A/N Happy New Years! Fairy Tail is going to come back this year for a final season! The arc was kind of a disappointment, but I still love the series! All my favorite series are ending. ):

Onto the chapter!

Shortly after her last encounter with Zeref, she went on a mission. The mission was to destroy some monsters in a forest nearby. Natsu, Gray, even Erza were hyped about, but killing monsters wasn't really Lucy's thing.

"Bring it on!" Natsu bellowed, charging the crab-like creature.

"I want to eat it," Happy said.

Lucy tried not to roll her eyes.

She turned around, and yelped. Peering at her from in-between the trees was Zeref. Lucy went up, grabbed his wrist, and dragged him back into the forest. Happy didn't even notice, since he was to busy drooling over the crab monsters.

"What are you doing here?!" she hissed, letting go of his hand.

"It's still remarkable that you haven't rotted away," he remarked.

'Not creepy at all,' she sarcastically thought.

"Never mind that, how are you even here? Have you been following me?!"

"Maybe," he quietly answered.

'Sigh', "Look, you need to be more careful. If Natsu detects your sent, you'll be busted."

"You mean, we'll be busted. You're the one that keeps talking to me. You could've alerted them of my presence, yet you didn't," he deadpanned.

"J-Just be glad I bother putting up with you at all! You should appreciate me more, since I'm the only person you can get close to without causing immediate harm. Now, I should go back, before they realize I'm gone."

"They didn't notice last time, so what makes you think they'll notice now?"

"They did too!"

"After how long?"

She didn't know how to respond to that. Lucy loved her friends more than anything else in the world, but even she would admit that they had flaws. Some of them more than others.

A high-pitched scream reached her ears and she whipped her head around. Happy flew towards her at full speed, carrying Natsu.

"Lushee!" Happy cried.

A giant four-legged monster that was made of ice and had no facial features charged towards them. Erza shot swords at it, but they did no damage. Even Natsu's fire couldn't burn it, despite him being way stronger than ever before. Gray's ice was hopeless; the creature absorbed it and it would become stronger.

Lucy let them all go past her; they were to busy retreating to notice Zeref. She tied her magic whip around its leg, and forced it to stay still, using all her strength.

"Go!" she demanded.

…

Zeref didn't want to get involved. Fairy Tail hated him! They would try to take him out the second they got a chance!

However, he still had business with Lucy, and didn't want her to get killed. Plus, Natsu was there, and Natsu was important to him as well. He didn't know anything about the other three, and didn't have a particular interest in them, other than the fact that they were Natsu and Lucy's friends, and that they could become a threat to him in the near future.

Zeref approached the creature and lifted a finger. A dark aura surrounded his body and when he opened his eyes, they were blood red.

'Repent!'

Death magic launched itself forward and blasted the creature. Lucy managed to get away before it had any chance of harming her. She tumbled onto her bottom while her enemy screeched.

…

Natsu turned around and saw the creature as it was being devoured by an unknown power. Something about that power was familiar, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. He saw a dark haired figure near Lucy, but couldn't identify them, because he was to focused on her safety.

"Lucy!" Natsu shouted.

Then, he froze, the second the creature slammed into the ground. He recognized the figure. That person was Zeref!"

…

"Zeref!" Natsu yelled.

"What?!" Gray and Erza said, in unison.

"That's Zeref! Happy, get Lucy and retreat!"

"Aye, sir!"

…

Erza leapt forward, sword ready. She was prepared to cover Happy if necessary.

She watched the blue exceed fly past her as the dark wizard clenched his head. Erza remembered the story Natsu and Happy told her about his death wave. It was coming.

Next, she equipped her Purgatory Armor and even wore a helmet for extra protection. She had a feeling it wouldn't help against the dark magic, but didn't know for sure, because she hadn't had an encounter with his power before.

"No, don't!" Lucy cried.

