I must warn you. This chapter is a rollercoaster of emotions. At some point, I was on the brink of crying myself so look out for yourselves while you read. Further, the content could be triggering for some of you because Luna, Zeref and Natherious have to live through an almost miscarriage. Read at your own risk.

Pain. There was so much pain coursing through her body. Even though her caring husband hadn't said anything in order to not make her situation even worse but her instinct wasn't as foresighted as her beloved pink-haired man so she knew what was happening and what the consequences would be.

Inside her belly, a new life was growing, the embodiment of the love that bloomed in the most beautiful colours of a rainbow and an aurora light mixed together between her and her husband. And as dreading as it was but her body rejected their unborn son or daughter. Why? She didn't care because every cause forcing this reaction of her body is as terrible as all the others and she simply refuses this knowledge. It would break her apart if she ever were to know.

Their firstborn son is clutching her left side, shedding as many tears as she does while he rubs her arm up and down. Whether it's in order to soothe his or her worries away, Luna Heartfilia can't say for certain. Probably it worked for both of them in the same way but more importantly was his intention. Despite being so young, Zeref has already obtained a vast understanding of the world and can easily connect the dots offered to him in order to come to the right conclusion. She's certain that a bright future is waiting for him once he has grown up into a young fine man.

He hugs her tighter when a new wave of pain washes over her and if she could she would smile at the sweet actions of her son. Outwardly he has not much in common with either her or his father but therefore his character is almost an exact copy of his father's, only hidden behind a thin veil of her own – a very thin one. If she wouldn't know it any better she would never expect a calm, collected and introverted boy like Zeref to have impish and playful tendencies. It's hard to believe but that's how things are. She experienced it with her own body when she woke up one day with pictures drawn all over her face – with a permanent marker.

Being the gentlemen they are her husband and son laughed their asses off when she looked into the mirror and screamed after discovering the damage done to her. Her husband had even the audacity to praise Zeref for his artwork as he called it and gave him advice for the next time while ruffling his son's raven-black hair with loving care. She was beyond furious after hearing her husband's words of encouragement and chased her men almost the entire day. Not once did their laughter die down. But this is only one of their many sides and if she's honest with herself she doesn't want to miss it. Not even one of them even if this means she will never have a day of peace again. Thoughts like these always remind her of what her husband had once said to her. That she wishes for the adventure only the impish demon can offer. Now she has two of them and she wouldn't want it any different.

They are the anchor that keeps her senses and the warmth that emits from them makes it possible for her to push through the current situation as well. Her husband's hand still lays on top of her belly, heat brimming of in a steady motion, trying to alleviate the pain as much as possible but regrettably, her body functions were stronger than her husband. His attempts were rendered useless as new agony erupted from her insides as her body didn't allow the new life within her to grow its roots in peace. She almost passed out from the intense pain hitting her like lightning every second but she knew she needs to keep awake. Only then there is a chance that everything will turn out okay in the end. Her husband asked if she trusts him and she answered him without a second's hesitation that she does. She trusts that he will be able to do something. After all, he has cast many wonders for her and her alone already.

This thought paired with the closeness of her beloved family formed the impenetrable barrier that protected Luna Hartfield's soul from shattering completely. Pain, madness and sadness had formed relentless storms on their own, wildly trashing and possessing ungodly powers. That was before they had fused into one singularity, a cataclysm that has never been seen before in the long history of humankind. It was furious and thirsty for her life and clawed at her with claws crafted from the wind of death. They bellowed and howled her name as they raged across the empty plains of her inner world.

However, the walls they stormed against were higher than the highest mountain. They pierced through the skies and travelled far into the universe and beyond the confines of her soul, connecting her directly to her husband's and son's soul by an invisible yet existing bond only they could see. It was an ethereal manifestation of the love they shared with each other and it was stronger than the storm representing death itself. All attacks shattered at the defensive walls, swatted away like the meagre coughs of a gnat. When confronted by love even death can only bend its knees in awe, all the might it has at its disposal completely and utterly useless in front of the primordial power that has no boundaries.

