"I died?" Natsu asked as he looked up at his brother in confusion, the reoccurring nightmares he had for nearly the last year flashed in his mind. Those are just dreams…. or are they?
"Yes in the year x204," Zeref said quietly as he shut his eyes trying to fight back the tears.
"We lived on the land of fire kind Igneel, our village had been there for generations," Zeref began slowly pausing trying to find the right words. He knew from his conversations with Lucy that there was one girl who would probably corner him and ask him millions upon millions of questions about his long life and what he witnessed but this particular story he didn't want to tell more than once. "but this story really begins on the day you were born,"
Terrified that's what he felt his mother had been screaming in agony for the entire night. But no one had come. His father had raced out the moment the screaming had woken him but no one had arrived.
"Zeref stay here I am going to check on your mother," his father said not even trying to hide the worry he felt for his wife.
Several minutes passed as the black haired child pulled at the pages of his note book. He was making notes of a new experiment of his. The idea had come to him when last month his father had broken three ribs in the last games he had participated in. The old healer had refused to see him, since it was her son that his father had beaten. After watching him have to miss out on the rest of the tournament had eaten him up so he was devising a way to speed up the healing process without the aid of a healer. Soon a knock filled the house as he heard his father rush to the door. "Thank the protector your here,"
"Move aside," the old healer barked in annoyance as she forced her way through the door and towards his parent's bedroom.
"Don't worry everything will be okay," His father reassured as he walked into the living space letting out a relived breath. Nearly half an hour had passed and all Zeref had seen was his father pacing in the doorway awaiting the cries to stop.
"Sire please there are better families, ones more worthy of a visit," the old priest cried from outside the house broke the silence, as the curtain was pushed aside.
There standing in the door way was a man Zeref had never seen before, spiky red hair sprouted from his head as the same color framed his mouth. The tall built man sent a stock wave of fear down Zeref's spine as the priest pushed his way into the house as the cry of his new sibling filled the house. Without a word the stranger walked in the direction of his parent's room and returned with a wiggling crying bundle in his arms.
"That's my child," his father hissed as the priest hit him with his cane as the pink haired man tried to stand.
"You will not speak to the great protector like that," the old man scoffed as the young boy watched his father pale.
"Natsu," the first words the protector had spoken filled the room with apprehension as the baby continued to cry.
"Sire?" the priest asked as he looked back to the red headed male.
"His name will be Natsu and he shall be my chosen one, my keeper," the man said as he continued to look down at the infant in his arms never taking his eyes off of the child.
"Sir, may I remind you that in accordance with our laws that no new keeper shall be named until, one has died. There are no relics that..." the old priest began but was soon interrupted by a fierce growl.
"Silence! You dare defy me? I created the laws I can certainly change them," the redheaded man hissed out as his eyes constricted into golden slits.
"Yes milord," the priested bowed quietly as he trembled in fear.
"He shall hold my greatest treasure one that none of you can ever imagine," the red headed man said as he passed the child off to his father.
"We thank you Sire," the pink haired man said as he took his new born son in to his arms. Looking over the red headed man noticed that the little boy was glaring at him.
"Why do you look at me so?" the red headed man asked as he raised a brow at the little boy.
"I thought you were a dragon," the little black haired boy said in confusion as he looked up at the stranger before him.
"Zeref behave yourself what would your mother say," the pink haired man chided as the little black haired boy never broke his gaze with the stranger.
"You have the gift," the red headed man said firm as he smiled down at the boy reviling his sharp teeth.
"What gift?" Zeref asked in confusion as the red headed male turned to look at the old man.
"Priest why has this child not been brought before me?" The stranger growled in anger as he glared at the priest.
"Sire he is but a Dragneel, they are not worthy to stand in your presence," the priest said disdainfully as Zeref watched as his father glared at the man.
It was not an odd concept many of the merchants in town refused to do business with them. The other children around town were always pulled away from Zeref if they ever began to play with him. His mother had told him that the Dragneels were a proud family descendants of dragons themselves and that the other's in town were simply jealous of them.
