The Scars That Make You Whole

By CrimsonStarbird

Hubris et Orbi, Part 3

-The Towers of Babylon-

Predictably, Zeref failed to show up for their first appointment.

It was so predictable, in fact, that Anna didn't need even half of the measures she had put in place to counter it.

Once she'd got his agreement that they were going to work together, she had extracted from him a list of all the places he liked to go when he was alone, an order to any of his demons not to harm her or prevent her from reaching him, and a written affidavit, signed and sealed with his own magic, declaring his intent to work with her on the listed matters of magical research.

Either whatever it was that had got into his head wasn't really trying, or it hadn't thought she was serious, because, half an hour after their agreed time to meet had come and gone, she found him in literally the first place she looked: the ruins of his dragon-wrecked lair.

A huge open book was floating in front of him. One hand rested on this, while he gave rapid, unintelligible commands to the arcs of energy and circles of power that flickered in and out of existence amongst the rubble. The corpse – if that was the right word – of the giant misshapen cube that had served as his hideout was slowly disintegrating into pure magic, before rebuilding itself into its original, unharmed form.

Anna had never seen living magic in action before, not least because it was supposed to be impossible, and she could have happily watched for hours in scientific curiosity… but he was supposed to be talking to her right now.

So she'd marched over, shaken him down, and when he'd tried to insist that he just wanted to be left alone, she'd thrust the affidavit in his face. Whether or not he remembered signing it, she wasn't sure, but the magical signature impressed into it couldn't be forged. She knew he knew that.

After studying it for far longer than he could possibly have needed, he said, "I don't think this is right. I wouldn't have agreed to that."

"You did. It's just been a full twenty-four hours since then, and your sense of self is weakening again," she told him briskly. "You're just not in your right mind at the moment."

He stared at the parchment for another age, and then said, "I think you're wrong. I am fine now; I must not have been in my right mind when I agreed to that."

"Given your history of inconsistency, and mine of knowing exactly what I want in life and how I'm going to get it, which of us, objectively, do you think is more likely to be right?" she retaliated.

He couldn't argue with that, so he said nothing at all.

"Give it a go," she advised. "If it doesn't work out, you can write it down, and it'll give you solid evidence to use against me next time, won't it?"

Their second appointment got off to a slightly better start, with Zeref turning up at the right place at more or less the right time. Unfortunately, he was quick to declare that he had given it plenty of thought after their first meeting, and he was there only to tell her that he wanted nothing more to do with her, and that she should – surprise, surprise – leave him alone.

Well, Anna had prepared for that, too.

So she laid out her own argument. She targeted his pride, by insulting his work; his guilt, by claiming he had a duty to carry on the legacy of the Academy he had destroyed; his love, for the brother who waited for him in limbo; his curiosity, by pointing out that if he didn't do it, no one would, and the universe's mysteries would remain forever mysterious; his ambition, by whispering to him of what he could achieve if he tried, and how much the two of them together could change the world…

And when he was as thoroughly confused by her bombardment as he was by any artificial inconsistency his curse could instil in him, she told him she would leave if he asked her to, and never bother him again.

The idea almost sent him into a panic attack.

He stayed and she stayed, and she talked one-sidedly about the new book published by the Sage of Fiorza and the latest raid by the soldiers of greedy King Carlos until Zeref had calmed down enough to join in.

Just as before, they often talked at cross-purposes. He hadn't read anything she had written, and most of what he had written had been lost to time; the patterns of their thoughts ran in contrary directions more often than not. Despite this – or indeed because of it – it was one of the most fascinating afternoons of Anna's life. Perhaps the time she was investing in him would be worth it, after all.

By the third time, Zeref was already waiting for her when she arrived.

"I read your paper," he said, by way of a greeting. "Revised Framework for a Conceptual Synthesis."

"Only on the third time of me asking," she grouched, throwing her satchel down onto the picnic table outside the Whiterose Science Library and taking a seat opposite him. Both of them agreed it was advantageous to meet in close proximity to a library, where they could look up any minor details they disagreed over, but not too close, because not even being revered as a hero for her role in driving off the king's thieving soldiers gave Anna the right to disrupt the library's hallowed silence. "What did you think?"

"It's not workable," Zeref told her bluntly. "It's not of use to us, and if it's not of use to us, it's not of use to anyone."

She bristled. "I know that. It was obvious when I put it together that the framework wouldn't allow for the space-between-time anomaly in any form, but-"

"Why did you publish it, if you knew it was wrong?"

"In the hope of starting a discussion!" she defended. "To try and get the wider magical community invested in the problem!"

"And did it work?" he asked, in the tone of one who already knew the answer.

Anna folded her arms. "Morons, the lot of them."

"I'll take that as a no." Then, without warning, he added, "I liked how you thought about it, but I think you went about doing it in the wrong way. Any number of conceptual theories can describe World Magic, some more effectively and more efficiently than others. But unless they can account for the space-between-time, they are useless as a framework for a synthesis with the One Magic. Start from our anomaly. Work outwards."

"I'll do what I like, thanks. If you've got such a perfect plan for it, do it yourself."

He shook his head heavily, ponderously. "I liked how you thought about it," he repeated. "I can't think like that; the numbers don't come to me the way they do to you. Produce a mathematical framework for World Magic that allows for the existence of our anomaly. Then we can work on the synthesis and investigation together."

The tightened slits of her eyes did not loosen. "And what, pray tell, do you intend to do in the meantime?"

