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Lucy found him on the hill just outside Magnolia.
He was exactly where Happy said he’d be—sitting with his back against a tree, arms draped over his knees, face tilted toward the sky like he was waiting for it to swallow him whole.
He didn’t turn when she approached.
Didn’t move. Didn’t blink. Just sat there, still as stone.
Her boots crunched over dry grass. The wind tugged at the edges of her coat. She stopped a few feet away, arms crossed tightly over her chest, her voice low and steady.
“You weren’t going to tell me.”
Still nothing.
“You were just going to run off and die.”
Natsu’s jaw clenched.
Lucy’s heart pounded, a hot, choked mess of rage and heartbreak pressing up against her ribs. “All that time,” she said, her voice rising, “fighting beside each other. All the things we’ve been through. And you—” Her voice cracked. “You weren’t going to say anything? ”
He exhaled slowly through his nose. “I didn’t want you to know.”
“ Too late. ” Her arms dropped to her sides. “I read the book, Natsu. I know about END. I know what you are.”
Her voice cracked. “I saved you. And you still won’t look at me.”
Natsu’s fingers curled into fists.
She stared at him, willing him to say something. But he didn’t.
So she kept going.
“You think I don’t see it? How you’ve been acting ever since? You barely eat. You pick fights for no reason. You disappear for hours and come back smelling like ash. You don’t sleep. You flinch when people touch you.”
“I’m fine,” he muttered.
“Bullshit.” Her voice was sharp now, hot with fury. “You burned yourself trying to train last week. You didn’t even react.”
He finally looked at her then.
His eyes were tired. Not just physically—but soul-deep. Burnt-out stars behind cracked glass.
“You don’t understand.”
“Then make me. ” Her fists were shaking. “Because I’m sick of being left out of everything. Of being treated like I’m too fragile to handle it.”
He stood slowly, turning to face her fully now, and the pain in his expression was a punch to the gut. “You are fragile.”
“Excuse me?”
“You’re human, Lucy,” he said. “You’re soft. You cry when people die. You forgive people who don’t deserve it. You believe in happy endings.”
“And you don’t?”
He hesitated.
And that was her answer.
Lucy stepped closer. “You were going to let Zeref kill you. You were going to let yourself die, and you weren’t going to say goodbye. You didn’t even give me the chance to stop you.”
“I didn’t want to see your face when I turned into that thing,” he said through his teeth. “I didn’t want to see you look at me like I wasn’t me anymore. ”
Her breath caught.
“I was a demon, Lucy.” he snapped. “Do you get that? A weapon. A monster Zeref made to destroy everything. I could’ve lost control. I could’ve hurt you. I—”
“Then you should’ve trusted me to stop you!” she shouted.
Silence rang in the air like thunder.
He stared at her, chest heaving, hands trembling.
“You think I haven’t seen darkness before?” she said, voice quieter now. “You think I didn’t feel helpless every time you ran toward danger without looking back? Every time you left me behind?”
He looked away.
She stepped even closer. “I watched you throw yourself into battle like you didn’t care if you lived or died. I waited for you to come back every time with my heart in my throat. And I stayed. Because I believe in you. Not in END. Not in some story Zeref told. You. ”
“Stop,” he said softly.
But she couldn’t. Not now.
“You pushed everyone away. But I stayed. I stayed when you scared me. I stayed when you stopped smiling. I stayed when your magic felt wrong and your eyes went hollow and you wouldn’t look at me. ”
“I didn’t want you to see what I’d become—”
“ You idiot, ” she breathed. “I already did. And I still stayed.”
Natsu stared at her like he didn’t know what to do with the words.
So she gave him more.
“You think I cared about some demon inside you?” she said, voice trembling. “You think that’s what matters to me? I don’t give a damn about END. I give a damn about you. You and your stupid scarf and your loud voice and the way you snore and how you always burn the food and how you never know when to shut up—”
“Lucy—”
“—and I love you,” she said, like it hurt. “Okay? I love you, damn it, and it kills me that you didn’t trust me enough to say goodbye.”
Silence.
Then—
Natsu took a step back like she’d punched him.
She felt her breath catch. “I—I didn’t mean to—”
“You did.”
He sounded hollow. Lost.
She didn’t move.
Neither did he.