"You wish for me to end you!?" The man roared as the room was filled with an uncomfortable heat as Zeref watched as fire began to wrap around the man's hands.
"Sire?" the priest stepped back in confusion as he began to cower in the man's presences as he ordered.
"You will begin this boys training immediately, and he is to be brought before me every week for evaluation is that understood?"
"What's a keeper?" Levy asked as Zeref turned his head to find that the little blue haired mate was fiercely scribbling down everything that he had said as the green haired man next to her did the same.
"A keeper was a person who personally guarded a piece of the hoard," the disembodied spirit said clearly as he paused lettering the two catch up.
"But then why," Freed asked as he momentarily stopped writing.
"We never knew why," Zeref said as he turned back towards Natsu.
"What was I supposed to guard?" The pink haired man asked quietly.
"I'll get to that later," his brother replied quietly.
"Why did you create all those demons? And what gift did you have?" Levy asked as she continued her scribbling.
"Having magical abilities was even rarer then and only a select few could sense it, we were a family of out casts so I have never even seen the high priest until then. A few years later I was offered a place in the only magic school in the land. Mostly only nobility were allowed in but I was offer a place. Igneel said I should take it but I had to return once a year for the summer solstice celebration," Zeref finished as he stopped looking down as he did so. "I...the third year... While Igneel was with the other dragons… I... The village was attacked... I got back too late... If I was there... But... I followed a set of foot prints outside of town... I found not only the little remains of my Mother but that of Natsu... Then I remembered my experiment, so I encased his body in Crystal to preserve it,"
"What experiment?" Freed asked quietly.
"The life stabilizer, it was what caught the attention of the school, but I had abandoned it years before," the ex-dark wizard spoke quickly.
"What did it do?" Levy asked as she noticed that Lucy had passed their son to Natsu as the dragon slayer clutched the small boy to his body.
"The idea was to stabilize a person's life force to allow them to heal at a faster and better rate, but it didn't work I only had limited success in reanimating plants," the disembodied spirit said quickly as many of the guild had no idea what he had just said only a few seemed at look at him in understanding.
"What about the demons?" Grey asked hoarsely as ice continuously crawled our around his clenched fists.
"They were tests, experiments, I had to make sure the process would worked on humans before I used it on Natsu," the ex-dark wizard said quietly as he continued. "I needed workers, but by then the price of my work had caught up to me, my demons were the only ones who could survive around me,"
"What price?" Makarov asked as Mavis began to look rather unsettled.
"The Ankhseram cruse, the curse of contradiction. The more I value life the more I take it. The demons were at one point my peers and professors, all of who were victims of my curse when it first took effect," Zeref explained as he looked up at Mavis guiltily.
"Then why would they follow you?" the green headed rune mage asked.
"Well,"
The eight others fluttered around him as Zeref bit his lip in worry it had been twenty years since the experiments had begun and with each failure he grew closer and closer to his goal. The once preserved body lay on the table as the crystals glowed around him. He watched as the man who was once his most favored teacher opened his eyes.
"Are you alright?" The dark haired teen asked as the man sat up looking around in confusion as he took in his surroundings.
"Where am I?" His voice was different from before his larynx was crushed in the chaos and had to be replaced by another.
"My lab, or rather yours," Zeref began as he shook his head it didn't really matter at this moment.
"Do I know you?" the man asked in confusion as the dark haired man's hoped dwindled.
"I am Zeref, your student," the dark haired teen spoke quietly as he bit his lip in anxious anticipation.
"Oh, who am I?" the man asked. 'just like the others' the raven haired teen thought.
"You are Mard Geer," Zeref said quickly as any and all hope began to dwindle.
"What is my purpose?" Mad Geer asked blankly as Zeref growled in anger.
"Stay here," the teen barked as he stomped though the door way.
"Master shall we tell him of his purpose?" Jackal asked as he bowed.
