Alright guys. This is the first epilogue that I promised. This one wraps up the story for those of you who wanted it to end here with its happy ending. If you want the one that sets up for the sequel, feel free to ignore this chapter.

Epic story reader, I hope this satisfies you.

xxxNatsuErzaxxx

A man smiled as he looked upon the towering gates that were the guild's entrance. The name Fairy Tail was proudly mounted above the gate, as well as inscribed into the guild building itself, which now resembled a castle. Even from his spot outside the gate, he could he the pandemonium and commotion the guild's boisterous members were notorious for.

The guild had both changed and remained the same in the time he was gone.

The size of the guild hall had greatly expanding, indicating that Fairy Tail had grown even more popular in the last seven years. But the most notable difference was a new sculpture standing in the center of the courtyard.

It was a statue of a young man. The wide grin on his face almost made him feel real and the extended had felt like he was welcoming you into the guild. A sleeveless waistcoat, opened and untucked, adorned his upper body, and he wore knee length trousers and open toed sandals. Around his neck was a scarf that looked like dragon scales.

The most amazing part however, were the enormous fiery wings curling outward from his spin, poised as if to take flight. It wasn't hard to imagine them as they must have been in real life, blazing wings were the fire shimmered and the colors danced between reds, yellows, oranges, and whites.

Attached to the statue's pedestal was a bronze plaque, meticulously maintained so that it still looked as new and shiny as the day it was put on. It read:

Natsu Dragneel
Son of Igneel
X767-X784
Salamander-the Fire Dragon Slayer
Ten Wizard Saint
Slayer of Acnologia

There was a second more heart felt message beneath it.

Symbol of Courage and Sacrifice: A Hero
He will remain forever in our hearts. Never to be forgotten so long as there are
questions to be answered and mysteries to solve. His will burns in each
member of Fairy Tail, never to be extinguished.

Personally, he liked the second message best. It said more about Natsu's character and how he lived his life than the first one honoring the man's accomplishments.

A slight breeze, carrying with it the scent of the sea, blew through the observer's unusual locks, bright pink and spiky. It had been seven long years since he had been home.

His battle with the Dragon King had severely taxed him. Nastu had drawn on every last drop of his magic and that of the island around him. Even then, it had barely been enough to slay the most fearsome dragon in Fiore.

Natsu had lain, dazed and numb, at the base of Tenrou Tree, the site of the First Master Mavis's grave. It was the largest tree on the island. It stretched towards the sky and its canopy covered nearly the entire island. Its roots reached out even further, crawling beneath the dirt to cover every inch of Tenrou Island, spreading with them the magic that protected each and every member of Fairy Tail.

It was Mavis to who Natsu owed his life.

Slumped at the base of Fairy Tail's sacred tree, suffering magical exhaustion, her incorporeal form appeared before him. He had thought her, young as she looked, to be a figment of his imagination. She had very long, wavy, blonde hair that reached down to her feet with a single lock pointing upwards. Her green eyes were a vermillion color and lacked irises. She wore a frilly, pink layered robe with a red ribbon tied in a bow around her neck. Around the chest were three blue diamond patterns with two blue triangles above, each one outlined in a hot pink. There were wing like adornments around her ears and small hoop earrings. Oddly enough, she was barefoot.

Natsu's hallucination had cheerfully introduced herself as Mavis Vermillion. She knelt by his side, tiny childlike hands gently wrapping around his own. Her young countenance was belied by the serious look in her eyes.

"That was very brave of you, Natsu Dragneel," she had said. "You have done your part. Rest easy now. I will take care of you."

Natsu opened his mouth. To ask how she would do that or she was actually real, he couldn't remember. Then the world went black and he remembered nothing.

The pink haired man had learned, several months later when he recovered from his almost fatal magical exhaustion, that Mavis had used one of Fairy Tail's three most powerful spells, Fairy Sphere, to save him. Tenrou Island had vanished for three days, temporarily freezing Natsu in time, until Igneel arrived.

Igneel had picked up his son's prone and limp body, cradling him in his talons, flown him to the volcanic wasteland in the southwest portion of Fiore. With Grandeeney's help, Natsu had recovered fully from his injuries.

The healing process had taken seven long years. Natsu had been overjoyed to have finally reunited with his father, but he knew that he had to return to Erza.

He had abandoned her once, taking her place in the tower of heaven and sacrificing himself so that she may live. He had seen how much his death had destroyed her, and Natsu could only imagine how much worse she was now. Seven years was a lot longer than two months.