Then, like a dam breaking, he crossed the distance between them in one breathless second and kissed her.
It wasn’t soft.
It wasn’t perfect.
It was desperate.
Raw. Shaky. Too much teeth. Too much emotion. Not enough time. His hands cupped her face like he was afraid she’d disappear. Her fingers curled into his shirt like she’d been waiting forever.
When they finally broke apart, his forehead rested against hers, and he was breathing like he’d just come back from the dead.
“I didn’t know how to tell you,” he whispered. “I didn’t know if I deserved to.”
“You do,” she whispered back, voice thick. “You always did.”
And that was it.
He crumbled.
No tears at first. Just a sharp inhale. A sound caught in his throat. His shoulders shaking as he buried his face in her neck.
And then he broke.
Right there in her arms, Natsu Dragneel—the strongest mage she’d ever known—shattered like glass under too much weight. He clung to her like a lifeline, like she was the only thing holding him together.
And maybe she was.
She held him tighter. Let him fall apart. Let him sob into her skin like he’d been holding it in for years.
“It’s okay,” she whispered. “You’re okay. I’ve got you.”
And she did.
She always would.
By the time Natsu’s sobs faded into ragged breathing, the sky had started to turn gray with the first hints of dawn. A low mist clung to the grass, and somewhere in the distance, Magnolia was beginning to stir—too far away to touch them, too far to interrupt.
Here, in the half-light, Lucy kept holding him.
Neither of them spoke.
He slumped against her, his forehead still tucked beneath her chin, arms locked tight around her waist like letting go might undo him all over again. His body was warm—too warm—but she didn’t mind. She ran one hand through his hair, slow and steady, the way she might soothe a child after a nightmare.
Except this wasn’t a nightmare.
It was real. All of it.
And still—he’d stayed. He was here.
“I didn’t want to hurt you,” he whispered eventually, voice hoarse. “That’s all I ever cared about.”
“You didn’t hurt me,” Lucy said, brushing her thumb gently along the back of his neck. “But leaving me out did.”
He nodded a little, jaw tight. “I didn’t know what I was going to become. I didn’t know if I’d come back at all.”
She pulled back just enough to look at him. His eyes were red. His cheeks were blotchy. He looked young, somehow. Like the boy who’d dragged her into Fairy Tail all those years ago and never once let go.
“You did come back,” she said. “You always come back.”
He blinked at her. “You sure about that?”
She smiled, soft and small. “Positive.”
He stared at her for a long moment. And then, like he couldn’t help himself, he leaned in again.
This kiss was different.
Slower. More deliberate. Less frantic.
His mouth brushed hers once, twice, then deepened, careful but aching. Like he was memorizing the way she felt. Like he’d wanted this for longer than he’d admit. She kissed him back, one hand curled against his chest, the other still in his hair.
And when they broke apart, their foreheads rested together again, breathing the same air.
Natsu spoke first.
“I don’t know how to be this version of me,” he said quietly. “Without all the anger. Without END.”
“You don’t have to figure it out all at once,” she murmured. “You just have to let yourself feel it. Let yourself heal.”
“I don’t know where to start.”
She reached for his hand and laced their fingers together.
“Start here.”
They stayed like that until the sky bloomed gold and the first real birdsong rang out over the hillside.
Eventually, Lucy tugged him gently toward the tree. “Come on. Sit with me a while.”
They settled beneath the branches, leaning against the trunk, her shoulder pressed to his, hands still linked. Natsu’s head tipped to the side, resting lightly against hers.
The world was quiet again.
But not empty.
Not cold.
Lucy closed her eyes, just for a moment. And when she opened them again, Natsu had gone still beside her—his breathing soft and even, lashes brushing his cheeks. He’d fallen asleep.
Her heart ached in the best way.
He hadn’t slept in days. She’d known it. They all had. But none of them could reach him. Not like this. Not like her.
So she let him rest.
She didn’t move. Didn’t shift. Just kept her hand curled in his and her shoulder against his head and her eyes on the rising sun.
She stayed.
Because if nothing else—after END, after Zeref, after all the grief and destruction and fear— this was still true:
Natsu Dragneel was hers.
Not as a weapon. Not as a monster. Not as a legend.
Just… hers.
And she would remind him of that for as long as it took.