A more serious chapter, but it was really fun for me to write. Enjoy!
"YOU'RE DOING IT WRONG! IT DOESN'T WORK THIS WAY, BAKA! Y-y-you didn't even ask me yet!"
"Will you marry me?"
"NO!" And as I took in a breath to yell at him, something changed; I felt sick and terrible, and I wanted to hurt him, and I was angry, no, I hated completely, but I didn't know why, my magic was reacting; somewhere in my mind I knew I didn't really want to hurt Natsu, my nakama—and then in a burst of fresh wind I collapsed onto pine-scattered loam, breathing in their sharp scent.
"Breathe, Lucy," said Zeref, letting me lean on him.
"What… was that?" I gasped.
"I took advantage of the surge in your magic to teleport us here, on the cliffs. We will not be disturbed by anyone unless my barrier is taken down. You are here so I can teach you to control your magic. Black magic will take any advantage you give it, and it will use that advantage to hurt you and those around you. You need to understand that it is absolutely necessary to have complete control over it. Control comes with understanding."
By now, I was breathing normally again and I sat on my own; Zeref's steady instructing voice was calming.
He spoke again, seeing that I was ready, "We will begin by familiarization. Close your eyes. Find it. Feel it."
I did so, and flinched as it lashed back, stinging.
"Don't flinch. Lucy, look at me. You cannot control it if you are not strong. Right now, you are not strong enough."
I looked down, biting my lip. I knew I would always be weak.
"You are strong compared to the average mage—let alone average celestial mage. But you are in Fairy Tail, a renowned guild. You are part of a team with exceptional members. You are dragon-touched. And you are my daughter—you have my magic. The expectations are higher; it is necessary for you to be stronger."
"Dragon-touched?" I queried, somewhat befuddled. "Do you mean that time when you…" I stopped, thinking perhaps it was something I shouldn't have known.
Zeref smiled wryly. "Let me guess. You dreamt that I took you to dragons who spelled you."
"Yeah, that," I agreed.
"Black magic will exploit itself in strange ways when it builds up. The dragons had sealed most of the magic, but you broke that seal in the fight with Minerva. In order for you to be able to do that, I paid a much higher price.
"Of course," added Zeref, "I would paid almost any price—dragons are mostly reasonable—but it was not my intention to place you in a situation with even more expectations."
"What are you talking about?" I said, apprehensive as I remembered the words of the dragon ritual in my dream.
"The-ah-situation involving the five Dragon Slayers," replied Zeref, at least having the grace to look sheepish, and I remembered what brought me here in the first place.
I glared at him. "What's the point of the whole thing anyway?"
"That was the price. I let them marry you, and the contract is fulfilled."
"So you just let them?!"
"I knew the dragons; they would make worthy husbands."
"That is so not the point. What if I love someone else? Why do I have to choose? What happens if I refuse to choose? Why do they want me to marry a Dragon Slayer?"
Zeref remained silent, looking at me as though in a different light, or contemplating what to say.
He began, "There are those who wish to know predetermined fate, whether a glorious destiny or an unmarked life. Much of mankind cannot resist that knowledge, once available. And then there are those who want to live life to the very fullest at each and every moment and experience things as they come to bloom, full circle. Often these are people with the best chances and best qualities of a leader, and as such, they often discover that their very core belief of life has been denied them.
"You, as one of the latter, will need to accept this is your fate. Bear in mind, however, that the dragons did not choose you arbitrarily; they believe you really are their best hope for ultimate peace. They say you are the one with the power to choose, and with all the other factors, one extreme might well leave you saving the world. Then again, it might have something to do with the fact that there is great probability you will be the one to set the world along the path of destruction in the first place." Zeref shrugged. "Who knows? The future changes with every choice."
I blinked, shaken by the information dumped on me. Save the world? Ultimate peace? Path of destruction? That wasn't me at all; I hoped the future changed enough between now and then that I would never have to face such things. Thinking thoroughly, I nodded, decisive. The best way to have everything I wanted was to be able to gain and protect them myself.
"Zeref? I want to learn; please, teach me everything. I want to be stronger, to be recognized as strong so I can protect my nakama. I want—I don't want to have to save the world and fail."
He paused, then beamed, "I am certain you will give me many more opportunities to be as proud of you as I am now. Try touching your magic again."
I could feel it brimming just beneath my consciousness, waiting for me. Confident rather than tremulous, I was rewarded by the sight of the black light indicating magic surrounding me.
"Good. Now, spellwork," the slightest of frowns marring his face. "You need a strong body Lucy, and I know you have not paid the most acute of attention towards that area. It is important, Lucy," Zeref lectured; his voice hardened to emphasize his point.
And that was how it became a regular sight for me to be wobbling unsteadily down the cliff hiker's path, along the beach, and into the inn, much too drained to use any sort of magical aid.
!asdfghjklasdfghjkl!
Zeref stood on a tree limb, high and secluded from the rest of the world. His sight, magically sharpened, tracked a certain pretty blonde trekking across the snow in Magnolia. Opposite the trunk sat Mavis, legs swinging contentedly. They conversed in murmurs; no one who happened to be traversing the lonely wilderness would notice them blended into snow and trunk, white and black.
At some point, the conversation quieted, and silence reigned. Mavis leaped down, and, lightly stepping above the snow so as to not leave foot prints, made her way quickly to Fairy Tail. She had a very exciting message for the Sixth Master.
