Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail

Pairing(s): technically none, although implied eventual Natsu Dragneel x Zeref

Summary: Rather than as a means to die, after being cursed, Zeref sets out to create demons in an attempt to deal with this newfound loneliness and ends up with something more than he'd bargained for.

WARNINGS: alternate history, some descriptions of violence, pre-slash; you have been warned, so don't like, don't read

Island Above the Clouds

By V. Shalyr

Part One

An Idea About Loneliness

I.

The idea comes to him while he's watching the trees die.

Watching things around him die had become a major, involuntary pastime these days, and the more the sight depressed him, the more things died. To call it a vicious cycle would have been a dramatic understatement.

If he could no longer safely interact with the other people and living creatures in this world, why not create new, more resilient life forms that could keep him company? They would have to be able to think for themselves and to evolve on their own, of course, or they wouldn't be good companions. He wants them to be able to surprise him and to hold a decent conversation. He wants them to be as much like people as possible with all the potential for change and growth that people have.

Zeref doesn't stop to wonder if this is possible. He'd never been hindered by such doubts when it came to what he could accomplish with magic. That was essentially what had landed him in this situation in the first place, but he doesn't think about that either.

After all, he's got all the time in the world, and he desperately needs something to do other than brood.

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II.

He starts by buying himself a house—a small cottage deep in the woods where he is almost guaranteed to have his privacy. It's not that he cares in particular whether he sleeps under a proper roof or out beneath the stars. But if he's going to work, he needs a place to keep his research and other tools.

Stories spread through the nearby towns and villages about the strange boy in the forest who always seems to be lost in his own mind. He's a wizard, people whisper, some with awe and some with fear. And for some reason, his house is surrounded by dead trees.

It's the dead trees that really get to them and that truly begin to sew the seeds of unease.

But Zeref doesn't pay attention to any of this. He's too focused on his new project to listen to gossip when he's in town for supplies, and honestly, no one is stupid enough or brave enough to speak such rumors within his hearing. It does briefly occur to him that perhaps living on a deserted island would be easier, but there are some conveniences that life at least somewhat close to civilization affords that he doesn't want to have to figure out how to do without. Not while he has a choice in the matter.

And so Zeref begins his experiments, tucked away in his little cottage in the wilderness, only half aware of what's going on in the rest of the world.

His first few attempts are failures—not because he was unable to create something living, but because the creatures turn out to be too monstrous. Too inhuman. They look more like demons from old folktales than like people, and they behave not much differently than wild animals, and extremely violent wild animals at that. He's disappointed, but not discouraged. He stows them away in the books that hold the magic he used to bring them to life and leaves them on a bookshelf in his study.

A year after he begins this work, someone breaks into the cottage. A few of these books are among the items stolen. He doesn't know who it was and he thinks about tracking the perpetrators down, but he's starting to notice the suspicious looks that the townspeople give him when he passes by. Magic is still a relatively rare thing among humans, and powerfully magical beasts like dragons still terrorize much of the countryside. Zeref suspects that any action on his part, even to retaliate against thieves, may only cause him more trouble. Besides, it's not like the thieves took anything important. So in the end, he leaves them be and instead turns his attention to finding somewhere else to live.

It is a decision he will come to regret much, much later. But for now, he has other things on his plate.

That deserted island is starting to sound better and better, but it's not like there are deserted islands lying around everywhere. And even if it was deserted now, there was very little guarantee that it would remain deserted for very long.

So after some thought, he decides to build himself a new home up in the clouds. He will have no need to worry about trespassers or thieves there.

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III.

He is in his new home, situated on a manmade island in the sky which is really more building than island, that he has his first successes.

Although some of these new creations look less than human in their original forms, they are intelligent. And after some hard work, they are able to take on much more human appearances. Still, they aren't exactly what he's looking for. Perhaps it is because they are still young in years or perhaps it is a reflection of his own troubled mind, but all of his creations seem to have destruction programmed into their very natures. They like fighting a little too much, and they are proud both of what they are and what they are able to do. That's fine. He has no problem with either of these things, not really. But they lack any real curiosity about the world.

