The Princess and the Commoner

Chapter 24: Now and Forever [END]

The Fairy Tail wizards walked forward silently. Lucy kept walking backward to check on Natsu every once in awhile, 

"Do you think he'll be ok?" Erza nodded and smiled,

"He's tough, I'm sure he's going to be fine Lucy. Don't worry." Lucy nodded and laughed slightly, 

"You're right Erza..." They continued walking for a few minutes when Natsu woke up. 

"Ughh..." Lucy turned around quickly and saw Natsu looking around with tired eyes. He sighed and put his head back down. Lucy walked back and nudged his shoulder, Natsu lifted his head again and grinned at Lucy, 

"Do you feel better Natsu?" He nodded slightly, 

"Yeah. I'm good. Zeref can't do anything to me, he's too nice..." Natsu looked at Erza and tapped her shoulder, 

"Can you let me down Erza?" Erza nodded and put Natsu on the ground. He walked forward by Lucy and the two talked all the way back to Fiore, and to the Fairy Tail guild. Gray smiled and walked next to Erza, 

"They are really into each other..." Erza nodded and smiled, 

"Definitely."She looked over to Gray and smiled slightly, "But I'm glad that he's ok. Natsu's been through a lot lately, probably more than he cares. But he's ok now." Gray nodded and looked at Natsu. He was smiling and talking to Lucy with a different happiness in his eyes, 

"Yeah. And he was able to get a lot closer to Lucy in the process." Erza laughed and nodded. They continued walking, and when they got to the Fairy Tail guild hall, Natsu burst in with a wide grin on his face, 

"Who missed me?!" Everyone looked up and there wasn't a sound in the room as everyone gawked at Natsu. The rest of the mages walked in and Makarov walked up with a grin, 

"Welcome back my children. I'm relieved to see you are all unharmed." Erza smiled and nodded, 

"Yes master." Lisanna walked up with tears in her eyes, 

"Natsu...are you really here?" Natsu grinned and pointed his thumb at himself, 

"Of course! Who else would be here?!" Lisanna smiled brightly and cheered and so did everyone else in the guild. Happy flew to Natsu and sat on his head as everyone in the room ran up to Natsu and hugged him. Lucy smiled slightly as she watched her guild members hug Natsu, she clasped her hands and looked to the ground. And as soon as her hands came together, Natsu grabbed them and smiled at her softly, 

"I need to talk to you in private." Lucy blushed and nodded. Natsu dragged Lucy away and walked into a room where nobody would be able to hear them. 

"Listen...Lucy, you need to go back to the castle. Everyone there will be worried about you and I don't want you caught up in all my problems anymore." Lucy's eyes widened in shock, 

"I don't mind Natsu. I like going on adventures everyday and being in Fairy Tail with you and the others." Lucy put a hand to her chest, "I don't want to be in that castle all alone anymore Natsu! I finally have friends and I don't want to leave them just so I can be at the castle. I don't even do anything there, the people in control just make it look like I'm in control...but I'm not!" Natsu smiled and grabbed Lucy's hands. She blushed furiously, 

"Don't worry Lucy, you won't be alone...because," Natsu reached in his pocket and pulled out a small box, he got to his knee and smiled at Lucy as he opened the box, 

"I'll be with you forever, and so will the rest of us. We can make it so that you will be able to see them everyday...together." Lucy put a hand to her mouth and started crying, "Lucy Heartfilia, will you marry me?" Lucy gasped through her tears and smiled broadly, 

"Why are you calling me that?" Natsu looked at Lucy with a confused face, "I'm not Lucy Heartfilia...My name's Lucy Dragneel..." Natsu's whole face brightened and he pulled Lucy into a hug. He pulled the ring out of the box and slipped it on Lucy's finger, it looked like Natsu made it himself. It was a thick, metallic, silver looking ring that fit Lucy's finger perfectly. She smiled and pulled Natsu's face close to her own...and kissed him. Natsu smiled and they both walked out of their secret room and into the main room. Lucy was still smiling as she walked over and sat down with Levy and Juvia. Natsu ran off and started fighting with Gray, 

"Hey Lucy. What's with the smile? Did something happen?"

"Yeah. You're not usually this happy...did you take my Gray?!" Lucy shook her head and smiled at her two friends as more tears started falling out of her eyes, 

"No, nothing like that Juvia...It's just..." Lucy brought her hand up in front of the two girl's eyes and smiled broadly. Levy and Juvia both gasped and looked up at Lucy in shock, "Natsu proposed to me." Levy put a hand to her mouth and hugged Lucy tight, 

"I'm so happy for you! I can't believe it!" Juvia smiled and put her hand on Lucy's shoulder,

"Juvia is happy that you do not love Gray." Lucy laughed and smiled at Juvia, 

"I never did Juvia." Levy smiled and pulled away from Lucy with a big smile on her face. Natsu walked over at that moment and frowned at Lucy. She looked at him with a confused face as he slumped on the table next to her, 

"Lucyyyy!" He frowned and looked over to Gray, "Gray said he's going to take you back to the castle right now!!" He made a wailing sound and Lucy laughed. He looked at her still with a sad face, 

"Don't you remember? You're coming with me!" Natsu's face lightened and he smiled at Lucy,

"OH YEAH!!" He ran off again and started yelling at Gray again. Lucy laughed and looked at Natsu. Her greatest dream happened in a blink of an eye...she was able to show Natsu her love and he proposed to her. Lucy smiled to herself and looked at her friends again, 

"Sooo...Natsu is going to be a king and you're going to be promoted to Queen Heartfilia." Lucy barked a laugh and grinned at Levy, 

"Nope. You forget Levy, I'm going to be Queen Dragneel." Levy widened her eyes and laughed, 

"Wow...the greatest thing ever has happened to you and I've already forgotten. Right after I said that you're going to be Queen and he's going to be King. Wow..." Lucy laughed and hugged Levy, 

"That's all right. I'm still getting used to it too." Gray and Natsu walked up to the three girls and Gray motioned outside, 

"Time to go princess. You need to get back to the castle, everyone will be worried about you." Lucy smiled and looked over to Natsu, 

"He's addressing me wrong Natsu! Why didn't you tell him?" Natsu smiled and walked over to Lucy, draping his arm across her shoulders, 

"I wanted you to tell him."

"Ok then..." Lucy blushed slightly and held up the hand that had her ring on it. Gray looked at her finger and his eyes widened so much it looked like his eyes would pop out. Lucy laughed and Gray looked up at her and Natsu.

"HE PROPOSED TO YOU?!" Natsu barked a laugh and grinned at Gray, 

"Now you're going to have to deal with me for the rest of your life Gray. And you won't be able to argue with me because I'm going to be KING!!" Natsu shouted and Lucy laughed. Gray dropped his head and groaned, 

"He's right..." Natsu grinned and shouted as loud as he could, 

"BYE EVERYONE! I'LL BE BACK SOON!!!" Everyone in the guild looked up and shouted at Natsu, saying things like, 'don't die on us!' and 'come back soon'. Lucy smiled and held Natsu's hand as they walked away from the Fairy Tail guild and to the castle. But they would only be gone a short time, because they'll be back. But better than ever.