So, umm…it turns out that I had less to tie up than I first thought, so, uh…I've decided to make this an epilogue of sorts instead of a chapter. Sorry, but I really don't need to put in any more content than this—shoving in any more would be completely pointless and redundant. Alright, guys; this is it—the last entry of In The Shadow Of Summer! Let's finish off this monster!

To SilverIce0: Yes…the feels. Believe it or not, I had them, too. :(

To aslMeno: Uhh…okay? ^^; Haha, thanks for liking the story; appreciate it very much. :3 And it's okay, you're not the only one. ;P And no, it's not bad. I'm glad you do, actually—writing Death as a sympathetic character was friggin' hard. I'm happy to see it pay off. This update probably should've been titled Epilogue: Where The Author Destroys Your Feels For Everybody (Except Life, 'Cause He's A Douche). (That actually wouldn't fit the character limit, though. Boo.) XD. And Jellal…he's been doing things…important things. I'll explain…eventually…maybe. ^^; As for Death disappearing forever…well, we'll see. And wow, thank you so much; that means a lot! I don't get compliments like that every day. :'3 And don't worry; I loved your review! I really love your enthusiasm. :3 Here's the update you've waited for!

To treeofsakuras: Aww, thank you! And good, it's supposed to make you wonder. XD And I've been looking forward to showing what Lucy will do at the end. :) Hope you enjoy this one!

To Justice Tokidoki: I mostly talked to you about this already, so I don't feel the need to really mention more, but still, thanks for the review! X3 You are awesome for putting up with me and this story! Epically so!

To NatsuL0ver: Here you go! I'm sorry it took so long; life got in the way! Don't die on me!

Epilogue: The Beginning At The End

Lucy

I crumpled to the ground.

I couldn't help it, exactly—Natsu had gotten so heavy all of a sudden that I couldn't hold myself upright anymore. It had happened completely out of the blue, and I wasn't prepared for the sudden weight—so I dropped like a sack of potatoes.

I yelped in surprise and did my best to avoid hurting myself the best I could when I fell. "What—?"

Jellal reached out a hand in a futile attempt to catch me. "Lucy?" he asked in alarm. "Are you alright?"

I nodded, trying to dispel the shock. "I—I'm fine. But Natsu—he just got so heavy all of a sudden, so I—"

"Heavy?" he repeated, sounding puzzled.

"Y-yeah. I'm not sure what happened, either." I tried to keep my voice as steady as possible as I looked down in concern at Natsu. "Natsu…"

He was silent now—rather, he'd stopped talking. He was still hyperventilating and staring into nothing, and tears were still pouring out of his eyes. Whatever was happening to him, he probably couldn't handle any more of it—he'd been struck dumb.

"Natsu," I whimpered helplessly. "C'mon…snap out of it…!"

"Lucy," Jellal urged gently. "You must end this. Put him out of his misery as he rightly deserves."

I couldn't believe he was saying this to me. I couldn't believe what he was asking me to do like that. I wanted to tell him to stop reminding me about what I needed to do—I already knew.

I just wanted to hold him for a little longer—while he was still breathing. He might've been traumatized. He might've not been all "there"…but still—I wanted to hold him while he was still alive. I knew this couldn't last forever. I wanted to take in this moment, and I never wanted to forget it—for Natsu's sake, and for the sake of the world—because I was about to be the one to end it all.

The thought made fresh tears spring in my eyes again.

One second…five…fifteen…thirty…a whole minute. I finally swallowed the bile that had accumulated in my throat from the countless times I'd suppressed my tears as my fingers closed tightly around the hilt of the dagger buried in Natsu's chest. I couldn't indulge myself anymore.

Natsu was right. It was time for me to grow up.

I'm sorry, Natsu…I'm so sorry…

I shut my eyes tightly and pulled as hard as I could.

Nothing happened at first. The bloody knife was still in my hand. I could feel the hot blood pouring out against my skin and clothes, completely soaking them in dark crimson. Natsu hadn't given any sort of reaction at all—no gasp, no whimper, no yell. Nothing.

Then his rapid breathing cut off in a strangled choke and his entire body began to throb like he was about to go into a seizure.

My heart skipped a beat in a frenzied panic. What was happening? That wasn't supposed to happen, was it?

But just as suddenly as it had started, the throbbing stopped after a moment. Then Natsu—somehow—started breathing again, with much more difficulty this time. It sounded like he was fighting for each breath.

Then he spoke.

"Lucy…"

My heart couldn't take much more of this. It was hurting with every beat now—and these sudden surprises really didn't help that.

"N-Natsu?" I breathed, hardly daring to believe it.

