Epilogue: Life With You From Here On

It was the middle of the night, the Fairy Tail guild had oddly been closed all day but despite this a lone light shone from the massive guild hall. Inside, barely illuminated by the lit candles, were all the members of Fairy Tail. They sat anxiously in the main hall in the seats and benches in front of the stage. They had been there since the sun rose, but none of them had the desire to go to their homes. Some were fidgeting impatiently, others struggled to stay awake, and some had long since fallen asleep.
A light shined out from under the door of the resting room on the upper level from the stage and next to said door stood a familiar pink haired figure. His foot against the wall to brace himself and his arms crossed, he faded in and out of consciousness for the umpteenth time that night, the screams coming from the room serving to keep him somewhat lucid. He began to fall under again until a hard smack against the side of the head shook him awake.
"Ow." He groaned rubbing his head. He looked up as his vision cleared and saw Gray, Lucy, and Wendy standing in front of him. He immediately shot Gray a look.
"What the hell was that for?" Natsu asked irritated.
"Just felt like it." Gray shrugged. "Here." He handed Natsu a mug of coffee. "Lisanna made it, she said she knows she's not as good as Mirajane but it should help keep you awake."
"Oh. Thanks." Natsu took the mug and sipped from it. His face turned. He never liked the taste of coffee, even when Mira made it, but he didn't want to turn it down since Lisanna went through the trouble of making it for him. "You guys are still here?" he asked taking another sip of his coffee.
"Of course we are, ya dummy." Gray answered.
"Everyone's still here." Lucy said holding out her hand and directing Natsu's eyes towards the floor where everyone sat.
"How are you feeling?" Wendy asked concerned.
"Me? I'm fine." Natsu said with a smile but his friends could see his blood shot eyes and the bags under them.
"You haven't slept in hours. You should try and at least get some rest." Lucy said.
"No." Natsu said firmly. "I can't yet, not until Erza comes out."
"But Natsu-"Lucy began.
"I'm fine Lucy, really." He leaned back against the wall and took another sip of coffee, trying his best along with his friends to drone out the screams of pain coming from the resting area.
…
8 Months Ago
"What do you mean you're not going on missions anymore?!" Natsu yelled surprised standing up from the table, garnering everyone's attention.
"Calm down Natsu." Erza said as she sat opposite of him. "It's not permanent. It's just until I give birth. You don't want anything to happen to the baby do you?" She said looking down and rubbing her stomach.
"Oh. No, I guess not." Natsu's face turned red and he slowly sat down, completely embarrassed at the spectacle he created.
"Idiot." Gray said drinking from his mug.
"Are you feeling any better Erza?" Lucy asked.
"Yes I feel a bit better than I did yesterday." She answered with a smile.
"Is there really a baby in there?" Happy asked looking at Erza's stomach with widened eyes.
"Yes there is." Erza said still smiling.
"Will you lay an egg?"
"What?" Erza asked completely confused.
"Yeah." Natsu said leaning over the table. "Will the baby come out of an egg like Happy?"
"No Natsu." Erza replied with an irritated look. "The baby will not come out of an egg."
"Well that sucks." Natsu said leaning back into his seat.
"I know." Happy said equally disappointed. "I wanted to see Erza lay an egg."
"I'm not a chicken!" she yelled angrily scaring the two.
"So are we going on a job today or what?" Gray asked.
"Yeah it's been a couple of days since we last went on one, and my rents coming up." Lucy said. "What are we doing Natsu?" she asked looking at the Dragon Slayer.
"You guys can go." He answered. "I'm gonna stay here with Erza."
"No, go." Erza said to Natsu's surprise.
"But Erza-"
"I'll be fine Natsu. I was supposed to go shopping with Mirajane anyway." She reassured with a smile.
"You sure?" Gray asked. "We'd probably do better without him anyway."
"What did you say?!" Natsu yelled angrily.
"Yeah, less stuff would probably get destroyed." Happy added as he chewed on a piece of fish.
"You're supposed to be on my side." Natsu whined to his cat. Erza began laughing as she watched the two bicker.
