Hey, guys! Yes, I am back with another chapter! Anyone who reads Torn, I swear it will continue soon! My apologies again, but I want to complete this. 

Mira: I don't care about Torn! Give me more Nalu!! 

Meena: Excuse me?! I put a lot of work into that!

Mira: *sheepishly* Ah, sorry. I just got a little carried away. All Sasusaku fans, do yourselves a favor, and go read Torn!

Meena: Thank you.

Mira: Now without further ado, here is Chapter 47!

            Lucy felt like she'd been asleep for a long time, but as the voices coaxed her awake, and her eyes fluttered open, she realized she had not been asleep long at all as the fatigue fell over her again. But the voices were begging her to wake up, and something at the back of her mind was nagging at her that she still needed to do something Oh but she so wanted to sleep, to forget about all her responsibilities, and everything that had happened. She'd done her job, but apparently it wasn't enough because the nagging only grew more insistent, and the voicesonly louder.

            Lucy gave in, and opened her eyes completely, fighting against her weighing exhaustion. She couldn't recognize her surroundings immediately, and had to blink several times before anything came into focus. The voices got louder as she came to, and one stood out to her in particular. She focused on it, and blinked once again, the colors clearing into recognizable shapes. Pink was the first color to jump to her eyes, and she suddenly recognized Natsu's worried face hovering over her.

            "Hey," he breathed out, stroking her face.

            "H-Hey," she rasped.

            She looked to the side to see dozens of feet crowded around her, the blurred faces of her worried companions crowding around him. She suddenly felt claustrophobic, and a booming voice ringing with authority yelled, "STEP AWAY FROM HER!"

            All the feet immediately disappeared, and only Natsu remained crouched protectively over her. He stared up at someone above them that Lucy couldn't see because of his wide frame, but soon enough even he backed off reluctantly. She sucked in a breath as the Celestial Spirit King loomed above her, arms crossed over his armored chest.

            "Lucy Heartfilia, daughter of Layla Heartfilia, guardian of realms, you have saved all the Celestial Spirits, including myself. That in itself is an incredible feat. For that, you have all my gratitude, and that of every Celestial Spirit in existence."

            Tears stung the edges of Lucy's vision at his words, and a warm feeling inflated in her chest despite her utter exhaustion.

            "Which is why I will now do this," The giant King said.

            He leaned down, and touched his massive finger to her abdomen right on her wound. She hissed in pain, but it was soon gone as the King's finger glowed golden. After a minute, he retracted his finger, and resumed his crossed arm position. Lucy sat up, her pain gone, and ripped away the bloody remains of Levy's dress. Her wound was gone with no trace of a scar.

            "Thank you!" She said, standing up with Natsu's help.

            He nodded, and grinned down at her.

            "It's the least I can do for you, my friend, because you are my friend now, and friend to all Celestial Spirits." He gestured around to the twelve zodiac spirits who gathered around her in a circle. Aquarius smiled proudly at her, her tail swishing this way and that as she floated in the air. "Should you ever need anything, you can call on us at any time. All you have to do is call one of our names, and we will come. Now, I'm sure certain amongst us would like to talk to you more, but it will have to wait; we have been away from the heavens for far too long, and it seems that you too have something you must do."

            He gestured with his head off to the right, and the Celestial Spirits parted. Lying on the ground about fifteen feet away was a body, long spiky blue hair spread around it. Her heart seized as she realized who it was: Acnologia.

            "He's dying," The Clestial Spirit King said solemnly.

            That was what she was forgetting to do, what had been nagging at her.

            "I'll go to him," she said confidently.

            "What?" Natsu exclaimed as the Celestial Spirit King nodded.

            "Do what you must," the King said, and with that, him and the rest of the Celestial Spirits resumed their glowing orb forms, and shot straight up into the sky.

            Lucy turned to where Acnologia lay, and started to walk towards him. A hand grabbed the crook of her elbow, however, and she turned to see Natsu glaring at her with concern. She felt slightly guilty; she had put him through a lot of worry these past two days, and it must have been hard on his nerves.

            "I'll be fine, Natsu. He's dying anyways, but there's something I need to do before he does."

            Natsu looked at her for a second before he sighed and let go.

            "You really are one stubborn weirdo," he commented wryly.

            Lucy grinned and bopped his nose. "But you love me anyway."

