The world never felt so light on Natsu's shoulders as it had at that moment, as he gazed up in wonder at his guardian and mentor who hadn't seemed to change at all despite his death. Perhaps Acnologia's eyes were a bit brighter, maybe his smile a bit softer, and then there was the fact that he looked like an ethereal ghost with wisps of light fading in and out of his transparent figure. Suddenly, all of Natsu's worries and cares flew off his shoulders in a massive breath of relief and awe.

He wouldn't have to fight Acnologia or try to stop an apocalypse. He wouldn't have to exchange blows with a man who practically raised him. And then... there was the fact that Acnologia was there, physically before Natsu with his aura of power and strength.

"You look good," Acnologia stated as he regarded Natsu with a hint of pride in his voice. Natsu took a moment to take that in, recognize that he had changed through the years. He was broader, taller even, with a plethora of scars from battles gone by and a glint in his eye that held a likeness to Acnologia himself.

"You... too?" Natsu supposed.

Acnologia threw his head back and laughed, running his hand through his mess of hair and smiling, exposing his large canines.

"Well, there's not much to change you when you're dead," Acnologia supposed with a smile, his eyes shifting over to Nashi who was staring at him in utter disbelief.

Sure, Acnologia had been described to her, Reedus had even painted the man several times, but nothing seemed to be able to capture the sheer power that this man could radiate. Everything in Nashi's being was drawn up tight like a bowstring, he draconic instincts screaming 'danger'. Her knees wanted to buckle under the power that this singular man held.

This was Acnologia. The last singular dragon king. The longest-ruling, strongest, most terrifying dragon to ever inhabit Earthland. His hands had slain thousands of dragons in both lives and had earned the title dragon king based on his absolute strength and unquestionable magic prowess. He was beyond intimidating.

Apparently, Rikki was having a similar epiphany.

"Y-you are to serve me!" Rikki managed to demand, his voice a frail thing in the air in the presence of the deceased Dragon King.

Acnologia's gaze flickered over to Rikki momentarily but didn't even bother acknowledging his existence as he instead took a step forward and crouched down to stare Nashi in the eyes.

Nashi could feel her lungs starting to rebel as fear clutched her chest.

"You've a bright future, Kaida, but I would maybe stop this whole 'going on your lonesome'," Acnologia recommended warmly.

Nashi nodded her head stiffly, her eyes still wide. Acnologia then stood up and walked over to Natsu, a grin on his face.

"So... you're kids are just like you... karma's a little *input word* isn't she?" Acnologia laughed. In response, Natsu laughed and nearly tackled Acnologia in a bear hug, one which Acnologia happily returned.

He wasn't solid per-see, Natsu could feel some strange force keeping Acnologia as something tangible.

"Are you... are you... still dead?" Natsu asked as he just took the moment to take in his mentor's scent and all of the calming memories it brought.

"Well..." Acnologia responded.

"Yes," a much colder voice snapped as everyone suddenly noticed a fifth figure in the room.

They were a cloaked figure, dressed in dark garb that fell around them like shadows. They had no scent and had they not spoken, Natsu, Nashi, and Riki had a sneaking suspicion that they would never have even noticed the figure was there.

"Ah, there you are," Acnologia recognized, perhaps a bit annoyed as Natsu pulled away from the embrace.

"Who are you?" Natsu demanded of the new cloaked masquerader.

"Ankserham," Riki recognized the figure from folk tales and books, years of research centered around undoing death taught you a few things about the god of it.

That name sent chills up Nastu's spine as even E.N.D recoiled at the thought of that. Ankserham had no face beneath their hood, no hands in the sleeves of their robes, they floated across the floor like some spirit and came to rest before Riki, their hood turned towards Acnologia.

" You are dead. That is irrefutable," Ankserham's voice was otherworldly. It couldn't be tied to a gender or even a language. They merely spoke and were understood, it was eerie and unnerving.

Natsu and Nashi both felt a cold sweat build up on the back of their neck but it was nothing compared to the buckets Riki was sweating.

"Yeah, yeah, I get it. I wasn't trying to pull a Zeref," Acnologia dismissed.

"You are to return to where the dead trod," Ankserham demanded.

"I will when I'm ready," Acnologia snapped fearlessly.

