Hello, people! Nightlingbolt here! Welcome to the finale of Knight Seeks Dragon!

I hadn't really been thinking that much about this project, since like a dumbo, I kept getting new ideas. Oh well, that's just free will for ya. But I've been working on this for a while, and I said "screw it" and drummed up an ending. Well, not really "drummed" it up, since it was pretty much the direction I'd been going in anyway, but really, I just wanted to get this done. Anyway, enjoy!

I do not own Fairy Tail or its characters, Hiro Mashima does.

Erza woke up, feeling groggier than she'd felt in a long time. Her mind was a haze, but she could just barely make out her room at Fairy Hills. Much to her surprise, Natsu sat at the foot of her bed, looking at her expectantly.

"Erza! You're okay!" he said cheerfully.

"Natsu... not so loud, okay?" Erza told the Dragon Slayer.

"Oh," whispered Natsu. "Sorry."

"Don't whisper, either," groaned Erza. "What happened?"

"Magical fever," said Natsu. "Apparently, you're not supposed to lose that much magic that fast."

"So I noticed," said Erza dryly.

"You'll be a hundred percent soon, Erza," Natsu continued. "Till then, I'm gonna take care of you!" He gave a big grin. "Isn't that great?"

"But... what about Wendy?" asked Erza.

"She said there was nothing to do for a magical fever but wait it out," replied Natsu.

"No, I mean this is the girls' dorms," said Erza. "You shouldn't be here."

"Well, yeah, normally," said Natsu. "But Gramps said I could wait with you till you get better."

"You don't have..." Erza coughed violently. "...Water...!" she gasped.

"I'm on it!" said Natsu, pulling a mug of ice water from the floor and handing it to Erza. "Drink it slow!" he cautioned.

Unfortunately, his words fell on deaf ears, as Erza took several big gulps of water. She sighed in relief and continued her sentence. "You don't have to do this," she said.

"I know," said Natsu. "You're strong, and you're scary. But I've seen you at your weakest, and I've made it my personal goal to build you back up when someone tears you down. Who guards the guardian, huh?"

Erza smiled. Just then, a thought came to her. "Speaking of guarding the guardian, who's making sure you don't do anything improper to the other girls?" she asked. "You know, since I am currently incapacitated."

"Mira and Lisanna are in the kitchen making soup," said Natsu. He chuckled. "I sure learned the hard way not to piss them off."

"I still remember the time they caught you peeping," said Erza. "Mira at the very least wasn't too happy. Lisanna... more so," She couldn't help but giggle at the memory.

"Soup's ready!" called Lisanna, coming in from the kitchen.

Natsu took a big whiff of the air. "Lisanna's famous chicken fish soup!" he announced. "You used to make this for me and Happy whenever we got sick, didn't you, Lisanna?"

Erza looked at her friends dubiously. "Chicken fish soup?" she asked.

"Well, it was the only way they would eat it," said Lisanna nonchalantly. She handed the bowl to Erza. "It's not as bad as it sounds."

"I don't know," said Erza. "All I really need to do is get my strength back up, so wouldn't strawberry cake work just as well?"

"Aw, is Titania Erza afraid of a little soup?" Natsu taunted.

Erza glared at him. "The hell I am!" she said angrily. She put the bowl to her mouth and started to drink...

"Erza! Spoon!" said Lisanna worriedly.

"Huh? Oh. Right," said Erza. She glared at Natsu. "You see what you do to me?" she said angrily, though a little bit playfully.

"Good thing I was here," said Lisanna. "Now don't do anything else stupid after I leave."

"You're not staying?" asked Natsu.

"No," said Lisanna. "I have a..." She glanced at the kitchen nervously. "...thing... to get to."

"What kind of thing?" asked Natsu.

"A secret thing!" said Lisanna. "For Happy! That's why I can't tell you! You'll spoil the surprise!"

