Archive of Our Own

WISHFUL PROMISE

This was a moment she had dreamed of for a while, honestly, what a lot of people had, but for her, it was even more special. She recalled so vividly that promise that they had made to each other when Fort Lamia had fallen, it was such a shocking disaster and seemed to turn the tides of the war in their enemy’s favor. The Dragon Corps and the Spirits Corps camps were close enough that they were sharing tents and provisions. At the time, they were suffering, because provisions were scarce, and she remembered making her way into the Dragon Corps’ general’s tent to discuss strategies. They were both rather newly appointed generals, and she was shocked when she heard the new rank that she was given. It felt like a weight on her shoulders that she wasn’t ready for. General Belserion’s shoes were too big for her to fill, how could she lead troops with the confidence that she had. While she had held her position for longer than the new Dragon Corps’ general, it was only by half a year, and he took command much more readily than she had.

He was so focused on the maps that day, biting at the back of the fountain pen, and as a result piercing his fangs into it by accident. She had sighed, pulling up a chair to the table, and gently pulling the pen out of his hand. He looked up at her, and those slitted eyes instantly dilated, looking more like his Aq Bar’s. Happy lay sleeping behind him, his body purring as one of his hands was dropped beside him making circles on the top of his cat’s head.

“You’re stressing out.” She sighed.

He groaned, “Lucy, this is just… I didn’t think that Fort Lamia would fall like that, General Neekis was so strong, how could he let the fort fall like that?”

She sighed, grabbing his hand, and massaging it, watching the scales that had sprouted in his stress slowly disappear again, “I’m stressed out, too, but… we’re generals now, the soldiers are looking to us for a plan.”

He lifted her hand up, stretching her arm across the table, pressing her palm to his face. He closed his eyes tightly, and inhaled. She watched as his appearance slowly began to revert back to a more human form, with the exception of the wings on his back, they shrunk in size, but couldn’t completely disappear. She was grateful for that, honestly, they were really beautiful. Some of her soldiers had been discussing which dragon-kin’s wings were the most beautiful, and there were people claiming that First Lieutenant Redfox’s wings were, with their metallic look. Others claimed Lieutenant Marvel’s were, with their feathery appearance, but she felt like the most beautiful had to be General Dragneel’s, but then again, she may be biased, since she had a massive mutual crush on him.

“Lucy…” He muttered, lowering her hand from his face, and gently holding it with both hands, he played with her ring finger, before continuing, “When do you think this war will end?”

She shrugged, “We’re all hoping for soon.”

“They’re gaining ground.”

“The ice wall hasn’t fallen yet.”

“You’re right. We’re going to win.” He sighed, and looked up at her, “It’s just a matter of time until they realize the true strength of those from Fort Fairy Tail.”

She nodded. It was a shame, honestly, because despite there being a decent number of high ranking soldiers currently from their fort, Fort Fairy Tail had fallen a while ago, sadly, it was after they all were assigned to their corps and started to fight on the front lines that their fort fell. Luckily First Lieutenant Macao, who was in charge of the fort, hadn’t passed, but they did end up relocating all of the survivors, bringing them to one of the safe zones, being behind the giant ice wall that the General of Defense was keeping in place in front of their largest stronghold. Many people now refer to that base as Fairy Tail, but in reality, it’s truly just Magnolia, a stronghold that once housed a few small forts, and many families of Fort Fairy Tail soldiers did live there. Hers hadn’t. They had their own land, enough of it to be considered a whole town, but by the time she was drafted into the war, her mother had passed, and her father did, too a few years later. Natsu, though, General Dragneel, had lost his family before she even met him, with the exception of Igneel, who was his dragon sergeant, for his first year of training, and ranked up to General of the Dragon Corps not long after. She wasn’t too sure on how the ranking system worked for the Dragon Corps, just that it was a bit different than her own, and other corps.

“You haven’t gotten fired up, yet, have you?” she teased.

He shook his head, and dropped his gaze back to her finger that he was playing with, “Hey, Lucy…”

“Yes?” She asked, following his gaze.

“When the war ends…” He gripped her hand tightly, and pulled it closer, “Let’s get married.”

She blinked, she felt her eyes burning. How could he speak so confidently like that? She knew she had been the one trying to cheer him up, but his confidence rose to another peak. It was as if he felt like it was guaranteed that the war was going to end, and that the both of them were going to survive. Yes, if the two of them are still alive when the war ends, “Okay. Let’s get married.”

He smiled, and stood up from his chair, startling Happy, and let go of her hand with one of his hands, carefully, but quickly cupping the back of her head with his hand, pulling her closer, and capturing her lips in his. That was their first kiss, and despite the huge threat that had hovered over them at the time, and despite her being startled on how to kiss someone with as sharp fangs as he had without cutting her lips, she wouldn’t trade that warm moment for the world. He proposed to her, jumping steps, and she agreed, wholeheartedly. He was so hopeful, and she wanted to know how he was able to do something like that, be that strong. This was why he was a general, and this was why she loved him.

Now, though, was that moment that she had been waiting for. The war… it was over! Or at least, it would be, soon. They had somehow managed to bring the fighting to a stop, after the ice wall had been breached, and the Secretary of Defense from their side was talking with whoever was in charge on the other side about talks of peace. Today marked the day that they were meeting to sign the peace treaty, and she was forever grateful. Everyone was returning from their camps, back to their respective homes. The ice wall was also being properly repaired. The Chairwoman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff didn’t want to take down the ice wall until the peace treaty was properly signed, and both sides showed that they were following through with it. She understood that, she was a master strategist for a reason after all.

Her family home was mostly destroyed during the times of war, so she didn’t exactly have a proper place to return home to herself, but she was in front of this cabin in the mountains hoping that that promise wasn’t empty, and that he wouldn’t hate it if she showed up here, knocking on his door. Peace was something everyone was hoping for, and she wanted to spend all of her days of peace with this man. That’s why she agreed to marry him, after all. She hauled her suitcase to her side, wondering why it seemed heavy when she had basically just clothes and a few books in it. It was basically all of her belongings, or at least, all of the ones that she truly cared about, the ones that had been in her tent during the war. Granted, it probably would have felt a lot lighter right now if it weren’t for the fact that she had climbed up a dirt trail that was covered in rocks and weeds to get to this little cabin. She knocked on the door.

“Hello?” she knocked again.

There was a clamber of things, the sound of something falling, and tons of curses, before the door opened, and she was face to face with the man that she had shared that passionate kiss with. “Lucy?” he asked, looking around, as if to see if she came with anyone else. His eyes dropped down to her suitcase, and back to her face, “What are you doing here? Did you get lost?”

She shook her head, and peered over his shoulder, which he immediately hid whatever was behind him with his wing, “No.” She pulled her suitcase around, as if to show it to him, “My place got destroyed in the war.”

His eyes widened, “Oh. I’m sorry.”

She shook her head, pushing her suitcase forward, “It’s not your fault, it’s the war’s fault.”

“Yeah, but I’m sorry I couldn’t protect it.”

She smiled, “My mother’s and father’s graves are still intact, don’t worry.”

“Still…” He sighed, “I still couldn’t protect it.”

She shook her head, “It’s not your fault. Besides, my father put a lot of pressure on me back when I lived there.”

He leaned against the doorframe, “So, where ya gonna live now? Want me to help you find a place?”

Was he serious? She pushed her suitcase forward again, bumping it against his legs. He looked down at it, before back up at her, waiting for her answer. “You… you didn’t forget you proposed to me, right?”

“No, how could I forget that?” he asked, “But where are you going to stay? Levy will probably let you stay at her place with her… I’m sure. Oh!” He snapped his fingers, standing up straight, “Cana’s place. Since she’s currently MIA, I’m sure you could crash her pad.”

She pushed her suitcase forward again, pressing it against his legs, “Actually, I was hoping that…”

He grabbed her suitcase from her and pushed it aside, “Wanna go check it out? I heard it’s pretty spacious.”

She grabbed her suitcase again, and slid it between the two of them, “And… What's wrong with me staying with you?” She looked up at him, a bit nervous to see his reaction.

His eyes went wide, and he looked behind him, before back at her, “Me? You want to stay here? Why?”

“Well, because you’re here.”

“Yeah, I get that, but this place is small, and cramped, it’s not like your old place.”

Lucy shook her head, “But you’re here.”

He looked behind him again, before back to her, “Well… yeah, but, I can just fly down the mountain, but you’d have to climb down it all the time, and-”

“So that’s why the trail is way too overgrown. It seemed a little too non-existent, even after being at war for years.”

“There’s a trail?” he asked.

She knocked her knuckles against his forehead, “There was dumbass, took me a while to climb up here.”

He looked behind her, “Ah, oh, well…”

“So,” she pushed her suitcase forward with such force, that he stepped aside so that it wouldn’t bruise his knees. She watched as it tumbled into his house, its wheels failing it on the uneven floors. “I’m staying here.”

“We’re not married yet, though.” Natsu replied, staring down at her suitcase.

“And? We’re going to be, soon. Sergeant of Defense Makarov is meeting with the enemy today to sign the peace treaty.”

He nodded, “Yeah, I heard.”

“So, let’s stay here.”

“What?”

“Not forever,” she stated, pushing past him to walk into his cabin, “just until I get approval for us to move into the housing that I applied for.”

He stopped her from going in any further with his wing, “Move in, together?”

“Yes,” she replied, “That’s what married couples do, right? Move in together, start a family, you know?”

He blinked, “Well, yeah, I know… wait, housing?”

She nodded, “Yeah, I applied for housing. They’re gonna be building new homes in the town, and I applied for one of the ones that are going to be built into the mountain side, thinking of you.” She smiled, “It’s even gonna have a large, spacious closet, so that you don’t get cramped with these.” She gently grabbed the wing that was in front of her.

“What about Happy?”

“There’s gonna be space in the backyard for Happy, plus, it’s gonna be next to the mountain, so he’ll be able to scale up it all he wants!”

“What about what you want?”

She smiled, “There’s gonna be a whole wall that’s a built in bookshelf, in the library room. Plus! A bookshelf that hides a secret door to a bunker!” She knew that if the war was over, she shouldn’t be thinking about this anymore, but she couldn’t help herself. You never know when something is going to happen, and they could use it as a storm shelter if there was never another war. “I applied for a three bedroom, but one room will be a library.”

“What about the third room?” Natsu asked, still not letting her into his place.

She trailed her fingers up his scales, delicately, “A guest room… or perhaps… a nursery?” She looked him up and down, “If you’re up for it.”

He blinked, and jolted his wing away from her, but instantly regretted it, grabbing her arm, and spinning her around, so she faced outside again, “I don’t think it’s a good idea for us to live together before being married, then.”

She smirked, and turned around, “You know, I’ve been curious,” she reached up, over his shoulder, and ran her hand over the scales on his wing, “Are you sensitive on your wings?”

He smirked back at her, and leaned forward, “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

She smiled, “So, I can stay here?”

He obliged, moving out of the way, “It’s a lot smaller than what you’re used to, though, I’m sure.”

She sighed, and marched into the small cabin, she stopped, barely passed the entry way, “And a mess, apparently…”

He made his way around her, folding his wings tightly to his back, “Well, Happy and I haven’t been back here in… seven years?”

“Seven years?” Lucy repeated, looking around the place, “That long? Are you serious?”

“I mean, I don’t know, I’m not good at math. Last I was here was probably before I was drafted.”

She slapped him on the arm, “Is it hygienic to stay here? Hasn’t your food gone bad?”

He shrugged, “I mean,” he opened a cabinet in the kitchen area of this one roomed cabin, “It’s military rations, so…”

“Military rations?” She asked, pushing his wing aside to peek over his shoulder.

“Yeah, it’s what Igneel would bring me, worried I wouldn’t be able to hunt for something myself.”

“Hunt?” she asked.

He smiled, looking over his shoulder at her. He showed her his hand as he transformed it into its clawed form, “It’s fun, you should try it sometime.”

She sighed, and let go of his wing, letting him flex it back into its proper position. “I’m not going to do any hunting…” She looked around the place, “What about mold, mildew, bugs…”

He shrugged, closing the pantry, and kicking some of his black hoodies, that were way too small for him now, aside with his foot, “Happy and I would eat the bugs if we find any…” He stopped and looked at her horrified expression, before bending down and picking up his laundry, “I mean, Happy would eat them…”

“You know, it’s times like this that I remember that you and I are not the same race.”

He raised a brow at her, “Times like what?”

“How you’re not concerned at all, telling me that you’ll just hunt your prey with your claws, kill any bugs or rodents yourself, things like that.”

“And not the fact that I can fly, and you can’t?”

“Well…” She shrugged, “I don’t really think about that too often, I mean, most of the time I just think of you as a human with wings.”

“Then what’s Gray? A human with pointy ears?”

She shrugged, “I guess, yeah.”

He hummed, “And Levy?”

“A human with feathers?”

