Guys…USHA is coming so close to ending that I seriously wanna cry whenever I think about working on it.

Is this what J. K. Rowling felt like when she put the final flourish on her Harry Potter manuscript? This bitter feeling of losing a child that you've put so much of your heart and soul into that you just don't know what will happen after you're done?

Okay. A little overdramatic, but I'm half-serious. Just thinking that USHA is almost over…wow. Just…wow.

ANYWAY. Can anyone guess what today is? July 24, 2012, of course, but also…exactly one year since the beginning of this story. And so I want to use this moment to say a huge, emotional thank you so freaking much to everyone who's been with me and Lucy from the start of this story and to those of you who joined us for the ride! And for anyone who's reading this after it's done…thanks for giving us a chance.

Without any further ado, before I make myself turn into a mass of emotional goo at the thought that oh my gosh USHA is going to end in three chapters and I don't wanna let it go!, let's just get on with chapter 18, or the third installment of the Epilogue.

Enjoy.

I thought it would be hard to sleep after the brief scare I'd had. Had Natsu heard me, or had he not? Had he misunderstood it if he had heard it, or was he hiding it so things didn't grow awkward between us? The thoughts, though, didn't bother me much once I had pushed them out of my head. Natsu was halfway back to the old Natsu I remembered and I felt I was one step closer to being the Lucy that he remembered. And maybe somewhere, Gray and Erza were closer to their old selves, too. The thought cheered me somewhat, and so I calmed down considerably.

Natsu and I chatted amiably about this and that around the fire. I heard several stories about Romeo and how strong he'd become and the little crush he'd told Natsu about. I wasn't exactly surprised to hear that the young fire mage had a crush on the youngest dragonslayer Fairy Tail had to offer—they were about the same age and I had always imagined they'd be cute together. I also heard an interesting story about Laki and Warren, which made my jaw drop. Natsu had to repeat himself four or five times before I could fully comprehend the fact that the two were married. How in Earthland that couple had come to be, I didn't know, but finally I started laughing and Natsu joined in.

It seemed like hard times for the guild brought people together. It was just like Bisca and Alzack…and it was the same with my departure. Gray wouldn't tell me much about his new relationship with Juvia, but Natsu was all too happy to oblige and explain that they had been practically dating for two years now, although it had only really become official in the last eight months. And that was how I'd learned that my planned attempt at matchmaking for that particular duo wouldn't be needed. I was happy for the two of them, because I had seen it coming for a while and also simply because they made an absolutely adorable couple.

Learning these little tidbits about my former nakama made me feel like I knew them again; it was almost like I had never left.

And since our conversations had been so lighthearted and easygoing, I didn't have any fears about what Natsu may or may not overheard me say. As soon as I turned in for the night, my eyelids drooped and I fell into a comfortable, restful sleep.

Natsu was glad no complications had arisen in their campfire talk that night…especially when he brought up Romeo's crush and Laki and Warren's marriage and Gray and Juvia's relationship. It was kind of stupid of him to bring that up when he'd heard her confess to herself just two hours ago that she loved him, but thankfully nothing came of that.

Or was it unfortunate that nothing had come from his explanations of relationships in the guild during her absence?

Dammit, Natsu, you're supposed to be happy with being friends for now, he scolded himself, casually reaching into the fire and picking up a burning log as he saw the blonde celestial mage through the window of the cabin, settling into her comfortable bed to rest up. He watched as her chest rose and fell and he knew the instant she was truly asleep by how her breathing grew slow and even.

Diverting his gaze, the dragonslayer munched on the fire at the end of his log. Since he'd made the fire with flint rather than his own abilities, it was perfectly safe for him to eat it and it wouldn't make him sick. Not that he would have cared that he would get sick if he had really wanted to eat some fire…and besides that, nothing could make him feel worse than eating Etherion that one time. He shuddered at the memory before his eyes once more found their way to the peacefully sleeping blonde girl in the cottage.

