Okay, this is the last of the last. Warmth is finished. This epilogue is the longest epilogue you or I have ever seen, I know, but it's because it's made of seven extra stories that explain things that happened but were unsaid or expand our view on some characters. Please don't try reading the stories in a different order. It goes like this. It somehow gives coherence to the whole epilogue.

Well, I wish you like it and take your time. I think there are some that haven't finished chapter 6 yet, for these two are fucking long! Soooorry! Hahaha, I really enjoyed writing this story and thanks to everyone that read it and to everyone that may read it in the future.

DISCLAIMER (applies to all the story): I don't own Fairy Tail nor the characters. Just the plot of this particular story.

Epilogue:

Extra stories.

"Hey, Lucy," the pink haired boy asked as he drank the hot chocolate he had 'tried' to help the blonde make, even though he had most likely caused her more trouble than necessary.

"What is it, Natsu?" Lucy replied, sipping from her mug slowly to avoid burning her tongue with the hot liquid.

"You know... um... there's something bugging me since this morning and the moment you said you loved me... um... you see..."

Lucy observed Natsu's fidgetty form, finding it extremely interesting but she couldn't really understand what might be bugging him.

"...So... how's your unrequited love doing?" he asked scratching the back of his head and making a pretty strange face in between a pout and a nervous smile, acompanied with orbs looking somewhere else until Lucy exclaimed a weird questioning sound and he looked at her.

She couldn't believe he was asking something like that. Did he even know what he was asking?

Natsu looked at her with curious and a bit serious eyes as she backed down and smiled nervously. "What do you... mean?" she asked trying to get some distance between them.

"You know, your unrequited love! Um... the one Levy mentioned a long time ago... you don't remember?" his face was suddenly filled with a light Lucy recognised: hope, her little friend.

"Of course I remember!" the blonde yelled. 'Does this idiot know what he is talking about? Re~~~~ally!'

After hearing her, the guy's face suddenly dropped. Yes, hope was like that, so fleeting, Lucy would know.

"Oh..." he said, looking utterly down.

"What's with that?" Lucy asked and Natsu's head jumped up as he moved forward, closing the gap the blonde had created between them for self-confort.

A serious look took over the normally idiotic and dense guy as he started talking.

"You think I can be fine knowing you love someone else too?" he asked with a raspy voice full of determination.

Lucy tried to back down a bit but noticed she was already on the couch's edge and Natsu's arms closed her escape ways at each side of her body. She looked back at him then, trying to understand... but it was too absurd a conversation to let her think clearly, so the only thing she could do was let out a questioning sound, pretty similar to the strange one she had emitted before.

Natsu stared at her eyes searching for answers and not finding them. "Yes," he exclaimed, "I remember clearly how you were suffering because from unrequited love! Levy said it that day! I want to know who that man is." 'I do? Really?'

Lucy facepalmed herself. Then she looked at Natsu with a tired glare. She opened her mouth to talk, more like shout, but then she stopped and sighed angrily.

"It's not worth my time," she said and Natsu felt hope come back as he took her comment as if she had already given up on that worthless guy she had fallen for, completely mistaking the meaning behind her words.

She would take the time to tell him HE was the worthless guy responsible for her unrequited feelings some other day.

Drakes were big, red dragons not able to fly but able to swim, with a special personality trait:

To immediately fall in love with anything they came to like.

And, yes, this takes people into account too as the dragon realised his LOVE for the princess. It took him by surprise when he suddenly found the noisy, whimpy princess in his imaginary list of 'the most important things in life'. He loved her even more than he loved his nest? Strangely, 'yes' was the answer and, drakes having lived with their lovesickness for so long, he didn't have a choice but to accept it.

And it only took that to suddenly make him realise how much he knew about the human girl and all the things he liked about her. He even liked when she acted stubbornly and tried to bother him, ending up making him laugh harder than any other time in his life.