He laughed, “Okay, okay, then you…” he hummed for a second, leaning down to observe her face. She watched as his wings twitched behind him, and his pupils fluctuated in size. She gulped. “Are a human with ginormous eyes.”

“Faes have big eyes, too, you know.”

He frowned, “Yeah, but Levy’s aren’t as big as yours.”

“What about Wendy? Wendy has big eyes.”

He clicked his tongue, “Not like yours, though.”

She shook her head, “You gotta come up with something else.”

He sighed, “Ugh, fine…” He closed his eyes as he tried to think of something, and she giggled to herself as she watched his wings twitch behind him. He opened one eye, scanning her over, before sighing, jumping backwards, and landing in a hammock, “I got nothing. Big eyes, pretty smile, gorgeous laugh, and…” He snapped his fingers, “I’ve got one you can’t come up with something else about.”

“Oh yeah?”

He nodded, “You’re a human with a calming scent.”

She stared at him in silence for a few seconds, “Natsu, that’s just to you.”

“What?”

She put her hands on her hips and shook her head, “Many different humans, regardless of race, have big eyes, pretty smiles, and gorgeous laughs… Like, I think you’ve got big eyes, a pretty smile, and a gorgeous laugh.”

“Huh?” He tilted his head, “What does that have to do with your scent?”

“You’re the only one who thinks I have a nice smell. Like-”

“No.” Natsu answered, “I’m not.”

“What?”

He pouted, looking away from her, “If I was the only one, then you wouldn’t have been hit on so many times.”

“And you haven’t been?”

“Not that I know of.”

She sighed, and looked around the room, “This place really is a wreck, where’s your bed, anyway?”

He rocked back and forth in his hammock, “Happy’s sleeping on his bed, I don’t have one.”

“What?” She looked over at him, “You don’t have a bed?”

He shook his head, “Nope.”

“Then where do you…” she trailed off as she watched him playfully swing the hammock, pushing it back and forth with his feet on the ground. “...sleep.”

“Here.”

“Isn’t that uncomfortable for your wings?”

He shrugged, and adjusted his position so that he was laying down, folding his wings over himself. He lay like that for a few seconds swinging back and forth, subtly, “No.” He answered, sitting back up.

“Where am I supposed to sleep, then?”

He shrugged, jumping out of his hammock, “You could sleep in the hammock if you’d like.”

“With you?” She asked, grabbing the edge of the fabric, “Wouldn’t that be… cramped?”

“You can sleep by yourself, too.” He answered, “I can sleep with Happy, or on the floor.”

“I can’t have you sleep on the floor!” She exclaimed, “Can’t you get a bed?”

He made a face, “Why would I get one of those?”

“What do you mean, why?”

He shivered, “They weren’t comfortable at all.”

“What type of bed have you been on?” She asked, before holding up a hand, “No, wait, don’t answer that. Have the only beds you’ve been on been the beds at camp?”

He tilted his head, “Yeah, why?”

“You’ve never been on a real bed before?”

“They’re all the same aren’t they?”

“Is Happy’s bed the same?”

He frowned, “Of course not,” he nudged Happy with his toe, causing the large feline to get up and yawn, making a circle around him once, rubbing him, and getting his wings in his face, before curling up on the floor underneath the hammock. “See.”

She frowned at the blanket on the floor, “That’s Happy’s bed?”

He nodded, “Yeah. Happy likes it.” He knelt down, and scratched, with his whole hand, between his giant winged cat’s ears, “Don’t you, buddy?”

“Natsu. You’re getting a bed. One night or two, I think I can handle in a hammock, but not all the time…”

He looked up at her, “You’re the one who wanted to stay here. I’d rather crash your new place, whenever you get it.”

She sighed, “And this place is a disaster, why do you even have this pile of rubble, anyway?”

He looked behind him, “Oh, that? That’s from that one time we went to that haunted house together, when Happy was still practically a cub, don’t you remember?”

She frowned, “It’s rubble.”

“Yeah, maybe, but you screamed so loudly when that fell next to you, it was hilarious.”

“So you kept it?”

He nodded, “Happy thought you were funny, too.”

She sighed, “And what’s with this crappy sign?”

He looked behind him again, and stood up, along with his feline, and made his way over to where she was, “That’s the sign that guy who was pretending to be dragon-kin used to promote his act.”

“And why do you have it?”

“Cause that was the day you and I first met.”

She blinked, as she felt Happy squeeze himself between the two of them, as if desiring pets from both of them. Natsu’s hand was subconsciously scratching at his big cat’s head, under his chin. She leaned against him, hearing his loud purr, “You keep a lot of random stuff.” she whispered, but secretly, she actually liked how much he remembered and treasured their moments together.

“Only ‘cause of you.” He replied, and grabbed his cat’s face in his hands, “Isn’t that right, Happy?”

She sighed, “I’m surprised Happy hasn’t bit your hand with how much you’re rough with him.”

“I mean, he’s sure tried. Woke up once with his jaw on my head when we were at camp. Apparently, he was just trying to wake me up, cause he sensed the enemy coming closer.”

“Don’t you have better senses than he does?”

He nodded, “Yeah, but I don’t use them all the time, obviously.”

She sighed, and continued to look around, “How old is this place, anyway?”

“I don’t know, I stayed here when Igneel was taking care of me. Happy and I have lived here for a while.”

She hummed, “I see… wait… Igneel was taking care of you here?”

He nodded, “Yeah, why?”

“Why? Well… because he was a dragon!”

He raised a brow at her, “He slept in the cave next door.”

“What?”

He pouted, “Honestly, I wanted to stay in the cave with him, but he kept insisting that a ‘human like me’ had to stay in a house. It’s crazy, really, cause he can turn himself into a human if he wants to, too.”

“Too?” She asked.

“Yeah.”

She grabbed his arm, “Hey, how large can you make your wings?”

“I don’t know, what does that have to do with Igneel?”

She slid her hand down to hold his hand, spreading his fingers apart, “What do you look like when you take on your full dragon form?”

“What?”

“When you go all… dragon.” She stated, making a clawing motion with one hand as she still held his other hand in hers, “Does your whole body look like a dragon, or do you just have dragon features.”

“I’m not a dragon, I wouldn’t turn into a dragon.” He replied, “I basically just become covered in scales, why?”

She hummed, “I want to see it!”

“You have.”

She shook her head, “No, I haven’t.”

He sighed, “We fought together a few times, Lucy, you’ve seen me covered in scales.”

“Yeah, but… Levy said Gajeel can make his whole body covered in scales.”

“And? I’m not Gajeel.”

“So, are all dragon-kin transformations different?”

“I guess.” He replied.

She frowned, “So, you won’t show me?”

“I can’t show you how big I can make my wings inside here.”

“You can make them bigger?”

“It’ll be too tight.”

“Show me!”

He took a step back, and smirked, “You wanna go for a flight?”

“What?”

He opened the window, “I’ll take you.”

“For a flight?”

“Yeah, don’t you want to go?”

“On Happy?”

He looked over to the large cat that went back to sleeping on the blanket that he called a bed, “Nah, he’s tired, why? Did you not wanna get on my back?”

“On you?”

He nodded, “Yeah.”

“Do… you have a harness, or something?”

“... No…”

“You sure it’s safe?”

“I’ll catch you if you fall.”

“I don’t know, Natsu-”

He grabbed her wrist and hauled it over to him, “Just give it a try.” He spread his wings out just enough, pulling her wrist over his shoulder, and hoisting her up on his back, “You ready?” He asked, taking one step onto the windowsill, and folding his wings on either side of her.

“Natsu, I don’t think this is safe…”

“Of course it is!” He exclaimed, and jumped out the window. This particular window happened to be above a large drop off on the mountain side, and she felt the wind rushing through her hair, causing her to tighten her grip around him, folding her legs around his waist, and pressing her cheek tightly against the back of his head. She was too shocked to scream at his action. She felt in an instant, the wings unfold, and the updraft hoist them up into the air.

“You can open your eyes, you know…” she heard Natsu say underneath her.

Slowly, she obliged, feeling the wind rush by her face, as she heard a flap of his wings. She looked around, seeing his wings stretched out longer than his height on either side of him, and the mountain that his cabin was at was far from her view, hidden underneath the awning of trees. “Wow…” she breathed.

“It’s awesome, isn’t it?” He asked.

She gently pushed herself off of him, by a few inches, and stared over the stretch of his wing at the area below them. “Could you fly higher than the ice wall?” she asked aloud. Surprising herself that she let the thought escape her mouth.

“Yeah, I can.” He replied, “But, I’m not going to.”

“Why?”

“The air is thinner up there.” He replied.

“Oh…” she muttered. Honestly, she should have known that. The ice wall was a half-dome like structure that was higher than the mountain that Natsu’s cabin was on. She could already feel the air being thinner where they were in the air right now, and they hadn’t even gotten higher than the mountain’s peak yet. She watched as his wings flapped, keeping them in the air.

“Wanna do something fun?” He asked.

“What?”

He looked over his shoulder at her, “Hold on tight!” He exclaimed, as his wings changed position, and he bolted straight up in the air. Once higher than the mountain’s peak, he let himself float there for a second before diving downwards, wrapping his wings around himself in a way that caused the two of them to spin as they dove downwards like a torpedo. She wrapped her arms and legs tighter around him, burying her face into the back of his neck as she gritted her teeth. She was going too fast for her to even muster up the energy to scream. Finally he stopped, by unfurling his wings, and causing them to glide for a little bit.

She gasped, “Go back home.”

He laughed, “Fine, fine,” He changed his position, and made his way back to his cabin, landing loudly on his roof, before sliding down it, and letting her get off of his back, “Wasn’t that fun?”

She stumbled and collapsed onto the ground, “Don’t… don’t… do that again.”

He laughed, kneeling in front of her, “You just gotta get used to it. I was terrified when I first learned to fly… I think… It was too long ago.”

She gasped, “We… we almost died.”

He laughed again, “We’re both generals, and you think this was your near death experience?”

She slapped his arm, “You should be more careful! I wasn’t expecting that!”

He smiled, “Oh, come on, I’ll be more gentle next time.”

“You better!” She exclaimed. Honestly, before he chose to do a nose dive, it was actually quite nice. “Don’t dive like that, again.”

“Fine, fine, I won’t.”

She sighed, leaning back on her hands, as the smell of nature engulfed her, “By the way, what was it you didn’t want me to see?”

“Huh?”

“You were blocking me from seeing inside your cabin.”

“Oh, that, Happy took care of it.”

“What was it?”

He shrugged, “Lunch.”

“What?”

“Happy and I were eating lunch when you suddenly knocked on my door.”

“What were you eating?” She asked.

“Roasted meat.” He replied, and stood up.

“Meat?”

“Yeah.”

“What kind of meat?”

“Well…”

“Was it game you hunted?” She asked.

“And cooked.” He added.

She sighed, “At least you didn’t eat it raw.”

“Happy prefers to.”

She sighed, “What, was there a dead carcass in there?”

“Yeah.” He answered, giving her a hand to help her up.

“You…” She shook her head, “No, never mind, I don’t want to know. Just… whenever we get married, if you ever do any of that… hunting stuff… don’t let me know, okay?”

“Sure.” He answered, “I’ll just tell you someone else hunted it.”

“Natsu… No, that’s not what I’m…” She sighed, “Don’t tell me how you hunted it.”

He nodded, “Okay. I won’t tell you how I hunted it.”

Honestly, she should have expected that living with someone was going to be different than the butterflies she had anticipated on her trek up to his home the first time. Lifestyle adjustments were probably their biggest issue, and she got mad at him a few times for things that were probably completely normal, and necessary for him to do, a habit that she just wasn't used to. Like how she'd wake up in the morning to all the windows open, and Natsu's wing stretched above her face, so close that she could see all the veins in the “webbing” or whatever it was called. When she snapped at him one time about it, he retracted his wings instantly, and apologized. The next day when he came back from the store, he usually ended up doing grocery shopping because it was too much of a hassle for her to climb up and down the mountain. He was all bruised and had a bunch of tree leaves and twigs in his hair. Turns out, his wing had cramped because he hadn't stretched it properly in the morning.

On hearing that, she did ask about the time he was in active war, and he said something along the lines of how they were always in use, so he didn't have to worry too much about that. Of course, she decided that of course he should stretch his wings, but not over her face. He obliged, and the next morning, she woke up, seeing him laying face first on the floor stretching his wings upwards, obviously not at their full size. She briefly wondered why she wanted to marry him, to be honest.

That was a big issue. Marriage. She wanted a nice marriage, but she wanted to make sure that the peace treaty was signed before setting a date and booking a venue. Natsu, on the other hand, was eager to get married, more so than she was. The peace treaty was the issue, in her mind, though. Turns out, they hadn't shown up to the past five attempts to sign the peace treaty, and she was getting anxious, fearing that she'd have to return to war. 