Dark magic erupted from the mage, and a wall of ice formed in front of Erza to keep her from moving forward. The ice prevented her from being able to see Lucy and Zeref.

…

Gray grabbed Erza's hand and dragged her away.

He wanted to kill the evil mage, but knew that now wasn't a good time, considering that the mage could kill them any second.

"Happy, get out of there!" Gray yelled.

…

Happy saw Lucy and tried to grab her, but Lucy refused to be taken.

"Go without me! I have a plan!"

"But-"

"Go!"

Happy retreated, as tears flowed from his eyes. He failed to save one of his nakama. Natsu would never let him hear the end of it.

…

Lucy latched onto Zeref and pulled him into a hug.

"Stop! You can control it! You can do it!"

She encouraged him with her arms wrapped around his small frame, squeezing him close. Tears ran down his face.

"D-Don't!" he wailed.

"It's okay, it's not effecting me, see?"

It was true. She brushed right up against the dark magic, but it didn't do a thing. The wave slowly decreased, until Zeref fell to his knees. He shuddered and wheezed. His eyes were back to normal.

"You didn't have to do that," she whispered. "I would've been fine."

She couldn't summoned one of her spirits to hold it off, but she never got the chance.

"T-They couldn't have defeated it. I had to intervene."

A sword pierced the ground beside them.

"Zeref!" Erza exclaimed, while she wore her silver fairy armor.

Happy carried Natsu while Gray ran beside them, shirtless like always.

"Stop!" Lucy ordered, placing herself in front of Zeref.

"Lucy, get out of the way!" Gray instructed, readying an ice bow.

Lucy didn't know what to do, so she picked up Erza's sword, prepared to block any attack that came Zeref's way.

"Lucy-" Erza started, surprised Lucy dared to point a weapon in their, her direction.

"He-He defended me. You all saw, and instead of thanking him, you attack him?!"

"Luce..." Natsu started.

"If it wasn't for him defeating that monster, I, no, all of us could've been killed!"

"But, he's evil!" Gray accused.

"Lucy has a point," Happy agreed.

"Happy!" Erza said, surprised, yet again.

"Because I ran away, Lucy could've died!"

They all looked down, ashamed they couldn't have taken out the beast. There was a chance she could've died defending them!

"Fine," Erza muttered.

"Eh?!" all the others exclaimed.

"But, he's coming with us, back to Fairy Tail! And, no one better kill him on the way!"

"Aye!" Natsu and Gray stated.

…

Zeref was to shocked. He didn't think she would be able to convince them, considering all he had done.

"See? They're nice. All of Fairy Tail is like that," Lucy said, smiling.

He had a feeling that was the case for at least some of them, given who their founder was. Mavis wouldn't want any cruel people in her guild, which was why he regretted having the fairies as his enemies. In a different world, he would try to be their friends, but he didn't live there.

"Y-You're sparing me? After everything?" he asked, Erza.

"Lucy had a rather convincing argument. I wouldn't want to disappoint her, since she would ignore me for the rest of the year. Oh, Lucy, can I have my sword back?"

"O-Oh, sorry."

Erza took her sword and equipped back into her original outfit; the blade faded as well.

"Get up, we're leaving," Gray ordered.

"Aye!"

"I can't believe this, we're taking him alone?" Natsu said.

Zeref could tell that Gray wanted him dead the most, but Natsu showed his unhappiness more than the others. Natsu was always really vocal.

Erza began to give him the lecture and Zeref stood with Lucy in the back.

"Make sure to thank Happy later," Lucy whispered in his ear, before going up ahead.

…

He saw the blue cat talk to Natsu. He would try, though he wasn't the best at that sort of thing. For now, he would try to get back to Fairy Tail in one piece, though, in reality, he wouldn't mind if something was able to finish him off. But, for now, he kind of wanted to see how things would turn out, because they just got a whole lot more interesting.

A/N That's the chapter! Zeref is going to go to Fairy Tail! What will await him?