busy." Ceres replied quietly. She unbuckled her seatbelt and turned to sit on her knees so she could face the women. "So, sanity isn't the issue, it's what all of the pain and suffering has done to his mental health. That's why I need you two women to be at his side and look after him, help patch him back together."

"I've already decided to stick with him, even now when he has fully settled in." Lelyanna smiled brightly as she watched the man disappear into the gatehouse. "I don't want him to feel alone."

"Well, now that there are two people looking out for him in your world, I'm sure he won't be lonely."

The three women glanced up as Natsu stepped out of the booth, the small happy smile he had just moments ago had been replaced by a slight snarl. He grabbed the metal beam in his right hand and ripped the mechanism clean from the concrete and tossed it aside like it was made from cardboard. A huff of fog raced from his mouth and his snarl slipped away to a passive hollow expression as he gazed up at the sky. He got into the car and sighed as he slipped it into drive. "I don't know about inside, but there isn't any power out here. I'm hoping that the factory itself was EMP shielded due to being a vital asset to the war effort. Because if not, well, I'll have to search elsewhere."

"Natsu." Natsumi leaned between the seats once more as the car slowly moved beyond the gate. "What exactly is an EMP?"

"An Electromagnetic Pulse, something that can destroy active electronics that aren't shielded. It can be created in multiple ways, but this one was most likely from the nuclear bombs being detonated. But it could have been an actual non-nuclear EMP bomb too. I don't know…" Natsu parked in an empty space between two cars and rested his forehead on the top of the steering wheel. "For the first week and a half, maybe two, all kinds of bombs were getting dropped everywhere; nukes, napalm, bunker busters, fuel-air air-burst, thermobaric… Once the button was hit, all hell broke loose. Some of the places I came across were nothing but radioactive craters, others were pock-marked cities that had been blown apart by conventional bombs. It wouldn't surprise me if this place got hit with more than a few EMPs." The man sighed and turned off the car, glancing back as he pushed open the door. "Come, we've got work to do."

Lelyanna glanced up at the back of the man's head, somewhat making out his outline on the moonless night. "Natsu?" She murmured softly, locking onto his eyes when he turned to look at her. A small smile graced her face and she held out her arms, silently offering the man a hug. Her smile grew when she swore his expression softened and he stepped forward, only to pull her hood up over her eyes with a quiet chuckle but the woman was quickly wrapped up in warm powerful arms. So she slid her thin arms around his body, underneath his coat. "It's ok, Natsu. We're here with you."

Natsu breathed in the scent that had quickly become a source of comfort to him and gave the woman a careful squeeze before slowly letting go. "Thanks." He murmured lightly, sparing the woman one more glance before leading the way over to the building's front office. He could sense a little bit of giddy excitement from the priestess and he shook his head lightly, a kind smile tugging at his lips but it quickly fell away as he checked the reinforced door. "Locked. Wonderful."

"Can you pick…" Natsumi asked but she was cut short when Natsu kicked the centre of the double doors and busted them open. "It… Or you know, just kick the damn thing open why don't you."

Natsu sent a few clusters of embers into the room as he entered the reception, which illuminated the dark room with a warm light. "It's quiet… I don't know if that means the machines are fried or that there is no external power and the generators didn't trigger."

"Would you be able to fix the machines?" Natsumi asked as she walked through the room, marvelling at some of the strange artefacts dotted around. She prodded a strange sculpture which she couldn't even begin to understand how it was made.

"If I had the right parts, yeah. A place like this would keep spare parts to do any needed maintenance." Natsu walked right past the pinkette and pushed a set of doors off the hinges, passing through to the cluster of offices and into the factory proper. He glanced back at the rapid clacking of boots and Ceres' heels before walking to the storage racks. Thankfully, his Geiger Counter hadn't risen beyond where it had been outside. "Hm. Hey Ceres, if I grab some crates of ammo, could you send it to somewhere in my basement. Preferably one of the larger rooms."