“Lucy!” Natsu exclaimed, coming in through a hatch on his ceiling, and landing on the small bed that they were able to get. He still slept in his hammock, claiming that the bed was too uncomfortable. It was a cheap bed, so it wasn't as great of quality as the beds from the house she grew up in.

“What?” She asked, looking up from her book as she cozied herself in his hammock.

“Take a look at this!” He excitedly stated, tossing her a newspaper.

She leaned forward, and grabbed the paper off her lap, “What is it?” She asked, unfolding it to read its contents. “What?” She exclaimed, jolting up, and as a result falling out of the hammock by her suddenness.

“Isn't this great?” He asked, kneeling on the ground next to her.

“It was signed?” She asked, sitting upright to read through the newspaper again. 

He nodded, “Yeah.”

“So… the war is actually over?”

“Yeah!” He exclaimed. 

She grabbed his face and kissed him, before going back to read through the newspaper article again, “It's actually over.”

“Yeah!”

She jumped to her feet, “Let's go look for a venue, and get a priest!”

“Already got a priest!” Natsu smiled.

“And venue?”

“Thought you'd want to pick it out.”

She hugged him, “Absolutely, I do! I've also already got all the wedding invitations drafted! I just need to add the date!”

“How about tomorrow?” He asked, looking up at her.

She shook her head making circles around him, maybe she was spending too much time with Happy. “That's too soon, not everyone will be able to make it.”

“You and I can.”

“I know, but still.” She sighed.

“This weekend?”

She looked down at him, “Seriously?”

He nodded. 

“Okay, let's do that. We've got a week then. It's a good thing I've been looking at wedding dresses when I go down the mountain once a week.”

“You could just wear your uniform.”

She shook her head, “You do that, but I'm gonna wear a wedding dress.”

“Okay, that sounds good. You'd look good in anything after all.”

She stopped her circling, and stepped in between his wings, “Anything?”

He tilted his head back to look at her, “Yeah, I've never seen you in anything that doesn't look good on you.”

Gently she pushed on his wings, sliding down them slowly to their base, “You know what you haven't seen me in, though?”

His wings twitched under her touch, “No, what?”

She leaned forward, and whispered in his ear, “Nothing.”

She felt his hot breath in hers, “You haven’t seen me in that, either.”

She stood back up, and looked down at him, he had such a big smirk on his face, so she flicked his forehead, “You’re an awful flirt.”

He folded his wings, and stood up, turning around, “Yet you agreed to marry me.”

She crossed her arms, “That I did,” she looked him over, “And are you sure I won’t regret it?”

He shrugged, “I know I’m regretting nothing.”

Feeling defeated, she uncrossed her arms, letting them drop to her sides, “You’re making me feel like your love is greater than mine.”

He leaned forward, his hot breath blowing against her lips as he replied, “I am the one who proposed first.”

She cupped his face, “Still, I’m the one who agreed to be Mrs. Dragneel, so-”

“Dragneel?” He repeated.

“Yeah…”

“Why Dragneel?”

She blinked, “What do you mean ‘why Dragneel?’ Isn’t that your last name? Dragneel?”

He nodded, “Yeah, it is, but you don’t have it.”

She sighed, “Not yet, of course-”

He shook his head, “Not ever.”

“What?” She put a hand on her hip, “Are you backing out? Now? Are you serious?”

“What? No, why would I do that?” He turned around, making his way to the kitchen, “You’re just not gonna be taking my last name, that’s all.”

“What? Why?”

He grabbed a snack from the cabinet, and turned around, leaning against the counter, “Cause I’ll be taking yours.”

“You’re kidding.”

He shook his head.

“The bride usually takes the groom’s last name.”

“Usually.” He repeated, “But I don’t want to.”

“What? Why?”

“Cause yours is pretty.”

“Thank you, but don’t you think I would have wanted to take yours?”

He shook his head, “Your dad took your mom’s didn’t he?”

She sighed, “Yeah, he did, but-”

“So it’s a family tradition, isn’t it?”

She was about to protest, but stopped. Even her great grandfather had married into the Heartfilia family, taking her great grandmother’s last name. “My family is weird, and it’s mainly because of our familial status, but we don’t have that status anymore, you know.”

He nodded, “I guess, but why would that mean your traditions change?”

She sighed, making her way over to him as he snacked, “I mean, I guess it wouldn’t, but… I really did want to take your last name.”

“And I wanted to take yours.”

She sighed, “How about this, we’ll hyphenate it.”

“Hyphenate it?” He repeated.

She nodded, “Yeah, make it Heartfilia-Dragneel.”

He clicked his tongue, “My daughter isn’t going to be a Heartfilia-Dragneel.”

“What? Why?”

“Because then she wouldn’t be keeping up with the tradition of your family.”

She sighed, “But I like the sound of it.”

He shook his head, “No, no, no, Dragneel-Heartfilia sounds much better.”

“You can’t be serious.”

“Dead.”

She sighed, and reached around him, to pull at his wings, which he willingly let her unfold and pull forward, “Still, I think that-”

“How about this,” He interrupted her, stuffing a biscuit into her mouth, “We play rock-paper-scissors, and whoever wins gets to pick the last name for us, and for our daughter.”

She bit into the biscuit, and pulled the rest of it away from her mouth, “Why are you already assuming it’ll be a daughter?”

He shrugged, “The girls in your family are powerful, are they not?”

She blushed, “Thank you, but-”

“And I want a daughter.”

“Why?”

“Well, cause then she’d look like you.”

She shook her head, “I think she’d look more like you, your traits are just so… there.”

He clicked his tongue, “Nah, if she’s a girl, she’d most definitely take after you.”

She sighed, wrapping one of his wings around the two of them, which prompted him to wrap the other around them, “So you want to decide our last name, which we’ll keep for the rest of our lives, on a game of rock paper scissors?”

He nodded, “Yeah.”

“The General of the Dragon Corps, one of the most fierce battalions in the war, wants to choose his last name on a game of rock paper scissors?”

He nodded, “We can do it the way your race does it, instead of mine.”

She raised a brow, “How does your race do it?”

“We choose between a big rock, trees, or our talons, and see whichever wins in one strike.” He smiled, “It’s more fun that way, but we can do it your guys’ way instead.”

“Yeah, I don’t have talons, and how the hell do you think I could win against a boulder or a tree?”

He shrugged, “I’m sure you could win if you put your mind to it.”

She shook her head, “Fine, best two out of three.” She put her fist out on her open palm.

He reached over his wing to put the package of biscuits that he was chowing down on on the counter, and put his fist in his palm, “Okay, ready?”

“Rock, paper, scissors, shoot!” Lucy exclaimed, slamming her hand into her palm.

“Shoot?” He repeated, eyes wide open, hand having not moved from ‘rock.’

“Yeah, you choose between rock, paper, or scissors on ‘shoot’.”

He hummed, “Oh.”

“Doesn’t matter, I won that one. I just have to win one more!” She smiled looking up at him.

His brows furrowed, and a grin stretched across his face, “Yeah, I’m not gonna let you.”

She shook her head, “Jokes on you, but I am a master at rock paper scissors… the human way.”

“Yeah?” He asked, “Then go again, I got it this time!”

She smiled, “Alright, but I did warn you! Rock, paper, scissors, shoot!”

She blinked, and looked up at him, before back down to their hands. “Lucky try…” she muttered.

“Two out of three, right?” He asked.

“Yeah. We’re tied, one to one. Rock, paper, scissors, shoot!”

She frowned, they had gotten the same thing.

“Rock, paper, scissors, shoot! Rock, paper, scissors, shoot! Rock, paper, scissors, shoot!” She sighed, “Are you cheating?”

“How do you cheat in human rock paper scissors?”

She clicked her tongue, “Again. Rock, paper, scissors, shoot! Rock, paper, scissors, shoot! Rock, paper, scissors, shoot! Rock, paper, scissors, shoot! Rock, paper, scissors, shoot! You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“Maybe it’s ‘cause you’re the one saying it.”

“Why would that change things?”

He shrugged, “Don’t know, let me say it this time.”

“Fine.”

“Rock, paper, scissors, shoot!” He exclaimed, and slammed rock down onto his palm at the same time.

“You… ugh…” She groaned, as he tapped her two fingers with his fist.

“I win!” He smiled.

She sighed, “Fine, you win. What’s our last name gonna be?”

“Heartfilia.” He answered without a second to spare.

“And our child’s?”

“Dragneel Heartfilia.” He smirked.

She sighed, “Wow. No hyphenation?”

He shook his head, “Nope.”

“So, Natsu Heartfilia, then?” Now that she was saying it out loud, it had a nice ring to it.

He nodded, “Yep! Natsu Dragneel Heartfilia!”

She tilted her head, “No middle name?”

“No, I don’t have a middle name. Why would you need a middle name? If I had a middle name then I’d be like you, lalalalalalah.”

“Ha, ha, very funny.” She poked his forehead, “Don’t think I forgot about mister ‘E.N.D.’!”

He frowned, “All the cool kids were like that, Lucy. You were the weird one.”

She sighed, “The Tartarus band sucked, though.”

He shook his head, “They were punk-rock, you just didn’t like it.”

“Do you still like it?”

He shrugged, “I’ll listen to them on occasion, they’re the only records I have.”

She peeked over his wings, looking around his cabin, “You have a record player?”

He nodded, “Yeah, Igneel gave it to me.”

“I’ve been staying with you for a month, and you didn’t tell me?”

He shrugged, “It’s in the basement.”

“You have a basement?”

“Well… kinda? It’s more like a tunnel to connect me to Igneel’s cave, but Igneel said they were called basements.”

“Where? How do you get to it?”

He gestured his chin over to Happy’s bed, “The hatch is under Happy.”

She pushed his wings out of the way, “I want to see!”

“It’s dark in there.” He replied, grabbing the package of biscuits again.

“It’s not like I’d go alone.”

“Happy says it’s too wet down there for him, so who are you gonna go with?”

“You.” She replied, gently nudging his big cat out of the way.

“Me?” He repeated, “What? Why? I thought we were gonna go look at venues and dresses?”

She snapped back around, “Oh my gosh, you’re right!” She grabbed a handbag from the shelf beside the hammock, “Let’s go!”

He smiled, “Wanna fly down?”

She took a step away from him, “Can’t we walk?”

He laughed, putting his snacks down, and grabbing her wrist, spinning her around, and hoisting her up on his back in a fluid motion, “Alright, let’s go!”

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Marriage was better than she had originally anticipated it to be. Sure, they had witnessed a few hiccups in getting the venue, and making sure all the guests could make it, but maybe that was their fault for having tried to find a venue and host their wedding on such short notice. That was probably her only regret in marrying him. After living together in his cabin for almost two months before being able to move into the house that was built for them, they had gotten rather used to the way each other lived their lives. Of course, there were still little things that popped up here and there that they needed to get used to, though. Like Natsu in a bed.

The second he had found out that their new house had a bed, and not a hammock he had told her to screw the place, he was gonna go back to his place. She couldn’t really blame him, he wasn’t used to comfortable beds. It took way too much effort to get him to sleep on the bed with her, and then when she finally was able to get him to lay down on it, face first, he was way too flabbergasted by the soft and fluffy nature of a good bed that he fell asleep instantly. There had arisen the other issue about Natsu in a bed. While she had gotten a bed for his cabin while they were staying there, he would spend the nights in his hammock, with his wings securely wrapped around himself. The hammock kind of kept his wings in place as he slept, too, so she never really had an issue with them. In this new home, however, it was a huge issue. His wings had no idea what to do on a bed. A hammock held them close, but the bed didn’t have anything like that, and with the first time he fell asleep, neither of them had realized the adjustments that he would have had to do in order to get used to it. So there went her bed.

His wings covered basically the whole thing. At first, she admitted she had no real issue with it, but with them as large as they were when he had fallen asleep, they were more of a blanket than the blanket. Especially since they were warm. However, when he was awake, or at least conscious about his wings in their cuddles together before, they never felt as heavy as they did, now. So, of course, she had to talk to him about it the next morning. It probably ended up taking them nearly a month in order to get properly adjusted, and as a result, another extra month before they could actually be intimate on that bed. Much to her dismay, and seemingly his as well, because their first attempt resulted in him knocking his wings against the ceiling, and accidentally shocking himself when the magic that powered the lights bolted through him. They requested to see if they could raise the ceiling in their room. He hadn’t really been hurt by the accident, but the mood had completely shifted. It took a month for them to properly fix the ceiling, because they were still busy building other homes to focus on one that had already been completed.

Of course, it took another few weeks for Natsu to get adjusted to the bed again, because they lived in his cabin for the time that their ceiling was being raised, and then they were too careful for a while to actually do anything afterwards. To make matters worse, it didn’t seem like the ice wall was coming down anytime soon, which made them both fear the worst. Of course people were simply being way too pessimistic in general, probably because the war had lasted for over a decade prior to these peace talks, even if they hadn’t joined the war until a few years later, themselves. As generals, they tried to maintain sanity, because people were getting skeptic that the war was actually over. It was… or at least, she wanted to believe it was. It had to be. Too many people had already moved forward with their lives, like themselves, in order for it to be anything else! It made matters worse, though, because a lot of people started to take their anger out on the soldiers who had served in the war.