"I knew…I could count on you…" He put his own arms around me, but I could feel them trembling with the effort. "…Thank you…you're…the best…"

I couldn't find the words. "I…"

"It's…okay…" He somehow found the strength to start to pull away from me, placing his hands on my shoulders as a brace. "I'm proud of you…you did great."

He finally managed to detach himself from me, but he couldn't seem to be able to be at arm's length. He raised his head in order to look at me—and he was smiling.

Even after all he'd been through, even after the pain he'd suffered, even in the throes of death…Natsu was still able to find it in himself to smile at me like everything was going to be okay. His chin was bloody from all the times he'd hacked up blood, and his face was deathly pale and covered in nicks and scratches from his scuffle with Death. His expression betrayed exhaustion, relief, gratitude, and pain, so much pain, but…he could still show me a smile.

It was so like him.

Just looking at him made me realize just how drained I was. My own limbs were shaking from the effort to keep me from toppling over. I felt completely battered and worn out, and Natsu noticed.

"You…must be really tired," he murmured. I couldn't remember the last time he'd looked at me so tenderly…this was probably the first time, even. "Try and…get some rest now…I'll be right here…okay?"

I wanted so badly to argue—I didn't want to rest yet. I was afraid of what might happen after I fell unconscious. I wanted to be awake for every minute of this.

But my body refused to get with the program. The moment I heard the word "rest", my eyelids had begun to mutiny and threaten to close on me. I had no energy left to fight it. Somehow, our roles had reversed on us without me noticing.

My fingers loosened around the hilt of the knife that I'd somehow still been holding, and I blacked out before it reached the ground.

Natsu

Thankfully, Jellal caught her before she could fall over onto the cavern floor and hurt herself. I couldn't have caught a cotton ball in the state I was in. I didn't even question why he was suddenly here—it didn't really matter.

After he carefully laid her on the floor (away from all my blood), he turned to look at me, his eyes stormy. I wasn't really sure what to make of his expression, but I got the vague feeling that he was upset with me somehow.

"Natsu," he began, staring at me long and hard, "how…how are you not dead?"

I couldn't muster up enough sarcasm to snap back at him with as I grasped at the hole in my chest, trying to slow the bleeding as much as I could. "Tch…beats me…"

"How is that—?"

"Listen…" I interrupted him. I had to stifle a cough after that. "We…need to talk."

Lucy

My friends were standing over me when I woke up.

I couldn't see them very well at first. There was a bright light obscuring my vision, but shielding my eyes and blinking a couple times cleared it enough for me to recognize my friends' worried expressions.

"Lucy!" Happy wailed, clinging tightly to my shoulder and burying his face in it. "Thank goodness! You're not dead!"

I blinked one more time. "Happy?" I mumbled. "How…where am I?"

"We're outside the Domus Flau," Wendy answered me gently. "Jellal told us he brought you out here. He explained everything that had happened."

"Oh…" I sat up as I massaged my temples, ignoring my friend's attempts at keeping me down. "Umm…how did you guys get here?"

"Jellal contacted me earlier," Erza said. "It took us much longer than we wanted, but we're here now. Just try to rest and get some energy back—we'll head home once you're feeling well."

I was too tired to ask any other questions, and there were tons of them reigning in my head—among them, how had Jellal contacted them, and when? Where was he now? Why were we outside the Domus Flau, of all places?

I was then given an extra shot of energy in my panicked realization as I looked to my friends frantically and asked, "Guys, where's Natsu? Is he still—?"

Gray's firm grasping of my arm silenced me. I looked at him, and my heart skipped a couple beats when I saw that tears were streaming down his face, gritting his teeth in an attempt not to let his emotions burst out all at once. All at once, I knew.

"Natsu's…" His words shook. "He…he's already…"

Only now did I notice that everybody around me had tears in their eyes. Even Erza and Carla's eyes were brighter than usual. Happy was the only one bawling his eyes out. Wendy looked as if she was going to crack any minute herself.

"Natsu is…" Wendy pointed a trembling finger across from me. "He's…over there, Lucy."

Even though I consciously wanted to do anything but look to where she was pointing, my head turned in that direction on impulse. Sure enough, I saw him lying on the ground several feet away.

And I wasn't sure how, but I managed to scramble to his side. None of my friends tried to stop me. Happy even followed me.

"Natsu…" I whimpered, trying my best to hold back the tears. "Come on…this isn't funny! Wake up! Please…!"

There was no response. He didn't even twitch. I reached out to shake him awake, but the minute my fingers made contact with his ice-cold skin, my heart realized the truth that my mind still refused to accept.

Natsu would never wake up. No matter what I did.

But I was still in denial.

"No…" I shook my head furiously, fresh tears springing from my eyes. "No, no, no! How could this happen?! There's no way!"

