Zeref being still the king was not but in jail but he never left Natsu's side once. He had created the formula to allow Natsu to absorb his own magic as he would have years ago. Gajeel had sent word to Porlyusica along with the formula recipe, as well as a few ingredients that may be difficult for her to find. All to ensure that she was never caught off guard again with this.
Gray kept watch over Zeref and Natsu as time went on. Natsu had passed out three days ago and hadn't so much as twitched since then. Wendy said he was fine as did Zeref. Gray how ever felt their was something wrong that may not be physical and Zeref may know about it.
"Whats wrong with him?" Gray finally asked on the fourth day.
"Nothing." Zeref replied not looking to Gray.
"If it was nothing he would have woken up by now." Gray countered this time, Zeref did look at him.
"No. I mean nothing is wrong with him. That is what is concerning. You're right he should have woken up by now. But he hasn't." Zeref looked back to his brother with softened eyes.
"COuld it be the sickness that he had as a child?" Gray asked.
"No." Zeref imately replied not even flinching.
"How do you know that?" Gray asked. "We haven't run tests for it."
"He is still alive. That's how I know. If it was that sickness, he would already be dead." Zeref replied. "Plus there's still no cure so stop asking stupid questions. Thanks." After giving Gray a sarcastic smile he went back to watching Natsu.
"Well aren't you a bundle of joy." Gray muttered looking out the window. The castle was being fixed from Natsu's destruction. At first the council had wanted to press charges but Zeref being the King and Hisui being friends with Natsu both swept it under the table.
"Well I am called the Black Wizard for a reason." Zeref pointed out.
"How are you and Natsu even related?" Gray asked. They were like polar opposites.
"Well when a man and a women love each other-" Zeref started.
"HARHARHAR." Gray rolled his eyes at the other along with the fake laugh.
They were quiet for a while. Both thinking who knows what. An hour later though Zeref spoke up.
"How did you and Natsu become friends?" Zeref asked brushing a strand of hair out of Natsu's face. Gray looked over to Zeref. Maybe he wanted to know everything about Natsu while they weren't together.
"I am sorry. If I had known I would have made sure to use someone else's. I hate breaking up families." Those words echoed through Gray's mind. Zeref had looked completely serious and completely sorry for that.
"Makarov brought him in." Gray shrugged. "I am ice, he fire. We constantly butted heads, naturally in hatred, but as time went on I guess we became close friends. At least I hope we have."
"You don't know?" Zeref asked glancing to Gray.
"We don't really talk about that kind of stuff. Actually I think the longest conversation we had without it turning into a fight was about Happy being a dragon. I guess growing up with someone and being that close all the time you don't really need to talk to know each other." Gray shrugged at that.
"Does he have a lot of friends?" Zeref asked smiling.
"Sorta." Gray chuckled.
"What does that mean?" Zeref asked a little taken back.
"Natsu fights a lot of people. If they meet again he thinks their friends because he got to know their fighting style. But he has friends within Fairy Tail, as well as with other guilds. All because he started a fight and no one really won." Gray remembered Natsu's fight with Lyon and how close they had gotten during the Magic games as well as after them. Or how Natsu totally crushed Sting and Rouge and the three have become even closer because of that fight.
"I try to keep track of him the best I can. But I can't. I know he has a lot of friends in Fairy Tail. Mavis has told me so." Zeref smiled at the thought of the young women.
"You don't have a Fairy Tail crest. How can you talk to her?" Gray asked hoping to get a better answer then he killed her and now she is haunting him.
"Honestly? Don't really know. We were friends. I taught her magic, and she taught me how to care about others again. I guess you could say I helped found Fairy Tail. Though had I known Natsu was going to end up with the guild I would have told Mavis a lot more about him." Zeref chuckled at that like a really real chuckle.
"Huh." Gray sighed.
"What? I thought that would surprise you." He offered the ice mage a small smile. One like Natsu's old ones. And suddenly he saw the resemblance between the two.
"I thought you killed her or something and now she haunts you." Gray replied shrugging.
"They all haunt me. Every last person who I have killed. Mavis is one of those voices. I taught her the magic that ended up killing her." Zeref was no longer smiling about anything, in fact he looked like he was about to cry.
Gray was silent after that. It wasn't till Wendy brought lunch later that day for the boys with Sam and James on her heal that their was any sound in the room.
"Well now, since you two haven't killed each other by now, eat something." Wendy said as she shoved plates of food into their laps. Gray looked up to her. She really had grown. She looked just like her Edolas counterpart now, well her hair was tied back into a tight braid but other then that they were twins.