But even with its hope for the next kill slipping through its claws death wouldn't simply give up because there was another life that could be claimed, one that wasn't protected by sturdy walls built by the hands of the Dragneel household. So death gave up on Luna Heartfilia for the moment and turned its attention to the yet nameless child inside her belly, rejected by her body.

The closer death creped up on the newborn light belonging to the child of princess and demon, the more pain tortured the black sheep of the Heartfilia family. The father of the innocent being could feel with his magic how death was slowly but surely getting closer and closer to its ultimate goal of robbing their unborn child from this world. From his own experiences, he knew that only oneself could fight death off. Others could only offer assistance to help and make it easier but in the end life or death solely relied on the will to live or the will to not live. The pink-haired man was aware that the chances were slim, almost non-existent.

Still, even knowing this dreading fact he smiled at his wife as his lips formed words of encouragement, coaxed forward by her earlier admit of trust.

"Luna, you will give birth to our son right now. If he is this eager to see the light of the world already, who are we to deny him his wish?" The man's voice was soft and gentle, a warm whisper that drowned the despair that had settled around them. His magic had told him that the baby was his second son and apparently he wouldn't remain as passive as his older brother had done while being hugged by the warm confines of their mother.

At first, Luna didn't even believe that she was pregnant with the black-haired boy but when her dear husband Natherious tickled her bare belly small but firm kicks followed soon after wherever he touched. He grinned like a maniac at the actions of his son, stating that their child would become a dad-child and how he was right about that. After the birth, Zeref would only quiet down in his presence no matter what she tried. Even though it was really silly she was a bit jealous of this bond between them but she got her payback when the first word Zeref spoke was mommy and not daddy

Afterwards, she had to deal with two babies because Natherious would not cease his crying that it was not daddy but mommy. Before long her patience snapped at his childish antics and she gave him a large aching bump on his head. He pouted for days after that and she was reminded of the fact that he may be a grown-up man but is also nothing more than a loveable idiot acting like a four-year-old brat from time to time. But over time the beautiful blond woman had learned which buttons she must push in order to get her desired reactions from the man she loves, reading him like an open book. A few kisses on his cheeks and everything was well again as he returned to his normal persona.

Zeref's pregnancy proceeded without any complications aside from the day of birth but she supposes a birth never goes without pain. But compared to the pain she is feeling right now as if melting hot steel blades penetrate her abdomen and burn her open, Zeref's birth was like a soft breeze of early spring. But leave it to Natherious to express this maddening situation in a way that one almost can believe everything goes as it's supposed to be. Luna would have scoffed at his sugar-coating phrases but didn't find the time to do so.

Instead, she let his words sink in, embraced them with her body and soul and only nodded, knowing very well that this means acting against her motherly instinct which tells her to keep up her resistance against the forces of nature begging her to eradicate it. Natherious assisted them as his hand applied soft pressure on her belly, the silent plea to let go and since she trusted him more than anything she gave in to his wishes. As nauseating as the thought was but Luna knew that her son would have not a chance of living if she delayed the far too early birth any longer.

So against her screaming instincts, she released the barriers, instantly feeling how more blood flooded out of her. It made her nether regions sticky and at the same time slippery as the disgusting scent of metal impregnated the air around them. She could feel how her husband's hand trembled in fright on top of her belly. How ironic. Many won't hesitate to call him the perfect being but this is nothing but a load of nonsense. She knows for a fact how fragile his true self really is beneath all the layers of untrue frauds. He acts tough all the time but the truth is that he's the biggest softie Earthland has ever seen. His love is never-ending, his passion is ever-burning and she's always so happy for every second she can live with him and the family he has gifted her with.

When she was still a young girl she wanted to go on an eternal adventure, unravelling all the mysteries the world has to offer and maybe even find the one she could love. It was just a silly dream back then, nothing more but the wild imaginations of a small child but in the end, it became true and she found even more than she hoped for. She met her significant other whose presence was like an addicting drug to her, one she could never get enough of.