"Lucy…" Happy sniveled, tugging at my top. "Don't be so upset…Natsu's gonna be sad, too…don't cry, Lucy…"

"But he…" I hiccupped rather ungracefully as I stared at Natsu's face intently, looking for any sign of life. "He promised…he promised me that he wouldn't…but he—he's…not waking up…!" My hands clamped into fists, and I could feel the tiny pebbles digging themselves into my cuticles as I did so—but I didn't care. "How can I…how am I supposed to accept that…that he didn't keep a promise that he made?! I won't believe it!"

"Lucy…"

We all flinched at the voice.

"Who was that?" Gray asked tensely, looking around. "That voice…I didn't just imagine that, right?"

"I heard it, too," Wendy whispered, pressing her small fingers against her temples with wide eyes. "That voice was…it was in my head."

"I, as well," Erza said, looking bewildered. "But that…it almost sounded like…"

"But—" Happy pointed to Natsu frantically. "He—he's right over there! He's not talking! He can't be!"

"…Guys…I'm really sorry…I wanted to avoid this."

I sat up straighter. "That's…that's definitely Natsu!" I cried, my gaze frantically flicking from Natsu to the area around me in search of the source of the voice. "But—but where is—how is he—?"

"I didn't think for a second that it'd be this bad…and I ended up paying for it." Natsu's voice broke slightly. "I learned my lesson the hard way…you can't say no to Death, no matter what."

I could hear my friends gasping at the way he sounded. He hadn't shown this side of him to them before, after all. I could feel the lump in my throat press harder at the sound of it.

"This probably won't be any kind of compensation…but I really am okay now." There was a pause. "And I…I won't be hurting anyone else, ever again. It's all over now…so at least be happy about that."

Gray bowed his head, his shoulders shaking. "Is that idiot insane?" he growled, his words trembling as he did. "How can he expect that out of us now?" He pinched the bridge of his nose. "That moron…!"

"And Lucy…" I started when I heard my name. "I'm sorry I couldn't keep my promise…you're probably mad at me now, aren't you?" I didn't know if he could see it, but I shook my head emphatically. If anything, I was angrier with myself than I was with him. "To tell the truth…I knew I would probably end up breaking the promise that I made with you."

I gasped in spite of myself. My friends looked just as startled.

"What does he mean by that?" Wendy asked nervously.

I wasn't sure I really wanted to know, but Natsu's words kept going without hesitation.

"I really can't explain it, even to myself…but I guess I wanted to give you some kind of hope at the least…now I know that was a mistake. That wasn't fair to you…or me. I…I'm really…really sorry, Lucy…"

The tears wouldn't stop. "Natsu…!"

"Don't cry for me," he continued. "I'm not the one who deserves it. It hurts me, seeing all of you so sad…but I want you guys to smile. Stay strong…keep moving forward…and never look back…that's the Fairy Tail way, right? We're all…proud members of the greatest guild in the world…show everybody what makes us Fairy Tail."

I did my best to wipe away the tears in my eyes. My friends followed suit as Natsu kept talking.

"I'm…really going to miss you guys…" His voice sounded farther away now…fainter than before. "But I need to go to Gramps…and tell him that I'm sorry. So…" His voice kept fading out more and more, until we had to strain our ears just to catch the words. "…Go back home…and tell everybody what happened here…and goodbye."

His voice faded out completely with a poignant echo at the last word. Other than the brisk breeze howling through the cliffs surrounding us and the cawing of birds away in the distance, it was silent.

But misfortune had decided to leave one last gift for us—Natsu's body started turning transparent and began glowing an orange-ish hue. Naturally, the lot of us panicked, because that didn't normally happen to people after they died.

"Wh-what is this?!" Erza cried. "Why is his body suddenly…?!"

"H-hey, this can't be normal," Gray said uneasily. "Dead people don't just start vanishing like that…"

"Maybe it was because…Death had possessed Natsu's body…?" Wendy whispered in horror. "And he…he didn't die a normal death…"

I honestly couldn't care less why this was happening—I just wanted it to stop. Losing Natsu was bad enough. Having his lifeless body vanish right in front of us like this after everything that had happened was just kicking us while we were down. This was too cruel after everything that had happened.

"NO!" I screamed, throwing myself on top of him in a desperate attempt at keeping him from vanishing. "Please, stop! Don't take him! PLEASE!"

I was so caught up in my grief that I didn't realize that his body had become much warmer than before—in fact, I could feel the severe heat burning my exposed skin—until my friends started yelling at me in their worry to let him go.

I had no intention of listening to them. If Natsu was going to vanish from the world, then I was going with him. I had no right to stay alive after breaking such an important promise to him. I wouldn't be able to handle the overwhelming guilt that I could already feel creeping into my heart.

