It was cold, quiet and a bit depressing at the place where I currently was, though if you ask me I have no idea where I am. The place was…how do I put it? Blank? Void? Unoccupied? Basically every word that meant that there was nothing around me could be a good description of the place except for a dark green light. As I walked around, I realized my whole body felt numb. I couldn't even feel my own weight touch the ground as I walked. What was this feeling? Where am I? Am I dead?

The place had a dim lighting. It was almost hard to see anything at all but at the corner of my eye, I spotted a figure of a person. I turned and squinted my eyes, trying to see a better image of the person, but the place's lighting didn't exactly help so I tried to approach the person myself. Every step I made felt heavier and sadder as I approached the person. It was as if every sad experience that happened in my life was coming back to me. The way I was forced to work day and late at night. The way I and my other friends were enslaved for the sake of making a tower, which the purpose was we did not know. Those sleepless nights…those terrifying mornings in which those heartless men would strike whips at us if we did not work early, it was horrible. My childhood was horrible. I stopped for a while, clenching my fists in anger as I remember those painful memories. Just then an image of a young thin girl with short scarlet hair flashed through my mind. For a moment, I thought she had been there with me, the place suddenly turned from a dim dark green colored place to a warm bright yellow colored place. She was in front of me, with her back facing me. She wore a torn sleeveless white dress with a chain each locked up on both of her wrists. She had bruises all over her yet the mere sight of her made me feel warm and welcome. I knew who she was. I reached out my hand and tried to approach her.

"Erza!"

She looked back at me with a warm, pure and innocent smile on her face. Despite the beating she just obviously received, she smiled to greet me. It was that smile of hers that gave not just me, but every one of us slaves, a warm and happy feeling despite the place we were in.

"Gerald!" she called out, but as I was about to touch her, the scene changed and the place went back to being the dimmed dark green colored place. Then I noticed that the girl was gone, and I was all alone again in the darkness, but this time, after I saw the girl, I could feel again. I could feel my own body. I felt warm and alive.

I realized that I was standing on a cross road with the person leaning against a wall in the corner of the cross road. I approached the person and but the person hid in the shadows and concealed himself, hiding his true form. I could not recognize whether the person was male or female but it didn't really matter. The person was all alone, and to what it seemed, the person was smoking a cigarette.

"You are…"

"I am what they call Zeref my dear boy." The person spoke in a womanly voice, about 19 or 20 years of age.

"Zeref? The god whom the black magic cult had been working on reviving?" I said in a surprised tone at first then I smiled and laughed. "A god? Haha then where have you been all this time? Tch! I don't believe in such a thing. I refuse to believe in a god that couldn't bring salvation to a child."

"It seems that you have a lot of questions up in your mind. If you wish, you can ask me anything you want." She said in an emotionless voice.

"Then where were you, when everything was falling apart? All of my days were spent, trying to look for hope and praying for salvation from this treacherous life which these horrid men did to us. All I needed was an answer to those prayers. All I wanted was freedom…" I said as I calmed down as I spoke that last sentence. Then I remembered something or rather someone. I smiled to myself and did a face palm as to what an idiot I was for forgetting her. "But you know…if you would say that you did send an answer to my prayers…then I guess I'd have to believe you."

It was hard to explain. But despite the fact that I couldn't see the face of the supposed "god" I was talking to, I sensed that she was confused as to what I was saying. So basically she did not answer my prayer, but still I found as her as the answer to my prayers.

"Erza…" I whispered to myself. "She found me on the days when I felt lost and insecure. She told me once that I was the one who saved her from her unhappiness. She said that I gave her courage and that I was the person she looked up to. But in the end, she was the one who saved me. The first time I saw her smile was when I overheard her conversation with Grandpa Rob. She said that magic sounded beautiful and that when she grows up she wants to be a witch and ride on her magic broom across the sky and have Grandpa Rob ride behind her broom with her. Then she smiled so wonderfully that it made my heart beat really fast. She gave me a feeling that I felt back when I was with my parents. I felt warm when I see her smile. I wasn't actually expecting to see a smile as pure and as warm hearted as hers in a place so evil. That's why I did everything I can to preserve that smile on her face. Back then I would lie on the floor, surrounded by the things I feared in but I overcame them and led rebellions just so we'd have something to believe in…"

"Believe in?"

"Mm. We called it hope. I wanted to give everyone hope that we can escape from this treacherous life…that we could attain freedom…so that I can continue on seeing that smile of hers. I'm not really sure, but I guess you could say that my reasons are a bit selfish." Then unexpectedly, I smiled to myself. "Then in response to what she said, I patted her head and messed up her scarlet hair. Then I told her that she was the one who saved me though she was a little late, still she saved and found me."