They are too caught up in themselves to even try and understand humans or human things, and so what they learn and how they approach their lives are limited. Sure, they know that their creator is human himself. But he's obviously quite different from other humans, and so he doesn't count. Despite his efforts, Zeref is unable to change this point of view.

He makes one last attempt in the midst of summer several years after he first began this project. He puts everything he has into it, everything he has learned from his earlier work and a good deal of magical power. This last creation looks much more human than most of the others, and he is hopeful that he's finally gotten it right.

He names the boy Natsu.

When Natsu wakes, however, Zeref is afraid that he's failed again after all. The boy proves more aggressive than any of his other creations to date. He's wild and violent and destroys half of the floating island before Zeref manages to put him back to sleep.

His other creations are impressed, but Zeref is simply tired and dismayed.

For awhile, he just sits with the sleeping boy and talks—partly to Natsu but mostly to himself—because the isolation of this island feels suddenly too oppressive and the world too quiet and too far away. He talks about what he had hoped for, about what he'd lost, about all the death and destruction that seemed so unfairly common in the world, and about what he now fears had never been possible after all.

"I don't understand what I've been doing wrong," he tells him and the rest of the quiet, empty room where they've ended up. Zeref only has to look through the open door to see the rubble of what had once been the right wing of the house. "Perhaps it was silly of me to believe that I could create a place for myself this way. Or perhaps I made a mistake in the way I approached all of this. I don't know how long I'll have the energy to keep trying. It's kind of strange, you know, how a person can be surrounded by so many people and yet still be so much alone. I don't suppose any of you feel that way. That's one blessing at least."

It's the first time he's shared so much of his thoughts with anyone, even if that someone is fast asleep. It takes hours for him to talk himself into utter exhaustion.

Part of him is starting to wonder if this whole endeavor had been futile from the start. It's depressing, how he can do so much with his magic and yet at the same time achieve so little. Not wanting anyone to ask him any questions, he eventually retreats to his private room where he knows the other inhabitants of the house will not disturb him.

It's a week before he manages to gather the will to emerge from his room again. The dark fog of his deadly depression fills the corridors directly around his room, filtering out the light and making the atmosphere even more muffled and suffocating. He hadn't eaten in all of those seven days, and he was discovering that starving could be extremely painful and unpleasant. It's not hunger that actually drives him to venture back out into the house, however. No, it's the halfhearted curiosity he feels in regards to how quiet it's been. Frankly, he's surprised that the rest of the house is even still standing. All any of the creatures he'd created seem to want to do or enjoy doing is demolish things.

Distantly, he hears the sound of voices and the scraping clunk of heavy objects being moved about. He follows the noise through the halls and eventually finds himself stepping through an archway into the portion of the house that had been in ruins only a week before. It's still mostly in shambles, but much of the debris has been cleared away and parts of the nearby walls have been repaired so that it no longer looks as though some monster had torn chunks out of the masonry—a description that is not entirely figurative. This is only half as surprising as the fact that he finds Natsu and a number of his other creations still busy at the repairs.

Natsu is the first to notice him. The lime green eyes that meet his are much clearer than they had been before. Unlike the first time Natsu had woken, this time, Zeref feels as though the boy actually sees him.

"We thought you might have been upset because we lost so much of the house," Natsu says by way of explanation. "They told me you worked really hard on it."

Zeref blinked. That wasn't really why he'd been depressed, but... it's the first time that any of his creations had actually stopped to think about how Zeref truly felt about anything. It's also the first time any of them have attempted to do anything constructive.

"It's too hard to make it the same as before, but at least this way, it won't look broken anymore."

Zeref doesn't know what to say. There's a foreign emotion welling up in his chest, but for the first time in years, his mind is completely blank. Finally, he replies with the only two words that haven't deserted him.