Consequently, because she and Natsu were generals, a lot of citizens who hadn’t put their lives on the line were blaming them for not ending the war. It wasn’t their decision, they just simply commanded troops during the war. Sure, they had more authority in the military than most, but they didn’t cause the war. They just fought in it. Why couldn’t people see that? It didn’t help matters that for most of the older generations, despite the equality campaign, marrying someone who wasn’t your race was severely looked down upon. It wasn’t like it hadn’t happened in the past, there were quite a few of her own generation who were mixed, like Gray, the Strauss siblings, and even Laxus. Heck, Laxus’ grandfather, the Secretary of Defense, was mixed. In all of her bickering with these people, trying to defend her marriage with Natsu, she chose to keep a secret from them that Natsu was also mixed, even if nobody but her and Gray knew about it, now. Igneel had known, and so had Natsu’s family who passed before the war. Natsu had only divulged this information to her by complete accident, when she had been ranting to him about how people were complaining that their child would be mixed. She was listing off to him people their age and older who were also mixed trying to figure out why it was a bad thing, and he tossed his own name into the hat of examples. Of course, she was shocked to hear this bit of information, and of course when he told her, he also let out the information that he only knew because Igneel had told him, otherwise he would have thought he was just dragon-kin for the rest of his life. He apologized for stressing her out, because they both knew it wasn’t good for the baby she was pregnant with at the time.

Natsu blamed himself for a lot of things before and during their relationship. Like the scar on her head, he claimed that it was his fault that she had gotten hurt there, constantly saying he should have protected her over and over and over again. He had done the same when she lost her family’s estate, and again, was blaming himself over her stressing out, and consequently ending up having a cesarean section done, because the doctors were saying that if they didn’t get the baby out, then she’d die. Neither of them wanted their darling baby to die, but Natsu still blamed himself, because she had to be cut open and hospitalized for almost a month.

Nasha, their daughter, was hospitalized for much, much longer, only finally being able to leave the hospital almost four months later, and around the time that the doctors had anticipated her to have been due in the first place. Nasha was very small. When she was first born, she was the size of Natsu’s hand, he held her so gently, so carefully, and would rock her to sleep constantly. Maybe it was because of his warmth, but Nasha seemed to love sleeping on him more than her own mother, even though her mother was the one who gave her food. When she was still an infant, but big enough that they could actually make out her features, Lucy thought that for sure she would look more like her father. The shape of her face was a lot like his, and her lip shape was, too. Obviously, she was far too young to truly know the color of her hair, or the color of her eyes, especially since she seemed to have inherited her father’s eyes, which Lucy was grateful for. Her father had quite beautiful eyes, after all. Even her ears looked a little pointed in her first year of life.

Natsu matured significantly in having a daughter. He was still a goofball, and sometimes she did witness him coming in through the window with his daughter strapped to his chest, she could only hope in those times that he hadn’t decided to do a nose dive with a baby. He was adamant that he’d only ever do nose dives with her, she had gotten used to them after being with him for two years now, but a baby was a completely different story.

“You know, Lucy, I think Nasha has your eyes.” Natsu muttered to her one day after putting their daughter to sleep between them on the bed.

“My eyes?” She asked, “She still can’t see, Natsu, just like you.”

He shook his head, “No, she can see.”

“What on earth are you talking about, Natsu? She's still got this scale-like layer over her eyes. Just like you did.”

He shook his head, again, “Yeah, you did way too much research on dragon-kin, by the way… but look at her eyes.”

“They’re closed.”

He frowned, “I know.”

She shrugged, “You’re just saying that because you like my eyes.”

He nodded, “Yeah, your eyes are gorgeous, of course I’d want Nasha to have your eyes.”

“You’re just sour because I’m right, Natsu. Nasha takes more after you than she does me.”

He shook his head, and kissed her forehead, “She smells like you, her smile is like yours, and her eye shape is like yours, too, besides, her ears are becoming more round like yours-”

“Stop.” She stated, putting two fingers to his lips, “This makes it sound like you don’t want her to look like you.”

He smirked, and poked her fingers with his tongue, “She’s got my hair, that’s fine.”

“Ew.” She muttered, wiping her hand on the comforter, “Still, humans don’t have scales over their eyes when they’re born.”

He shrugged, “You just have to look under the scales, Lucy.”

She clicked her tongue, “And you don’t want to admit I’m right.”

He didn’t have to admit that she was right, because, about a month later, when that scale-like cloudy surface on her eyes came off her eyes very clearly resembled more of her mother’s eyes than her father’s. There wasn’t a hint of her father’s reptile-like eyes, and it pained her. Natsu was right in how the women in her family were powerful, their genes were just way too dominant, that’s probably why she looked so similar to her mom, and barely any similarities to her dad. The female genes in her family were too strong, and they even were overpowering that of a dragon-kin’s genes. She hated that, honestly, because if that truly was the case, then those eyes that Nasha would stare into endlessly as he was talking to her, ever since she could see, the way that she’d stick fries in her mouth to mimic her dad’s fangs, and the way that she’d pull at the tops of her ears to try and get them to point like his would be all for naught. She’d never get any of those things, despite wanting them so badly.

“What are you doing, baby?” she asked, walking into her bedroom to see her daughter spinning around in front of the mirror looking at her back.

“Wings!” She exclaimed happily, “Dada’s wings!”

Lucy knelt down in front of her, “Do you like Daddy’s wings?”

Nasha nodded, eagerly, “Dada’s wings!”

She laughed, “Do you want Daddy’s wings?”

Nasha smiled, and pointed at her shoulder blades on her back, “Dada’s wings!”

“Hey, Lucy,” she heard her husband calling her, accompanied by the sound of his feet hitting the ground rather abruptly, “They didn’t have any eggs at the store.”

“That’s okay, babe, I’ll just make something else for dinner, then.” She called back, and was about to turn back to her daughter, only to watch her waddle eagerly out of the room to greet her father.

“Dada!” She exclaimed.

Lucy followed her out, and smiled as she ran up to Natsu. He looked down at her, a gentle, soft smile spreading across his face as he put the paper bags of groceries down on the counter. In a swift motion, he knelt down and swept his daughter off her feet, gently tossing her in the air, before catching her securely in his arms.

“Were you waiting for me, princess?” he asked.

“Dada!” She exclaimed, squeezing his cheeks in her hands.

“Yep, Daddy’s home!” He smiled, and slid her over his shoulder, catching her in the ‘basket’ he had made with his wings, swinging her back and forth as he started to pull out the groceries from bags.

“Be careful, Natsu.” Lucy grumbled, and peeked over his wing down at her daughter who giggled her head off as she was being held gently by those pretty wings of her husband’s.

“She’s fine. She’s part dragon.”

Lucy sighed, “I saw her looking at herself in the mirror today…”

“Yeah?” He asked, brows furrowing as he held the item in his hand, turning it over.

“Refridgerator.” She sighed, “She was trying to look at her back.”

“That’s cute.”

“It made me wonder, because, in the books that I read about raising dragon-kin, it never gave a specific age where the wings grow in… when did yours grow in?”

He hummed to himself for a few seconds, closing the refrigerator door, “Well…”

“Open up the fridge again…” Lucy muttered, handing him asparagus.

He opened it up again, and accepted the vegetable from her, “I think I was probably about two when they were noticeably wings…”

“Two?”

He nodded, accepting the carrots from her and putting them in the fridge.

“Dada’s wings!” Nasha exclaimed, and he leaned down so that she could get leverage to climb up his back.

“So… when were the first signs that you got that your wings were coming in?”

He shrugged, changing position again, as his daughter turned around, and slid down his wing to be cradled in their hold again. “One and a half, maybe?”

“So… she should be showing something now, right?”

“I guess…” he muttered, putting the tomatoes in the fridge, “But why is that important?”

“Well…”

“Dada’s wings!” Nasha exclaimed again, clambering up Natsu’s back, only to slide down his wing again.

“I think she wants wings.”

“If she has them, she’ll get them.” Natsu replied, “Where does this go?”

“Freezer.” Lucy answered, “But that’s what I’m worried about. Laxus is like her, you know… he’s also human and dragon-kin, but he doesn’t have wings.”

“Yeah, and neither does Eric.” Natsu answered, opening up the freezer door.

“So, it makes me think that she’s not going to get them.”

He sighed, “It’s not a bad thing if she doesn’t get wings, though, Lucy.”

“Dada’s wings!” Nasha cheerfully giggled, sliding down his wing again.

“Clearly she wants them a lot, and she’s already kind of disappointed that the teeth that she’s started to grow aren’t like yours.”

“It’s not a bad thing, though. Not everybody is the same.” He sighed, and grabbed her arms as she climbed up his back again, he pulled her up, and spun her around, handing her to Lucy, as he shrunk his wings to a more manageable size for being inside the house. “Guess what I got for you, Nasha!” He exclaimed.

“Stop spoiling her.” Lucy sighed.

“Says the girl who was spoiled.” Natsu countered, before bringing his attention back to his daughter.

Nasha’s eyes were wide, “Dada?”

He smiled, and reached one hand into the paper bag, “What did Daddy get, Nasha?”

She put her hand out, “Puffy.”

He laughed, and pulled out the bag of cheese puffs, “You’ve got such a strong nose, don’t you, my little dragon?”

She made this ‘gimme’ motion with her hands. Natsu laughed, and opened the bag.

“Natsu, I’m going to make dinner soon, if you give her something like that now-”

“Just one, Lucy,” he muttered, and placed one cheese puff in each of her hands, before popping one into his mouth himself.

“Natsu.” She frowned, “I thought you said just one.”

He popped a cheese puff into her mouth, “For each hand.” He added, and closed up the bag, “Don’t worry, don’t worry, I wouldn’t give her something if I knew it would ruin dinner for her.” He kissed her cheek, “She’s got a dragon’s stomach, she can have a couple cheese snacks and still eat dinner, Lucy.”

“You really need to stop spoiling her. Is this why you wanted a daughter?”

He smirked, “Why, are you jealous?”

“Of my daughter?”

He shrugged, as he put the bag of cheese puffs into the cabinet, “You never know.”

“Immature much?” She sighed, “I really do have to make dinner, though, Natsu, you take her.”

He smiled, and sat down on the ground, putting out his hands.

“Not in the kitchen, Natsu.”

He made ‘gimme’ motions with his hands, and she sighed, sitting down on the ground, and letting go of her daughter, allowing her to waddle her way over to her father. He smiled, snapping his arms around her, and burying his nose in her hair, Nasha giggled at the action, and promptly turned around to sit down in her dad’s lap. “I’m not in your way over here. All the groceries you told me to get for dinner are in the bag next to the sink.”

She sighed, and pulled her hair back into a high ponytail, she should really cut it, Nasha tried eating it when she was hungry, “You guys are just gonna sit there and watch me make dinner again?”

“Yep!” Natsu answered.

“Mama!” Nasha exclaimed, before messily trying to eat the cheese puff.

She sighed, again, “Fine, but the second you guys are in the way you’re moving.”

“Yes, ma’am!” Natsu exclaimed, putting one hand up in a saluting motion, before moving his daughter’s hand to do the same. “But we won’t be in the way.”

She shook her head, and began washing her hands in the sink before she started on dinner. She didn’t know how she was going to make the dish she planned without eggs, but they weren’t that vital to the recipe. She looked down at her husband and daughter as they stared up at her, eagerly watching her every move. Even if her eyes were more like her own they sure looked like her dad’s right now. Big and wide like a cat’s. She laughed to herself, as she rolled up her sleeves and got started on making dinner. Ever since she decided to try her hand in the kitchen, she still wasn’t going to be touching anything baking related, the last time she tried that she messed up big time, and it tasted worse than the ocean, Natsu and Nasha would sit on the floor, or at the kitchen table, and just watch as she busied herself around in the kitchen. One time, Natsu offered to help, and, she had to admit, with his help it did end up tasting better than how she had made that particular dinner before. Surprisingly, Natsu was actually pretty good in the kitchen. Not as good as Mirajane, Erza, Wendy or Elfman, but was still better than herself. It probably was related to how she never really needed to cook growing up, with servants doing all of that work for her. She had to admit though, despite her protests, she really did like seeing him and his daughter so eager as if she meant the world to them.

Honestly, she probably should have treasured those moments a little bit more. Spoil their daughter a bit more, and be less strict. Then, maybe, she wouldn’t be constantly thinking about all the things she could have changed when destruction hit again. The news was on every headline, and on every radio station, talking about how city after city had fallen, constantly giving the death count, and people constantly yelling at her door, telling her to stop playing house and start saving lives. She didn’t want to, she didn’t want to leave her daughter. Natsu didn’t want to leave Nasha either, but the Dragon Corps were such a major force in the war. The war. The war that they had thought had been over for three years just suddenly erupted again, and people were panicking even worse than what she remembers from when the war first broke out all those years ago. Natsu was rarely ever home now. He was on the front lines, again, fighting, leading troops. Nasha would wait impatiently at the window, staring out at that ice wall, as if she knew he was on the other side of it.

