Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or My Hero Academia
Pairing(s): Natsu Dragneel x Zeref
GENERAL WARNINGS: violence, shounan ai (boy/boy pairing); you have been warned so don't like, don't read
CHAPTER WARNINGS: referenced/implied sexual content
(Just a note that I've decided for now just to cut anything I'm unsure about. If I change my mind later, I can always come back and change things then)
The Things We Dream
By V. Shalyr
3. To Live Our Lives
"It's okay to fall. It's okay to cry. You just have to keep moving forward."
~ Izuku Midoriya, My Hero Academia, season 2 review episode
The elevator hummed as it rose towards the top floor of the skyscraper. It was the tallest skyscraper in the area, boasting just over a hundred floors, so even though this elevator was programmed not to stop at any intervening floors, it was still a long trip.
Zeref glanced sidelong at the tall, blond man beside him then back down at the carpet. Among his possible chaperones, the Lightning Dragon Slayer Laxus had to be his absolute least favorite. If he couldn't stay with Natsu, he would rather work with Sting and Rogue. The two younger Dragon Slayers were good friends with Natsu and didn't make Zeref this uncomfortable. It helped that Sting and Rogue often bantered with one another, and so even if Zeref didn't feel like speaking, there could be something other than awkward silence. Laxus, on the other hand, spoke to him only when it was strictly necessary, and even then, he tended to use as few words as possible.
Zeref knew he ought to be grateful regardless. These people, Laxus included, were the only reason he was allowed to walk about outside at all. It was the job of whichever Dragon Slayer was accompanying him to—one, ensure that his Quirk didn't accidentally kill anyone, and two, protect him and ensure that no villain got their hands on him. The system worked. But more than six years in near isolation, speaking to people only from a distance or via a computer screen, had made him skittish and uneasy around others, and the blond man's overall attitude really didn't help.
Finally, after what felt like a tense, quiet eternity, the elevator slowed to a stop and opened its doors with a soft hiss. They stepped out into a brightly lit hallway devoid of decoration, which ended in a single wooden door reinforced with steel. To an outsider, it would probably have seemed a little excessive—ridiculous even. That same outsider would have been even more shocked to learn that Natsu and Zeref had all three of the building's top floors to themselves, despite only living on the highest level. There was a gym on the floor below that, but the actual apartment was at the top.
Then again, outsiders tended not to be privy to some rather crucial pieces of information.
Thankfully, Laxus didn't walk with him down the hall, although Zeref could feel his stare the entire way. The man's escort duty only went as far as the apartment's front door.
The high security, the constant supervision, the jobs Zeref went on, and even where he lived were all among the conditions for his leaving the Zero Facility. Maybe it wasn't what anybody would consider a "normal" life, but at least it was a life and he was grateful for that.
When he was safely back in the apartment with the door shut and locked behind him, Zeref let out a sigh of relief. Honestly though, living could be incredibly stressful.
The spacious living room before him looked exactly as it had that morning when he had left it. Removing his shoes, Zeref walked across the plush ivory carpet and past the pastel blue couches arranged around the glass coffee table to the window that formed one entire side of the room. It was his favorite feature of the entire apartment. The heavy fabric of the curtains slid smoothly aside to reveal a panoramic view of the city bathed in afternoon light. This high up from everything, he didn't have to worry about his powers stirring and accidentally stealing the life of an innocent passerby. At the same time, he could watch the goings on down on the streets and see the colors of the skyline change as the sun moved from horizon to horizon. His room back at the Zero Facility had had no windows for security reasons, and so this view of the sky—simple though it might be—tugged at something inside him that was both happy and painful at the same time.
When they had first moved in here, the first time he'd stood by this window and looked out at the city's sea of nighttime lights, he hadn't been able to stop his own tears. He hadn't even quite understood why he was crying, except perhaps from the great sense of loss that had settled in him from the day that white van had taken him away from his parents and the house he'd lived in for the first seven years of his life.
