Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.
Pairing(s): Natsu Dragneal x Zeref
WARNINGS: Slight AU , Shounan ai (boy/boy pairing), you have been warned
AN: No, actually, I had not heard. That's interesting, but for the purposes of this story, they are not related, and Zeref's history is only as referenced in these chapters.
Firelight and Shadows
By V. Shalyr
Scroll XXI: The Fiore Magic Festival
Tattoo
Zeref stared down at the winged silhouette across the back of his hand, still not quite used to seeing it there. It had taken Natsu forever to convince him to finally join Fairy Tail as an official member, and he still found himself wondering at least once a day how he'd let himself be talked into it.
Well, there was the fact that most of the guild had chimed in to back Natsu up. And the fact that he usually acquiesced to the Dragon Slayer's wishes. Still... He had been unbelievably anxious and more than a little afraid when Mirajane had stamped the mark on the back of a hand that had wielded more black magic than most Dark Guilds could manage all together.
He didn't belong here in this guild full of friendships and family bonds. He wasn't like these cheerful wizards who knew what was right and wrong and pursued their goals and dreams together. And yet... Yet, at the same time, he couldn't think of anywhere else he would rather be. These people accepted him, eccentricities and all, and although not all of them liked him much, there was no longer any hatred in the looks they threw his way. He wasn't like them, but they accepted that he was one of them.
And, of course, there was Natsu. Natsu, who had pulled him out of the darkness and brought warmth back into his soul. Natsu, who had taught him how to live again and who he had come to love.
Natsu, who loved him and wanted him to be a part of his guild. His family.
Somewhat ironically, he had also automatically been placed into the guild's list of S-class wizards. Seeing as dealing with him would have been considered a super S-class quest, it had seemed only proper. Besides, nobody really wanted him to participate in the S-class ranking trials. It would have been a pointless exercise.
Natsu was half proud and half gleeful about this, since it also—by default—gave him access to the guild's S-class quests.
"You're not regretting it, are you?"
Natsu's gaze was fixed intently on his face. He had returned to the apartment just moments ago with a new job poster in his hand.
"No," Zeref assured him. "I'm not. It's just going to take some getting used to."
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Waves
Z wasn't the only one still getting used to the change.
"Hard to believe, isn't it?" Erza said, pulling out the stool next to Gray and plunking her drink down on the tabletop. "The Black Wizard Zeref, a member of Fairy Tail."
"When you put it that way, yeah." The Ice Wizard sighed and downed the rest of the liquid in his mug in one gulp. "Leave it to Natsu to make something that sounds so impossible actually happen."
No doubt if the rest of the wizard community were made privy to this information, it would cause more than a few waves. They already had one landmine with Jellal. It was a little sad how the Magic Council was becoming just as big a concern for them as the Dark Guilds.
"Are you okay?" Erza asked more seriously. "They tell me you've been sitting here since dawn."
He shrugged. "Just had a dream about the past."
More like a nightmare. It had been awhile since he'd had one of those.
"It doesn't bother me. I mean, it's not like him officially joining changes anything. Not really. But I can't help wondering sometimes."
He had already decided to move on and not to be trapped by that loss like Lyon had been for so long. He owed it to his teacher to really live his life and not dishonor her sacrifice by moping around or wasting his time pursuing things like revenge. He knew and accepted that, but that didn't stop the memories from coming back to haunt him now and then.
"It's okay to wonder," Erza said. "We're all allowed our moments of weakness. Our doubts make us human. What's important is how we choose to deal with them."
Gray chuckled. "Funnily enough, Z's a pretty good example of that. I've never seen a person so wracked by doubt."
"I'll second that." The corner of Erza's lips quirked up and she lifted her mug. "May the time he spends at Fairy Tail more than make up for his past misdeeds."
Z had made some pretty serious mistakes in his past, but he had the rest of forever to do some good plus Natsu and the rest of Fairy Tail to help him.
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Poster
The notice lay in the middle of the table, surrounded by interested wizards. No one was sure who had brought it in, but it had everyone's attention now.
"What's going on here?" Lucy asked, weaving through the crowd for a better look at the poster.
"They will be hosting a huge magic festival at the capital," Levy explained when she reached her elbow. "Apparently, there's going to be a big competition to determine who the best guilds in the kingdom are. All wizard guilds are welcome to enter a team."