"Since the radiation isn't bad here, yeah, I can."

"Thanks. It means I won't have to worry about running out while I'm in the process of setting up these machines and rewiring my manor to run things seamlessly."

"Do you want a hand with that?"

"Ceres, you're a goddess of fertility and agriculture, not the goddess of home renovations." Natsu smirked back at the pure-white woman. "Though, I will have you help find materials that aren't radioactive if I can't find enough on this trip."

"Yes, but at least I can't die from electrocution."

"Well, you got me there." The man chuckled softly and lifted a pallet full of ammunition over to the woman. "I reckon that I'll take two pallets each ammo type. That should be more than enough."

Ceres vaulted the shipment and sat on the edge right in front of the man, placing her chin in her palms and her elbows on her knees. "I'm being serious. I get bored sitting in my home and keeping watch over all these worlds of mine. I enjoy these little forays you've sent me on."

"Well, if you don't mind getting those pristine white clothes of yours dirty, then yeah, you can help me."

"Maybe I'll find something with a splash of colour to wear to stop you complaining about my dress sense."

"Yeah, I doubt that." Natsu gave the deity a small teasing grin before turning his back on her and bringing over more pallets of ammunition.

Natsumi came to a stop beside the goddess and looked between her and the man. "Why does his mood bounce around so much?"

"He simply doesn't hide how he feels around those he trusts. I've watched him interact with others and he gets this impassive look going, like he thinks you're insignificant. Which, to be fair, most people are when compared to him. You included."

"I can do that easily though." Natsumi pointed to Natsu as he effortlessly lifted another pallet.

"I don't doubt that. But you haven't seen him actually do anything beyond ripping a barricade out of thick concrete, mind you that barricade was bolted down with thick long bolts." Ceres sighed softly at the competitive flicker in the woman's eyes and pushed herself off the stack of boxes, landing on the concrete floor with a clack of her heels. "You're going to join him on jobs from now on, right? You'll see what I mean soon enough. But, don't stop being competitive with him, I think it would be good for him to have someone like that around. Like Gray was to him, and Grace is to you."

"I don't have any intention of hanging him out to dry, not after I met him and heard what happened, and even less so now that I've seen it for my own eyes." Natsumi sighed and smirked at the man as he placed the pallet next to them. "You know, you could at least make it seem like you're having a tough time with those."

"That'd be harder than you think. I can make it look like I'm putting no effort in at all if I use Macro." Natsu rolled his eyes and brought over the last three pallets he needed, one in his hands and flanked by two more floating along behind him.

"Show off." Natsumi snickered playfully and moved out of the way so he had room to put them down near Ceres.

"That's the last of it. I've got subs for the pistols, got eight-mil for the rifle and machine gun, ten-mil for the sniper, fourteen for the big boy, forties for the grenade launcher, and ten-gauge bucks for the shotgun." He dusted his hands off and gave the goddess a quick nod before turning his back on the women and walking over to the machines. He brought out a bag of tools and started to remove the access panels to get a look at the machine's electronics. "Hm, not as bad as I was expecting." He glanced up at the walls and ceiling then to the two human women who were approaching him. "I think I was right about the EMP shielding. I'm surprised the generators didn't kick in… probably were damaged or something, maybe they just ran out because the power never came back online…"

"Is there anything I can help with?" Lelyanna asked quietly as she sat down on her knees beside the man. She gazed between the faintly illuminated man and the machine in front of him.

Natsu opened his mouth to tell her that there was nothing to do, but he senses picked up on something that gave him pause; she was feeling dejected, probably because she was surrounded by powerful individuals and she was just a small and weak young woman. "Hold this for me and point it at the electronics." He replied softly, giving her a small smile as he handed her a little flashlight. It took the woman a little to turn on the unfamiliar device but when she did, she let out a little gasp and shined it around the room.

"Oh, it's like that module under my pistol."