Natsu had been alternatively worried for him and furious with everyone—the government and certain members of the Zero Facility staff in particular. He had been furious at them for how Zeref shied away from human contact and became anxious in places as everyday as a crowded restaurant. He'd been angry that Zeref had flinched away from him when he'd touched his shoulder, and angry also that it wasn't entirely the government's fault. It would have been so much easier just to blame them.
Natsu had been angry a lot in the past several years. Honestly, Zeref thought that the Fire Dragon Slayer had been much more upset about what had happened to him than Zeref himself was. When Zeref thought about the past, he mostly just felt sad and a little empty.
How long had it taken for him to stop flinching whenever anyone got "too" close? Even now, the only person whose closeness he was completely comfortable with—craved, even—was Natsu's, but that suited both of them just fine.
How long had it taken him to forgive his parents for abandoning him? Actually, he wasn't sure he had forgiven them. He didn't blame them for allowing him to be taken away, but a part of him did blame them for not trying to stay in touch with him. They were his parents. The Facility staff would have allowed it if they had asked, and it hurt more than he liked to contemplate that they hadn't.
Zeref shook his head and turned towards the kitchen. That was an old pain now, and it was a bad idea to dredge it up, especially when he was alone and most vulnerable to bouts of depression. They were supposed to be heading for U.A. either today or tomorrow, but that had to wait until Natsu got home. This job called for the both of them, and anyway, Zeref wasn't allowed outside of this apartment without either Natsu or another Dragon Slayer. In the mean time, Zeref would take a bath, make some calming tea, and wait for him—maybe meditate awhile. Some cake sounded good too. He'd been too anxious that morning to eat any breakfast.
.
Natsu was used to the smell of smoke. He was a fire wielder who also happened to be fireproof after all, and pulling people out of burning buildings had become a major part of his weekly routine. On most days, he didn't dislike working with the city's fire department, but today, his mind was somewhere else.
He kept his irritation under control enough not to storm through the apartment door, and pulled off his soot-stained coat, tossing it to the ground for later disposal. Honestly, with the technology people had these days, you'd think they could make clothes that were easier to clean, or at least more resistant to soot stains.
Zeref looked up from where he was curled up on the couch in a loose, white bathrobe with a teacup cradled in his hands. The sight of him soothed some of Natsu's tension, and he walked around the couch to lean down and capture the boy's soft lips in a kiss. He tasted faintly of chamomile and something sweet, and Natsu had to fight the urge to press him back into the couch cushions and ravish him right then and there. They had things they had to talk about first, like what information his partner had gathered that morning without him.
"You're in a bad mood," Zeref commented, the words sounding a little breathless when Natsu finally let him pull away.
"I hate letting you go on jobs without me," Natsu muttered, flopping onto the couch next to him. He pulled Zeref into his lap and buried his nose in the smaller boy's dark hair. Zeref sighed, relaxing into the embrace, only just remembering to lean over and put his teacup on the coffee table before he spilled it.
Settling back, Zeref rested his head against Natsu's shoulder, and said, "Are you more annoyed that I had to go out on a job without you, or that I had to go with Laxus this time?"
"Both," Natsu grunted, turning his head to nibble on the shell of Zeref's ear. The shiver he got in response was soothing too. "I hate that the last time he got assigned to work with you, you came back with his scent on you. I hate that I have to share you with anyone for any reason."
"It was just a job," Zeref reminded him. "And I only smelled like him because he had to drag me out of the police station before I accidentally killed the officers."
It could have been worse. The Facility staff had told all the Dragon Slayers that they should knock him out if absolutely necessary since it was a surefire way to stop the black fog, but Zeref wisely chose not to remind his partner of this alternative.
"I don't care why it happens. It just bothers me that it does. You're mine. No one else's."
"Yours," Zeref agreed gently. Sometimes, he worried about his partner's fierce possessiveness—a byproduct, he suspected, of all the years Natsu had spent feeling like he was the only one who really cared, like it was just the two of them against the rest of the world. Zeref hadn't had time to develop that kind of mentality before Natsu "rescued" him. He'd spent most of his time blaming himself rather than other people. Natsu was different. He couldn't think about things in the abstract, detached way that Zeref had taught himself to. But it had gotten better over the last year or two, and honestly, part of Zeref was fond of it too and found a certain sense of security in it. He had spent too long feeling lost and alone in a world that he'd thought he had no place in. How the two of them might have turned out had Zeref not been taken away, they would never know, and anyway, such speculations were meaningless. As things stood, they were comfortable with what they had and where they were.