"Wow, that sounds pretty amazing."
"It does, doesn't it? We were just talking about whether or not we should enter. Apparently, it's not going to be just about straightforward magic duels."
A wizard competition, huh? Lucy had a feeling she knew how this was going to go. There was just no way that certain people in their guild would sit this one out no matter what the competitions were actually about.
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New Tactics
"I still think this is a terrible idea," Zeref said, looking around them at the decorated buildings and excited people. The capital city of Fiore really was a massive place.
"It'll be fun," Natsu insisted. He reached out to push the hood of his partner's cloak back. "And ditch the hood. It makes you look more suspicious, especially with weather like this."
All the same, the Dragon Slayer had to drag him through the front doors of the hotel they would be staying in. Zeref watched said door shut behind them with a creeping sense of dread.
"Relax," Natsu said, catching the room key Erza tossed his way and proceeding to haul his partner up the stairs. "I wonder how many guilds will be competing. This is going to be awesome! I say we drop off our bags and go explore the city."
"Natsu."
"Yeah?"
"Why do you really want me to participate?"
The Dragon Slayer paused in the motion of unlocking their room door. The corridor was deserted aside from the two of them, and his keen sense of smell told him that nobody else was close by.
"We can't hide you forever," he said seriously. "I mean, we'll try, but people like Ruthen Magara are bound to show up again. I... guess I figured that it's better for people to see you and to know that you're with Fairy Tail. As Z, and not as the Black Wizard. Maybe someone will figure out your history someday, but since we can't prevent that from happening, I see no reason why you have to spend the rest of your life in hiding. We might make more enemies this way, but I think we'll make better allies too."
He turned to give the Black Wizard a fanged grin. "Aside from that, I want people to know that you're mine. I want them to know that if they come after you, they're going to have to deal with me. And not just me. The rest of Fairy Tail too."
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Reason
Zeref was quiet as he followed Natsu back out into the city streets. Despite his own misgivings, he could understand the Dragon Slayer's reasoning. That didn't make him feel less anxious about it though. Of course he knew he couldn't stay hidden forever, but he was sure he could have eluded notice for a very long time. He'd had hundreds of years to get good at it.
Then again, he was the one who had told Natsu that he was tired. Tired of being hunted. Tired of being feared.
Tired of running.
He owed it to the Dragon Slayer to at least try to make this work.
"But, Natsu, what about my magic?"
"If it acts up, we'll forfeit the round and I'll get you out of there, promise. We can just tell them you're ill."
Zeref nodded. It seemed he wasn't going to be getting out of this one. He was going to have to figure out a way to defend himself if need be without accidentally killing his opponents or giving himself away. He knew victory wasn't that important, but if he was going to take part, he wanted to be able to help his new guild win. Besides, they needed the money. They were always having to pay for repairs, both their own and repairs required for places their wizards had carried out jobs in.
"Anything else?" Natsu asked, falling back to walk beside him.
The Black Wizard shook his head.
"Good, then come help me choose a place for lunch. We're going to try every restaurant in this city by the time we leave!"
"But we only have two weeks."
"We'd better hurry then, hadn't we?"
"There must be thousands of restaurants in this city. I don't think even you could eat that much."
"Doesn't mean I can't try."
"Don't forget, we have to be back at the inn by midnight."
"Yeah, yeah, now come on. Seafood, steak, or pizza?"
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Participants
Lyon looked after the two wizards who had brushed past him in the hotel doorway, frowning. He couldn't quite believe—or didn't quite want to believe—that he was seeing them again, and here of all places. Turning to Gray, he asked with open incredulity, "Don't tell me you're letting him participate."
"It's probably more accurate to say that Natsu's making him participate. And before you say anything, he's officially a member of Fairy Tail now, so it's legit."
"Why?"
The shorter Ice Wizard shrugged. "He has his reasons. So what brings you here? Your guild entering the competition too?"
"Not only are we entering, my team is going to win it."
"We'll see about that."
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Oddities
Natsu was right about one thing; with so many visitors flooding the capital, no one even gave them a second glance. They weren't even all that conspicuous looking. A brief survey of the other people walking down the street produced more than a dozen, much more bizarre looking individuals.