"Yup." Natsu gentle guided the beam back to the electronics. Now that the insides of the machine weren't muted shades of grey, he could properly differentiate the different parts. Once he had determined that the machine was still functional, he placed the cover back on it and moved onto the next.

"How does it look?" Ceres asked as Natsu finished up with the last machine.

"No damage to the electronics. You'd know if something was fried by and EMP as it causes an abnormal spike that short circuits shit. I won't know for certain until I get these things powered. But I think the generators themselves are dead."

"I'll pull the building into my dimension and see what I can do. Do you want the generators?"

"If you can take them too, yeah." Natsu rose to his feet and dusted off his hands as he turned to the pure-white woman. "I'm going to need to adapt them to a high-output magic pulse engine from their world to make it work properly. Maybe run it through a transmission to make the armature spin faster inside the stator. Might be able to use them as full-time power generators for the estate."

"Alright, collect up your tools and I'll send you over to Magnolia while I deal with this building."

"Alright." The man sent the tools away and glanced around at the two other women as they gathered at his side. A click drew his attention back to the goddess but his sight was filled with white. When it faded, he was met with a familiar street and while the street was bone dry, there was snow on the grass leading up to a house he hadn't seen in so many months. He let out a shaky breath and slowly trod up the driveway and over to the front door.

"Natsu, where are we?" Natsumi asked as she hurried to him but her eyes snapped down to his hands when a set of keys appeared and he unlocked the door. "I-is this…?"

"Mine and Lucy's home." He murmured while turning the knob, but he paused and took a slow deep breath. As he entered the house, he automatically reached over to the wall beside him and flicked a light switch. Light filled the short entrance hall and he stared up at the top of the stairs, seeing a flicker of a blonde woman running down them with a bright smile.

Welcome home, Darling!

The ghost threw its arms around him but all he felt was the phantom sensation of the memory. He let out a small puff of air and looked into the lounge room where he could see the ghost of a blue-haired teen on the couch with a controller as he played a game on their television.

"Wow. She's really beautiful." Lelyanna gushed over a photo that was hung nearby. She glanced at Natsu then to the picture again. "Where was this taken?"

Natsu didn't even have to look at the picture to know which one it was. "The Royal Gardens in Crocus. Before they were blown up."

Hey Darling! Come look at this flower! There's a tiny bee in it!

"Damn, she looks great in that dress." Natsumi grinned widely as she walked over to the priestess for a better look. "Kinda makes me jealous of her figure. She's more athletic that my Lucy."

"We were both in the same trade when we met, though I had been doing it longer than she had. But we both went to the gym together." Natsu glanced up at the picture as he walked past them and the sound of an air raid siren filled his mind. He felt a prang in his heart as his eyes drifted across the blonde's lovely smile. "Since we're here, I want to grab a few things. Then I think we should head out as soon as possible."

Both of the women looked at him as he hurried up the stairs then disappeared to the right. They shared a quick glance and raced after him, finding him in the master bedroom. With another quick glance at each other, the slowly moved forward and slipped in under his slack arms, hugging him tightly from both sides. Natsumi rested her head against his shoulder and tried her best to put on a comforting voice. "It's ok Natsu. We're not in a rush to get around so you can take all the time you need to let everything out."

Natsu glanced down at the two kind women and his strained expression softened. He let out a gentle sigh through his nose and glanced around, his eyes moving across the bed where a sleeping Lucy flickered in and out of his mind. "I can still hear her voice… Sometimes I can see snippets of her moving about. I need to visit her grave once I'm done here. I need to clear my head…" He allowed himself to be held between their soft bodies for a couple of minutes before gently extracting himself from their embrace. He looked down then slowly turned his head to them. "Thank you." He murmured before moving around the room and collecting up a few things like his favourite leather jacket, his small collection of cologne, his own toiletries from the shower. When he came back to the women, he swapped his coat for the leather jacket temporarily as he gave them a shadow of a smile and hurried down stairs and darted into the garage.