Natsu sighed, a bit more of his annoyance ebbing away. "So how was it? You went to see the bodies, right?"
"I did." Zeref closed his eyes, replaying that morning's visit to the morgue in his mind. It was one of the worst parts of these black-folder jobs. "The cause of death for both students was poison—something like the poison you find in nightshade, although one of them showed signs of strangulation. The coroner's report also mentioned prick marks on various patches of exposed skin, mostly on the forearms—very likely from thorns of some kind."
"Thorns? What, like rose thorns?"
"Probably not rose thorns specifically, but yes. They could be defensive wounds. They're likely also how the poison entered their bloodstream. Their guess is that this villain has some kind of plant related Quirk, either physical changes or possibly plant manipulation."
Natsu sensed a familiar shift in the air and glanced sidelong at the faint wisps of shadowy fog that unraveled from the body in his arms. How dark the fog was varied depending on the intensity of the emotion—generally negative, although not always—that had triggered it. Right now, it was nearly invisible, so it was likely Zeref hadn't even noticed that it was happening. Natsu didn't remark on it. No one was in danger, so there wasn't any point in drawing attention to it.
Zeref sighed. "They were so young. I'll never understand why people do such terrible things. I can only imagine how devastated their families must be feeling."
In truth, Natsu and Zeref weren't all that much older themselves, but they hadn't felt young in a long time.
Natsu changed the subject. "This will be your first visit to the U.A. campus, won't it? You excited?"
"Part of me is," Zeref admitted. "But most of me is rather nervous. We're supposed to be staying at the school until this case is over."
So many things could go wrong. Schools tended to have lots of people in them, and there was all the greenery he'd seen while watching the Sports Festival broadcasts. What would the students think of him if half the trees on their wonderfully green campus died because of him? What would the teachers, all of them pro heroes, think of a Quirk which could be used only to kill?
"I'm sure they've made the right arrangements," Natsu assured him. "And if it doesn't work out for whatever reason, we could just come back here. This apartment is close enough to campus."
The commute was always a risk, but if it came to that, they'd find a way to manage.
"I suppose that's true." Zeref pondered this for a moment longer then added, "Maybe I'm just nervous because it's a big change."
And as a rule, change made Zeref uncomfortable. It always took him awhile to adjust.
"Well, I, for one, look forward to showing you around," Natsu told him. "They have some amazing stuff—model cities for students to practice fighting in, artificial disaster zones for rescue practice, and that sort of thing."
A faint smile found its way onto Zeref's face. "I would like to see that."
After all, it was a place where his partner had spent several years of his life. How could he not want to see it?
Natsu exhaled slowly and returned to nuzzling his partner's neck, savoring the clean and softly sweet scent like morning dew and autumn leaves. Zeref tilted his head back to grant him better access, letting out a contented sigh when Natsu scraped his teeth down his pale throat before pressing a series of soft kisses along his clavicle. The attention sent warm shivers up and down his spine, and he shifted a bit so he could wrap his arms loosely around Natsu's neck.
"I like this robe-thing when we're at home," Natsu murmured against his skin. "It's very accessible."
Zeref laughed. "Why do you think I changed into it? You always jump me first thing after I return from a job without you. I thought I might as well help things along."
"Do I? I hadn't noticed." Hadn't thought about it actually, although it didn't surprise him now that he had. "When's the car coming to pick us up?"
"Seven this evening. We'll be dining with Mr. Aizawa, All Might, and Principal Nezu."
He cut off in a gasp when Natsu bit the soft skin near his collarbone hard enough to leave a mark.
"That's plenty of time," the Dragon Slayer concluded.
"Not on the couch, Natsu. The window curtains are open. Take me to the bed."
