Disclaimer: Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima

ACT III: Crossroad - Where demons roam

Approximately X793

Chapter 14: Tell me why

~ o ~ O ~ o ~

Zeref smiled and felt... well rather satisfied for the first time in a long time.

Currently he was sitting on a rock and looking at the small group of mages who was licking their wounds after dealing with the demon known as END. Or well technically the majority of them was casually resting, while his dear brother was pressing his head against Lucy's bosom, like it was a pair of comforting pillows.

Ohh dear... if Natsu knew he did the same trick to the girl's mother a long time ago... silly pervert...

Zeref chuckled sadly to himself feeling somewhat jealous of the things his brother could have, that was impossible for himself to obtain. Sure he had longed for it, but it was a wish that would never be fulfilled. Just like his feelings for Layla was a waste and he had known that from the start. But still, he couldn't deny or erase his own emotions even if he tried.

So even though it was something he had grown to know would never be a factor in his life, Zeref somehow managed to get a good amount of knowledge about how to treat women. He didn't know why he knew that, maybe it was something he learned when he was with Layla. Not that it mattered where he got this insight, but he knew for a fact that the thing Natsu was doing right now, was almost the definition of the wrong approach.

"Stupid brother..." the dark mage sighed heavily when he noticed a presence approaching him "... I was wondering when you would show up"

"Yes..." Mavis gentle voice said as she casually walked over and placed herself beside the dark mage.

"This is your doing isn't it?" Zeref turned his head to look at the blonde girl "Lumen Historie"

"Yes" she smiled brightly towards him "Fairy Heart"

"I see" Zeref said with a hint of anger as he turned his head to look at Lucy "But at what cost?"

"I don't know..." Mavis said truthfully and closed her eyes "... it's too early to say what consequences it might have, but at least it isn't fatal"

"Hopefully not..." Zeref looked mildly annoyed as he glared at Mavis "... her place in all of this is far from over and if you somehow messed it up..."

"I didn't..." she nodded and rocked back and forth on her heals "... and you knew I wouldn't, or else you wouldn't have brought her to that room, like I requested you to do"

"We used to be friends, so I do have some small faith in your judgement. Besides she is from your guild, so I knew hurting her wasn't an option for you"

"Exactly..." Mavis turned her head to glare at the blonde girl, who was still comforting the Dragon Slayer "... so what is your opinion about humanity now?"

"Well as you know..." Zeref smiled sadly "... a long time ago I made a bet with the King of fire dragons to see if him raising Natsu could somehow change the future. At that time I wanted to know if his high hopes in humanity was justified"

"Have you reached a new conclusion to that answer then?"

"No... I mean if Lucy died here, then what was to stop my brother in seeing her death as his fault, since it would essentially be due to her efforts in restraining the demon, that she died. And if that happened what would prevent him from starting his own cycle of hatred and revenge?"

"Don't you have faith in him?" Mavis asked feeling curious.

"Perhaps... perhaps I do..." Zeref groaned and massaged his temple as if he was having a sudden headache "... however..."

"However...?"

"I wont forgive the dragons" his eyes glistened with unrestricted hatred "After all it was their fault she died"

Mavis didn't say anything to that, but kept glaring at the members of her guild.

"That's why I need the dragon's represented in the final encounter... I want them to take responsibility somehow for what happened" the dark mage chuckled sounding somewhat insane.

"I understand why you feel that way..." Mavis sighed heavily "... but isn't that path guided by your desire for revenge, which would essentially be the same thing you resent in humanity?"

"You're right..." Zeref looked at his hands "... I have been contaminated with the same feelings, that motivates people into going in the wrong direction"

"Is that why you wanted Lumen Historie?"

"Yes... I wanted to see for myself how it can be used for both good and bad things" Zeref looked at the other mage again "Since I contain both hatred but also love inside of me, I wanted to know how I would control it"

"I see..." Mavis poked to a rock with her toe "... so you still hold feelings for her?"

"I guess that might be the correct interpretation of it..."

"Is that why you put Lucy in suspended animation, instead of killing her?"

"She looks just like her" the dark mage narrowed his eyes in sorrow "Besides she's Layla's legacy to the world and I couldn't destroy that"

Mavis sighed loudly "But instead you made her the key to the conflict. That was very generous of you"

"Yeah.. there's something rather poetic and absurd in that. She provoked him to spawn but she was also the reason he withdrew" Zeref closed his eyes for a second.

"You didn't plan for that to happen" Mavis stated the fact.

"No... I had some faith in the Spriggan and that they could somehow be the trigger, but evidently that wasn't enough"

"I see..." Mavis turned her head and spotted the pile of unconscious demons.

"Don't worry about them" the dark mage said when he noticed where she was looking "Their respawning site Hell's Core is no more, so it shouldn't take long before they vanish from existence"

"That's just wrong..." the tiny mage said sounding rather sad.

"It's too late to do something, look" he pointed towards the demons "They are already starting to glow signifying that it's their time"

None of them said anything for a while as they just sat there staring at the scenario in front of them.

"So..." Mavis started "... what now?"

"It's almost time for the last and final phase" Zeref said as he got into a standing position "The fight between the three fractions"

Mavis turned around and walked over, so she could stand in front of her opponent.

"Zeref... I know I've said this before, but rest assured that we will stop you"

"You'll stop me?" the dark mage smiled wickedly "No you stand no chance of stopping us"

"What...?" Mavis eyes widened in shock.

"I will say no more of this matter. For now we must part ways until the time is right"

"Yes..."

Their eyes briefly locked with each other, before the two mages left the scene going in opposite directions. None of them knew what the future might hold, but hopefully it would be a happy one. Especially for humanity...

A/N: This is the last chapter in this act/arc. The new one will start in the next chapter and will be called Psychological Wounds. I already typed a lot, so it shouldn't take long for me to update once I get into the editing process :)

And before I leave to go out in the sun, I would like to apologize the minor wait in updating. I just really... really wanted to start typing the next chapter, so I did that before I even started with this one XD