"Fine!" Zeref growled out as he made his way down to the library.
It wasn't working nothing was their minds were always blank no matter what he did they were nothing more than tidbits of personality attached to a familiar face.
"There has to be something I am missing!" Zeref shouted in rage as he slammed a fist into the book shelf knocking it over.
Growling in frustration he bend down and began picking them up. Standing he looked on to the shelf and found a section of hidden scrolls that had been stored in an open crevice in the stone walls behind the shelfs. Pulling them out one by one he studied their content. He had nearly memorized every tome in this library but had never once had he seen these. They were hard to read, the writing was smudged in several places and holes littered the parchment. But the script itself was what was the hardest, it was and ancient dialect of a tribe of people who were hard to trace down. Children of the heavens they were called. An ancient family who can trace their magic back to the king of Dragon's himself.
"To preserve the self beyond death one must pen his truth in the blood that binds you," Zeref read along as he widened his eyes in realization. The scroll was describing the origins of spirit magic more importantly, seith magic. "Now I know what I must do,"
"Wait, wait, wait, the book of E.N.D is essentially a condensed form of both Celestial magic and seith magic?!" Levy cried out as she interrupted the ex-dark wizard.
"How did you..." Zeref began to ask as Lucy interrupted him.
"Zeref this is Levy, my best friend, and the one I told you about," the blonde said quietly as she cuddled her daughter close to her as Levy shook her head before speaking.
"So if I am getting this right, you successfully brought back several different people, the reason some of them didn't look human was because their bodies were in pieces so you had to combine a few of them together. But no matter how whole the individual was they had no past memories only base line personalities mostly due to you knowing the deceased. And the only way to ensure Natsu came back completely whole was to bind his soul to a book using seith magic and create a channel from the book to his mind using celestial magic." Levy said quickly as even Freed looked over at the bluenette in confusion at how fast she had figured it out.
"Umm, yes that's right," Zeref said anxiously as he watched the girl.
"Okay, wow, do you still have those scrolls?" Levy asked quickly as the entire guild groaned in concession.
"Mavis Shrimp!" Gajeel cursed as their son yawned in his arms.
"What if those scrolls were ancient in Zeref's day then imagine what they would be worth now. Plus they rightly belong to Lu if they have to do with her family. Also since seith magic is solely passed down in bloodlines there is not a lot written about it, Bixlow could learn so much about his magic origins. And think of the new language I could translate," the solid script mage said excitedly.
"I am afraid to disappoint you but I lost track of those scrolls centuries ago. I have no idea where they are or if they are even still around at all," the disembodied spirit said quietly as he watched Levy deflate with every word.
"Oh," Levy sighed dejectedly as she pouted down at her paper as Zeref continued his story.
"Lullaby silence," Zeref said quietly as he walked into the lab.
Five years since Mard Geer had been brought back. It took a year to find enough etherious crystal to run the process once again and another to complete the spell needed for the book. The bridge taking even longer to assure, so Zeref created a flute that would keep his brother in trance like sleep while the bond was made and the process worked.
"It's now or never," Zeref said quietly as he watched his brother's tattered soul as it was chained to the book.
"Now!" Zeref cried out as he filled the tower with his power as the Blonde next to his brother's body formed the living link needed.
"Mmmm," Natsu groaned as his head, fingers and toes twitched.
Soon both Zeref and the blonde stood by panting. Natsu's body remained unmoving as the little boy remained still. Slowing the dark haired man stood and stumbled his way over to his brother placing his fingers in his neck he felt his brother jerk away. Slowly Natsu opened his green eyes as he stared up at his brother as confusion filled his eyes.
"Zzz...Zeref?" His little voice called out as the dark haired man cried out in joy as he lifted the boy's body off the table. "Zeref...mama and Papa," Natsu stuttered out as tears began to coat the man's jacket ad he too cried but unlike his brother they were tears of joy.
