I can't believe it's taken so long to write this. It doesn't feel like I started LAVFR 2 years ago. And just this chapter has taken almost a year. o.o

My main problem was that I decided Lucy was forgiving Natsu too easily, and I didn't know how to write it realistically, so I just gave up…But, I think she canon-ly forgives people easily?

Lucy isn't even that strong in this fight but whatever :l

Also, this has reached 200 favs! :D

Lucy was almost shaking from fear and excitement as she and Natsu headed somewhere that they wouldn't be seen easily. She wanted this to be private, not in the middle of the guild or anything. Glancing behind her, she realized her brother was being quieter than normal. His face was turned away from her though, so she couldn't see his expression very well.

After a while, they arrived at a large clearing in the woods. It was pretty far from the guild, but she couldn't think of anywhere else private enough.

"Why couldn't we have just done this at the guild?" Natsu asked, looking around at the area.

Lucy panicked a bit, hoping he wasn't getting suspicious. "Uh...um...wouldn't Mirajane be mad us for wrecking the guild?" Less logical of an excuse than it sounded, since there were always fights in the guild.

"...Okay. Let's get started, I'm all fired up!"

"Of course," she replied, taking a fighting stance a little ways away from him. Taking a deep breath, she felt her body heat up a little. No, she told herself, not yet. She'd wait a bit to show him her fire powers.

Meanwhile, Natsu was thinking that this would be easy. He'd seen her fight, and it was only with her telekinesis and hand-to-hand combat. She was very skilled at both, but real magic typically was hard for her to defend herself from. On jobs, she usually used telekinesis to distract their enemy or retrieve a stolen item.

He couldn't decide if he should go easy on her or not...she had said she wanted to train with people, but what exactly did she mean? Surely he was a lot stronger than her.

As if Lucy could read his mind, she said, "And don't you dare go easy on me! Hit me with all you have."

Well...okay then, if she said so... It was no fun to go easy on someone anyways. "Roar of the fire dragon!"

Lucy easily dodged, her movement magic causing her to move faster than an average mage. She felt a thrill of excitement as she raced towards Natsu, planning to use hand-to-hand combat.

Before she had a chance, he aimed a Fire Dragon's fist at her, and she quickly ducked and landed a blow on him instead. This continued for a while, some of their blows hitting and some missing. Lucy's movement slaying magic really helped with fights like this, where she was close to her opponent. She felt her body "absorb" Natsu's speed, making her movements even faster and keeping her energy up – this was part of her movement magic.

All Lucy felt was the need for revenge...the time for this had finally come, and she really let herself go, only focusing on fighting.

Eventually, they both started to tire a bit, and Lucy realized that it was now or never, if she wanted to reveal herself during this fight.

Aiming her fist at Natsu again, she lit it on fire. Putting all her strength, speed and emotion into this attack, it hit him square in the chest before he had time to react.

Natsu fell to the ground and let out a groan. Lucy took this chance to rip off her eyepatch, stuffing it in her pocket.

He looked up to see Ookami standing over him. She was smirking, and he was frozen with shock. Or was it maybe also fear?

Yes, it was also partly fear. The dragon slayer couldn't believe it, that he was scared. But he couldn't comfort himself. He just sat there like an idiot, staring at her. Maybe it was just his eyes playing tricks on him, but right as she knocked him down, he'd seen fire...

The forgetful feeling from earlier returned, and this time it didn't take long for it to hit him that his birthday was soon.

Who else would there be that would come to the guild so close to his birthday, and then randomly want to fight with him? But…she was dead. He'd seen it happen himself. He'd tracked her scent, which was clearly mixed with a wolf's scent.

Lucy knelt in front of him, staring into his eyes.

She did look kind of familiar…

Before he could even think of anything to say, she spoke.

"Do you believe me now?" Her smirk faltered for a moment, and she almost looked nervous and scared for that short second. The words sounded strange and unreal. She'd imagined saying them so many times, and now the moment had finally come.

Natsu didn't move or answer at first - memories were flooding his mind. The moment they had made that promise, specifically. He found that it was deeply embedded in his mind, and that he could remember it vividly. Her tears, the snow, the blood on her knee, the words he spoke.

"Lucy, you're useless!" "I'll say you're strong if you can beat me by our 15th birthday"

Her face started to falter again, and he realized that he should reply, "…Yes…I-I believe you…" He whispered, recollecting himself.

Suddenly, a wide grin spread across her face, and she leaned back with a sigh of relief. She'd finally completed her only goal for the past 7 years.

"But...is it really...how...how are you..." Natsu stuttered, unable to compose his scrambled thoughts into words.

"Yep, it's really me."

Natsu didn't question it more, distracted by something more important at the moment. How had he been around her everyday for 3 months, and never realized she was his sister...Had he really tried so hard to forget about her that he hadn't recognized her face or smell? Even after that dream he'd had recently?

He suddenly felt guilty - he wanted her to know that he was sorry for all he'd done, but did not even recognizing her give off the impression that he didn't care?

"Lucy...Lucy..." He hugged his knees, hiding his face against them. "Will you still let me apologize?"

"You're…sorry?" Lucy stared at Natsu, barely comprehending his words.

"Yeah?"

After a few moments of silence, she repeated, "After everything you did, you're sorry? You want to apologize?"

"You say that like there's a problem with it." His voice was tinged with annoyance.

"No! Of course not!" Lucy quickly replied.

Something clicked in her mind. Something started dawning on her. She wanted revenge - but maybe it wouldn't be the same now. Maybe it was a stupid, immature, selfish idea. Ironic, since Natsu had been the stupid, immature person that caused it.

"I meant…I mean...I guess you've changed…" she trailed off quietly, not finishing her original sentence. "I've always still thought of you as the mean brother who was convinced I was the most useless and annoying person ever. That's who I wanted to have the satisfaction of defeating today. "

Natsu winced. "Do I really not seem any different now?"

"No, I was just...so set on proving you wrong that I wouldn't accept it. I expected you had simply hidden your mean side." Lucy squirmed awkwardly. She was slowly starting to realize that Natsu was truly different now, and how blinded by anger she had been.

Natsu moved over next to Lucy, and without hesitation put his arms around her. "All this time, I've been wishing I could apologize to you. I don't know how, but somehow I've gotten a chance to. So I want you to know that I regret everything I did, and that I hope we can get along now and have fun together."

Lucy thought of how different her brother was from the way she remembered him. For about the past 9 years, she'd been blinded by hate for Natsu. It was strange to think that he could be nice again. But, now that she'd finally gotten up the courage to get revenge, he was sorry? It was disappointing, to say the least, but how could she still be mad at him? That would make her just as bad.

"Of course I'll forgive you." She whispered, returning his hug, almost not believing her own words.

It felt good to be with family. It felt good to be done with everything.

Ughh it all seems to happen so quick. D: But after a year of attempting to write this, I just want to be done. ._.

So, I think there'll be just one more chapter :3 (and, if you haven't noticed yet, there won't actually be much GraLu)