But something was utterly wrong with all this. What was this powerful, awesome Drake doing falling in love with a human? Was that even possible? Something just HAD to be wrong with his head. Definitely, definitely, definitely wrong.

...

The day the drake had this sudden selfdiscovery, the blonde human arrived carrying her basket with food, just like everyday, to find the dragon banging his head against a big tree that didn't seem to like it too much. He hit it repeatedly and growled as there was less damage on him than there was on the poor tree.

"Hey! What happens to you!" the princess shouted as she ran towards him. The dragon didn't look at her, in fact, he moved his ears backwards and looked the exact opposite way to immediately slump on the ground and wrap his long tail around himself.

The princess observed him surprised, never before had he acted so NOT playful and happy.

"Hey... is something the matter?" she asked softly as her hand touched his back, but the dragon moved away slightly and growled annoied at the touch.

The princess felt as if something inside her was dying at that moment. As she had never had a friend before, she didn't quite know what to do when your friends are down or angry. She would have liked to have a manual on 'how to care for your friends' to guide her step by step at that instant. But, as there was no such manual, she had to think things through on her own and it wasn't an easy task when it was her first time ever in this situation.

So, no references, correct? Out of thin air she had to interpret what was happening to him to make her friend feel better.

She sighted softly. The dragon didn't turn but he was seriously alert to the princess' every action. Oh, yes, you llllllove heeer.

The dragon snorted at his own feelings inwardly.

The blonde girl slowly sat next to the dragon, facing his back and observing his beautiful scales.

'What to do...' she wondered to herself. 'Maybe he wants me to leave him alone?' she rapidly and strongly shook her head. 'No, no, even if he were to want that I'm not about to let him sulk alone.' She continued thinking as she sat more confortably. 'Talk to him and ask doesn't seem like it's gonna get me anywhere with him being so thick-headed right now,' she noted and rested her head on top of her right hand.

He brown orbs moved upwards and looked at the sky as a small white cloud moved slowly to her back, pushed by the wind, passing on top of them. She exhaled relaxed and let herself fall backwards softly to lay on the floor.

'Maybe silence is okay for a while.'

After all, there was no reason for the dragon to not have bad days like everyone else. She had bad days too. Now that I mention it...

'That's when I write lyrics...' the princess thought. That always made her feel better. She had a lot of songs written by herself... Most of them were somehow depressing or full of anger and rage about her overcontrolled life, but there were also a few that had possitive messages on them and made her feel good when she sang them. 'Maybe...'

The princess sat up again and quietly cleared her throat, and the dragon prepared his ears, expecting her to talk.

But she sang.

The dragon's ears immediately shot up and the princess laughed interrupting her own vocal introduction for a few seconds. The Drake, embarrassed, growled and pulled them down again. The princess saw it but did as if nothing had happened as she continued singing.

When the lyrics started, it once again took the dragon by surprise but he refused to let it show and, with great efforts, was able to stop his head from turning in the girl's direction.

As many novice lyrics, they weren't the best of the best, and she hadn't ever sang them to anyone else before so there weren't any critics to them more than the ones the princess herself made from time to time and the corrections that came from that... but it was just... perfect. The dragon hadn't ever heard something as sweet in his life. He didn't know humans had this strange ability to say so sincerely how they feel when something bad happens to them. And maybe, he thought, they weren't all able to, but this girl was...

Yes, the human girl he had fallen in love with could.

As he listened, he turned his head to her and again rested it on the ground, now facing her and looking at her with guilty eyes but still attentive to the lyrics. The girl looked in his eyes and smiled, still singing and the dragons tail moved to rest on the ground around her.

The princess smiled again, excited to be so accepted by the dragon. At that moment, she didn't notice how this gesture was as protective as it was possessive... She started to notice this things from then on, when the dragon started showing openly just how much he loved her and she began loving him back.

They never said the words 'I love you'... but at some point of their friendship... they just knew they loved each other like more than friends. They showed it to each other but it's true that, maybe, they just didn't feel completely right knowing they... could never be together...

...