When things got worse, and she got a call requesting that she lead the Spirits Corps again, she tried to protest, but Levy had assured her that she, and other women in the neighborhood, would help take care of all the little kids. Even Juvia was going to help out. She supposed that was a benefit of having such a strong woman in the Defense Corps. Gray was now the General of the Defense Corps, after his father had died at the end of the first half of the war, and Juvia had gained a promotion, too. This gave them the power to make the decision to let her be the one managing and operating the children’s safety and citizens’ safety operations. Especially with their own son being one of these said children. They hadn’t gotten married like she and Natsu had, but they still had a kid, too. They had opted to wait to get married until after Gray had gotten the go ahead to bring down the wall. Everyone was now grateful he hadn’t brought down the wall, like other places had taken down their giant defensive barriers. This made Magnolia now the strongest stronghold in the war.

With this ‘new’ war, because that’s what it almost felt like, she and Natsu were rarely ever home with Nasha at the same time. She was home more often than Natsu was, but they barely ran into each other. That was probably why she didn’t think too much of it when news started to spread slowly across the battlegrounds and camps that General Dragneel went MIA. She knew that was ridiculous, Natsu would never go missing, and definitely not in the middle of a war. Miraculously, they had just celebrated Nasha’s third birthday together before returning to the war, and this news of him missing in action began to circulate. She trusted him, she always would, so that’s why she tried not to think about it. He probably just went on a special mission, he probably just was secretly assigned something. That’s what she kept telling herself, even though she knew he wasn’t in the Special Corps, or the Secret Corps.

Then a week passed, and there was still no news about him. Nasha was beginning to ask her when ‘Daddy is coming home, too.’ And it started to worry her. Another week, and another. She came back home, hoping, and praying that Nasha had seen her dad, but again, she was anxiously looking around her for the man who had such a powerful presence. Juvia was worried, Gray was worried. General Scarlet even sent out a request to the Secretary of Defense to have the Secret Corps find out where General Dragneel went. It didn’t sit right with her that he was missing. An entire month of his absence, and the battlegrounds were reflecting it. Morale was dropping significantly. Not just in the Dragon Corps, though that was the most significant drop in morale, but also in other major corps. Corps that had strong generals like Erza, Jellal, Laxus, Mystogan… they were all dropping in morale.

What really began making her worry though, was that people were talking about how Happy hadn’t gone missing. Happy was Natsu’s companion, who accompanied him to every battle he was a part of. At first, some people were saying that’s proof that he’s okay. But that was just wishful thinking, even if she was one of the few who were telling themselves that. One of the reasons that it was so obvious to her that she was just having false hope was when Happy showed up at her camp. He looked stressed, and weary. He looked like he hadn’t slept properly in weeks. He held something in his mouth, which she had to fight him to get him to let go of it. When she was able to unfold the fabric, her heart sank. It was the emblem from Fort Fairy Tail that Natsu wore on his collar, still attached to the fabric that had been on the collar of his uniform. Without asking permission, she had requested her troops start searching for General Dragneel, not all of them, of course, she didn’t want to raise suspicion to her enemy.

Then… a few weeks later, with no hint of him, there was commotion in her camp. Whispers of a trespasser. Whispers about how this trespasser had no weapon, and looked a little worn. One of her soldiers flew into her tent in a pink cloud and landed peacefully in front of her, she looked more anxious than she usually did.

“Officer Aries, what’s with the commotion in the camp? Being this rowdy is bound to attract the enemy. Have you gotten rid of the trespasser? What did they want?” She commanded.

“I’m sorry, but some of the soldiers said this trespasser is muttering your name.” Aries replied, looking down at the dirt on the ground.

She raised a brow, “My name?”

“Yes, General, I’m sorry.”

She sighed, “Stop apologizing, I’ll go check it out myself, since this camp isn’t going to quiet down anytime soon.”

It got so intense, that she had to go and find out who this person was who was disrupting the peace she tried so hard to maintain despite her own mind being a wreck in her camp. She’d take care of this trespasser, raise morale for her troops, and continue secretly searching for her husband. Confidently, she marched to the edge of the camp that her troops were gathering around. They seemed hesitant to fight whoever this was. She pushed past them, commanded they let her through, and she made eye contact with him.

What happened? Was the first thought that went through her mind, and she hated herself that instead of asking him if he was okay, she wanted to know how he got hurt. He was covered from head to toe in bruises and scratches, cuts along his body. His uniform was practically torn to shreds, and looked loose on his now thin form. Cheeks were hollow, and eyes bloodshot. He was bloody and dirty and shaking as he stood there before her. She ran to him immediately the second she recognized his eyes, and she hated that it took her too long to do that. He looked so vastly different, and tired, and destroyed, and covered in blood that she could only hope wasn’t his own.

“I’m back…” he muttered, faintly, barely audible, before he collapsed. Desperately she caught him, held him tightly in her arms, wrapping her arms around him.

Tears formed in her eyes as she stared at his back. Her hands were covered in his blood, and her arms weren’t trying to wrap around the appendages that were usually there. Instead, there were rough nubs that continued to bleed. Scales the sprout out of his back in jagged edges, and bone that peaked out of the blood that was stained on his back, and yet continued to bleed out of his shoulder blades. Her tears couldn’t stay in her eyes anymore and exploded down her cheeks. She could very faintly feel him breathing, but he wasn’t conscious at all. Immediately, in hiccups and tears, she demanded that medics be called. She hated her troops for not calling the medics right away, her husband was going to die if he didn’t get proper treatment right away. She wasn’t a genius, but the amount of blood that he was losing was enough to tell her that. The way she could barely feel his breath against her, and the wounds that she could see through his torn and bloodied clothes was enough to let her know where he had been all this time, and she wanted to kill the enemy a thousand times over for what they had done to him. Done to her Natsu. He was hers and she couldn’t bear how destroyed they had made him. She held him tightly against her, as if he was going to breathe his last breath any minute now. Did he walk here? From where? His camp was a thousand kilometers away, where did he come from? Did he use his nose to find her? Will he live? Will he be able to hug her again? Would his wings grow back? Could they save him? They had to save him, she’d kill them if they didn’t.

She stared down at him in silence, her tears all dried up from having cried so much. He was laying on his stomach, and way too many tubes attached to his body, and some sort of breathing device on his face. She didn't know what all of them were for, but all she could do was stare down at her husband, watching faintly as the plastic over his mouth fogged up and disappeared very slowly but surely. The medics here were panicking, having no blood that was his blood type and no knowledge on what to do when dragon-kin lose their wings.

“General Heartfilia?” A medic exclaimed, clapping next to her ear, rudely.

She brought her attention away from her husband, “I'm sorry…”

They shook their head, “We… don't have the resources to help him, we're gonna have to-”

“I'll take him.” She stated, before they could finish their sentence. “Lay him down in my combat automotive, I'll take him to the medics base.”

“General Heartfilia, what about the-”

“First Lieutenant Leo will be in charge, as he is when I'm not at camp.”

“General Heartfilia, the soldiers need you here for morale-”

“And my husband is dying.” Lucy sternly announced. “General Dragneel is dying. I'm not going to let him die.”

They stared at her in silence for a few seconds, before opening their mouth, “I get that you're-”

“General Dragneel is dying.” She repeated, “The very general whose mere disappearance caused us to lose ground, what do you think would happen if he dies?”

They dropped their gaze, “We'll load him up into your combat automotive.”

“Do it quickly, there's a lot of ground I need to cover.”

“Yes, sir.” They saluted her, before they began commanding the other medics to bring her husband to her automotive.

She was anxious, getting into her transportation, with him laying down on the back seats that were forcefully laid down, so that nothing would be uncomfortable for him. She took a deep breath as she started the engine, and drove out of the camp. She had to take a detour, instead of a straight shot because they were still in active war after all. The automotive jolted as she drove over some rocks, and she looked in the rearview mirror to see the plastic covering his mouth and nose still fogging up, signaling to her he was still breathing. She picked up the pace, hoping that whatever medical devices they had put into her vehicle with him was enough to get him to the medics base that was safely behind the ice wall. 

The sky was lighter by the time she made it to the wall, and they had to do a thorough procedure to look over her automotive, before letting her through. Usually, she wasn't so against them doing this, but this time, she was far too worried about her husband dying in her back seat. She yelled at them to hurry it up, and they started to get defensive. She understood that, but-

“It's a medical emergency!” She exclaimed.

“General Heartfilia, we know who you are, but-”

“My husband is fucking dying, let me through!”

“With all due respect, General Heartfilia-”

“Natsu?” A new voice broke through, and she, and the soldier she was arguing with looked over to see General Fullbuster.

Tears formed in her eyes, and she gave a curt nod.

Gray pushed the soldier aside, and poked his head in her open window, “Let her through.” He stated, taking a step back from her automotive.

“With all due respect, General Full-”

“I said let her through.” Gray exclaimed.

The soldier obliged, opening up the gateway to head through the ice wall. The second it was open, she sped through, leaving Gray and his soldiers in her dust as she hurried to get to the medic’s main base. Part of her wondered why they had a separate base for the medics, but it wasn’t like they didn’t have a medic’s tent at each camp, it was just that those medics weren’t trained to treat wounds of dragon-kin, mainly because all dragon-kin ended up in the Dragon Corps, which her husband was the general of. Wendy was the sole medic in the Dragon Corps that truly understood the disposition and anatomy of dragon-kin, with the exception of the medics who were at the medic’s main base which was safely behind the ice wall. This base was mainly only used to help treat those who had irreparable damage, or who couldn’t be treated by their camp’s medics.

She sped to a halt outside of the base, parking the automotive desperately, and too quickly to care about being proper. The medics had been informed of her coming prior by the medics in her own camp, and rushed out with a stretcher already ready to help bring her dying husband into the base. She helped open the doors of her automotive, but soon realized that they knew much more on what they were doing than she had, and quicker than she could blink they had him on the stretcher and were rolling him quickly inside the base.

With shaking legs she followed them inside, as far as they would allow her. One of the medics stopped her from going any further at one point, telling her that it was the operating room, and she wasn’t permitted to go in there. Desperately she watched as he disappeared behind the doors. Staring at them for who knows how long, as they closed after him. She found herself pacing back and forth, fighting back the tears that she knew wanted to fall. No, they were going to save him, they had to save him. He was her husband, who she fought so hard to get a chance to marry and have a life with. He couldn’t just die on her when they only had three years of peace together. No, she wouldn’t let him. If they couldn’t save him, she’d find someone else who could. Travel as far as she could to the Dragon Corps and get Wendy, even in the midst of battle, even if Wendy was busy enough as it was with all of the casualties they were facing right now in the war.

It was probably hours later when one of the medics, or doctors rather, came out from behind those doors, pulling their mask off of their face. Their face looked stricken with worry, and she felt her heart drop before he said anything. “General Heartfilia…” they muttered.

She shook her head, not wanting them to utter any horrible news.

“I regret to inform you that despite everything we had done, General Dragneel won’t be able to properly recover.”

She felt her legs shake, “But he’s alive, right?”

They nodded, “He’s still unconscious, there’s no telling when he’ll wake up.”

She dropped to her knees. That’s okay. As long as he’s alive. That’s all she needs. She just needs him to be alive. She could wait forever for him to wake up if she had to, but he was alive. Even if he never woke up, he was still alive, and that’s all that mattered to her right now. She may end up regretting it later, but she was relieved that he was alive at the very least.

The doctor knelt down in front of her, “Do… Do you want me to wait until I give you his current condition? Or can you handle it right now?”

She shook her head, and grabbed at the chair beside her, hauling herself onto it, “No, please tell me how he is.”

The doctor sighed, gritting their teeth, and stood back up, “I’ll start with what is the least damaged.” He took a deep breath, “It looks like his jaw had suffered pressure in both directions, and his muscles are pulled, and gums bruised. Miraculously, he hadn’t lost any teeth, but it’s highly unlikely that he’ll be able to eat properly for at least three months after he wakes up.”

That’s okay, she’ll just make mashed dishes for him, and smoothies. Nasha hated eating tender foods anyway, so they could share soups together. What made her heart sink though, was that Natsu loved food. Not being able to eat what he used to was probably going to be devastating to him. The doctor said that was the least damaged, though. Her heart pounded to know each one. It was obvious which one was the most damaged, but she still didn’t think she’d be able to handle it when they told her that wretched truth that she could see all too visibly.

“General Heartfilia,” the doctor muttered, “Are you alright?”

She nodded, “I’ve witnessed multiple casualties in the war, I’m fine.”