At her side, Zeref trembled in a similar fashion like his father but even with his soul on the brink of shattering into million pieces he found the strength within himself and whispered sweet nothings to her. She turned her gaze to him when she heard his words of solace. Luna looked her son deep into his black eyes and found nothing but panic. But even so, he tried his best to give her reassurance and she was marvelled by the sight. A boy this young acting so brave is seldom seen and she's reminded how much of a gift Zeref truly is. In response she pulls him closer to her body, placing her face gently on his own as their tears mixed. With his small arms, he hugged around her neck to the best of his abilities as mother and son lost themselves in the warmth they offered to each other.

Maybe it was because of this sensation that hastened the process but suddenly Natherious' hand left her abdomen in a rushed manner. She knew what it meant but didn't dare to look at the scene that was about to happen. Too scared of what she might have to witness. Natherious felt the panic of his wife with every part of his body. He could smell it how it dripped out of her every pore, taste it as it drenched the air with its corrupted essence, sense it by the cold shudders running down his spine, see it within every tremor that shook Luna's body and hear it inside every sob, in every hiccup from her and Zeref.

He wanted nothing else but to hug both of them close to him, bury his face in their hair and inhale their smell so he could calm his own fears. He wanted to kiss their tears away and with them hopefully the dread as well and he wished that they would kiss his own tears away as well which were threatening to roll down from his crimson eyes in every second that passed by.

But he couldn't allow them to fall – at least not yet. He needed his vision to function properly because the fate of his second son was literally in his hands now. They trembled in maddening agitation as he waited for the moment that would change all of their lives forever no matter what the outcome may be. In all these years he has been alive, travelling north and south, venturing from the east to the west and then across the globe to start again, not once – not a single time – had he experienced such fright as he does now. He never thought his beloved family could one day suffer through such agony, an agony he could do little against. He has forgotten this sensation of utter helplessness, the despair dwelling inside, like a feral beast lurking behind an invisible wall, ready to pounce at any given moment at you to tear you apart and feast upon your flesh.

But he remembered that hope always exists. Life is cruel but not so cruel to not leave an alternative path to walk on. Sometimes you can only choose between bad and worse but there's still a choice you can make. One only needs the conviction to make the choice as hurtful as it might be. So he chose, he chose to believe in his son's strength, that he wanted to live and turn the happy three into the lucky four. Mother, father and two sons. A big, happy family, loving each other, bickering each other, teasing each other, living together until the end times any beyond in their small but personal bubble of pure bliss and happiness.

This is the vision he conjures inside his mind, the haunting ghosts set ablaze by the pure conviction emitting from it so brightly that it resembles a blazing sun, a sun that shines down on their family for the rest of eternity. Upon his redeemed and newfound staunchness, his magic activated without him doing anything. It burned brightly in invisible flames and flickered from side to side around his frame. The man known as Natherious Dragneel is beloved by magic so it happily obligates his every command without hesitation nor question and in this moment of need rushed to his aid out of its own desire.

His hands shot forward, getting coated in his wife's blood as his fingers, with the utmost care, embraced the small body bathing inside the reddish life elixir. His magic cleaned the new life from every possible kind of pollution and revealed to the man holding the fragile body for the first time the face of his second son.

He was so tiny, easily fitting on two of his fingers with space still unused. He had the same spiky and pinkish hair he does, the same tan skin, the same pointy eyes. For a moment, Natherious thought he was looking at a mirrored image of himself and in fact, he did. Zeref has already inherited a lot of him but his second son did even more, so much that he was basically a copy of him.

However, there was only one but fatal difference between father and son. The elder Dragneel was brimming with life. His heart danced inside his chest the tango of life, sometimes faster and sometimes slower but it danced, day and night over and over again without showing the slightest intention of ever stopping. It was life itself, which resided inside his heart but the same life coursing through his veins dared not to touch his son, turning him into a lifeless shell, into a lifeless corpse, denying him the sweet taste of life.

