Epilogue: Unwritten Adventures

Five years later

Time was a funny thing. The way it stretched things, the way it slowed. How all that was and ever would be bowed and changed according to its whims. Time gave and it took away. But more than anything, time changed. Natsu felt he knew that better than most.

Still, he couldn't believe he was here. In a palace he'd once burned to the ground, as a guest and not a prisoner. Music and laughter swelled around him as he took in the sight of the gleaming white walls, the magnificent arches of the ballroom and the colours the stained glass windows sent dancing across the floor from the light of the moon. Only a year ago this space has been nothing but ash. And now The Celestial Plains were thriving once more.

If he dwelled on his memories too long, the walls around him would begin to burn and the smiling faces of his friends would warp into looks of pure terror as flames- his flames- inches closer and closer. But it wasn't real. That would never happen again. He wasn't The Demon Prince anymore. He was Natsu Dragneel, of Fairy Tail. He had helped to rebuild this place.

A slight tug on his cloak drew his attention, pulling him from his thoughts. He smiled when he looked down to see a little girl staring up at him. She had her mother's eyes, deep and blue and beautiful, but her long raven hair was definitely a gift from her father.

"Uncle Natsu, why do you look so sad? Did Papa beat you in a fight again?"

Natsu snorted as he knelt to speak to the little girl, tugging at her hair playfully.

"Your Papa hasn't beat me in a fight. Not now and now ever."

"That's not what Papa says." She pouted.

"Well your Papa is full of sh-"

"Mika!" A voice called through the crowd.

Both Natsu and Mika turned to see her father making his way towards them. Natsu stood as he approached, flashing Gray a bright grin. Gray shot him a curious look before turning his attention to his daughter.

"What have I told you about running off?" Gray chastised her. His voice was gentle though. Gray was a good father, though Natsu would never tell him that out loud.

"Sorry Papa." Mika apologised shyly before whispering dramatically to her father, "Uncle Natsu looked sad."

"Well I would be sad too if I looked as ugly as Uncle Natsu, wouldn't you?"

Natsu punched Gray in the arm, but Gray merely grinned at him as he narrowly avoided spilling his wine. Mika snickered at the two of them, no doubt thinking they were more childish than she was at times. Natsu ruffled her hair affectionately before suggesting she go find her mother. She skipped away after her father bent to kiss her cheek, telling her to pass it along to her mother.

Natsu smiled.

They watched her go, looking after her together in silence as across the room Juvia scooped up her daughter in her arms and laughed loudly as Mika mushed their faces together, passing on her father's kiss to her mother's cheek.

Natsu glanced away as Juvia looked their way. Despite the room full of people between them he knew that Gray only saw Juvia, and his daughter in her arms. They could convey so much in one look that Natsu felt as though watching their shared moments like that was an invasion of privacy, despite the fact they were surrounded by people. He remembered what is was like to look at someone like that. To be the one looked at like that. His chest ached at the memory.

Five years. He hadn't seen her in five years. Almost without thinking he glanced upwards. He could see the stars through the glass domes above. She was up there, somewhere. Beautiful and unreachable.

At first he hadn't known what to do with himself. He returned to Magnolia with Fairy Tail. He stayed with them. Got to know them. But all the while he felt as though there were a ghost in the room. He felt the gaps in time where her laughter should be. The moments where he would turn to face her and she wouldn't be there. He stayed in her room a few nights. Surrounding himself with her scent and her memory. Every morning he would wake up and reach for her and every morning she wouldn't be there.

He'd felt as though he should grieve. He did grieve. Every time someone said her name he had to grip his teeth to keep from crying. Sometimes he would be sure he saw a flash of blonde hair down the corridor. Hear her calling to him in the night. His mind played so many cruel tricks on him, it was all he could do to look up to the night sky and tell her how much he missed her. How he ached with it. If only he still had his wings, perhaps he could fly to her. He'd never thought he'd wish to be a monster again, but he would sell his soul all over again if it meant he got to see her.

Eventually he began to feel guilty for grieving. She wasn't dead so he shouldn't mourn her. He could mourn what they had but that wasn't really dead either. He still loved her. Wherever she was she still loved him too. At least, he told himself she did. He hoped desperately that she did.