Two snack stands and one coffee shop later and Zeref had relaxed enough to stop feeling so self conscious and start paying attention to their actual surroundings.
"There's something strange about this city."
"Yeah? How so?"
"I'm not sure. It's like... many of the buildings have magic woven into their foundations. This one here, for instance, and that one on the corner."
Natsu followed the direction of his gaze. "Huh, they're both inns. What about the place we're staying at?"
"I'm not sure." He'd been a bit preoccupied with how much he didn't want to be there.
"Do you think it has anything to do with the competition?"
"Maybe."
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Fountain
If Z had been a poet, he might have noted the gentle whisper of the fountain or the way the sunlight reflected on the water. But he wasn't a poet, and he was much more interested in the silver and copper coins scattered across the bottom of the basin.
He and Natsu were just two among a dozen or more people seated around the fountain, some talking and others snacking on this or that from the food carts around the plaza. In their case, these snacks took the form of a basket of assorted fried morsels—fish, potatoes, shrimp, zucchinis, and even broccoli. Normally, Zeref liked broccoli well enough, but it was one of the few things that he had decided did not taste okay fried.
"Do people honestly believe that a water fountain can grant their wishes?" he mused, watching a girl some paces away scrunch her eyes shut for just a second before tossing a coin into the fountain. It made a soft plunk as it struck the water's surface and sunk speedily to join the glittering layer of its cousins.
"I don't think it's about actually expecting anything to happen," Natsu said, picking through the basket for something of a shape he hadn't tried yet. "It's just fun sometimes. Don't you ever wish for things?"
"Yes, but I know that wishing will not bring these things about."
And throwing a coin into a fountain was most definitely not going to change a person's life.
The Dragon Slayer shrugged. "It doesn't hurt to hope though, does it? I mean, people can do a lot when they have hope."
Z contemplated this while he finished off a slice of yam. Yes, hope was a powerful thing. It was also a source of happiness that no one could take away.
Hmmm, yams fried up surprisingly well. He didn't really fry foods at home though. It was unhealthy and he didn't think Natsu should eat too much of it.
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Midnight
The five of them assembled in the inn lobby moments before the grandfather clock struck midnight. Twelve slow, deep chords echoed in the abrupt, tense silence. None of them knew what to expect.
And then suddenly, they weren't in the lobby anymore.
"Attention all wizard teams!" a chipper voice echoed through the new room—a room which, they couldn't help but notice, had no doors or windows. "Let me be the first to welcome you to the Fiore Magic Festival. Please do not be alarmed by the change in scenery. This is all part of round one of the competition."
"Now they tell us," Gray said, rolling his eyes.
"There will be five rounds total," the disembodied voice continued. "And the rules for each will be revealed as needed. Now, please look around you. The rooms you are in now are scattered along the perimeters of a labyrinth constructed beforehand for the sake of this festival. This maze contains many dangers that will test your talents and teamwork. Only the first eight teams to make it to the center will be allowed to move on to round two, so good luck!"
Natsu cracked his knuckles. "So first thing's first. We've got to break out of here."
Before anyone could try to stop him, he threw a blast of fire at the walls—which struck the featureless, gray stone and rebounded. His teammates dove to the floor to avoid being roasted and the flames lit up the entire cubical for an instant before fading, leaving a faint, scorched odor in its wake.
"Oops. You all okay?"
"More or less, no thanks to you." Gray grimaced, rubbing at his knee where he'd scraped it. "Jeez, Natsu. Would it kill you to be more careful once in awhile?"
"Er, sorry about that."
"I didn't think it would be that easy," Erza said dryly.
Zeref walked along the perimeter of the room, running his hand along the walls and frowning slightly. "Natsu, could you do that again?"
Lucy waved her arms frantically. "Wait a second! Didn't you see what just happened?"
"Yes, I did. Something happened just now when Natsu used his magic."
The Celestial Wizard blinked and slowly lowered her hands. "Oh. So that's why."
"Good enough reason for me," Natsu announced. "Here goes."
This time, they all saw the ghostly crimson lines that appeared briefly on one wall.
"It looks like a door," Gray observed. But when he placed a hand on the stone where the lines had been, he found nothing.