"You do realize we're on the hundredth floor of a skyscraper, right?"
"Natsu..."
"Okay, okay."
Not that Natsu really minded having to move. It was an old and familiar argument, and really, he had other things on his mind right now than talking.
.
The cell phone on the nightstand beeped. Zeref extracted one hand from the tangle of bed sheets and limbs to reach over and pick it up.
"Hello?"
"Hey," Sting's voice sounded against his ear. "We've got the car downstairs. Are you guys ready to go?"
Zeref sighed, withdrawing back to the comforts of the bed with the phone in his hand. He was warm and pleasantly sore, and all he really wanted right now was to cuddle up to his partner and maybe see if he could entice Natsu into making love to him again. The Fire Dragon Slayer didn't generally require much tempting.
Perhaps sensing his reluctance, Sting said, "We can drive around the district and give you guys another hour. I heard you were both up at four this morning because of that morgue visit and the fire downtown. I doubt it'll matter if you're a little late. I mean, it's just dinner, right?"
That sounded very nice, but unfortunately, Zeref was a very responsible person.
"No, that's okay," he sighed, rolling over to shake Natsu's shoulder. "We'll be down in fifteen minutes. Natsu? Natsu, we're leaving now."
Natsu grumbled something incoherent and tugged Zeref down beside him again, shifting his weight to pin the dark-haired boy to the mattress.
Zeref chuckled. "Natsu, they're here to pick us up. We need to get dressed."
His words finally registered through the haze of sleep, and Natsu let out a displeased grunt before pushing himself off his partner and sitting up.
"Who is it?"
"Sting and Rogue. I assume that means we're taking a smaller car."
It would be less conspicuous than the van that they used when Zeref needed to sit farther away from the driver.
They got dressed in silence. They'd already packed for the trip, and while Natsu took their luggage to the front door, Zeref went through the apartment, making sure all the lights were off and everything was in its proper place. When he returned to the living room, Natsu helped him into his black overcoat and pressed a chaste kiss to his lips before unlocking the door and leading the way down the corridor.
It was all part of a familiar routine, and Zeref found routines calming—even routines as small and insignificant as the way Natsu reached out to touch his wrist while they waited for the elevator to arrive, a tiny reminder that he was not alone. And these days, keeping himself calm was a major preoccupation.
Zeref had much better control over his own powers now, but accidents were always a possibility. The problem was that his abilities were linked far more closely to his emotions than his intentions, and it was impossible to feel only what and when you wanted to. Routines helped to stabilize at least some of those emotions and minimize moments of anxiety and distress.
The elevator doors slid open with a soft hiss and they stepped in, turning to face the doors as they shut once more. Unlike Zeref's earlier trip through the skyscraper, this one was comfortable despite the silence. A window might have been nice, but this elevator didn't have one for security reasons, even though all the other elevators in the building did.
"I wonder how long we will be away," Zeref said, watching the lighted numbers above the doors change, counting down as they passed each intervening floor between their apartment and the ground.
"Missing home already?" Natsu asked, half joking and half serious.
"Maybe a little."
"Well, at most, we'll be away three weeks." Natsu's expression grew hard. "I doubt it'll be that long though. We'll get the bastard before then."
Zeref nodded slowly. That's right. They had a job to do, and the sooner they finished it, the less likely any more people would be hurt.
They hadn't been required to take this job. They reserved the right to turn down any assignment that the government sent their way, but it was advised that they exercise this right with restraint. The government paid them quite a decent amount of money after all, even if it was mostly so they could keep an eye on Zeref at all times. Anyway, the agents who generally worked with them knew what kind of jobs they were unlikely to refuse since both young men held strong personal values regarding right and wrong.
When they stepped through the glass front doors and the cool evening air swept over them, Zeref paused for a moment to adjust. Even after dark, the city brimmed with noise—people talking and laughing, birds chirping, the whoosh of vehicles racing past and the hum of distant traffic—all blending together into a seemingly endless din. The air smelled faintly of car exhaust and sun-baked concrete, but also of newly cut grass and clean water from the giant water fountain before the apartment building. It had all been so overwhelming when he'd first left the Zero Facility, and even though it had been three years since then, it still sometimes startled him.