They seemed hesitant to continue, but she gritted her teeth, and looked up at him, urging him to say what else Natsu had lost during his absence. “I regret to inform you, but it’s highly likely that he won’t be able to hear properly out of his left ear.” Her eyes widened. “The cartilage and lobe on his ear have been… appear to have been torn off, and it appears his ear drums suffered from the damage to his jaw, and also the bruising around his ear is proof of beating.”

She was wrong. She couldn’t handle this. She had witnessed casualty after casualty, loss after loss, death after death on the battlefield, but there was something different about hearing about what had happened to her Natsu. Natsu, who had been so strong, so agile, so fierce, to have this much damage to the person he used to be. So he couldn’t eat the way he used to, and likely wouldn’t be able to hear the way he used to either. She shook her head, no, she had to hear the rest of what was being told to her. She had to know about what had happened.

“General Dragneel’s body is covered in lashes that likely caused a lot of blood loss. His blood loss, and lack of proper nutrition, for months, seems to be the main cause of his unconsciousness. Based on what we could gather, he also seems to have lacked proper sleep and rest, which plays a part into his slow recovery. We… We're low on his blood type in this facility, so we’ve called the Dragon Corps to see if they have some reserves. We should receive the blood donation for his transfusion before we run out of the blood we have, but we felt you were privy to this information.”

She nodded. She figured Natsu had a massive amount of blood loss, less because of all of the cuts all over his body, but because of those gaping wounds on his back.

“General Dragneel will likely never run again.” The doctor continued.

“What?” He already wouldn’t be able to fly because his beautiful wings were missing, but the doctor was telling her he wouldn’t be able to run either?

“The damage to his right leg is irreparable. It’s been twisted out of place at each joint, and his ankle is broken. If it had received proper treatment in time, then he would have been able to run and be as agile as before, but it seems the majority of the damage to his leg happened more than a month ago-”

“A month ago?” Lucy repeated, and tears started falling from her eyes. He was suffering all on his own for… the whole time he was gone, wasn’t he? She dropped her head, she was so stupid for not taking action sooner. She was so stupid as to think he was fine when the MIA reports first started circulating.

The doctor nodded. “He’ll likely have to wear a stance brace for the rest of his life.”

“The rest of his life?” She repeated, “But…” she shook her head, “I’m sorry, please… continue.”

The doctor sighed, “We’ll do the best we can, but in regards to his right arm, currently, it seems that it might have to get amputated.”

“Amputated?” She asked, “He has to lose an arm?”

The doctor closed their eyes, “We’ll do the best we can to save it, but from the way it appears to be eaten up by acid, and the consequential damage that has done to his muscles and nerves under his skin, it’s highly likely that the best course of action would be to amputate it above the elbow.”

She shook her head, what happened, Natsu?

She had refused to listen to what had happened to his wings. She could tell already what had happened to them, they were gone. She was hesitant to ask if they’d ever grow back, and ended up never being able to do that. It was probably another seven hours after they had told her the devastating news in regards to how close to dying her husband was that they told her that she was allowed to see him. In a heartbeat, she followed them down a corridor, and through doors, where they confirmed her identity, did a security check on her, before allowing her into another room. At first she was confused when she first entered, but a quick glance around told her where she was. She couldn’t be in the actual room with him, so she was in an adjoining room that had a large thick window that allowed her to see Natsu laying completely unconscious. He still had a breathing machine attached to his face, telling her that he must have also suffered with breathing problems at the moment.

She placed a hand on the glass, looking at him as the sound of the heart monitor echoed in the room. A solid ‘beep’ ‘beep’ ‘beep’ that told her that his heart was beating. His hair was longer than it had been when she had seen him last, and seeing all of the things he was hooked up to, keeping him alive, was heartbreaking for her. She still loved him, of course she did, but how was she supposed to get adjusted to his new appearance now? How was Nasha supposed to get adjusted to his appearance? Her eyes widened, as she stared at him. Nasha, her daughter, missed her daddy dearly, she had to let her know that they had found him.

“He’s stable, right?” she asked the nurse who had accompanied her into the room.

“Yes, he’s stable.”

“He… will wake up, right?” she asked.

The nurse stared at her for a moment, before carefully choosing their words, “We… can’t say for sure.”

He had to. Sure, she might be able to live with him being asleep for the rest of her life, but they had a daughter, and Nasha loved her dad too much. Her daughter was only three, how would she be able to understand the truth of why her dad wouldn’t be able to wake up? How could she? She barely understood why her mom and dad left all the time.

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Lucy parked her car in the driveway of the children’s safety house that First Lieutenant Lockser was managing, and hurriedly closed the door behind her. She had waited until Natsu was in a more stable condition, and her own mind was clear before coming all this way inside the barrier. She knew she couldn’t be abandoning her post for as long as she was right now, but she didn’t care. If they stripped her of her rank, she’d just retire. In Natsu’s state there was no way he’d be able to fight on the battlefield, and she wasn’t going to let him even if he wanted to. She opened the door to the safety house, and glanced around quickly, before making eye contact with her daughter.

The second she made eye contact with her, she rushed over to her, wrapping her in a big hug, the tears that she held back the whole drive here started cascading down her cheeks as she held her little girl closely in her arms. Her daughter immediately stopped everything she was doing, hugging her mom back. She didn’t know why her mom was crying, and it hurt her. It was good news that she was going to share with her though, news that she was anticipating just as much as she was.

“Nasha, we found Daddy.” Lucy smiled, clumsily pushing the hair out of Nasha’s face.

Her daughter’s eyes widened, and eagerly looked behind her, “Where’s Daddy?”

“He’s not with Mommy right now.”

“Then where is Daddy?” Nasha asked, looking dead into her eyes as if she was searching for the answer.

“He’s at the medics,” she began, and then corrected herself, “the hospital.”

“Why’s Daddy in the hospital?” she asked with big eyes, concerned.

“Well, your Daddy’s-”

“Is Daddy sick?” she interrupted her.

She stared down at her daughter, she didn’t expect her to ask that, but it saved her from having to think something up to tell her daughter, “Yes, Daddy’s sick.”

“Can I see Daddy?” she asked.

“I want to take you to see him, baby, but it’s a little dangerous.” She couldn’t bring her daughter past the barrier, even if they were still in the ice wall.

Nasha smiled, “I’m brave, Mommy.”

She kissed her forehead, “I know you are, sweetie.”

“So can I see Daddy?”

Her mom bit her lip, and smiled. She really did want to take her to see him, but it wasn’t like she could just waltz into a military base with a three year old, “I’ve got to ask the people who are there if I can bring you to see Daddy, okay?”

“Are they mean?”

Lucy shook her head, “No, but they have to keep everyone safe over there, baby.”

“So I can’t see Daddy?” she asked, pouting.

“Not yet.”

“But I want to see Daddy.”

“I know, baby.”

“I miss Daddy.”

“I do, too, Nasha.”

“So can I go see Daddy?”

She strapped her into her seat in their automotive, and smiled, “Do you want to see if you can see Daddy?” she asked. Screw the protocols, she was going to take her daughter to see her father, she deserved that much.

She nodded.

She kissed her cheek, “Then let’s go see if they’ll let you see Daddy.”

It was late, and the medic’s base was a decent way into the land between the barrier and the ice wall, and there were quite a few checkpoints that she had to go through before she could get to the medic’s base. At first, she was worried about her daughter on such a long drive, it was a couple hours, after all, but it proved to be unwarranted, because her daughter had fallen asleep for most of the long drive. It helped prepare her for what she was going to say when their little girl saw him. She had wanted to wait to bring her to him until after he woke up, but Nasha deserved to see him, too. She parked the car, more gently than she had when she had come with Natsu in her back seat, and nudged her daughter.

Nasha didn’t wake up, so she gently unbuckled her, and scooped her up in her arms. It was probably better this way, after all, there were a lot of security measures that they had to go through, and Nasha probably wouldn’t handle all of that well. She was only three after all. She took a deep breath, making her way through corridor after corridor. A few soldiers gave her weird looks for bringing a near baby into the facility, but she was a general, so nobody voiced their concerns. Nasha stirred in her arms, and soon was rubbing her eyes awake, looking around the place, no doubt trying to register where she was now.

“Where’s Daddy?” she asked.

Lucy smiled at her daughter, and nodded her head over to where they were opening the door for her. It was the same room that she had gone in before after his operation, after they told her everything that they had diagnosed with him. “In order to see Daddy, we have to go in here.”

“Daddy’s in here?” Nasha asked, eyes wide as they walked into the room together. She looked around the dark room, searching for where her father was, only to not see him.  “Daddy’s not in here.” Of course it wouldn’t register that they couldn’t be in the same room as her father, at least, not now.

Lucy adjusted her on her hip, and faced the window, “Daddy’s in there.” Seeing him like that again was still too hard on her, but she had to be strong for her daughter.

“Daddy?” Nasha asked.

Lucy nodded, pressing her cheek against hers, “That’s Daddy.”

Nasha’s eyes were wide and confused as she looked at her, “Why’s Daddy in there?”

Everything that she had prepared to say to her disappeared, and all she could do was smile, “Daddy’s sick.”

“But I want to hug Daddy.”

“Daddy can’t hug you right now.” Lucy shook her head, biting inside her cheek to stop herself from crying.

“Is Daddy sleeping?”

“Yes, Daddy’s sleeping.”

“I want Daddy to wake up.”

“I want Daddy to wake up, too.”

“When’s Daddy waking up?”

She shook her head, looking back at Natsu through the window, she had to be honest with her daughter, “I don’t know, Nasha, I don’t know when Daddy’s waking up.”

“Does Daddy have to stay here?”

She nodded, adjusting her hold on her, “Yes, Daddy has to stay here.” For now, at least, he had to stay here.

“But I want Daddy to come home.”

“I want Daddy to come home, too, Nasha,” Lucy admitted, “But because Daddy is sick he’s got to stay here for a little while.”

“Then… is Daddy coming home in five days?”

She shook her head, “Daddy has to stay here longer than five days.”

“Ten days?”

Lucy smiled, “I don’t know, Nasha,” she pressed her forehead to her daughter’s, “I don’t know when Daddy will be coming home.”

“But you found Daddy. Daddy’s right there, can’t Daddy come home?”

She shook her head, “Daddy’s too sick to go home right now.”

“So, Daddy has to stay here?”

Lucy nodded, “Yes, Daddy has to stay here.”

Nasha pouted, and turned back to look at her father. She pressed her small hands against the window pane, as if she could push through it and be closer to her father. Her heart ached seeing her daughter’s face as she desired to be closer to her dad. He was in a special bed that had been prepared, so that he could lay on his back and not be pressing his… what had been his wings against the mattress of the hospital bed, and the blanket went up to his collar bone, so Nasha could barely see all of the bandages that were covering him. She was grateful, because she was still trying to make a decision on if they should amputate his arm or not. Part of her knew that it was the right thing to do, the doctors had told her what would happen if they didn’t amputate it, and she knew that was the best option, but she didn’t want him to lose his arm. What if it healed? Even though they told her it wouldn’t. How was he supposed to hug Nasha without his arm? He already won’t be able to walk properly for a while, and he couldn’t fly. Did she really have to rid him of his arm, too? Maybe she was just being selfish.

Nasha begged her to be taken back to Natsu a few times after this visit, and of course, she wanted to take her to him. Why wouldn’t she? But she couldn’t bring herself to. She told her that when he was ready to come home, she’d bring him home, instead. It helped a little, but not much, how could it? Nasha knew where her father was now, of course she’d want to see him. She was a bit more accepting than she thought she’d be, for a three year old, in regards to her father being unconscious for who knows how long. Now, was the bigger issue, though.

Today was the day that she had to decide whether to amputate his arm or not. The doctor had assured her multiple times that it would be better for him to have it amputated, but because she was his wife, she had to make the decision. In the hospital garb, with a mask covering her face, and gloves on her hands, she stared down at her husband. Breathing much more steady than he had been when he first arrived here, when he had collapsed in her arms. Hesitantly, she reached her hand out and gently ran her gloved fingers over his destroyed skin. She frowned, she didn’t want to. Having him lose an arm on top of everything he had already lost was like putting a huge ‘disabled’ sticker on his forehead.

She sighed, carefully lacing her fingers with his, “Where… how much of his arm will be left?”

The doctor reached over him and gently took a marker and drew a line a few inches above his elbow, “This is the most we’d be able to let him keep.”

She felt tears forming in her eyes as she stared at how much of his arm would be remaining, before her eyes trailed up to his sleeping face. He looked to be in so much pain. “Will it hurt?”

“We’ll put him under anesthetics, so he won’t feel anything.” the doctor replied.

She carefully lifted up his messed up hand that was grotesque to look at, and loosely covered in bandages, and pressed it to her lips, tears falling out of her eyes as she hesitated to say the words. Staring at his face the whole time as they escaped her mouth, “Okay… please… just make sure he doesn’t feel any pain.”