"Lucy..." Natsu said one day from her couch while staring at his girlfriend reading.

"Mm?" she asked, slowly diverting her gaze from the book and looking at him.

He smiled sweetly, sweeter than any smile he had ever gave anyone.

"I'm happy I found you," he said and Lucy smiled after a few seconds.

"I am too," she said with a smile as sweet as his'.

Neither of them said it, but both of them undertood the other's message. Even though this time they could have said it with no worries, they didn't need to. They just knew it.

"Mira nee-san, look at that," her only sister called for her and pointed at this specific group in between all those entering the guild together. Had they been together all morning somewhere? Such a strange sight! And let's not mention the game she missed... that was even stranger.

Mirajane observed the group formed of four people and a blue flying cat immediately feeling guilty when her eyes shined and her smile spread to see Natsu and Lucy together... acting normal... She glanced at her sister and again at the two uneasy and then settled to take her sister's side and not make her unconfortable nor hurt her feelings. Mira wasn't the one that had broken with the boy she loved since the were little that same morning so she couldn't possibly imagine Lisanna's feelings when this had never happened to her. She couldn't imagine being in her shoes.

Mira was an intelligent and sensitive woman. She continued to clean mugs and do her chores as she maintained the conversation the girl seemed to had started. "Seems like they patched up their quarrel," she said seemingly distracted.

"Yeah..." the girl replied in a tone that was merely louder than a whisper.

Mira looked at her for a second and then looked at 'them' again and inwardly sighed.

"Do you think..." Lisanna started in a louder voice than before, "...that Natsu had the courage to tell her his feelings?" she asked.

Mira meditated her words as she looked at the blonde and the pink-headed guy. "I don't know... it doesn't seem to me like Lucy is acting any different and the change would definitely show on her."

Lisanna continued staring at the two as she had done since the beginning of the conversation. She was able to see their faces clearly, and she could clearly see they were happier when they were together.

No doubts there was no space for her there.

"Nee-san... would you make me a favour?" Lisanna asked. Mira looked at her slowly, trying not to show her fear to what her sister might say next... as a family member, she wouldn't refuse to help her... "What?" Mira asked, prepared to get her task.

"Help Natsu and Lucy clear their feelings. We have to make them be together!" Lisanna said with excitement invading her voice.

Joy invaded Mirajane instantly. "Yes!" she agreed fascinated and filled with emotion to see her sister accepting this two's innevitable relationship. She felt like crying out of happiness and Natsu and Lucy reached the bar and started acting the same way the used to do everyday before the boy's relationship with Lisanna exactly on time to cause Mira to reach her limits...

"Lucy! Natsu!" she yelled and cried freely.

But we already know this part. Lucy then took Natsu away leaving Mira with words stuck in her throat and a mission to accomplish. That's why, some time later, when Lucy and Natsu came back, she used a more direct tactic.

"Natsu, don't you think Lucy might like you?"

Yes, this somehow sounds like revenge and it somehow worked like revenge as Mira didn't react to Lucy's REALLY WORRIED look when she did (indeed) see it. Of course, Mira didn't expect Natsu's straight forward reply but that was what Lucy got for letting her hanging with her important mission to accomplish:

A non-romantic confession.

"Hmph!" Mira had let out while both, Natsu and Lucy were distracted with Happy and Gray.

...

That day, not much later, Lisanna walked out of the guild with tired eyes. Even after all her effort s she still couldn't look at them together for more than five minutes. Natsu looked at Lucy with such passion that it only reminded her of how he never looked at her like that and he never would do so. She couldn't control her own feelings. It tired her out to feel so... miserable.

She walked around the streets of Magnolia with no specific place to go to. Even so, she felt quite safe walking aimlessly... alone. She needed some time away from the obvious love of the newly proclaimed couple. She just needed some time alone... to calm down... but the only thing she was achieving was sulk.

Feeling more and more tired and with less and less strenght to continue thinking, she stopped walking and looked around. The river was the first thing to catch her attention so she walked and sat down on the street's edge; a cement and bricks short wall meant to prevent people from falling in.

