"So….Who exactly are you?"
It was just Lucy and the woman at the table, everyone else had left to either take a much needed nap or help the injured. However, on occasion, Lucy could see that her guild mates would sneak a peek at the table. The woman was still in her bathing suit, but she didn't seem to care. The woman looked up from her tea (that Mirajane had poured for her) to the blonde celestial mage sitting across from her.
"I told you, my name is Zara." She responded.
"I know that, I'm just wondering how you know Natsu."
Zara, gave a sad smile and glanced over to the pinked haired dragon slayer. The mage in question had left the table and was currently watching over Asuka while Wendy healed her parents' injuries.
"I've know Natsu Dragneel for a very, very long time. I was best friends with his parents when we were young." Lucy's eyes widened.
"Wait, his actual parents… You're not talking about Igneel?!"
The woman shook her head and looked down.
"No, although I knew Cinder-head- I mean Igneel- I am referring about his parents, Malachi and Alisa Dragneel." Lucy was stunned,but before she could question further, Zara continued. "They both died when he was about a year old, so it's not really a surprise he wouldn't talk about them or much less remember his biological family. In all honestly, I had thought that he had died as well after all that had happened… But to my surprize, last year, I was looking at Sorcerers Magazine… It wasn't until I saw Fairy Tail's photo in the newspaper with him right in front, that I realized that he was alive." Zara sighed. "I had joined the guild back with the second Master and I was surprised to find Natsu had joined the same one. Lucy put up her hand.
"Wait, wait hold up. Ok, you said you joined with the second master. The second master left at least 50 years ago. That's not possible, you don't even look 30… And what even is your magic? I saw you were summoned by key but you're not a Celestial spirit… Does that mean your a…?"
"Thanks, but no, it was about 75 years ago…." Zara's eyes became thoughtful. "I heard from Loke that you're his key bearer….may I….may I see your keys?"
Lucy hesitated for a moment. She was still trying to put together the pieces of what Zara had said and was reluctant to hand her most prized possessions over. Zara could see the other's hesitation and smiled.
"I promise not to steal them," she winked. Lucy laughed nervously andhanded them over. Zara inspected each one and seemed impressed by the amount of golden keys Lucy had managed to create contracts with.
"So, I see you have nine golden keys and four silver keys...but if I remember correctly, you also had one other golden key. Aquarius's key."
The blonde celestial mage paled, but she nodded and looked down shamefully. "I used her key as a sacrifice in order to summon the Spirit King to defeat Mard Geer, the King of the Underworld."
"At her request wasn't it?" Zara asked softly.
"...Yes."
"Then lift up your head child, Aquarius has always been a stubborn one, but she is loyal to those who earn it." Zara proclaimed. Lucy lifted her head and Zara continued. "That was her choice and her choice alone… but I do wonder..." There was a moment of hesitation before she spoke again. "Lucy, do you mind if I look at it?" Lucy took off her necklace that held Aquarius's broken key and reluctantly handed it over. Zara inspected it closely with a neutral expression before handing it back.
"I can fix it."
Lucy blinked in surprise.".. Excuse me?"
"Well yeah. I mean, I was the one who created the keys in the first place, so it only makes sense that I can fix it," Zara stated.
Lucy leaped up from her seat causing the bench to crash to the floor. The rest of the guild looked up, for it had been unnaturally quiet and it was a surprise that Lucy, of all people, was the one to break the silence.
With her index finger pointed straight at the woman, Lucy looked as if she was a lawyer who just won the case for her client.
"You're HER! You're the key maker! YOU were the one who first made the contracts! Oh Mavis…"
-FLASHBACK-
The slap resonated throughout the cave, bouncing off the curved walls. A minute passed and they were still silent. The woman's eyes were burning with a anger that could match Erza when her strawberry cake was destroyed.
"Zara! What was that for?! Natsu is already injured enough as it is!" Happy cried, breaking the silence.
"That was from Leo." The woman retorted bitterly. "And I quote him," Zara cleared her throat and in an almost perfect Loke impression exclaimed, "'YOU DUMB-ASS, HOW DARE YOU LEAVE HER ALONE?! SHE CRIED OVER YOUR SORRY ASS FOR MONTHS! YOU DON'T DESERVE HER!'"
Zara took in a deep breath and the angry fire dimmed a little.
"Natsu Dragneel, how dare you?! You should know better than to make your girlfriend cry, and for such a stupid reason too. 'To get stronger' my ass; you're just running away! Don't think I don't know th…"
"Lucy… was crying?"
Zara stopped, the fire now completely extinguished. And when she saw the single tear fall down the young man's face, she began to panic internally. Natsu placed his head into his hands and began to shake violently, holding back sobs."...Lucy…."The cave filled with the sobs of the broken hearted boy, who just wanted to go home. Happy gently patted the dragon slayer on the back and slowly Natsu stopped sobbing, only hiccuping occasionally.
"Look… Natsu… I'm sorry for slapping you. It was uncalled for, and if Leo really wants, he should come out of the spirit world himself to start an argument with you. Will you forgive me..?"
Both the Dragon-slayer and the blue Exceed looked up at the woman- one moment she was practically screaming at Natsu, the next she was apologizing.
"Uh...yeah, sure…" Zara bowed her head in thanks and sighed.
"I'm guessing you're hungry by now, you've been out for three days…"
"THREE DAYS?!" Natsu yelled.
Ignoring the outburst, Zara got up, waltzed to the table and grabbed a wooden bowl. Then she walked back to the fire, where a cauldron sat just above the flames She kept talking, but Natsu turned a deaf ear. As she opened the lid, Natsu's nose was filled with the smell of hot stew. Now stew wasn't exactly Natsu's favorite food, but the smell of this filled him with a warmth no fire could ever get close to.
His mind flashed and he was a small child… Sitting in a bed.. Coughing.
A woman with bright pink hair had her hand placed gently over his forehead, feeling for a feaver. She smiled softly and turned when she heard a knock at the door. Another woman came in and to Natsu's surprise, it was Zara.
"How's he doing?" She asked, placing a tray of stew on the table besides the bed.
"He's not getting any better, but not getting worse, either," the pink haired woman stated, her brow furrowed in concern as she looked back to him. Then another silhouette appeared in the doorway- one of a small child. The child tried to hide behind the door, but Zara saw him.
"It's alright, you can come in."
The child nodded and quietly shuffled in. The boy had raven black hair and pale skin...he seemed...familiar... He crawled onto the bed and plopped down right next to Natsu. He put his hand on Natsu's head and gently stroking back his hair. After a few seconds, he began speak in a sing-song voice.
"You are my sunshine, my only sunshine
You make me happy when skies are grey
You'll never know dear, how much I love you
Please don't take my sunshine away…"
Natsu felt his eyes getting heavy and as he closed them he heard the other woman speak.
"You're a good older brother, Zeref."
(AUTHOR'S NOTES
Hestia: well….oops…sorry about the wait guys. But we're giving you another chapter! We're getting into Zara's backstory….YAY! As usual, if you have a problem message us. And Fairy Tail isn't owned by us, sadly. THANKS SO MUCH FOR EDITING (you know who you are)
BeginnerFanFictionWriter16
I hope this chapter answers your question.
dragonhuntingslayer
Oh wait till we get to the pain….."ψ(´)ψ
..I'm tired...please excuse me.
Vesta: Wow, that took longer than expected… sorry (blame school and tests). Anyway, I hope this answers any questions and (hopefully) doesn't create new ones… This chapter took a long time to write because first we didn't know where to start up at, and then when we got pretty much a whole chapter done, we scrapped it in favor of this. More to come!)