"Stand back," Erza ordered. Her armor changed and she leveled a spear at the same wall. Even before she attacked, however, pink light blazed along the stone, outlining the same door for a second before once again fading into gray.
"So it shows up when one of us casts a spell," Erza said, lowering the tip of her weapon. "The question is, how do we get it to stay?"
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Audience
"Are you Wendy Marvell?"
Standing in the streets looking up at the numerous images hung across the sky, Wendy jumped at the sudden question. Tearing her eyes from the square displaying her guild mates, she turned to find a girl with a large, brown handbag looped over her shoulder. The Sky Dragon Slayer's nose told her that that bag was full of dried herbs and other medicinal supplies. It was an earthy but clean sort of smell.
"Yes, that's right. Can I help you?"
The girl's dark brown eyes went wide. "This is wonderful. I've always wanted to meet you."
"Um, you have?"
Wendy wasn't used to this kind of reception. She wasn't exactly one of Fairy Tail's most well known wizards.
The girl nodded enthusiastically, her brown locks tickling her shoulders with the motion. "It's so amazing that you can use healing magic. Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot to introduce myself. My name's Serena, and my guild specializes in plants—especially magical ones—with healing properties. I came to help the competition's medical staff."
That explained the bag's pungent contents.
Wendy smiled. "That's great. Maybe I should offer to help too. Are any wizards from your guild competing?"
Serena shook her head. "We're not a very fighting oriented guild. We're all doctors and researchers."
"I see. That makes sense."
Serena's next words surprised her even more.
"Do you work with Natsu and Z?"
Wendy blinked, opened her mouth, hesitated, then said, "Sometimes. How do you know them?"
"They helped me out of a tight spot a few years ago. It was before you joined Fairy Tail, I think. Someone was trying to kidnap me, and then I got eaten by a fish."
She laughed at Wendy's expression.
"Crazy, right? But it all really happened, and I owe them so much." She looked up at the moving images in the night sky and added, "So Z did join your guild after all. Good for him. I wondered why he hadn't. He and Natsu seemed so close."
"You know, I wondered the same thing when I first met them," Wendy admitted. "But Z had his reasons, and they've worked things out."
"I'm glad."
The two girls watched the displays above and chatted until Levy and Gajeel returned with snacks and drinks.
"And who are you supposed to be?" the older Dragon Slayer asked, scowling over an armful of popcorn bags.
Serena almost took a step back. Gajeel wasn't winning any prizes for amiable appearances.
"She knows Natsu and Z," Wendy said quickly. "And she's studying to be a doctor."
Levy smiled. "That's great. And don't mind him. He's just upset because he didn't get chosen to be on the Fairy Tail team."
"I am not upset. Who wants to run around with that bunch of losers anyway?"
"Of course you're not," she said lightly.
Gajeel growled.
Up on one of the many giant displays, Z backed into one corner of the cell to put as much distance as he could between himself and his teammates. And then on the count of three, all five wizards cast a spell. The walls of the chamber blazed, and overlapping lines of crimson and black, pale blue, pink, and gold melded into the white outline of a door. And this time when the magic faded, the door solidified and slid up into the ceiling.
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Maze
As far as obstacles went, Zeref thought the maze turned out to be fairly manageable. There had been an extremely windy corridor which Zeref had deactivated then reactivated behind them, a deep chasm they had crossed on a bridge of ice, and then some animated stone soldiers that Natsu, Erza, and Gray promptly destroyed. Lucy had gotten them through an odd, shadowy chamber full of stars by lining up a particular constellation, and there was that wall of fire, which Natsu ate.
The problem wasn't making it through the maze, it was how to find the finish line.
"Maybe we can make a map," Lucy suggested. "At least to keep track of our progress. Maybe we'll be able to find some kind of pattern."
Erza nodded. "It's worth a shot."
Zeref wasn't so sure. He'd been trying to get a feel for the magic embedded in the walls around them since they'd been transported here, but he still couldn't say anything definite about it.
Presently, the group emerged into a vast chamber with two different spiral staircases winding up along its walls. Additional staircases crisscrossed the space like ribbons, connecting the chamber floor with various portals leading away.
They had only a brief moment to be awed by the sheer scale of the place before a shout broke the silence and a volley of arrows rained down from one of the stairways.