"Young lady, be careful not to fall!" some sailors warned her, remarking the little construction's function once more. "Yes..." Lisanna let out as if answering an overprotective mother or a teacher giving her instructions on how to do things. She then stayed there looking at the water moving as they paddled into it to move their boat, creating vibrations almost not reaching her side of the shore.

She then sighed. Maybe if she forgot everything it would be better? She was starting to wonder if she would actually find someone that loved her back and that she could love as much too.

Someone she would love more than Natsu. Someone that would love her and nobody else.

She sighed again. What a fairy tales world she lived in... really...

When she was already very depressed by all this, something bumped against her side. More like it hit her, but it was too light to damage her.

When she looked, she found a piece of paper neatly folded but with it's edges tore carelessly.

She furrowed her eyebrows in a questioning manner but still took it in her hands. She turned it around two times to check if there was something written on it and then she opened it already believing there might be nothing written there either.

But, to her surprise, she was wrong.

Neat but slightly rough letters were written inside and she looked around before reading it.

Nobody was around so there was nobody looking for this paper... was it meant for her?

She directed her gaze to the white piece of page again and read inwardly.

'Please don't be sad, you're more beautiful when you

smile. There's someone out there that loves you. For sure.'

Suddenly everything fell silent. Not even birds were heard in her head.

Lisanna put a hand over her mouth and a shiver run down her body. Another one did the same as her face turned red with a cute, cute blush.

She lifted her head up from the paper and once again looked around. But this time she was trying to find something. No, someone. The one that had made her body tremble with excitement and hope.

And again, same as before, nobody was there.

She slowly returned her gaze to the paper and read it again.

A smile formed on her face and then she giggled sweetly.

"Thanks..." she said and another giggle escaped her lips with a cute smile as she swung her legs back and forth.

...

Not much later at the guild, as ever, the door opened and a member entered non-chalantly, not calling much attention, acting completely normal.

"Bixlow!" a woman shouted. The just arrived man turned to look at her and waited to see what the dark haired alcoholic wanted.

A card appeared out of nowhere and into her hand and she smashed it on the table. A little glance and she smirked, turning to face him.

"That was really nice of you, ma~~n!" she said playfully and winking an eye at him.

Suddenly Bixlow took two steps back and tried to make her say what she meant but he knew exactly what she was refering to and didn't find the words to act 'normal'. That complicity in her features gave away she knew where he had gone.

God, she knew everything! That Cana really was a witch!

He retreated rapidly towards the door again and, just in time, a little white haired girl opened it and found him.

"Hey!" Lisanna greeted animatedly

Bixlow was dumbfounded for some minutes but snapped when a "woo woo!" came out of Cana's mouth and into his ears.

With a growl, he dodged Lisanna, slightly touching her hand like who gives a greeting, and stomped away.

"Tsk, Tsk," Cana started in a low voice while holding her barrel, "love is pretty difficult, uh?" she said before lifting the barrel and drinking big, loud gulps.

...

Lisanna never forgot that little touch... for it was the beginning of something new she would have never expected.

"Gray, we have to talk."

That is never a good signal, specially when it comes from the red haired knight, Erza, the Titania.

Well, if I'm going to be sincere, I will go all the way out.

Yes, I fear Erza. Who doesn't? Just a few I guess, like Mira or Mistgun... but Natsu, Lucy, Happy, a lot of other people and me, Gray Fullbuster, fear her. It's almost like a custom.

But I will admit I don't only fear her.

Well, um, it's not something easy to say... but, do you know that feeling that grows inside you without your contentment and spreads to everywhere in your body making you blush, smile, feel nervous and get excited, along with a lot of other stuff? Yes, that thing you are thinking about. No, buddy! I can't say it out loud nor can I write it in my sane mind state!... Yeah, I know I'm an idiot, but maybe it comes by the hand of being an ice mage. I prefer keeping things cool... but, yeah, Erza is a special case.

