A/N: Hello everyone! This is a short prologue to set the scene with a long note at the end containing more info about the story, warnings, pairings etc. Please do read that before you move on to the next chapter, which I will upload shortly after posting this one. ~CS

Fairytale of Doom

By CrimsonStarbird

Prologue – Once Upon A Time…

Fight or flee?

It shouldn't have been a difficult choice for a Fairy Tail mage, but Mavis was a strategist.

One battle meant nothing when the entirety of the Alvarez War was unfolding before her. Her eyes were always on the bigger picture. She waltzed with probabilities and flirted with a dozen possible futures, keeping each just interested enough to overlook her faithlessness. The killing grounds were a chessboard beneath her fingers. Though she had learnt all their names – it was good for morale – the mages of her guild were only numbers to her now, variables in her theory of victory. She knew the value of love to four decimal places; loyalty was her trump card, determination her joker, grief a weapon waiting to be primed.

And a strategist knew that, on the battlefield, not all lives were equal.

It was better to lose a supporter like Lucy or Levy than a powerhouse like Erza or Laxus.

It was better to lose twenty mediocre fighters than an inspirational leader like Makarov.

It was better to lose almost everyone under the Fairy Tail banner than for her, Mavis, to fall into enemy hands – because once Zeref obtained Fairy Heart, all their lives were forfeit.

They should already have been forfeit, in fact. Thanks to Irene's Universe One, Zeref had got his hands on her once before. But those hands had been as gentle with her in war as they'd been in love, and as hesitant; he'd failed to strike the final blow.

Unable to face ripping Fairy Heart out of her himself, he had tasked Irene with it; unable even to bring himself to watch, he had left the two of them unattended. Irene was the one who had underestimated Mavis's skill with illusions, but it was Zeref's miscalculation, Zeref's mistake, Zeref's failing as a fellow strategist, and from his moment of weakness she had snatched a second chance.

Now, she had to make the decision: fight or flee?

It shouldn't have been a difficult choice even if she wasn't a strategist. What good could she do against Zeref and Irene, with a body drained by a hundred years of imprisonment and magic that had sat a little too wild inside her ever since Irene's thwarted attempt to drag out Fairy Heart?

She wasn't a fighter at the best of times. Her illusions had only worked because Zeref hadn't been here – and he was here now, racing through the guildhall towards her, his frantic pace slowed to a crawl beneath the whirlwind of her thoughts, facts and calculations rattled out like machine-gun fire.

And to think of the good she could do if she fled! Rally her forces. Bolster morale. Engineer a united final charge that might actually stand a chance against Zeref, while ensuring that Fairy Heart remained far beyond the enemy's reach. Maximize their chances of winning; minimize their chances of losing. She could even take the Book of END with her, and maybe more than one life would be directly saved by her actions.

Fight or flee – it wasn't even a competition, was it?

It occurred to her, as she took a step towards the guildhall doors and freedom, that the only reason why she had a second chance at all was because someone had had the opportunity to flee from Invel, and had decided to fight him instead.

The only reason why this was a war in the first place, and not a one-sided slaughter, was because Fairy Tail had chosen to stand with her when they could have taken the easy way out.

Victory mattered, the great chessboard mattered, keeping Fairy Heart safe mattered – but maybe doing right by those who had risked their lives for her mattered too.

Fight or flee?

It shouldn't have been a difficult choice for a Fairy Tail mage, but…

It shouldn't have been a difficult choice for a Fairy Tail mage.

In that eternal split-second, Mavis made her decision.

Rather than running towards the outside and safety, she slipped past a startled Zeref before he could catch her and charged deeper into the guildhall.

And the entire course of the Alvarez War was changed.

A plan came to Mavis as she ran.

It wasn't exactly a plan worthy of the grandmaster she was. Carefully crafted calculations disintegrated with every heartbeat, more bridges burning, more futures closing. She could hardly claim to be several steps ahead of her opponent when her thoughts could barely stay ahead of her own frantic feet, running on blind instinct, doing her best not to trip.

There were needles in her lungs. Claws in her throat. It hurt more than she remembered, being alive.

Maybe she'd just never been this alive.

Maybe, somewhere between the chessboard and the strategy and prioritizing the protection of Fairy Heart over the lives of a hundred comrades, she'd forgotten the same thing Zeref had remembered when he'd been unable to rip that magic out of her.

A speculation for another time, perhaps.

Right now, nothing mattered except reaching the basement below the guildhall.

She didn't know how to defeat Zeref, but she did know a spell that might buy her enough time to find a solution.

The only problem was, last time she had cast it, it hadn't quite gone to plan. Looking back, it was a miracle the Tenrou Team had only been trapped outside time for seven years. It could just as easily have been seven centuries, returning them to a time so alien that it might as well have been the afterlife – or seven seconds, rematerializing them inside Acnologia's gullet just in time to be swallowed whole.

