Note: Okay, I really have no excuse for writing this except that I had just read Fairy Tail Zero. This idea popped into my head and wouldn't leave me alone until I wrote it down. Just to clarify, I love Mavis and I think she's a great character, just like I think Zeref makes a good villain. This story is not a theory piece about what I think will or should happen. It's what I like to call a "what-if" fic, that explores an idea that could maybe have happened if circumstances had been a little different. It would take place during the Alvarez Empire arc, and requires the assumption that Fairy Tail is embroiled in some kind of all-out final battle.
Anyway, enjoy the story!
When Lucy died, the guild froze for just a second, even in the midst of the battle. Natsu cried out in rage and blasted a huge hole in the enemy lines, desperate to seek revenge for his fallen comrade. Gray and Erza were left standing in shock for a few moments before following him, eyes filled with tears. Levy wept over the broken body.
Mavis laughed.
When Gray died, Natsu screamed his rage and despair to the sky, so that the whole world would know that his best friend was dead. Erza cut down the killer with unparalleled viciousness, her eyes clouded with tears as she mourned one of her oldest friends. Juvia wept over the broken body.
Mavis laughed.
When Erza died, it seemed like only Natsu was left to howl his disbelieving fury and cut through the enemy ranks. The guild mourned as they watched one of their last hopes die. The sky wept over the broken body.
Mavis laughed.
Zeref stood in the middle of the battlefield, surveying the bloody scene dispassionately. War was a horrible thing, but he had chosen this. In the past he had loved, and others had died for that love. He had known how precious life was, and those same lives had died for that knowledge. Now he was empty, and these pawns would die for that emptiness.
He had wanted to die. He had wanted Natsu to kill him. But now he wanted to bring about the end of an age, a one-sided annihilation.
The black wizard thought back to when he had revealed the truth to his brother, just a few short hours ago. Natsu hadn't taken the news well, but he had been forced to accept that he was indeed the demon E.N.D. The blue cat had forced him away, not wanting Natsu to die as a result of killing Zeref. Fairy Tail's last hope had flown away with that cat. Now that Natsu's borrowed power from Igneel was gone, he didn't stand a chance of killing the black mage.
Nothing could kill Zeref now, so instead he would kill. He would kill the world.
He suddenly felt a familiar presence beside him, and one corner of his mouth twitched upwards.
"Mavis."
"Zeref."
Zeref started in surprise at the ghost's voice, whipping his head around to search for the source of the sound. His eyes widened even further as he realized that he could see Mavis's ethereal form standing beside him.
"How…?"
He shouldn't be able to hear or see her—only those with the Fairy Tail mark could. He had often sensed her presence over the years and had even communicated with her telepathically, but he had never once seen or heard her.
The girl smiled serenely, her emerald eyes drifting across the battle raging around them. "It's about time you knew, I suppose," she murmured cryptically. "Tell me, Zeref, are you still searching for death? Do you still want Natsu to kill you?"
Zeref shook his head and took a minute to collect himself, his previous surprise giving way to a dead calmness once more. "No, it is too late for that now. I told you, Mavis. I am bringing about the end of an age," he answered dispassionately.
"Yes, I suppose you are," she said with a knowing smile.
He frowned faintly at her strangely unworried response. "What, you aren't going to insist that your Fairy Tail mages will defeat me? That's what you said last time we…talked."
Mavis waved her hand dismissively. "That is irrelevant now."
"Is it?" Zeref raised an eyebrow. "Don't tell me you're abandoning your guild now?"
"Oh no, I couldn't do that." She chuckled softly, as if laughing at a joke only she understood.
Zeref shifted uncomfortably. "Why can I see you and hear you?" he demanded, his emotions bubbling up once more to crack his calm façade.
"Maybe you've always been able to but you've never realized it," she shot back, eyes sparkling with an almost fanatic mirth. She swung her arms cheerfully and shook out her golden curls.
Zeref stared at her childlike form with a mixture of confusion and incredulity.
"What in the world has gotten into you? I'm about to destroy your guild. In fact, my army has already killed most of its members. I'm going to unleash Lumen Histoire on the world. Why are you so unconcerned?" His voice was laden with anger and frustrated disbelief as he tried to puzzle out her intentions.
She laughed softly. "Yes, yes, you're going to destroy everything and bring about a dark age. But tell me, after that, will you still want to die?"
Taken aback, he considered the question.
"Probably," he conceded. "I suppose I should make sure Natsu lives. After I destroy his guild he will be angry enough that he'll come after me. Perhaps if he continues training he'll eventually be strong enough to destroy me."
"Oh, I wouldn't pin all my hopes on Natsu, if I were you," Mavis said with a chuckle.
"What, aren't you here to plead for his life?" Zeref demanded, his patience with his one-time lover running thin. "You made your point. I won't kill him."
"Did I ever say that I was here to ask you to spare him?" Mavis asked, looking over at him.
The black mage recoiled at the feverish light gleaming in her eyes. Her eyes had always been so wide and innocent, but now they were clouded with something far darker.
"Natsu has always been the best hope for my destruction. I knew that, you knew that, your guild knew that," he ground out.
Mavis giggled. "Natsu can't kill you. Natsu doesn't exist."
For a moment, the world seemed to still. Then Zeref scowled at the girl beside him, angry that she was trying to mess with his head.
"What are you trying to say? Of course Natsu exists. I just talked to him a few hours ago. Stop playing games with me."
Mavis danced forward a few steps, her childlike limbs swinging about gleefully. "That wasn't Natsu."