            He leaned forward quickly and kissed her. "That I do."

            Lucy heard a gagging noise behind her, and turned to see Gray gagging as he mimed sticking a finger in his mouth while Juvia slapped his back. Oh boy, Natsu and Gray were so not going to get along with Gray's whole overprotective brother persona.

              Everyone was gathered behind her, her friends and the people from Fairy Tail she didn't even know who'd come to her rescue. They were all either smiling or gaping at her. Erza seemed to be beaming with pride while Cana had her jaw hanging open beside her. Juvia looked up from slapping Gray to grin at her proudly with tears in her eyes, and even Gray managed to look impressed. The ryus too were happy beyond belief: Wendy was practically strangling Romeo in her hug as she cried tears of happiness, Sting and Rogue seemed like they still couldn't believe it, and Gajeel who was being supported by Levy of all people was grinning from ear to ear as he hastily wiped a tear away. The exceeds were whooping in victory, and even Porlyusica managed to smile.

            Lucy smiled at all of them, hoping to express all the gratitude she felt. She had not done it alone after all. If not for Natsu, the ryus, the exceeds, Levy, or Erza showing up with an army at her beck and call, Lucy wouldn't be standing here, let alone have been able to figure out how to defeat Acnologia. It was thanks to everyone that he was now defeated.

            She turned back to the smoking body of a once formidable opponent, and walked towards it, standing tall. Acnologia definitely looked battered. Although his now human form didn't show most of the carnage her attack had dealt to his dragon body, he still looked worse for wear: his skin was pale and burned in places, blood was streaming out of his mouth, and his breathing was labored, his breath whistling as he exhaled. She crouched down beside him, feeling pity for the man. Other than the injuries, he looked practically the same as in the last memory of him she'd seen.

            As soon as she'd settled herself down beside him, his eyelids fluttered open, and his blue irises flicked to her, his eyes hooded.

            "You look... exactly like her..." he rasped.

            Lucy smiled grimly.

            "I know."

            Regret flashed in his eyes, and he looked away from her.

           "If she hadn't... have stood in my way... I wouldn't... have had to... kill her," he murmured.

            Lucy bit back her anger at his statement, and instead calmly said, "You had a choice and you know it. All she ever tried to do was save you."

            He glanced at her, but said nothing. She sighed.

            "Listen, she wanted me to tell you something."

            At this he immediately snapped to attention, his eyes zoning in on her.

            "She wanted me to tell you that she really did love you, and she forgives you," she said softly.

            Acnologia seemed shocked for a moment before making a strangled sound in his throat, and blinked several times. Moisture pooled at the bottom of his eyes, and slowly dripped down his cheeks: he was crying! This former beast and murderer was crying.

            Lucy sat quietly, not really knowing what to do. All she could do was watch as this broken and dying man cried.

            "I killed her," he choked out. "I killed her! I loved her... but I was so blinded by revenge... and I killed her!"

            Lucy swallowed hard, torn between anger and pity. His gaze suddenly turned on her, his eyes burning with grief.

            "I took your mother away from you!" he rasped almost in a whisper. "Just like they did to me! She was right, I have become them!"

            "She forgives you," Lucy repeated somewhat uselessly. She had no idea what else to say.

            He barked out a laugh, and immediately started coughing afterwards, blood pouring out of his mouth. Lucy grimaced, but knew there was no avoiding this. He was going to die.

            "Ever the kind-hearted one. Even in death," he said wryly when his coughing fit had subsided. He looked to her again. "How ironic that I realize how stupid I was only now, in death. I could have been with her... Well, I guess now I will be, but I would like to at least do one thing to atone for my sins."

            His hand inched towards his neck where, now that she looked, sat a simple black necklace from which a crystal pendant hang. He grabbed it, and ripped it off his neck, placing it tremblingly in her hand.

            "Break that... when I die," he rasped.

            Lucy was confused, but nodded anyway.

            "And one more thing... I know I have no right... but... I don't want our memories—our good memories—to disappear... Will you take them for me?"

            Lucy blinked, dumbfounded by his request. He wanted her to do what? Take his memories? He said our. Did he mean his and Layla's? Her mother's memories with this man, did she want them?

            She swallowed the lump that was forming in her throat. She nodded.