"Thank you."

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IV.

Things improve.

Whatever else he might be, Natsu is powerful, and the other inhabitants of their island respect and admire him for that. It means that they often pay attention to what he says and does. They do the same for Zeref, but it's different because they know fundamentally that Zeref is not like them. Natsu, on the other hand, is a symbol of what they might be able to become. What matters most to Zeref, however, is that Natsu is curious—about this world into which he had been born and the other beings who lived in it. Although he enjoys sparring with Zeref's other creations, he enjoys other things too. And because he takes an interest, his brethren gradually follow suit.

Zeref teaches them to read and write, and to play games like chess. He lets them browse his library as long as they swear not to fight while they're in it, and he shows them how to use the tools and technology that he had brought with him from the lands below. Their artwork is terrible and their cooking is only slightly less bad, but they're learning

Together, they eventually repair the part of the island that Natsu destroyed. It's not the same as it was. What was once several rooms is now a courtyard with a few rooms along its sides. But Zeref likes it better because of what it represents.

Natsu spends more time with him than the others, seeking him out at odd hours and asking him questions about everything. Zeref is unaccustomed to talking about himself and he's still uncomfortable sharing things about his past, even with his own creations, but gradually, he opens up about other things—about some of the human settlements he'd passed through on his wanderings and the interesting magic that he's witnessed others perform. It's the first real conversation he's had with anyone in years, and it's everything he could have hoped for. More than anything, it's a relief, although he's hesitant to put a name to the lightness that accompanies that feeling. It's silly, but part of him worries that if he puts a name to that feeling, makes it into something real, he'll also make it into something he can lose.

There are times when Zeref is watching them fight with one another that he glimpses that same crazed look in Natsu's eyes that had been there that first day he had woken up, but thankfully, it never lasts for long after the battle is over.

They begin making plans to visit a few human settlements, both to procure more supplies and to provide Natsu and the others with more experience with the world. Zeref is a little anxious about this and decides to limit the number of people he'll allow to accompany him at one time. Watching the lot of them fight each other for the right to those few available spots does—not—reassure him. He's grown accustomed to keeping a low profile and being as discreet as possible, but with fireballs whizzing past his head and chips of rock flying everywhere, he has the distinct feeling that that will not be possible this time.

After the demise of half the sparring arena he'd had to put in for them, Zeref persuades the ones who want to go to draw lots instead.

The trip itself goes more smoothly than its rocky beginning had suggested. He had meant for all of his creations to appear about the same age as himself, some a little older, so they look little different from other small groups of youthful travelers. Natsu ends up purchasing a great deal more food than Zeref had anticipated and Jackal takes a liking to fireworks that Zeref isn't sure should be encouraged, but other than that, it's a relatively normal day of shopping. Zeref is relieved, and trips down below become a routine occurrence.

It is during these trips that Zeref first hears the rumors.

In the time he had spent removed from the rest of the world, several things have changed. More and more people are beginning to learn magic, and as knowledge of the arcane becomes more commonplace, so does people's misuse of it. Although human governments have attempted to outlaw the use of magic for such things as killing, they are powerless to actually stop such crimes from taking place. There are just as many Dark Guilds springing up as legitimate wizard guilds, and as the number of wizards grows, so does people's fear of magic and their desire to acquire more powerful magic for themselves.

This state of affairs disturbs him, but Zeref doesn't think it has anything much to do with him. He has long since decided not to involve himself in the affairs of others, and anyway, his days have become rather busy.

It is also during these trips that his creations first learn what that black fog that occasionally surrounds the dark-haired wizard actually does.

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V.

They smell the smoke from the burning farmhouse before they see it. The dark smoke rising from the wreckage draws a dark line dividing the sky, a signal to other, nearby farmsteads of what had happened. Zeref doesn't really expect to find any survivors, but it's still a little jarring to see the bodies. It's not the first time he has seen such violence, but it has been awhile since he'd encountered this much bloodshed.