And now, after being away for so long, Natsu was finally home.

The fire dragon slayer turned away from the guild. As much as he longed to throw himself back into the chaos that was his family, he owed it to Erza to talk to her first.

So the pinkette made the trek to Fairy Hills, home to the majority of Fairy Tail's female members. He whistled a jaunty tune; absentmindedly wonder how many rooms she rented to house her collection of armor and weapons. She had five seven years ago; one that she actually lived in and four for storage, but she must have accumulated more armors in these seven years.

He snickered at the thought. Maybe she had so many that she had to rent out all the rooms at Fairy Hill. Natsu could see her, scarlet hair whipping about madly with fire raging in her eyes, as she forcefully asked the other members to relocate so that she may have their rooms.

And most of the guild was so afraid of her that they would do it in a heartbeat.

Natsu walked unhindered through the front doors, navigating his way through the unfamiliar halls without incident. All he needed to do was follow the bond that connected him and his mate.

He hesitated outside. What would she look like after seven years? Was she still waiting for him or had she moved one, truly believing him to be dead this time? How hard would she hit him for taking so long to come back to her?

The door in front of him was thrown open violently from within. A red headed blur grabbed him by his waistcoat and dragged him inside, proceeding to tackle him to the floor. Natsu spat out a mouthful of hair.

She clutched at him, pressing her face into the crook of his neck. "Welcome home, Natsu."

Natsu blinked once. He had expected Erza to rage at him, to scream and beat him up and threaten to dismember him if he ever thought about leaving her again. His arms came up to wrap around her and she melted into them, letting him support her.

"I'm home, Erza. For good this time. We'll never be separated again."

xxxNatsuErzaxxx

Natsu did not make it to the guild that day. Instead he spent the time in Erza's rooms, reconnecting with the woman he loved.

They went to the guild together. His second return from the dead was very similar to the first. Several people cried (particularly Happy, Lucy, Lissana, and Makarov) and Gray threatened to freeze him in a block of ice and store him in the kitchen's freezer so that he couldn't do anything stupidly noble again.

Romeo had challenged him to a fight. But that was after he had finished crying and blubbering that he had always believed Natsu to still be alive out there somewhere. Cana had punched him, hard, for essentially throwing her into the ocean and forcing her to leave him to fight Acnologia alone, and then hugged him equally as hard and said she was glad he was back.

The mages that had joined the guild after the mishap of the S-class trials stared at him in unconcealed awe and admiration.

And then they proceeded to party, well into the next day.

xxxNatsuErzaxxx

X-801 Ten years later

At the age of thirty-three, Natsu's deepest desire had come true.

He and Erza had had a horde of children that were a perfect mix between the two of them. Red headed boys that that had their mother's skill fighting with weapons, and pink haired girls that learned the art of Dragon Slayer magic from Igneel.

The dragons that had vanished without a trace in the year X-777 had returned from their self-imposed exile. Igneel was a big part of their family. Just like the dragon had raised Natsu, he had a hand in raising Natsu and Erza's children, who all viewed him as their grandfather.

There were six in total so far. Erza had claimed their most recent daughter was their last, but she had said that for every child since their third. Taken captive and forced to labor to build the Tower of Heaven, Erza wished for a large family as much as he did.

Natsu was very happy with his life now. He had learned the truth about Igneel's disappearance and his father back. And now he was surrounded by his family.

He kissed his wife, who kissed back even though she was sleeping. Brown eyes stared at him sleepily. "Morning, Natsu. I have a surprise for you," she mumbled.

Natsu grinned and let her share the news that she was pregnant again. He had known about the baby well before she did, thanks to his enhanced sense of smell, but he would never let her know that.

His grin turned mischievous. "I told you there would be more."

She smacked him in the chest. "Don't be so cocky."

"Never, dear."

She snorted. "Liar. The children get that from you, you know."

"And they get their stubbornness from you," he answered. "So, when's the next one due?"

"July."

Natsu kissed her deeply. The intimate moment was interrupted by a stampede of little feet as the children came in. Amidst the chaos that was their children giggling and shrieking and jumping up and down on his bed, Natsu smiled satisfactorily.

His life couldn't be any more perfect. He had never regretted his choice to give up his life for Erza, all those years ago, but now, looking at the result of that decision, Natsu was glad he had done it.