Summary: Two different views of what a family is supposed to be are bound to collide especially when they are brothers at war involved

N.B.; Hints of NaLu and original team Natsu never being to far behind

For superterabite consider it an early, part 1ish of a coming B'day present, because i got reminded of our gushing on these dorks as i wrote this and it became longer than it was supposed to.


His creation, and his one and only brother, stood in front of him bruised and battered, that was a given considering they were currently in the middle of a battlefield that he spent years planning. Their countries, Alvarez and Fiore where putting all they had at stake. It was irrelevant to him; this was only a tiny fraction of loss for the world which would bring him closer to his goal. Humans were frail, greedy things he was no longer moved by. The screams, the constricting smell of iron and dust, and burning flesh which stung at his eyes and pressed at his throat was something he had experienced time and time again, there was no longer much discomfort coming from this. To the young man in front of him, it must have been a different story; he'd press the back of his hand to his smudged nostrils as if it could keep out the smell of death. Every loud booming sound would distract him, his tense body would not move but his eyes betrayed him, slipping to look in the distance where the explosion had previously gone off. Zeref was very sure he was focusing his sense of hearing in the direction as well, probably to check on any voices he could recall.

"You should concern yourself with me and the matter at hand, Natsu,' he murmured placing a hand on his heart as if it could contain all the emotions he was being overwhelmed with as soon as the boy looked at him, "we have so much to talk about…"

The black wizard stepped forward with a soft smile and in the same second Natsu's right hand ignited in a blazing, crackling fire. It was shivering, possibly in anticipation of its task.

"I'm here to stop you," he hissed through gritted teeth as calmly as he could master, "for family's sake, for my dad's sake so I'll be free to go kick Acnologia's ass after this mess is settled!"

Zeref's expression remained peaceful and filled with an unsettling joy. He knew Igneel had been a big part of his brother's second life, his loss to the Dragon King had given Natsu a greater sense of determination in what he did and it was all good for the dark haired immortal because it became a piece of the puzzle to awaken the demon in Natsu.

'Poor brother, misled by the fire dragon King and unable to recognize his true family,' he thought saddened by the angry stare he was being subjected to. He didn't know him, not yet at least. In his 400 years of life he had learned that every thought, feeling and connection was ephemeral. Families were merely a concept, this brought individuals together for their needs and to build a sense of safety so they could live their pathetically short lives in a false fabled happiness.

"Theoretically speaking, if you had to define a family, how would you do it?" he mused as his eyes trailed downwards to the rubble behind the dragon slayer who took in a sharp breath, "Is it the girl you've been trying to hide from my sight, someone with no blood connection to you, is she family?"

At the mention of his partner, Natsu tried to make his body look bigger and shifted his position breaking the eye contact the black mage had with broken wall behind which the fire wizard had ushered Happy with the unconscious blonde. He had trusted his pal to tend to the exhausted mage.

"Or is the cat, oh I'm sorry, I think they're called Exceed correct? Is he, the young Exceed, a completely different being from you, family?" he continued his tone condescending as if he was chiding a child who was behaving atrociously.

The younger man's reply came genuine and perhaps a tad perplexed and angry, "Of course they are, and we've had each other's backs for so long keeping one another safe in all of our adventures, what else would we call each other?"

He frowned at Zeref a vein popping by his forehead, for some reason this man and his way of speaking got under his skin too damn much, "We're the family we built together and for all of us who bear the name Fairy Tail on our skins!"

"That's an illusion Natsu, family is something described by blood, it's an idea to protect one's kind, bonds created by adventures, they're fake," Zeref gestured frantically, it was something he was so sure of, he shook his head at his brother's answers, the nonsense they had fit in his head was nothing to the understanding he had gained in all the centuries he lived through. He'd learn soon enough.