As Lelyanna and Natsumi entered in behind him, their eyes grew wide once more at the sight of an even larger car and a vehicle on two wheels. Natsumi wandered around the larger of the two vehicles while Lelyanna slowly walked up behind Natsu as he opened a cabinet on the wall. Hearing her approach, Natsu glanced back at the two women and smiled at the shorter of the two who was seemingly curious about his motorcycle.

"Seems alien, doesn't it?"

"I'm finding that's the norm with things here." Lelyanna murmured with a glance at the cruiser. "Is it… Electric?"

"All vehicles of my world except some air vehicles use electric motors and batteries to power them." Natsu placed a pair of helmets down on the bench and walked over to the woman. "Swing your leg over it from the left side. It's a sports cruiser which I ended up shortening the rear fender up to the pillion seat just so it looked more aggressive." Once the woman was on the seat, he had her put her feet on the pegs and grab the handlebars. "Once we found out how to make solid-state batteries and then continuously improved them as well as electric motors, the combustion engine died out. This was close to a hundred years ago, maybe a tad more."

"How do you drive it?"

"Your right hand is the accelerator, the bar in front of that is the front brake. Left hand is a standard grip but the bar in front of that is the clutch. Your right foot has the rear brake and your left foot is the shifter."

Lelyanna stroked her hands up the matte black battery housing between her legs, enjoying the slightly rough texture. "It's very comfortable."

"I put on an aftermarket seat and swapped out the shifter so I can just rock my foot back and forth instead of sticking my toes under the shifter to go down gears." A beep drew their attention; Natsumi had unlocked the SUV and was climbing around the insides with a large giddy grin plastered on her face. "She seems to be enjoying herself."

"I think she might want to keep it…"

"I'm not taking that back with me. Too big for the roads, and way to unusual for that world." Natsu let the bike rest on the kickstand again and helped the priestess off. "I wish I could take the bike with me… but the same reason stands, it's too unusual and too advanced."

Lelyanna giggled softly and stood up on her toes as she leaned closer to the man's face, whispering softly into his ear. "I think you might be able to get away with the bike, at the very least. It may be unusual, but you might stand out less than that car of yours back home."

"You think so?"

"I mean… it is fairly unique looking, and has such beautiful curves compared to the basic motorbikes we have back in my world." Lelyanna fell back flat on her feet and ran her hand along the flowing lines of the bike once more. "You could just say that it's what you used to leave your homeland."

"You've fallen in love with my bike, haven't you?" A tiny smirk tugged at the man's lips.

"Maybe." The priestess giggled lightly and looked the man up and down with a cute smile. "I think this definitely suits you more than that car."

"Well, I chose the bike, unlike that car Ceres got." Natsu glanced over at the helmets that he had set on the bench. "I wonder if Lucy's would fit you… Otherwise we'll make a stop at a motorcycle dealer and grab one from there." He handed the white and pick helmet to the young woman and helped her put it on. After he moved it around lightly, he shook his head. "Not the right fit for you." He gently removed the helmet and looked down at it. With a quiet sigh, he tossed it aside. There was no point holding onto it anymore now that she had been taken from him. "Natsumi, hit the button near the mirror of that car. We're going to be leaving in a sec."

"Ok!" The pinkette called out with a glance out of the SUV. She hit the button and then joined them by the bike. "Where to?"

"I need to grab a helmet for Lelyanna at a nearby store, and probably one for you if you want one?" The man replied as he grabbed his gloves and helmet and glanced down at the priestess. "I'll get you a hoodie meant for a motorcyclist while we're there. It'll be safer than wearing that and just as warm." He put on his helmet and gloves then sat on the bike. He gave the bluish-silver haired woman a quick glance and told her to get behind him with a jerk of his head. "Natsumi, fly alongside us."

"Got it."

"What do I do?" Lelyanna hesitated a little as she sat behind the man on the pillion seat. She glanced down and saw the second set of pegs, so she rested her boots on those.

