A/N: Zeref is by far my favorite character. He's so interesting. He's a mystery when he's introduced and the more we learn about him, the more confusing he gets, the more questions pop up. He's complicated and his motives seem to contradict, which matches his curse.

Published: 12/29/2017

Warnings: Spoilers for the end of Fairy Tail

A Better World

The world was cruel.

The Gods were crueler.

A small part of Zeref realized that he had brought this upon himself. He could admit to that. He could accept it. He had sinned grievously and had been punished accordingly for his transgressions.

Of course, punishment had meant a single thing to him. Perhaps he had gotten the entirely wrong message from the whole ordeal, and he suspected he had, but the one conclusion Zeref had drawn from his curse had been this: He no longer had anything else to lose, so what did it matter how much farther he walked down his chosen path? Nothing to lose, nothing to matter, actions only.

Which was why Zeref didn't bat an eyelash at the sea of corpses that surrounded him. What did it matter who had to be sacrificed, as long as Natsu lived again?

Of course, the world could not be fair to him. Not in the slightest. Even as Zeref held his baby brother, alive and living and breathing and his, he felt it. A pulse that echoed across the entire planet, a wave of magical energy beating across continents.

Chaos. The Destroyer. Abomination.

Everything Zeref loved died. That was his curse. One that crawls into your head and twists everything you love and hold, everything you think and feel, upside down upon itself into all that's left is a messy clusterfuck of confusion that leaves your head hurting. A curse of contradiction that had made Zeref Dragneel, in an age of dragons ravaging the land, the most feared Dark Mage in history.

This, however…

Zeref glanced up, a feeling of dread shooting through him. This power. This great and terrible power. He recognized it. Twisted, just like Zeref's own magic, but worse. The Gods, Zeref realized, were cruel indeed.

"Attempt to defy death," Zeref spoke, "and become the reaper."

Natsu looked up at him. Eyes blank, still disoriented from his rebirth, there was such confusion in there. Wonder. Curiosity. But mostly, from what Zeref could tell, a great need to take a nap.

"Attempt to slay dragons," Zeref continued, "and become their king."

Acnologia. Zeref could feel it. Every mage across the planet could feel it, but Zeref? He knew what they did not know, what they could not know.

"Destroyer. Bringer of the Apocalypse…" Zeref muttered to himself.

The end. The very end. A creature of utter annihilation. This world would be brought to its end. Zeref knew. He could feel it. With a scoff, Zeref turned away from the presence.

The world had rejected him. Why, then, should Zeref care for the the world?

Natsu cooed, curled up against his big brother's chest, and promptly began to snore away. Zeref stared. Eyes blinking slowly, Zeref let them shut as he pondered.

Then, with resolution, the Dark Mage nodded firmly to himself. Eyes snapping open, he smiled down at his brother's sleeping form. Zeref patted Natsu's head.

"A better world. I will make you… a better word, brother of mine. That's a promise."

Anna Heartfillia was surprisingly in agreement.

The dragons, too, had accepted Zeref's plan. It grated him to rely on such beasts, but Zeref understood the intricacies of magic better than most.

Zeref could kill a god. He had been granted that a power by a god, in the mother of all ironies, for his defiance, for his arrogance, for his pride and for his sins. Pride that was rightly placed, Zeref concluded, considering he'd succeeded in his goal, but details.

However, Zeref understood.

These seven children… They were hope for the future. Without them, the world was lost. For only a dragon slayer could kill a dragon, just as only a god slayer could bring down a god.

Zeref felt it.

Closer.

It had sensed them.

The Abomination, coming here.

Anna seemed to have realized it as well. Startled eyes shot up. Zeref met her gaze, his own determined.

"Go," he commanded, gesturing to the now complete Eclipse Gate.

Anna flinched back at the proclamation. Sweet, ever sweet, Anna. "But, Zeref-"

"He can't kill me, Anna. I'll hold him off. Just take the children and go!" Zeref snapped, before spinning around.

There.

In the distance.

Powerful winds beating in the sky, malevolence given physical form. The Apocalypse bad found them. How was beyond Zeref. Why if wanted to stop them was also beyond him, but he was certain some god somewhere was laughing at him. They always did.

Instinct, most likely, was what drew Acnologia to this place, when he thought of it. That dragon seemed to have a crazed precognitive sense, a heightened intuition that alerted it to any dangers posed to it.

Either way, if Zeref didn't hold the monster back, all would be lost to them. There really wasn't a choice in the matter, now was there? Anna had always been the optimist, but Zeref knew better. The world was just as cruel and twisted as its makers.

"Nii-San…" a little hand tugged at his sleeve. Zeref glanced down. Natsu, eyes wide with fright, looked up at him. Bangs covering his little face, the child quivered in fear. Zeref felt his blood boil. Nothing should ever make Natsu afraid. Not his Natsu. "You're coming too, right, nii-san?"

Zeref smiled. He knelt down and enveloped his little brother in a hug. He could feel Natsu relax into it, tension leaving him.

"Of course, little brother. I'll be along shortly. I promise." Zeref lied.

Lies, lies, lies.

