Disclaimer: I do not own Fairytail.
Dreams were delusions that held no basis in reality. They were created when one was asleep or wishing to escape reality. They were nothing. Reality was real, and it was what made the world what it was. Reality could be alluded for some time, but in the end, reality was where everything real dwelled. And that was why he stayed. Because he had something real, something concrete. If he didn't then he might've floated away a long time ago. He'd always known that reality was permanent, but he hadn't been prepared for what that actually meant.
He had a family. A wonderful family. A family that loved each other to the point where they would do anything to help out, anything at all. He had a mother, who had a quick temper, but always kept it in check when talking to him. He had a father who was calm and collected, and he was not angered often, but when he was, he could be rather terrifying. And he had a brother. A little ray of sunshine, a goofball in every way and so very cute. This, he thought, was why reality was worth living in.
"Nii-chan," his brother called bounding up to him. He had wild pink hair and big cute onyx eyes. He bent down to his younger brother's level, a small smile on his face.
"What is it?" he asked. The child grinned and wrapped his tiny arms around his elder brother's neck.
"I have something to tell you." He said it as if that was the greatest accomplishment in the world.
"Well, don't leave me hanging."
The younger brother remained silent, simply staring into his brother's eyes for a long while, his face suddenly turning very serious. After a few minutes passed the child said,
"I love you." And his face broke out into a contagious smile again as he rested his head on his elder brother's shoulder. The elder brother laughed and said teasingly,
"Don't scare me like that!" he scolded his brother. "I thought for a moment it was bad!" the child giggled at that, thinking it funny he'd made his brother exasperated.
"I'm sorry." He said as his elder brother carried him to his bedroom. It was late, and their parents had yet to return from the wizarding job they'd went on a few days ago. "Nii-chan, are mommy and daddy okay?"
The elder frowned and said, "Not to worry. You know mother and father are very busy, and you know it can take a week or two for them to finish a job."
"Yeah but…"
"But what?"
"I don't know." The younger boy confessed. "I mean, I just… this feels different and I don't know how to explain this feeling, but I'm worried!" his elder brother stared at him before a small smile crossed his features.
"Listen, what you're explaining is intuition and it's unnecessary. Mom and dad are going to make it home just fine, you'll see." The younger brother frowned and snuggled deeper under the covers as if the warmth would help comfort him.
"You think?" the elder nodded and said,
"I do."
"Well, alright."
And within a few minutes the young child was fast asleep.
Both brothers had opposite personalities and as they grew older, they had different out-looks on life as well. The elder was rather quiet and reserved. He spent all his time with his nose in a book, pondering the ways of the universe. He never shouted, he never initiated a conversation, and he didn't have any friends. Unless his brother counted.
The younger, on the other hand, was passionate and quick to anger. He was brash and loud, and he spent all his time outdoors roughing it with all the other boys his age, playing in the mud, and shirking responsibilities. He always shouted, always initiated conversation, and he was friends with everyone he talked to, including his brother.
The younger was a ray of sunshine and he lived in the moment. He never wondered too much about his actions and he was always smiling big, open smiles. He believed that all through his life he would always live and die in the moment, never wondering what came before, or what came after. He lived in reality, knew that this world was where he belonged, knew that this was where real things were, and wanted to have them, and wanted to keep them.
The elder however, wondered about everything. His smiles were rare and small, shy, quiet, much like his personality. He believed that everything happened for a reason, and he wanted to exploit those reasons. He had thought about what came before a few times, but mostly, he wondered about what came after life. He lived in dreams. Always wondering about how things could've been, always.
The younger was the day, the elder night. They were so different, acted so different, and looked so different, that no one believed they could be brothers. But, despite these differences they loved each other to the ends of the earth. They would do anything for the other and could be seen together often.
There was only one difference that mattered. The one that drove them apart in the end. One lived in reality, the other didn't live at all.
Their parents died on that mission, and they were left alone to fend for themselves. But both made the best of the situation and tried to get by, paying the bills, and buying the food.
They grew up together, every day. Until that day. "Get your head out of the clouds!" the younger growled and grabbed his brother by the collar. "Don't you understand that their gone? Don't you understand that we have to move on! Don't you understand that you can't live in some fantasy where everything's better!"
"I don't understand."
"How can you not! I get that your sad, and I get that dreams are nice and your way of coping! I get that! But dreams are dreams! And we have to wake up. YOU have to wake up! This is reality, and sometimes, it's harsh and cruel and unforgiving. That's why dreams exist. So, we can process before we have to come back to the real world. I've let you process! I've let you hole up in your little study closet for days! It's time to join the world of the living!" he cried. "Come back… I love you."
"And I love you." The elder replied.