"I know, but don't worry your safe now," the elder brother sighed in pure elation as he ran his hands through the spiky pink hair. Looking up he found the blonde smiling down at him as she stood the leave. "Thank –you Anna,"
"Anna as in Anna Hartfilia? Ancestor to Lucy?" Makarov asked as he looked over at the blonde who looked over at the elder man in confusion.
"Yes, when I first began doing my research into seith magic I ran in to her. Her eldest brother was a seith mage while she and her sister were both celestial mages. The rest of her family was terrified of me but she helped in more ways than one," Zeref said quietly as the guild murmured quietly.
"Why would she do that?" Levy asked as she looked over at her best friend.
"Because she knew what was at stake, Natsu wasn't supposed to die, he was needed to fulfill the prophecy," Lucy said quietly as she reached a hand through the barrier to hold on to her husbands.
"What about Deliora?" Grey growled out disturbing the silence that had momentarily fallen over the guild.
"Deliora was not mine," the disembodied spirit said firmly as a hit of disgust filled his voice at the mention of the abomination.
"But…" the ice make mage began but was cut off as Zeref turned to the enraged boy to defend himself.
"The demons created it, I destroyed the first one they made but not too long after I went in to hiding they must have made a second," Zeref said bitterly as he looked away in shame.
"What about the eclipse gate or the r system?" Erza asked quietly from her seat her cake left untouched in front of her.
"The eclipse gate….originally my plan had been to simply go back in time and stop the attacks from happening but time isn't very linear it mostly made up of random occurrences plus there was no guarantee what time the gate would open to. That takes a celestial mage opening the gate at the exact same time from both eras to have definite results. But the idea became useful much later," Zeref said softly as he rubbed the back of his neck.
"And the r system, and how were you able to bring the dead back to life?" the green haired rune mage asked as he looked up from his nearly covered parchment.
"No," the ex-dark wizard growled.
"No?" Levy asked as she looked up in surprise.
"I will never tell a living soul how to do it and I destroyed every single piece of writing pertaining to the process when I destroyed Tartaros," Zeref vowed as a twinge of fear flew down the backs of most everyone in the guild. Even Makarov shook from the cold tone the spirit was using.
"Why?" the blue haired dragon slayer asked as she looked over to Zeref.
"It was never meant to be discovered... I know that now," the dark haired spirit uttered as his voice trailed off quietly.
"But think of all the good it could do," Wendy begged as she watched Zeref chuckle in disbelief.
"And all the evil... I went insane as did the demons the process is a long arduous one. The slim good it ever did will in no way contradict the evil it created in the process!" the ex-dark wizard ranted as he became out of breath most of the guild jumping back in fear as he screamed. "I apologize, but the truth still remains that what I did went against every magical and natural law there ever was, and I vowed to never let it happen again," Zeref panted as the tension in the guild reached an all-time high.
"How did I meet Igneel?" Natsu asked as he broke the tension that raced through the hall.
"You can't catch me!" Natsu taunted as he raced in and out from around the trees as Zeref followed him through the forest.
It had been nearly two decades since Natsu had come back to him. Life should have been great if it wasn't for the one problem, Natsu wasn't changing. He was still the same over eager child he had always been. The only difference now was that he was insanely powerful.
"Natsu I cannot run as fast as you," the black haired man said firmly as he trudged through the thick foliage after his rambunctious brother.
"Awe your no fun, hey what's that?!" The pink haired boy asked as he disappeared in to a thicket.
"Natsu!" The dark haired teen raced after his brother as all that could be heard was the slightest of scratches as the pink haired child ran through the thicket. Soon an awe chilling roar filled the air as Zeref's eyes widened in fear.
"Natsu!" He shouted as his curse activated causing the plants to fall away dead reveling the clearing that the boy had run in to.
Seven large dragons filled the area most glaring down at the little boy as he growled up at the large red one. "N...Natsu," the red Dragon's voice chocked out at his golden eyes widened in surprise.
"Do I know you?" The pink haired boy asked as he scratched the back of his head in confusion.