Natsu reacted on instinct, throwing up a wall of flames that reduced the volley to ash and immediately following it with an attack of his own. This cause some more yelling, and then five strangers jumped from their hiding place to land at the foot of yet another sweeping flight of steps.
"We thought we heard people," the tallest of them declared, his shaggy mane of gray hair making him look older than his smooth features suggested. His hands still glowed with traces of muddy light, the same color as the arrows. "If we beat you here, it'll be one less team in the running."
Natsu smirked, fire wreathing his fists. "You know, I was just thinking the same thing."
These people had chosen the wrong team to target.
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Trend
Lucy and Zeref ignored the battle cries and sounds of destruction with the kind of ease that came from much practice.
"You know," she said, holding up the map she had sketched so far, "this looks kind of familiar, but I'm not sure why."
Zeref agreed. He studied the collection of lines and angles, trying to remember where he had seen something like it before. It had to be recent, but he didn't remember consulting any maps lately. Unless...
"Do you have a map of the city?"
"Let me see. I'm not sure if I left it in my room." Lucy checked her pockets. "Oh good, here it is."
She pulled out a slightly wrinkled square of paper, which she unfolded and smoothed out on the ground. She set the map and her sketch next to one another and gasped.
"You're right! It's like the area around our inn. Do you think this maze parallels the streets and buildings of the city?"
"For now, that would appear to be the case."
Before she could ask what he meant by "for now", the stone beneath them rumbled and shook. The numerous staircases that crisscrossed the chamber shifted. The archway they had arrived through vanished and a handful of other archways opened up in other places. When the rumbling finally stopped, the vast room looked completely different from before.
"I thought so," Zeref said, looking back down at the map. "It would have been too easy."
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Force
Gray cursed when the earth trembled once more and the corridor they stood in reoriented itself. This was the third time this had happened since they left their last team of opponents on the chamber floor.
"Well, now we know for sure it's not just different doorways opening and shutting. Maps aren't going to be any good if the different pieces of this maze literally keep moving around."
"Do you think we're underground?" Lucy asked, placing the palm of her hand flat against the wall for a moment and then knocking on it. "If it is, Virgo might be able to help."
Zeref coughed. He waited until he had their attention before speaking.
"It might be a bit of a barbaric tactic, but I know where the center of the maze is now. It took me awhile because the magic they used to create this place is so complex."
"Do you mean the magic that moves all these rooms and corridors around?" Natsu asked, curious.
His partner nodded. "With the wizards we have on our team, we could probably just smash our way through and deal with any traps if and when they get triggered."
There was a pause in which the other four wizards contemplated this suggestion.
Natsu grinned. "Let's do it."
Gray and Erza braced themselves for the work ahead.
"Just show us the way."
"As long as it gets us there fast."
Lucy shook her head. "You know, Z, I think Natsu's rubbing off on you, and I'm not sure that it's a good thing."
Then again, Lucy wanted to win this just as badly as the others. Like Gray had said, as long as this got them there fast.
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Safe
Z and Lucy sat in the hospital lobby, waiting for the rest of their team to be given the okay to go. Since neither of them had done any fighting, they hadn't been required to visit the place. They had come along anyway, mostly in case the more confrontational people in their group started causing trouble.
"Do you think we could put in a request to meet with Wendy instead of one of these doctors?" Zeref asked, casting an uneasy look around at the white-clad hospital staff.
"I don't know. Why?"
The Black Wizard frowned. "I'm not sure what they will find if they examine me. I'm not sure if they will be able to examine me."
It took Lucy a moment to realize why that was. Right, strangers invading his personal space made Z uncomfortable, and when Z was uncomfortable, people's lives were inevitably in danger.
"We can ask them," she said. "Wendy's definitely qualified. They must have heard of her."
Zeref nodded, his shoulders hunching a little when a new team of wizards streamed through the lobby doors.
"You know," Lucy said lightly, "I've always wondered why you're so much calmer when Natsu's around. I mean, I'm here, right?"
And she'd always considered herself quite a good friend.
"It's not really about being alone or with friends," Z said as though he'd read her mind. "At this point in time, there are very few people in this world who can hurt me. You could say that I have not personally been in real danger for a long time. But... not being in danger and feeling... safe... are not the same. Natsu makes me feel safe. And even though I don't really need him to protect me most of the time, it... means a lot to me that he wants to. Does that make sense?"