…
The four sat in the waiting room across from the resting area. Although Natsu still refused to sleep, it did feel nice to be off his feet for a few minutes. Despite drinking it all, the coffee didn't help him much as he still dozed off from time to time, eventually succumbing to slumber.
"You think Erza's okay?" Wendy asked worriedly.
"Master and Mirajane are in there with her so she should be fine." Lucy reassured with a smile.
"What about Natsu?" she whispered pointing at the dragon slayer whose head was leaning against the back of the couch he was sitting on.
"He's just worried about Erza. We all are."
A light knock came from the door of the waiting room. "It's open." Gray said. The door slowly creaked open, revealing Juvia.
"I-I'm sorry." She said nervously. "Am I interrupting?"
"No come on in." Lucy said with a smile.
"Thank you." She came in and slowly closed the door.
"Somethin bugging you?" Gray asked, causing the rain woman to blush.
"Well I noticed that you weren't sitting at the table so I tried to find you." She said looking away. "I also wanted to check on Natsu." She looked over at him sitting on the couch. "How is he doing?"
"We finally managed to get him to go to sleep." Gray answered. "Guy's been up for hours."
"I think he's just nervous about being a father." Juvia said with a small smile as she looked at him. "He looks adorable while he's sleeping." Her face turned red and she began rapidly shaking her head towards the others. "I-I-I mean he's not as adorable as you Gray." She stuttered nervously.
"I don't care." Gray said closing his eyes, he then opened one and looked at Juvia with a smirk. "You just better hope Erza doesn't find out." He said jokingly.
Juvia put her hands in front of herself. "Please don't tell Erza. I beg you." She pleaded. Gray, Lucy, and Wendy began laughing, with Juvia soon following suit when she caught on to the joke. All the while Natsu was lost in dreams and memory.
…
6 Months Ago
"Here ya go." Natsu laid the planks of lumber next to Gajeel and went back to the pile.
"Yeah thanks." Gajeel said, grabbing one of the planks and held it up to the beams. He then pointed his index finger and shot a nail into the sides of the plank, holding it place. He then moved on to the next plank and repeated the process.
"Thank you again Gajeel for helping add on to the house." Erza said sitting on a blanket a few feet away.
"Yeah." Gajeel said placing another plank. "I only came because the shrimp made me."
"Gajeel be nice." Levy scolded as she sat next to Erza on the blanket.
"It's ok Levy." Erza said. "I still appreciate the help." She looked around the blanket with a smile: Lucy, Mirajane, Wendy, Levy, Juvia, Lisanna, and Cana were all smiling back at her.
"A real man doesn't complain when a lady asks for help." Elfman said as he hammered away on the other side of the house.
"Aw shuddup." Gajeel replied.
"You don't think this is a bit much?" Lucy asked as she looked at Natsu's bungalow, which was gonna be at least twice its size when the boys were done building.
"We need the space to raise the baby." Erza answered nonchalantly.
"Yeah, but we thought you were just adding a couple of rooms. Not building a mansion." Cana said sipping from a mug of beer that she had brought with her from the guild.
"I think it's nice." Mirajane said with a smile.
"Natsu hurry up with that wood!" Gray yelled as he hammered away on the roof.
"Keep your shirt on I'm comin!" Natsu yelled as he collected planks from the pile.
"Hurry up!" Gray yelled again. He looked towards Natsu, his eyes widening as he narrowly dodged a piece of wood flying his way. "You trying to kill me you moron?!" he angrily yelled standing up.
"Maybe." Natsu said looking away. "You were pissing me off." Natsu suddenly felt a sharp pain surge through his head, Gray had thrown his ice hammer at him.
Natsu held the back of his head and turned around. "You wanna fight snow cone?!" he yelled.
"Bring it on bubblegum head!" Gray yelled back, stomping on the unfinished roof.
"Stop movin up there you idiot!" Gajeel said as he tried to hold his side of the wall up.
"You're gonna bring the whole house down." Elfman chimed in, but Gray was lost in his argument with Natsu.
"Stop it you two." Lucy said trying to calm them down.
