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 Two
A Theory About Peace
I.
One thing is for sure. Traveling the roads from town to town is an educational experience. Sure, Zeref had taught them things about life in human settlements, but hearing the stories and seeing them are two entirely different things. And in watching all these different people interact and go about their daily routines, Natsu feels like he's finally starting to understand—really understand—what Zeref had been hoping for.
It is also the first time that Natsu ever really stops to think about where Zeref stood in relation to his fellow human beings. He's never wondered before about the wizard's history before he created them, although he can sometimes remember snatches of a familiar voice telling him about burning villages and universities where people studied the development of magic and spells. Strangely enough, he hears Zeref's name here and there, especially in settlements where wizards are more prevalent, but most of what those people say is bad.
It's all the gossip and false speculations that make Natsu the most angry, especially when he's had a long day and the food at the inn doesn't meet his expectations. Without personally doing anything at all, Zeref had managed to earn a black reputation, and almost all great catastrophes and evils get somehow blamed on him despite his absence. Over the years, Natsu has learned to curb his temper somewhat, so sometimes, he grudgingly lets it slide.
Other times, the night ends in a brawl, and Natsu ends up banned from the establishment—at least until people forget that he'd been the one to start the trouble. The gossipers are lucky that he's also learned to manage his strength in order to masquerade as much as possible as a human being. Otherwise, they would have ended up in the cemetery rather than the hospital.
No one in those taverns or restaurants ever figures out what sets him off, which means that Natsu himself earns a reputation for being trigger-happy and slightly mad. But that's okay. He never stays long anyway.
It's somewhere along this meandering journey that Natsu makes a decision.
Looking back with his new knowledge of humans, he realizes how rarely Zeref had ever smiled, and Natsu doesn't think the wizard had ever laughed even once. It's only now that he has other humans to compare him to that Natsu realizes that this is not the norm, and it bothers him in a way he can't quite explain. Of course, Natsu has always known that he wanted the wizard to be happy, but he decides that Zeref had been wrong to think that they could all remain secluded on their floating island and find true contentment.
Just because you lived on an island above the clouds didn't mean you were truly set apart from the rest of the world. Sooner or later, the world would catch up, which really meant that for peace to last, they had to find some way to be part of things. And so Natsu decides that simply finding Zeref again isn't enough. Restoring their island home isn't enough. No, Natsu decides that what he really needs to do is find a place that might be willing to accept them exactly as they are.
He knows this will be difficult, especially with what he'd seen of Zeref's curse. But unlike the dark-haired wizard, Natsu is unhindered by preconceived notions of what human beings are like.
Natsu is still thinking about this when he makes a stop in Magnolia City and pauses to inspect the Fairy Tail guild building.
He's heard of wizard guilds, of course, but he's never seriously considered joining one himself. Things are changing though, and it's becoming more difficult to work as a freelance wizard without being suspected of practicing dark magic. Still, although there are definite advantages to joining a legitimate guild, he doesn't want to jump into it carelessly. He has more than just himself to think about, after all, and there's the not-so-small fact that he's not actually as human as he appears. Referring to himself as a Dragon Slayer has worked well and it explains many of his abilities, but the truth remains that that is only part of what he is.
"Are you considering joining a guild, young man?"
The old man who stops to ask him the question is one of the shortest adult humans Natsu has ever seen.
The Dragon Slayer shrugs. "Thinking about it. Why?"
The old man scratches his chin. "Call it intuition. This is my guild, you see, and I had a feeling that I should talk to you."
This makes Natsu raise his eyebrows and take a little more of an interest. "Yeah? So what kind of place would you say it is?"
The old man thinks seriously about this for awhile before answering. "Well, that's a hard question. We've got all sorts of people in our guild, and we have a lot of fun, if I do say so myself. You're welcome to join us for a while and see what you think."
Studying the old wizard's face out of the corner of his eye, Natsu says, "I might bring trouble with me, you know."
For some reason, this makes the other laugh. "Oh, no worries there. We love trouble."
Natsu decides then that the old man seems all right and maybe a guild that he's part of is worth giving a chance. Anyway, if it doesn't work out, he'll just leave again. Unlike most humans, he has all the time in the world.