"Work on something else, of course. I had forgotten that I started investigating dragonification until you found my notes. It was a while ago, but now that Dragon Slayers are more common, there is far more information about their magic available, which opens up new avenues of exploration."

There was a pause, and she might have smiled at this rare display of decisiveness – but it was a good job she didn't, as he followed it up with, "So, since we're researching different matters, I do not believe there is any reason for us to spend time together."

"Nice try," Anna yawned. "I'm not letting you run off again until you've proven to me that you can remain mentally stable on your own."

"This is something I have to pursue on my own," he persisted. "I have an idea, but I will need to experiment on a living dragon. It'll be dangerous. I can't die; you can."

She deflected his warning with a grin. "Fortunately for us, don't we happen to know a dragon too stupid to tell he's being experimented on?"

All Zeref's years of isolation were reflected in his sigh. "And I was really hoping to never have to see him again. I'm not sure there's much point in applying the scientific method to him. He'll headbutt his way through any logic we can throw at him."

Anna laughed. "I like it when you're annoyed."

"Why?" he asked, taken aback.

"Because you look like you're alive."

At this, the light winked out of his eyes. His head fell, hanging forwards, lacking the strength to see the horizon. He murmured, "I don't want to be alive."

"What good's whining about it going to do? You are alive; you might as well do something interesting with your time. Come on, talk me through what you need from Igneel. He may be a moron, but you can't deny that he makes things a whole lot livelier."

Getting Zeref to come with her to find Igneel was an interesting experience for Anna. Having spent so many weeks trying to convince him to do something, anything, she now had to try and convince him to do the one thing his confused little brain actively didn't want to do.

After failing to appeal to his sense of adventure (non-existent) and his guilt over potentially making her go alone (equally non-existent, when the alternative was interacting with Igneel), she eventually grabbed the papers from his bag and realized – loudly, and with no shortage of disdain – that he had determined all the limiting parameters twice over, and thus he must have known full well he couldn't make any progress without experimental data. He had reluctantly admitted she had a point.

So, they had embarked upon what would be the first of many adventures together in search of knowledge.

Their destination was an uninteresting coastal city. Anna called it uninteresting because it had neither a university nor a famous library to its name, and Zeref hadn't objected. What it did have was rumours of a great red dragon that had taken up residence on the shoreline.

Most of these rumours were frightful tales of destruction and rule by fear. There were, however, a couple of eyewitness reports from sailors who claimed the red dragon had escorted their ships safely into the harbour after a sea monster had tried to sink them – reports which were ignored by the rest of the populace, who continued to petition King Carlos to send a Dragon Slayer to rid them of the beast. It was that more than anything which convinced Anna of the dragon's identity. Perhaps there was something in his whining about the hero's tragic lot, after all.

The first familiar face they'd run into in the port wasn't a red-scaled one, however. It was human, dark-haired, male, and too young to be the kind of academic Anna usually communicated with by letter. A picnic hamper swung from his arm. In fact, the stranger looked so uninteresting that she didn't notice he had stopped to stare at her, and would have walked on by if he hadn't shouted, "Hey! It's you!"

Only then did she pause, scrutinizing him without success. "I'm sorry, do I know you?"

"It's me – Darryl!"

She blinked, and then glanced at Zeref, in case it was him the stranger was talking to. Zeref was hanging back from the two of them, a wariness in his posture, as if trying to make himself small enough to not be noticed. It reminded her of how he'd been when she'd first met him in the meadow. When had he stopped acting like that around her?

Dragging her attention back to the stranger, she shook her head. "You must have me confused with someone else."

"You saved me from a burning clocktower!" he insisted.

"Oh!" Anna exclaimed. "Cat Rescue Guy!"

"That's me!" he beamed. "I'm sorry for my rudeness – I never caught your name back then."

"Anna Heartfilia. What are you doing out here? Looking for another runaway feline?"

"A reptile, actually," he corrected, with a nervous chuckle. "I heard a rumour that the dragon – you know, the one from that day – was in the vicinity."

"I'd have thought that would have made you run like hell in the opposite direction, after how you acted last time," Anna commented, not expecting him to notice the frost in her tone, but including it as a matter of principle.

To her surprise, he gave a sheepish smile. "Well, actually, I felt bad after- well, you know. That dragon saved my life, and I never thanked him for it. But someone brought an injured salamander into the animal shelter the other day, and it wouldn't eat anything, until one of our volunteers found a recipe for super-spicy rock cakes, and it gobbled them right up. It got me thinking that maybe fire dragons would enjoy that kind of food too, so I baked some and set off right away… do you think he'll like them?"

"I think he'll like them a lot," Anna nodded, pleased to see that he looked as surprised by her smile as she had been by his words. "It's a very kind gesture."

"Or, I had hoped so," he mumbled, face falling, "but I seem to keep missing him. And I really need to get back to the shelter-"

"I'll take them," Anna offered. "We're looking for Igneel anyway, as it happens. I'll tell him they're from you."

"Would you?" Gratefully, Darryl handed over the hamper. "Thanks, I really appreciate it. What you said to me last time we met, too."

Anna tapped her finger on the basket as if she hadn't heard his heartfelt apology. "So, that's Igneel's reward for saving you settled. What about mine?"

"I- I'm sorry?"

"Well," she continued, idly, "Igneel wasn't the only one who saved you, was he? He gets spicy rock cakes. What do I get?"

"I- uh-" The poor man actually took a step back. "You- could have half the rock cakes?"

"Not really my kind of thing."

"Well, I, uh-"

"I'd settle for that dinner you offered me last time, if it's still on the table."