            Acnologia looked like he was on the verge of crying again, which Lucy didn't think she could handle once again. Fortunately, he held himself back, and raised his hand and placed it trembling against her forehead. All of a sudden, she felt like her brain was being attacked, images flying through so fast, she felt as if a dozen pebbles, each a memory, were being pelted at it. By the end of it, she was gasping for breath, and tears were streaming down her cheeks.

            "There. It is done," Acnologia breathed, looking more worn now than before.

            He was wheezing now, and he was extremely pale. He didn't have much longer left.

            He stared at her, an indescribable emotion present in his eyes. Their situation was... complicated.

            "Thank you," he murmured.

            He closed his eyes, and wheezed a couple more times before his chest stilled. Lucy too closed her eyes, feeling Acnologia's murky flow of energy dissipate into the air. She took a deep breath and opened her eyes, standing up and forcing herself not to look back, wiping her tears away with the back of her hand.

            She walked towards Natsu, clutching the crystal pendant tightly in her palm.

            "Is it over?" he asked, clearly voicing the question everyone else was wondering.

            "It's over," she said solemnly.

            There wasn't a sound. It seemed that no one really knew how to feel now that it was really over.

           "He left me something though," she said, opening her palm.

            Natsu stared at it, eyes wary.

            "Are you sure it's safe?" he asked.

            "Pretty positive," Lucy said.

            She gripped it, and threw it with as much force as she could muster in her tired state against the ground. It shattered instantly upon contact, the pieces fading away into the air. Nothing happened for a moment, a moment in which everyone looked uncertainly at each other. Then, the air became heavy, a new intensity making the air vibrate with power. Lucy felt several powerful flows of energy coursing through the air, tangling and untangling repeatedly, trying to find a stable form. It seemed they finally did, as everything suddenly stopped. The flows of energy concentrated, and burst outwards, a loud sound like a clap of thunder echoing in the air.

            Everyone immediately dropped to the ground, fearing an attack from above, but instead, five massive forms appeared into existence around them, looking very disoriented: a red one, a black one, a grey one, and two white ones. Dragons. They were dragons. Lucy feared she had been tricked until Natsu stared at the red one, and exclaimed, "Dad!"

Dad?

            One by one the ryus each turned to a dragon and shouted happily, launching themselves at the dragons, the humans around them backing away warily. Lucy stared down at the now empty black cord in her hand. Acnologia had locked the dragons away in that crystal with some sort of spell; he hadn't killed them. She smiled down at it fondly before putting it around her neck.

            There had still been some good in him after all.

            "Luce, come here!" Natsu exclaimed, grinning like a cute kid. "Meet my dad, Igneel!"

            "Coming!" she shouted back.

            She ran towards the idiot pinkette of a ryu she had come to love so much to meet her future father in law. All was well now. She had Natsu and her friends and family. She had become a person she could be proud of, and formed so many new connections, all because a crazy pink-haired ryu had come barreling into her life, and she wouldn't have had it any other way. 

Meena: Thanks for reading, guys! This is actually the last chapter of the story.

Mira: *sobbing* NOOOOOO!!!

Meena: I know it's sad, Mira, but wait a moment! I have good news!

Mira: Nothing could possibly be good news if this is ending!!!

Meena: There will be an epilogue after this! And a special chapter from Natsu's point of view per the readers' request! So all readers please comment what scene you would like to see from Natsu's point of view, or it could just be a completely different scene at your request for when they're adults. So please comment what you would like to see. 

Mira: *sniffs* I guess that makes it slightly better... but there had better be a lot of Nalu fluff in the epilogue! 

Meena: Don't worry, Mira, there will be. 

Mira: *glaring through the screen* And all you readers had better comment for the special because I need it!!!

Meena: Ah, calm down, Mira! I'm sure the readers will comment because they want the special chapter too! Right, guys?

Mira: *starts sobbing again*

Meena: Mira, please don't cry! Come on, we have to end the chapter! Don't you want to do the end for the last real chapter of the story? I'll get you a giant tub of ice cream, and we can cry together later. 

Mira: *rubbing her eyes* Fine... I want mint chocolate chip!

Meena: Done.

Mira: As always, Hiro Mashima owns the characters of Fairy Tail while all credit for the story goes to Meena. Please vote, COMMENT, and share! NALU FOREVER! *starts sobbing again* 

Meena: *hugs Mira*

Both: Thank you, and see you next time! Ja ne!