.
II.
"This is the job board," the young woman says, gesturing at the many notices tacked up upon the wall. "Anyone who wants to hire a wizard to do something can put in a request. Generally, there will be some details about the job like what they want you to do and how much they're offering to pay."
There are a great many requests, and Natsu regards them with some interest.
"So what kind of things do people usually ask about?"
The wizard shrugs, the motion sending ripples through her cascade of scarlet hair. "It varies. Right now, we're getting a lot of requests for bodyguards and help gathering rare crafting materials. And of course, there are always a few strange phenomena going on that people want someone else to investigate."
"What about missing persons?"
The question earns him a raised eyebrow.
"I haven't seen any recently," she replies, "but yes, we've had requests to look for missing people before too."
As the newcomer considers this information, Erza takes a moment to study him. With his wild hair and slitted, green eyes, he looks much like the other male Dragon Slayers she has met. But there is something else about him that unsettles her, something that sets her danger senses blaring even though she can't put her finger on why. It reminds her of the one time she'd seen a village in the aftermath of a demon attack, but that doesn't make any sense. It's almost like there is something about his magic that she has encountered before, something separate from him being a Dragon Slayer, except again, she draws a blank on where or when that might have been.
"What about those job posters up there?"
Startled from her thoughts, Erza follows the direction of his gaze to the upper floor of the guild house. "Those are restricted to guild wizards who have passed the S-class ranking exams. They're jobs that the guild master has determined are too dangerous for most members—like requests for help with demon attacks."
Natsu looks thoughtful. "I see. Makes sense, I guess."
Erza clears her throat. "You asked about missing persons. Is there someone you want to find?"
"Yeah," he says. "There is."
Erza waits, but he doesn't elaborate.
For his part, Natsu has mixed feelings about the guild with its human wizards and its job boards that talk of fighting demons. He knows the word demon, and he knows that humans use it to refer to all sorts of different people and creatures. One of those groups includes Natsu himself, because the general public doesn't know that Zeref's creations had not all been created equal. Natsu can see this potentially being a problem in the future, and he's not sure how much he should let this influence his decisions. Things don't get any easier when he's introduced to his new teammates a few days later.
Natsu is one of three relatively new recruits, and with Erza as their guide and chaperone, they set out on their first job on a chilly morning in late autumn. It's supposed to be an easy mission, escorting a small merchant party through rough terrain to a mining town in the mountains—a perfect way to get their feet wet. And it is, all the way up until the dark wizards arrive in town and declare their intention to take over the local mining operation. Erza makes her team lie low and listen to the exchange, and there's real fear in the air when the dark wizards threaten to unleash a demon on the town should they resist.
Lucy's face is pale in the darkness of the storage shed where they're hiding. The blond girl is a Celestial Wizard, Natsu recalls, and he recognizes the way she clutches her keys as a sign of how nervous she is when she says, "We can't just leave things like this."
Erza's reply is firm and unwavering. "We'll come back with reinforcements. This isn't something a bunch of new recruits should be involved with."
Gray's hands are clenched into fists. It's the most tense any of them have seen the Ice Wizard.
"Do you think they're telling the truth?" he asks. "About having a demon with them?"
"I don't know," Erza says grimly. "But until we can obtain confirmation either way, it's safest to assume that they are."
Natsu doesn't understand their reaction. He himself was itching for the chance to battle.
"But if we take out those representatives, they won't have the chance to summon the demon," he points out. "And we'd have the advantage of surprise on the rest of their group."
Gray's hiss of "are you crazy" was overrun by Erza's sharp, "No. This is not something we can rush into."
Natsu wants to argue, but in the end, he decides to let the matter go.
Later, when they stop to rest on the rush back to Magnolia, Gray tells them about his village, about the demon that had destroyed it, and about his teacher, who had given her life to save him and imprison it.
Long after the others fall asleep, Natsu sits by the campfire, thinking as he watches the play of firelight and shadows. He thinks about a burning farmhouse and an orphaned little girl. He thinks about the bandits that Mard had hunted down, and he thinks about what Zeref had said to them when he'd found out what had happened. Natsu knows that among Zeref's creations, he is the strongest. If it comes to a battle, there is no demon that could best him. But at the end of the day, he's a demon too, and he doesn't know what he should do or what Zeref would want.