"You can either hold me or stay close to me, but make sure you move with me. Oh, and rest your head against my back so you're out of the wind. Your ears will thank you."

"Lucky you." Natsumi chuckled as fire burst from her back and formed into her fiery wings. She floated up into the air then flew backwards out of the garage, quickly followed by Natsu and Lelyanna on the bike. "Hey Natsu, why has the road not snowed over like in Malba?"

"Seems like most of Magnolia still has power, so I'm guessing the road maintenance drones are still buzzing around." The man took off down the road, sparing the woman a quick glance as she drew level with them while flying parallel to the ground. "You know… you aren't exactly aerodynamic… don't they have a lot of drag?"

Natsumi burst out laughing and slowly drifted over the top of his head and came to his other side. "Would it surprise you if I said I had to work out a way to make it less tiring? Have you noticed how my coat, skirt and shirt aren't flapping in the wind?"

"Now that you mentioned it, yes."

"I encase myself in a shell of weak magic and it causes the wind to slide over that instead of my body. Otherwise, I'm sure my clothes might tear apart if I go too fast."

"Usually, Lucy was the one who got the wardrobe failures."

"That hasn't changed in my world, she still gets them."

"Somehow that doesn't surprise me." Natsu ducked down and crossed under the woman so he could turn down the next street. After a few more turns, he came to a stop in front of a dealership. "Alright, up you get, Lelyanna."

"I never realised how loud the wind could be…" The priestess murmured and rubbed her ears gently.

"I'll grab a set of filtered earplugs; they stop noise above a certain threshold so wind noise won't pass through but us talking will come through easily. I'll grab a set for the three of us since if I use that bomb curse or unsuppressed firearms then it'll just damage everyone's hearing and then you'd have to heal us which would slow down the tempo of battle. Not to mention it wastes your energy which could be used to heal people we come across." He felt the woman's weight shift behind him and she came around to the front of the bike. After he got off his bike, he unfastened his helmet and handed it over to Natsumi. "I want you to try this on. If it fits you then you can have it. I'll just use the helmet from my armour since it's better by nature."

The pinkette tried on the helmet and moved her head but it slid around a little too much so she took it off again. "Your head is a little bigger than mine"

"Just toss it. No one is going to punish you for littering anymore." Natsu glanced at her and melted the lock for the door, allowing him to push it open normally and enter the store. He led the two women over to the gear section and walked through the clothing isle. "Where were women's stuff again?"

"Woah, some of these bikes are insane." Natsumi exclaimed as he floated around the ceiling for a better look at the large store.

Natsu glanced up at the woman then down to the shorter one in front of him was looking at a white hooded jumper on the rack. "If it looks like it'll fit, you should try it on."

"Ok." Lelyanna slipped off the jumper they took from the house in Malba and tossed it on top of the rack. She quickly looked up at the man then took the white armoured jumper, turning to Natsu as she put it on.

The pinkette leaned in and zipped it up quickly then checked how it sat on her slim frame. "Arms are the right length but it's a little longer than I'd like on your torso, but that doesn't matter since it looks just like an oversized jumper now. And it fits better than what you had on."

"It feels warmer."

Natsu unzipped the jumper halfway and checked the inside of the front. "It has a removable thermal layer, it seems. That's good, if you get too hot then you can take the inner layer out." He stepped back and pointed over to the wall of helmets where Natsumi happened to be floating around. "Take a look at the most expensive ones, and find one that fits and is in a style you like. Let me know when you've found one and I'll check the store room for one in an unopened box."

"Alright."

Natsu watched the woman hurry away before turning and grabbing a pair of earplugs each for them. When the two women brought over their chosen helmets, one black and one white so they fit their preferred outfits. He took both behind the counter and found their brand-new counterparts and assembled both with the best add-ons he could find before bringing them back. After he quickly explained how to use the plugs and how they blocked out sound above a certain decibel level yet allow for normal conversation, he handed both items to the girls with a small smile. "Let's head out, we got what we came for."