There is a man, the farmer probably, sprawled half over the threshold, red soaking his shirt and congealing in a puddle beneath him. The rest of the family had been caught in the back of the house, and the best that Zeref can say is that their deaths had probably been swift.

The scene both upsets and angers him. It's the children that get to him the most, and the sight of the poor woman who had obviously died trying to protect them. The storm of raw emotions twist in his stomach and well in the back of his throat, and it takes him longer than it should to remember that he's not alone. All the plants in the field that had not been burned were now withered and brown, as are a number of the trees closest to the farm. Their skeletal branches stand in stark contrast to the vivid green foliage of the woods beyond them, and it's been such a long time since he's walked in a forest himself that the sight startles him for a moment.

"Is this why we don't have any plants on the island?" Natsu asks, catching a dead leaf in his hand as it drifts past him and examining it with interest.

Zeref looks away. Frankly, he hadn't thought at all about whether or not plants were a good idea when designing the floating island. But subconsciously, yes, he supposed it was possible that he'd shied away from ideas of gardens or trees because he knew they wouldn't last.

"Was that magic?" Mard asks, and there's a fascination in his voice that disturbs the wizard slightly.

Zeref hadn't really taken the time to think about how his creations might react to his curse, but... if he had thought about it, he's sure he wouldn't have wanted them to be impressed.

"It's a curse," he says shortly. "It reacts when I'm... upset."

That's not exactly how it works, but he doesn't feel like explaining.

"We're all right though," Natsu points out. Hell, neither he nor Mard had bothered to move out of the way, accustomed as they are to seeing the dark fog in the hallways of their home whenever the wizard got depressed.

"No," Zeref agrees quietly then adds, "that was the point."

He wonders what they'll think of that, wonders if it's too selfish of him, but he doesn't say any more. Part of him doesn't really want to know. Not right now.

"Do you know what happened here?" Natsu asks, and Zeref realizes with a start that it's the first time any of his creations have actually seen anything or anyone die. Death is not a foreign concept to them, because he had created them with some basic knowledge of how the world functioned. But knowing and seeing are not the same. Death is more than just the end of a life.

"From the looks of it, I would guess that they were killed by bandits," he explained. "All the livestock was taken, and it looks like they looted the house before setting it on fire."

"Why?"

Because sometimes, humans can be evil and greedy and cruel, Zeref is tempted to say. But something makes him hesitate. It's what he believes, but somehow, he can't bring himself to tell them so. At least not right now while their experience with the world is still so limited.

In the end, all he says is, "I don't know. Sometimes, people are selfish."

"Hey," one of the others still back in the house call out to them. "I think this child is still alive."

It's a baby girl, hardly old enough to be considered a toddler. She'd been knocked unconscious during the attack and left for dead, but now that she's woken up, her quiet weeping and wet hiccups are more than enough to show that she is still alive.

"What should we do with her?"

Even in the midst of this ruined farmhouse, the sight of all these young men and women milling about in confusion around a human baby was quite funny.

"We'll look for a town with an orphanage that might be willing to take her in," Zeref said. He delegates this task to a few of the creations with the best track record for interacting with humans like normal human beings, and he and the rest of that day's traveling team return to the island after giving the farmer and his deceased family members a proper burial.

"What's the point?"

Zeref doesn't know which of the people helping him with the graves asked the question, but he answers anyway.

"It's a sign of respect. All things, whether living or not, deserve to be treated with respect. That's what makes us humans and not beasts."

To his surprise, none of them comment on this little speech. Instead, the whole group falls quiet and remains that way as they finish cleaning up what they can of the wreckage and begin their journey back home.

The little girl, Ella her name was, ends up in an orphanage in a village farther towards the mountains where the people specialize in cultivating medicinal plants.

