Zeref slowly blinked awake, the cool temperature of the early-morning air ensuring his muscles were stiff. Over the past two months he'd gradually grown accustomed to the sensation of touching someone, so the feeling of his limbs tightly wrapped around a smaller body didn't faze him. Giving Mavis a perfunctory glance, he disentangled himself and released her despite the enticing warmth between their bodies, then stood and stretched his tense limbs before hefting her weight in his arms.
He had chosen a northern route through Fiore because the quickest southern one entailed cutting through Crocus, due to the capital being sandwiched between two mountain ranges. Being of a mind to avoid people, Zeref didn't fancy strolling through a city swarming with them, much less so with the valuable cargo he carried.
He was passing through a forest close to the Hakobe peaks, and though it was nearly spring the temperature was chillier than the woods around Magnolia had been in December. Speaking of chill, he had acclimated to his lack of a toga but still missed its comforting weight and warmth from time to time. Or at least whenever he remembered to, which wasn't often with the warm girl in his arms.
"Strange," he spoke to her conversationally. "I don't feel as saddened as I did before, Mavis. Although you're no longer with me socially, you're keeping your promise. And you give me purpose."
Talking to her was a habit he had acquired, something he did instead of talking to himself. It was strange indeed how one girl, a comatose one no less, could singlehandedly help stave off his previously ever-present loneliness. It was almost as though she was with him in a spiritual sense as well as a physical. Her presence kept him grounded, providing a constant tangible reminder that he was not alone, and helped stave off the contradictory thinking that so often gave him migraines. Though hating himself was more than easy, he made amends for his involvement in her current condition by determining to revive her, which he apparently had an indefinite length of time to accomplish.
Continuing on through the forest of pine trees, Zeref was grateful for the temporary reprieve his death magic seemed to be granting him. He tried to make it last by momentarily locking away his value and appreciation for the life around him. The less value he possessed for certain things, the easier it was to do; however it would only work for a short period of time, as lying to himself was exhausting and had a way of driving one mad faster than destroying life. Hence the reason he often fled his country to clear his mind for months at a time, only returning when his composure was flawless and boredom caused him to crave mental stimulation.
Regarding his lack of control where Mavis was concerned, no matter how much death energy he'd expelled over the past two months, she had remained unaffected despite the fact that his curse was usually directed at her. For that he was grateful. Puzzled over this enigma, he'd recalled and mulled over his extensive studies regarding the connections between life, death, and magic power from centuries past but so far they weren't helpful in this case.
Another of Zeref's concerns was that were he to bring Mavis to his empire, he would be mixing someone he cared for with those he did not, and due to his lack of control over his emotions for her, he feared he might bring harm to his subservients. He'd always taken care to view and treat them as inferior subjects so his curse would have no effect on them, but it would appear he'd grown soft on emotional management. The length of time between his bouts of destruction had lessened considerably. This line of thought—of seeking to preserve people whom he must hold no value for in order to save—inspired a familiar sense of exasperation and did little to quell the Black Wizard's rising confusion.
His own view of life was distorted enough without having reality break its own rules.
Stopping at a small lake, Zeref began the bathing ritual he'd mastered and used the cold water to clear his head. He wished he could speak to Mavis, wondering how she would advise him. Had she possessed the curse long enough to be fully aware of its nature? He assumed so, due to her intelligent and inquisitive personality. Massaging her scalp and dipping her head in the water for the final rinse, he moved on to the rest of her body.
"You know, I never thought I would be so proficient at bathing an unconscious person." Running his hands over her slender body, he added, "No doubt you would be embarrassed if you knew. With the depravity of my mind, I don't blame you."
Heedlessly letting his gaze wander, he noted that her breasts seemed slightly fuller—but quickly chastised himself for ogling her after determining that it was a trick of the mind. Leaving her on the bank, he stayed close by as he saw to his own bath, having no inclination to let her out of his sight. After the incident of the predator that disastrous night, he'd kept her either in direct contact with himself or in his field of vision at all times to prevent a repeat of his previous mistake.
After they were both clean and clothed, and he had painstakingly braided Mavis's hair (a new skill he'd picked up as a means of dealing with her tangle-prone locks), he put her on his back piggyback style, covering her with his toga and tying the strips of cloth over his waist and chest as a sort of harness to hold her to his back somewhat comfortably. Sensing the familiar brush of her internal energy and ignoring a very different brush of the warm female flesh against his back, he continued his journey through the woods surrounding the mountain range.
He'd hoped her magic power would increase as time went by, but he hadn't sensed more than the smallest increment of change and even that may have been imparted by his hopeful imagination instead of reality. He did sense her presence, however, and at this point he was quite certain it was no trick of the mind, although he allowed for the fact that he might be crazy.