"Yeah come on Natsu stop." Lisanna chimed in.
"Please calm down Gray." Juvia pleaded.
"Uh oh." Cana said sipping her beer.
"What's wrong?" Wendy asked looking at her quizzically.
"Just watch and wait kid." She said as she looked at Erza who remained eerily silent through the whole affair.
"How about I come up there and kick your ass?!" Natsu said walking closer to the house.
"Don't bother." Gray retorted. "I'll save you the trouble and come down there." Gray rolled up his sleeve and began walking down the roof but soon cried out when he found himself falling through it, the rest of the wood coming down with him. After the dust cleared, he poked his head out of the rubble, coughing.
"Gray are you alright!" Juvia asked concerned as she Lucy, and Lisanna ran over to the collapsed house.
"Yeah I'm fine." He said as he pulled himself out of the rubble and dusted himself off.
"I told him." Elfman said shaking his head.
"Buncha idiots." Gajeel said irritated.
Gray looked back at the rubble embarrassed at what happened but that soon turned to anger when he heard Natsu laughing at him.
"This isn't funny Natsu." Lucy scolded.
"Yeah, Gray could have been seriously injured." Lisanna added. Natsu however continued to laugh at the ice wizard's misfortune.
"You do realize he just destroyed your house right?" Cana said not looking. This caused Natsu to snap back to reality, replacing his amusement with anger when he stood back and looked at the damage.
"Hey, yeah." Natsu said in realization. "What's the big idea with destroying my house Gray?" he said walking closer to the Ice wizard.
"You started it." Gray retorted. "If you had just brought me the wood instead of throwing a tantrum like a baby we wouldn't be in this mess." He walked closer to Natsu, their noses touching as they angrily looked into each other's eyes. Everyone knew that a fight was going to break out soon.
"How about I throw another piece?" Natsu asked.
"Just try it pinkie." Gray answered.
"Natsu, Gray." A low but intense voice called out to them, causing everyone's spines to tingle. Natsu and Gray hesitantly looked over to see Erza, who was being helped to her feet by Wendy and Mirajane. She walked over to them, her face appearing calm but everyone could sense the anger within her, and a cold sweat began dripping down the two male wizard's faces.
"It is both of your faults that the house collapsed. So as punishment you two will be the ones to rebuild it. Is that understood?"
"But Erza, Gray was-"Natsu began to protest but instantly stopped when Erza shot him a look.
"Is that understood Natsu?" she said intensely. Natsu gulped loudly and nodded quickly.
"Y-Yes ma'am." He answered.
"Good." She said, a smile now on her face but it still somehow felt sinister. "Now get to work."
"Aye!" the two said in unison as they ran to the wood pile and back to the house to rebuild.
"Gajeel, Elfman, come rest. Mirajane made lemonade." Erza said with a smile as she waved the two over. They looked at each other, shrugging before walking to join the girls. They reached the blanket and sat down.
"You sure you don't want us to help?" Elfman asked.
"That's ok." Erza replied as she sipped on her lemonade. "Those two will be able to manage without you." The group watched as Natsu and Gray spent the entire day building on the house.
…
4 Months Ago
"I was right." Erza said sullenly with her head down. "They are getting bigger." She looked into the mirror as she cupped her breasts as they sat in her bra, moving them up and down. They were now the size of Mirajane's if not bigger. She looked over to the bed she and Natsu now shared and saw the random shirts she had thrown upon it, her disposition becoming even sadder. "Those barely fit anymore either."
"You're certainly making things difficult for me aren't you?" she said as looked down and rubbed her abdomen which now stuck out further than her nose. She opened the closet and rifled through it for the umpteenth time, eventually settling on a basic black long sleeve shirt. She put it on and looked in the mirror one more time, sighing a bit despondent before she headed into the living area. She sat down at the table in the middle of the room and sighed once more.
Normally she would not have minded something as trivial as weight gain, but the pregnancy was affecting her emotions on such matters. Earlier in the week she and Natsu visited the doctor at Mirajane's urging in order to determine the sex of their baby, although Erza saw no real reason for it. To Erza's complete indifference the baby was a revealed to be a girl, but she feigned surprise to be nice. Although it did astound her how shocked Natsu was.