"Hey." The front window of a dark blue car that had been idling by the curb rolled down, and a young man with messy, pale yellow hair waved at them. "Over here."
Five minutes later, they had stowed their luggage in the trunk, and the car was speeding through the streets towards the U.A. campus with its four occupants. Well, perhaps not speeding exactly. Whenever they could, Sting directed the vehicle down less used residential streets and back roads where people seldom ventured after nightfall. There was a reason Zeref usually only went out either extremely early in the morning or extremely late at night.
"Sorry we couldn't go with you this morning," Rogue said from the front passenger seat, turning to look at Zeref. "We were involved in catching those bank robbers last night. We tried to explain to the police that we had to escort someone this morning, but they still wouldn't let us leave the police station until after your scheduled meeting time at the morgue."
"That's all right," Zeref told him. "Thank you for trying."
"We're happy to help out," Sting reminded him. "I can only imagine what it's like, visiting a bunch of dead bodies with Laxus of all people. He's a pretty bad conversationalist."
"I don't think he spoke a single word to me the entire time," Zeref said, thinking back. "But I suppose even if he had, I wouldn't have known how to respond."
"If you guys need help with this next one, you'll let us know, right?" Sting asked, catching their eyes in the rearview mirror.
"Sure," Natsu said, "But you know it's one of those jobs. Pro heroes like you two really shouldn't get involved."
Rogue was the one who responded then. "Yes, we thought that that would be the case after we saw the reports. All the same, let us know if there's anything we can do."
"We'll keep that in mind," Zeref murmured. "Thank you."
It was an offer that the two younger Dragon Slayers made every time, and Zeref appreciated it even though he also knew that he and Natsu would probably never take them up on it. Natsu was right. These assignments weren't the kind of assignments that professional heroes should get involved in. After all, killing was not something that a hero should ever set out to do. There was no reason to make murderers of them.
Zeref's hands twitched, curling into the fabric of his coat. A second later, he felt Natsu's calloused fingers on the back of his neck, massaging the base of his skull and stroking the bare patch of skin above the collar of his shirt. Zeref closed his eyes and relaxed into the caress. Gradually, his hands unclenched in his lap and the tension that had been creeping up the back of his throat eased.
The series of small motions did not escape the notice of the two people in the front of the car, and they changed the subject, launching into an energetic account of the robbery they had helped to thwart. It was a tactic that most of the people who worked with Zeref for any length of time were well rehearsed in.
"The crazy thing," Sting told them, "is that after we got out of the police station, one of the people who were caught in the bank during the robbery came to find us. Turns out the guy's a movie producer, and now he wants to make a movie out of us."
Natsu smirked. "You two? Acting? You going to do it?"
"We haven't decided yet," Rogue answered, lowering his head so that his shaggy, black hair fell into his face. "We're supposed to give him an answer by next week. Personally, I'm leaning towards turning down the offer. It sounds like a lot of trouble."
"It might be helpful for your rankings though," Zeref pointed out. "I imagine that it would be good publicity."
Sting agreed. "It would be, but it would also take time away from our hero work."
"Did the director guy say anything about what he had in mind?" Natsu asked. "I mean, if it's just about the robbery, people can watch that footage on the news."
When the vast, sprawling campus of U.A. came into view, the four of them fell silent. For the three Dragon Slayers, it was a nostalgic sight, since they'd all attended classes there at one point or another in the past few years. For Zeref... well, he wasn't sure what he thought about it really. He suspected that it was mostly trepidation twisting his stomach, but he also knew that dwelling on that would only cause the untimely demise of the many trees that lined either side of the expansive, pale brick walkway leading up to the front doors of the school.
The main U.A. school building stood several stories high and had been built to resemble the school's own logo, which consisted of the two letters of its name superimposed upon one another. By the light of day, Zeref knew that the building would be a vivid blue color, but at night, it looked almost black. A scattering of rectangular windows glowed upon the towering edifice, a sign that there were, indeed, people inside even though there were no classes at the moment.