Wondering why she wasn't absorbing ethernano normally, Zeref had entertained the concept of using Living magic on her but quickly discarded that idea because it couldn't restore magic power, and Mavis was not a corpse or a demon to be animated. Also, he hadn't purposefully cast a spell in many years now, having made it a principle in order to avoid combat and interference at all costs. His stand in the world was strictly neutral for the time being, despite his growing empire. In his mind, voluntarily using even a little magic would result in a chain reaction—and he had no intentions of lighting that fuse, despite his thoughtless mistake a few weeks ago.
After a long day's journey, most of which Zeref spent ruminating until his skull throbbed, he paused for the night and prepared to sleep. His stomach was noticeably hollow but he resolutely ignored the unpleasant awareness. This time of year and in this region, no plants were bearing fruit, and killing an innocent animal to satisfy unnecessary desires was distasteful to him. Rubbing his head tiredly, he wondered aloud, "I wonder if you feel hunger as well, Mavis." Remembering how she had starved herself, he felt a pang of sympathy and a corresponding sphere of death energy emanated from him, withering everything in its path except the girl in his arms. She was his anchor.
'No, I don't feel hunger,' a familiarly sweet voice answered in his head.
Startled, Zeref froze, hoping he was going insane if it meant he could hear that voice again. With his brain working to grasp the meaning of what he'd heard despite his shock, he identified the form of magic as Telepathy...and the voice as Mavis's. Unheralded tears sprang to his eyes, threatening to run over.
"Mavis?" he implored aloud, before asking telepathically, 'Are you all right? How are you able to communicate with me? I would think your magic power is too low. And why haven't you contacted me before now?' He couldn't help the tinge of despondency that stole into his last question.
Chest tight with anticipation, he was vastly relieved when he heard her apologetic answer. 'I'm so sorry, Zeref. I don't know how I'm able to use magic power, only that I was unable to utilize it in any form over the past couple of weeks. My spirit has been separated from my body somehow, but it didn't have a form you could see, because I was too weak to project one. Even now, Telepathy is the only type of magic I'm able to use.'
There was a heartbeat of silence as Zeref absorbed this information, and he closed his eyes as he thought to her, 'Because it's the weakest you have at your disposal. Interesting. I'm simply relieved you're not dead, and that your spirit was unharmed by my curse. It must have completely depleted your magic power. Have you been with me this whole time?'
A lengthy pause, and then Mavis stuttered, 'Y-yes, for the most part. But it wasn't as though I was stalking you or anything! I, uh...it was really kind of you to take care of me the way you've been doing.'
Zeref smiled as he imagined the blush she would be sporting if she were conscious. 'Don't concern yourself with it. It was no trouble.'
Realizing he was still standing, he settled down for the evening and reclined against a large trunk with Mavis's body in his arms, subconsciously tracing her cheek with a forefinger as they conversed. Silence filled the air between them as they both remembered the strain of the past months, and the earnest words they'd shared before her supposed death. Breathing in deeply, Zeref released a slow breath. 'You have something to say?' he asked the girl, whose silence was conspicuous.
'Yes, I...please don't be upset, Zeref. I didn't die, and we're going to find a way to revive my body so we can lift our curse. Together. I meant what I said and I'm proud of you for overcoming the sorrow in your heart. With our bond of love and friendship, nothing is impossible. I don't regret forging it, and neither should you.'
He knew the truth of her words, but hearing her say them was like a soothing balm to his bruised heart. His eyes filled again and he blinked, chest aching at the understanding and acceptance filling her words, though his curse sought to distort his feelings.
'I don't regret it, dear Mavis. You've given me true hope, a purpose for which to live.'
'I'll never leave you again, if I can help it,' she thought back softly.
'So it wasn't my imagination and I really did sense you.'
'You did?' She sounded surprised.
'Yes. I also detected a slight rise in your magic power, which is apparently how you're able to converse with me now.'
'You're right. The strange thing is, I'm unable to truly absorb ethernano from the air. Otherwise I would've reached my full strength by now, but my conversion of raw energy to magic power seems to be blocked. I assume that's because of my comatose state.'
'How are you able to use magic without converting ethernano?' Zeref's brow furrowed as he thought, the logical majority of his brain reeling.
'I don't know,' she answered. 'The power seems to come...from within me.'
'Mavis, that's scientifically impossible. In order for a mage to use magic, your internal energy must fuse with external energy. The more ethernano you absorb, the higher your level of magic power as a result.'
'I know that!' she thought frustratedly, then sighed. 'Whatever this phenomenon is, we'll figure it out. I'm just grateful we can finally speak.'
'So am I,' he thought quietly. 'I've missed you.'
'I wanted to talk to you, Zeref, and I tried more than once, but...'
'Don't worry, I understand.'