But luck refused to be on my side this time. In mere seconds, I fell right through him onto the ground—and he had disappeared completely by the time I'd scrambled upright again. The heat hadn't damaged me in the slightest—I didn't even have any scorch marks on my clothes.

All of us could do nothing but stare at the spot where Natsu's body had been. Not a trace of him was left but the dried-up puddle of blood—and even that was starting to fade away.

And the ice locked itself firmly around my heart, the setting summer sun casting an ominous shadow over the landscape of Fiore as it vanished over the horizon.

Well, I certainly didn't expect this outcome.

He is definitely an odd human being…not quite like the others.

Of course. If nothing else, he is definitely fascinating.

Still, I am amazed…to think that he would freely decide to choose such a path…

When it comes to human resolve…he has no match. You of all beings should understand this.

Yes…hmph, this boy…is it not unreasonable to believe that he has changed the workings of this universe?

Far be it from me to declare it so. That will does not rest with us.

…A response definitely expected of you.

Naturally. So…what do you intend to do with the boy?

I've yet to decide, to be frank. He's a conundrum, this one. Even after serving as host to me, he is one human being I simply cannot comprehend. I am conflicted as to whether I should take him or relinquish him to you. Considering the choice he made that led him here, either option is available for him…and…

My, my. Is the almighty embodiment of Death suddenly having second thoughts? That's certainly rare. Afraid of facing the consequences of your mistakes?

You…don't behave as if you had none to speak of yourself! Know your place, you pompous fool!

Oh, certainly. I am fully aware of them and have accepted them as my responsibility to bear alone. I will face the consequences in due time. You, of course, I'm not quite so sure of.

…You've certainly developed a sharp tongue during your tenure as a being of sentience, haven't you?

You only have yourself to blame for that, old friend of mine.

…

It seems that there is something you wish to tell me.

…You are clearly aware of this as well. I need not voice it.

…Very well, then…yes, it is definitely a cause for musing. Do you think it to be a likelihood if you do not come to a decision in a timely fashion? It will certainly be intriguing, no matter the route this event sets us on.

Only time will tell if it will come to pass. You…you yourself are a concept so familiar, yet so alien to the humans…what are you truly making of this?

Come, now; you already know that that isn't how I operate, dear friend! I am content to let events unfold as they will, be it for good or ill. What transpires from here on is based entirely on your decision.

…As you will.

THIS IS A FINAL MESSSAGE TO ALL MY READERS, SO PLEASE READ:

…Okay, I lied. You don't get to see my decision until the sequel. I totally got you. *trollface* C'mon, I had to get one last jab in before the end…unless you guessed right on your own. Well, you won't know for sure until the sequel—so there. :P

OH MY GOD. THIS STORY IS OFFICIALLY OVER NOW. I'M SORRY FOR ITS LUDICROUS SHORTNESS. *collapses*

That aside, you guys are insane. I swear to God. This story has been a freaking hate-murder-tank of angst and death, but you guys are STILL HERE at the end. I don't even…seriously, guys. I don't know who's more insane—me for finishing this story, or you for following this story to the end (or if you're new, getting all the way to the end without closing the story in disgust). I guess…we're all insane. Yeah, that's the only explanation.

Anyway…I'm tired, guys. I'm tired of this story. It took over my writing life and refused to acquiesce the whole way. I have three other stories going on (plus two I haven't even posted yet) plus multiple oneshots, and I haven't even touched most of them for practically over a YEAR because of this beast. I'm actually glad that we're at the end…kind of.

Like I mentioned at the beginning of this A/N, yes, that does mean that I'm planning a sequel for this. Gah, why do I do this to myself…anyway, I've already got the general premise down. Mind you, I'm gonna be taking a huge break from this series 'cause I have some serious catching up to do with the rest of my stories, but I will come back…I just don't know when. Watch for that first chapter in the future—it'll come, I promise you. Just wait patiently, 'cause…I've got a lot on my plate. You guys understand, right? …Right? ._.;

One last thing before I say farewell until the sequel…despite what I said earlier, you guys are all awesome and amazing people, each and every one of you. Thank you so much for reading, reviewing, favoriting, and following this utter monster of a story (possibly the darkest in my archives right now) without condemning me too much—to the point of it skyrocketing to its spot as the most popular story in my archives. This story has come a long way, and I'm honored that I had the privilege of sharing this journey with all of you. It wouldn't have been possible without you guys. I love you all. ^^

Also, I'm never doing something like this with any other story I have. Ever. This story alone completely fried my brain.

Well, then…see you guys in the sequel! 'Bye for now, everybody—and thanks again! Remember—this isn't the end! There's more coming!