They nodded, and wrote something down on their clipboard before leaving the room. Leaving her alone with him in this room. She still held onto his hand tightly, as if hoping that he’d grip her back, even though she knew that all of his nerves in this hand were completely damaged, and he could feel nothing. Even if he was conscious right now, he wouldn’t know she was holding his hand. If that was the case, was there really a difference if he lost his arm or not? It ached that she was thinking this, but all she truly wanted was for all of his pain to end. She knew his back was probably still in the most pain. She had already requested that they amputate the shards of his wings that remained off of him. That broke her when she made that decision, but she knew it would just hurt him to have them there. He was wrapped so gently and securely in bandages from head to toe.

She was escorted out of the room as they took him away into the operating room, only to wait impatiently outside for hours upon hours as they did what they needed to do. As they made sure that he felt no pain, and got rid of most of his right arm. Part of her still wanted to know what exactly he had gone through in order to end up in a state like this, but at the same time, she didn’t want to know. She never wanted to know. From hearing from the doctor, she could put the pieces together. No doubt he was tricked somehow and caught as a prisoner of war, and they probably knew they stood no chance against him so they starved him, to deplete him of his strength. There were nasty burn marks on his wrists, and on his palms and she wanted so desperately to know what they had in order to burn him, but at the same time she never wanted to know. She wanted him to stay as the strong and unmoving strength that he was in her life.

It was probably at least another week later that he finally opened his eyes. It was a different room than before, and she didn’t have to be decked out in hospital gear. She was reading a book by his side, leaning against the side of the bed, hoping that he’d wake up. She felt movement on the bed, and looked over at him to see his eyes open and staring up at the ceiling unmoving. He didn’t even blink, just stared in silence, as if trying to register where he was. He didn’t have that breathing device on his face anymore, but his mouth was still parted open as if he was still having trouble breathing.

“Natsu?” She asked, gently, softly, only for him not to register her at all. At first, she nearly panicked, calling his name again, still gentle. However, she soon remembered what the doctor had said about him possibly losing some of his hearing. She nudged his arm, and he turned his head slowly to look at her. “Hey, Natsu, you finally woke up.”

It took a second for him to seemingly register who she was, but when he did his pupils dilated. Tears filled his eyes, and his mouth quivered for a bit, before he finally said anything. In tears, with a voice so soft, for a second she doubted that it was his, he whimpered, “I’m so sorry, Lucy!” He hiccupped, as tears fell down his cheeks.

Tears were in her own eyes as she gently ran a hand through his hair, tightly gripping his hand with her other, she shook her head, “It’s not your fault, Natsu.”

He shook his head carefully, and faintly, no doubt still in pain, “I’m so sorry!”

She smiled, and slid her hand down, careful not to touch his ear, to cup his cheek, “You don’t have to be.”

Tears continued to fall out of his eyes as he repeated over and over again to her that he was sorry. What was he sorry for? She didn’t know, but the conclusion she came to was that he blamed himself for losing what he lost. That he took her words seriously when she told him she’d kill him if he got hurt all those years ago? It didn’t matter, he was okay. She pressed her lips against his forehead, before carefully backing up enough to press her forehead to his, something he had done to her countless amount of times to help comfort her when she got too anxious, “I’m just glad you’re alive.”

His hiccups broke and he cried. It was probably the first time she had actually heard him cry. She knew he cried a lot when Igneel had died, but she hadn’t been close enough at the time. Not even Happy was by his side when that happened. Tears stormed down his cheeks and he cried, as if he was Nasha waking up in the middle of the night when she was still nursing, he cried. Deep wails as if he had been holding it in the entire time he was gone. She felt a pained smile stretch across her face as tears streamed down her own cheeks, and she carefully wrapped her arms around him, careful not to touch those huge wounds on his back, burying his face into her shoulder. He didn’t need words right now, he just needed her to be there for him.

He tried to lift his arm up to hug her back, and stopped, as if feeling the blanket differently on his arm, so he stopped. She felt like she shouldn’t have amputated his arm in that moment, and immediately slid her arm down, grabbing his arm with her hand, and lifting it up, knowing that it wouldn’t be able to hug her. She lifted herself up from him, and looked down, “I’m the one who should be sorry, Natsu.”

His eyes shifted as they looked back and forth to each of her eyes, he shook his head, “Nothing’s ever your fault, Lucy.”

She smiled, and slowly let go of him, sitting back down, and holding his arm in her hands, “I made a decision without your consent.”

His eyes glanced down to his arm before back up to her, and he shook his head, “I always trust you, Lucy.”

She smiled, but hung her head, “And… I’m sorry that I didn’t look for you right away.”

“It’s not your fault.” he muttered.

“And it’s not your fault that you got hurt.” She immediately replied, before shaking her head, “I… I heard the news… news that you were MIA… and… even though I knew you’d never do something like that… I didn’t think to look for you, Natsu.”

He shook his head, eyes glossing over as if he had some deep secret to hide, as if he was grateful she didn’t look for him. It hurt her that such a thought would go through his head. “You were busy, Lucy. Don’t worry, I won in the end.”

Won? Yes. But at what cost? She smiled, “You beat them up real good?”

He nodded, but his smile wasn’t as wide as it usually was when he won a fight. “But… I’m sorry, Lucy.” He raised his hand and wiped his eyes, before changing position, attempting to sit up.

Her eyes widened, and immediately, she grabbed his shoulders and shoved him back down, “No!” He grunted at the action, and reached his arm up, grabbing his shoulder. Her eyes widened as she immediately remembered those huge wounds on his back, “I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to-”

He put a hand up to her, turning away from her, “I’m fine.”

Liar. She sighed, “You don’t need to apologize, Natsu, what happened wasn’t your fault.”

His back was turned to her, and her eyes fell on the bandages where his wings used to be. He was silent for a few minutes, letting her think that he was ignoring her, before he muttered, in a wavering voice, “I lost them, Lucy.”

She bit her lip, lifting her gaze up to the back of his head. She didn’t need to ask what he was talking about. She opened her mouth to protest, to say she’d still love him without them, that his wings didn’t define him, but he continued before she could.

“I can’t fly anymore, Lucy.” He muttered, and she heard him hiccup, “I can’t take you in the sky anymore… I… can’t… I can’t take Nasha… in the sky anymore. She… you… she loved them so much… and… I lost them, Lucy.” 

“Natsu, you-”

“They’re gone.” he interrupted her, unintentionally, probably. “I… Who am I?”

She stood up and hurried around the bed, and kneeled on the floor, hands gripping the edge of the bed as she tried to get him to look at her, “You’re my Natsu.”

He shook his head, “Do I really look like that?”

“Of course!” She exclaimed, cupping his cheek with her hand, “Why would you be anything else?”

He smiled, but it didn’t feel genuine. Lifting his hand up to pull her hand off of his face, “But I’m not.”

“That’s ridiculous, of course you are, you-”

“I’m a monster, Lucy.”

A monster? How? Because he had lost a few limbs? “Natsu, you’re being ridiculous, of course you’re not a monster, you’re my Natsu Dragneel Heartfilia, you-”

He smiled, and let go of her hand, shaking his head before she could finish her sentence, “I’ve failed you, and Nasha.”

“No, you didn’t, you-”

“Lucy.” He muttered, lifting his gaze to look dead into hers, “I’m tired, please.”

Slowly she let her hands slide off the bed and to her sides as she collapsed onto the ground. He was shutting her out, like he had done after he lost Igneel. She wanted to break down his walls, but how could she do something like that when he was already in such a vulnerable state? He was crying the whole time he was telling her that, as if he hated himself. How… How could such a strong person break down this badly? She felt tears streaming down her cheeks before she even realized her eyes let go of them, and she stared up to his form on the bed. He had no doubt already gone to sleep, but she couldn’t get herself to get up off the floor.

It took a bit for him to regain what she remembered him to be. He seemed so out of everything, zoning out, and staring out the window at the ice wall often. She came into the room one day, with a tray of food, some applesauce and a bowl of soup, to see him sitting up and staring out the window. He shouldn't be sitting up yet, however, before she could tell him to lay back down, he covered his nose and mouth with his hand and curled over himself. Immediately, she rushed to his side, to see what was going on, he eyed the tray she had abandoned on the cart, and his body jolted, before he swallowed, and brought his hand down from his face. He stared down at it, eyes going wide as his pupils constricted, and his body shaking as he stared down at it. His breathing got sharper, and she tried to place her hand over his, to cover whatever it was that he was seeing. Instead of helping, it got worse, and she tried to lower his hand, stop him from looking at it, but he pulled it from her grasp, turning his attention to look at her. Finally acknowledging that she was there. His heart rate quickened, and he shook his head, dropping it again to look back down to his hand.

“Natsu, are you okay?” She asked.

Instead of answering right away, he turned away from her and lay down on the bed, covering himself with the blanket, as if to tell her he didn't want to talk right now. She sat down on the chair, and stared at his back, rising and falling in broken breaths. Gently, she tapped his shoulder, “Aren't you hungry, babe?” Surely, he'd turn around to that, right? He always loved food, and there wasn't a single occasion where he-

“No.” He muttered, “I'm not hungry.”

What on earth had happened to her Natsu? She wanted to shake him, ask him why he was being so different, but knew that it probably had to do with whatever had happened to him. She decided to oblige his wants for now, but that proved to be worse than she had thought. Consequently, the next time she had come to see him, he looked even more gaunt than before. When begging the doctors to tell her why, they revealed to her that he wasn't eating anything. No, to put it more clearly, he was eating, because they had to force him, too, but then later he'd end up throwing it all up. He needed to get his proper nutrition, though, he'd die otherwise. Instead, they ended up sending him the nutrients his body needed through an I.V., and that also annoyed him, having another thing stuck to his body. She wanted to smack him over the head for being so stubborn, but surely there was some sort of trauma connected to it. Natsu wasn't like that.

It took another week before he started eating anything, and really, it was more like drinking. Giving him the nutrients his body needed through drinking nutritional drinks. The good news though, was that Natsu had gotten approval to go home. He had a thick cast over his leg with metal rods to help keep his leg in position. He refused to use a crutch, and she didn't blame him. The crutch they had made specially for him had to be trapped to his right arm, which was still healing from being amputated. She helped bring him to her automotive, adjusting the seats and setting up pillows before helping him into it, and buckling him up before he could reach for the seatbelt himself.

“Nasha's gonna hate me.” He muttered when they had gotten through the barrier. He had a bad case of motion sickness, but she supposed everything else that his body had been put through was overriding it right now.

“She's not going to hate you.”

He shook his head, and looked out the window. “Why don't you hate me, Lucy?”

“Why would I?” She asked, glancing over to him.

“I… I'm not your Natsu anymore.”

She slammed on the breaks, causing him to jolt forward and backwards, slamming his back into the seat. He groaned, but didn't get mad at her for it. “What do you mean?”

He glanced over at her, before back out the window, “That I'm not your Natsu anymore. I'm… something else.”

She reached over and grabbed his chin, turning his head to face her. She pressed a hard kiss to his lips, before pulling away, “Whatever that's making you think that you're something else is wrong. I didn't fall in love with you because you were dragon-kin, I fell in love with you because you're you. It doesn't matter if you lost all your limbs or none of them, you're my Natsu, whether you like it or not. You're legally mine, so don't try to say otherwise, it hurts me.”

He slowly reached his hand up and pulled her hand down, “Okay. I don't want to hurt you.”

She smiled, and turned back to the wheel. A few days after he is reunited with Nasha, he's gonna have to go and meet with the Secretary of Defense, who will no doubt forcefully retire him. It happens often with combat wounds of this stature. He would probably protest, claiming that he was perfectly fine to fight which was an absolute lie, but maybe she could convince him not to. Convince him to stay behind the ice wall, behind the barrier, where he was safe, without hurting his ego.

She had called home ahead of time, and Juvia had picked up, so that she could tell her that she was bringing Natsu home today. Nasha had been informed, so she wasn't too surprised to see her daughter eagerly awaiting their arrival through the window of their house. Juvia had gone to their house instead of taking Nasha to the children's safety house. She gently pulled into the driveway, and looked over to her husband, who slept in the passenger seat beside her. She didn't exactly want to wake him, so she'd go inside first and make sure that anything he could sit on would be comfortable for him. After quietly closing the automotive door, she rushed inside, barely registering her daughter at the door, and started grabbing the softest pillows she could find, making the couch as comfortable as possible for him to sit on.

She rushed back out to the automotive, and to the passenger’s side, and gently knocked on the window, before opening the door. It seemed it hadn't registered to him that she had knocked on the window, and she was silly for thinking that he would wake up from that when his hearing was bad, now. Gently, she unbuckled him, and nudged him awake. He blinked his eyes open, looking around, as if trying to register where he was in the dead of night. She gently pulled his left shoulder towards her, silently telling him to get out, that they were home.

“I… don't think I can face her.” He muttered, as he was about to get out.

“Why?” She asked, “she'll still love you, no matter what happens, Natsu.”