She looked up from the table and saw Natsu training from outside the kitchen window while Happy continued sleeping in his hammock inside the house. It had been almost a month since he had taken a job request and Erza felt more than a little guilty about it. She told him over and over that he didn't have to stay for her sake, but in true Natsu fashion he did what he wanted and stayed. She wanted to train with him, she yearned for the familiar feel of battle but every time she looked down at her stomach she knew she would have to continue waiting for her chance to hold a sword once again.
The pregnancy had adversely affected her magical energy, meaning she couldn't requip anymore. The doctor and Master Makarov told her that since she possessed an overwhelming amount of magical power, a good majority of it would be used to help the baby come to term. While she was initially worried since the occurrence was so rare and the affect it might have on the baby, she was reassured that the baby would be born healthy and her power would return to her in about a month or so after.
Tired of sitting around, she stood up and walked outside, ignoring her much her feet and ankles ached. She saw Natsu taking a break by a tree and walked towards him, standing behind him as he sipped from a bottle of water.
"I've definitely gotten stronger." he said with a smirk as he clenched his fist. Not noticing Erza was behind him, he began mumbling to himself about battle strategies. Erza was confused to say the least but she nonetheless tried to engage him in conversation.
"Natsu do you think I've put on weight?" she asked hesitantly.
"Huh?" Natsu turned around and finally noticed Erza. He stood up to face her. "Oh hey Erza." He said with a smile, he then looked her up and down. "Have you gotten bigger?" Just then everything went black.
Natsu slowly opened his eyes. "What happened?" he said weakly as he looked up into the sky which was now dark. "It's night time? But the sun had just rose and hour ago." He sat up, wincing in pain as he touched the side of his face. He winced again when he felt a bump. "How did this happen?" He looked around to see if anyone was around. "Wasn't Erza here a minute ago." He stood up and looked around more. "Where did she go?"
Erza sat inside their home and watched Natsu look around confused. "Idiot." She said irritated as she looked away.
…
1 Month Ago
"I still don't know about this Natsu." Erza said uneasy as she stood in the doorway of the nursery. "I just don't think having dragons all over the walls is good for the baby. It might scare her."
"But she's gotta learn about them sooner or later." Natsu replied as he looked around the room. "If she's gonna use dragon slayer magic she's gotta know about dragon's right?" he asked as he began fixing things around the room.
"We don't know for sure that she'll use dragon slayer magic." Erza protested.
"She did in the future." Natsu retorted.
"Yes she did. She could also use teleportation magic, but things have changed from what her future self told us. For example I wasn't supposed to become pregnant for another year." Erza explained.
"Eh it'll be fine." Natsu shrugged Erza off as he continued fixing and moving things around.
Erza sighed and walked towards the shelf on the wall across from the crib. She grabbed the small wooden dragon that Laki had made as a gift and smiled as she shuffled it around in her hand, she then looked around the nursery.
When Erza thought about it, it was probably the oddest looking baby nursery ever created. The walls were a light cream color, with dragons painted on one side, and weapons on the other courtesy of Reedus. A rocking chair sat in the corner next to the window, which faced the sunrise.
The crib itself was built by the Strauss family. It was white and the Fairy Tail emblem was carved into the headboard. Levy had donated a good amount of books from her youth which sat upon the bookshelf that Natsu took three days to build. Inside the crib were plush dolls of Plue, Happy, Carla, and Pantherlily which were given by Lucy, Happy, Wendy, and Gajeel respectively; Lucy also gave one of the books her mother used to read to her when she was a child. Erza always chuckled at how varied their expressions were: Happy and Plue were smiling as usual, Carla scowled, and Pantherlily had on a cocky smirk. Gray and Juvia combined their magic to create a carving of Aura's name that surprisingly didn't melt despite being made out of ice and water.