By this sight the tears finally fell from the man's eyes, unable to hold back the flood of grief and sadness for even a second. Holding his dead son inside his hands tore him apart. It felt like his heart was yanked out of his chest, leaving behind a black hole that swallowed the rest of him. He thought he had already experienced the worst imaginable pain possible but he was wrong.

What a fool he has been! Even if accumulated and fused together the entirety of all the pain his body went through up to this moment paled in comparison to the pain he felt right now. Love is a blessing and a curse at the same time he realised. It should be obvious but people tend to blacken out everything that could mean harm in any form. He is no different in this regard, no matter what people may say or think.

The air around him must have changed from the negative emotions because Luna and Zeref broke their tight embrace and turned their attention to him. Their old tears had yet to dry but they were washed away by new ones upon seeing the tiny frame in Natherious' hand. All members of the Dragneel family cried and mourned the loss of their newest member, cursing whoever deemed this an acceptable fate.

However, even when their minds and souls drowned in despair, strangled to death over and over again in an endless loop, accompanied by the delighted snarls of death itself as it was satisfied with its newest addition upon its ranks resting inside its closed claws, there was someone among them who refused to yield. It was neither a mind or soul but a body, a body without rival. It witnessed countless terrors but never kneeled down in front of anyone. And even when its owner was at the brink of giving up it wouldn't follow suit, trained to withstand even the worst of all destructions without suffering the slightest scratch.

Suddenly Natherious heart hurt and he wanted to scream, a silent scream of unexpected pain. It felt like he was slapped across his face over and over again. With each slap, the pain inside his chest intensified as memories of his past invaded his brain, letting him live through all of it once again within a small fraction of a second. Natherious Dragneel realised, after seeing his life once again, that the pain was the wake-up call from his heart and body. They hadn't given up in the past and they wouldn't do it now either.

Despite the circumstances, he smirked. It was small but it was still there, fuelling his inner fire which set his inner demons ablaze, burning their shadows to ashes without leavening a trace behind. With his new resolve, he leaned forward, his mouth stopping right beside his second son's ear as he whispered his life to him, compressed into nothing more but a few words.

"Fight. Fight, my son, fight as I did in the past and still do. Life never smiled down onto me much and I went through countless hells while walking down the path I have chosen. I know that you are not a quitter because I'm not one either. My blood flows through your veins and with it my everything. It is my ultimate gift to you, the gift that carried me so far, the gift that will carry you as well."

For a moment his eyes flickered to his other son and his wife. Even though his words were whispered they heard every last one of them and when they saw the burning inferno within his eyes their tears vaporised by the sheer intensity that emitted from him. Their souls were lit on fire as new hope sparked inside them.

"For a long time, my life has been nothing more than a cold and pitch-black hole that I couldn't escape from no matter how far I ventured. I believed that this was the true essence of life but I was wrong. After I met your mother I realised that I had lived a fraud up to that moment, moving onwards in complete ignorance. But with your mother's presence, this changed and for the first time in my entire life, I felt happiness, bliss and first and foremost love. It's like a never-ending day amidst summer and it's waiting and calling for you as well, my son. Don't give up yet, not before you have seen this summer, this life with your own eyes. Fight and live, Natsu."

The words of Natherious Dragneel echoed through the room. Every syllable, every letter is an encouragement to live. The speech overcame all physical boundaries and journeyed deep into the boy's soul now named Natsu. At the deepest part of his freshly born soul darkness reigned as the winds of death hollered their victory. But the elder Dragneel's words were like a tremendous storm of infernal hellfire and coaxed forward Natsu's desire and hunger for life.

From within the cold grasp of death, the place where Natsu's light was encaged, beams of reddish light broke through. Death fastened its grip but more and more beams burst through its claws. They screamed, trashed and roared in a similar fashion like the last remains of his father's speech until they finally broke free. Natsu's inner world was set ablaze, burning with conviction rivalling and maybe even surpassing that of his father. His soul roared like a mighty dragon as all unwelcome guests inside his turf were chased out or burnt to death. It travelled further and further until it left behind his soul.