With a sigh, he discarded his still burning morsel halfheartedly. When he felt like this, he couldn't concentrate on anything and it didn't even make him feel better to eat his favorite fire. His mind was a roiling mass of what ifs and maybes that he couldn't sort out just yet for fear of what he'd do if he did.

"This is gonna be hard," he whined a little to himself, kicking the kindling in the fire to spread it out and make the flames die down a little. Natsu really didn't know how long he'd be able to keep himself in check, even though he knew it was too soon to show her how he felt. They had barely been reacquainted for half a year, if he included when they'd first met her as Layla Heart, so it was far too early for him to decide he was head over heels for her. Even if I know it's true, he added silently with another wistful little sigh.

When he was satisfied that the fire would go out shortly, he made his way back to the cabin he and Lucy were sharing—oh, how some of the grannies in the city would look down on them right now for being unmarried young adults of opposite genders and already living together!—and quietly slipped inside through the open window. He was used to sneaking in that way. Once in, he simply stripped off his vest and sandals, hung his scarf on the head of his bed, and slid under the covers.

Even with his back to Lucy, he wondered if he'd be able to sleep nearly as easily as she.

And as it turned out, his fears were absolutely groundless because it wasn't ten minutes before the pink-haired dragonslayer also drifted off to sleep.

When I woke up in the morning it was too Natsu's voice calling from just outside the window nearest my head.

"Luce! You'd better get up now if you want breakfast before that dragon woman comes and forces you to start training!"

I blinked, and the first thought that came to mind was a vague curiosity about when Natsu had started using the term 'dragon lady'. It made me grin a little before I yawned so widely my jaw popped. I winced, rubbing the affected area as I slowly sat up. A quick glance around the meager furnishings in the cabin reassured me that I was still in the little building near Porlyusica's house in the forest outside Magnolia.

"All right," I said to him, motioning for him to shoo away from the window sill he was leaning on with a silly grin splashed across his features. "Now go away so I can get changed, you pervert!"

"I'm not a pervert," Natsu huffed, playing the insulted one.

"Yeah, yeah. Just go make me something yummy for breakfast…pretty please?" teasingly, I batted my eyelashes at my favorite pink-haired nakama. He turned a little more quickly than I expected him to, and I was about to ask if something was wrong when he spoke in his normal voice.

"All right! I'll make sure it's extra delicious!" he pumped a fist in the air and his next line made me cover my mouth quickly to stifle the giggle. "I'm all fired up!"

After letting myself giggle it all out, I continued to grin as I shook my head. Even at twenty-two, the dragonslayer was just as childish as he'd ever been once we got over the initial awkwardness between us. And even though I call it awkwardness, there really wasn't much wrong at all. For the first two days or so, while I was still recovering a little, we hadn't known how to talk to each other. But then somehow we'd just clicked again, just like that first time in Hargeon. And I was so glad for how easy it was to get along with him.

Shaking my head, I rooted through my drawers to find a pair of denim shorts and a tank top for the day. I stepped into a corner, mostly out of the sight of all the windows save one, and quickly changed. I hooked the keys of my celestial spirits to one side of my belt and my lovely whip to the other side. My attire for the day was set—now I just needed to spend two or three minutes on fixing my hair, and I'd be set for another day of torture at the hands of the fiercest slave driver I've ever come in contact with.

That's unfair, Lucy! I mentally scolded myself. Porlyusica was just helping me, so it wasn't right of me to think so rudely of her. Perhaps I'd also reprimand Natsu for referring to her as a 'dragon lady'…?

Nah, it was simply too amusing to bother correcting his manners.

Raising my arms above my head to stretch as I stepped out of the door, I called to Natsu, "So what's for breakfast, hotshot?"

The words slipped out, and as soon as I had let them slip I realized that they might have had a flirtatious undertone. I proceeded to strangle myself mentally as I plastered a grin on my face, waving at the pink-haired man when he turned to look at me.