He doesn't end up sleeping at all that night.
He's not supposed to, but when the group of S-class wizards go out after the Dark Guild, Natsu follows them from the shadows. And he orchestrates it so that he is the one who ends up facing the demon when it appears, tearing its way into the world with a rumbling howl that is definitely more beast than human. It's one of Zeref's, Natsu can sense that much for certain from the feel of its magic, but it's nothing like him or the others he had known on their floating island.
"You're one of the early ones, aren't you?" Natsu asks.
The creature doesn't reply, just roars and lunges for him with extended claws.
"Can you actually think at all?" he asks.
Again, he gets little response.
Natsu is a little exasperated by its lack of intelligence, but then, this makes his decision a little simpler.
Destroying the demon and its book is easy. Natsu's flames leave nothing, not even ash, behind.
Zeref had always encouraged them to make their own decisions. And Natsu's sure that he's made the right choice. For now, at least.
.
III.
"This really is a nice house, isn't it?" Lucy says, mostly directing the question at herself. "I certainly wouldn't mind living here."
"I don't know," Gray says. "It seems a bit big for one person. What would you do with all that space?"
While his friends explore the house and banter, Natsu is discussing the upcoming job details with their client at the kitchen table. Normally, Lucy is the one who initiates discussions with their clients, but today, Natsu has come with an ulterior agenda.
"You mentioned you were thinking about selling this place?" he asks, not wasting any time.
The man sighs and nods. "That's right. As soon as you help us get rid of this ghost we've got. My wife has a new job near the capital, so we're going to be moving to Crocus. That's why we need to get this haunting dealt with. No one's going to want to buy a haunted house."
Natsu sort of disagrees with this evaluation. He's met plenty of humans who would love to live in a haunted house. Still, this works to his advantage.
"How much are you selling it for?"
The man scratches the back of his head, confused by this line of questioning. He'd expected more questions about their ghost troubles. "I'm not sure yet. Why?"
Natsu grins. "Because I'm thinking about buying it."
His friends are right that the house is a little big for just one person, but he's thinking ahead. The place has three floors, meaning that the two rooms on the top floor are a decent distance away from the gardens below. The second floor is mostly open with bookshelves already built into the walls, making him think of the library that Zeref had kept on the island, and the house itself is situated on the outskirts of Magnolia—not too close to the city's heart, but also not too far away. In other words, as far as Natsu is concerned, it's perfect.
His teammates are shocked when he gives them the news after they finish the work they were hired to do.
"You bought the house?" Lucy asks, like she can't quite believe her ears.
Natsu shrugs. "You said yourself that it's a nice house."
"Well, yes, but..." The Celestial Wizard shakes her head. "I grew up in a big house, Natsu, and it never feels right when there's only one person staying in it."
"Yeah? What about two people?"
Lucy and Gray exchange baffled looks. They aren't aware of their teammate being close enough with anyone to start making decisions about housing together, but then, Natsu had always been rather reticent when it came to his personal life. They had always had the nagging sense that there was something else out there that Natsu was searching for, but it isn't until now that they have had a glimpse of what that might be.
"Natsu," Lucy asks cautiously, "are you... seeing someone?"
Seeing someone? It takes Natsu a moment to realize what she's asking, and when he does, he can't help his own amusement. It's such a normal suggestion, considering how incredibly abnormal their situation actually is, and he can see how Lucy might have come to that assumption.
"Not exactly," he says. "It's complicated."
Honestly though, the idea of Zeref being with anyone else the way Lucy is suggesting makes Natsu's hackles rise somewhat unexpectedly. But he chalks it up to the fact that all of the wizard's demons are a bit possessive of him. He was special to them, so that was natural, right?
"Are you going to introduce us sometime?" Gray asks, just as curious as Lucy to know more.
Natsu shrugs. "Probably. Someday."
At least he hopes it will be someday and preferably soon. He's been searching for Zeref for decades and still hasn't found so much as a single clue, but... Well, for some reason, he still feels like he's closer now than he had been in years. He likes to think it's intuition, but he can't deny that making concrete steps like this towards his goals renews his optimism.
