"Argh!" 'Dammit'

He was only a day away from Magnolia. If he kept going at the same pace, even with the limp, he'd be there around the crack of dawn. The only problem was that he had tripped over a stone. Using the knee of his bad leg to break his descend. Although still landing stomach first onto the ground.

"Aaaaaaggggg." He groaned. He couldn't take this much longer, he needed to fix his leg first if he wanted to take him on a second time. He was only a mile away from a nearby town. He could go there, get some mage to help heal his leg, then take the train to Magnolia. He'd be about a day later (Seeing how most basic of healing spells could fix his leg), than if he continued. But then he'd be six feet under at the hands of the most powerful guild in the world.

So, he went with the more sane option and got up from the ground. Using his left arm to push himself up.

Only for the hunk of metal to lock up on him.

"Christ!" He yelled. The mechanical nuts and bolts of his arm stiffening sending shocks of pain throughout his body. Huffing and sucking large intakes of air through his teeth and nose, he used his non-metal arm to finish the job his metallic arm started.

Soon, he was up and limping his way to the town. He assumed he should check up on his arm. He needed it to be fully working if he wanted to take down an entire fucking guild.

"So, where are you going to meet her?"

"The beach."

"When?"

"5 minutes."

"Shouldn't you get going then?"

"Y-yeah, eventually, just. Need to give myself a minute, is all."

"Let me guess, cold feet?"

Zeref only sighed in reply. And took another sip of the glass of water he had. After seeing her face for the first time in two years, she insisted on meeting him in the beach at the back of the guild. Not wanting anyone to watch them talk. He agreed. But just as she was getting up from underneath. Someone (Later found to have been Mira), draped a washcloth over his eyes and he couldn't see for a solid minute.

After he pulled it away, Mavis was already gone. When he asked her why, she only replied with, 'My hand slipped!' in her usual happy go lucky tone. He only decided to simply wave it off.

That was ten minutes ago. And he had spent the majority of it trying to catch up with the other members of the guild. Now he was sitting at the bar, glass of water in his right hand, with his brother on his left, and son on his right.

Said relatives trying their best to get him out there.

"Come on bro, just go out there and talk to her." Natsu said nudging him on.

"I'm trying, honestly."

"But you're standing completely still." Larcade put in.

"Yea, I know."

"Well then move!" Natsu shouted.

"I said I'm trying my best."

"Come on man, this is a horrible time to get cold feet!"

"I don't have cold feet."

"Well then why aren't you moving?"

"I'm going to, just, give me a minute." Zeref said, trying to end the argument.

Natsu only pouted and started rolling his fingers, trying to figure out some way to get his brother out of the chair. Then he noticed his nephew and got an idea.

Leaning back, he motioned Larcade to join him and cupped his mouth so that Zeref wouldn't hear. "Psst, Larcade, try and talk him into going." He whispered, the person in question reading his lips. Realizing what he was asking, Larcade only nodded in understanding and motioned his head to tell his uncle to leave.

"What, why?" Natsu whispered.

Larcade only did the motion again, more strictly. And when his uncle agreed, he moved his head back while Natsu left, sitting down at a nearby bench with his wife. Larcade staring a conversation when he was far away enough.

"Father, why did you join this guild?"

Zeref sat there confused. Not sure why he would ask that question. "I joined because I wanted to quit being the 'ugly fairy' of Alvarez."

"Is that the only reason?"

Zeref sighed to himself. Realizing the intent of his son's question. "I wanted to be with her and Natsu." He said as Larcade continued to interrogate.

"And do you remember my reaction when you told me you were joining Fairy Tail?"

"You asked to come with me."

"And do you recall my reasoning as to why?"

"Well, I can't quote it to a 'T', but I remember you basically saying that, I deserve to have a whole family."

"Yes." Larcade said, picking up were Zeref left off. "I felt that you didn't deserve to have a split apart family when you finally have the chance to gain a complete one. I was the missing link, so I went with you."

Zeref only put his face in his hands letting the words of his son sink in.

"And when you left, the first thing I noticed was that mother had grown bitter whenever your name was mentioned. So, if you were to ask me why, I'd answer with that you had broken your family, the moment you had gotten the chance to experience it."

Zeref let out a sigh.

"So, this right now is you're chance to get back the family you wanted."

Zeref sucked in a large breath of air and let it all out at once as he raised. Moving his hands out of the way of his face.

"You know," He said jokingly. "It's normally the father who gives the inspirational speech to the son."

Larcade chuckled. "Oh really, well then, tell me this, when has anything ever been normal in this guild?"

The two were only interrupted by the large cheer of their fellow guild mates. Yelling "THE DAY HELL FROZE OVER!" at them, all in unison with their fists triumphantly in the air, smiles plastered on their faces.

The two only shot up from shock as they looked behind them and saw the large group of people who were listening in the whole time.