"Igneel and the guild," he turned his head round for a second, "they gave me happiness no blood of mine ever could,"

"That's only because they needed to rely on you," the frantic man whispered trying to make his little brother see the truth. He spoke quickly but clearly as he related his story to the amnesiac Natsu. The more he spoke about his past, their past, how Natsu used to be; a normal, frail little boy who loved to run around in the forest next to their village. Their parents dying leaving behind sorrow and a promise to keep each other safe as long as they lived because life was short, most especially at those times when magic and medicine were still unknown and illnesses were a curse from the gods to non-believers. And the moment he stopped talking about his own personal tragedy the more he pulled Natsu into it and the less colour Natsu's dirtied face seemed to possess. There was no argument to be tackled; they both knew the nose of a dragon was a powerful thing when it was in use.

This man would be his older brother, the years he could not recall of his childhood, Natsu would not have ever imagined that they amounted to being a corpse for centuries until he was revived as some kind of killing machine for his brother's sake. It made him feel sick to the stomach, a sensation he'd rarely felt in his years mostly because he had always been protected from it by people he knew cared. He stepped away ignoring the groans he heard behind him, around him, everywhere and it sunk deep into him that all of this nightmarish occurrence was their fault, HIS fault, and the doing of the man before him who was playing with their lives as if they were pieces of chess. The distraught mage's back hit the broken wall which he recalled used to house the family that asked them to find their missing cat once, funny how small details came back to you in confusing moments. He slid down slowly as his disbelief took over him and looked up at his brother's triumphant grin.

"You are E.N.D, that's not a lie, you're the pride of my research awakened, very much alive, my supposedly deceased brother," he chuckled bemused and exhilarated at the moment he had been waiting for, for so long he had stood alone in time, even those who were like him couldn't walk along his path.

"We, are family, really and truly family, just us,"

Natsu felt his mouth open, gabbing, his whole mind had blanked as he tried to grasp the reality of the situation. His teeth chattered and no words seemed to come to him that would satisfy his need to yell at this man, to express his emotions which were in such turmoil. Igneel had never told him everything, Acnologia had taken away the last precious minutes he needed to explain, the fire dragon had opted to remind his son of the love they shared. The pink haired fighter had never been one to dwell on the past but it didn't mean he wasn't curious. He wondered what his father had yet to tell him, what had really happened in x777 and he thought about the grave that had those same numbers carved into them sometimes. He didn't believe in coincidences but his will to live the present and the ever escalating excitement in his live wouldn't allow much pondering. It was also very true that even if the dragons knew everything, telling them the details of their future in a new dragon festival king would rob them of their hope and threaten to break precious bonds. Natsu knew that his friends would not let that happen but the dragons were their parents and they thought to do what was best. The feeling of devastating hopelessness of knowing he was made, or revived, he could care less at being exact with the facts at this point, just so he could be used by the a supposedly older brother, who proclaimed himself his one true family, and that this man desired to make him the worst demon ever mentioned in the book of Zeref just so he could die peacefully. Natsu's hand dug into the cold, hard ground enough to feel his nails burning.

'What should I do?' he finally realized he was stuck in a spiral of confusion.
One thought thumped in his head.

Kill him.

"No," he whispered disoriented as Zeref's tranquil and serene smiled sent shivers down his spine, it was not reassuring; it was appalling as an expression, one that belonged to a broken man. It turned vicious as he revealed the book he recognized as the one that belonged to the master of Tartaros. E.N.D. or as Zeref seemed to believe, it belonged to him.

'Seems like I'll beat Gray to the punch here,' he laughed tiredly trying to figure out his next move, ever the optimist to find a way out. No maddeningly crazy origin is going to stop him from keeping true to his feelings even if he was terrified of the future. A year of training suddenly felt too short.
Suddenly his hand felt warm and heavy, Zeref's face contorted into surprise followed by annoyance as he looked away from his younger brother for the first time in this whole encounter.

"Liar," the raspy voice that threatened to crack made the black mage flinch for a reason he could not grasp.

