Chapter F-4: Unobliteratable

Zeref was having a quiet day.

He was currently lying on his back in a forest in southeast Fiore, watching the clouds through the trees. They were nice clouds. There was one that looked like an arrow. And that one was shaped like a chicken wing. Mmm . . . he missed chicken wings.

And there was a darker cloud that wafted across the sky at a different speed and direction to the others. It looked quite out of place . . . oh. It was smoke.

It seemed to be coming from a little ways to the south, just outside the forest. Perhaps he should investigate. Then again, he was currently very comfortable. After a moment's consideration, he shrugged and decided that it wasn't worth the bother. Knowing his luck, it would probably be Fairy Tail. And they could handle themselves. Probably.

There was a soft impact on his chest, and Zeref looked up in surprise to see that an acorn had fallen out of a tree and hit him. Huh. He shrugged, scooped the nut up and slipped it into his pocket. That might be useful later.

And then there was suddenly an angry squirrel on his face.

Zeref shrieked in shock and sat up straight, before clawing at his face to pull the irritating rodent off of him. It let go and partly fell, partly was thrown to the ground, before growling at him - and sinking its claws into his leg.

The Black Mage scrambled to his feet and shook his leg, trying to dislodge the persistent squirrel from his trousers, before finally batting it away with a hand. It landed and recovered again, still shrieking with fury.

A thunderous expression crossed Zeref's face. "Just leave me alone!" he commanded, and suddenly a plume of black smoke shot out of him in all directions. The grass underfoot withered and died, the acorn in his pocket disintegrated into dust, trees around him shrivelled and shed their leaves, and the poor squirrel never had a chance.

When the smoke cleared, Zeref realised what he had done. "No . . not again . . I'm sorry," he moped, collapsing to his knees.

A few minutes passed, and a sudden noise stirred the black wizard. "Uh, are you alright?" an unfamiliar voice asked.

Zeref stood and turned on his heel, to see a young woman with seaweed-green hair and a golden pen tucked behind her ear, ocean-blue eyes and wearing a pink blouse, with brown shoes and matching fingerless gloves. A faint purple-blue light seemed to play across her eyes for a second, but Zeref dismissed it as a trick of the light. "No! Stay back! I don't want to hurt you!" he shouted, backing away. This girl was within range . . if it happened again, she would . . no!

"You mean with that black mist thing? I was just destroying some bandits' hideout when I sensed something weird. I came and saw what happened . . yowza," the girl admitted, but stepped forwards regardless. "That's the Contradictory Curse, right?"

"Yes. And if you know what it does, then you'll know that you have to stay away from me!" Zeref declared, continuing to back away, but the girl chuckled. "Actually, that's not quite true. See, my name's Ariel. Ariel Nagato. And I can't be killed,"

The ageless boy stopped dead. "You . . what?"

"Yeah. But that's a pretty big secret, so don't tell anyone," Ariel winked. "Though I have to admit, I wouldn't even tell you if I didn't already know how isolated you are, and that you therefore aren't likely to have anyone to tell in the first place. Zeref,"

"You know who I am?" Zeref blinked, frowning. Who exactly was this girl?

"Of course," Ariel smiled, but paused. "I really shouldn't be doing this . . my superiors will probably get mad at me when they find out,"

"Oh . . well, I don't want you to get in trouble on my account," Zeref shook his head.

"Oh, it's not a problem," Ariel shrugged, her smile reasserting herself. "I mean, they sent me to join Phoenix's Eye. Breaking the rules is practically in the guild manifest, so they really shouldn't be surprised that it rubs off on me," she casually admitted, taking a seat on a nearby rock.

"Alright," Zeref nodded, sitting down. "Phoenix's Eye. Is that your guild?"

"Yeah," Ariel nodded. "We're the craziest gang of psychos in Fiore," she grinned.

"I can see that," the Black Mage accepted.

There was a brief lull in the conversation. "So, what's it like ruling an empire?" Ariel questioned.

"Not as much fun as it might sound like," Zeref coolly informed her. "Though that could be just me," he acquiesced.

"No, I think that's a universal sentiment. You should meet Cardinal. I'm sure he could relate," Ariel chuckled.

The cursed boy paused. That name sounded vaguely familiar . . . but he'd heard so many names so many times in his four hundred-odd years of living, he just couldn't place it. "Who?"

Ariel paused, and blushed. "Oh - heh, whoops. I wasn't supposed to say that . . could you do me a favour and forget you heard that, please?"

"Alright," Zeref conceded with a shrug.

"How's Irene?" the witch asked, changing the subject.

"You know Irene?" the dark wizard blinked in surprise.

"Only by reputation," she shrugged. "But I know you and her are close,"

"Fair enough," he accepted. "She's fine. Still in Alvarez, of course," Zeref blinked as the implications of what she had just said sunk in. "Wait - no! I'm not attracted to her or anything!" he protested.

"Don't worry, everyone knows you have the hots for Mavis Vermillion," Ariel nodded, taking no notice of the blush creeping across his face. "Take care of her, all the same. She'll be important,"

"I will, ah, take your word for it," Zeref nodded, frowning, and drew breath to ask a question - but then he felt it. The tugging in his gut, the tingling in his magic circuits, that warned him it was about to come. He gritted his teeth, trying to hold the death magic in. "You have to move, now," he hissed at Ariel, who looked at him curiously. "Oh - is the Curse about to come?"

"Move! I can't hold it in!" Zeref snapped, puffs of dark smoke emerging from his nostrils.

Ariel hummed thoughtfully. "No, I don't think I will. I want to see this,"

Zeref spluttered - and then it happened. A massive rush of dark magic billowed out with incredible speed, swarming in all directions. Ariel was engulfed in seconds.

The dark wizard sighed, watching the spot in the fog where the witch had vanished. It was a shame. He'd liked her. Though he had warned her . .

"Oh," he heard her voice, and blinked. She should be dead.

As the fog dispersed, he saw her. Still seated, letting the death magic play through her fingers like nothing had happened. Seeming none the worse for wear whatsoever.

Zeref blinked in amazement. "Who exactly are you?" he questioned, frowning.

Ariel looked up, eyeing him as though she had briefly forgotten he was there, and shot him a cheerful smile. "I told you. I'm Ariel Nagato," And with that, she raised a fountain pen, and tapped it against nothing, almost as though she were putting a full stop at the end of a sentence.

And then something changed about the world. Zeref felt a strange, indescribable sensation, and . . suddenly it was the night, and the strange girl was gone.

He started standing up and looking around in confusion. "What - what was that?" the cursed wizard questioned.

~P's E~

Some time later, the boy was poring over an extremely old book, leafing through the pages until he found what he was searching for. "Cardinal," he murmured, finding the passage.

". . . Cardinal, a mysterious being, perhaps a god, who has never been encountered by a reliable source. However, several figures of historical importance have reported encounters with strange people who, on occasion, make reference to Cardinal as though they were a hierarchical superior in some manner of organisation. There are several theories as to the nature of this situation, but the most prevalent is that Cardinal is some kind of reclusive god, and that these people are his worshippers, or perhaps his angels, sent by him to carry out some mysterious task."

Zeref blinked. How . . interesting.

A/N

A/N

Whoooooo. Spooky.

Also, there might be a prize for anyone who can figure out what the title refers to.

Peace!