Erza looked around the nursery and smiled warmly when she looked at all of the things that her family had given her. She wanted to tell Millianna, Shu, Wally, and even Jellal about the new life she was about to bring in the world but she had no way to contact them. It hurt her that she could not share this with her first family, she was even more upset that Simon and Rob would never be able to know.
"You ok Erza?" Natsu asked concerned, seeing the saddened look on her face.
"I'm fine." she said looking up at him with a smile. "Just thinking about things."
"What things?"
"Don't worry about it. Are you done? I want to go outside."
"Oh yeah let's go." Natsu stepped over the small bench and walked with Erza towards the front door. Once they were outside they walked to a small clearing and watched the sunset.
"You think we're gonna be good parents?" Natsu asked.
"Getting nervous? That's not like you Natsu." Erza said jokingly.
"Well yeah." Natsu answered. "I mean taking care of kids is pretty hard right? I mean I don't know how Igneel and the old man did it."
"We were quite the rowdy bunch weren't we?" Erza said with a light chuckle, remembering all the trouble she, Natsu, and the others caused in their youth.
"Yeah." Natsu said with a smile. "I still can't believe that I'm gonna be a dad." He said scratching his head. "It's pretty scary. I hope I'm as good as Igneel was." Natsu's eyes widened when he felt Erza kiss him on the cheek. He blushed and looked at her, seeing the soft smile on her face.
"Don't worry. You'll be a great father." She said leaning into him.
Natsu smiled back at her and nodded. "Yeah."
…
"He looks so peaceful sleeping over there." Levy said as she and the others watched Natsu. "I still can't believe that Natsu's going to be a dad." She said with a small smile.
"I know right?" Lucy said. "I thought Natsu would be the last person to settle down and have kids."
"I don't think settling down applies to Natsu." Lisanna said.
"Erza either." Elfman added.
"I think the fact that he is having a child with Erza is the most surprising thing." Juvia commented.
"Yeah I always thought Salamander and blondie would be the ones with brats running around." Gajeel said bluntly pointing at Lucy with his thumb, causing the celestial wizard to blush.
"What?" she squealed embarrassed.
"Yeah." Gray added. "Either her or Lisanna."
"You guys are crazy." Lucy said looking away. "Right Lisanna?" Lucy looked over to the youngest Strauss sibling for support but was surprised to see Lisanna looking away, her face red as she covered her cheeks with her hands.
"I think Natsu will be a good dad." Wendy said with a smile.
"I think so too." Levy added. "He was always good with kids."
"Yeah because they can relate to him." Gray commented.
"Mmmm…shut up…Gray." Natsu mumbled as he turned over in his sleep. Gray sweat dropped as the others laughed.
"He's lucky he's sleeping." Gray said.
Suddenly Mirajane burst through the door. "Is Natsu in here?!" she said asking the others.
"Yeah he's over there sleeping." Lucy said pointing. "What's wrong Mira?"
"Everything alright sis?" Elfman asked.
"It's Erza." She said with a smile. "She's done."
Everyone's eyes widened in excitement. "Really?!" Levy said, Mirajane nodding in agreement.
"We have to wake him up." Lucy said as the group ran over to Natsu. They yelled and shook him but he was in too deep of a sleep.
"Step back, let me handle this." Gajeel parted the group and kneeled next to Natsu. "I bet 50,000 jewel that I could kick your ass with one tied behind my back." He whispered in Natsu's ear.
Natsu's eyes opened wide and he stood up from the couch. "Bring it on!" he yelled determined. He looked down and was confused to see everyone staring at him. "What's going on? Why are you guys here?"
"We had to wake you up dummy." Gray said. "It's Erza."
"Erza?" Natsu instantly snapped back into reality. "What happened?"
"She wants to see you." Mirajane said with a smile. "Hurry up."
Natsu jumped off the couch and ran towards the resting room, the others following him. "Erza!" he yelled bursting through the door.
"Shhhh." Natsu looked down and saw Master Makarov looking up at him. "You'll wake the baby, boy."
"The baby?" he said his eyes widening.
"Natsu." He heard Erza's weak voice call to him from the end of the room. He walked with Master Makarov to the last bed on the right. Natsu stopped when he saw the doctor standing in front of the bed.