I wish Leon is having the same problems to say or write his feelings as I am because if he isn't, having been brought up with me by the same person, then life really is unfair. I won't forgive him.

Come on, Gray, keep it cool...

The thing is I lo-... Erza... but I can't say it. So lately I have been trying wth indirect tactics. But I don't think Erza understood why I brought her her favorite cheesecake two days ago without her asking or why someone left flowers on her door the other day (that someone being me) or why I always stare at her, this one probably being too usual for her to catch the hidden motive as I stare at her everyday without even noticing. I even tried adding a smile when she turns but she just stops for a moment and turns around again.

Really, and now she comes and says we have to talk. I assure you, when Erza calls you out to talk, specially if it's in private, it's never good and nobody will be surprised if you come back with a blue bruise in the middle of your face. You can always count on Natsu to laugh and earn some punches himself though, so it isn't so lonely most of the times.

But you know? I don't recall having done anything worth of Erza scolding me. Well, I did break some things lately but it's same old, same old. She would have punched me in the guild if it was about that.

Ah, damn, Erza has such a nice body... but not only that, the way she walks... even to someone who doesn't know her, she will instantly seem like a strong woman, the kind of woman you better not mess around with. Maybe that's why I can't tell her how I fell about her, but that's also one of the things that make me respect her and follow her in battle to fight side by side. And if a good, serious relationship isn't build from respect to last, then I don't know anything. This is something I'm sure about. In my heart, the first step to like... someone... is respecting that person, 'cause that's how you start seing all the things that make you... like her.

They say when you're in love you tend to ignore the bad things about your partner... or wanna-be partner. And maybe it's true. But I think I know Erza's weak points enough to try being in a relationship with her, hand in hand.

I wish I were the strengh she needs when she feels hurt...

I still feel I'm not good enough to stand by her side though. I'm no match for her in battle. But I want to always be there when she needs it. I want to stay by her side, always.

I think that counts, right?

...

"Okay Erza, what did you bring me here for?" Gray asked, nervous inside but trying hard to hide it.

The Titania was looking straight at him, scrutinizing him so openly anybody could see it.

She then took two steps forward, too close for Gray's confort if it wasn't during battle, and put a hand on the guy's shoulder. Her face relaxed a bit and let show her worries.

"Gray, is something the matter?" she asked.

Of course Gray knew how Erza always worries and observes her companions and friends to make sure they are alright, but he was still taken aback by her tone and comprehensive attitude.

Even so, there was nothing much happening to him more than the fact that he couldn't confess his feelings to her and it was driving him just a bit crazy, but as we said, he can't say it so it's futile to ask.

"Nothing, Erza," he responded after some seconds, but the red-head furrowed her eyebrows and put her left hand on his other shoulder and brought their faces closer to stare at him.

"I'm not stupid enough to ignore the fact that you have been acting strange lately, as if every time you smile you are thinking, in the back of your mind, of something that keeps bothering you. If you consider us friends, I expect you to tell me what's wrong this instant," the woman stated firmly without letting go.

Something clicked in Gray's head and he couldn't stop glancing back and forth between Erza's eyes and her lips. He thought he was about to kiss her if that went on any longer. His heart was pounding so much that if any of us had thought (as he did) that some pieces of ice were sticked to it and kept him cool most of the time, then, right then, they were being melted with max speed.

And guess what? That moment went on.

And, yes, I believe you are already guessing what happened.

It was such a brief touch between their lips that it almost felt like it never happened. But it did. And they both knew it.

Gray diverted his gaze immediately after that and blushed, not able to stop it, and Erza didn't move a milimeter for some long seconds.

What had just happened?

Kiss.

That was such a foreign word in her vocabulary, such a left out topic, and to have to use it seemed so strange.

They kissed.

They kissed?

Wait, it wasn't like that, more like Gray kissed her. Gray? Why did he do that? You kiss people when you love them, you don't kiss friends.

