Warning: No 100-Year-Quest spoilers but there are some from the main storyline

The team is on a mission to take down a dark guild trying to resurrect Zeref. Did they not get the memo that the dark mage is gone for good? Even if they could bring him back he wouldn't be interested in working with them to take the lives of others. He wanted to die. He was tired of the world rejecting him and unintentionally killing living beings around him. He was a sad, lonely man who resurrected Natsu, his deceased brother, whom he loved very much and turned him into the ultimate demon in the hopes of being killed by him. Playing God and resurrecting Natsu is why Ankhseram cursed him with the curse of contradiction.

He changed his plans to get his hands on Fairy Heart to travel 400 years into the past and find a way to keep his brother from dying.

Had Zeref succeeded in traveling back into the past, Team Natsu wouldn't be in their current predicament putting their lives on the line fighting off this dark guild.

Had Zeref succeeded, Natsu would have possibly never met Igneel. There would have been no need for the Eclipse Gate which brought the Dragon Slayers to the future. Natsu, Wendy, Gajeel, Sting, and Rogue would already be long gone.

Natsu and Wendy wouldn't have become a part of Happy's, Lucy's, Erza's, or Gray's lives. They wouldn't have become a part of Fairy Tail. Lucy may have never become a part of Fairy Tail since it was Natsu who brought her to the guild.

Gajeel wouldn't be helping his girlfriend Levy bring new life into the world.

What would have happened to the Sabertooth guild without Sting and Rogue?

There would still be enemies to be taken down even if Zeref succeeded. The Oracion Seis had searched for Nirvana, a legendary magic item created by the Nirvits. If there were no Team Natsu, who would have helped the other guilds take down the Oracion Seis? Would they have still succeeded?

Then there is also the Infinity Clock, a magic item and secret property of the Zentopian Church that the Neo Oracion Seis went after. Without Lucy's adventures with Natsu, would she still have collected the keys she did? Would the Neo Oracion Seis still have targeted her? Who would have protected her?

She once said if she hadn't met him and Happy she wouldn't be who she is today.

He looks to the side and watches Lucy take down the enemies in Taurus's star dress alongside Taurus. Would she have grown so much without the chain of events that occurred on their adventures? He's so proud of her with how far she's come.

There's no sense in dwelling on the what-ifs and where everyone would be if Zeref succeeded because the fact of the matter is, he didn't. This is a good thing because not only did nothing have to change, but Natsu's brother finally got the peace he had been wanting alongside the love of his life Mavis.

Zeref was misunderstood and Natsu has had it with these bastards using his brother's name to create chaos in the world.

Natsu had been so lost in his thoughts while taking down the enemies he was facing that he didn't catch the person sneaking up on him. Lucy does though and uses her Floof de toy, her special whip, Natsu can't ever remember how to pronounce it, to coil around the man's neck to pull him towards her. She gives him a Lucy-Kick sending him back to Natsu.

"Heads up!"

Natsu grabs the man by the ankle and swings him around to take down the other enemies before tossing him to the side. She could have just simply knocked the man out, but where's the fun in that? "Nice one Luce!" He receives a thumbs-up from her before she continues to fight. He loves that woman, always has, and needs to get the courage to tell her upfront instead of 'we'll be together forever now', or whatever it was he said before they left for the 100-year-quest. That could also be taken as we'll be together forever as mission partners or friends and that's not what he was trying to say and now he has to be clear.

As Natsu finishes piling up the enemies he fought he hears Lucy scream. He runs to her and stops dead in his tracks, frozen on the spot, with a flashback of future Lucy being killed right in front of him but this time it's the present time Lucy.

Natsu is broken out of his stupor when she begins to stumble, coughing up blood, holding the spot where a dagger is embedded into her rib cage, and stabbed in her right lung.

"LUCE!" Natsu catches her as she falls forward. He gently lays her down on her back on the ground. The man who stabbed her is laughing. "BASTARD!" As quick as lightning Natsu attacks the man with a loud, strong roar. Once he knows the man is down for the count he turns his attention back to Lucy. Wendy is there next to her, but Wendy is off somewhere fighting alongside Erza... Oh, it's Gemini, but Gemini can't open their gate. He kneels by her side and takes her hand in both of his. "Stay with me, Luce."

"Natsu, I-"

"Shhh... Luce it's going to be okay. Gemini-Wendy is here to heal you."

"Natsu-sama, she's low on magic power, I'm not sure how much I'll be able to heal."

Natsu nods, figuring as much, "What do you need me to do?"

"When I say so, take out the dagger."

That's going to cause her so much pain but the quicker Gemini-Wendy can heal her, the better. With shaky hands, one grabs the handle of the dagger, and the other is placed on the side of the wound.

"One, two three," Once Natsu pulls the dagger out, Gemini-Wendy gets to healing Lucy as fast as they can but with Lucy low on magic power they can't heal her lung fully before they poof back to the spirit world.

Natsu places his hands over the wound putting pressure on it, trying to stop the bleeding, "C'mon Luce stay with me."

"Natsu, I l-lo-" When she coughs, blood comes out of her mouth.

The wound won't stop bleeding and Natsu is now kneeling in a pool of her blood. Her breathing is ragged and her eyes begin to droop closed.

"Lucy stay awake. Please. WENDY!"

"I... l-love y-you..." With her last breath, she whispers, "Natsu."

"NOOO! Luce, please wake up. Please."

"Natsu."

It's Lucy, she's saying his name but from where? He hears it again and again. He covers his ears and squeezes his eyes shut.

"NATSU!"

Natsu shoots up in bed, breathing heavily, breaking out in a sweat. He looks to his left and there's Lucy, alive but with a worried look on her face. He lunges at her and wraps her up in his arms. "L-Luce... Y-you..."

Lucy wraps her arms around him and rocks them back and forth, "Shhh... it's okay Natsu, it's okay."

"Y-You d-died and I... I couldn't..."

"But you did Natsu, remember?" Lucy pushes him away slightly and lifts her shirt revealing a scar. "Gemini Wendy was able to heal my lung in time before going back to the spirit world and you cauterized my wound. You saved me Natsu." She pulls her sniffling dragon slayer back into her arms, rocking and soothing him.

It's not the best time but he can't let another day go by without telling her. "Luce?"

"Hmmm?"

Natsu positions them so she's flat on her back and he's over her, cupping her face. "Remember when I said, ''We're always gonna be together now'?"

"Yeah..." Lucy's heart starts beating fast. Is this going where she thinks it is?

Natsu places his forehead on hers, looking down into her eyes, "I meant it in the way that we would be together together, you know as a couple because I love you, Luce."

Lucy cups the side of his face and leans into him to give him a light kiss, "I love you too Natsu."

Natsu gives her a big grin, "Awesome." He swoops down and captures her lips with his.