"You idiot!" I laughed as I patted her head and messed up her scarlet hair. "You were the one that saved me, though you came a bit late…" I pouted. "So come earlier next time okay?" I grinned as I patted her over and over again. "Still, I'm glad…"

"What are you talking about Gerald?" she blushed. She was very confused at the things I was telling her.

I smiled and turned back. I walked away leaving the scarlet haired girl alone to think of possible answers. I then paused to look back at her, who was angrily pouting, and smiled at her. "I'm glad that you found me Erza." I said, leaving the little girl speechless and red as her hair.

I stopped reminiscing and continued to tell the god my story. "But you know, in the end everyone ends up alone. You could say I lost her since I'm practically…half dead right now, am I right?"

She didn't respond.

"My real priority was to have her by my side, forever. Who I am, who I am not, and who I wanted to be didn't matter as long as I was with her. But the sad truth about life is that you can never get the answers you want directly. I had no way to know neither how long she was going to be with me nor how long I was going to be with her. Still…While I was in my own little depressed world thinking about that, she would find me during the times I was lost and anxious and bring a smile on my face." I smiled right before I brought the topic back to her. "In the morning, the sound of beasts barking and growling and the sound of whips would wake us up, and I prayed every day, for years and years but you never answered. You never left me any messages yet you got some nerve taking our freedom for a lousy tower!"

She stood silently for a second and breath out smoke from the cigarette. I coughed up as I inhaled some of the smoke. Then she threw it on the ground and stepped on it. She was about to say something but I interrupted her.

I lowered my head and tried to hide my anger. "I hate everything." I murmured as I realized she wasn't gonna give me the answers I needed. "I hate these people and their god. Just like everything in this world."

"Your hate; I shall consume that hatred of yours." She finally spoke. "People's hatred gives me strength. Such pathetic fools." She said referring to the people who enslaved and tortured us to awaken Zeref once again. "I have been here the whole time yet they insist on resurrecting me? Giving me a body? Ha! It's not a matter of how devout they are in their beliefs, only with incredible hatred can one sense my existence, Gerald." She said as she came out of the shadows. Her figure was no longer human but it looked some kind of a violet blob with red markings running across it body and head. It leaned towards me as it said my name. "This is your destiny. You, of all people, can come face to face with the god they revere." I took a step back, freaked out from the thing I was talking to this whole time. "I am the god Zeref, the embodiment of hatred itself." I tried to run but it caught and engulfed me. It started seeping inside my right eye; still I could hear her whisper. "I may not have answered you, but I can grant you your dream Gerald. Freedom is here…"

After that everything went black. I felt as though a tremendous power had just flowed right inside me, destroying the weak little me along with my beliefs, hopes and dreams…dreams…aside from gaining true freedom. I woke up from the sound of Erza's voice.

"Gerald!" she happily said as she cut off the ropes around my wrists with the blades she held. "Everything's alright now. It's over. We fought just like what you told us to." She said as she wrapped her arms around me to catch me as fell on my weak knees. "Simon was injured and Rob-ojichan used his body as a shield for me…" her happy toned voice changed to a depressed one. "There were many people who sacrificed their lives during the battle…but we won! We've gained our freedom. Let's go! Wally and the others have seized ships. We can get off of this island."

My body moved on its own. I stood up, wrapped my arms around Erza's neck and pulled her closer. If I was in control, I would've seriously blushed red and I mean really red, but in this situation all I wanted to say that she had to get away from me, that I was not in control of myself. "Erza…there is no need for us to run away anymore…True freedom…is right here…"

It was a lie of course. It was Zeref who was talking, not me. In the end, even if Erza did save me, I turned back to the helpless little boy before I met her. I couldn't do anything against the god. "Erza, you were late again." I managed a weak smile in depths of my thoughts. "I hope you can find and save me again…" I whispered as the darkness inside my head wholly engulfed me.

Sorry if it has a sad ending...or atleast I think it was sad haha but we all know what happens to Gerald and Erza in the future :)

This fanfic was requested by babydoll, so I hope you like it "^^

So I tried my best to fit the song with Gerald's life. I didn't want to make it a spiritual fanfiction about Gerald questioning God's late answers to his prayers(since the song is I believe...spiritual) so I tried to make it into a romance genre type of fanfiction XD Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it.

Thanks for reading :)

Disclaimer: I do not own the song You Found Me. It was sung by The Fray.