Why on earth did I call him 'hotshot'? I asked myself furiously, feeling the back of my neck grow exceedingly warm. Thankfully it wasn't spreading to my cheeks…but still. I was partially mortified that I'd let myself slip so badly. It was early in the morning, granted, and I'd only just been woken up by Natsu, but that still didn't give me the leeway to make such a huge mistake! I'd been doing so well at keeping my feelings locked inside and I didn't need to inadvertently let them slip through careless little comments like that!

"Eggs and bacon and toast," he replied easily, and his voice drew me out of my little self-loathing session.

"Sounds good," I said, flopping down on the ground next to the fire pit.

"You're gonna get all dirty, Luce, and it's just six-thirty in the morning."

"The only people I'm gonna see are you and Porlyusica," I mumbled, stretching out on the grass. "It doesn't matter if I've got some grass or dirt on my butt if I'm only going to be around you guys."

Natsu chuckled a bit, and then said something I wasn't sure I wanted him to say…but I also wasn't sure if it was a bad thing, either.

"You've changed, Luce."

"H-how so?" I asked, slightly nervous. Did he not like how I'd changed; that is to say, had I changed for the worst? Would our friendship start to crumble, just as I'd feared from the very moment of our reunion? Was there something I had said or done to offend him and make him lose trust in me? Was he going to tell me that I wasn't the same Lucy he remembered, after all?

"You…you used to be so concerned about your appearance, no matter where you were," Natsu seemed like he was choosing his words carefully. "It didn't matter where you were going, either. You just had to look your best. But now…now you don't seem to care as much. It's…different. But it's really nice. You don't have to dress up for anyone, Luce. Isn't it better to just be yourself?"

Groundless. My fears had been stupid and completely and utterly groundless. I beamed at him.

"You're exactly right, Natsu," I said, turning my eyes back to the leafy foliage above me. "But that's just something about us girls you haven't figured out yet. Even if guys say they don't care what we look like, or that it's better for us to be ourselves…we still like to show off a little by looking our best. But…I guess you're right. I don't care as much about that as I used to."

"You're fine just like you are," Natsu said, almost childishly, and I couldn't help but grin.

"If you say so," I consented, sitting up slowly as the smell of almost done bacon reached my nostrils.

"I do," he nodded firmly, passing a plate of bacon towards me and keeping another for himself. He cast a little half-grin in my direction that made my chest feel all fluttery again, but I forced myself to just smile back. It really wouldn't do for me to let him know I liked him so soon after I'd come back.

And with that, we tucked into our breakfast, the eggs deposited on the plates by Natsu a few short moments into the meal.

"Call out your spirits."

"What?" I looked up at the woman. She was wearing the calculating stare that she had always worn. It wasn't softened by pity or remorse—maybe it was even hardened by determination…or disgust. And it's not that I hadn't heard what Porlyusica had said. It was just that she had surprised me by saying something like that so suddenly for the first time in the several weeks I had been in her care.

"You heard what I said," her voice had a no-nonsense edge to it. "Call out your spirits. All of them."

"All of them...?"

"Are you trying to kill her, you crazy old hag?" the fire dragonslayer who had watched our exchange silently—although I knew he must have been fuming at Porlyusica's insinuations that I wanted to die—finally spoke again, leaping from his perch in the branches of his tree. It was the first time in a few weeks that Natsu had dared to speak up against the older woman during one of my training sessions with her. He knew she was doing all this in my best interest, but he and I both knew that calling so many spirits out would surely spell suicide for any normal mage…but then I realized that I wasn't exactly 'normal', having survived Magical Overflow for so long…

"No."

The simple answer made the dragonslayer bristle a little, but he was close enough that I could place my hand on his arm and I did just that, shaking my head at him. He stared at me for a minute with a more mature gaze than the Natsu I had known almost four years ago and it made my heart flutter in ways completely unrelated to the excessive heat and the exhaustion I felt. My face burned and I just motioned for him to back up while taking my hand off his arm.

Natsu did as I had gestured for him to, and I was secretly thankful. In the two weeks since he'd been very close to hearing my confession, I'd been getting flustered around him a bit too often. This was one of those instances, so I was happy that he trusted my judgment enough to back up when I had motioned for him to do so.

