Ok, so before we start, I have not read the manga, but I do know that Natsu and Zeref are siblings. So this is just something that kinda popped into to my head. I hope you enjoy it! Not really sure when this is happening but let's say it's before Tartaros.
Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.
'That fucking hurt.' Were the collective thoughts of Gray, Lucy, Gajeel and Erza as they slowly woke up. They'd been fighting a group of dark wizards who'd managed to kidnap Natsu who hadn't been feeling all that great for a while thanks to some strange illness that not even Porlyusica could identify. They'd found The dark guild trying to perform some kind of strange ritual on Natsu. They couldn't understand what they were saying since it was in some different language, but it had seemed to have something to do with Zeref, since the mages had kept repeating his name. Whatever it was it hadn't mattered, the only thing that mattered was getting their friend away from these freaks.
They defeated all of them and stopped the ritual but when Gajeel and Erza had gone to check on Natsu a bright light had burst from him, and what looked like some kind of mind lacrima above him, and knocked them all out.
They were now in some kind of clearing in a forest.
"Gray, Gajeel, Lucy, are you all alright?" Erza asked calmly with a hint a concern in her voice.
"Ya, I'm fine." Gajeel grunted as he stood up along with Erza.
"Same here." Lucy said as she dusted herself off.
"Yup. Though what the hell was that, and while I'm at it, where are we? We weren't anywhere near a forest, I mean the dark guild was up in the mountains for pete's sake." Gray said, confusion colouring his tone.
"Hey are you people alright? We saw this huge flash of light and we're wondering what happened?" Called a young black haired boy as he came running out of the woods with another smaller child behind him. The boy couldn't have been much older than thirteen or fifteen, and he had soft black hair, big black eyes and pale skin. He was dressed in a white shirt with black trims and a white toga that ended just below his knees, brown sandals covering his feet and protecting them from the stones scattered on the ground. Something seemed eerily familiar about him though. The Fairy Tail wizards hadn't gotten a good look a the other boy as he'd hidden behind the older teen as soon as they'd stopped. Aside from that the boy's seemed innocent enough.
"Yes, don't worry. We're quite alright. Just a slight mishap with some magic. I'm afraid we don't quite know where we are though." Erza told the teen kindly.
"Oh you guys are in Firebird Forest. Where were you before?" The black haired teen said with a curious tone of voice.
"We were in the northern mountains trying to help a friend of ours. We must have tripped some kind of trap though." Gray answered slightly frustrated, though he wasn't too worried. They'd defeated all the dark mages and Wendy, Happy, Carla and Pantherlily along with the rest of the guild would be there to see too Natsu soon enough.
"Wow, you guys are a long way away. I've never heard of transportation spells that can travel that far and I've studied all kinds of magic. Is this some kind of new spell." The teen said his eyes alight with bright excited curiosity. Which while endearing, didn't make much sense as long range teleportation has been a magic practiced in Fiore for at least two hundred years.
"Uhmmm, I'm sorry, but I think the trip may have scrambled my head a little, do either of you happen to know what today's date is?" Lucy asked a little nervously, her mind had already come up with an explanation, she just really hopped she was wrong.
"Oh sure it's July 1st of xxx." The teen replied easily.
They couldn't believe it, they were over 400 hundred years in the past! This was bad.
"Oh, uh, thanks. Umm, my name's Lucy by the way. And these are my friends, Gray, Gajeel and Erza." Lucy said as she gestured to each of her guildmates. Maybe these kids could help them in some way.
"Hi! I'm Zeref Dragneel, and this little guy's my brother Natsu." The teen chirped happily as he pointed to himself and then to the small boy hiding behind him. Though at the mention of his name the boy poked his head out from behind his brother and too the mages shock, the child looked just like Natsu. He looked to be not much older than eight and was dressed in the same kind of clothes as his brother, only with red trims instead of black.
They were in Natsu's past! It was the only explanation. Except even that didn't totally make sense since what was he doing four hundred years in the past and why was teenage Zeref, as in the darkest evilest mage to ever walk the earth, calling him brother! Nevermind why he was acting all shy and had yet to say a word.
After staring at them a moment, Natsu decided to duck back behind his brother to the older boys mild exasperation.
"Don't mind him too much, he's a bit shy, but he'll warm up to you don't worry. Hey, Natsu? Do you want to come out and say hi to the nice people?" Zeref asked with a kind and gentle tone that none of the mages thought the man would've ever been capable of. And after a moment a head of salmon pink hair popped out slightly and waved a bit at them before hiding again. It was somehow the cutest thing any of them had ever seen.
"Ah well, uh… so if you guys don't have anywhere to stay you can come with Natsu and me. Right now he have our camp set up in the woods, but we're planning on leaving soon. We were thinking of heading North so you guys can join if you want, at least for a little while." Zeref invited with a kind smile on his face and not hint of malice anywhere.
This wasn't just Natsu's past, this was Zeref's too. Their childhood, when they were still innocent.
"Uh, yes, thank you. We'd love to go with you. It's very kind of you to offer." Erza managed to get out after getting over her shock.
"Sure just follow me." Zeref said as he started to walk toward the forest Natsu following just a couple steps behind.
The other four just looked at each other before shrugging. They didn't know what was going on or why and they didn't have anything better to do, so they followed the brothers into the forest.
The walked through the lush forest for several minutes before arriving at another, much smaller, clearing. There was a tent set up and a fire pit with some wood stacked next to it. It was quite obviously the boys camp ground.
"Well, camp sweet camp. Feel free to take a seat while I start a fire. We have plenty of food so don't worry about anything." Zeref said as he and his brother moved into the clearing and started to get things ready for dinner.
Zeref went about lighting a fire as Natsu ran over to a satchel and pulled out some stuff to make dinner.