"Where's the graveyard that Ceres was talking about?" Lelyanna asked softly as she stood beside the motorbike.

"My version of your Cathedral. It looks exactly the same but it's a historic building here, so it is protected." Once Natsu was seated on the bike, he felt the young woman climb on behind him and wrap her arms around his waist with her head popped up over his right shoulder. He requipped his Shock Trooper Helmet and habitually polarised the visor before checking that the woman was sat safely and taking off down the road once more. As he was riding, he hit one of the buttons hidden under the rim of his helmet which sat below the hermetic seal, this toggled the communication's suite in his helmet and he selected a civilian channel. He then reached over his right shoulder with his left hand and fiddled with the civilian version of the suite in Lelyanna's helmet. Once she was connected, he waved Natsumi over and steered the bike just under her right side so he could reach up and bring her into their channel. "Can you both hear me?"

"Yes." Lelyanna's gentle voice came through his speakers, followed quickly by Natsumi who gave a quick thumbs up.

"Yep, loud and clear. These things are useful."

"Natsumi, I'll give you a copy of the explanation I gave to Lelyanna during our last job. You'll be able to take it back to your place and it should help you figure out how to do it. And I'm willing to bet that I'm a better teacher than your Erza due to the fact that I used to instruct a class of soldiers on how to use that magic."

"Alright, but if I can't manage it, you might as well hold onto this helmet for me."

"I'm sure you'll be fine." Natsu checked over his shoulder at the priestess who was holding him around the waist then cranked the throttle, lifting up the front tyre with ease thanks to the powerful motor. He started to laugh and grin wildly as he raced down the street on just his thick rear tyre.

"NAAATSUUUU!"

Lelyanna's shout and Natsumi's raucous laugher filled the man's ears as he blew through more than a few red lights before letting the front tyre meet tarmac again. He laughed heartily and placed his left hand over the hands of the priestess who was clinging to him tightly. "I'm sorry, it's just been so long since I've ridden my bike. I wanted to cut loose."

The small woman softened her grip and shifted forward slightly so her thighs rested against the man for better stability. She let out a soft breath and adjusted her arms around him. "It's fine. It was shocking but exhilarating."

Natsu shot through a few more streets before coming to a stop outside a familiar cathedral. He shut off the bike, watching as his digital cluster switched off before he sent his helmet away. Lelyanna moved out behind him and he put the bike down on its stand before climbing off. When he turned to the woman, he noticed that she had her eyes squeezed shut with her helmet in her hands and lowering it like she was trying to put it into an invisible box. He could sense her magic ebbing and flowing much more consistently than it did previously, so whatever Ceres did to the woman seemed to be working in her favour. The young priestess repeated the movement a few times, frustration growing on her face before there was a flash of light and the helmet vanish from her hands.

"Huh?" Her eyes snapped open and she looked up at Natsu. "Did you?" But when the man shook his head, she glanced down at her hands and envisioned taking the helmet out of the box, and lo and behold, it reappeared in her hands and her eyes lit up with happiness to the point that tears leaked from her eyes. She sent the helmet away and brought it back out a few times before leaping onto the man and hugging him tightly. "I did it! I actually did it! Thank-you-thank-you-thank-you-thank-you!"

"Well done." Natsu praised the woman, smiling at her adorable excitement as he gently rubbed her back. "The next thing you need to do is to think of yourself standing within that box and try moving things off and onto your body. Don't worry, the worst thing that could happen is the spell just doesn't work and you end up standing there with or without clothing on. Trust me, it's hilarious when it happens to others, less so when it's you. So, you should practice that in your private time, whether at your room in the cathedral or the room you've commandeered in my manor."

"Ok." Lelyanna slowly unhooked her arms from around his neck and slid down his body. She took a step back and held out her hands with a bright smile. "Can I have my cloak and socks back, since I can store them now?"