"Then come back to me." The elder did not reply to that and gently grabbed his brother's fingers.
His last words to his brother as he pushed those hands off were, "I'm sorry."
Neither brother had spoken or seen the other ever since. At least, not alive. The younger brother had died many centuries ago. Everything moved on, but one still remembered, one had not forgotten. While everything moved, he stayed still, stuck in a dream of a life once happy. Reality wasn't worth his time.
He dreamed often, he lived in a fantasy, not a happy one though. Four-hundred years later he still meant those words he had spoken to his brother. He still remembered. Dreams held no basis in reality. Reality was harsh and cruel, cold and unforgiving. That's why he chose to dream. "My dear brother." The elder said quietly, standing next to his brother's grave. He tilted his head staring at the slab of concrete. This piece of rock signified his brother's death. How meaningless. "I love you. I still do, even after four centuries… I know you think that I miss out, because you think I live in a dream. I came to tell you what I've wanted to for a very long time. You're wrong. Not about the part where I don't live in reality, but the part about me missing out. Your death, solitude, eternal life, contradiction, pain, sorrow, regret, that is what this reality gives me. In my dreams anything I want can happen. Everything holds promise, everything will get better." He bit his lip and looked up at the bleak sky. "You aren't here anymore. You were the only thing that made me consider returning to reality. Now that you're gone, I see that I was right, as I usually am." He clenched his fists, feeling tears come to his eyes and he shook his head. "But I dream no more. For the things I see are dreams no longer. You said long ago that dreams were not real, that you had to wake up. At least you were right about one thing. So that's why I've decided that my dreams will be dreams no longer. I've decided to make my dreams a reality. The first involves you. I will bring you back, my dear, dear brother. And we shall live a life that's worth all this pain and suffering. I will do it, no matter how long it takes. That's a promise."
That promise was fulfilled a few months later, nearly four centuries after his younger brother's death. And now he was hugging him again, his brother breathing, alive in his arms. "You're alive." He whispered.
His younger brother lifted his head to stare at him, eyes looking blank and tired. "Are you here?" he whispered quietly.
"Of course, I'm here. I'm holding you in my arms!" the elder cried.
"Do you live in reality once more? Have you accepted what has happened?"
"No." the elder whispered. "I have not accepted it at all. I have sold my soul and given my happiness, so you may breathe once more. And together we shall make a new world. A world where dreams are reality."
He could not accept the disbelief that flashed in his brother's eyes. "What are you talking about, nii-chan? We're human! We can't make a new world!"
"Yes, we can, and we will." The elder whispered. "I will tear this world down and build it back up into something new. This world will allow any wish to come true. No one will ever have to be unhappy again."
"Nii-chan…" the younger trailed off, slowly pulling away from his brother. "That's not possible. There will always be unhappy people. You have to realize when some dreams won't come true and move on with your life."
"Are you still going on about reality? Why? Why do that when we can live a life of dreams?"
"I'm sorry…" the younger said. "You know that I shouldn't be alive! You know it defies all laws of nature! You know that this is wrong! What happened to you? You were always the more sensible between the two of us, always the one who would drag me out of crazy ideas! Well, now it's my turn to drag you out. This new world of yours is a crazy idea! You can't do it, you could die."
"I believe that I would find that rather amusing." The elder said, his eyes twinkling with mirth. "You don't think I could bring you back and go unpunished, do you? No, the gods cursed me. I now bear the curse of contradiction."
"Curse… of contradiction? He asked.
"Yes. I have gained immortality and shall never die no matter what." The younger bit his lip and said,
"There's more isn't there?"
"… The more I love something… the quicker I steal its' life." the younger brother took a few steps back, frowning. "Even now, I'm afraid I see you as nothing more than a means to reach my goal. My goal of creating a new world… my goal to die."
"To… to die?" the younger asked. "You're wrong. I won't kill you, no matter how furious you make me."
"It's been written on the paper. It is your sole purpose to kill me and when the time is right, I shall release your true form and you will kill me."
"Who are you?" the younger asked.
"I am who I've always been dear brother." He looked to the sky. "A dreamer. A dreamer of a better world, a world where everyone is happy."
"No… you're not who you were. If you were my elder brother, then you wouldn't have brought me back. You would've moved on with your life, you would've loved me, you would've been able to see the importance of reality."
"The only reason why people live in reality instead of in dreams is because they're afraid that they won't live a full life. But for I, me who lives forever, that is not a worry. I can dream however long I want. These are my ideals. This is my life, MY reality. And if you don't wish to be apart of it, you don't have to. But know this, when it is time, I will call you. You will come, and I will die, so you will die. And when that day comes, we will be forever joined in death. For you will be my end."