His eyes widened. "Really? I mean, yes, definitely – I just thought you wouldn't want to, you know, after everything…"

When he tailed off, she clapped him cheerfully on the shoulder. "I appreciate people who put effort into correcting their own shortcomings."

She cast a sideways glance at Zeref, but he appeared not to notice, let alone register the import of her words. Well, she supposed he was trying, in his own way. It wasn't his fault he needed more help than most.

With a shrug, she added to Darryl, "If you still want to, of course. No hard feelings if you don't."

"I do! Definitely- I do."

"Next Friday night, then? I'll be in Skartown anyway to visit the Whiterose Library; I could swing by the animal shelter after?"

Plans made, Darryl went on his way in a far better mood than before, and Anna was humming as she lifted the hamper and turned back to Zeref. Belatedly, she wondered how he might react to a scene like that playing out in front of him, but as it happened, he reacted in the same way he did to most things… which was to say, not at all. Content to let the world pass him by.

Then, as he fell into step beside her, he asked, "Cat Rescue Guy…?"

Surprised, she couldn't help grinning at his confusion. "Yeah, remind me to tell you that story later. It's hilarious."

"If you say so," he said, and though he promptly returned to silence, it wasn't enough to hide the fact that he had been paying attention, after all.

Anna was surprised that Darryl hadn't been able to locate Igneel, given how easily she and Zeref managed it, although she grudgingly admitted that maybe he wasn't as inclined to run straight towards any reports of danger as they were. (And by 'they', she meant 'she', with her hapless companion in tow.) Or, perhaps Darryl had heard the same report as them – that a dragon was causing chaos in the harbour by stealing fish – and his brain had automatically substituted the word 'dragon' for the potentially-more-believable 'cat', and he had moved on none the wiser.

But the reports were accurate, to an extent, and when Anna and Zeref reached the waterfront, they were greeted by the sight of a dragon scampering along the dock, dragging a trawler's net full of wriggling fish along behind him.

"Look, I'm sorry I snapped the rope!" Igneel was trying to explain. "But I told you, you don't need that silly winch thing! I'll take your catch straight to the market for you! Just tell me where you want it – hey, why are you running away? Your fish will start to smell!"

If the way they scattered was any indication, the sailors were more concerned about extending their own expiry dates. "Head for the Governor's keep!" one shouted, diving into an alley too small for Igneel to follow; the frustrated dragon skidded to a halt, claws scraping along the cobbles. "He'll know how to contact a Dragon Slayer!"

"Fine, then! Be like that!" Igneel huffed after them. He plonked himself down in the middle of the road and dumped the net beside him. He gave the still-flopping fish a baleful look. "Well, if the humans don't want them, it would be a shame to let all these fish go to waste…"

"Igneel!" Anna called, hurrying over. With one arm, she was waving the hamper over her head to attract his attention. With the other, she was physically dragging Zeref once more into the breach.

If the beautiful little flames igniting in his eyes were any indication, the dragon was considerably cheered by her arrival. "What ho, lady scholar! How delightful to see you again!"

"I'm here too," Zeref pointed out.

"Oh, it's you." The dragon gave Zeref his most intimidating glare, and then swung his head back to Anna. "Once again, I find you in ill company, my maiden fair. Is there something you're not telling me?"

"Lots of things, and for good reason; they'd go right over your head," Anna retorted. "I would ask what you're doing here, Igneel, but since it's clearly another heroic deed gone wrong, maybe we can skip straight to-"

"I, Blazing Justice, have slain the dreaded Algermernon of the Deep!" proclaimed Igneel, drawing himself up to his full height. "Long he has plagued these waters, sinking merchant vessels and destroying the underwater ecosystem, but no more! I defeated the evil water dragon in his own domain!"

"Destroying half the city's fishing equipment in the process?" Anna guessed.

Igneel's tail twitched. "Such a legendary battle was bound to have consequences!" he blustered. "But it wasn't a problem, because I was going to manually reel in the nets for them and carry them to market… though I needn't have bothered; they clearly don't care about the fishing industry in this place."

If he'd had arms to fold, the dragon would have done so. In lieu of that, he had no choice but to look skyward as haughtily as he could manage.

"That's a shame," Zeref remarked. "Regardless, it may surprise you to learn that we did not come here to be your therapists."

"Why are you here then, villain?"

"Good question." Zeref gave Anna a baleful look. She duly filed it away for reference; she had become a lot better at getting reactions out of him, but she was still not up to Igneel's standards.

"Actually, we need your help with something, Igneel," Anna explained. "We're doing some magical experiments that require a dragon's participation. Or, to be more precise, we need a scale from a living dragon."

Igneel considered this for a while. Too much of a while, for someone who hadn't stopped and thought things through once in his life.

"We," he echoed ponderously. "You are assisting the Black Wizard with his research?"

"It's more like he's assisting me with mine."

"I'm sure he'd like you to think that," the dragon doubted, and damn if the look Zeref shot her wasn't smug, the bastard. "As I have told him before, I will not be party to his sinister schemes. I strongly suggest that you do the same, fair scholar, before the eyes of justice come to regard you as an accomplice."

"I am no one's accomplice! Other people are my accomplices! And- wait, what do you mean, you've told him before? Zeref, did you already ask Igneel to help you?"

The dragon snorted. "Asked? Oh, no, a villain would never do something so polite. What he did do was send his demons after me to try and steal a scale – no fewer than five times! If he still thinks I'm going to help him after that-"

Having already stopped listening, Anna rounded on Zeref. "You failed to mention that, when we were planning our little expedition."