"Just call them all out, right?" I asked, reaching to the loop at my belt.

"Yes."

"Zodiac, or silver, too?"

"Start with the silver keys and work your way up."

"Yes, ma'am," I obediently reached for the key that would summon Plue. Since returning to Magnolia in the last few months, I had called each of my spirits out separately to apologize for what I had done, and Plue had been one of the hardest. He had probably become accustomed to being summoned to walk to the guild or back from the guild almost every day, so when I just suddenly stopped summoning him it must have been hard for him. I never knew what he was thinking…but I liked to think I had some kind of bond with him just like I had with all the others.

Before I was even aware of what I had done, Plue was standing at my feet, cocking his head at me.

"Pu-puuuun?"

I knelt down and patted his head for a moment, smiling and greeting him, before standing and calling out Horologium.

It took no time at all for me to have all of my silver spirits gathered around me and, to my surprise, there weren't any adverse effects. I didn't feel lightheaded or queasy and I didn't even feel like my magic was depleting at all.

"Keep going," Porlyusica spoke up for the first time since right before I'd summoned Plue, and so I reached for Libra next.

I called out Libra, Pisces, Taurus, Capricorn, and Cancer out in quick succession before I realized that the flow of my magical power was ebbing just slightly. A quick glance at Porlyusica wasn't enough to determine whether she had noticed or not, but I paused after Cancer appeared to take a few deep breaths. If this was the long awaited solution to my problem, I would feel like such an idiot. If just calling my spirits out was enough to keep my magical power down to manageable levels, I should have attempted it long ago. Instead, I had feared that trying to call too many of my spirits out would make me weaker and would harm rather than help my condition.

"Open, Gate of the Virgin," I finally started, the gold key in my hand. I dragged it diagonally through the air in front of me, "Virgo!"

"What is my punishment, Princess?" the pink-haired maid bowed her head and I couldn't help but laugh.

"That's enough useless prattle. Stand aside for now, Virgo," the healing woman intervened and when Virgo looked to me, I nodded to show her my agreement. She bowed and stepped over to Capricorn's side as I called out Sagittarius, Gemini, Scorpio, Aquarius (who I was able to summon without a nearby source of water, which was pretty awesome), and Aries. Finally, there was only one left. He was the one I'd hurt the most but he was probably still my most loyal Zodiac spirit.

"What are you waiting for?" Porlyusica snapped, "Call the last one out."

I closed my eyes, taking a deep breath before decisively dragging the little golden key through the air.

"Open, Gate of the Lion," I began, voice growing stronger as I got nearer to the end, until the final word came out in a confident, loud voice, "Leo!"

Before my eyes, which I had opened upon finishing the incantation, the orange-haired spirit materialized, bowing to me. When he lifted his head I realized that he still hadn't replaced the glasses that had been broken when he'd attempted to protect me from one of my Overflow attacks. I didn't know why I hadn't noticed that the last several times he'd been out, but I hadn't and it made me feel like a horrible celestial mage.

"At your service, Princess," he smiled toothily and I just sighed. He truly didn't hold any hard feelings toward me, after all.

"You did it, Lucy!" Lyra piped up, beaming at me. "You called all of us out!"

Yeah, I realized a bit belatedly, I did, didn't I?

I jumped at a touch on my shoulder, jerking my head to find that it was only Porlyusica. Her glare of concentration was fixed on her features and I deduced that she was examining the flow of my magic power. She nodded to herself and after a few moments, she stepped away.

"Well?" Natsu demanded, stepping back up beside me.

"Your magic levels are quite manageable now, I believe?" Porlyusica addressed me, and I nodded once, sharply. "Yes, it's as I thought. However, despite your immense magical power, they can't remain out of the spirit realm indefinitely. They need to rejuvenate themselves every now and then, you see."

"Yes…?" I trailed off, not quite certain what she was going to say next.