And later, Zeref would learn that Mard, on a whim, decided to track down the bandits who had slain her family and kill them. There were no survivors, although rumors start to spread about demons when people stumble upon the scene of the carnage. Natsu hadn't participated, but he had known about it and hadn't intervened—which really meant that he hadn't seen it as something particularly wrong.

"They didn't deserve to live," Mard reasons when Zeref confronts him on the matter. "Anyway, what they did was wrong, wasn't it? You said so yourself. They upset you."

Zeref doesn't know what to say. Doesn't know how to explain why they shouldn't have killed the bandits when, deep down, he agrees that they hadn't deserved to keep on living.

In the end, all he can really say is, "The world isn't that simple. Don't do such a thing without telling me again."

He isn't sure if Mard hears him, but he can tell from Natsu's gaze where he stands listening to this exchange that he does. And even though Natsu does not understand his reasons any more than his colleague does, he is at least thinking about it.

The next time they make a trip into town, Zeref notices Natsu talking more with and asking more questions of the people that they encounter. Part of Zeref is worried that this will lead to unwanted attention from the locals, but still... he doesn't stop him.

.

VI.

It's risky for Zeref to eat in a restaurant, but his creations understand that now and Natsu has other ideas.

"It's a picnic," he explains, sounding very pleased with himself indeed as he shifts his grip on the giant sack slung over his shoulder.

Several of the others are carrying baskets and yet more have their arms full of drinks.

Zeref isn't sure "picnic" is the right word for this. It's such a friendly, lighthearted sort of word. A family sort of word. Not a word for a group of magically created beings and a cursed wizard who, half the time, caused the landscape around him to die.

Everyone seems excited though, and this stretch of grassy riverbank is leagues away from any human settlements.

Natsu and the others had bought something from almost every restaurant in the nearby town. None of them really had to eat, but they liked the taste of food and had asked around to find out what each diner was most well known for. In short, the selection that ends up on their picnic blankets is both eclectic and surprisingly delicious.

"I told you this was a good idea," Natsu said, smirking.

Zeref looked away, his stomach feeling a little strange. He wonders when Natsu had gotten this skilled at reading him. For the first time in what feels like forever, Zeref doesn't feel cold, and the bright sun above their heads has very little to do with it.

Half an hour into their meal, someone hits someone else for taking the last piece of chicken potpie, and the next thing Zeref knows, half his creations are brawling in the shallow river. The water steams and sizzles where it is struck by energy blasts, and small waves slosh up onto the banks. Thankfully, the food is far enough away not to suffer from the ruckus—at least until one stray spell ricocheted off a shield and reduced what remained of a roast duck to ashes. After that, Natsu waded into the river after the others to join the water fight.

Zeref feels a little rueful about this turn of events, but even so, he watches Natsu go and smiles.

Large group picnics don't exactly become a common occurrence. Zeref is insistent that they not draw unnecessary attention, and the logistics are too complicated. But every now and then, they find somewhere remote and picturesque—and make a day of it.

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VII.

The day Natsu sees the dragon, things change.

"Hey, do you think he'd agree to teach me?"

Zeref looks up from the book he is reading on one of the island terraces from which there is a magnificent view of the clouds. Natsu had come to sit beside him, and there is an intensity about his face that Zeref has never seen before.

"Who?"

"That dragon," Natsu clarifies. "The one we saw the other day."

Zeref blinks and tries to remember. It had been a red dragon, he recalls, and it had breathed fire.

Now that he thought about it, he'd noticed that Natsu had a preference for Fire Magic in his sparring matches with his other creations. So perhaps this sudden, intense interest shouldn't be so surprising. Dragons were some of the most powerful wielders of elemental magic in the world. Still...

"I don't know," Zeref says finally. "I suppose it would depend on what sort of dragon he is. Some of them look down on other species."

"I saw him protect a group of humans from another dragon," Natsu says, startling him. "So I don't think that's the case here."