Lucy leaned her head back against the wall. "Yeah, it does."
It was also a little sad, she thought, but she would keep that to herself. She didn't think she could live the way he had for so long, not without going mad long ago anyway. That was the best thing about being a Celestial Wizard. Even when she was by herself, she knew she had friends that she could depend on, people who watched out for her even when she couldn't see them. That was a gift she swore never to take for granted.
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Ruckus
They returned to their inn upon a scene of chaos. Okay, perhaps "chaos" was a bit harsh. It was actually a celebration, and the two just happened to be synonymous in Z's mind.
Beer and foam spilled over the tops of tankards as laughing people knocked them together. Gajeel was singing a rather bad song, and other people were dancing to it in a space that had been cleared of tables and chairs. Yet more people sat around talking and taking advantage of the inn's five-star kitchen staff. It didn't take a genius to know which of these groups their team would be joining.
"Why is everyone celebrating?" he asked, following Natsu to a table by the fireplace. "We haven't won yet."
Was that ham roasting over the flames?
"We made it past round one."
Natsu waved over one of the waitresses and ordered one of everything on the menu.
"That's only one out of five. And a lot of the wizards here aren't even from Fairy Tail."
"Hey, other people like celebrations too." Natsu shook his head. "Seriously, Z. If not for the competition, think of it as celebrating your first accomplishment as a guild wizard. Or how about celebrating our first visit to the capital? You can pick whatever reason you like."
"Is that... how it works?"
"Sure it is, in this guild anyway." The Dragon Slayer grinned at him. "So do you want to order something, or would you prefer to just share with me?"
Zeref considered the extensive list of orders his partner had just made. "I'll share with you."
Just one bite of everything would probably be more than enough.
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Sleep
Zeref lay awake in bed wishing that he was asleep. Mentally, he was exhausted or he would have stayed downstairs with Natsu and the others. The room was quiet but the city beyond created a dull roar that he swore he could feel in his bones. It was the sound of thousands upon thousands of people going about their lives—undeterred, it seemed, by the late hour. And it was keeping him awake.
Magnolia wasn't silent at night either, but this... This was an entirely different level of activity. That, or it was just residual anxiety from the day's events.
Finally, he gave up, straightened the covers, and went in search of Natsu. Locating the Dragon Slayer by the tavern's blazing fireplace, he stopped in front of him and gave him a pleading look. Natsu scooted over and he sank gratefully onto the couch next to him. Arranging the cloak he'd brought with him about himself like a blanket, he drew his knees up and pulled the hood low over his face. Without a word, Natsu wrapped an arm around him, sliding a hand up to rub soothingly at the back of his neck before letting it settle around his waist. Zeref relaxed. He finally fell asleep listening to the sound of his partner's voice.
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Dwell
"Do you think I'm doing the right thing?" Natsu asked.
Almost everyone else in the inn tavern was either asleep or unconscious from too much drink.
Natsu wasn't in the habit of dwelling on his own actions or decisions, but this one was a little different. It had the potential to change so much. So many of his choices these days affected not only himself but Zeref too. The Black Wizard had to be feeling a lot of stress for it to have affected his ability to sleep.
Gray shrugged, following the direction of the Dragon Slayer's gaze. "I don't know. No one's recognized him so far. Chances are pretty good that no one will who doesn't already know."
"At the very least," Erza said, "I don't think it's a bad decision, having him take part in these games. Let people get to know him as Z. If push comes to shove in the future, perhaps it will help them see him differently."
After all, looking at him now curled up against Natsu on the couch, it was extremely difficult to think of him as anyone particularly threatening. Of course, now that the first round was over, they had the remaining four rounds of the competition to worry about.
"Um, Natsu," Lucy ventured. "You know it's possible that he's going to have to fight another wizard, right? Without you."
"I thought of that. We're working on something together. It's pretty cool, but you'll have to wait to see it." The Dragon Slayer gathered his partner up in his arms and stood. "Guess we should all get some sleep before tomorrow."
His teammates said their goodnights and watched him leave, each caught up in his or her own ponderings.
TBC...
AN: Please note that these guild competitions will have almost nothing to do with the actual Grand Magic Festival, thus why I chose to change the name.
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