She couldn't take that risk here. Zeref needed to be sealed for a few months at least – long enough to give her guild a fighting chance against the remainder of his generals, with time left over to find a way to kill the immortal mage before he returned.

She had the magic to use it. Her enemies had awakened Fairy Heart but failed to secure it for themselves; it was restless inside her, and eager to be used.

But she'd only get one shot at it. She had to get it right.

Somewhere in the guild's basement existed a small handwritten journal. Once, she'd carried it with her everywhere, gradually constructing within its rune-covered pages the greatest protection spell ever devised. If she channelled her magic through that book, she knew the Fairy Sphere would come into being exactly as she willed it.

All she had to do was find the journal before Zeref found her.

Upon reaching the basement, she regarded with dismay the many shelves of books that had been added since she'd last been down here. There, in the far corner – a rack of volumes which age had greedily ravaged. She headed for them-

"That's enough, Mavis."

Footsteps echoed between the shelves; Zeref's voice carried disappointment to every corner of the basement.

No! Not yet. She hadn't chosen to fight for her guild only to be killed this close to her solution. She knew she couldn't beat him… but she remembered his moment of weakness when Fairy Heart had been within his grasp the first time. That had been his mistake – but, maybe, if he hadn't learnt his lesson, she could make it her weapon.

She turned back to face him, alone and unarmed before her guild's greatest enemy, and sure enough, he made no more of a move to strike her down now than he had before.

"You can't run from me, Mavis."

As he stepped forward into the hallowed book-lined hall, she shuffled back. Let him think she was scared, let him think he had her cornered – let every timid step of retreat bring her closer to her goal.

"It's over," said he. His voice was calm; she could read nothing from him. "Your guild has put up a good fight, I will give you that. Perhaps, at this rate, they will even triumph over my forces. But we both know it doesn't matter. The only defeat that counts for anything is yours, right here, right now."

Another step, and her back gently bumped the bookshelf. She was trapped. Perhaps, also, she was saved.

Without breaking eye contact, she let her fingers run surreptitiously over the row of aged books. She'd carried that journal with her on countless adventures with her friends. She would know the feel of that sun-beaten leather anywhere… she hoped.

"Give Fairy Heart to me," Zeref urged. He was close, now. So close. But while he still chose reason over force, she had a chance to turn the tables. "I promise it won't be painful. Not for you, not for anyone. The war, the suffering, the ever-present threat of Acnologia – I am going to take it all away. I will make a better world for everyone."

"At the cost of this one?" she challenged him, thinking only to keep him talking, every second another chance for luck and prayer to align. "Our hopes, our bonds, our pasts and our futures, our challenges and our triumphs – it is too high a price to pay, Zeref. That is why we fight against you. We will protect this world, our world."

"This world is cruel, Mavis. You know that as well as I. You should be standing here with me." Then, slowly, he shook his head. "But why would you? No matter what you did, you were always loved. I never was."

Mavis raised her chin, met the darkness of his eyes with the defiance burning gold in her own. "Maybe you didn't deserve it."

There was a pause.

She didn't know if it was true or not, and it was clear that neither did he.

"Maybe you're right." He shrugged like it was nothing, though she didn't think it was, not to the man who had still made no attempt to hurt her. "It doesn't matter any more. From now on, I will make my own fate."

He was right about one thing: it didn't matter any more.

Because a familiar leather spine was pressing into her fingertips. With her eyes still locked with his, giving no indication that her thumb was gently easing out the magical book that would be his undoing, she vowed, "We will stop you."

"It's too late. It's over."

Perhaps he spoke to her, or perhaps he spoke to himself, urging his hand forwards to take, to seize, to do what needed to be done; to bring about his paradise at the cost of all their lives.

When Mavis spoke, it was to everyone for whom she had chosen to stand and fight.

"Yes," she smiled. "It's over."

And she whipped forth the old journal like the unsheathing of a lightning-edged blade, the full power of Fairy Heart crackling through her palms as she thrust it towards her opponent with a glorious cry: "Take that!"

Nothing happened.

Zeref squinted at the book she was brandishing towards him. "Collected Fairytales…?"

"Eh?" Her secret weapon was not, in fact, a magical tome containing the fundamentals of an impenetrable barrier spell. It was, as Zeref had observed, an old book of fairytales. "Uh oh…"

Mavis threw the book aside. Turning her back on Zeref, she gave the shelves of ancient books her full attention, all subtlety gone, knowing she only had moments before her opponent's bewilderment gave way to realization and that to pure, unbridled danger.

"Mavis…"

Where was that book? Panic blurred her vision. She hadn't come this close just to let her guild down. She hadn't decided against fleeing just to hand him Fairy Heart without a fight!

"Mavis."

He snapped his fingers, so sharp and so dry that it was a surprise the pages of the books around her didn't ignite. Her muscles froze as the paralysis spell took effect. Her eyes were the only things still capable of movement, and they flicked frantically from left to right, still hoping to catch a glimpse of the book she needed even as he gently turned her back to face him.