Zeref hadn't known that Natsu had sought out the dragon on his own on other occasions. He knows that Natsu can take care of himself, but it worries him nonetheless.

"So do you think he'd consider teaching me that magic?" Natsu asks again.

Zeref bit his lip. He isn't entirely comfortable with the idea of Natsu going to speak with a dragon that may or may not be a friend, but he knows also how determined Natsu is. If this is something that Natsu really wants...

"I suppose you could try asking him," Zeref says at last. "But please be careful."

Two days later, Natsu comes back with the news that the dragon Igneal had agreed to be his teacher.

Zeref is on the terrace again when Natsu tells him this, and the words leave him feeling strangely lightheaded and cold—and like the stone beneath him isn't as stable as it was only five minutes ago. Then Natsu's hand is on his shoulder, and that single point of contact somehow makes him feel grounded again if still a little hollowed out.

"I'll be back, you know," Natsu says, "even if it will be a few years. And you can always contact me if something comes up."

"I know."

"But you're still sad."

Zeref doesn't deny it. He'd never been a good liar anyway.

The hand moves from Zeref's shoulder, and calloused fingers catch his chin to make him look back up at Natsu. The action startles the wizard, mostly because such a thing has never happened before, but he doesn't pull away. Natsu studies his face for a long moment, and Zeref has no idea what he's looking for or how to describe the expression in the other's eyes. It's intense too, although not in the same way as when Natsu had talked of learning magic from the dragon, and it makes Zeref feel almost uncomfortable, even though he doesn't know why.

Then Natsu steps back and grins.

"I'll be back," he promises again.

And then he's gone, leaving Zeref to look out at the clouds and wonder what had just happened and when Natsu had stopped making sense to him.

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VIII.

Natsu is the first to go, but he's not the last.

One by one, the others come to him with their plans to explore new hobbies or occupations. He goes with them to look for people and places that might be able and willing to teach them these things, and wishes them well even though he doesn't really want them to go.

He doesn't realize that, even though many of them are trying to learn and live for themselves, they are doing these things for his sake too. Because, bit by bit, they have begun to realize that he wants them to become more than he had made them.

As each of them leave, Zeref gives them a warning too.

"Don't let anyone know that you're not human."

"Why not?" Mard asks him, still as proud as ever about what he is.

But Zeref will not concede on this point.

"Because there's a lot of fear in the world right now," he says. "And adding to it will only make things worse."

Because the rumors are starting to catch up with him.

The world had only become more hectic over the last few years. The fighting between different wizard factions is intense, and fear of both magic and those who used it had skyrocketed. What really surprises Zeref, however, is a conversation he overhears outside a tavern on one of their supply trips into town.

"They say their leader is Zeref."

"You don't mean—the Black Wizard?"

"That's what they say. Sure explains how they've been able to do the kind of damage they've done."

"Can't the Council do anything about it?"

"I'm sure they're trying, but we're talking the worst dark wizard in history, the one who made all those demons. I wouldn't get my hopes up."

Zeref knows for a fact that he has no followers. Nor has he ever wanted any, or agreed to be the leader of any dark wizard faction.

Even worse, when he sees reports in a town paper about a battle that wiped out a nearby village, he recognizes the ink sketch that accompanies the article. It's not the best likeness. The artist probably exaggerated some of the details to make the monster even more monstrous, or he'd seen the creature from too far away to create an exact representation. Either way, Zeref recognizes one of his early failed attempts. Yes, it's been years, but Zeref isn't someone who forgets something he created himself.

Part of him wants to search out at once and take back the books that had been stolen from him so many years ago. He even considers sending someone after them. But the only one he trusts to carry out such a task without going overboard is Natsu, and Natsu hasn't yet returned. He could go himself, but showing himself to a group of dark wizards who are already, as far as he can tell, obsessed with him sounds like a disaster waiting to happen. Which means that, in the end, he has to let it go—at least for now.