"Here." Natsu took them from his own requip dimension and placed them onto her hands where they vanished a moment later to the tone of thrilled giggles. When Natsumi landed next to them, she glanced between them then immediately grabbed the man by the jacket, an excited fanged grin splitting her face as her eyes lit up.

"Teach me your secrets! If a woman who had only done basic spells all female mages know and her own specialty healing magic was able to learn requip magic that soon when I've been trying for a few years now, then you obviously explained it unbelievably well or she's an absolute genius. And I don't mean to be rude, Lelyanna," The pinkette quickly glanced at the happy priestess. "But she doesn't strike me as magically inclined, she even said she couldn't use magic before that Goddess blessed her."

"Alright, just give me a second." Natsu gently brushed the dragon slayer's hands from his jacket and brought out his journal. He quickly flicked to the last page and took the fountain pen from the spine, quickly writing down the exact same method he had given Lelyanna before tearing the page from the book and handing it to the woman. "There, that's the same instructions that I gave Lelyanna. Follow that, and you should be able to do it. When you do, make sure you come and tell me."

"Thanks!" Natsumi cheered loudly as she folded the paper and quickly read over it before she slipped it into an inner pocket of her coat for safe keeping. She snuffed out her fiery wings and picked up her helmet that she placed down nearby. "Are we going in?"

"The cemetery has a separate entrance." Natsu replied and led the two women up the footpath that ran along the side of the large building. He slipped his hands into his jacket pockets and gazed through the wrought iron fence at the rows upon rows of headstones.

"How do you know?" Natsumi asked curiously.

"I've had to bury many of my friends here." He was about to break the lock but when his hand braced the gate, it moved apart. "Hm, Ceres must have left it unlocked knowing I'd come here because she mentioned moving their bodies…" He gave the metal gate a gentle push and rubbed his ears when it gave off a grating screech as it swung open. A softly puff of fog slipped from the man's mouth as he stood still for a moment before willing himself to move, initially stepping slowly into the graveyard but he began to pick up pace. Soon, he had broken out into a run then began to move at speeds no normal human could as he raced through row after row of headstones to where he had buried his family. Stones flashed past him until he slid to a halt among a familiar fenced section that had new additions.

"Natsu, wait up!" Natsumi called out as she flew over the graveyard with Lelyanna firmly held in her arms. When they finally caught up to the frighteningly fast man and touched down behind him, they found him on his knees in front of a grave. One which had Natsumi's last name, but a moment later she realised it wasn't hers, but his. "This is…?"

"Where Ceres brought Lucy after I buried her in that hellhole…" Natsu murmured faintly. He scrunched up his hands in the snow in front of him as his head dropped. He had found Lucy's grave, along with Erza's, Gray's, and Wendy's. "Along with the rest of them. Yeah…"

Natsumi opened and closed her mouth a few times as she looked at the names of her friends, the losses that Natsu had sustained and must live with finally sinking in. Her gaze flicked up to the rows beyond them, each one containing a name she was closely familiar with. It caused her tanned skin to pale rapidly and she began to shake with shock, her eyes drifting back down to the kneeling man. The faces belonging to the names on the headstones flashed before her eyes one after another, and she clutched at her heart as tears seeped from the corners of her eyes. "I-I think I'm going to wait by the bike… take, um, take all the time you need."

"Right." Natsu didn't lift his head, not even when he felt a pulse of magic and the rush of wind from the woman taking to the skies. Snow crunched around him, slowly moving away then after a few minutes, it slowly came back and a lone red rose was placed down in front of the headstone belonging to Lucy. The action drew his eyes up the pale up and to the solemn-faced priestess who was carrying around an armful of roses and was dutifully placing one in front of each tombstone, carrying out her role even though it wasn't necessary. "Thanks."

"Like Natsumi said," Lelyanna turned her pale-turquoise eyes to the man, not a tear to be seen in either one, and gave him a gentle smile. It wasn't one that a friend would give, but that of a member of the church who came across a grieving person while conducting their duties. "Take all the time you need. Talk to them, share what you've been up to. Stop by the others too, say a few words if you wish."