He'd begun to panic when he'd thought that. Six months after she left as he sat on the roof on Makarov's palace, hoping for a glimpse of the stars through the rain. What if she didn't even remember him? What if she was just a star, and nothing more?

Loke had appeared then. It was the first time Natsu had seen him since the end of the war.

"If she was just a star, then she'd be a star that burned for you." The spirit had told him. Natsu wasn't sure how he had known what he was thinking, but was too despatched by what Loke said next to ponder on it. "But none of us are just stars, and neither is she. She still loves you and she always will. She misses you, she wanted me to tell you that. She's happy. Even though she is without you, and she feels as though she left her heart with you on that battlefield, she's happy. She wants you to be to."

"Even if my heart is up there with her?" Natsu had asked him.

"Even then."

He didn't want to waste the life she'd given him, so he threw himself into Fairy Tail's plans to repair the damage the wear had reaped. He and Happy both. The various missions they went on helped to distract Natsu from the pain of his yearning. The grief- guilt- whatever it was that churned in his stomach, abated a bit, though it never left. Whenever he saw Loke, who often returned to their realm to assist Yukino, he asked after Lucy. Loke never gave him much detail, but still, it was better than not knowing.

And now here he was. In the Celestial Plains. He and Happy had spent most of the last year helping Yukino rebuild her and Lucy's homeland. She refused to ascend to the throne as Lucy wished until their lands were fulling revived. Where thriving once again. She'd seen every part of the rebuilt was a success. Gradually people had returned. All were welcome, even those that had never before had a home on these lands.

Her coronation had been two days ago.

Natsu admired her for all that she had achieved after the war. But what he admired her for most was that she kept the memory of Lucy alive. She mentioned her in every speech she made during the rebuild, toasted her family at every meal. Even during her coronation, she hadn't took Lucy's crown. She had her own, smaller and simpler. Natsu had never seen her wearing Lucy's keys either, or the armour. He hadn't seen those since the war, and often wondered where they were now.

"Natsu? Natsu?" Gray's voice pulled his gaze away from the stars, "Are you… okay?"

"What?" Natsu replied, blinking as though he'd awoken from a daze, "Oh, yeah. I'm fine."

Gray rose an eyebrow at him in doubt.

"You were thinking about her." He stated, not phrasing it like a question because he knew it was true.

Natsu didn't answer. Instead he fixed his gaze on where Yukino stood from her throne and began descending the steps, the spirits of Pisces on either side of her as she called out in greeting to the various members of Fairy Tail that had come to celebrate the occasion.

"I wonder what Lucy thinks of all this." Gray continued, seeming to talk almost to himself, "She was always so sure The Celestial Plains would be revived someday. She never doubted it, not even for a second. I think she'd proud of this. Of Yukino. Of you."

It never surprised Natsu the fondness with which Gray spoke of Lucy. The way anyone who had known her spoke of her. Her memory always brought a smile to people's faces, and long thoughtful but comfortable silences between friends as they each wondered what she would say if she was there. Natsu knew very well he wasn't the only one who missed her.

"Careful, Ice For Brains," Natsu smirked, "That almost sounded like a compliment."

"I said she would be proud of you, not that she had good judgement." Gray smirked back. Natsu rolled his eyes as Gray's expression suddenly turned serious, "But she did. I know now that she did."

Natsu placed a hand on Gray's shoulder in thanks, not quite sure of what to say. Many things had changed after the war, but for all Natsu had changed, Gray had changed too. Sure they still bickered and fought with each other, but they'd gotten to know each other despite Gray's initial hatred of him. They had shared things with each other- things they'd done in the war that haunted their dreams and stemmed their biggest regrets- things Natsu knew he himself would never tell anyone else. Things he would have confided in Lucy. It took time of course, but they had forgiven each other. Gray had helped Natsu forgive himself. If he thought about it too long, he felt a slight twinge in his chest at the fact that Gray's daughter referred to him as 'Uncle'. He could never have guessed that would have happened in a million years.

Gray nodded in understanding before finally going to join his family. Natsu watched the Fullbuster family from the side of the room. They wore nothing to signify their status. They looked just like a regular family, with an overabundance of love and kind smiles. Natsu sighed wistfully as he watched them before his eyes drifted back to the stars.