...Except things don't work out that way.

The problem with living on an island above the clouds is that, sooner or later, someone sees something strange or reports something inconceivable, and other people—curious people and suspicious people—will investigate.

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IX.

Both the alliance of Dark Guilds and the soldiers employed by the current Magic Council are due to converge on his island tomorrow. Zeref has already decided that he will not be here when they arrive. Each of his creations have either left in pursuit of their own ambitions or been sent away by him on other errands. Natsu had yet to return from his training with the Fire Dragon King, and Zeref decides not to let him know of the impending raid. He has sealed away what he can of the records of his research and any magical tools that he had invented over the course of his experiments. Honestly, to be on the safe side, he really ought to destroy the entire island, but he can't bring himself to do that.

There are too many memories here. Too many things that he wants to remember—that are important to him, if only for sentimental reasons.

Zeref has never been good at letting go.

So he leaves the island as it is and wonders what all those people who are after him and his power will think of it. What will they see when they enter this empty house amidst the things that he's left behind? Whatever they see, he doubts it will be what they expect. Then again, what did he know really?

Wandering through the deserted halls of what had been his home for the past few years, he feels like time had reversed itself while he wasn't looking. He was alone again, and part of him felt more lost than he ever had before.

He'd hoped that his creations would keep him company, and for awhile, they had. But he'd wanted them to grow too, to become more than he had first made them to be. To become their own people.

It hadn't occurred to him that he was the one who was stuck. He was the one who wasn't changing, the one who was standing still in time as the rest of the world changed and left him behind. And now, it seemed as though the beings he had created—demons, people called them now—had left him behind too.

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X.

It's years before Natsu learns what happened.

Being basically immortal, none of Zeref's creations had ever developed a strong sense of time. Dragons, too, were extremely long-lived, and so, practicing his new magic out in the wilderness with Igneal, it's easy to lose track of the passing of days.

When Natsu finally does return to the island in the sky that he had considered home for most of his life, he's shocked not only to find it deserted but to find that it seems as though it's been that way for years. He checks Zeref's personal quarters anyway, half hoping that the wizard had left a note. But there are no notes and no clues, and some parts of the building look as though they've been ransacked.

Sunset finds Natsu sitting alone on the terrace—the last place he'd seen Zeref before he left. He looks at the clouds, stained purple and gold by the fading sunlight, and wonders about how alien the place feels now that there's no one living there. He wonders where the dark-haired wizard had gone, and he wonders why he hadn't told him that there was trouble.

But more than anything, he wonders why Zeref hadn't come back.

"You didn't really believe me, did you?" he asks no one in particular.

No, that's not right. He knows exactly who he's talking to. And if Natsu's being honest, he's a little irritated with the wizard right now. Not so much because he hadn't stayed, though there was a bit of that too, but because he hadn't said anything.

He hadn't left a note.

Of course, Natsu searches for him, but he immediately runs into two problems. First, the world is a very big place, especially when you're looking for a single human. Second, Natsu isn't the only one looking. All sorts of people from both sides of the law have a vested interest in knowing where Zeref is. Which, by default, also means that Zeref is working very hard not to be found. And if a wizard like Zeref doesn't want to be found... Well, there wasn't a lot anyone—even Natsu—could do about it.

He doesn't give up, because as far as Natsu is concerned, giving up is something that happens to other people. But it's the start of a very, very long search.

TBC...

AN: I don't normally write in present tense, but I've been reading a lot of things written in present tense and kept accidentally slipping into it while I was working on this. As a result, I decided just to let this story be in present tense. Sorry if it turns out to be weird because of that.

This story was inspired by a suggestion that a reviewer sent me while I was working on Firelight and Shadows. It was about Zeref creating demons as a way to counter his loneliness; the idea struck a chord with me and kind of stuck in my head. So yeah, this story is the result.

Also, please note that this is not going to be a long story. It's more of a prelude.

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