"Lucy!" Natsu cried in relief at seeing her up and about, the celestial mage let out a quiet giggle at his expression and she squeezed his hand. Natsu understood she was by him no matter what, even now that she knew, Lucy still crawled to his side. She didn't divert her attention from the robed immortal, her stare actually made him backed away. The blonde Fairy Tail wizard, he recalled reading about her, a child from a rich family that quickly became a regular in Natsus daily life. She clung to Natsu and he seemed to settle into a routine of visiting her as much as she could. The odd sense of familiarity in the piercing glare she directed at him together with trembling Exceed by her side was probably what unsettled him. Was it because she reminded him of Mavis, or of somebody else?

On inspection she was in worse wear than Natsu, he right leg was mangled and bleeding. Zeref was impressed by her tolerance, she was a mess of scratches and her pretty face was bruised and covered in smudges of dirt and dried blood that did nothing to hide the exhaustion and hurt she was feeling. It irked Zeref that he had been thrown off by such a child, and the growing feeling of impatience surprised him. The women in his life seemed to make him feel like that.

"Liar," she repeated louder this time, much more clearly said this time but containing just as much raw emotion, so much that the black wizard frowned a her perplexed, and allowed her to continue even though he could easily snuff her and lead E.N.D to awaken, "If you really love Natsu as you say, if he's really your brother why are you asking for something so cruel?"

"Cruel?" Zeref repeated lowly, the girl's voice had cracked; tears welled up in the corner of her eyes. She was genuinely feeling sad for them, and holding back from weeping. 'For Natsu,' Zeref supposed, 'I can't believe, there are still foolishly kind humans,'

"What would you know?" he mocked as he grew more exasperated by the second, why was everyone so keen to disturb him and his brother when they finally were reunited, they should have been alone. How could this babe, a mere girl barely an adult, ever imagine all the years of preparing he had gone through. How could she reject his ideals so easily?

"You're a smart child, you should have figured out your father was marrying you off so he wouldn't need to see the face of his dead wife every single day for the rest of his life, and getting more money out of it was the happy bonus," he said in spite his voice calm and collected.

Natsu reacted squeezing the girl's hand this time, the cat jumped up in anger telling him to be silent. Humans, and others, need to lash out was always amusing.

"What could you possibly do?" he asked. Later the trio would wonder if it was a call for help. In the midst of the raging battle their fear, anxiety and the need to keep their loved ones safe was too strong.

The celestial mage took a deep breath, and closed her eyes smiling at the man towering over them. It caught them off guard, this included herself but she felt it was the right thing to do.

"I can't change the past, neither can you no matter how hard you try, I just want to look forward to the future we have together," she sniffled meeting Natsu's eyes, "T-the future we all have t-together,"

Natsu's hand had locked onto her own, it helped calm the nerves and she knew her part was over.

"So to answer, Zeref, I don't need to do anything anymore," she flashed a bigger smile bewildering the cursed magician, and whelped as an arm pulled her to the bouncing chest of the chortling fire mage. Next thing she knew her weight was being lifted and Natsu was carrying her with Happy flying proudly above them.

"Got it," the reinvigorated fighter whispered in her ear before he addressed his brother.

"She's right, it's my turn now," Natsu grinned at the life and death mage, "Man, that was close, you almost got me there but I guess my fundled bonds-"

"Fabled…," Lucy corrected and earning a frown by her team mate, "Sorry, force of habit,"

"I guess the fabled bonds we made for ourselves are pretty much thicker than blood," he continued looking proud about what he just said.

"What," Zeref shook his head grasping at his rope, this wasn't how it was supposed to go, Natsu was supposed to let him turn him into his true self, "You can't…leave, you can't abandon me…I!"

"I'm not your brother, I do believe you but whatever happens I'm Natsu of Fairy Tail," Natsu raised his bandaged arm with a gentle expression, "I'm going to keep my promise and take that book, and since I'm here, don't worry, I'll find a way to save you too and maybe we can be brothers again,"

"I've tried everything," Zeref whimpered, he had to change his plans, time was always the only thing he had, he still could fix this.

"You know we have totally different views, especially of family, but I'll show you that in my gang the word 'abandoning' ain't something we do!"

Surprisingly, Zeref felt that this trio of fools, this small part of what Natsu called his family, was not one to lie.