Natsu believed him. He smiled, nodded, then ran off towards Anna when Zeref gently nudged him towards her. Zeref looked up and met her gaze.

Sweet, beautiful, strong, faithful, foolish Anna.

Despite all he had done, all he had become, all the horrors Zeref had unleashed upon the word and all the sins he had committed, Anna had never waivered.

Zeref had never understood this woman. He realized long ago that he probably never would.

She was a fool.

He loved her.

So, he hated her.

And that was his curse.

She was the sister he'd never had. He would always be grateful to her, especially here and now.

Anna, sweet Anna, helping the Dark Mage save the world. Oh, the irony.

"Go." Zeref commanded once more.

She stood silent. Then, sigh one last fear filled glance at Acnologia's advancing from, Anna gave a single tense nod. There were no words. Between them, they needed no such things. They both understood, even though they couldn't say it.

This was goodbye.

Zeref stood, turned, and began to match his way forward, ignoring the fight that broke out behind him when Gajeel insisted Natsu was a little momma's boy for clinging to Zeref.

Eyes glowing red, Zeref snarled.

Hours.

Their battle had lasted hours.

Two immortals, ripping at one another as they tore the landscape around them to pieces. They had rearranged the land around them in a brutal displace of the true power of magic. Their duel would go down in the history books.

Or, as Zeref would later learn, some idiot started a rumor that Zeref had transformed a poor innocent soul into a dragon before promptly losing control of his own creation.

Right. Because that was logical. (Years later, as Zeref laid broken at Natsu's feet, he couldn't help but chuckle at yet another irony life seemed to had tossed at him)

Regardless, when all was said and down, it was Zeref that remained standing even as heavy pants escaped his lips. Eyes fixed on the great sphere of magical energy that held his foe, Zeref allowed himself a small smile. There, trapped within its confines, was Acnologia. Zeref would make sure it held for centuries until the time came. He was a patient man. Patient, and utterly determined.

Now, it was time to wait. Wait for Natsu. He had a promise to keep. A better world, a world that Zeref was determined to create, for better or worse.

Zeref had always known the Gods were cruel. He simply hadn't understood the extent of their maliciousness. He should have known better.

Zeref roared at the heavens. He roared his grief. His pain. His agony. He roared and felt his magic pulse beneath his skin, tingling, begging to be let loose, to be set free.

He surrendered to it.

It was over in moments. There was nothing left. And, there shouldn't be, Zeref realized.

Why should anything live when she could not? Why should anyone be happy, why should anyone smile and laugh and play and live when she would never do the same ever again?

As Zeref held Mavis in his arms, he understood.

The Gods were monsters. They had taken all from him. So, he in turn would rip all away from them.

In retrospect, things had not gone according to plan. In retrospect, nothing ever really does.

Natsu hadn't understood. He hadn't understood and had fought him with all he had. Had fought against him and Zeref's plans. Had fought against him. Killed him. An immortal, slayed by his own kin.

His Natsu had cut him down. His brother, kind and loving and smiling, had ripped into him. Zeref suppose it was his fault. He had brought his brother back, yes. But as a human? Even Zeref hadn't been able to do that. So, he had bonded his brother's soul to a demon of his creation, and the result had nearly killed him.

Why didn't he understand?

Zeref would have made the world anew, the way he wanted it, the way it should have been, the way it always should have been. A better tomorrow. A better reality. One of his making, with no Gods and their twisted machinations.

Natsu, unfortunately, hadn't seen it that way.

Zeref felt her before he saw her. Eyes flickering up, his gaze met hers.

Beautiful Mavis. His Mavis. His heart. His Fairy.

She knelt down next to him, eyes shimmering with tears.

"I… was going to remake it all. A world for you and for me and for them. A better one, for everyone."

Zeref was pleading.

He wanted her to understand. Needed her to understand. Natsu had not, but Mavis… Zeref could not bare her scorn as well. He just couldn't. Not her too. Please, not her too.

Mavis frowned. Zeref felt ice encasing his heart, creeping ever slowly through his veins. "It wouldn't have been real, Zeref." She admonished.

There. There it was. Just like him. Just like Natsu.

Zeref growled.

"I would have made it real!" He shouted passionately. "A better reality, a better life, a-"

Mavis silenced him with a finger at his lips. Zeref frowned, gazing up at her.

"This is reality, Zeref, and the one we belong to. Any world you would make… would be an imitation. We aren't gods. We don't shape the world, we live in it." Mavis told him.

Not… Gods…

Zeref tossed his head back and laughed. Not Gods. He supposed the old saying was true. He had hated them with such a passion, but, in the end, he had eventually become them. Just as twisted and cruel as they were.

Gods… Ha!

"We've made a better world already," Mavis continued, "it may not have been the been you wanted, but it's the one we have."

"A better world, huh?" Zeref repeated. A bittersweet smile played on his lips. "I kept my promise after all, then."

She met his smile with one of her own. Radiant and shining and full of love. They both felt it. The love that tied them to one another, despite his sins, his soul to hers. Light to the darkness. As she lay next to him, he drew her into his arms. With a final sigh of contentment, the Dark Mage closed his eyes and knew no more.