"Keep three of your zodiac spirits summoned at a time," Porlyusica pointed a finger at me threateningly. "Keep them out for one month rotations. If one gets hurt on a job, let another spirit come out and take their place for the remainder of the shift. Understand?"

"Yes," I nodded quickly this time. I was starting to like the direction she was taking this discussion.

"In a fight, do not rely solely upon them," the older woman continued, "but use the whip techniques you've practiced here in the last three months. And another thing I think is essential…" she trailed off briefly but spoke up again soon enough, "is that Leo should be out for three months at a time and rest for one month. He has much more stamina than the others and I'm sure this is how he would prefer it, too."

"You're quite insightful, granny," Loke said, smirking. I sighed—he was just as disrespectful as Natsu. It was no longer the two got along as well as Natsu and Gray did.

"Yes, I know," Porlyusica didn't take any offense to Loke's rudeness at all. Maybe it was because she had quite the rude streak of her own. "Also, Lucy, I want you to make sure you have every one of your spirits out at the same time at least once a month for a day or so. I believe that using this technique, you will be able to control the amount of magic you have and your attacks will cease."

I was still slightly in shock at the fact that she'd used my real first name rather than calling me "girl" or "human" or something similar.

"Do you understand?" the question was sharp.

"O-of course!" I piped up instantly, feeling like a child who had just been scolded. Loke looked at me with a knowing smirk and I scowled at him. I spotted another smirk on Aquarius' face and quickly concocted a plan to make sure that her first shift was on a separate one from her boyfriend's. That would teach her.

"Good. Then go rest and eat and bathe and whatnot, get a good night's sleep, and get out of my hair tomorrow morning."

My eyes widened in disbelief, and the hitch in Natsu's breath indicated that he was surprised, too.

"Wait, you mean we get to go home?" he asked incredulously.

"You could have gone home at any time," Porlyusica sniffed, her nose in the air, "but yes, it means that you can go back to Makarov. Mavis knows he's been fretting constantly about when you would be free to go home."

"Yes!" Natsu cried, jumping in the air in triumph.

Before I really knew what was happening, I was spinning in a circle, held in the air by the pink-haired man. I squealed in protest for a moment before I burst out laughing. I laughed so hard that tears came to my eyes, and then some. Natsu had to set my feet back on the ground before he dropped me when his relieved laughter started, too. I flung my arms around his neck and he hugged me back. All the feelings running through me were further charged by the proximity of the dragonslayer, but I knew enough to know it still wasn't the time. I stepped back and took a deep breath, trying to recover from my laughter.

"Yes. Well. I will see you when you leave in the morning," said the elder woman as she strode back toward her house. I had the strangest urge to run up and hug her, but I decided to save that until tomorrow where I would have an excuse to run like hell as soon as I was done.

"You did it, Lucy," Loke's voice came from behind, and I sheepishly remembered the celestial spirits that stood behind me. The orange-haired man put a hand on my shoulder then, grinning down at me. "Great work."

"Has Princess decided upon Virgo's punishment yet?" the maid asked stoically. "As a gift for your accomplishment, you can punish me however you wish, Princess."

"No, no, no!" I waved my hands vigorously. "You're not getting any punishments, Virgo!"

"As you wish," she bowed her pink head and then stepped forward to hug me, which came as a surprise. "I suppose I shall just have to tell you congratulations."

"Yeah!" Gemini's two parts chorused in unison, bouncing up and down happily.

Many of my spirits voiced their agreement, and I beamed proudly at them.

"It's all because of you guys," I said, "All of you, and Porlyusica, and Fairy Tail, and Natsu…thank you!"

And then the relieved laughter was back.

I'm finally going home! For real, this time…and hopefully for good!

Oooh, I'm so mean. I get you just over 4000 words…and then I leave it here. HAHAHAHA.

Anyway, I typed this from 11PM on July 23 to 1:40 AM on the 24th…so you guys better love me! If it's good, that is. XD And if there are any typos I would really love to be informed of them. Haha.

Happy Anniversary, USHA. I'm gonna miss you when I finally finish the next two chapters.