"Brings back memories, doesn't it?" Sting asked, addressing his dark-haired companion.
Rogue nodded. "It really hasn't been that long."
"I guess it hasn't."
With some reluctance, Zeref opened the car door, but he remained sitting inside looking down the walkway until Natsu walked around the car and offered him a hand.
"Come on, they're expecting us. I'm sure no one's going to be rude, and you already know Mr. Aizawa."
"It's not rudeness that bothers me," Zeref said with a sigh, but he let Natsu help him out of the car.
"They're not going to be afraid of you either," Natsu said firmly. "Don't worry so much. I can assure you that you're pretty far down on their list of scary things. We're here to help them after all. It might be a different story if we were here to fight them."
"He's right, you know," Sting chimed in, rolling down his window. "The faculty here are all pro heroes who've been in the field for awhile. They've seen way scarier things than your Quirk. If you guys don't hurry, you're going to be late."
From his other side, Rogue added, "Good luck, you two."
.
All Might wasn't sure what to expect.
"Don't bother with your hero form," Aizawa had advised him earlier that evening. "It would just be a waste of your energy. Neither of them are going to go telling anyone your secret, and anyway, Dragon Slayers can smell sickness. You wouldn't be able to hide the fact that you're not well."
Easy for him to say, All Might thought ruefully. He was so accustomed to keeping up appearances, accustomed to the fact that his seeming invincibility was sometimes all that gave people hope. Then again, from what the other U.A. teacher had said, these kids had been through far too much to see the world in such simple terms.
Kids. All Might couldn't help thinking of them as kids even though he knew they were what—nineteen? Twenty? Something like that. Certainly too old to be considered children. Maybe it was because all the information Aizawa had shared about them had been from when they were students.
Anyway, the point here was that the universally acknowledged, world's greatest hero had no idea what to expect when he arrived at the top floor office that had been converted into a private dining room. The moment he opened the door, he spotted the two strangers seated at the far end of the long table. A red line of tape about halfway down the table marked the closest place at the table that anyone else was allowed to sit.
"So is this how far your Quirk reaches?" All Might asked, drawing a chair over to the red line.
The black-haired one—Zeref, if he recalled correctly—appeared surprised by his straightforwardness, but answered after only a moment's hesitation.
"Not exactly. That's the closest an average person can sit and still be able to react quickly enough to avoid my Quirk when it activates on its own."
"So it matters if it's intentional or not?"
Zeref nodded but did not elaborate.
All Might thought he seemed uncomfortable talking about his abilities. Judging from his words, the pro hero assumed that that meant when it was intentional, his Quirk could probably both move faster and reach farther.
"So you're All Might, huh?" the other young man said, scrutinizing him through narrowed, green eyes. "You look a little different than on TV."
A lot different actually.
"Yeah, about that." All Might coughed, unused to sharing the story. "I was injured very badly in a fight a couple years back, so now, I can only use my full power for a few hours a day."
"Sorry to hear that. Must be kind of annoying."
"Uh, yeah, it is. But there isn't much I can do about it. That's just how it goes."
The two boys nodded and let the matter drop. They knew when someone didn't especially want to discuss something, and they also knew that sometimes, unfortunate things happened in life that could not be changed.
The door opened once more to admit Aizawa and Principal Nezu.
"I hope everyone's in the mood for sushi," the principal said cheerfully, setting several large, plastic trays upon the table. "This restaurant just opened up not that far from campus. Their sushi is really quite excellent. Very fresh."
"Sounds good to me," Natsu replied, grabbing two pairs of disposable chopsticks and passing one to his partner. "Thanks, principal. Hey, teach, long time no see."
Aizawa nodded, taking the chair opposite All Might. "I trust the two of you are doing well? I heard the apartment's working out well."
"It is, thanks. We haven't had any problems, and I don't think we will unless some weirdo decides to climb on the roof and startles Zeref here."
"Considering how many floors that building has, I think it's safe to say that that's very unlikely."