A confused look was starting to form on Erza's face and Gray glaced at her just in time to see it in process so he knew he had to somehow fix this and he had to somehow... say those words.

"Erza, wait, I know you are confused but would you let go so I can explain?" Gray started, feeling the closeness wasn't going to do him any good as it hadn't done any up 'till then. But Erza, although she came back to reality slightly moving her eyes in between Gray's, didn't let go of him and waited for answers. "Oh... okay..." the boy said then.

'It's not the perfect case scenario but it's fine.'

"You said something was wrong with me later, right? Well, it's this. Sorry Erza, I'm not being able to control myself lately and I don't think too straight..." there was a pause as he too stared in her eyes. "I can't stop thinking about you... 'kay?" he finally said. They weren't those three imposible words, but they were pretty close and Erza would probably get the message.

She opened her eyes wider and surprise could be read everywhere on her face.

"Really?" was all she could get out still not letting him go.

A big, red blush extended through Gray's face and he tried strugling out of her grasp.

"Y-yeah!" he answered meanwhile.

"Wou..." Erza let out involuntarily and immediately later she blushed too. For a second she diverted her gaze and then looked back at Gray with big, round eyes full of curiosity and Gray's too, opened wider with surprise.

So that explained it. Gray didn't see her as just a friend. He saw her as a love interest. But then again, Gray was a friend to her. Or wasn't he? It's true there were times he said the exact same things she was thinking and drove her to dedicate him her most beautiful smiles, but she didn't see him as a boyfriend, right? But he WASN'T her boyfriend. And that time two days ago when she recieved those flowers... it's true, somewhere inside her she hoped Gray had sent them...

But she wasn't quite prepared for all this.

She needed time to think about it. She wouldn't hurt one of her precious friends just to see how being in a couple was... and, couple with Gray? It seemed strange, too strange.

But he was a good guy after all. He really was. And Erza couldn't actually deny she liked to see him strip even if she shouted at him to put his clothes back on sometimes...

She couldn't just say no. She felt something different for Gray. She felt something different for him than what she felt for Natsu and they were both her male companions. But Jerald wasn't completely erased from her heart yet and she knew by experience that love isn't an easy thing but a thing that can hurt greatly...

"Erza," the guy in front of her said, calling her attention and gaining it immediately, "you don't have to give me an answer right now. I'm not ready yet either. I want to become stronger and be worth of being with you and I know this is too much of a surprise so... cool down," he smiled while saying this, thinking it was somehow funny, "take your time, I won't push you."

Erza smiled back and her eyes softened on him as well as her grasp on his shoulders.

Really... he always said what was in her mind. He could see through her so easily...

"Thank you," was all she managed to say before burying him in a sweet hug. It wasn't a lose one just because it was sweet, but neither was it too tight to bear; a temporary sign of gratitude as well as apology. An unspoken pact to definitely, definitely, definitely give him an answer.

...

They didn't know it then, but that was the first step to becoming something... more than just friends.

"Hey, Natsu?" the blonde girl cuddled in between his arms called him.

"Mm?" he lazily answered with his eyes closed, inmerse in her scent and presence while they hugged leaning on a rough tree that warm afternoon.

"Tell me you love me, please?" she asked slightly moving to look him in the eye; eyes that snapped open to the ridiculous request.

"What the-? No way!" he shouted embarrassed, flushing.

"Why not? I say it all the time! It's not fair!" she retorted, anger appearing in her voice to which Natsu wasn't oblivious.

"It's because I c-can't!" he almost shouted, flustered.

Lucy stared suspiciously and narrowed her eyes on him.

"Explain," she shot then in that tone that was so coming from a princess.

"Don't push me, Luce," he warned in that tone so meant to be a roar.

The blonde pouted like a little child, sad first and whimpy the next moment, crossing her arms to her chest and looking away from him with a red face. The boy sighed knowing that if he didn't clear things up then, he wouldn't have the chance to talk her into forgiving him for a long time.

