This story was inspired by a phrase "Just this once, everybody lives" from Doctor Who, and is something I've been trying to wrap my head around for quite a while and there will be another chapter coming sometime soon.

I hope you like it and please review.

After the great Trade war, Fiore had been in peace with all its neighboring counties, and Mavis had preferred for it to be that way.

War with the Alvarez empire had never seemed possible to her.

Until it happened.

Mavis had never expected for Zeref to try to take Fairy Heart with a plan so... grand.

A war.

Mavis despised wars. Hated them with her whole being. And Zeref knew she did. He knew, she was sure he did. There was no other reason he would attack Fiore with an army of over thousands of soldiers.

She knew Zeref wanted her body. It was a lacrima with limitless magic power after all. But, some days, she liked to think, that Zeref wanted it for other reasons. Some days, she even let herself to blush at the images her mind produced.

In the guildhall of Fairy Tail, she shook her head. She was in the middle of the war. There was no time to think of 'what if's.

Glancing at her guild, rather who still were inside of it, Mavis stopped pacing. Makarov caught her eyes, and the weariness and worry he held in them, made Mavis' emotions whirl from regret to love and back to regret.

There must be something she can do. Her plan C, the one she had relied the most on, had been left unused, since Cana had made her way to the battlefield after Mirajane's call.

Mavis clenched her fists.

Her children were in danger, and all she can do is pace around the guildhall thinking of 'what if's. She relaxed her hands.

This war had gone long enough.

And there was only one aside from her who could stop it.

She found him in a ship, sitting alone in front of a map of Magnolia. He was leaning forward, a tiny scowl on his face, a hand running in his hair as the other tapped against his thigh.

Apart from the scowl and slightly different clothing, he looked exactly how Mavis remembered him. Black, oddly shaped hair, black eyes that Mavis had once loved to look at, childish face, yet a look that carries so much sorrow, a lean body and narrow shoulders.

When she took a step forward from her place on the other side of the long table, his head jerked up, like he could sense her. Mavis' lips tugged up. His eyes had widened a fraction in shock, but he never changed to defensive.

"This war must end, Zeref." She spoke with gentle voice, like she had spoke to Makarov and Zera more than once. His black eyes moved from corner to other, as if in search for her.

"Mavis?"

The sound of his voice made her heart clench. It held little to no emotion, but the undertone was hopeful. She hadn't even dared to dream that he would hope to see her. If he did. But well, he had many reasons to wish to see her, to be able to touch her so he could maybe pierce her heart or rip out her organs or just kill without even touching-

"Zeref, retreat your troops and leave my city."

"You're here, right, Mavis. I know you're here."

"You are on the losing side, Zeref. Leave." A lie. As if his troops would be losing. Heck, Fairy Tail might end up losing this war, but Mavis liked to think they were equals.

"I need your help."

Mavis closed her mouth that had been left open at his last comment. He needed her. Her face set into a frown, he never needed anyone.

Zeref waited, looked straight to where Mavis was standing, his eyes looking through her, and it was unsettling for Mavis. She wasn't used to people who knew she was there, exactly where she was standing and where her eyes were, but couldn't see her. Then he sighed and looked back to his map.

Mavis moved forward, around the table to him, took a look of the map, then at his face, his eyes, circled him and took in his clothes. She waved a hand in front of his face, poked his shoulder and went right through and sat on the table, on the edge of the map. Zeref gave no sign he could sense her anymore.

So she left.

Mavis visited him twice the next day, at the morning, when he had just woken up and aside from yawning every now and then, looked just like he had the day before. She sat on the table, across the map he had changed onto a different one, a more detailed, probably newer map that he had made many different markings to several places Mavis never bothered to read. They were old, she had no use for them. She tried talking to him, convincing him to leave, but he was too absorbed in his job to show if he had noticed her. It hurt Mavis, to be honest.

Mavis sat for three hours, just watching him, hoping he could see her so she could have a conversation with him. She needed to have a conversation with him.

She left when his white haired comrade knocked on the door and it creaked open.