He wasn't left to linger on his thought long however. Natsu pushed himself off the wall and gave a curious bow as Yukino approached him. When he looked up she seemed a bit flustered, as though she wasn't quite used to people doing that yet.

"Enjoying the party?" He smiled as she fumbled for words.

"I think I'm meant to ask you that." She chuckled, "Though that's not what I came to ask actually. I wanted to show you something."

Natsu regarded her curiously but followed without a word when she gestured for them to leave the ballroom. Both Pisces spirits disappeared from her side as they made their way to the palace gardens. They were lush and green despite the desert that spanned out around the city itself. At the centre of the gardens was a small tower, no higher than three stories. It was a simple building. Natsu had often passed it but he'd never been inside. It was off limits to anyone other than Yukino and her spirits.

Yukino placed her palm on the iron door of the tower and Natsu watched as it gently swung open. She gestured to him with a small smile to go first. Natsu peaked his head inside before fully entering. He could see nothing but a narrow staircase spiralling upwards. He looked back at Yukino but she only nodded at him encouragingly.

Moonlight shone down through the opening to the top floor as Natsu made his way up the stairs. His curiosity grew and grew with each step, and he idly wished he'd found Happy before coming here with Yukino so the two of them could marvel at the weirdness of it all.

At the stop of the stairs he stepped into a small, open room. It was without walls, and the only thing that seemed to protect its interior from the weather was the domed glass ceiling- similar to the skylights in the ballroom- held aloft by marble pillars.

In the centre of the room was Lucy's armour.

"What is-" Natsu turned to ask Yukino, but she wasn't there. She hadn't followed him up the stairs.

He heard the door close far below him as he turned back to the armour, a light breeze ruffling his hair. The armour was in a glass case, polished to shine but without the keys emended in it. The keys were still here though. Placed on their own pedestals around the room, like the numbers on a clock. Yukino's were missing, but they still had their own pedestals should they ever be reunited with their counterparts.

Natsu paced around the armour, his memories pushing images of Lucy dressed for battle to the front of his mind. He couldn't look at it for long without a lump forming in his throat. Instead he wandered over to one of the pedestals. The number twelve on a clock face. The key of Aquarius lay broken on a velvet pillow.

Natsu shut his eyes and tried to push back the flood of memories as the clouds cleared overhead, sending a bright cascade of moonlight into the room. Something about the skylight must have been different than the ones in the ballroom, because when Natsu opened his eyes he saw stars painted on the walls. Bright at first, but soon they faded as the moonlight was hidden by the clouds once more.

He sighed to himself as he continued to stare at the broken key. Hesitantly, he reached out to touch it.

"Aquarius will kill you if you get grubby fingerprints all over her key."

Natsu's heart stopped.

He couldn't think. Couldn't breathe. He stood, frozen, as his eyes blurred with tears. All because of that voice. It had been five painfully long years since he'd heard that voice. Five years of only the whisper of it in dreams and tender memories.

"Won't you look at me?" Lucy asked, her voice small and tinged with sadness.

But he couldn't. It'd happened before, seeing her when she wasn't there. Though not for a long time. He couldn't take it. He couldn't handle it if he turned around and she wasn't there. If she wasn't real. Not again.

A weight settled on his shoulder. Gentle and soothing. He inched his head to the side slightly. Risking a glace to find pale, slender fingers resting on his shoulder. Fingers he'd once twined with his own, when they'd still been clawed and ugly.

Slowly, ever so slowly, as though he was afraid he would startle her and she would run, he turned to face her. The weight of her hand on his shoulder felt so real- so alive- surely he couldn't be dreaming again? He was awake just a moment ago.

She was as beautiful as he remembered, illuminated by the muted light of the stars. Tears streamed down her face like liquid moonlight, but she was smiling pure and bright and real and right there in front of him. Her eyes, both of them brown unlike when she'd… she'd- he couldn't think of it. Not when she was here, with him, smiling and laughing slightly as he feels tears of his own stream down his face and her eyes, they're so alight at seeing him he wondered if his heart would break.

Natsu surged forward and wrapped her in a tight embrace. Tight enough to hurt but she didn't seem to mind, she was clinging to him just the same. He could feel her breath on his neck. Feel her heart hammering where their chests pressed together. His breathing was ragged as he held her against him.

"Lucy." He whispered, shocking himself a little because he didn't say her name much. Not when it hurt so much. But now he felt only relief, "Lucy, Lucy, Lucy."