Only for them to start whistling guiltily trying to look innocent as soon as the two noticed. Hands behind their backs, some even looking at their wrists. As the two men at the bar just stared at them still in shock.

But before either Dragneel could say anything, the guild's clock chimed saying that it was now 10:30. Or, to put it better, Zeref was ten minutes late.

And before Larcade could look at his father's face, he was already running out the door, giving out a quick goodbye as he ran off.

Afterwards, Natsu moved back to his stool and let out a thankful sigh.

Larcade meanwhile got up to walk away.

"Where are you going?" His uncle asked.

"To spy on them."

"Why?"

"Because I'm their son and I have the right to spy on my parents." Larcade calmly said as he walked out the door and headed for the beach.

Mavis was ticked off again.

Here she was sitting down on the beach waiting for him to show up and he was ten minutes late. She didn't know why exactly she wanted to give him another chance. Honestly she was just in the middle of getting up and leaving for her room but then she saw the running figure headed right for her.

Squinting her eyes she quickly realized that the figure was Zeref and let out a sigh as she sat back down. 'I'm gonna regret this' One side of her brain thought.

'I should give him a chance at least' Replied the other half.

Soon enough, Zeref had eventually reached her and started to regain his breath. His right hand on his knees and eyes staring down at the sand under his feet.

"Um, hi." Mavis said, Zeref still trying to get his breath back.

"Hi, *huff* *puff* sorry I'm late."

"I-it's okay, better late than never, as they say."

Zeref's breathing started to become more calm. So, after another second or two, he began to raise up his head, as the payoff of the joke began along with it.

The first thing he noticed was the legs. Much longer than he remembered them being, her dress didn't even start until somewhere near her upper thigh, he also took note of the hair which reached down to her still bare feet. The next thing he noticed was her hips. The red on his face slowly starting to grow as he moved onto her waist. Then, he saw her chest, red growing faster than a weed, as he finally moved his sight up to her large familiar green eyes of the girl, or woman as he realized she was now, he had fallen in love with.

Sadly, she knew far too well why he was blushing and slowly gained one herself, only added on by the fact that his own body had changed a lot too, his muscles weren't as well toned as say, Natsu or Gray, but it looked to be starting out to. That, and the fact that he still had those incredibly cute eyes of his.

They didn't even realize how long they were looking at each other. They just stood there, red on their faces, and surprised expressions to add onto it. The waves of the waters nearby crashing slowly. Until Mavis finally broke the silence.

"So, um, h-how'd your mission go?" She said, trying to act normally. Twirling her hair with one finger.

Zeref snapped out of the trance and put his right hand behind his neck trying to do the same. "Um, good, good, it went uh, fine." He blurted out as his eyes looked around. "Um, how are you?"

But Mavis seemed more focused on his left arm. Specifically the bandage. "Hey, what happened to your arm?" She wondered.

"Oh, uh, just a injury from the mission, just need to keep off it for about a day or two, should be fine then." He said, rubbing the appendage in question.

"Do you want to sit down, you look tired." She said, noticing his shaking legs. Not realizing that he was still (if not more), nervous.

"Yea, sure. Thanks." He said, crossing his legs and resting, her lying down upright and looking at him as he stared at the sea.

They sat there for a while. just looking at the sea for a couple of minutes. not wanting to say anything somehow knowing it probably wouldn't end well. just wanting to sit there and stare at the waters like they used to.

"Listen." Zeref eventually started. "I know you probably hate me."

No reply of denial.

"To be entirely honest, I hate myself too. After I sat and thought about what I had done I realized how much of a jackass I was for doing that."

Still silence, she wanted him to finish rather than interrupt him.

"A part of me wanted to just run back here and apologize to you, Larcade, Natsu, and everyone, but the one in charge of the mission said I couldn't."

She believed him, he wasn't one to lie.

"So, I tried to rush the task as fast as I could. At, some costs." He said, his good arm grasping his bandage. "I can tell you this much, the hardest part was remembering that I wasn't immortal anymore." He somewhat joked.

Mavis chuckled a little. Then asked. "Why did you take the job in the first place?"

Zeref let out a sigh. "I needed the money." He said vaguely as the wind breezed his hair as he looked at the roaring waves. Not daring to look her in the eye.

'T-that's it?' Mavis' mind screeched. 'He left me and Larcade for two years because he needed money? I can't believe this!' Her face and tone somewhat reflected her thoughts.

"Zeref. If you expect me to forgive you right away then-"

"I don't."

she looked up in surprise and was meet with his eyes being covered by his hair as he looked down at his feet.

"I don't deserve your forgiveness, not yet at least."

Mavis' expression only guiltily agreed with him.

"So, I'm just going to ask that you give me a chance at least to try and redeem myself to you."

She looked out to the sea herself after that. Her toes dug into the sand as she thought for a minute. Trying to see if the vast blue in front of her held some kind of answer. And after a while, she replied.

