"DAD COME UP HERE RIGHT NOW, I GOT SOMETHING TO SHOW YOU," Natsu shouts as he lays his brother- is that what he's supposed to call him now?- on the ground of his room, "YOU MIGHT WANT TO RUN!" He says to his dad who was sighing and slowly stomping his way, to this he hears his footsteps speed up a bit.

"What's wrong?" he questions, rounding the doorway into Natsu's room, his eyes widening in shock, and maybe a bit of horror as they settle on his two sons, "get him to the dungeon, I need to call the council," He all but whispers with wide eyes still on Zeref. He then shakes his head and starts speed walking back down the stairs, repeating himself, louder this time, "Get him to the chamber!"

As if these words started a chain reaction, Zeref's eyes slam open, pupils almost completely overtaking the whites of his eyes, he's grabbing onto Natsu's shirt, shaking and muttering in a different language, incohesive, and as the blacks completely cover his eyes, he screams. His pale skin is slowly becoming more and more pink, and as Natsu grabs him to take him down to the chambers, the shaking becomes more like convulsing and sweating waterfalls, his skin almost red now.

"Dad, I don't think he's okay!"

"Hurry up and get him in the chamber!"

"Yeah yeah, I'm there," He replies while plopping Zeref onto the cot and locking the door. He stares at his older brother, "nice meeting you," he mutters at the convulsing red and black blob of a person. He turns away from the cell, about to ascend up the stairs until the screaming abruptly stops. He turns to see his brother standing against the bars, his arms out, stretching past the bars, almost touching Natsu's scarf. His eyes are still wide, and black, his mouth open, and the now black veins stand out on his bright red arms, hands still shaking rapidly.

"You've grown up," Natsu hears a voice say, it's not coming from Zeref, he looks around for the source, "I'm in, finally, I've been wanting this for so long," he hears chuckling, and his head starts burning and pounding, "It's always been you," and oh god, what is that sound, he falls to his knees before the cell, now being his turn to scream, clutching his head and shaking, vision going black as he sees Zeref's symptoms almost flooding out of his system and into the air, infecting Natsu. He looks up to see Zeref fall, hitting his head on the cement with a crack that's almost drowned out by the high pitched scream going on in Natsu's head. He can't hear his own screams. A voice overtook the scream for a moment, booming in his head, "you're safe, I promise."

And it all went dark.

"Where's Natsu?" Is the first thing Lucy asks when her and Jude get to the Council meeting, a call in the middle of the night woke both of them up to tell them that Zeref is back. Whatever that means, can't be good.

Jude gives her a look, to which she replies, "Is he okay?" Gritting her teeth and smiling at her father.

"Natsu is gone."

"WHAT?" Lucy's head starts spinning, her fiance was gone, where?

"I mean, it's not Natsu anymore," Confused looks go all around the Council, "I have reason to believe Acnologia has taken his body captive."

The council erupts in whispers and Jude risks a look at Lucy, tears already filling her eyes.

"Believe? Why isn't it one hundred percent certainty?"

"Well, when he speaks, it's like it's all Natsu, but then he gets these, these surges of pain and he's not there anymore. I think he's fighting off the energy but he can't hold on forever,"

"We need to force him out of Natsu, don't we? How can we do that? We need to do this right now,"

Jude interjects, "I think the best idea is to allow him to think we're powerless,"
"But we are completely powerless!"

"We're not exactly pretending,"

"Why's he here anyway!?"

"To kill us, obviously,"

"He doesn't need to be here for that,"

Igneel shouts over everyone, "Hey! We don't know what he wants, and we don't know if Zeref is back to 'normal,' whatever that would be for him, we need to figure out how and why he's here. Zeref was just a puppet, no control, we should keep him safe in the cell,"

"Keep him safe?" a few council members ask, incredulously.

"Acnologia, is the main enemy,"

"The enemy of my enemy is my friend," Lucy mutters to herself.

"How long does he get to stay?"
"As long as it takes. To stop Acnologia, that is," Lucy answers abruptly, ignoring the collective gasp, and turns to Jude, "Can I see Natsu?"

Igneel flashes a look of uncertainty towards Jude, who ever so slightly shakes his head, "I don't think that's a good idea, we'll talk in a bit. Will you go wait in the hall?" Lucy's face falls, sighing as she bows her head.

"Yes, your majesty,"

Lucy is pacing up and down the hall when Igneel comes out, pinching the bridge of his nose and wiping his eyes before taking a deep breath and saying, "Natsu's fine,"

Lucy's face scrunches up in confusion, a trait Levy laughs at while tutoring her, "what do you mean? Isn't he not him anymore?"

Jude bites his cheek and closes his eyes, "I think Natsu's body is unfit for Acnologia's power, I don't know how he managed to stay in Zeref's body for all these years without tearing it apart-"

"Natsu's being torn apart!?" She interrupts, suddenly having a hard time breathing.

"Not anymore, I don't think he's in Natsu's body anymore, but he's completely wiped out. He fought very hard to not be taken over,"

"Where did he go then? Back to his own body?" Igneel shakes his head.

"No, his body was buried long ago, it wouldn't work after so many years,"

"Where did he go then?" Lucy asks, "Back into Zeref's?"
"It seems so, Zeref is back to acting how he did when he left,"

After a beat, Lucy says, "I want to talk to him," she gives a small, tight-lipped smile, "May I?"

"I'm not sure if you'll be able to, but I know you need to see him for yourself." He sighs, putting his palm on his forehead, "I'm just so tired of passing on my wisdom and knowledge," he says in a mostly joking tone, "Alright let's go,"

"Right now?"
He looks at her, a ghost of a smile on his face, "No time like the present,"

Hi guys, wow this is really late, sorry about that! I thought I would've finished this by now, especially since I just had spring break :/ sorry again, I hope ya'll like it!