Zeref hissed angrily. "A trick? Where is the real Natsu then? Was this some scheming plan on your part? Is he about to launch a counterattack with respect to this secret plan of yours?"
His mind churned as he considered the possibilities. If that really hadn't been Natsu, then where was the real Natsu and what was he planning? He cursed softly. In the long run it shouldn't matter much, but the dragon slayer could cause a lot of damage if left unchecked.
"Weren't you listening?" Mavis asked, swinging about to face him once more. Her eyes shone with maniacal glee. "Natsu doesn't exist."
Zeref stared at her. "What do you mean?"
"Don't you remember what my magic is?" she asked teasingly. She began spinning in circles, her arms spread out to keep her balance. The smile on her face never faltered.
"Illusions," he replied uneasily, thoroughly unsettled by her display.
Mavis laughed again. "Yep. Illusions. Natsu is just an illusion."
A sick feeling of dread wormed its way into Zeref's stomach. What she was saying couldn't possibly be true.
"Impossible," he countered. "I've watched him physically beat many other wizards. An illusion couldn't physically affect the world like that."
"Really?" Mavis stopped suddenly, her spinning coming to an abrupt halt. She grinned up at him. "Natsu is a pawn. My pawn. As a matter of fact, your Spriggans are also my pawns. I know, you thought they were your pawns, but they're really mine. So is Acnologia, actually."
Zeref opened and closed his mouth uselessly.
"You've gone completely mad," he said finally. She was obviously out of touch with reality, and he didn't know what to do with a ghost spouting such nonsense.
"Have I?" She paused and her smile momentarily gave way to a frown as her brow furrowed in concentration. She seemed to consider the accusation for a moment, before shrugging it off and smiling once more. "Quite possible, I suppose. Can you really blame me? Living in a dead world can do that to you. But still, it doesn't change the facts. They're all my pawns."
Zeref shook his head slowly. A dead world? Pawns? What in the world was going on inside her head?
"You once told me that you were building an empire, and that the reason your curse didn't kill your people was because you thought of it as a game, as if your people were pawns," Mavis continued, eyes blazing with mad triumph. "It worked for a while, didn't it? But in the end your curse was too strong and you loved too much, and you killed them all."
Zeref took a half-step backwards as he stared at her in fascinated revulsion. "What in the world are you saying? Can't you see them? They're all still here. Look." He pointed to where one of the Spriggans was fighting nearby.
For a moment, he thought he saw a gleam of pity in her emerald eyes, but it was immediately replaced by a light of madness once more. She smiled at him.
"Look again," she said. She stretched out a hand toward the man and snapped her fingers. He vanished.
Zeref stared in disbelief. He frantically rubbed at his eyes, but when he looked once more, his general was still gone.
"What did you do to him?" he demanded. "You're a ghost. You shouldn't be able to use magic like that."
She snickered. "You really aren't listening to me, are you? I didn't do anything to him, really. He was my magic to begin with. I told you, they're all my pawns. They're my illusions."
"No…" Zeref whispered, gazing at her in horrified disbelief. "That's impossible."
Mavis shrugged. "I told you Natsu was an illusion, didn't I? The reason you could watch him physically overpower other wizards is because those wizards were also my illusions. You're right that he wouldn't be able to defeat real humans if he was an illusion, but since his opponents were also illusions, it was perfectly possible for him to defeat them."
He gaped at her. "You're saying…What, exactly? That everyone here is an illusion you created?"
"Mhm," she confirmed happily. "Everything is an illusion. Now that you know that, look again."
He did. Zeref stumbled backwards as the entire battlefield seemed to disappear before his eyes. Suddenly everyone was gone, leaving only a desolate wasteland in its place.
"While you were building an empire, I was building a world," Mavis crowed, laughing wildly as she danced barefoot among the ashes of a ruined world.
"What...What is this?" Zeref rasped dazedly. "Where is everyone?"
"Gone! Or rather, they were never here to begin with. No one has been here for a long, long time."
"Impossible," he said faintly. "You're a ghost—you couldn't possibly have created all those illusions."
"Not alive and not dead," Mavis sang cheerily, her voice edged with madness. "Not quite a human, not quite a ghost."
"That would require an insane amount of magic. You couldn't possibly use magic like that in your state!"
Mavis smirked. "Lumen Histoire. It's my body, isn't it? Of course I can tap into that magic. An unlimited amount of magic. An unlimited number of illusions."
"I'll–I'll start over. I'll go somewhere else and build a new empire. I'll make new demons to kill me," he said desperately, scanning the wasteland for any signs of life. It looked as if their curse had already blasted the place to bits, withering all life and leaving the land blackened and dead.
"Impossible," Mavis responded immediately. "There's nothing left."
"Nothing…left…" he repeated numbly.
"Didn't I tell you? I built a world." She stopped dancing and turned to face him, a suddenly thoughtful expression spreading across her face. "A paradoxical curse. The more you realize the value of life, the more you love, the more you kill everything around you. You and me, Zeref, we loved the world to pieces."
When the world died, Zeref stared in shock. Then he raged. He searched for any sign of life on a barren planet. He searched for any possible way to end his life in this land of the dead. He wandered the charred wasteland searching for something, anything, that they hadn't loved enough to kill. He screamed.
Mavis laughed.
Note: So, I really don't think Mavis is crazy or anything, but in a slightly different world, I could actually see this happening. I still adore her so I feel kind of bad writing about her like she's insane, but part of me is actually kind of fascinated by this idea. Sorry if this wasn't what you were expecting.