A shrug, slipping away as easily as he avoided her eyes. "I did tell you asking him for help would be a bad idea."

"Yes, and I thought you meant because he was a moron, not because you are! I'm starting to think his dislike of you might be justified!"

"Told you so," Igneel interjected snidely.

This was not a particularly good idea, as it only served to draw Anna's attention back to him. "And as for you, you ignorant dragon," she roared, "how dare you let your petty grudge get in the way of my research?"

"If your research is furthering his malevolent plans then it would be good for everyone if it was blocked!" Igneel retorted, with a saint's righteousness. "I am not helping you, and that's final! Good day!"

"How dare he?" Anna fumed.

The thunk of her heels as she marched back down the street was not quite satisfying enough; her fist trembled at her side.

"That no-good, useless, beast of a dragon!" This became a shout, startling several seabirds from their roosts. She imagined they were little feathered dragons, and shouted louder still. "Just because he doesn't understand the notion of scientific progress does not give him the right to stand in its goddamn way!"

This rant had already been going on for some time, and indeed it might never have ended, had she not noticed that Zeref wasn't with her.

She spun on her heel. He had stopped and was gazing upwards, as if cloud-spotting was more interesting than sharing her indignation.

Before she could make her feelings known, however, he met her gaze like he so very rarely did, and whispered, "I'm sorry."

It stopped her in her tracks.

Not the words themselves, but the sentiment behind them. It triggered a realization that should have come far sooner: he had tried to obtain an experimental sample from Igneel five times. He shouldn't have kept it from her, but still. For this indecisive, contradictory man, that was the equivalent of screaming his demands through a loudhailer at the head of a million-man march.

Granted, it apparently hadn't occurred to him to ask Igneel for help, but then again, Igneel probably wouldn't have given him the time of day. Or, rather, he would have declared it "Evil-Slaying Time!" and followed it up with a slash of claws or a torpedo of flames.

This was something Zeref wanted to do.

Even more importantly, by experiencing remorse over his own role in preventing their success, he was acknowledging to her and to himself that he wanted to do it.

She hadn't been about to let that fool dragon's actions stop her for long anyway, of course, but that was why she accelerated her plans.

"Right," she announced. "Here's what we do."

If he'd known exactly what Anna had in mind, Zeref would have been far more reluctant to agree to help.

Not ten minutes later, the disgruntled dragon's search for the fish market was brought to a sudden halt as Zeref stepped in front of him.

Spitting out the net once again, the fire dragon let an ominous growl build in the back of his throat, an earthy tremor that could cross over into a full-blown disaster at any moment. "Still here, wicked wizard? How many times must I tell you that I will not be party to your evil schemes?"

"No matter how many times you say you won't help me, it is meaningless if you do not act on it," Zeref replied, affecting the coolness that seemed so natural to him when Igneel was around, and never at any other time.

Igneel blinked, double eyelids sliding slowly shut in a way that made him seem even more perplexed than usual. "But I'm not helping you!"

"You're not hindering me, either. I was right in front of you, and you let me walk away unharmed. You didn't even try to stop me." Zeref pretended to study his hand, always keeping the dragon in the corner of his eye. "I'm beginning to think you might even be developing sympathies for my way of thinking."

"I would never!" the dragon exploded. "I will show you exactly what I think of your malicious plans! Blazing Justice: Fire Dragon Prince's Extreme Starlight Overburst!"

Zeref closed his eyes and wished vehemently that he had never met Anna Heartfilia.

While Zeref was patiently enduring being burnt alive for the sake of scientific progress, Anna was creeping up behind the fire dragon. She would teach him to oppose her research.

She ducked under a tail swipe, then hastily backpedalled again as the dragon reared up. She was forced to use his leg as a fire-proof barricade as Igneel had a good go at transforming the harbour into the crater of an active volcano. At last, he paused to announce the name of such a ridiculously long-winded attack that Anna was able to get all the way in close before it was unleashed.

Zeref had informed her – as his demon agents had previously discovered – that there was an old wound on the dragon's right hind leg, and the gloriously crimson scales around it had come loose. Anna seized one of these with both hands and tugged.

Unfortunately, loose was a relative term, and the enemy dragon that had performed the loosening was ten times stronger than she was. The scale didn't budge.

"Put your claws underneath and prise it up," a hushed whisper advised.

"Right, thanks," she whispered back, doing just that… until she glanced at the speaker and did a double take.

A second dragon was crouched beside her – wings tightly folded, belly pressed to the ground, tail waving silently back and forth just above the cobbles. He wasn't as large as Igneel, and a lot less intimidating, even before he opened his mouth. His scales were the colour of rich cream, and his eyes wondrously bright.

"Are you also one of Master Blazing Justice's apprentices?" he asked eagerly. "He's been talking about taking on some humans for a while." He sprang right and left and right again, as if dodging invisible arrows, or perhaps just showing off his agility. "Ooh, is this a training game? Snatch the loose scale before Master Blazing Justice notices?"

"…Yeah, why not?" Anna said.

"Great! Cover me!"

She wasn't entirely sure what that was supposed to mean, but the dragon seemed happy enough to go in without cover, evading Igneel's tail with snakelike grace and slipping his claw beneath the scale Anna had tried to claim. "There… and… yoink!"

Igneel gave an inglorious yelp and whipped around. His leg caught the smaller dragon a solid blow, who was sent tumbling in a ball of scales. The wall of a gift shop got in the way, and he came to a halt sprawled on his back, gazing woozily up at a revolving display of postcards. "Yowch…"

Igneel stared. Zeref stared. The former's claw was still protruding from the latter's chest.