"Well, that was the idea."
"It's quiet too," Zeref said, adding his two cents. "It helps. I'm not sure I'll ever get used to the noise."
"Musutafu is a busy city," Principal Nezu said. His paws moved deftly as he poured each of them a cup of tea. "No need to rush."
The principal set the teapot in the middle of the table and settled himself in the last unoccupied chair. Zeref couldn't help wondering what kind of animal Nezu was supposed to be. Although the white-furred principal resembled a human with an animal type Quirk, Zeref had read that he was actually an animal with a Quirk that made him extremely intelligent. His somewhat rounded ears and face reminded Zeref of a bear, but the long, narrow tail was definitely more mouse-like.
Not that it really mattered. Zeref was just curious.
Principal Nezu took a long sip of his tea before speaking again. "We've converted one of the more spacious office suites on this floor to temporary living quarters for the two of you. If there's anything else you need or would like to change, please let us know. We didn't have as much time as I would have liked to renovate the place."
"Does anyone else use this floor?" Zeref asked, picking at the slices of sushi roll on his plate.
"Yes, but they're all the way on the other side of the building," Nezu assured him. "We've also cleared out the rooms directly below yours. Luckily, the summer break has already started, so there won't be many students wandering around."
"That's good." Natsu grinned. "The students who attend this school can be a bit rowdy."
"I wouldn't talk if I were you," Aizawa said dryly. "Your class held the record for starting pointless fights, and you were a major contributor."
"Hey! My fights were never pointless."
Beside him, a very faint smile found its way onto Zeref's face, although he made no comments.
The meal proceeded in relative peace with the conversation meandering from topic to topic while never touching upon anything especially serious. Aizawa was the only person present who knew everyone around the table, so this time was about building a sense of familiarity and setting everyone at ease. Zeref, for one, certainly seemed to need it. There had been a subtle tension in him from the beginning that All Might hadn't noticed until it was gone.
When the last piece of sushi had been eaten, the talk finally turned to official business.
"Is there anything you need from us?" Principal Nezu asked, fixing his round, dark eyes on their guests. "The only specifications in the challenge issued by this villain was that we pro heroes could not help in the search and rescue or else the hostages would simply be killed. However, that doesn't mean we can't offer assistance from the sidelines."
"Thanks for asking, but we should have things covered," Natsu said, much of his earlier casual enthusiasm fading to something much more sharp and grim. "Most of the hero track students will be helping by gathering information and keeping up surveillance on one another. The students we've selected will work more directly with us to corroborate that information and try to locate either the villain or the hostages. Zeref and I are the only ones who will actually be fighting—if it comes to that."
All Might grinned. "I don't know. We do have several very promising young fighters in this year's group."
"I'm sure they're great at the kind of stuff you do," Natsu said, his own grin just a little too sharp and dark. "But our kind of fighting would be rough on them."
"What do you mean?"
"Like we said before, we're not heroes," the Dragon Slayer said dryly. "We're executioners."
.
The former office suite—now their temporary apartment—had been refurnished in shades of creamy blue and ivory. The pale colors were standard procedure, since it made it easier to spot the shadowy fog of Zeref's Quirk even at its faintest and least visible. Zeref was startled to spot a potted plant in the far corner of their new living room.
"It's fake," Natsu assured him after walking over to inspect it. "Wire and fabric by the looks of it. Really realistic too. They even scented it like the real thing."
"I wonder whose idea it was," Zeref said, making his way cautiously over to join him. Not that it mattered whose idea it was. Someone here had thought of it as an alternative to real plants for making the otherwise plain set of rooms more welcoming, and he was grateful for that effort.
Little things were important.
"Are you sure you should have said that at dinner?" Zeref asked quietly, although his gaze remained on the artificial, orange flowers. They were called birds of paradise, if he remembered correctly. He wasn't an expert on plants, but he'd seen such flowers before and their appearance was extremely distinctive.
All Might's shocked and dismayed face kept replaying in his mind. No doubt their "profession", if you could call it that, was unsettling to someone who considered himself the Symbol of Peace.