Zeref remained, alone, and turned his face to the sky, graced with a wistful smile. Fairy Tail had returned to Magnolia that fall, and as the official number one guild in Fiore, job requests poured in daily, and every member was only too willing to take advantage of extra jobs as December approached. Except Lucy, of course, because he had to keep training her. Protesting at first, she gave in when he offered an allowance much higher than her meager salary after deduction for destruction. (It was an unspoken rule that source of money was not mentioned.)
With time, came progress. When they had returned, Zeref had no longer teleported Lucy to training. The day after he had taught her the same spells he used on the barrier, he was purposefully late and unable to find a particular section of forest. And on and on; Lucy's learning curved steeply.
He was extremely proud of his daughter, but he missed Layla. Four centuries of loneliness and regret, broken by barely a year of love. He had long overstayed his time in this world, and too much of that time had been spent trying to destroy it. Lucy was his greatest redemption, that the dragons would attest to, but still the guilt gnawed at him.
And so he had made his decision. One mission. And then he would visit the dragons one last time.
!asdfghjklasdfghjkl!
I spun, laughing in the softly drifting snow, reveling in Zeref's arbitrary vacation. Spotting a festive bookstore tucked into a niche between two other shops, I skipped towards it delightedly. Inside, I ran my fingers past the crisp, clean spines, scanning titles and famous authors that I hoped my name would one day be amongst. Plucking off a few choice selections, I staggered over to a big, comfy armchair. (What? There was only twelve.)
As I read, and the soft, jazzy holiday music played in the comfortable warmth of the store, I inevitably found myself drifting to sleep.
I stared at the rock in my hand, sitting beneath a rock outcropping in the middle of somewhere in some forest. There, that hiss. Another demon was coming. I couldn't care. It was too late, anyway. As the bug-like creature clattered its pincers upon spotting me, my arm reflexively sprang back and threw the rock at the base of its tail, the weak point—just as Father had taught me, with no expenditure of magic. The demon hissed and frothed, killed by its own ruptured poison glands.
As apathetic as I was, I still picked up another rock and closed my eyes, waiting. Soon another one would come. Everything had just come crashing down…
I jerked awake, recognizing my surroundings as the details of the dream faded away, leaving behind a bitter taste in my mouth. How long had I been asleep? I looked around for a clock, then out the window and saw that the sun had set. Already? I hurried to return the books to their proper shelves, and then to the guild. I was pretty sure Zeref had told me to meet him there for dinner, in the café that had come with new renovations and I hoped I wasn't late. It was slightly morbid, how, in the centuries of immortality, he had never once learned to cook in a futile attempt to starve himself. My own cooking… was nothing short of disastrous. Evidently his genes at work.
The first thing I saw as I walked in the door was Master's face, saying "We need to talk" like a flashing neon signboard. I walked over, following him into his office on the second floor with more than a little trepidation.
"Lucy," he said, once I had sat down, "Zeref has … left."
"Left?" I frowned, "Did he say anything?"
"Yes. He wants you to take the S-class exam next month."
"What? There's no way! I'm not ready!"
"Well, I don't have any sort of grasp on your magical ability, but he certainly seems to think you are. Zeref also reserved this mission for you. Apparently, if you can complete it, then you can take the exam." Master pushed a sheet of paper over from the other side of his desk.
"Wait, how am I supposed to take an S-class mission before taking the exam?"
"You didn't think we'd let you do something like this alone, didja, Lucy?" Natsu stood in the doorway, ready to go, grinning like the Cheshire Cat… on sugar high, with Happy hovering above his shoulder. Erza and Gray, with their (and mine) respective baggage, flanked him, also smiling. I couldn't help it; my mouth split open in a grin, I grabbed the job sheet off the desk, "Thank you, Master!" and hugged my nakama fiercely.
!asdfghjklasdfghjkl!
When the teens had left, Mavis appeared. "You couldn't possibly have warned them about Takrenope, could you?"
"Well, it's not like they'll be in any danger. Besides how strong Team Natsu is initially, they'll have three other Dragon Slayers tagging along."
"Yeah… it's not like they're going to find out about…"
Re: To Anonymous Guest: So what I tried to make clear was that the black magic is deadly (kinda like gamma rays). Lucy, as a baby, could accidently hurt or kill people, possibly including herself. Therefore, Zeref made a deal with the dragons to seal her magic. However, he didn't want to lock away the only (good) legacy he had left, permanently. The dragons offered him a loophole: let Lucy's mate be a dragon slayer. They did this to fulfill their prophecy. So now the magic is sealed, but the nonpermanence allows some of it to leak through and perform Ancient Magic, specifically, that created by Zeref.
In the first chapter, Zeref's proximity on the island stirred up more magic than Lucy was used to when being extremely emotional; the feelings were from an unconscious accidental Sense Link. (No, she did not already have feelings for Natsu, that was Zeref's disappoint, sadness, etc. at not being killed bleeding through.) Now that she broke the seal by the loophole (death/life situation) the magic bleeds through even more, and she has certain dreams. Lucy also activated the condition: Dragon Slayer mate, since she was what Dragons considered adult. I hope this explains everything, and thank you for letting me know you were confused!
To all readers: I'll probably end up making a chapter on magic theory, and all that other stuff that might be confusing, because, as all writers know, creating things is fun! Well, looks like Team Natsu is ready to roll! And Takrenope shows up again!