"Weisslogia?" Igneel demanded.

The smaller dragon perked up at the sound of Igneel's voice. "Master Blazing Justice!" he cried, scrambling to his feet and giving himself a quick shake to dislodge the rubble.

"Oh, the two idiotic dragons know each other, of course," Zeref muttered, pushing Igneel's claw out with an effort. "Maybe it's contagious."

"He's my apprentice!" Igneel announced, much to the other dragon's delight. "I am imparting all my knowledge of evil-slaying and heroic duty to him!"

The white dragon pranced blissfully around the harbour, his eyes shining like luxurious pearls. "Once I've passed the hero exam, I'm going to be called White Flare! We've been working on my catchphrases already!"

It seemed that Igneel had managed to find the only dragon as oblivious as he was to take under his wing. If the sample Anna had met was representative of the dragon population, she had to wonder how humanity was losing this war.

"Indeed!" Igneel rumbled. "Although, if your actions today are any indication, it is a million years too early for you to be taking the hero exam, my young apprentice." He thrust his snout towards the crimson scale glittering guiltily in the white dragon's claw. "Why are you siding with these villains against me?"

"For training!" came Weisslogia's enthusiastic response. "We were playing Capture the Scale! And I won!"

"Don't look at me," Anna defended. "He assumed it was training. I just failed to correct him in time."

Unimpressed, Igneel towered over his student. "How many times must I tell you not to listen to the words of evil villains? They do nothing but lie!"

"They don't look very evil, though," Weisslogia protested. He pointed at Anna with his tail. "That one's a fair maiden, and you told me they were always on the side of good!"

"Yes, well, contradictory evidence has since come to light on that matter," Igneel grumbled, at the same time as Anna whacked the smaller dragon across the nose.

"Don't call me a maiden!" she snapped. "I do not appreciate being referred to as if my marital status is the most important thing about me!"

"…Huh," Weisslogia remarked thoughtfully.

"Wonderful," Zeref sighed. "Well, now that that's settled, perhaps we could leave the rewriting of societal values to another day, and get on with what we came here for?"

"But we've not…" Anna tailed off upon noticing that he was holding the red scale in his hand, having swiped it from the smaller dragon's claw while everyone had forgotten about his existence.

Weisslogia noticed this at the same moment, judging by his articulate exclamation: "Oi!"

"That's mine!" Igneel yelled. "Give it back!"

He made a swipe for it, but Zeref tossed it over his head to Anna, who caught it one-handed. "Why?" she challenged. "It's not like you can re-attach it, and besides, it'll grow back soon enough. You'd be better off donating it to science."

"Not if it ends up in your hands!" he retorted, with an angry puff of flame. "Apprentice mine! Grab that scale!"

"At once, Master Blazing Justice, sir!" the dragon chirped. "White Flare, here to kick ass and save the day!"

He charged at Anna, not noticing she had already passed back to Zeref. In his haste, he clipped Igneel, who was knocked off-balance. This had the effect of sending Igneel's Fire Dragon Prince's Super Anti-Thief Red Hot Purge straight into the bay instead of Zeref, throwing a veil of steam over the scene – which, ironically, was much more effective than trying to kill the immortal.

Disorientated, Zeref blundered into Weisslogia, who snatched the scale between his jaws and triumphantly ran it straight into the nearest wall. Anna retrieved it, only to be tripped by Igneel's lashing tail, as he pounced on the nearest bright red thing he could find… which turned out to be a life ring. On the very edge of the dock.

This mistake was followed by a humungous splash, as the Prince of the Fire Dragons went head-first into the sea.

That could have marked victory for the humans, had his flailing tail not managed to knock Zeref in with him. Anna was left to wrestle the excitable white dragon by herself.

By the time Igneel surfaced like the rising sun, a trawler's net tangled around one horn and a sodden black-robed mage around the other, Weisslogia had successfully managed to deposit Anna onto a second-storey windowsill, forcing her to exchange the scale for two free hands with which to cling on for dear life.

Gleefully, the white dragon scampered over to his teacher. Perhaps he was going to help him against Zeref, or perhaps hinder him; Weisslogia was having so much fun in the free-for-all that no one would have been surprised to find he was secretly trying to prolong it. Glad of the reprieve, Anna gingerly lowered herself back to the ground.

Igneel had snatched the scale again and was presently holding it high above Zeref's head to gloat. Weisslogia, bouncing around like a hyperactive puppy, would have provided the opportune springboard for Anna to get up there and snatch it… but she was still lining up her sporting run when a calm voice spoke from behind her.

"Two humans, against two dragons?" he remarked. "That doesn't seem particularly fair."

Anna straightened, irritated; the perfect gap in the melee had closed again. "Yeah, well, the dragons are both morons, so I think we'll be okay."

Besides, if either dragon wished her harm, she wouldn't still be breathing. Zeref was another matter – Igneel was certainly not going easy on his so-called archnemesis – but then again, he was a special case. A low hum came from behind her; she wondered if the newcomer had realized that too.

Turning, Anna's gaze swept across the wild-haired, ragged-clothed man beside her, who was watching the brawl with a speculative eye. Not that it was any of his business how she and her research partner carried out their experiments, and she snapped, "Can I help you? You're not someone else I rescued from a burning clocktower, are you?"

"I doubt it, to both," he mused, his gaze fixed on the dragons. "I am here to offer you my aid. They called for a Dragon Slayer, so I came."