Soon the red dragon was surrounded by red fog as the dark haired boy watched as his brother disappeared in the mist before he reappeared in the arms of a man he had only seen once before.
"H...h...how?" The great protector sobbed as he clutched Natsu close to his human body as tears soaked Natsu's shirt.
"Zeref look I found lizards!" The pink haired boy called over his shoulder in glee when he saw his brother in the tree lines.
"Lizards! Igneel you will let me at the brat and I will teach him not to call us lizards!" A yellow dragon roared as sparks flew off his large spiked body.
"You come near him Brux and you will regret it," the red headed man hissed as a white feather covered tail landed between the two drakes.
"Come now there is no reason for any of this senseless violence," the owner of the tail chided as she moved her head to look over the boy wiggling in Igneel's grasp.
"Stay out of this Grandeeney or I'll fry you too," Brux roared as a slim purple scaled dragon wrapped herself around his tail her body carefully avoiding each and every group of spikes, revealing the single red strip that ran down her back.
"Yer gonna wanna not threaten my mate!" A polished iron dragon roared as he moved to stand in front of the white feathered dragon as she placed her head on his back to return her fascinated gaze to the boy.
"Enough!" A white scaled dragon bellowed as the last stepped out of the shadows. "Igneel who is this," he asked as the dragon turned man clutched Natsu even closer.
"He's my chosen one," Igneel breathed out in glee as he felt the boy nuzzle in to his neck and sigh in pleasure at the brimstone scent he found there.
"I thought you said he had died at the hands of the monster?" The purple she dragon asked as she snaked her way along her mate's body till her head nudged against his.
"He did, I don't..." Igneel began before he looked up to find Zeref standing a few feet away. "It was you," the red headed man said in shock as several of the Dragon's whipped their heads to look at the second intruder.
"There is much darkness in you," a voice said coming from behind him as Zeref turned to see the shadowed dragon standing over him. "Yes, he has been given the curse, who are you?"
"He's Natsu's older brother his name is Zeref," Igneel said as he let got lightly to find the pink haired boy had fallen sleep in his arms.
"A second Dragneel... Interesting," Weisslogia spoke as Penna uncoiled herself from around her mate as she slithered down over his shoulder.
"Why does he still have the appearance of a child?" The poison dragon asked as she sniffed the boys pink locks, backing away the moment she heard the fire dragon growl.
"I don't know, it has been nearly twenty years since I brought him back but he hasn't aged a day," Zeref said quietly as he watched as a white feathered tail wrap around the top of Natsu's head.
"hmm," the female sighed as she proceeded the information she was gathering.
"Grandeeney?" Igneel asked with the smallest glimmer of hope ringing in his voice.
"It could work, we would have to suppress his memory and the side of himself that has stopped the ageing at least until he reached maturity but, it will work," she confirmed as she uncoiled her tail from around the boy.
"What will?" Zeref asked as he kept glancing between each dragon all of them seemed to be unanimous in the decision.
"Natsu shall inherit his birthright." The dragon turned human said as a familiar wide grin spread across his face.
"And become a keeper!?Our culture died out nearly fifty years ago," Zeref cried out in frustration as all the Dragon's seemed to chuckle at the thought.
"No, Natsu was never meant to be a mere keeper. I told your father he would guard something more valuable that you could ever imagine," Igneel said as he cradled the still sleeping Natsu in his arms.
"What's that?" Zeref asked uncertainly.
"The future,"
"Wait what?" Natsu cried out as he felt Igneel began to fuss in his arms.
"What Igneel was talking about and what I didn't know at the time all came down to this point, you were always to be a dragon slayer and you were always meant for a celestial mage from the Haroworth clan," the disembodied spirit said as several members of the guild looked confused.
"Who's Haroworth?" Happy asked as Carla rolled her eyes next to him.
"He obviously means Lucy, Tom cat," the white haired exceed growled as she flew over to Wendy who was struggling to hold a very upset Lexie.
"Okay but then how did we all end up in this time?" Natsu asked as Lucy sighed.