"Do not tempt - "

"What are you gonna do?" Acnologia challenged. "I am the only man capable of keeping Serena quiet for three minutes so unless you plan to hear repeats of musicals for the next eternity, you'll give me five minutes and deal with that bastard while I deal with my kids, is that alright?"

Natsu wouldn't lie, watching Acnologia blatantly challenge the god of death instilled a whole new level of respect for the dragon king.

Ankserham sighed and looked back to Riki, "Do what you will Acnologia, but this cretin is mine to deal with."

There were no words to explain the look of terror that was etched into Riki's face.

"Riki Nelandi, that is your name," Ankserham stated simply as their hood angled down towards the terrified man.

Riki opened his mouth to speak but found no power to even breathe.

"You've attempted to upset the balance of life and death. You've attempted to do the unforgivable and resurrect those rightfully deceased. You've disturbed the dead, upset the living, and caused nothing but strife for the balance. For that... there is but one punishment - " Ankserham raised their sleeve as a gloved hand suddenly appeared before him, pointing towards Riki's figure.

"Hold on, hold on, stop," Acnologia interjected. "If you're saying what I think you're saying, you better just stop."

"Acnologia, I would appreciate if you would not meddle with affairs beyond yourself," Ankserham scolded.

"No, because if you make that little rat immortality and the power to kill everyone you'll remake yourself a little angry Zeref and cause nothing but issues for everyone else!" Acnologia growled.

"Do you know how I find balance?" Ankserham chided. "Do you know the workings of the world or the weight of lives? Do you know the fate of everything under the sky?"

"No, but I know that Zeref was a huge pain in my ass and I would greatly appreciate you not put my brats in jeopardy!" Acnologia objected.

"The world does not revolve around your family, Acnologia," Ankserham reminded the dragon king.

"Maybe not for you," Acnologia scoffed.

"If you do not approve of my judgment, what would you propose instead? For at the moment, cursing this man would result in a permanent lesson he would never forget," Ankserham asked. "Why shouldn't I proceed?"

"Because it's cliche, how about that?" Acnologia smirked.

"Serena definitely taught him that word," Natsu deadpanned.

Nashi swore she heard someone laughing like a hyena but she couldn't tell where it was coming from.

"Think about it," Acnologia elaborated. "You already cursed two people, one for trying to resurrect people and wasting his life and the other for using magic that was beyond her control - "

"Yes, both of which you freed from their curses which still irritates me to no end, so why exactly are you bringing this up?" Anskerham asked.

"You do it a third time and it's boring. We've already proven that curse can be broken - " Acnologia began.

"By very specific circumstances that I find very unlikely to ever be reproduced."

"But it can. You've got to get creative to make people really scared. Be unpredictable," Acnologia smiled cruelly at Riki.

"You take too much enjoyment in other's pain," Ankserham sighed.

"I've been dead for a few years, give me a break," Acnologia defended. "And you're one to talk!"

"So, again, what do you propose? Should I just drain his magic and leave him to overcome that? Or maybe I should just lock him in a time warp and needlessly sacrifice myself to end him? Or maybe I should just obliterate him? You do seem like the expert in extravagant and useless deaths," Ankserham asked coldly.

"Okay, first of all, *input word* you. Second of all, I'm all for the obliterating part. You cursed Zeref for just trying to resurrect people, this man went ahead and actually did it!"

"Lessons are useless if there's no one to teach."

"Shut your eloquent stupid face and just make his life super terrible WITHOUT murdering everyone in a mile radius!" Acnologia threw his hands in the air. "Is that so hard!?"

"For my specialty, yes," Ankserham answered. "I am death, Acnologia. My list of actions to take is only so large."

"Just... make it so the rest of his life is absolutely terrible then. You know, make him stub his toe on every wall, make him trip in public all the time, make sure his dinner always burns, set his house on fire, SOMETHING, ANYTHING OTHER THAN MURDER!" 

Ankserham seemed to consider this for a moment.

"What if," Natsu smiled, snapping his fingers. "What if you did that thing where the person gets as hurt as all of the people they hurt. Ya know... that kind of thing. What's it called... uh, KARMA! Yeah, make him suffer a bunch of karma! So like, if he punched a guy, he gets punched."