"Come on, I could say 'I love you' but it's just not enough to express how I feel! And of course 'like' is even worse an option," he said, holding her waist and pulling her to the warmth of his body again.

The girl fidgetted for a moment before sighting and staying still with red cheeks.

"I still want to hear how you feel about me anyway, you know? You are not getting away from this so easily," she declared. The boy pouted and gasped to no avail, for, the princess didn't even flinch, stubborn to keep her resolution. He finally sighed and leaned back again. Lucy moved her chin upwards and looked at Natsu, wondering if she could gain what she wanted by helping him a bit?

"You could use the same phrase with the right word to describe how you feel."

Natsu stared confused, obviously saying 'you're weird' through his eyes. She waved his confusion and thoughts with one hand. "I mean, 'I –bip- you'."

Natsu's eyes went wide and he started laughing, looking in a different direction while covering the blush in his face with his hand. Lucy stared confused and immediately furrowed her eyebrows believing (as many times before) he was making fun of her. Showing her teeth, she roughly asked for the boy's problem. 'Damn it! As if I will let him laugh at me!'

"S-sorry Luce," the boy started, opening a gap between two of his fingers to let his mouth show while killing the laughter slowly. Intent eyes stared into hers as he continued. "It's just… that sounded completely perverted," Natsu pointed out, to which Lucy failed to react at first and then flushed embarrassed with wide eyes. She slightly (not so slightly) punched fists at Natsu's chest while crying: "it wasn't like that!" to what Natsu laughed.

Suddenly Natsu's hold on Lucy's waist became stronger and she was pulled even nearer. The fire salamander brushed his lips on her hair and ear before whispering seductively;

"Can I put 'want' in that sentence?"

Lucy shivered and blushed and whined and, well, was kissed too and kissed back. A meaningful sentence made it's way out of the girl's mouth. "You are the perverted one, dragon child!" she said, to what Natsu grinned and responded "it's too late to protest now that my heart is all yours, Luce."

Lucy kissed him and hugged him for his sweet words until, during the hug, a hoarse laugh broke from the boy's throat and he said, "be thankful I'm not raping you" continuing to laugh.

...

"NATSU, YOU REALLY ARE A PERVERT! FIX YOUR BRAIN, DAMN IT!" Lucy shouted, stomping her way to her appartment, leaving behind her something that resembled a corps TOO much.

Okay, so, sometimes it feels like I should say it 'cause you say it all the time and because it's so difficult I will try writing it down here for you. Because, you know, you're always saying how you say you love me all the time and I don't, but it's true 'I love you' aren't the right words, so I will... try another way.

Lucy:

Up 'till now I haven't ever met anyone that can make me feel the same way you do. I think the fact I continued to look for you in every life I lived is proof that you are incredibly important for me. And I promise I will continue to look for you in my next life and the ones following that too... because there's nobody who can replace you and I won't let myself give up on finding you, because if it's not with you, I don't wanna love anyone. I don't need hugs or kisses if they don't come from you only. And this isn't something I'm writing and deciding on a whim nor can I fake something like this 'cause that's simply unacceptable and I wouldn't dare to hurt you more than I have already.

(Note: thanks for explaining to me that I was the worthless moron that made you suffer of unrequited love.)

This statement and this feelings... are true and will always be true. I'll continue to carry them in my heart until the day I die and even after that, locking them inside me and noticing you again and again even if I don't remember you.

That's why I can't say 'I love you'. I have to use more words or show it to you in different ways that make you call me a pervert. But this time I will use words:

I love you, I need you by my side everyday for the rest of my life and the lives that come after this one. I will never gesitate about my feelings and I will never let you go. I know if I tell you I want to marry you and can already imagine our kids you will freak out a little, but it's true and I promise I will never, ever leave you alone even if you someday decide you want to go out with somebody else and it breaks my heart in a million pieces, I will stand by your side and confort you as well as advice you and give you a shoulder to cry on whenever you need it.

And I can sign with blood that I'm not joking.