"We're doing just fine, thanks," she retorted. "Your services are not required." The white dragon was scampering back over to her, probably wondering why she had given up, and she resigned herself to re-entering the melee. "Honestly, what is it with men seeing me wrestling a dragon and just assuming I need help-?"

It happened so fast she almost missed it.

As Weisslogia brushed past, the newcomer held out his arm. Light flared around it, becoming, for the briefest moment, the ghostly claw of something wicked. It cut through the white dragon's scales like razor wire through a baby's skin.

So effortless. So quiet.

It took another few steps before Weisslogia glanced back to see, with some surprise, the crimson grin dripping down his pure-white flank. A confused whimper escaped his mouth.

The man smiled. "I think you'll find that my services will only cease to be required once all the dragons are dead."

Igneel roared his apprentice's name. Claws took gouges out of the promenade as he hurled himself towards them, but he wasn't going to be fast enough, not even with the languorous way the newcomer raised his ghostly claw before plunging it towards Weisslogia.

Anna was fast enough.

Close enough, too, and she had no patience for fear.

She hit the stranger shoulder-first and knocked him clean off his feet. She grabbed him tightly as they fell, knowing only that she had to keep him away from the wounded dragon, the dragon who had only been playing, the dragon who had done nothing wrong… but the thing she was holding was huge, rough, scaly, no longer human, if indeed he ever truly had been.

She lost her grip and was thrown backwards. By the time she had struggled back to her feet, there were three dragons in the sunlit harbour.

The third was a great black beast whose mere presence darkened the cloudless skies and cast a pallor over the dull-glinting waves. All colour had fled from the world at his appearance, save for the vermillion still glistening along his claw.

Igneel planted himself firmly between the black dragon and them. He had always seemed so big, before. So powerful. In front of that monster, he looked like nothing.

Anna realized, for the first time, how young he really was. Not yet an adult, not yet a king. Defiant, rather than majestic; brave, for he had much to fear.

He growled, "Acnologia…"

The black dragon's mouth twisted into a sneer.

"Apprentice mine, get those two out of here," Igneel ordered, gesturing to Anna and Zeref.

"But… aren't they your enemies?" the white dragon asked weakly.

Igneel's attention did not leave Acnologia for a moment. "It doesn't matter. Not compared to him. He is the great evil that afflicts their kind and ours, and the one I must defeat, no matter what."

"Is that so?" Acnologia purred. "Ordinarily, I would spare humans, but any human a dragon considers precious is already beyond saving."

"You fiend-!" Weisslogia hissed. He stepped forward, trying to reach his mentor's side, but his right foreleg collapsed beneath him. He tumbled to the ground in a shower of blood.

"And stay down until you die," Acnologia mocked.

With a snarl, Igneel flung himself forward. His jaws latched around the larger dragon's neck, claws scrabbling for purchase on his scales, trying to find the leverage to crush that black-diamond armour.

The black dragon tossed his head in an attempt to dislodge him. Igneel clung on doggedly, until the other batted him away with one enormous claw and bore down upon him.

Powerful hind legs tensing against the cobbles, Igneel's head smashed against Acnologia's like colliding tectonic plates, and with the same level of consideration for the environment. Wings flaring, horns and claws scraping along scales, jaws snapping at the empty air, they struck against each other again and again in a contest of sheer strength.

Anna managed to tear her eyes away from the battling dragons for long enough to run over to Weisslogia. He was on his feet again, using his wings for balance, but every laboured breath bubbled through the gash in his side. She grimaced. She needed to get him to safety, but he was far too large for her to support alone.

Glancing around for Zeref, she found him frozen in the middle of the street. If he hadn't been immortal, the collateral damage would already have killed him twice over, yet he hadn't taken cover.

He didn't look capable of moving. He didn't look capable of anything except wide-eyed, tear-filled panic. When she called to him, he didn't seem to hear.

What could he do?

What could any of them do?

At last, Acnologia managed to dislodge the tenacious dragon. Igneel was thrown through a nearby building, landing with a crunch and a roll – and then, suddenly, he was back on all fours, and grinning. The black dragon had not noticed that his opponent had let go of his own accord at the opportune moment. Now Igneel had his back to the city, Acnologia and the open sea ahead of him, and a mouthful of flames.

The inferno he unleashed towards the startled black dragon dwarfed anything he had ever thrown at Zeref. After all, his archnemesis was a tiny target, and this was enough to swallow Acnologia whole.

Or so it would have been, had Acnologia not been the one swallowing the flames.

He consumed Igneel's magic like he was drinking in oxygen. The flames receded rapidly from the air around him, leaving drifting embers and a satisfied sigh behind.

"Useless," he gloated. "Your petty flames can't stop me. There is nothing I can't consume."

"Wanna bet?" Anna retorted.

Above the black dragon, Weisslogia pulled into a dive, Anna bent low over his back. The white dragon's wings held strong through the pain.

Acnologia just laughed – but rather than a breath attack, Anna upended the hamper of super-spicy rock cakes right over his open mouth.

The dragon had been expecting a magical attack. Unfortunately for him, the explosive taste of the hottest chillies on the continent was entirely natural. He swallowed, choked, and then staggered backwards, clawing at his own throat.

Then Igneel was there, bursting across the battlefield like an exploding powder keg.

Another moment, and they'd have had him: the black dragon thrown from the shore and driven down into the depths of the sea by the blazing hero.

But there was no black dragon.

Igneel rammed into empty air. His wings flashed outwards as he tried to brake.