"I will." Natsu nodded lightly and watched as she placed a rose in front of Gray's headstone, followed by Erza and Wendy, and she continued to move down the line and placing roses down, only to gather more when she ran out. He dropped his gaze back to the grave in front of him and ran his fingers against the name carved in the stone. "Hiya, Luce… I'm sorry it took so long to come and visit you. That Goddess I mentioned last time… she's helped me a lot, even indirectly, like this. I can't tell you how happy it makes me that you all were brought back home. Seems like our family is all back together again, back in Magnolia. I…" He took a deep breath and let out a shaky sigh. "I admit, I'm a little bit envious, but that's outweighed by the happiness in seeing you all together again. The goddess, Ceres, she brought me to her personal world and allowed me to recover, she found me a new place to live. It's very different to our own world, I wish you could have seen it, you would have found it fascinating. I… found out that back in that city, just before it all ended… that feeling we all had was from Ceres, she tried to warn us. I should have acted; I should have fucking done something. Maybe if I did, you four would still be alive… but, I can't change the past. No matter how much I want to go back and kill those fuckers before they blew the world to bits. I found my counterpart in the new world that I live in, she's nice, a bit boisterous and has a tendency to be fairly forward. She's a few years younger than me, twenty-three I think she said, I think you would've liked her. And then there's Lelyanna…" Natsu glanced up at the woman then down at the rose in front of him. "She's kind-hearted, innocent… She's the Archbishop who runs this very cathedral but over in her world. And well, she seems to be taking her role seriously, even in this dead world. She's giving everyone a flower each. Ceres had her help me settle in, but we've since formed a freelance team working as monster hunters. Well, technically I'm the monster hunter and she's the healer supporting me. Natsumi's joining us too, when she's free though. She has her own version of our squad. Oh, do you remember how one of the names for our kid was Grace, in honour of Gray? Funnily enough, Gray is a chick in that world, and she is called Grace. I think Erza hit the nail on the head for that frosty bastard." The man let out a quiet, sad chuckle and closed his eyes. "I borrowed the name you offered too, I have clockwork automatons that serve as guards and servants for my manor, oh, you'd hate that place too, heh. But yeah, I called the servants Henrietta. I think I've gotten used to the constant ticking of that world, it's too quiet out here, Natsumi also complained about it too." He opened his eyes and slowly ran his gloved fingers across the etched name. "I miss you Luce. I should probably talk to the others, see the rest of our family while I have the chance. And then… I need to move on, both from this cemetery, and with my life. But I'm afraid I won't be able to protect those around me, so please… if you and the others could lend me your strength, just one more time, help me move on and continue my life while protecting those around me from the same fate… Steer my hand and guide my judgement so I won't make the same mistake. I don't think I could handle going through this a second time." Natsu slowly rose to his feet and wiped the tears from his eyes. He took a deep breath then saluted the gravestone. "It's been an honour, Lucy. Rest well."

This chapter had some ups and downs, and had a fairly morose ending. So, I'm going to keep this short.

The vehicles of Natsu's home world are electric driven with most being your standard set-up you see around these days, for example, a Tesla. But some of the enthusiast ones are paired with manual transmissions and have programable performance characteristics to emulate combustion engine cars like V8 muscle cars for example. Natsu's motorbike is one of these vehicles, and its design is based on my own motorcycle which is a Kawasaki Vulkan S which is a sports cruiser. Lelyanna and Natsumi both have full-face helmets with pin-lock and antifogging. As mentioned in the chapter, they also have a civilian communication's suite that allows them to talk with other riders on the same channel.

That's all I believe I needed to further clarify, so I'll leave it here. Thank you for reading this chapter, I hope you've liked it, don't forget to follow/favourite to keep up to date. I'm updating this fairly regularly right now because I'm loving writing it. I'll see you all soon.