Ankserham looked from Acnologia to Natsu, back to Acnologia, realized it was going to suck in the afterlife with these idiots once all the dragon slayers died - made a mental note to make sure Natsu doesn't die soon because dealing with both Acnologia and Natsu was something the god of death wanted to put off at all costs - and then just accepted that this was a losing battle.

"Very well," the god of death accepted, glancing at Riki. "Riki, you've been spared of one curse and given another, congratulations. Every harm you ever inflicted on others will return to you tenfold before your time of death. This will probably teach you nothing but I promise that when you die, it'll be a great relief to you. Now... someone's dying and I must depart."

Ankserham pointed at Acnologia sharply. "You. Return. Don't' daddle in the land of the living or there will be consequences."

"Noted," Acnologia dismissed.

With that, Ankseram suddenly vanished leaving Riki a little paler than before.

"You know, they're actually okay, they just have one of the worst jobs on the planet," Acnologia told Natsu.

"Sure, can I kill him now?" Natsu asked, pointing to Riki who was still shocked by the 'God of Death' experience.

"No... you'll just upset Ankserham," Acnologia sighed. He then looked to Riki. "What are you still doing here? Run, you idiot, before I decide to kill you."

Riki needed nothing more and scrambled out. Acnologia watched him go with a heavy sigh.

"I feel for him, but I also hate his guts," Acnologia sighed.

"I just hate his guts," Nashi muttered.

"HA! Like father like daughter, Natsu you should be proud," Acnologia cackled.

"I am, very," Natsu beamed. "But what about you? You're here you're... alive-ish? What - I mean... you're dead, right? What do we... How have you been?"

"Dead," Acnologia shrugged. "Can't honestly tell you a whole lot... but I've been watching. We've all been watching. There's not much to tell when you're dead but... I can't stay."

Natsu nodded, "Yeah... yeah I figured but - "

"No buts," Acnologia scoffed. He reached over and ruffled Natsu's hair. "I'm not upset to be here, 'cause I get to tell you I'm proud of you and all that mushy stuff, but also that you're doing good... you've done well."

"Really?" Natsu beamed.

"Yeah.... though you've earned yourself like three hundred years in the punishment for those shenanigans you pulled off up North," Acnologia scolded.

Natsu deadpanned as he recalled the situation. "You saw that?"

"I saw all of that," Acnologia smirked.

"Awwww MAN!" Natsu moaned.

"Aww man, indeed," Acnologia murmured warmly. "You tell your brothers that I'm proud of them and that they're doing well too... and that their kids are great too," Acnologia glanced at Nashi and winked.

"Sure... What about Wendy?" Natsu asked.

"Where do you think I'm going?" Acnologia smiled warmly. "I've got a minute before Ankserham gets ticked and I'm gonna use it wisely. I'm gonna be a grandfather... again," with that Acnologia clapped Natsu on the shoulder and vanished, his final words ringing in the cavern like a promise:

"I really am so proud of you all."

Miles and miles away, an exhausted Wendy was smiling at a wailing bundle in her arms when a familiar scent filled her nose.

"They're safe," a familiar voice assured her. "Everyone's safe... "

Wendy looked around but only saw Porlyusica talking to Romeo while Charle and Sherria tried to calm a crying Macao who was wailing something about being a grandfather.

"Papa?" Wendy asked gently, so softly in went unheard by anyone else.

Someone wrapped their arms around her and she smiled.

"I'm proud of you Wendy... I really am."

Wendy felt tears fill her eyes as she clutched her babe closer and smiled.

"And... he's beautiful," Acno's voice chimed warmly pulling Wendy's attention back to her child who's large dark eyes gazed up at something above her, a smile on his lips.

"Thank you... Thank you, Papa," Wendy smiled, tears spilling from her eyes.

(I don't knowwwww. I don't know if it's good! I hope it is but I don't knowwww. I'm sorryyyyyy. And it's so short!!!!! AHHHHHH!

Thanks so much for reading, y'all got like one more chapter of all this so I hope you liked it. I can't help but feel like it might've been anti-climatic. Can't help it I suppose.

Love y'all, have a great day/night, and thanks SO MUCH for reading!!