"I don't know..." she said softly. A million thoughts on how the situation could go running through her head. "I mean, you just up and left, without even saying anything. I can't even tell if I still have feelings for you anymore, all we really had was that kiss." She said, pretty much spilling out the deepest and darkest of her concerns of the past two years to him. His face only getting more and more depressed with each passing statement. "At, at least give me some time to think about it. Ok?" She finished, looking over at him.

Zeref sighed, letting out a faint 'ok' himself. Only to add onto it later. His voice deep and resembling that of when he was off wandering n his own mind.

"Let's agree on at least this, we don't drag Larcade into our trust issues."

"Why?" Mavis asked, agreeing with him, but still wanting to know why he brought it up.

"He may be our son, but he still has a life. I don't want to concern him with this, he's grown and can live his own life now, and I don't want him to be the only reason we get together again. If we do, it should be for multiple reasons, and not just for his sake. Because it'll only make matters worse, for all three of us. So we cannot let him know about this."

Mavis only nodded in reply. As the two only looked away from each other, and stared at the sea in front of them. Watching the waves beat against the mud of the shore.

Neither one noticing the blond haired man sitting down hidden behind a rock, a frown on his face as he looked down at the sand and let out a small puff of breath, then walked away, still unnoticed.

That night, Zeref Dragneel found himself back in his old room. a.k.a the spare bedroom of his brother's house. As he got ready for bed. Natsu then walked in and patted him on the back. "So, bro, what was that mission you took anyway?" He asked in his usual happy-go-lucky tone.

"Just, go undercover in a gang, dismantle it inside out, typical type of stuff you'd expect from a request like that."

"And what about the reward money?"

"Hm? Oh, I've got it."

"All there?"

"Natsu, if you need money for something for the house you can just ask." Zeref said chuckling to himself. "Unless you're just going to bet it all at the races."

"No, it's just, last time I took a s-class mission I ended up getting only half the pay. So now I check before I leave."

"Wow, marrying a bookworm really does help your strategic thinking." Zeref mocked.

"I HEARD THAT!" Came a voice from across the house.

"Well, either way, it's good to have you back bro." Natsu said, giving Zeref one last slap on the back and walking out. Leaving Zeref to be able to finally pull out the small black box, no bigger than his palm, that was in his back pocket. Placing it in one of the drawers of his wardrobe. 'It' being what he had called his 'reward money' that time at the beach. Then he went to bed, dreaming of dancing unicorns of all things. Later he would recall that moment as 'pure proof that dreams can sometimes be really weird.'

Mavis meanwhile was getting ready to go to sleep herself. She couldn't stop thinking about whether or not to give Zeref a chance at least. The only real conclusion she came to was that she would try and ask him to go on a little 'meeting of togetherness' where she could see if he was still as nice as before when the curse would give him a break. Deciding to try and get Natsu and Lucy (or one of the other girls and their guys), to come with on some kind of double date so at least she had someone to talk to.

And with that, she found herself in her bed once again, and dreaming of giant cookies taking over the world by multiplying from chocolate chips that breed and burst out of the stomach a la Alien. Not frightened though, only really confused.

On the roof of the small house which was followed after the sign of Natsu and happy (A small sticky note with Lucy written on it attached to the bottom), lay the blond man waiting for sleep to take him. His eyes looked far into the night sky when it eventually grabbed him and left him dreaming about typical families. Not that it really mattered. After all. Dreams make no sense.

The next morning, Mavis found herself sitting again at the bar with Zeref at least a couple of stools away. Larcade meanwhile was chatting behind his parents backs and telling Natsu, Lucy and Brandish about what happened last night. Acting as calm as usual.

A sigh left her lips soon enough as she kept her thoughts on when she was going to put her idea into motion

But before she could even think, the main door to the guild swung open, revealing a male figure holding one of the opposite gender bridal style.

Only neither of them were cheery.

The male looked like he had been in a bar fight, not too badly done in, although not getting away unscathed.

But.

The female was unconscious, blood streaming down her face, and cuts with bruises surrounding her body. Her long hair was smouldering with small red embers over it with smoke seeping out of them. Her leg was broken and her clothes were torn all over.

The guild only looked on in horror, they instantly recognized the male and female that made their presence known in the doorway.

Each face of the members were different and complex yet still had similarities with largely shock filled eyes, open agape mouth and some of the women with their hands covering their mouths.

"SOMEONE HELP HER!" The male's voice screamed through the hall like a hurricane.

Mavis could only stare on as some of the medical talented members went on to help the female, the male refusing any help and sending them off to the woman.

The first kept looking right into the closed pale eyes of the woman, she didn't even realize that the glass she was holding had slipped out of her hand and fell down to the floor, crashing down like a lightning bolt, water and shards flying up and down in the classic arc.

The crash still didn't snap her out of her gaze, she just continued to stare on. While a single word. A single name. Left her lips as quiet as a floating leaf.

"Wendy."