He shook his head, “I told her I'd be back and -”

“And you are, babe. You are back. It might have taken a little longer, you might look a little different, but you're back, and that's all that matters, isn't it?”

He smiled, but still hesitated to get out of the automotive.

“Nasha will just be delighted to see you.” She grabbed his left arm, and gently pulled it, guiding him out of the automotive, and closing the door. She helped walk him to the door, leaving his crutches in the back seat, slowly, and carefully. She tried to be gentle and not rub at the nubs where his wings had once been, guiding him to the door, and opening it.

“Daddy!” Nasha exclaimed, wiggling out of Juvia’s arms. Lucy guided him to the pillows that she set up on the couch, when he had gestured for her to guide him there. As soon as he was seated, their daughter came bounding over to them.

“This doesn’t hurt, right? We don’t have super soft pillows and-”

“It’s fine.” He interrupted her. Part of her was glad that he seemed to have recovered from breaking down in front of her a few minutes ago, and on the drive here, with his big smile, but another part of her wondered how much he was hiding under it, and wondered if he knew that he could rely on her, too.

Nasha grabbed at the edge of the couch, lifting her hands up for him to pick her up. His eyes widened upon seeing her, and slowly adjusted his position to pull her up with his one arm. Not only had he only one arm to lift her, when she had gotten a bit bigger since he had last seen her, but he was also weaker than before because he still wasn't getting enough proper nutrition. Instead of letting her daughter's heart get broken from her dad failing to pick her up when he used to be able to in a swift motion, she lifted up her daughter, and gently, carefully placed her in her husband's lap, on his left leg, so that she didn't cause any unnecessary pain to his right.  Nasha seemed a bit surprised that her mom picked her up, but the important thing was that she realized that she can't be as rambunctious as she usually was, “Careful, Daddy’s hurt.”

“Daddy!” She exclaimed, ignoring her careful warning, and wrapping her arms quickly and tightly around her husband. Natsu grunted at the action, and she was about to pull her off of him, when his arm wrapped around her, the strong persona he feigned when he first walked in broke down, and he burried his nose in his daughter's small shoulder, silently crying.

He was hurting, maybe he should rest first before handling their daughter. She hesitantly placed a hand on his shoulder, “Babe, are you sure you want to be on the couch? Our bed is much more comfortable, and-”

“Lucy…” Juvia interrupted her, shaking her head. She was right, she was being selfish right now. Natsu needed this moment.

“I’m so sorry, baby!” he cried in a similar way as he had done to her before. She bit her lip, wanting to tell him again that it wasn't his fault, but her daughter beat her to it.

“It’s okay, Daddy.” Nasha muttered patting her dad's back, maybe a little too harshly than she should have been, but this was their moment, she had already had hers. , “It’s okay, Daddy.” She heard her daughter repeating as he cried. She thanked Juvia for waiting this long, and saw her out, before turning back to the two people she loved the most in this world.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered, as Nasha clumsily wiped the tears from his face, “Daddy… Daddy can’t do a lot of things anymore.”

“Nasha-” her mom whispered, sitting down next to them, and about to continue, thinking he was done talking, but he continued. He must not have heard her.

“I’m sorry I was gone for so long, baby,” he muttered.

“Daddy, stop crying, why are you crying?” Nasha was panicking, she had never seen her dad like this before. Hastily wiping the tears from his eyes as if that would stop him from hurting.

“Daddy’s in pain, baby,” Lucy muttered, and pushed her husband's hair behind his ear, and out of his face so that it wouldn't stick to his tears.

“Daddy?” Nasha asked, noticing his injured ear. It wasn't her intention to show his pain like this, but her daughter's sweet words came next, “do you want me to kiss it?”

He smiled, “Do you want to kiss Daddy’s owies?”

Her small hand reached up to touch his ear, she seemed a bit too scared to actually kiss it. Her big eyes looked back to his face as he cried. She adjusted his arm on her and looked over as if wondering why he wasn't holding her with both. Those innocent eyes widened significantly upon seeing his bandaged right arm. She looked back up to his face, “Daddy…”

“Yes?”

She tried to unwrap his arm, “is…”

“Nasha, baby, you can’t touch that.” Lucy tried to stop her, but Natsu instead spoke up, defying her concerns.

“It’s okay, Luce,” he stated, glancing over at her, before back to his daughter, “Nasha, Daddy’s different, isn’t he?”

Her small hands tore the rest of the bandage off, revealing his amputated arm. Her heart ached as she saw the tears forming in her daughter’s eyes, and falling down her cheeks. She was a smart girl, she recognized an injury when she saw one,  “I can kiss it and make it better.”

“Yeah?” he asked, and kissed her forehead, “I’m sorry, baby.”

“Where’d it go?” she asked, looking back to his arm.

He shrugged, “It’s playing hide and seek.” Only Natsu would think of an explanation like that on the fly. His arm, playing hide and seek? She smiled at his playfulness.

“Tell it to stop.”

“It doesn’t want to.”

“I want it to come back.”

“It can’t.”

“No. Bring it back, Daddy!”

He smiled, and tears formed in his eyes again. Seeing how she wasn't getting answers from her dad, she turned to her mom. Lucy felt tears on her cheeks as she watched her daughter's quivering lips as she said, “Mommy, where is it? Where’s Daddy’s arm?”

She smiled, and picked her daughter up. She didn't want Natsu to be in any more pain, “Daddy’s hurt.”

Nasha looked confused for a bit, but looked over at her father as if finally, truly taking in his situation. She tried to get back to his lap, but Lucy held her in place. “Daddy…” Nasha whispered, looking him over as if trying to come up with a solution herself. She sat up straight in her arms, as she came to a conclusion, “Daddy, can I clean your wings?”

Lucy felt her throat burn as her eyes lifted up from her daughter to focus on her husband. His eyes were filled with tears again. She opened her mouth to tell her daughter the truth, when Natsu beat her to it.

He shook his head, “Daddy doesn’t have his wings anymore.” He said it so sweetly, and gently, it was hard for her to recall how much he was blaming himself for losing them.

“No.” Nasha exclaimed, pushing herself out of her arms, which she had loosened her grip on, “They’re right here!”

He flinched on her touch, and Lucy immediately scolded her daughter, but she didn't seem to register it. He was so gentle with her, though. “Stop, Natsu. Please.”

“Daddy lost his wings,” he gently whispered.

“No.” Nasha boldly exclaimed, pulling at his shirt, “take them out! I want to clean them for Daddy!”

He shook his head, “Daddy doesn’t have them.”

She pulled at his shirt again, “Daddy has to have them.”

He smiled, shaking his head. Despite her protests, though, he revealed to their daughter the bandages still on his back where his wings used to be. Showing to her the nubs that were there in their place, “I’m sorry, baby, Daddy can’t fly anymore.”

Nasha's small hand grabbed his arm, “When are they coming back?”

He shook his head, “They're not coming back.”

“I want them to come back.”

He kissed her cheek, his eyes were still wet, “I want them to come back, too.”

`````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````

Lucy rolled over in her bed, running her fingers over the scales that lay beside her. Tears trickled down her cheeks. “I want you to come back, Natsu.” She muttered, “Not your wings.”

[“... Nasha, you’re just so cute and adorable! I’m sorry I mess up on your hair all the time. You’re really the best daughter I could have ever asked for. You’re amazing. I love you!”]

She must have fallen asleep while listening to his voice recording for Nasha. She had never gotten this far in the recording, trying to listen to it over and over again, but couldn't. Nasha was in her university classes right now. She had gone all over town trying to piece together what she had been told of the truth, a few years ago, but still refused to forgive her father. Still called him a liar and a betrayer. There was a long silence, and she assumed it was over, so she got up to stop the recording.

[“Alright, so… um… this is for Lucy.”]

She stopped. For her? He recorded for her, too? Why'd he have to put it in the same recording? After finally listening to this recording after finding it in the box that he had stored in the basement of his cabin, it took her at least three years to get this far in it. She hiccupped. 

[“I love you.”]

“I love you, too…” she muttered.

[“You’re really amazing, Lucy.”]

“So are you…”

[“You know, I don’t think I thought much about it when I was younger, and when we first got married, but, I’m actually surprised you wanted to be with me. You’re so amazing, strong, and beautiful.”]

“Natsu…”

[“I’m glad Nasha takes after you, a lot. She’s got your big eyes, and gorgeous smile. Her laugh sounds like yours, too. Anyway, thanks, for giving the emo idiot I was a chance to make you happy.”]

“You were really weird…” she laughed through her tears.

[“I’m gonna be honest, I’m sorry I’m recording this time capsule thingy without you.”]

“I'm glad you did…”

 [“But, if it’s ten years later, then, I’m sure the war will be over by then. I’m sure we had a great big party, and I’m sure you stopped worrying your ass off about if I’m wearing my brace or not. My leg will probably be healed by then.”]

She shook her head, “I'm sure it has…”

[He sighed, “Lucy, even if you don’t say it, I’m sure you’re still secretly hoping that I find a way to fly again, and, honestly, as much as I miss my wings, I’m fine now. Yeah, sure, it feels like they’re still there sometimes, and I’m grateful for your subtlety in reminding me that they aren’t, but, it’s really fine now. That camp was completely destroyed, you’re not gonna find them again, and that’s okay. My wings aren’t me, Lucy, and I’m going to be with you forever, so it’s alright that I don’t have them.”]

She pulled his wings across the bed to her chest, “You're wrong, Natsu…” she cried, “I wish you were right. I wish that you were with me forever and that I didn't find them.”

[“You know, I bet I’m still that stubborn man you married, though, refusing to do my physical therapy, and refusing Wendy’s healing. She really can’t heal my leg much more than it already is, I’ve told you that multiple times, you know. Anyway, I bet that in ten years, we will probably have two kids! Nasha needs a baby brother, you know. But it’s okay, if we don’t. In fact, unless we adopt, I don’t know if I want you to go through that again. I don’t want them to cut you open like they did for Nasha. Actually, yeah, no, it’s okay if Nasha doesn’t have a baby brother. You’re not going to be cut open again.”]

It hurt her that he didn't know how right he was. That they didn't have another child, that Nasha didn't have a younger brother. Right now, she knew he didn't want her to have a C-section again, but she'd prefer that than not having him here. She pulled his wings closer to her chest as she forced herself to continue listening to him. It didn't matter how much it hurt, she had to hear him. She hadn't heard his voice properly, addressed to her in eleven years, and she missed it so desperately.

[He sighed, “I’m… actually, screw the time capsule thing, Lucy, I’m just sorry.”]

“It's not your fault, Natsu,” she hiccupped, “and your death isn't your fault either. I know you're probably blaming yourself for it, but it's truly not your fault.”

[“I’m so sorry that I let myself get caught, that I let myself get tortured, that I… I’m sorry that I wasn’t there for you when they got your head.”]

“You were a hundred kilometers away, Natsu, how could you have been there?” She cried.

[“I’m sorry I couldn’t be with you on the frontlines again, and let you fight through that all on your own. Well, I know you’ve got the Spirits Corps, but still. I trust you, I do, but… it doesn’t stop me from worrying about you. You know my hearing is failing, but… I can still hear you. It doesn’t matter how far you are. If you scream for me, I will most definitely be there for you, no matter how many times it takes. Of course, I’ll still make sure Nasha is safe before I protect you.”]

“But if Nasha tells you to stay, you should stay…” she cried, voice wavering. “And you should've stayed even if she told you to go.”

[“No, you’re right. If Nasha tells me not to go to you, I won’t.”]

“And you should have stayed even if she told you to go, like she did.” She cried, “So why didn’t you?”

[“I trust you, and Nasha needs to be protected by both of us, you know.”]

“I know. I know that's why you left. To protect both of us. You're really selfish.”

[“I really do love you, Lucy. And I always will. You’re amazing, and you’ll never not be amazing. Even if you’re a weirdo sometimes. I love you, forever and always.”]

Tears were cascading down her cheeks as she balled her eyes out, holding his wings close to her chest as if she was burying her nose into his right now. With a shaky hand, she rewinded the film.

[“I love you, forever and always.”]

She hiccupped, and rewinded it again. 

[“I love you, forever and always.”]

[“I love you, forever and always.”]

She smiled through her tears and buried her face in his wings, not caring about how the scales scraped at her face. She felt the cold wind come in through the opened hatch on the ceiling, and heard the hammock sway in this run down, and overgrown cabin, but cried her eyes dry missing every inch of him. Wishing that she had a nose like his, because then this place would still smell like him. Happy pushes his head against her, resting it on her lap as he lay at her feet, and nudging his wings with his nose that had gone white over the years. He was crying, too, she knew he was, even if he didn't have tears. He was such a comfort, and yet, nothing could fill the void that her husband had left in her heart, in her life.

“I love you, too, forever and always.” She muttered, and a gust of warm wind filled the cabin for a second, as her tears dripped off her cheeks and onto his scales. “Forever and always.” She repeated as the wind turned cold again, but the warmth lingered around her.