"Isn't it obvious?" Wendy asked as she felt Lexie being lifted out of her arms and into her father's.
"Huh?" The pink haired dragon slayer sighed in confusion.
"The eclipse gate, that's how we got here," the sky dragon slayer said as she picked up her exceed.
"Yes, the only way to make sure the gate opens at the right time you want it to is to have two born celestial mages from each time open the gate using the twelve zodiac keys. Anna and Layla Hartfilia were the two who helped me but I am afraid that that is the reason Layla died so young," Zeref said bitterly as the guild looked to Lucy in confusion.
"Lu?" Levy asked as she looked to her blonde friend who was crying.
"She had given Aquarius's key to a family friend for safe keeping but when she needed to open the gate she couldn't be reached. So my mother used her own magic in place of Aquarius," Lucy sobbed as she clutched her daughter as the implications filled the minds of each member.
"What happened next?"
"Where will you take them?" Zeref asked as he watched the little slayers gather around his brother and Gajeel as the wrestled on the ground.
It had been twelve years since Igneel had taken Natsu in; it had taken a decade for the fire dragon king to finally suppress the demon with in the pink haired boy. During that time Zeref had only sporadically seen his brother as the teen was busy building the gate need for their plan to work. Then once the block had been placed Zeref had to stay away to ensure that Natsu wouldn't remember, it had been a long two years but worth it as a small smile spread on his lips as he watched the now aging pink haired boy.
"We will take them to our lands in that time," Igneel said as he smiled fondly as Natsu gained the upper hand.
"How?" The black haired man asked as he turned to face the dragon.
"An enchantment, we will be able to keep our human forms for as long as it takes to reach our nests and then we will disappear completely," the fire dragon King said quietly.
"Where are Brux and Penna?" Zeref asked unknowingly as he looked up to find Igneel looking at the horizon a few tears rolling down his face.
"They couldn't make it, Acnologia took too much of them," the fire dragon said quietly.
"But we need all seven how..." Zeref began to ask before Igneel handed him a bag. Taking it he opened it up to find two hand sized lacrima.
"These contain both their powers and a part of their spirits. They will lead you to the chosen child," Igneel said quietly as Anna walked over with a scarf in her hand.
"I add your scales to the scarf it will protect him from the darkness until he his older," the blonde said as she handed Igneel the article.
"Thank-you," the dragon said as he bowed his head.
"One more hour until it is time," Anna said as she watched as Igneel called over Natsu while the other dragons did the same.
"Anna," Zeref began before the soft voice of the blonde interrupted him.
"You know Draco told me that it was supposed to be me, but now it will be her daughter," the blonde began as the two humans walked towards the gate.
"Are you disappointed that it won't be you?" The black haired man asked as the blonde laughed.
"Honestly no, I am happy with my life," Anna smiled as they reached the gate.
"Anna without you..." Zeref began before the girl cut him off.
"He was never supposed to die anyway," the blonde said as she smiled down at the pink haired child as Igneel handed him the scarf.
"but you will never have children," Zeref said as Anna's smiled disappeared, not only had she been kicked out of her family but they had cursed her to never be able to have children all because she had help Zeref all those years ago.
"My family has begun to see the error of their ways, after all I have all of the high twelve with me," the blonde said as she pulled out her key ring to inspect the many gold keys she held.
"But there is nothing anyone can do about the curse," Zeref said quietly.
"There is one who could but I'll tell you what I told him. I don't need a child to make my life feel complete," Anna said firmly. "Everything I did I did because father asked me too,"
"Why would her dad have asked her to help again if the first time caused her to be cursed?" Levy asked as she looked up from her paper.
"It wasn't really her father," Zeref began. "It was Draco, the members of the Haroworth family has always referred to the Celestial Dragon as their father, since they are all decedents of his child,"
"Yur telling me Bunny girl is part dragon?" Gajeel growled out in confusion as Ren began fussing softly.