She laughed wetly into his shirt before pulling back slightly. He held her face gently in his hands, looking at her as though she was the first star in the sky. Though to him she was the only one that mattered. But she wasn't up there any more she was here and real and brushing tears from his cheeks and alive and real.

"You're here. You're here and bright and real." Natsu rambled, "How do I know you're real?"

Lucy smiled up at him a little sadly before pushing herself up on her tiptoes and pressing her lips to his. She kissed him slowly, full of passion and love and sorrow. Repaying him for the ache of those five years he thought as he kissed her back with everything he had in him. It was a raw and tumultuous clash of lips but he treasured every moment of it. They continued like that until they were out of breath.

"How's that for real?" Lucy asked him as they stood with their foreheads pressed against each other.

"I can't believe you're back." He grinned down at her like an idiot, "I can't believe it, and I don't understand but I love you Lucy. I've loved you since you left and I loved you before that and I love you still and I always will."

"Natsu-"

"You're back." He cut her off, unable to stop himself from rambling, his grin stretching wider across his face with each word, "So much has changed Lucy, I hope I haven't wasted what you gave me. I can't wait to show you it all. Gray has a daughter now! Can you believe it?! Her name is Mika, after Gray's mother, and she's so cute and she play's with Iron Breaths twins- That's Gajeel by the way, he's really annoying but his kids are great. Levy is their mother and she told me how close you were and they would love you- the twins I mean. They already love you and they're going to more and I love them, even though they're not mine, Mika too, and they all call me Uncle Natsu and they call you Auntie Lucy, you'll see you'll hear it- Look! Look out outside! Come see the city! I helped rebuilt it I-"

But he stopped. Grin vanishing. Because Lucy was shaking her head and pulling away from him with a pained expression on her face.

"I can't come outside Natsu." Her voice was small, "I can't leave this room. I'm only here for a short time. And only once. I can't stay."

He felt his heartbeat falter. Now he was shaking his head too.

"Without the light surrounding me I can feel it coming back. The darkness. It's buried deep but even now I can feel it rising." Her voice trembles, "I have half an hour at the most. Too many visits and it'll just get harder and harder to push back."

His tears began again. He wasn't sure if they ever stopped. Lucy stepped forward and took his face in her hands once more. He let her do it. Drank in every detail of her face as she swiped her thumbs across his cheeks.

"But it's alright." She smiled. Even though their time was going to be cut short again, she smiled. He loved her so much, "Don't worry. Stars see everything. I've seen the city. Tell Yukino I'm proud of her will you? And I watched when Mika was born. Loke was there and he told me all about it. He gave her a gift from me. Virgo did the same when the twins were born. All of them were born on clear nights and I was glad for it. I saw it the first time you held Mika, and I delight in watching you play with them all. I'm so happy you have a family Natsu. I've never felt joy quite like it. I only wish we could have had our own. That I could have… before I-"

Her words were cut off with a sob. Natsu held her close to him again. Letting his fingers run through her hair and memorising the way her body fit against his. He wished they could have had that too. But they couldn't change the past.

"Is this all you came here for?" He tried to make his voice light, "To cry all over my good shirt."

Lucy laughed. He bit his lip at the sound, trying to keep from tearing up again. He let it echo through the room before he spoke again.

"You really saw all those things?"

He felt her nod against him.

"Every one." She pulled back a little with a grin, "Someone's got to keep an eye on you."

Natsu laughed. He saw a light spark behind her eyes at the sound and he knew she was taking great care to drink in the details of it all just as he was. He didn't think he could take saying goodbye again.

"Take me with you."

The words left him of their own accord, but he didn't regret saying them. Not even when Lucy's lip began to tremble.

"Please tell me that's what you came for." He smiled sheepishly.

Lucy took a moment to collect herself. When she looked at him again her features were set in calm determination. Natsu used to call that her 'queen face'.

"I'll take you with me, if that's what you want, but not until you do something for me first."

Natsu felt hope tickle at his very soul.

"Anything."

Lucy took his hands in hers.

"Live your life." She pleaded with him, "There is so much of this world, and once you leave it you can't come back. Explore it. For me. Take Happy with you, don't go alone. Have countless adventures. Fill your life with stories, then tell me them all when I see you again. When you're finally ready."