"Congratulations Mr. Dragneel." He said with a smile. "You are now the father of a beautiful and healthy baby girl."
Natsu pulled back the curtain and finally saw Erza. Her hair was a mess and she was more than a little exhausted as she sat in the bed, but none of this mattered to the dragon slayer. Despite her current state, she glowed in the pale moonlight that shone through the window next to the bed as she lovingly held a rolled up blanket. She looked up at him and smiled.
"Erza." He said low.
"Shhhh. She's sleeping." She said looking down at the blanket again.
Natsu walked over to Erza's side and looked at the blanket she was holding. Inside was a little pink body, not much bigger than Happy or the other exceeds. He was amazed, he had never seen anything like it. New life was right in front of him, a new life that he created but he had no words to describe it. She was so fragile, it was as if she would break it she were unwrapped from the safety of the blanket, it was like it held her together. Erza saw his expression and smiled warmly. "Natsu, meet your daughter: Aura Robin Dragneel."
Natsu waved slowly. "Hi."
"Do you want to hold her?" Erza asked.
"What?" Natsu said slightly caught off guard. "Y-Yeah sure."
Erza slowly handed him the baby. "Be careful."
"I know." He retorted as he held her in his arms. "She's so small." He said astonished as he continued staring at her.
"That's because she's a baby silly." Erza said.
He looked at his sleeping daughter. "Hi I'm Natsu. I'm your dad." Erza couldn't help but smile at how innocent he was.
Everyone from the guild started to slowly enter the resting room and made their way towards where Natsu and Erza were. They saw Natsu holding the baby and their hearts melted.
"Guys this is my daughter, Aura." He said with a smile as he walked towards his friends. "She's still sleeping so don't make too much noise."
"Aww look how cute she is." Levy cooed.
"She must get that from Erza." Macao commented as he and Wakaba laughed.
"Shut up." Natsu pouted.
"Congrats buddy." Gray said.
"She's beautiful Erza." Mirajane said with a smile as stood next to her friend's bedside.
"Thank you Mirajane and thank you for helping me bring her into the world." She grabbed her hand and held it.
"Don't mention it. We're friends after all, I would do it all again." Mirajane replied and smiled.
Happy flew onto Natsu's shoulder and looked at the new born baby. "She's so small." Happy said with wide eyes.
"That's what I said." Natsu replied.
"Natsu bring her back. I want to hold her some more." Erza said.
"Ok." He moved from the crowd and handed Aura back to Erza.
"Thank you." She said as she lovingly looked at her daughter.
Master Makarov walked through the crowd and hopped onto the edge of Erza's bed. "This is a special for Fairy Tail. For today we welcome a new member to our family." He looked at Natsu and Erza and smiled. "I've watched both of you over the years. You have been through so much together, and to be able to see you the two of you here now is nothing short of a miracle." He began to tear up, along with the other members of the guild, save Gajeel and Gray who were both grinning. "Erza, you have grown into such a beautiful, smart, loving and courageous young woman. You have always been one of the pillars that has held the guild up. You will be a magnificent mother."
"Thank you Master." Erza said as her eyes misted.
He turned his attention to Natsu. "Natsu, you've always been headstrong, but there is no questioning that you truly do love this guild and everyone in it. When things look their bleakest you have always managed to pull light from the deepest of darkness. You have truly matured over the years, and I am proud to watch you become the man I see before me today."
"Thanks Gramps." Natsu said with a smile.
"You both are two of the best that this guild has to offer and I couldn't be happier that you both have found each other. Congratulations." He said with a warm smile.
"Thank you Master." Erza said. "Thank you all." She said as she looked at her guild mates. "Thank you for being with us all of these. I couldn't have asked for a better family. I hope that our daughter, will come to love each and every one of you as I do." Erza said, her voice breaking as she began crying tears of joy causing almost everyone else to cry as well.
All the while Reedus sat in a stool behind everyone, painting a picture of Natsu's new family, and the newest addition to Fairy Tail.