"Thank you." Zeref muttered biting into a slice of buttered bread.
"Thanks Wendy." Gray grumbled, not wanting his manners to be out done by Zeref.
"Wow I never thought I would say this, but thank you Zeref. You really are teaching him good manners." Wendy said looking to the dark wizard as she helped the kids change Natsu's IV bag.
"It's always polite to say thank you to a beautiful women." Zeref replied shrugging.
"See that Gray! You could learn a thing or two from him!" Wendy pointed out with a laugh.
"Don't go getting your hopes up." Gray huffed now sulking in the corner.
"Natsu better use his manners." Zeref said glaring down at his brother.
"Natsu doesn't have any manners beyond not fully begging for food." Wendy said laughing.
"Then I will have to beat them into him again." Zeref huffed agerly.
"Again?" James asked.
"Well a long time ago he wouldnt say thank you to a waitress after she had given us our meals. Of course being the older brother I apologized to her and punched him in the skull. He always said thank you after that." Zeref replied holding his head up high with pride.
"Wow no wonder, Erza scares him so much. She subconsciously reminds him of you!" Wendy laughed patting the other on the shoulder.
"I have yet to meet this Erza. Is she really as scary as Gray has made her out to be?" Zeref asked innocently. He has never heard of Titanas rumors because he never stuck around people for very long.
"Well to them she may be." Wendy laughed pointing the the guys. "But I think she is quite nice."
"That's because you didn't grow up with her beating you up every single day." Gray grumbled setting down his finished meal.
"She beat you up?" Zeref questioned.
"Ya but I guess that's what made us the strongest team in the end right?" Gray asked laughing at the past.
"I better get going. I have to help Gajeel with something's." Wendy said taking the plates and giving them to James and Sam.
"You and he have become very close." Gray said with a wink.
"He's my partner. We get along as well as we can. Natsu said that we had to get along as well as Sting and Rouge to always be ready for anything." Wendy shrugged and she closed the door.
"He seems to have helped a lot of people." Zeref mussed after she left.
"It's what he does." Gray replied picking up a book he had been reading. "Has he always been like that?"
"Yes." Zeref said only offering the one word answer.
It wasn't till two days later that Natsu showed any sign of waking up.
"Thats cheating!" Gray had yelled angrily.
"Their is no possible way of cheating in Go-Fish, Gray." Zeref replied coolly with a smile.
"You could have looked at my cards!" Gray sputtered.
"When? You never left." Zeref smirked his reply out.
Gray huffed and reshuffled the deck when they heard Natsu groan and tare at his arm where the IV was.
"N-no!" He mutter in his sleep trying to get rid of whatever it was he was dreaming of.
"Natsu?" Gray and Zeref where at his side in seconds the card game forgotten about for the moment.
"No…." Was all he said before drifting off to wherever he was at the moment.
Zeref did a full medical check before speaking. "Just a dream. He wasn't awake."
They went back to their card game without saying anything to anyone else about Natsu.
Spending the amount of time he did with Zeref, Gray had learned a lot about him. He had learned how much Zeref cares for Natsu. He learned that in the time Zeref was around he had degrees in science, biological, chemistry, as well as astronomy. He had a medical degree as high up as one can go in the medical field. He had a luage degree and had written a few books under various fake names over the years. He was also a very good cook. How that had come up in their talks Gray never really figured out.
But two weeks after the fight, Natsu finally decided to open his eyes to the waking world when Zeref brought in fresh cinnamon rolls. Weather or not that was what woke Natsu up one could not say but he muched happily on the cream covered pastries as Wendy looked him over.
"Do you feel dizzy? Have a headache?" Wendy asked taking various notes as she went.
"Naw. Should I?" Natsu asked taking another bit of the pastry.
"They are some side effects of the medicine we gave you to allow you to stop needing the other slayers around." Zeref explained as he to took detailed notes of various findings.
Natsu thought for a moment but shook his head. "Nope I am good!"
"See?" Gray whispered to Zeref. "Not a clue."
"I do. You are very right." Zeref mused happily.
"What are you two talking about?" Natsu grumbled.
"You mostly." Gray said with a smirk.
"Anything good?" Natsu asked.
"Just that feeding you gets people on your good side." Zeref smiled a happy sad kind of smile.
"Food is a great way to make friends!" Natsu cried happily munching on a new pastry.
About five cinnamon rolls did Natsu finally realise what he was doing. He dropped the one he was eating and looked absolutely horrified by the about he had eaten.
"These are poisonous are they!?" He demanded glaring at Zeref.