"Enough of this," said he, and she thought it was a command to himself as much as to her. His hand reached towards her heart. "Fairy Heart is-"

Golden light suffused the hall.

It wouldn't have been strange in any way, except that Zeref still hadn't started extracting Fairy Heart.

Instead, the book Mavis had cast aside was glowing. Collected Fairytales. No doubt it was a gift by some sentimental client taken by their guild's unusual name, stowed away, forgotten about, lost somewhere between the valuable books of magic and the rare books of history; at first her salvation, then her despair, and now, at last, a moment of pure bewilderment that passed between her and Zeref, their first shared emotion in a hundred years.

"What did you do?" Zeref demanded.

The book flopped open. A page turned, lazily at first, and then another, and another, blurring together in an unearthly wind, surely more pages than could be within that thin journal – surely more pages than existed in the entire basement, turning and turning and turning, a waterfall of words.

"What did you do?" Zeref repeated, a shriek she barely heard over the thunder of pages. "What is that book? What did you-?"

In truth, she had absolutely no idea.

And from the frightened look in Zeref's eyes, neither did he.

A single wave of light pulsed through the air, and when it receded, Fairy Tail's basement was empty.

The only sign that anyone had been down here since the war began was a book lying open on the floor. Pages turned, pages turned, once upon a times and happily ever afters, heroes' journeys and true love's kisses, evil vanquished and good triumphant, slowing, softening, fading into cultural memory… until at last, with a gentle thump, the book fell closed, and silence reigned over the guildhall.

And somewhere far away, a wicked stepmother was plotting how her daughters would catch the prince's eye at the upcoming ball, and how many chores she'd give to her far fairer stepdaughter to ensure she stayed at home.

And somewhere far away, a monster of a man with a falcon on his shoulder was watching the signal flares burst to life along the length of the great wall, the whole kingdom alerted to his coming, just the way he liked it.

And somewhere far away, a spooked carthorse was hurtling through the forest, unwittingly carrying his rider towards the cursed castle that would become his prison.

And somewhere far away, an outcast sea-witch was spying on the merman king in his fancy palace, aware that his youngest daughter would be the perfect tool for her revenge.

And somewhere far away, an evil fairy was laughing as she sharpened the last spindle left in the kingdom, waiting for the sun to rise on the princess's sixteenth birthday, and for all that she had been working towards to begin.

A/N: So, hello and welcome to my 'Fairy Tail characters get trapped inside Disney fairytales' story! (And did anyone suspect *that* was a possibility for my next fic?)

While the idea has been done countless times before, I want to give special credit to WavesOfGrain94, whose wonderful (but sadly unfinished) fic 'Once Upon a Time' directly inspired me to write Fairytale of Doom. In particular, my story utilises the same basic premise, the same five Disney films, and largely (but not entirely) the same characters. Fairytale of Doom is my attempt to write a version of that general idea, but where everything goes wrong...

Which brings me to the important point: all the pairings in this fic are non-canon. The whole point of the fairytale-gone-wrong idea is to mix up the standard pairings. The romantic pairings in this story will be Gray/Cana, Jellal/Levy, and Lucy/Zeref. There will also be a big focus on Zeref and Natsu's sibling relationship, Gajeel and Juvia's BROTP, and the non-romantic relationship between Erza and Laxus (which is very underexplored, in my opinion).

In addition, the prologue will have shown that this story is set at a very specific point in canon. We're in the middle of the Alvarez War. Gray and Juvia have just fought Invel, Gajeel and Levy have just faced Bloodman, and so on... while the details don't matter (or, rather, where they do, they will be brought up in the story), the point is that a lot of the canon relationships are really quite far advanced at the start of this story. So, in order to have any new pairings, the canon pairings will need to be deconstructed first.

Now, I'm absolutely not going to be bashing any pairings. Rather, it's a case of people growing up, people changing, people falling in love more than once, people not always marrying their childhood sweethearts, people realizing that a relationship that was right for them at one point might not always be the right thing for them. That's very much a theme of this story.

Nevertheless, if you are really attached to your favourite canon pairings and can't stand to see them split up, then please do not read this story. You won't enjoy it. (And I would highly recommend WavesOfGrain94's 'Once Upon a Time' instead.)

However, if you are willing to read something a bit different, then strap in for what I hope will be a fun ride! While it may not seem it from all these warnings, this is actually a light-hearted, humorous story. (Mostly.) Yes, you will get more out of it if you love these Disney films as much as I do, but if you're not so familiar with them, don't worry - half the characters aren't either. And they have no idea what they're in for... Also, it should go without saying, but I don't own Fairy Tail or any of the Disney films or songs which will occasionally be quoted from directly.

As thanks for reading this huge author's note, the next chapter will be posted shortly. ~CS