I wish to always be beside you, no matter what.

I love you more than what the word 'love' can possibly cover.

Just... never leave me.

"Ugh, There's no way I'm ever showing this to her..." the dragon slayer (now a tweenty years old young man that has been dating his only love for three years straight) blushes and messes his hair up in frustration as he once again loses his determination to make Lucy's wish, two years ago, to know how he feels about her, come true.

He let's himself fall on the couch and sighes. His eyes travel to a small box on his living room table, right in front of him, and he blushes again.

"Ow, Luce, I wish you say 'yes', please, please," he pleads, hiding his red face between his hands.

The air was fresh that afternoon and the blonde woman was finally enjoying some well- earned vacations. Her last work had left her completely tired. Who said arquitecture was easy? But well, because she likes it she will let it slide.

She takes one sip of the hot chocolate the waiter has brought her and feels how the warmth spreads from her mouth to her throat, making it's way to her stomach.

And then that sensation shooks her again and she stares blankly at the background.

...

Why do I always get this sensation when I'm warm? It's more like a certainty of something. Like this isn't warm at all... compared to... to what?

Am I... forgetting something?

It feels like it.

And this place. It's my first time here but there are things that... look so familiar... as if I had been here before.

This town's name won't leave my head.

'Magnolia'.

What's this feeling? What am I forgetting? What am I searching for...?

...

She turns her gaze back to the cup between her hands and lifts it to drink once more. For as long as she has lived, this feeling that she's missing something won't let her alone. And it's stronger when she thinks she is warm.

'What am I searching for?' is the question that always lives in her mind, and 'what am I forgetting?' goes by it's hand.

She opens her eyes and looks at the lake. Magnolia really is a nice place; the lake and the trees on the background make it so nice she feels calm staring at them. Even at night time, it's beautiful how the crickets are the only sound that can be heard in some streets and she isn't scared to walk around alone. One of the strongest guilds of Fiore, recognised as such since almost one hundred years ago, is here, which is called Fairy Tail, and she doesn't know why that fact seems to calm her down.

She takes another sip of her cup and suddenly sees, from the corner of her eye, something pink and the breeze carries a certain smell of ashes and trees she isn't able to let pass.

Urged by her heart and soul, her left arm shots forward and entraps a person's clothes. The man stops and turns his head her way revealing green but at the same time golden eyes. She stares for a moment, taking in his appearance along with the name of the books he carries, written by a certain female author, dead before she was born, that coincidentally she reads too. She doesn't miss to notice his salmon coloured hair, grown a bit long and in a small ponytail on the low back of his head while the hair that ins't in the strap's wrap, forms revelious locks that point everywhere.

She let's go of his clothes once they have been staring at each other for too long and blushes embarrassed to be bothering a stranger out of nowhere. But even after she releases his coat, the man doesn't walk away and she once again looks at him straight in the eyes.

Her heart and soul seem to be trying to tell her something as she just can't stop staring at this unknown man and a question comes to her mind as suddenly as she reached out to stop him.

"Do we know each other?" she asks curious.

The man's eyes widen but then he chuckles a bit while looking away. When he looks back, he smiles brightly and the woman blushes as she realises how handsome he is.

"I don't think so," is his answer and she feels something sulk inside her. It's as if she had found something important but it turned out she was mistaken.

But the man isn't finished yet.

"Maybe we knew each other in our past lives?" he asks playfully and the woman's eyes are the ones to widen this time. She stares at him for some moments and then she giggles cutely.

"As if," she snorts while laughing.

The man laughes along with her. "May I bother you by sitting down?" he asks then.

"You are no bother, please sit!" the blonde encourages him with a movement of her hand.

The young man smiles and she feels warm inside, but this time it's warmer than ever before and she doesn't get that feeling that always bugs her. "So, what's your name?" the blonde asks and the conversation goes on for a long time.

...

They once again never let go of each other as they had done in two previous lives, with one certainty to their meeting:

'I have found what I was looking for.'