Having almost been assaulted, Lucy and Laxus had been waiting behind the park ambulance.

As soon as the detective and the doctor were safe, they had called the cops.

As Laxus looked over his shoulder, seeing the cops and another fellow detective canvassing the area, finding clues to who had been the ones coming close to violating Dr. Heartfilia.

"Okay, you seem be okay, Ms. Heartfilia." The paramedic had physical checked on Lucy, making sure she had no type of abnormalities on her bodies like scars, bruises, of any kind.

"Dr. Heartfilia." She had corrected the young male paramedic.

"Oh, what field doctor?" The man, curious to know what she studied.

"PhDs in Crime, Police and Forensic Psychology." She answered.

"Oh wow, that's impressive." The paramedic was impressed with her credentials.

"Quite, though being a paramedic is quite amazing in it's own regard as well." She complimented the young man.

"Oh, why thank you." And the paramedic had walked to the front of the ambulance.

"So you good?" Laxus asked, still looking at his fellow colleagues at work.

"Paramedic said I'm good, so yeah, I'm definitely good," Lucy sighed with relief. "I'm just grateful you happened to show up just in the nick of time, I can't thank you enough for rescuing me."

"It's nothing at all doc," Laxus was just grateful he followed his instinct. "And speaking of showing up at the right time, here are your keys." He gave them back to her.

"Oh yes, thank you," Lucy placed her keys into her purse, assuring they're not misplaced again. "And you know you can just call me Lucy."

"Sorry, force of habit," Laxus couldn't help, giving out a wry laugh as he did. "So what's with all those astral signs?" Laxus had wondered why she had all of them, just out of curiosity.

"My keys?" Lucy looked at her bag, where her keys were housed. Obviously he meant those. "Oh well, I just collect them, ya know? I had just found the last one to complete the collection." She pulled them out again, just to show the blonde man.

"And which one would that one be?" Laxus raised an eyebrow. It was a sight to see those keys with the signs.

"The Leo," she answered. "That was the last one I was missing."

As Laxus stared at her keys, before he had left his house with them, he remembered the one key item that lingered in his mind: the picture of the doc and the old man. "And what about this one?" He pointed at that one.

Lucy turned her keys back to her. A sad, reminiscent face had looked over her.

Laxus could tell that one was of importance to her. "Oh, sorry if I'm stepping on some boundaries." He apologized for asking.

"No no no, it's fine," she wiped away an escaping tear before it strolled down her cheek. Her sadness immediately turned to a small smile. "This was my father." She had revealed. "He's actually one of the reasons why I'm so into the astral signs, he was an astrologist. Since I was a little girl, he would tell me various stories of stars and how they've came to be what they are."

"Moments like those are what we always keep dear to us, you know?" Laxus couldn't help but smile as she told her story. "And what about your mother?"

"Sadly, she passed away after she had conceived me," another revelation from the doctor. "All I have are photos of her and my father, and from what I could tell, they dearly loved each other." Lucy kept staring of the picture of her father and herself, she can still remember the day they took that photo. "My father passed, shortly after I graduated from University. I was glad he was still with me to see me become who I am today."

"I'm sorry to hear," Laxus moved his arm over her shoulders, comforting the doctor. "Just from what you told me, I can tell he was a good man who raised a great woman. I'm sure he's out there looking out for you, like today."

"Oh, after today, I'm definitely sure he is." She agreed with him, sharing a tender moment with the detective.

After waiting for almost half an hour, as they waited in the back of the ambulance, the detective on their case had come to tell them news.

"Detective Laxus."

"Detective Rogue." The detective of this precinct was an average of height, black haired white male, with are struck red eyes.

"Based on the description you gave us, a really good description," Rogue was grateful for the detective to have witnessed this, saves him a lot of trouble of finding witnesses to give an accurate description. "They found the drunk bastards that tried to assault you, Ms. Heartfilia."

"Doctor." Both the blondes said in unison.

"R-Right, Doctor, sorry about that," Rogue apologized for his mistakes as he read his notes. "They found three drunks, a couple of blocks from here, matching your dead on description. Sorry if I repeated myself."

"That's alright," Lucy was relieved of the news. She thanked the gods that no one else was hurt. "Do you guys want me to come down to the station to identify creeps?"

"That could wait until the morning," Rogue looked at the time. "We can technically hold them for the next 48 hours until you're ready for the line up, if that's okay with you doctor."

"We should probably just get it over with, while it's still fresh on our minds." Laxus suggested.