"You're asking me to live a life without you." Natsu pointed out.

"You have been living your life without me." Lucy laughed gently, "I know that you love me Natsu, but I'm not the air that you need to breathe. And don't tell me that I am because I know you're not poetic enough to think of that."

He smiled despite himself.

"It's because I love you that I want this for you. I want you to have the adventures you dreamed of as a child. I don't want to be the one to take those adventures from you."

His smile fell.

"But I took your chance away from you."

Lucy shook her head. Her fingers rubbed soothing circles over the tops of his own but he still felt the guilt inside of him. It was usually buried deep, like Lucy's darkness. But it was never long before it come out to play.

"You didn't take anything away from me Natsu. You gave and gave and gave." She stepped closer, resting her hands on his shoulders, "Loving you is an adventure that's never going to end. You just need to have some of your own first."

He wanted so desperately to just go with her. To return to the stars with her. But he knew she wouldn't let him and, truthfully, he knew that she was right. He couldn't give up on the world just because she wasn't in it. That's not the way she wanted him to live. It would be wasting what she gave up for him.

He stared at her for a long while until, finally, he nodded.

"You promise?" She looked so serious. It made him smile.

He rested his forehead against hers.

"I promise." He huffed out a laugh, "I'll have so many stories for you, you won't know what to do with them all."

Lucy laughed too.

"Sounds perfect."

She kissed him softly and Natsu let himself sink into it. Let it fill him to his very bones. He wrapped his arms around her waist, holding her against him for as long as he could. They broke apart from the kiss and simply held each other for a long moment, letting the seconds tick by until Lucy's departure.

Eventually she started to fade. A soft glow filled the room and moment by moment she felt less solid under his hands. It took all his strength not to clutch onto her desperately when she pulled away from him. He thought there would be tears again, but he was surprised to find that neither of them were crying this time.

"We'll be waiting." Lucy's voice drifted to him over the breeze, along with other sound as she faded away. Something else, something far away. Something that Natsu was almost sure was a mighty roar. Perhaps even a dragon's roar.

He did shed a tear at that. It may have only been the wind but it was enough to spark a hope within him. It wasn't until he went to wipe the tear away that he noticed the white scaled fabric that hung lose around his neck where Lucy's arms had been twined around him a moment ago.

Natsu laughed happily up at the stars.

"You are so weird."

He turned to see Happy fly into the room. The blue cat didn't say a word about the tears, or about the scarf, but Natsu had a life time to tell him.

Natsu would make sure he and Happy had only the best adventures. Adventures he would write to Gray and Gajeel and Erza about. Adventures they would tell their children about, and all of them would marvel at the trinkets Uncle Natsu brought home for them every now and then. He would tell them stories so that he could practice the telling of them and become the best story teller there ever was.

And then, once his head and his heart were filled with the wildest of his adventures, he would find Lucy again and they would start a new one. Together.

A/N: So there. It's done. I'm not going to lie, I'm a little worried people will hate me for the ending. But the endings are always my favourite part of stories, and they don't always work out how you'll expect. I wanted to take this moment, regardless of your thoughts on the ending, to thank you. Every single one of you. I don't know if I'll write more fics but every comment I've received, every like and every follow and every favourite, has meant so much to me. I want to publish a book one day. I have no idea what it would be about but I know that without all the feedback I've received I wouldn't even be daring to think about trying. So thank you to every one so much. I'm aware that AWOTF isn't the perfect story, but I can't say it hasn't been successful when one person (though there is more than one) has enjoyed it. I'll probably look back on it in a few years and hate it. I'll notice all the errors and be like 'god TAKE IT DOWN'. But I finished it and it's here, and at the moment I'm proud of it, even though it might not be something that reflects what I like to write about very much, though I'm still figuring out what to write about.

So if you're reading this thank you, and if you're not reading it because you exited straight out the tab once the story ended, I thank you as well. Because of this I know I can finish something. Because of this I can tell myself there's at least one thing I haven't failed at (That makes it sound like a fail at a lot of things, but I guess most people do). So yeah, It's over. And I'm a little sad that it's over but I guess when something ends something new starts. I think that's what I wanted the ending to be like.

And of course, as usual, don't be afraid to let me know what you think!

Much Love,

-HN