The next time she visited was at night, when she knew that without the war, the city would be asleep, aside from maybe a small amount of people who would be partying. It angered Mavis it was her that had taken away the normal life of the people in her city.

Zeref was still awake, although barely. Unlike the two other times, now he had no map. Mavis stayed at the door, watching as he scribbled on a notebook, turned pages and read something, sighed, yawned, rubbed his eyes and squinted before resuming writing.

In the light of the orange fire, he looked so much older than normal.

She didn't want to know what he was doing. Whatever it may be, at this point she didn't care anymore.

Plan A is a failure, she should move on, decide what is the best source of action now.

Yet, she ended up spending the whole night watching as he wrote down details into his notebook.

Mavis needed a plan. She needed something that fulfilled all her needs. No war, no deaths, her death, preferably so that Zeref dies too.

Only thing she can think of is a spell.

A spell. No vaporizing the enemy or turning back the time, she would never be able to accomplish that. Resetting time, possible, depending on how much of it she will reset.

Mavis would have had Cana destroy Fairy Heart and free her body so that she could go on with her plan C, but this is even better. All she needs to do is cast a spell, and everything is peaceful again, no war, no deaths, except hers and Zeref's.

Maybe she can even do it so that she and Zeref will be transported to another country that is away of Fiore and Alvarez and they can live to-

Except Zeref cannot see her and her magic power isn't enough to cast such a spell alone.

Heck, her current magic power isn't capable of anything but a simple, small, amateur illusion. All her power residents in Fairy Heart, and no one will ever let her cast the spell if they knew, no less in the guild, and she has absolutely no way of getting it out herself.

She needs someone that has both enough magic power and is also capable of moving Fairy Heart out of the guild's basement.

Sitting on the nearest table in the guild's library, Mavis set on work, scribbling a very detail lacking spell, but for now, she had something to work on.

She needed Zeref.

Getting Zeref would probably be the biggest problems in her plan. She and Zeref were in no way friends, let alone on the same side.

They were in a war, and Mavis was most likely betraying everyone who was battling against Alvarez empire as she read the spell she had been creating for two days over and over in her mind while thinking of ways to convince Zeref to help her.

Right now, she didn't care. The war has to end, and she is holding the best way on her hands.

Mavis bit her lip.

She didn't have too much time on her hands before the Spriggan Twelve would be in the guild.

She needed Zeref right now.

He stood in front of her, this time really looking into her eyes, this time seeing her. Which was ridiculous because no way would Zeref be able to see her.

Yet there he was, looking into her eyes, watching as she waved a hand in from of him and blinking when she snapped her fingers in front of his eyes.

Mavis huffed, crossed her arms and looked up at him.

"How come you can see me?"

Zeref said nothing as he raised his hands to his chest, delicate fingers working on the fabric of his clothes.

Mavis pursed her lips, watching as he slowly removed first his toga, then his robes, and let her eyes wander when his chest was bare. He had muscles, though she knew that already, it was the first thing she had learned of him.

She swallowed her enraged shout.

On his chest, above his heart, was the mark of Fairy Tail. She ground her teeth together, balled her fists and bit back a growl.

It would have been fine otherwise. A tattoo was removable. But this one. This one had been engraved to his flesh and skin.

It still looked new to Mavis. Two, three days perhaps, it was red around the edges, made with a sharp object with a steady hand, poorly healed, most possibly infected. It would scar, never go away, even upon his death, if he ever died. Even after other four hundred years, he would carry the mark, nevertheless was Fairy Tail still existing or not at that time.

It was on other level of commitment. Mavis knew, that when he was young, three, four hundred years ago, guilds still did that, crave their marks on its members' flesh, so that even if they left, they would never get fully away from the guild, but carry the mark forever with them, bringing shame, or honor, depending on the guild.

"Why?"

Mavis hated the taste of salt that she felt on the tip of her tongue when she spoke. She hated the slight waver, angry or not, in her voice.

"Because I needed to see you."

