Well, I guess readers already knew of Zeref's identity so it doesn't come in a surprise XD.

Reviews are always appreciated considering I don't get that many reviews in my fics. Reviews serve as a motivation for me to write.

Chapter 3: The Cruel Reality

"I'm being rejected by the world. Fate is always making a fool of me. What kind of sin did I commit to deserve this?" The boy in black looked up to the moon and wondered.

Jellal kneeled in the rain deep in his thought. He rushed back when he heard about their mission from Porlyusica who was nagging about Makarov overworking himself, troubling her to travel all the way to the guild to check him out.

It took him quite a while before he finally returned to Magnolia. Jellal was staggering in the rain as he made his way back to the guild in the town when he bumped into Wendy.

"I didn't expect to see you in Fairy Tail". Jellal stood upright as he walked up to Wendy who was urging her white Exceed partner, Charles to apologise to Happy for her rudeness. The duo looked up to the masked mage in doubt.

The man removed his mask and showed his face to them. Wendy's eyes widened in response. "Je..llal.." The blue haired male nodded his head.

"It's me, Jellal. Wendy, it has been a while".

"You are indeed alive, Jellal. I had wanted to meet you". Wendy cried. She could not believe her eyes. The mysterious masked mage, Mystogan was actually Jellal all along. That was when he felt light-headed and his legs gave way on him. Jellal knelt on one knee when Wendy ran to his side to check on him in panic. Jellal raised his hand to stop her, signaling to her that he was okay.

"I'm sorry. I haven't been able to come and see you until now. I came all the way here to stop Tsuna from taking up his next mission. He will certainly show up in Nirvana and Tsuna and his team stand no chance against him. I know because I know his true identity. I feel like a failure". Jellal continued to confess his feelings of doubts. He yearned for some consolation from the healing mage but he was reprimanded instead.

"Are you still the Jellal I know of? The Jellal I know who doesn't know when to give up. So what if we are facing Grimoire Hearts and even the dark mage, Zeref? We are not going to give up no matter what kind of obstacle we will be facing. We will stop them from fulfilling their ambition!" Wendy was right. It was so unlike the high and mighty Jellal of the Magic Council who actually suggested them to just give up without a fight.

Wendy took off after finishing her words. She decided to participate in the mission to destroy Nirvana, the mission Tsuna and his team will take on leaving Jellal alone to reflect on himself in the heavy rain.

He shouldn't have expected her to understand. "How am I going to break this to them?" She did not know and he was holding back the information about the identity of Zeref's vessel.

"Tell me how can I save you?"

*Flashback*

Jellal engaged Zeref to a battle. He clearly had an edge over him. Jellal assumed that because Zeref had not gotten used to his new vessel, he was on the defence. However, just battling him for a while took a toll on Jellal. Not because he was powerful, it was the dark aura he had been emitting which caused even a mage of a Wizard Saint like him to feel weak on his knees. How was the vessel able to withstand the sinister aura from the dark mage? Zeref had not moved an inch from his position and he had been taking in whatever damage he had inflicted on him and was unaffected. That truly shuddered Jellal.

"Snake bind". He caught Zeref who apparently gave him a defiance glare. Jellal decided to put him out of his misery for the sake to protect their world. He watched the boy who struggled to get the bind off him closely recalling how he almost ended up like him. He almost became his vessel if it was not that he was unsuitable. On what basis could this boy become a vessel of the most evil mage existed was something Jellal had yet to find out. Was there a way to separate Zeref from the vessel? He ran through many possibilities in his mind but he could not find one. Jellal realised he had become soft-hearted.

For the sake of this world, he would pay any price even if it meant he needed to take his life. He thought so until he used the Magic of Dissemination on the boy. This magic could be used to break down the vessel at least. The boy screamed in pain when Jellal chanted the spell. Jellal tried to distract himself by closing his eyes. He could not afford to go lenient on him. He bit his lip.