He was still scrabbling for purchase when the wild-eyed human that the dragon had become grinned. He raised his hand above his head, invoking the ghostly white magic that would cut through Igneel's scales and his beating heart in one strike-

An enormous scaly foot squashed him flat.

The enormous foot was connected to an equally enormous leg, and that to a giant torso, and a titanic head; put together, the whole ensemble would have towered over Acnologia's dragon-form. He filled the battlefield the grappling dragons had levelled and then some. His scales were a deeper red than Igneel's, the steady glow of the forge rather than the fleeting blaze of the sunset, and they were criss-crossed with countless insignificant scars. When he roared, the blast of sound almost knocked Anna and Weisslogia out of the sky.

"Dad!" Igneel exclaimed.

A frustrated snarl rose up from the ground. As Weisslogia landed, Anna could see that their opponent wasn't a man-shaped pancake, after all. Acnologia held a curved blade of energy between his hands, pushing back against the huge dragon's foot.

Suddenly, Acnologia's grip shifted, and Anna tried to call out a warning.

There was no need. The great dragon knew. He shifted his weight when his foe did; the blade of dragon-eating energy cut nothing but air. With a mighty blow, the dragon flung Acnologia into one of the few intact buildings… which promptly joined its fallen comrades, as he doused it in sheer white flames. Stone melted and flowed around Acnologia, who let loose a terrible scream.

In the next moment, the black dragon was back, and then gone again. He blazed a trail out over the ocean – quite literally, in fact, shedding molten stone and raging embers as he went – and did not stop until the horizon had taken him into its protective embrace.

"And never return to this land," the great dragon boomed after him, the final thunderclap of the storm.

As stillness settled back over a harbour that had thought it would never know calm again, Anna ran over to Zeref. "Are you alright?" she demanded.

There was a very distant, very familiar darkness in his eyes. Unlike usual, though, it whirled with emotion: shooting stars through the void, omens of disaster.

Horror, that things had spun out of control so quickly. Fear, that the dragon who sought his death had almost died himself. Shame, that she had fought and he hadn't, that she had faced up to the danger when he had been paralyzed.

"I… I just…" He glanced away. She thought it was because he did not want to look at her, and that meant he was still here, in his own way.

She brushed the debris from his shoulders, and then placed her hands atop them gently. "It's alright to be scared, Zeref."

"You weren't scared," he whispered.

"That doesn't mean it's not alright. Igneel was clearly terrified, and look at how cool he came across."

"Yes, because I really want to be like him," he scowled. She laughed, and the unsettled look in his eyes seemed to fade, just a little. In a small voice, he said, "I'm glad you're not hurt."

"Same to you," she agreed. She pulled him into a brief, one-armed hug, before guiding him back towards the dragons.

The newcomer towered over the younger two, but not in an imposing way. Even amidst the devastation, he looked noble and wise. There was nothing feral about his smile, no matter how many spear-like teeth it showed.

Kindness creased his amber eyes as he turned to Igneel. "I am proud of you, my son."

"But I failed," Igneel sulked, refusing to address anything higher than his father's feet. "I couldn't beat him. I wasn't even close."

"No, but you defended the innocent, and you stood up to an overwhelming evil. That matters far more."

Igneel's tail swished. He said nothing.

Patiently, the great dragon continued, "Aren't you going to introduce me to the friends you fought for?"

"They're not my friends," Igneel grumbled. "Apart from Weisslogia, but you know him already."

"Igneel," his father chided.

The fire dragon sighed. "Fine. This is my father, Hakaresh, the King of the Fire Dragons. Dad, these are Anna and Zeref."

Anna's eyebrows rose; she hadn't been aware that Igneel actually knew her name. In retrospect, that made it even more annoying that he didn't use it.

Igneel added, "He's evil, but she's alright. Sometimes. Well, occasionally."

"Why do you call them evil, son?" From his tone of voice, Anna guessed he was testing Igneel, rather than them; from the indignation in his, she wagered Igneel knew this too.

"Well, today alone, they tried to steal a scale from me to use in their sinister experiments!"

"To be fair," Anna pointed out, "we did ask first."

"And I said no, and you ignored me! Where are my rights?"

"What is the nature of this experiment?" Hakaresh inquired.

Anna gave Zeref a pointed look, who appeared dismayed at this foiling of his plan to stay quiet and avoid the dragons' collective attention.

"I believe it may be possible to create a ritual that will prevent the dragonification of human Dragon Slayers," he admitted quietly. "To progress, I need to take measurements of the magic contained within a dragon's scales."

Igneel stared down at him. "Wait, this was part of that research on dragonification you mentioned? Why didn't you say so?"

"You didn't ask," Anna pointed out.

"You could have volunteered the information!" he protested. "Rather than leaving your intentions nebulous, and probably nefarious, too-"

"And then would you have agreed to help?" she interrupted, intrigued.

The dragon pouted and said nothing.

"Interesting," she murmured.

"Why would you want to stop people from turning into dragons?" Weisslogia spoke up. Though still unsteady on his feet, a modicum of liveliness had returned to his voice. "Dragons are great! Plus, if all you humans became dragons too, there'd be far less chance of me stepping on you by accident!"

"Because it is not just a physical change," Hakaresh explained, in a steady, authoritative rumble. "As they cease being a human in body, the human mind of a Dragon Slayer decays too – they lose their sanity, their memories, their very identity. But although dragonification forces upon them the body of a dragon, they do not spontaneously acquire the mind of one. They are stuck somewhere in between, knowing nothing but rage and the need to destroy until the day another Dragon Slayer strikes them down, beginning the cycle again."