Throughout the walls of the Dragneel household resonated screams of a new life. Natsu Dragneel was born far too early yet he was as healthy and lively as a freshly born infant could be. The laws of nature sentenced him to death but the primordial magic called love lifted the judgement from him and opened his path towards life.

He was welcomed by his crying mother and brother as his father laid beside them, softly placing the newest addition of their family on Luna's chest. He was so small but he nevertheless devoured all the love sent towards him like a famished, ravenous and greedy dragon. His mother cried for hours, happy beyond imagination that everything turned out to be okay. His elder brother did the same, crying an endless stream of tears because he was so relieved. His father tended to all their needs, cleaning up the remains of Natsu's exhausting birth. He prepared dinner for them so they could replenish all the energy they had lost and took extra care to choose only the best ingredients.

Especially Natsu and Luna were greatly weakened by the whole ordeal, so he watched over them like a protective dragon guarding his most prized treasure and in fact, they were. Zeref, after overcoming his initial shock, helped his father with everything his abilities allowed him to. He fell in love with his younger brother the moment they had looked into each other's eyes for the first time. For him, it was such an intimate moment, as he has wished for a younger sibling for as long as he can remember.

Seeing the love inside his elder brother's eyes Natsu smiled at him. It looked ridiculous since he had no teeth yet but Zeref didn't care. He offered the small finger of his right hand in greeting and Natsu happily excepted it by gnawing on his skin. It tickled and Zeref laughed as the worst day in his life morphed into the best day of his life. Whether Natsu did respond in kind by a mere coincidence or out of wanting Zeref couldn't say. Natsu stretched out his own small finger and the brothers' fingers brushed each other, sealing the promise neither of them knew. It was a promise nonetheless and they were eager to keep it, whatever it has been.

Soon all pain and agony were forgotten and normality returned to their family. The only difference was that they were now a family of four but neither of them complained about it. Natsu, always surrounded by so much love, grew up normally without any complications and much like his brother he was a dad-child. Wherever Natherious was, Zeref and Natsu were never far away. But Natsu was also a brother-child. If his father was not to be found he clung to Zeref instead like glue.

The raven-haired boy didn't mind it one bit and it is this fact, which leads to his current situation. Natsu laying on top of him, giggling like the ball of happiness he is while hugging his big brother as tight as he can. Zeref has also closed his arms protectively around his little brother, feeling the erratic heartbeat of Natsu against his chest. In moments like these, it's hard to believe that all of this was on the brink of never happening.

Suddenly Natsu surges upwards, his small hands resting on top of Zeref's chest to keep his balance. He teeters back and forth and never ceases to smile or giggle. His head covers the sun from Zeref's view. Instead, its warm light hugs Natsu face from behind. His face gets brighter and brighter and it almost looks like a halo and it is not even that far fetched. For Zeref, Natsu is his personal little angel bringing him happiness despite being able to tick him off as well. He also remembers the words of their father right before he gave Natsu his name.

Everybody who hears Natsu's name connects it immediately to summer. In Zeref's opinion, they are all fools but he doesn't feel the need to correct their false assumption. The true meaning of his little brother's name is a secret only their family knows. It does not mean summer as everybody thinks. Its real meaning is life, to live and never give up. He smiles at this thought and opens his arms again. Natsu's eyes sparkle with excitement as he takes up the offer and crushes right back into his brother's welcoming arms, giggling and laughing stronger than ever. Zeref's heart beats erratically and he fears for a moment that this is too much bliss to take because he can feel his heartbeat even inside his throat. But the young black mage doesn't care and pulls his little brother even closer to him. He buries his nose inside Natsu's soft spiky hair before he mumbles his heart's most wanted desire directly into his brother's ear.

"I Will Protect You, Always."

From the very beginning, Natsu has been a troublemaker but therefore he is only more loveable, ain't he? Also, did you expect that life would be his name's true meaning? What do you think about it? I'm intrigued to see your opinions :)

And as you might expect, Natherious is not a simple-minded man so Zeref's name holds greater meaning as well. I hope you look forward to it :D