Mavis hadn't thought he would be able to see her after that. Joining a guild was more than getting its mark on skin. He shouldn't be able to see her. He was, in no way, an official member Fairy Tail had accepted.

She didn't say it, however.

"You didn't need to see me when I came to talk to you after Tenrou."

"I need to now."

Mavis knew he did. Of course he did. Anyone could see that when their arch enemy would engrave someone else's guild mark on their flesh. If it wasn't a joke.

But Zeref didn't joke. He didn't have a sense of humor, not even a bad one.

"Why?"

Zeref smiled sadly.

"There is so much death, but so little is accomplished. I think I have grown bored of this game of ours."

Mavis grit her teeth. "This was never our game, Zeref. This is your cruel game I am forced to watch play, and do my best at stopping it."

"But Mavis," Zeref raised his chin, tilting his head "we have played this game since your death. I sincerely think it was you that was the one who initiated the first move."

Mavis glared at him, poured all the hate she felt for him into the glare, then raised her head, rolled her shoulders and said, "Are you willing to discuss with me about the plans to stop this war?"

It was no surprise to her that Zeref accepted her offer.

He said it himself. He is tired.

"Your objective is to obtain Fairy Heart. And mine is to stop you from doing that." Mavis had never had such a serious conversation with Zeref. She had never wanted to, but now, she had to. It was a matter of pride.

"Neither of us is ready to retreat, so I have an offer to you. Last night, I made a spell. It's nowhere near safe and it maybe won't work, but it is the best I could come up with. To complete and perform it, I will need your help and magic power."

Zeref's brows rose slightly, he didn't ask a thing, let Mavis talk, and of that she was thankful. She wouldn't be able to answer to anything he asked, of that she was certain.

"Majorly, the spell is meant to reset time, but not to turn it back. All in all, if the spell succeeds, the war will have never happened, and no one beside me and you will be able to remember it, if we survive."

She kept a pause, looked at his face and drew in a calming breath. "Now, I have no experience with Time Magic aside from Fairy Sphere, but then I used the members' magic, not mine, and the spell uses up most of your magic power. I trust that you are capable of casting it."

Zeref didn't move, only looked into her eyes with a look that was uncertain, but mostly unconvinced. "Where do you plan on obtaining such a high amount of magic?"

Mavis tensed. The part of the plan she was most uncertain of. It was part of the plan, a big part, but Zeref may not accept it. "To get my hands on a great amount of magic power, I will have to use Fairy Heart as my source. That means, it will be destroyed."

His eyes flashed with something that would have been anger.

"No."

"Zeref, you have to agree, I have thought about this for days, and it's the only way I could think of that we can save everyone."

He looked straight into her eyes, his black ones unwavering. Then he sighed.

"Look, Mavis," Zeref said, annoyance creeping into his voice, only a bit, but still detectable, "I trust in your plan,if it works exactly like it should, great. But the problem here is that it might not kill me, but it will kill you."

Mavis refused to say that she was already dead. He knew it, just forgot. That she had been dead for over eighty years and still hadn't moved on. His love for her wouldn't change anything, no matter how much she wished for it.

"Are you afraid of death, Zeref?"

He froze mid motion in wiping hair from his eyes. Then he chuckled dryly, turning guilty eyes to see her.

"Perhaps I am." He whispered.

Mavis bit back he cruel words. Zeref had taken away her chance to become an adult, he had taken away her possibility to see her guild grow up, to start a family, to love anyone else beside him, and oh, how she till despised him for it.

Yet, her heart broke every day on the behalf of the man who she had named her enemy. And she knew, that still, somewhere in her heart, afraid to be freed, she cared for him more than Fairy Tail.

"Then you will live." She said. He will, she would make sure of that.

"But then you will die."

Mavis pursed her lips. "That is not the problem here. I already am dead. Destroying my body, would only mean I can finally die properly."

Zeref looked at her into eyes, and she swore he was sad. The thought brought tears to her eyes. "But then what reason do I have to stay alive, if you're not there?"

And Mavis let the tears fall free.