Natsu shrugged. "It's the truth. Well, implied truth anyway. And he had to know it. Mr. Aizawa and the principal knew already. They don't have to approve."
That was the thing about black-folder jobs. They always dealt with the culprits behind mass murders or serial killings, those that the law had clearly condemned but could not easily reach. That was the main reason they had yet to turn down one of these assignments. Of course, the two of them didn't have to kill the criminal. That wasn't actually written into their instructions. Capture was always technically an option. Unfortunately—or fortunately, depending on your point of view—villains who committed such heinous crimes seldom volunteered for arrest. Instead, more often than not, they chose to fight when they were cornered, and Zeref sent them to an early grave. At the end of the day, their ultimate objective was to prevent more casualties, and it was implicitly understood that the demise of their target was not only possible but probable.
"No," Zeref said finally, "I suppose they don't."
Still, it did bother him sometimes, and it was a nagging, persistent, unpleasant feeling. Zeref didn't like his job, despite the fact that both he and Natsu considered it justice. It was some consolation, however, that death by his Quirk was painless and quick.
What bothered him most about all this though, what really made his insides twist with guilt when people gave them that look, was something else.
"I'm sorry for getting you involved in all of this."
He didn't have to look to know that Natsu was scowling. He could hear it in his reply.
"Don't be an idiot. I chose to get involved. Hell, I was the one who negotiated a lot of this for us, remember?"
Well, him, Mr. Aizawa, and select members of the Facility staff that Natsu actually liked. A teenager, even one with excellent records from the world's top hero program, wouldn't have had much influence. Even though Zeref's Quirk was no longer the frightening mystery it had been when it had first manifested, there were still plenty of people who didn't want to let the boy out of confinement out of fear—not only of accidental deaths, but of what a clever villain might be able to do. Then there was the challenge of dealing with the bastards in the government who wanted to use the deadly Quirk for "the good of the people", but really just so they had one more incredible weapon at their disposal. Natsu and the others had had to negotiate a balance—find some sort of compromise that all parties could accept so that he and Zeref wouldn't meet with too much future interference.
"But I've made a killer out of you," Zeref said quietly.
And he felt deeply that he couldn't apologize enough for that even if it wasn't strictly his fault. He tried his best to always be the one who actually did the killing when it became necessary, but it hadn't always been possible. It didn't help that Natsu was, Zeref had to admit, rather a lot more violent by nature than he was.
"I suppose I wonder sometimes if your life would have been better if we hadn't known each other."
At the very least, it would have been more normal.
"Are you trying to make me angry?" Natsu snapped. "You know I hate it when you talk like this. I'm here with you because I want to be. It's not just for you. It's for me too. You should know that."
Because I love you.
Natsu didn't say the words aloud, but Zeref knew that they were there. The two of them had had variants on this particular conversation a number of times since their reunion, most of them during Zeref's first year out of the Facility.
And I love you too, Zeref thought. Sometimes, it frightened him just how much.
"Enough of this," Natsu said firmly, turning his partner away from the artificial plant and towards the suite's other rooms. "Let's check out what they've done with this place. We're going to be living here for awhile after all. We should start getting familiar with it and see if there's anything we need to change."
TBC...
AN: Huh, I'm having fun with Sting and Rogue in this story. They were very hard for me to work with in Firelight and Shadows, but for some reason, this setting seems to make them a lot easier for me. I'll have to see if they can show up or be referenced more.
Eh, yes, I actually have been trying to review some of the Hero Academia series, although I just haven't had the time to marathon it like I'd like to.
Ethics, huh? Yeah, I'd say this story does not match up with all the values in the Hero Academia universe. I do like those values—part of the reason I like the series so much—but I also think that with an ability like Zeref's, it's reasonable to think things could turn out this way (granted, I guess I have a somewhat pessimistic view of human nature).
Someone asked whether Zeref will be able to make demons. The answer is that I haven't decided yet. It's possible, but for the purposes of this story, he doesn't know, so you can treat the answer like a no. Details on his abilities will be in the next chapter.
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