"Hmm, we're going to need a couple more tents." Zeref remarked as he looked over at their single small tent, just big enough to fit the two boys. "Ah, well. I'll fix that in a sec." He said as he stood up facing the tent.
He then held out his hand as a black and blue magic circle appeared in front of him. "Mirror magic: replicate!" He called out as a light glowed from the magic circle. It lasted only a second before it died down revealing two more tents identical to the first. "There we go. Now if it rains you guys'll have shelter. Isn't that great Natsu!" Zeref called out cheerily to the younger boy, who was now sitting by the fire with a fish roasting over it, he simply looked over and nodded before returning to staring at the flames. None of the Fairies missed the disheartened look on Zeref's face. Evil mage or not, in this instance he was a child and a very kind one at that.
"Uh, I hope you don't mind me asking, but where are your parents?" Lucy asked as she looked around the clearing and found no other signs of anyone living here aside from the two boys.
"They were killed during one the dragon battles a year ago." Zeref explained quietly, a forlorn look on his face and grief swirling in his eyes.
"The war has made even the safest of havens dangerous if you stay too long, that's why Natsu and I are traveling. We need to keep ahead of the war. We are going to survive it." He continued, ending it with whispered words full of conviction and determination.
"Ah! Sorry, you probably don't want to hear about all of that though. Sorry it's just that we've been out here for a while and not many people come threw here so I haven't really had anyone to talk to for a while." Zeref said with a sheepish smile after realising what he'd just said.
"Oh no, it's fine. I promise." Lucy said with a bright friendly smile. Lucy remembered reading something about a war between the dragons happening around four hundred years ago.
"Well why didn't you just talk to your brother if you wanted to talk about something?" Gray asked a second later. After all, it was a Universally Known Fact that Natsu was a loud mouth who had a tendency to talk a mile per minute.
"Natsu doesn't really talk much anymore. He was there when our parents died and saw the whole thing, since then he hasn't said a word or even used any of his magic." Zeref explained as he moved to make sure the tents were stable. Though they could all see his worry for his brother in his eyes.
"Why don't you go join him by the fire, I'll be there in a sec, I just want to make sure these tents came out ok and won't fly off with the wind." Zeref told them with another sweet grin, though this one looked just a bit forced.
The four mages nodded and sat around the fire with the pink haired boy. It was so strange seeing Natsu like this, so small and quite and still and of course, without his trademark scarf. He just kept staring at the fire, it was almost unnerving.
"So uhm Natsu, do you like fire?" Lucy asked sweetly, hoping to be able to talk with the younger version of her best friend. She'd always wondered what he was like when he was a kid.
Natsu simply shook his head no. Which surprised them, because how could Natsu not like fire?
"Natsu, would you mind telling us why you don't like fire?" Erza asked gently.
Natsu looked up at them for a moment before reaching over to the pile of kindling next to him and pulling out a branch, a piece of birch bark and hand full of leaves before tossing them into the fire and watching as they combusted and burned up in the flames. He looked back up at them with a meaningful look in his eyes, as if they were supposed to understand what that had meant.
"That's just his way of saying that he hates fire cause it destroys everything it touches. He's believed that ever since the fire dragons that attacked our village killed our parents and destroyed everything. I've been trying to tell him otherwise, that his magic isn't only meant for destruction and can be used for all kinds of things, but he doesn't really listen to me. Do ya, ya little demon!" Zeref said as he plopped down next to his brother ruffling the boys head. Natsu on the other hand just glared at him before sticking his tongue out, curling up into a ball and hiding his face.
"Aww, come on! Don't be like that!" Zeref groaned in exasperation.
"So Natsu. You use fire magic right?" Gray asked, curious to see if this Natsu knows dragon slayer magic already.
Natsu poked his head out from his knees and gave a quick nod before hiding his face again. Zeref sighed slightly in desperation.
"Yes, he learned it from our mother. She was one of the finest fire mages around. Maybe you've heard of her, before she was married she was known as Phoenix Homura?" Zeref asked calmly.
Of course they'd heard of Phoenix Homura, she was one of the greatest wizards to ever live and a major pioneer in fire magic. "Uh, yeah I think I've heard the name before." Gray said simply, still mildly shocked that that was who Natsu's mother was.
"I'm like our dad though, he was a magic researcher and didn't specialise in any type of magic. Instead he knew how to use a bit of every kind magic he could get his hands on. When I asked him about it he immediately started teaching everything I'd need to know. That's how I knew how to create the new tents for you guys." Zeref told them with a small wistful smile as turned the fish to make sure it was well cooked.
"It sounds like your parents were amazing people." Erza said with a gentle smile on her face. It was clear to all of them that the brothers missed their parents.
"Ya they were. But now it's just me and pinky here. We know what it's like to suddenly find yourself in a situation where you have next to nothing and no idea what to do, that's why we're helping you guys! After all, solving problems is always easier when you're not alone!" Zeref told them, his bright smile once again making an appearance. Natsu's head popped up for a moment to give a quick nod to show he agreed with his brother before hiding again.
The Fairy Tail mages all smiled a bit at the two brothers. All weirdness aside, and who these boys very well might be as well, these boys were honestly kind and just looking to help others out.
Though, it made the older mages wonder, had anyone been to help the brothers out in their time of need?
Ok imma end it there. Not sure where I'm going with this, but it's something and I have a couple neat ideas. Now yes I know Natsu is incredibly out of character, but take note, he is an eight year old child who watched his parents be brutally murdered by dragons who breathed fire. I think he's allowed to be a bit traumatised. Also, yes, I am going to do my best to make Zeref seem like the greatest big brother in the world. Fight me. Let me know what you think in the reviews.
MotherfuckingDamianWayne over and out.