* Story has been reposted due to uploading/formatting error! Sorry for the inconvenience! *

Moments after Natsu had yelled at Lucy, Happy flew in, joined by Erza and Gray. Natsu stared at the new group with nervous eyes. He had put himself in quite the pickle now.

"Natsu, what is going on in here?" Erza scowled at him, glancing at Lucy momentarily and seeing a look of hurt.

"And what don't you want to tell me?" Gray added, growing closer to the other slayer.

Natsu refused to speak, forcing a distant look into his face. Reaching out, he grabbing Lucy's hand for support.

Confused,Lucy gave her pal a questioning look.

"Natsu, what is wrong?" Erza was now beside him. For once, her hand rested on him gently.

"Come one flame brain, spit it out." Gray spoke in a hard tone.

"I..," the words began to slip, causing him to squeeze Lucy's hand. Knowing her presence was there made the situation less stressful on the pink haired boy. He side eyed at Lucy, trying to find some sort of confidence he once had.

Lucy nodded at him, squeezing his hand back. Natsu knew he had to swallow his own pride to do this. Lucy was right that he should tell them but it was difficult to. Telling others about his problems wasn't him, it wasn't something he did. Everyone knew that.

"Come on..," her voice was gentle as she delicately placed her other hand on the two of theirs that were embracing each other.

"I.., I'm ..," the words felt lodged in his throat.

"Natsu is E.N.D!" Happy spoke loudly with panic from above the group. Once everyone was looking at him, he quickly covered his mouth with his paws,tears brimming his eyes.

Natsu stared at his partner with horror. Happy exposing him like that was a surprise and it scared him. The dragon slayer could feel the panic like adrenaline burst around his body and his stomach did a flip.

"Bullshit,"

Gray's voice snapped Natsu out of his trance of fear. The ice mage waved a hand with a dismissive air.

"Out of all people, Natsu can't be E.N.D. The book is still a book anyways, E.N.D isn't activated." Gray's hard gaze burned into Natsu.

Erza nodded her head, agreeing with Gray.

"Gray is right. Last we saw, the book of E.N.D wasn't activated. The possibility of Natsu being a Zeref demon is low,"

It wasn't long before Happy argued back, causing a rather loud argument between him,Gray, and Erza.

"Tell them the truth, Natsu..," Lucy had pushed herself up on her toes to whisper in Natsu's ear.

"Fine.,"

Natsu didn't speak for a few heart beats. Taking a deep breath, he prepped himself for any negative reactions.

"Happy isn't lying.,"

The room was silent again.

Erza glared at the floor, debating with herself on what to believe.

"You're in on this too, flame brain?" Gray spoke with a hard, shaky tone. As if he didn't want to believe it at all.

Natsu shares with the others what he shared with Lucy. Heavy silence once again hung in the air.

"We have to tell the guild," Erza spoke with confidence.

"We tell the guild and we find a new way to defeat the kingdom. We may not be able to defeat Zeref but..," Erza paused, again thinking.

Lucy perked up, an idea popping into her head.

"If we can't defeat him.., maybe we can encase him in some trance like he did to the first master!" a bright smile spread across her face at the idea.

The other four members in the room stared at her in surprise.

"You came up with a great plan for once,Luce," Natsu cracked his usual shit eating grin.

A loud smack was heard from the main guild hall as Lucy hit her friend. Giggles in a dark time was bringing hope to the team.

Coming back from the room, the group received expecting looks. The other guild members were waiting to get the answer they wanted.

As Natsu and Lucy grew closer to the crowding area, looks of expectancy turned into confusion. A few members whispered to each other, glancing at the two members of the guild.

Cana slid over to Lucy, draping an arm over her friends shoulders.

"Should we be expecting a wedding invite soon?" Cana grinned at the blond celestial mage.

"Huh?" Lucy tried to back away from her friend in shock, bumping into Natsu. Cana laughed, pointing to the clasped hands.

Lucy followed her friends finger, then followed the arm up to look at Natsu. He peered back at her, not wanting to let go due to the comfort it provided. But if the guild members were going to make a big deal out of it, he'd let go. And he did.