Jellal reopened his eyes when he completed the first stage of the spell. This was the stage where he would get to see the true appearance of the vessel. His eyes widened in fear when a familiar salmon-haired boy collapsed right in front of him groaning in pain. "It hurts…"

"It can't be? Natsu!?" Jellal ran to the boy's side to confirm the fallen form. "Natsu!" Jellal cradled him on his arms.

"Is that my teacher, Jellal?" The salmon haired boy felt a little relief lying on his Teacher's arms. He had a chance to end his suffering. He had only one last request to his teacher. "Please kill me... I don't want to live on like this"

Jellal tightened his grip on Natsu. He noticed that Natsu had a really blank expression after going through so much. He was filled with regret. It was his fault that Natsu ended up this way. How was he going to kill Natsu when he owed him so much? He was supposed to be a mentor to him, guiding him to use his magic but he wasn't able to when so many things happened. He knew Natsu sacrificed himself to save the others from the explosion of Etherion. He had lied to Erza that the sacrifice had to be a Wizard Saint. In fact, any mage would be eligible to do so. He had actually planned to sacrifice himself, that's why he lied.

But why did Natsu ended up becoming the vessel of the dark mage? Jellal thought a bit and all the puzzle pieces came into place.

"Ultear..." He muttered in regret. She had been targeting Natsu who was losing his magic all along. She had planned to empty Natsu of his remaining magic power to use his body as the vessel which would be able to contain Zeref and draw out his power. He trusted Ultear too much that he had walked right into her trap. He was just lucky that he survived the ambush and was found by Oracions Seis.

Jellal was unable to react in response to Natsu's request at all. He did not know what he could do to help him. That was when Natsu clutched his head in pain and pushed Jellal away from him.

"Damn it!" Jellal just realized what was happening. By the time, Natsu had broken free from him and his snake bind.

"I thought the teacher of this vessel is determined to destroy me. As expected you can't do a thing to him at all. I shall show you the full extent of my power once I'm able to gain the full control of this body. The world is destined to end as long as I exist". He gave him a dark smirk which was an unthinkable expression coming from the kind and innocent Natsu. A black gust of wind formed around Natsu as he gathered enough power to send Jellal flying off in a distance before he could even defend himself. Natsu looked at Jellal's fallen figure with his blank eyes before looking away to the night sky.

"I shall pay my respect to the people who had had a hand in awakening me. Should I head to Nirvana next? I remembered Nirvana is the magic of reversal and it has the power to turn light to darkness and vice versa… Damn! It took a toll on this body just taking him on. This is expected when I'm up against a Wizard Saint."

Jellal struggled to open his eyes. "Nat…su… don't…" He tried to reach for his feet before darkness crept over him.

Jellal woke up with Porlyusica watching over him. She knew he was affected by the dark magic emitted from Zeref and learnt of his revival. Jellal had been out for days. Porlyusica looked down on the ground sadly when she heard the gist of what had happened to Jellal. She knew something about Zeref but she just would not tell him more. She demanded that he would lie down and rest and that it would take some time for the dark magic to wear off.

"You are just too lucky to be able to survive from his magic. Well, as long as you don't drop dead near my place. Damn Makarov, he just barely recovered. He better not think of destroying Nirvana on his own even though it was an order from the Magic Council. They will not pity him if he dies of overwork. That's why I hate humans. It'll be better if he heed my advice and leave it to Tsuna…"

Jellal's eyes widened in shock. He struggled to get off the bed despite Porlyusica's constant protest. Jellal needed to get back to the guild. He needed to stop Tsuna from taking up the mission.

*End Flashback*

On his way back to the guild, he bumped into Wendy whom he thought she could hear him out. He realized how naïve he could get. Jellal felt like a failure. He could not even protect his disciple to even have the right to say he wanted save the world. Now, the only thing he could do was to prevent Tsuna from meeting Zeref, as Zeref would be able to take him down easily by using Natsu against him.