"Oh. Okay," said Natsu. "Hey, if Bixlow gives you any shit, you come to me, all right?"

Lisanna blushed, then nodded her head. "Get well soon, Erza!" she said.

"Thank you," said Erza. With that, Lisanna left the bedroom.

A minute later, Mirajane poked her head in. "Did I hear you say something about Lisanna and Bixlow?" she asked sternly.

"No!" said Natsu quickly. "What could those guys possibly be doing together, huh? I don't know what's going on! Do you know what's going on, Erza?"

No reply. As soon as Mirajane had entered the room, Erza had started to feign sleep. She knew things were about to get ugly regarding her sister and her new boyfriend, and honestly, she was just too sick to deal with it right now. She smirked to herself as she listened to her rival badger Natsu for information.

"Perhaps one day, that will be me and Natsu," thought Erza happily. She fell asleep not long after.

Erza woke up later that night to see Natsu coming home ("Home? Natsu doesn't live here."). He sat on the bed, careful not to wake her.

Erza realized that this was her opportunity to hear Natsu's candid feelings for her, so she pretended to be asleep for just a little while longer.

"Hey, Erza," whispered Natsu. Erza had to strain to hear, since he thought she was asleep and didn't want to wake her. "Mira's okay with Bixlow and Lisanna being... you know, a thing. Man, you should've seen her! I think she wanted to rip Bixlow to shreds!" He grinned. "Oh well, at least I got to fight Mira!"

This caught Erza's attention. Natsu had actually fought Mirajane?

"Mira's as strong as ever!" said Natsu. "I would've lost if she wasn't using Sitri! Though to be fair, she was more focused on roasting Bixlow alive than fighting me, but hey, free food is free food!" He laughed. "After I had my fill of fire, Mira was down for the count. They're talking things through now, setting ground rules and crap like that."

Erza smiled inwardly. It was good that her friends had managed to work out their problems.

Natsu sighed. "You know, ever since Lisanna came back, I haven't been feeling the same way about her I used to. It's been eating at me for like, ever, but when Jellal got arrested after the Games, it just snapped into place.

"I moved on from Lisanna's death. Simple as that. And at the same time, I found the courage to love again. And it took Jellal trying to sacrifice you for all that to happen."

Natsu sighed. "I like you, Erza," he admitted. "I mean, like-like. Like in Lucy's novel. I don't know if it's love yet, but when I saw you lying broken at Jellal's feet, it just... flipped a switch in me. I was this close to losing you like I lost Lisanna, and something was screaming, 'No! Not again! Not Erza!' God help me, but I don't even feel that way about Lucy, even after the Eclipse plan!"

He growled. "Sure, I was scared for her, but at the same time, there was this voice – not the same voice I heard in the Tower, but... I dunno, this one was telling me to trust Lucy, to believe in her." There was a beat as Natsu realized the implications of what he was saying. "Uh, not that I don't believe in you!" he said hastily.

"I guess with Lucy, somehow I know that everything's gonna be all right," he said. "But with you, even though you're stronger than me... I just feel the urge to protect you, even if you don't need me to... goddammit, maybe this is love after all... Hey!"

At that point, Erza gave up all pretense and pulled Natsu down to her. She placed a long kiss on his lips and cuddled him tight. "I love you too, Natsu," she said.

Natsu boldly stole another kiss, and the new couple cuddled all through the night.

Like I said, not the best ending. Either way, I hope you like it!

So anyway, thank you to everyone who reviewed, favorited, followed, and generally liked this story. I will stay true to my word and work on the next chapter of Don't Forget To Remember Me, and hopefully that will be up this weekend. I'm really stalling on that fight scene, though, and chances are, I'll never be 100% satisfied with how it turns out, but I'll still get it done somehow! Actually, inspiration just struck me, so if you're reading through it, don't be surprised if I change a few things.

So once again, thank you for all your support, and until my next project, peace and love from Nightlingbolt.