.
IV.
The other guild wizards don't notice it at first, but as the number of jobs they complete begin to pile up, the pattern starts to become obvious.
"Off on a dark wizard hunt again?" Levy asks when Lucy tells her that their team will be leaving on another job the next morning.
"What do you mean again?" her friend asks, startled. "It's not like we go looking for dark wizards all the time."
Levy taps her fingers on the sides of her mug as she considers this. Around them, the noise of the main room in the guild house continues, their fellow wizards unaware of the unusual turn in their conversation.
"No," Levy says finally, "you don't, but you take turns picking which jobs to go on, right?"
"Yeah?"
"When it's Natsu's turn, you almost always end up going somewhere where dark wizards have been spotted or are suspected of causing trouble. It's not always related to the job you're doing, but I suppose it stood out to me since I've been following the news."
Lucy frowns at that. "Are you sure?"
Her friend shrugs. "It could be a coincidence, but if that's the case... Well, it's just a pretty big coincidence is all."
After her friend brings it up, Lucy starts noticing it too. When she mentions it to Gray after their next team mission, he scratches his head and admits, "I just figured he always chose jobs involving dark wizards because he likes fighting. But now that you mention it..."
Now that she mentions it, Natsu always does some rather strange things on these missions. He asks a lot of questions for one thing, usually about people traveling alone. Once, Gray overhears him questioning a group of villagers about a recent spate of dead trees. No one ever finds out why dead trees are of such great interest to him, and Gray has no idea how to ask for an explanation. Is it even really any of their business?
"I remember when he first joined the guild," Erza says when the topic comes up over dinner on their latest job and Natsu is on the other side of the tavern speaking with the locals. "He asked if we ever got missing persons cases."
Gray raises his eyebrows. "Missing persons? So he's looking for someone then?"
Erza shrugs. "He didn't explain."
"But in that case, why all these dark wizards?" Lucy asks.
None of them have a good answer for that. They wonder if perhaps the Dragon Slayer has a grudge against a particular dark wizard, but then, you didn't usually file missing persons reports for people you were searching out for the purposes of revenge. But what other reasons could there be for a member of a legitimate wizard guild to be looking for a dark wizard? And why hasn't he asked them for their help?
The most peculiar incident occurs in a village where they cross paths with a Dark Guild whose members profess to be followers of the Black Wizard Zeref. It's not an uncommon mantra among Dark Guilds these days, but Natsu's reaction is downright venomous.
"If you're going to go around committing crimes and hurting people, at least have the guts to do it in your own name," he sneers when they corner the group, voice hard with disgust. "Saying you're doing it for someone else is just an excuse not to take responsibility for your own actions. Don't you dare try to shift responsibility onto someone you don't even know."
The Dragon Slayer isn't wrong, but the way he says it, it's like he sees the situation as a personal affront. So maybe it's not entirely off to say that he has a grudge against dark wizards. What still confuses all of his teammates is why.
.
V.
It becomes something of a game around the guild to try and figure out who Natsu is looking for. Which is a major reason why, when he begins the process of moving into his new house, almost everyone volunteers to help in one way or another. It seems like a safe assumption that the person he wishes to find is also the person he plans on living with, and they can use all the clues they can get.
Erza selects herself to lend a hand with basic furnishings.
"Well, what colors you like are always a good place to start," she says when they're standing in the aisles of the department store.
"I don't think I have any favorite colors," Natsu muses.
"What about that person you said you'll be living with?"
The Dragon Slayer considers this. Zeref had used mostly dark colors when creating their island home, but Natsu suspects that that had more to do with Zeref's often gloomy mood than with any particular personal preference.
"I don't know," he says finally. "But it's probably better if we go with something cheerful. What kind of colors would you say are more cheerful?"
Erza scratches her head. "Bright colors, I would imagine."
"Right, then bright colors it is."
Lucy and Levy are recruited to help stock the bookshelves, and the three of them visit almost every bookstore in town.
"This would be easier if you were looking for a specific genre," Levy puts forward. "Or if you had some criteria for what you want."