He held her body closer to his, letting their reunion soothe his lonely yearning. The blessed moment passed soon enough, with both parties tacitly acknowledging that they would never be separated again.
'Where are we going? I've been so curious.' Mavis asked softly.
'To my country over in Alakitasia,' he thought, slightly surprised that he hadn't mentioned it over the past couple of weeks.
'Your country? You're taking me there? Oh, I'm so excited!'
He smiled at her enthusiasm. 'Yes, I'm taking you there. And I'm going to find a way to wake you once we arrive. You'll get your body back, one way or another.'
'I know,' she thought trustingly, then added lightly, 'And it won't be a moment too soon. I miss being able to touch tangible things.'
'Mavis, thank you,' Zeref said, swallowing against the ache of emotion in his throat. 'Talking to you has made me happy.'
Around them, more trees withered and disintegrated and animals died as a particularly powerful bout of death energy emanated from his cursed body, swirling around them to further blacken the progressing night.
'I could say the same to you,' she thought back to him. 'I may not have spent centuries in exile, but less than one year was enough to instill in me a greater value for human companionship.'
'This curse has a way of doing that, yes,' he reflected sardonically, lying down as the trunk supporting his back decomposed. Situating Mavis alongside his body, her head against his shoulder and her arm across his chest, he folded his arms behind his head and relaxed as dusk settled.
'It must have been so hard for you,' she thought soberly. 'Losing everyone you loved, and then thinking you'd lost me as well.'
'Yes.' Remembering the moment he'd discovered she wasn't dead, and his cavalier treatment of her leading up until then, he thought, 'Forgive me for wanting to revive you even when I thought you were at rest, Mavis. My loneliness has driven me to selfishness.'
'There's nothing to forgive. I made a promise, and you had every right to hold me to it.'
Taking a breath, Zeref moved on. 'I'm sorry I...hurt you,' he apologized, remembering his regret for her pain when he saw the blood staining her thighs.
'It didn't hurt that much,' she reassured him abashedly, correctly deducing the meaning of his apology. 'I heal quickly, and I have a higher pain tolerance now. Or had,' she added.
He nodded, inwardly relieved. After a moment of silence he mentioned, 'I assume the magical effects of your curse have been suspended due to your state of unconsciousness?'
'Yes, thank goodness. I'm grateful that it had no effect on you, but how so?'
'My theory is that my curse is stronger than yours because of the amount of time I've had it.'
'That would make sense, but the answer still doesn't sit well with me. When we were...um...'
'Having intercourse,' Zeref supplied helpfully, smirking a little as he pictured her blush.
'Yes.' She went on valiantly. 'Near the end, when my life force was draining, I'm almost certain that I felt my death magic being blocked. If what you said was true, wouldn't my curse have attempted to take your life but failed?'
He thought it over, and answered, 'That is yet another mystery we'll need to solve.'
'Along with why your curse no longer drains my magic power. They seem to be stacking up,' Mavis thought playfully.
Zeref smiled, his worries all but forgotten as he basked in her presence. 'You seem to be considerably happier than you were the day I found you.'
'I am,' she thought, sounding a bit puzzled. 'It must be because I haven't killed anything in months, and I've been enjoying my time with you. You're looking more cheerful as well.'
'Yes,' he admitted, to himself as well as her. 'These past few weeks have been some of the best in my wretched existence.'
He thought he could sense her smile as she thought, 'That makes me happy.'
'Yes, but it doesn't take much to make you happy, Mavis.'
'Are you implying that I'm easy to please?'
'It's one of the things I enjoy about you.' Zeref smoothed the hair from her face and arranged it in a trail behind her.
'Do spirits need to sleep?' he asked.
'I rest as much as I did when I was conscious in my physical body, but thankfully I'm unable to feel much cold.'
'We'll determine the remainder of what needs to be done during the journey,' he thought to her.
'Yes,' Mavis agreed. 'Now rest. I'll be watching over you.'
Turning over to tuck her small body into the lee of his own out of habit, Zeref murmered, "You'd better be with me when I wake up," before slipping into a dreamless sleep with his face buried in her fragrant hair.
A/N: In Fairy Tail, a wizard is able to use magic when their internal energy (magic power) melds with the raw natural energy in the air (ethernano). Normally, a wizard dies when depleted of all magic energy, but that wasn't the case with Mavis. Zeref's curse took her power and rendered her unable to absorb the ethernano in the air due to her catatonic state. As for how she's able to use magic now, can you guess?
In the canon, my theory is that she was unable to use magic until Precht created Fairy Heart, not being able to utilize August's power due to whatever crap Precht did to her. Makarov mentioned that Mavis awoke from her "eternal slumber" to save the Tenrou team via Fairy Sphere, 78 years after she fell unconscious. Thus the reason she was unaware of August's existance.