"I am your brother! I have been your brother, and I will always be your brother! No matter how sick and twisted you become! I will find a way to fight whatever it is that makes me become someone that is not who I am! Even if it's you."
"No, you will not." The elder reached out and grabbed his brother tightly. "For your memories will be removed, you will have all but one memory of me removed for this memory is something you need to remember always, no matter the plans I have for you."
"I am a human being! You can't just use me like some tool!"
"You are a tool, my greatest creation, for you are no longer human." The elder told him. "Your new name is E.N.D. And your name will be my death."
"So, you mean I'm going to be some heartless monster!"
"No, my brother. You shall not be a monster until I need you to be one. For now, you are simply mortal. A mortal with a deep understanding for fire magic."
The younger brother started struggling again. "Stop! Don't! Those are my memories and you have no right to mess with them!" the younger cried.
"But I have every right. You see, you only live and breathe because of me. You owe me your life, and that is reality."
The younger's memories were removed and the elder had no choice but to leave him in the forest. There was no other way. He knew he couldn't be around his brother much longer in case his curse decided that it would be fun to take another life away.
The elder lived his life in solitude. The elder turned out to be the definition of evil. He turned into a monster everyone feared. He turned out to be the greatest, most powerful wizard in the world. he was the ruler of a nation. He was Spriggan. He was the cursed boy. He was the Black Wizard. He was Zeref.
The younger had been saved by a dragon. He grew up to do heroic things. He joined a guild and became a popular figure of society. He was reckless, and an idiot, but he was also extremely lovable and courageous. He was an orphan. He remembered nothing but one thing from his past. "I'm sorry." He heard a voice saying. He was E.N.D, a demon made to kill his brother. He was Salamander. Fairytail's one of a kind dragon slayer. He was Natsu.
Both brothers lived apart from each other. One not knowing the other existed, the other waiting for the opportune moment to introduce himself again.
On Tenrou island Zeref heard a voice behind him, melding with the trees in the distance. It was a voice that Zeref recognized almost immediately. "Natsu." He whispered, looking up.
Through the trees a person stumbled through the underbrush. A boy with light pink hair and golden skin emerged. When the man regained his bearings, he turned to look at Zeref, who remained silent. "Um… how are you?" he asked.
"I've been waiting for a long time to see you again."
"… What?" Natsu asked, looking confused. Zeref only smiled softly and stood up, his eyes never leaving Natsu's.
"You're not ready yet. I can tell, but you will be." He whispered. "I know you don't understand yet, but you will, I promise you that."
"Would you stop spouting nonsense! What're you doing on our island!" Natsu cried, raising his fists as if preparing for a fight. Zeref chuckled lightly and said,
"I've been here for many years, you just have never noticed. I know that you don't know who I am, but everything will become clear soon, I promise you that as well. You will know who you are. You will know why you're here. And you will know what your purpose in this world is."
"Get off this island immediately! This place is only for those bearing our guild mark, and I've never seen you before!"
"I know that you have no recollection of my name." Zeref said. "You know not who I am, but you know that we are connected, and you are right. I keep my promises, Natsu, you should know that better than anyone." But of course, he didn't because Zeref had wiped his memory a long time ago. Natsu only looked confused, his fists still raised.
Zeref made his dreams reality to the point where the two were fused together. What Natsu didn't understand was that Zeref was no dreamer. He saw what he wanted, and he made it real. Without dreams reality would have no definition. It was the same either way, no matter how you looked at it. Zeref had heard time and time again that dreams were for sleeping. But Zeref thought that, in the end, it didn't matter. Whether what he did was real or not, it only mattered that he would make it real. He would always do the impossible, he would always do everything to the best of his abilities. Because Zeref wasn't just the Black Wizard. He had a life. He had a reality. He had a story. One that had been lost long ago. But he would bring it to light. And the tale of the elder brother who loved his younger brother so much he brought him back from death was a story made of dreams, but really, to Zeref, that was the only part of it that felt real.
Love was real. He no longer felt it. He was on the edge between dream and reality. He was fake. "I know you don't believe me." He told his brother sadly. "But even so, I will say this because it's real…" The only thing he'd felt for four centuries. The thing he promised he'd tell his brother as soon as he saw him again. The only thing that Zeref knew was not contradiction. The only two words he'd meant in centuries.
On the battlefield, facing Natsu in their final battle, their final crossing, their final encounter, Zeref said it one last time, "I'm sorry."
A/N I came up with this oneshot in a burst of inspiration, late at night after reading a bunch of Zeref fics. Thank you for reading, reviews and constructive criticism is appreciated. If you see mistakes, or something didn't make sense, feel free to review or pm me. I will fix it right away!