"I agree." Lucy had agreed with the detective.

"Alright, we can have one of our patrol cars escort you to the precinct."

It didn't take long for the two to arrive at the precinct.

Knowing exactly what to do, it didn't take long for the two to easily identify the men in the lineups.

After that, they were finally free to go.

The two walked out of precinct.

"After a long day, I'm beat." Laxus sighed, exhausted.

"You said it," Lucy agreed. "I should get going."

"You know the last train was at 12:30," he informed her. "It won't run again until 5 at the very least."

Lucy looked at the time, 2:34 am. She was too exhausted to even have the patience to wait that long. "Ah hell."

"You can rest at my place…" Laxus blushed, having a hard time saying what he said louder.

"What was that?" She couldn't hear what the man muttered.

"I said you can rest at my place, I don't mind." The detective repeated, now with a bit more confidence.

"Oh…" Lucy blushed at the thought of having to crash at the man's place. After all, she felt like she was invading the man's privacy. "It's okay, I can probably chill at a motel or something."

"Just take my offer dammit!" Laxus told her, it was embarrassing to him as it was to her, as his whole face was red. "I'll sleep on the couch."

"But-"

"Just come on," he took her by the hand. "We're too exhausted to think clearly at this moment."

And like that, Laxus and Lucy took a stroll back to his home, which wasn't very far at all.

…

The morning came had come quickly.

Still coming in to terms of his father's death. Natsu was getting ready for his funeral, wearing a black suit.

In the other room, Erza herself was also getting ready, wearing a black appropriate dress with black high heeled boots.

"You ready?" Natsu asked, as he was, fixing his tie.

"Yes," she could see the pinkette struggling with his tie. She could tell he's trying to hold it together. "Do you need help with your tie?"

"I got it, I got it," he didn't need her help. "… please?" After a couple more attempts, he asked for her help.

She gave the man a smile, approached him and finally, for the final attempt, she fixed his tie. "There you go." She kissed him on the cheek.

As she started to walk out the room, she was stopped when Natsu grabbed her by the hand, holding her. She turned to look at the man, seeing the pain manifest back up into tears.

He didn't have to say anything to her. She knew that he wanted her by his side. And she knew that she wanted to be by his, through thick and rough.

The two sat down at the edge of the bed, as Natsu laid his head on her thighs. She caressed her fingers through his hair, nothing but silence was in the room. Only the trickle of rain drops as they hit the window.

It was a hard moment for them, but they had each other for it. They were grateful for that, at least.

Erza leaned in, as she caressed his hair, kissing the man on the lips. He needed it, she wanted it. It made each other feel better.

After a couple of minutes of just wanting to be by each other's side, Natsu finally mustered up the courage to get up and finally go to the arranged funeral. With Erza by his side, he knew he would be able to go through it. Facing the reality of his father being gone.

The two got in the car and they drove.

They made it in time. And everyone Natsu had invited had come. Underneath a canopy as the rain continued.

As they approached the front, where the parish priest was waiting.

After a couple of words said from the priest, saying his grace and sending off Igneel in peace, his sermon ended. And with that, the casket was now being lowered.

With tears in his eyes, Natsu silently sobbed, with his hand held by Erza, holding back her own set of tears.

The casket was placed and the dirt now being thrown gently as they covered it.

And with that, the service was finally done.

Many paid their respects to Natsu, sending their sincerest condolences to the pinkette.

Many familiar faces, from Gray and Juvia, to the friend of Igneel that had served with him in the war, all were there to pay their condolences to the man.

After a couple more minutes, everybody had left. The canopy removed, it was just Erza and Natsu with an Umbrella in hand as they the continued to stand in front of Igneel's tombstone.

Igneel Dragneel, War Hero, Loving Father and Husband, 1934-2020, engraved on the tombstone.

The two continued to look at the tombstone, in silence as the rain poured over them.

At this point, the umbrella wasn't doing much, as their clothing were drenched. It didn't bother them.

After more than 10 minutes, Erza turned to look at Natsu, and he back at her. This was their final goodbye to Igneel.

Holding her hand in hers and vice versa, the two finally began to walk from the tombstone. Having finally given all their condolences, they knew that they were just stalling the inevitable.

As they arrived at the car, Natsu took one more look in the direction of his father's Tombstone.

"Thank you for everything dad."

Author's Note: Sorry for the inconvenience, this chapter is a lot shorter than I anticipated.

Anyways, I hope you guys enjoy!