"And he's back." Gray chuckled.
"Not they are not." Zeref replied a bit offended.
"Why should I trust you!?" Natsu demanded continuously glaring at the other. Wendy rolled her eyes as Natsu's nose twitched from the smell of the leftover buns.
"Because I trust him." Gray answered when Zeref was at a loss for words.
"You trust him?" Natsu asked deadpanning.
"Spreading two weeks with they guy in the same room playing cards and waiting for you to wake up really does help. Plus Gajeel whatched him bake it." Gray shrugged.
"Oh god! Gajeel poisoned me!" Natsu was no longer focused on Zeref. Gajee would totally do something like that.
"Natsu no one poisoned the buns!" Gray cired.
"Oh….ok awesome. I will keep eating them then," And true to his word the rest of the buns went into his mouth.
Natsu was already itching for a fight by the time he escaped the room where his brother and Gray refused to let him leave for the past few hours saying he needed to rest and eat more solid foods. When they feel asleep though he slipped out. He had been asleep for two weeks. He wanted to fight someone. Break something. Basically do anything that required physical activity. Even being Sam's horsey would be enough for him at the moment!
He made his way to the top of the tallest tower on the castle and looked over the kingdom with shining eyes. He hadn't been to the capital since he wrote Fairy Tail in fire on the roof. He expected Gray and Zeref to be searching for him now. They were bound to be getting cold, well Zeref cold who would have woken up Gray by their new buddy-buddy thing going on.
Natsu didn't want to be in that room anymore. It was small and cramped. Granted it easily fit the slayers, Zeref, Gray, Erza, Jallal, and the kids in their with lots of room to spare but Natsu didn't like being trapped like that. He liked roaming free even when they went back in time. He would go for early morning walks or late night stories because he hated being put in one spot for more than a few days.
Often the slayers had to camp for a few weeks time to avoid dragons trying to kill them or keep Natsu away from a village. Natsu at the time didn't really care. He went for his walks or runs or swims, depending on the mood he had been in and where they were camping out.
His travels back then had allowed him to leave little symbols made of smoothed rock or sea glass or anything that would hold up to the weather as well as time. 400 years was long time though, he doubted any of them were still around.
He heard footsteps coming up the stairs behind him. He knew who it was so he did not turn to look.
"They were all worried about you. Gray and Zeref put the castle on lock down trying to find you." Jallal said.
"I thought I heard funky sirens." Natsu mused looking to the sky where the sun was setting. "You going to take me back down then?" Natsu asked glancing to the other.
"No. I understand. You want to be free from that room. I get it." Jallal replied shrugging turning to face the sun as well.
"How did you find me any way? Covered my scent well and you don't have a slayers nose." Natsu pointed out.
"I thought about where I would go. You and I think a lot alike sometimes." Jallal chuckled at the slayer.
"I guess so." Natsu smiled in return.
"Though I would recommend you showing your face to someone else. They are tearing about the castle searching for you." Jallal said looking to the Dragon Slayer.
"Well the other slayers can't find me. Zeref doesn't know me all that well. I am surprised it was you and not Gray who found me." Natsu mused sitting down dangling his legs through the railing.
"Well Gray would have if you went to the basement or the garden." Jallal replied.
"I was their. They got boring. I wanted to be up higher. I wanted to see something different." Natsu huffed out.
"You were looking for a fight weren't you?" Jallal asked looking down at Natsu who went stiff then looked away. "It's fine. You have been bedridden for two weeks. I am surprised those two kept you in that room. God I pitied you. I tried to get them to let you go."
" 'preciate the help." Natsu muttered.
"I better get back down their." Jallal said walking to the stairs.
"Jallal?"
"Hmm?"
"Could you stall them for a bit? I want to go do something before going back to them." Natsu said looking to the sun light.
"I will do what I can alright?" Jellal replied. He knew better then to ask Natsu questions when he got like this.
So y'all are most likely going "they wouldn't get along!" Like that meme with with the guy from Star Treck on the Enterprise, you know the bald one, in like ten minutes I will remember his name but its slipping my mind right now. But humor me on this one. Zeref cares hell-a lot for Natsu. Like hell-a lot. So I thought maybe he cares for family. Hence the reason he feels so bad about Silver. Also After spending two weeks watching Zeref, Gray would get bored and was bound to talk to him. I mean anyone would get bored sitting there for two weeks straight making sure that Zeref didn't do anything to Natsu. So Gray gets to learn a bit about Zeref. Honestly I think this was good way to write this particular story. And if y'all go a flipping problem with that stop reading.
