Summary: Zeref was willing to let everything go, including his brother, just to find peace. Natsu wanted to save all he held precious and fight till the end for them, without Fairy Tail it would just be too quiet for his liking.
N.B.: Not an au, and it kind of continues the headcanon from day 3. I've been writing a lot from Zeref p.o.v., this one too, so i wonder if tmrs or somewhere i'll get some ideas for more Natsu. I'd like to have more Natsu…
The difference between the two brothers was so obvious and Zeref had been heckled by it ever since they were children.
'You're not really much alike,'
So many ghosts from his past had told him those very words that their voices mingled, his memories distorted and even more unsettling than he recalled them to be. He had hated being compared and his younger self had held to the notion that their blood defined their bond more than any physical or character resemblance could. It didn't do much good as his frustration carried on to the present day and haunted his dreams.
Zeref woke up in a cold sweat throwing off the blanket in anger and sitting upright. He felt dizzy and let his head fall into his open hands as he tried to rub off the sweat away from his forehead. A couple of minutes later when it wasn't a nuisance to move his head, the king looked around his empty room and sighed. There were no ghosts today. Lately it had been the woman who called him a friend by his side, and he wondered if it was just a manifestation of his conscious or a side effect of his curse and that he attracted the dead that wouldn't, or maybe, couldn't leave this world. His mind was haunted by thoughts and Zeref knew he was a mere shadow of the man he had once been, at this point, it would be easier to call him the worst demon he had created.
"She'd say I'd have not the courage to call myself that, that I still cling to the little humanity left in me," he murmured and almost hoped to see her by his side. Even if it was because he had gambled away his sanity, her sight let him push onwards towards the meeting he had dreamed of with the man who held the label of the strongest and most demonic of his creation, E. N. D. his one and only remaining family.
"And yet you're willing to sacrifice him as well,"
This time it was her calm, chiming voice, and the troubled man wondered why she said such snarky remarks in the most soothing voice. Zeref let his eyes stray along the room but she was nowhere to be seen. If she was really a ghost, right about know he doubted she'd remain within his sight. In her place he'd be angry that his advice had been brushed off.
"Are you angry that I'm sacrificing something of yours as well?" he chuckled letting his body rock from left to right. Little did he know how much on point he was with that threat. He was just so tired of everything, everyone and all that he could lay his eyes upon.
There was no reply and a tiny portion of his ever beating heart actually felt a pang of guilt. It made him wonder if he could at least spare his friend's precious treasure yet that thought vanished almost instantaneously, much more quickly than it actually came, for any delay would take too much from him.
Slowly he got up from his bed and made his way to his bookshelf to retrieve the crystal ball. Any of his demons could be easily visualized from the sphere, all except one. When he tried to look for Natsu it always gave him static and sometimes, when he was lucky, the fire mage's cracked voice came through. However the last year had brought more change than expected and since their last encounter the picture had cleared and his voice came through much more. It made the black mage hopeful for the time to come when the word 'fin' would be spelled by the spilling of his own blood and the end of the human era.
His surrounding remained blurry, but as Zeref swiped a hand atop the ball and let the image settle in he could make out the mangled form of his Blue cat and the bed he was resting his back upon. The boy sometimes turned his neck sideways and the older brother noted he was probably talking to someone. He seemed joyous, and it made Zeref frown for he should definitely know an attack from Alvarez was imminent. In a few minutes, or seconds, the first fleet led by the Desert King would reach Magnolia. His own would not be too far away behind his Spriggan 12.
'Perhaps, I should stage my entrance a little before what we had planned,' he thought as he observed the grinning dragon slayer pet his Exceed partner, it appeared he was doing well in the card game they were playing. Although his cheekiness disappeared as the third disjointed figure on the screen threw a few cards. Natsu's mouth opened wide in disbelief and he grumbled under his breath as he shook off his coat throwing it on the floor near him.
The older brother snorted holding back a fit of laughter. He knew of the game, it was popular among youngsters of this century but he had to admit it was the last thing he expected Natsu and his gathering of fools to be doing before a war. Makarov surviving meant they knew exactly what they were going to face and it might have been a pity that he couldn't use him as an offering for E.N.D.'s rebirth however it was not a problem in the least. Knowledge against a much more powerful enemy was useless, Zeref had learned it firsthand many centuries ago when he dabbled with the lives that belonged to a resentful god.
"As I thought, as the main evil, I should greet the hero's at the start and take something to spice up the tale," he hummed cradling the crystal into his arms, "I'll show you how impossible it is to protect them, brother,"