"No, she is not," the disembodied spirt said "but like every single one of the dragon slayers here her ancestor was raised by a dragon and taught magic. Celestial magic to be precise, which is why Lucy is so powerful…"
"Because her magic comes from not only a dragon but the king of all dragons even though it is not Draconic in origin!" Levy cried out in joy as she interrupted the dark haired spirit again.
"I am getting really tired of that," Zeref sighed as the blonde laughed.
"You get used to it I am convinced that given the right information Levy could solve any problem given to her," Lucy said with a laugh.
"But wait how did Zeref get such a bad reputation?" Erza asked quietly.
"The Haroworth family, it started after Anna closed the eclipse gate,"
"There it is done," Anna said happily catching her breath as she looked over to Zeref as he continued to stare at the now closed door. "Zeref, it will all be okay you will see your brother again someday,"
"Yes for a moment and then he will be gone again," the black haired man said quietly as neither realized that they were quietly being surrounded.
"Well if it isn't the little thief and traitor," a menacing voice filled the air as the two people found themselves surrounded by a group of mages all in purple robes.
"Sarah what are you doing?" Anna asked as the woman stepped forward.
"Didn't you hear, your poor mother died yesterday, along with your sisters," the woman said as she removed her hood.
"No I just saw them two days ago and they were in perfect health," Anna shouted as tears began to stream down her face.
"True but you can never know what is hidden in the blood," Sarah said coolly as a sinister smile ran across her face.
"How could you?" Anna sobbed as she slowly tried to find a way to escape.
"My sister was week as are all of her children. Barose has gone into hiding, but that is no matter after all your brother is not a celestial mage and there for cannot lead this family, after I destroy this gate it won't matter," Sarah hissed as she narrowed her eyes at the keys in Anna's shaking hands.
"Anna I need you to run," Zeref said quietly as he felt himself become over whelmed with the terrified felling.
"Zeref?" the blonde asked as she looked over at the dark haired teen seeing the black mist begin to come from him.
"Run!" the black haired man shouted as he watched the blonde take off as the mist began to reach the people surrounding him.
In an instant they fell to the ground, dead. Sara screamed in agony as she clutched her head, but rather than died she began to cackle hardheartedly.
"Death, Death, Death…. The apple poisons the tree!" she called out as Zeref backed away in terror as he watched her roll around in the gathering puddle of blood. "Mine, mine, mine, the liquid of life is all mine!"
"My curse drove her insane. Sarah was a blood mage and as such held resilience to most curses. Anna got away and a few days later her family found Sarah still rolling in the blood of their fallen members. After that it didn't take long for them to connect the dots, the Haroworth clan were close to the ruling powers at the time. They labeled me an enemy of the state, and not long after that a great manhunt was underway. So I faked my own death," Zeref said quietly as the guild
"What about the lacrima that Igneel had given you?" Laxus asked as Lexie wiggled in his arms.
"Just like Igneel said they lead me to who they were always meant for. Around the year x771 the yellow one pulled me closer and closer to Magnolia and soon it lead me straight to you. I gave the lacrima to Ivan and put a charm on him to make sure he would place it in your body, I knew the how greedy he was and I didn't want to take the chance of him selling it. I had tried to do it myself but you were always either with Makarov or Ivan and I knew that your grandfather would never do it," the dark haired man said quietly as Laxus nodded his head in acceptance.
"And what about Erik?' Kinana asked quietly as the poison dragon growled lightly in annoyance next to her.
"Not long after I had given Ivan Brux's lacrima Penna's lead me to an orphanage up north. He was just a little baby just a few weeks old but I knew it had to be done. After his body accepted the lacrima I left to prepare for opening the gate in from this time," the dark haired man said quietly.
"What about Alvarez and the twelve?" Makarov questioned as he watched most of his brats suffer from the information overload.