Anna nodded. "The descent of Dragon Slayers into mindless violence is well-documented in the literature. It's pretty much the only thing about Dragon Slayers that is."

After all, the only people who took up Dragon Slayer magic were those who did not care about the consequences. Until she'd stumbled across those notes in Zeref's sanctum, she would have said that not a single person had bothered to ask if it wasn't the necessary price of vengeance – if there was another way.

"No one knows where the madness of the dragons comes from." Another voice spoke up softly, and Anna was surprised to realize it was Zeref. He rarely spoke without being prompted in front of others, and yet his words were steady. "No one knows why the dragons that came from the west cannot be reasoned with, nor why they have turned on humanity – nor even why their insatiable appetite for destruction appears to be spreading across Ishgar. According to the records, Dragon Slayer magic was created to fight back against the mad dragons, and protect humans and dragons alike from their rage. But all it has done is propagate that madness to our own species, too."

After a moment's contemplation, he added, "The art of transferring a dragon's magic into a human, thus creating a Dragon Slayer, has only been known to Ishgar for fifty years. Perhaps the truth is that it has been known to the western continent for far longer. Perhaps the dragons that have come from the west are not truly dragons at all. Perhaps, soon, that will be all that remains of intelligent life in Ishgar also."

"Perhaps so," Hakaresh agreed gravely. "Acnologia believes both dragons and humans are headed for extinction. He believes that the only way to save humankind is to kill every last dragon and ensure that the madness dies with them, not realizing he himself is part of it… just as the chaotic spiral of the Dragon Slayers is driving more and more of my kind to side with the mad dragons of their own free will, believing dragonkind can still be saved if the humans are wiped out."

Igneel made no attempt to suppress his growl. "Anyone who believes it is acceptable to slaughter one to save the other is evil, mad or not."

"But Acnologia was human, I saw him," a puzzled Weisslogia pointed out. "How is that possible, if he's changed into a dragon?"

"Some dragons have the ability to shapeshift, apprentice mine," Igneel answered, proud to be able to contribute to this knowledgeable discussion. "He must have killed one and stolen its power, as he has done to so many."

"Perhaps," Zeref prevaricated. Igneel glared at him for ruining his moment, but Anna nodded her encouragement, and he continued. "If he truly sought out Dragon Slayer magic not to take revenge against a certain dragon, nor to protect his home and family, but because he was determined to kill every last dragon in existence… it is possible that the madness would have fed on that determination, turning it into obsession. And obsession is a powerful and dangerous thing, especially with such primal magic at its heart. I would not be surprised if it makes him capable of many impossible things in aid of his purpose, just as it will bind him to that purpose until complete."

As Igneel opened his mouth to argue on principle, Anna got there first. "Anyway, I believe we were discussing how vital it is that we obtain a dragon's scale in order to investigate whether dragonification can be prevented."

"That aligns with your own far-flung goals, does it not, my son?" wondered the Fire Dragon King.

"My goals would never align with evil!" Igneel retorted.

"Oh?" Anna wondered, looking up at him curiously. "Is this the 'stupid plan' of yours Skiadrum mentioned?"

"It's not stupid," Igneel sulked. Then he glanced at his father, and his pout relented a little. "It's like Dad says. This isn't a battle between us and them – but no one seems to realize it. They're happy to keep fighting until both sides lose. There's got to be another way, and I'm going to find it… it's just not easy when the only humans who don't automatically write off all dragons as evil are you two miscreants."

Then, unexpectedly, he amended, "But, I guess… you did help against Acnologia, so… maybe you're not all bad. What sort of hero would I be if I refused to assist in your attempt to climb back to the side of light?"

To their surprise, he hooked one claw around the pale, almost silvery scale in the centre of his chest, right over his heart. Screwing his eyes shut, he yanked it free. Weisslogia gasped. Hakaresh made an interested noise that gave perhaps even more away. Igneel himself did not make the slightest expression of pain, although it was almost forlornly that he regarded the scale he held.

"The heartscale of a dragon is the one most closely connected to our magic," he informed them. "It will probably give you the best results."

He stared at Zeref for a long moment, but he couldn't quite bring himself to do it, and he thrust the scale towards Anna instead. "You take it."

"…You do realize I'm going to give it straight to Zeref, right?"

"Yes." Igneel answered through gritted teeth. "But I thought you might at least have the courtesy to do it after I've left."

"Thank you," she grinned, accepting the scale.

"Thank you," Zeref echoed softly.

Igneel harrumphed, turning away from both of them. "Don't make me regret this. Come on, we need to get Weisslogia home to rest."

"Indeed," rumbled the Fire Dragon King. "It was a pleasure to meet you, Anna, Zeref. It lightens my heart to know that my eldest son has such brave and sensible friends."

The dragons took to the skies – Hakaresh and Igneel both helping to support Weisslogia – leaving the two humans alone in the wreck of the harbour.

Zeref stared out over the sea, as silent as the sky above, and almost as distant. He wasn't alright, no matter what he said. He was shaken. Anyone would be, after that, but he had never been like other people in how he reacted.

That was fine, though. She knew how to deal with that. How to bring him back.

"Come on," she told him, pressing Igneel's heartscale into his hands. "Let's leave fighting Acnologia to the dragons. We have the wild frontiers of magic to explore, you and I."

Zeref said nothing, but as his hands tightened around the scale, she could have sworn she saw him smile properly for the very first time.