The Beat of War Drums

Chapter 15 - Epilogue

Author's Note: This is the last chapter! Thank you so much for your support through this book. I'm considering doing another fanfiction similar to this, so stay tuned! I just want to get a bit further with my novel first. Follow me on Twitter and Tumblr! Thanks for reading.

Chapter 15

Epilogue - Natsu's P.O.V.

Sound comes back to me first. I hear some sort of celebration going on somewhere below me. Based on the smell, I'd say that there's food too. It takes several minutes of listening and smelling and sensing for my eyes to finally open. I groan as I realize that both of my eyes are functioning, and another groan of pain exits me next. I can tell that I was badly injured, but it seems that most of it is healed now. My arm is back, and I can feel my heart beating in my chest. I'm sore all over.

I slowly raise myself into a sitting position. I sit on the edge of the infirmary bed for several minutes before I try to stand. As I lower my feet to the floor, the wobble in my legs has me concerned. Slowly, I try putting a bit of weight on my feet, relieved to find that I can still stand. I push myself onto my feet fully, swaying just a bit. I stumble my way over to the door, leaning on the edge of the bed for support. I carefully open the door, and painstakingly slowly, make my way downstairs.

The entire guild falls silent as my bandaged form comes into view.

"Natsu!" several people cry all at once. I'm happy to see that my blood family is here in my guild as well. I settle for the million-and-one hugs that I'm forced to endure until Mira finally hands me a plate of food.

"Thanks, Mira! You're the best!" I shout over the joyful chaos. Mira gives me a knowing smile. I shovel the delicious food into my mouth, wondering where Zeref is and hoping that he didn't do anything stupid.

Eventually, my older brother approaches me. I was slightly panicked because I had figured that he'd be the first to hug me, but now, he's the last. Actin gives me a secretive smile, and moves off to talk to Erza.

"Hey, baby brother." Zeref says softly. As he comes closer, I can see that he's cradling something in each arm. I shoot him an inquisitive look before it dawns on me. When Mavis hugged me, she hadn't been gigantic anymore. I feel my eyes widen in excitement. "Want to meet your new niece and nephew?" he asks happily. I nod fiercely. Zeref carefully eases the twin dressed in pink into my arms. "That's Ama." he introduces softly. The little girl whose hair is mostly black, though she has a blond tuft on top, opens her green eyes to peer at me. "This is Kosho." he continues. I look at the identical twins in awe. The only thing different about them are their clothes.

"They're perfect." I whisper joyfully.

"Are you happy that you lived long enough to meet them?" Zeref asks in a knowing tone. I nod, tears streaking down my cheeks.

It turns out that while I had been unconscious, Mavis had given birth to the twins. I had hoped that they would stay small forever, but all things must grow and change. Even the people in the guild changed, but this time, it was for the better. Everyone came to accept my family, and now they split their time equally between Fiore and Alvarez. It was finally peaceful. I had been fighting my entire life, be it an awful enemy or myself, but now, it was finally peaceful. I made my peace with the fact that I had lost a part of myself that day. I grew and changed as well. E.N.D. and Meyers-Dragneel were dead. For some reason, I could still use my curses, but I knew that I would never forget the demons that gave their lives to save mine.

Not long after the war, Gajeel finally asked Levy out. Shortly after, Erza and Jellal revealed their engagement. Gray finally agreed to go on a date with Juvia, and was pleasantly surprised. And on the same day, the Strauss siblings revealed their own significant others; Mira and Laxus were finally an item, Elfman manned up and asked out Evergreen, and Lisanna and Bickslow were a happy couple as well. Carla even accepted a fish from Happy. I suppose that only Lucy and I are left.

That leads us to today. Zeref's birthday is coming up, so I decided to paint a new family portrait. We've never had one as an entire family, but I'll make sure to change that. I can smell Lucy's approach before she's in sight. She quietly opens the door and joins me in my room. Lucy perches on the edge of my bed, watching me paint in silence.

"Hey, Luce." I greet, not taking my eyes off of my project.

"Hey, Natsu." she replies.

"Do you have something to say?" I ask her.

"Yeah." she chuckles. "Do you want to go out on a date?" Lucy asks. I put down my brush and turn toward her.

"Wait here for awhile. I'll be back." I say, leaving her without an answer.

The set-up took time, but it was well worth the look on Lucy's face when I brought her into the dining room an hour later.

"Lucy Heartfilia, may I court you?" I ask her, taking a deep bow with a rose in hand.

"Of course, you dummy!" she laughs.

As for the rest of it, I'm not sure. You see, I'm still on this adventure. I don't know what the future holds. I guess I'll just have to hold on for the ride.