"After I faked my death, I need a place where I could live out the centuries until it was time. I found an abandoned group of Islands and settled there. Not long after several ships carrying refugees from different countries all began landing on my land, one thing led to another and we created a country and they named me their king. All was well until after the eclipse gate closed. My purpose was filled I had nothing to hold on to, my entire life I always had something to reach for a goal, someone I had to live for. I went mad trying to find a new purpose…." Zeref trailed off as Makarov nodded his head.
"How did you end up on Tenrou Island?" the pink haired dragons layer asked as he looked over to find his mate asleep on his shoulder their daughter snoring lightly along with her mother.
"I was looking for it; I wanted to be near Mavis's grave, when I arrived on the island the insanity I had been suffering from vanished… at least until…" Zeref began before he was interrupted again by Levy.
"Why would you want to do that?" the ever curious bluenette asked.
"I wanted to tell her about our son," the disembodied spirit said as the entire guild nearly chocked in astonishment.
"Y….Your what?!" Makarov chocked out as he pounded his fist against hid his chest trying to clear out his lungs.
"I'm sorry I must have drunken more than I thought can you repeat that?" Canna slurred out as she pushed her mug away and turned to face Zeref.
"I haven't felt his magic in a long time," Mavis confessed softly as she clutched on to the rafter she was sitting next to.
"What do you mean his magic…Why wasn't I told about this first?!" Makarov sputtered out as he looked up at the ghost of Master Mavis.
"We met before Fairy Tail was founded; I taught Mavis how to control her magic. After a few years she was traveling around and…." The disembodied spirit spoke as he was intruded by the girl in the rafters.
"When I found out that I was pregnant I stayed away from the guild when I started showing. When our son was born the curse that plagued both of us caused him to age at a very slow rate. Zeref offered me a place in his court as his queen but Fairy Tail…. I couldn't give it up not even for my son." Mavis continued. "People would be too suspicious of him so Zeref took him to his kingdom."
"After a few years Mavis's curse caught up to her and her life ended… I mourned until the day that Brux's Lacrima lead me straight back to the guild she could never give up, to the great grandson of the man who pushed Mavis and I together," the black haired man said as the guild filled with silence.
The overflow of information washed over the group as they all tried to process the story they had just been told. After nearly twenty minutes Natsu took a deep breath and broke the building tension, "is there anything else?" he asked quietly as he looked down to find Igneel lightly snoring against his chest.
"The only thing left I have to say is more of a question, my son was a part of the twelve and I haven't been able to find him, do you know where he is?" Zeref said quietly.
"He is in Cape Town along with the other members of the twelve, currently they are all in a magically induced coma due to trying to avenge you," Makarov said quietly as Zeref chuckled.
"I would expect nothing less from the matriarch of the Haroworth clan," the black haired man laughed quietly as Lucy blinked in realization.
"What did you just say?" the blonde mother asked handing the child in her hand to its father as she stood to face Zeref.
"The woman, who placed me in the crystal on your island, the one who stopped the twelve with one spell. The one who drained their power completely but made it so that they would survive. She isn't really alive she is a spirit, the spirit of the daughter of Draco," Zeref said quietly as Lucy ran her hands over her face and continued through her hair.
"This girl, do you know her name…. any discerning features?" the blonde asked as she stared down Zeref.
"Honestly Lucy she never told us her name. She looked a lot like you but with blue eyes, the only thing I could think of that would set her apart were her tattoos," Zeref said coolly as Nastu sucked in a breath.
"What kind of tattoos?" the pink haired dragon slayer asked as his voice grew serious as his children began to fuss feeling the tension in their father.
"Along her arms, six on each, they were the symbols of the Zodiac," Makarov said quietly as Lucy and Natsu shared a look of surprise between them. "What is it?" the old guild master asked as he watched the couple seem to have a telepathic conversation.
"We know her," Lucy said quietly as she walked back towards her husband and picked up her daughter as Natsu stood to hold his mate.
"How?" Levy asked.
Lucy took a shaky breath before she responded, "From that mission, almost two years ago…. The one that I got Draco's key from…. And that book... she was the guardian,"