Natsu's reply is vague and utterly unhelpful. "Anything you two think is good. Preferably things you'd want to read more than once, and—newer things."
"How new?" Lucy asks.
"From the last hundred years or so, I suppose."
Lucy and Levy exchange disbelieving glances. Since when was the last one hundred years or so considered "new"?
Gray, Gajeel, and Loke report helping Natsu install a writing desk on the second floor alongside the bookshelves, despite Natsu admitting to doing almost no writing or reading himself. They also end up removing some of the greenery from the building's immediate perimeter, expanding the brick-paved walkways—a renovation for which there appears to be little logical or aesthetic reason.
It's all terribly mysterious.
For his part, Natsu pretends not to notice their curiosity. He sees no reason and has no desire to explain himself, and honestly, he's hoping they'll stop asking if he keeps maintaining that he has no idea what they're talking about. It's not his fault that there's no easy way to tell them the truth. Hell, he's not even sure if they'd believe him if he did.
.
VI.
"What do you think about dark wizards?"
The three other wizards seated around the campfire look up at the question.
"What do you mean?" Lucy asks, baffled.
Natsu shrugs. "Just what do you think of them."
For a moment, none of his teammates respond. It seems like a simple question on the surface, except they've all had time to think about the odd patterns in Natsu's mission choices and can't help wondering what his reasons are for asking.
"They're wizards who use magic to commit crimes and hurt people," Gray says finally. "What are we supposed to think?"
Natsu frowns. This isn't the answer he's looking for—or the discussion he wants. But he should have expected that.
"I mean, do you think it would be hard? For a dark wizard to be part of a normal guild."
He's utterly serious, and the others can sense it in the way he's watching them. It's strange because the Dragon Slayer seldom seems this serious about anything, but they try to respond in kind.
"Well, I can't imagine it would be easy," Gray says after some consideration.
Erza agrees. "I suppose it would depend on the dark wizard. A lot of dark wizards are dark wizards because they don't want to abide by the rules about what magic is and isn't allowed. You can't keep that mindset and expect being a member of a regular guild to work out."
Lucy draws her knees up and wraps her arms around them. "Well, to be fair, I think it would depend on the guild too. It would be hard for someone to change if no one's willing to give them a chance."
Natsu makes a noncommittal noise, a slight frown creasing his brow. Those aren't exactly the kinds of answers he's looking for either, but he's not sure how else to ask the question without giving too much away.
The others sense his disgruntlement.
"When you first arrived at the guild," Erza says slowly, looking at the Dragon Slayer from across the fire, "you asked me about missing persons. Is this about the person you've been looking for?"
For a long time, Natsu doesn't answer. And when he does speak, his words are slow and careful. "You could say that. But the person I'm looking for... Well, he isn't exactly a typical dark wizard. I don't think he should even count as a dark wizard, but I suppose it would be hard for most people to see things that way."
"I don't understand," Lucy says, voicing their collective confusion. "How can someone both be and not be a dark wizard?"
Natsu regards each of them in turn. They feel strangely as though he is judging them, weighing what he knows about them, but against what and for what reason, they have no idea. In the firelight, his eyes seem even more inhuman than usual, bright green with pupils like thin slits. And rather abruptly, it makes the other wizards a little uneasy.
It's ridiculous, they tell themselves. This is Natsu they're talking about. There's no reason for them to be unsettled. After all, they know him... Don't they?
Except maybe they don't know as much as they would have expected. Because when they think back on it, they have no idea what he was doing before he joined the guild aside from training with a dragon. They don't even know how old he actually is. Natsu has never told them. It's startling, in fact, how much they don't know.
"Well," Natsu says at last, "I guess you could say it's a matter of opinion. He's not in a guild, and a lot of people think he's done things that he hasn't. Or they don't understand his magic or the choices that he makes—or that he doesn't always have choices. Good ones anyway. It's... complicated."
Now that, the others think to themselves, is a statement they can all agree on.
.
VII.
Of course, as is so often the case with such things, Natsu finds the person he is looking for on a day when he is not, in fact, searching for him.
It starts when Natsu decides that he wants access to Fairy Tail's S-class job boards. His reasoning is simple. Going on ordinary level jobs hasn't gotten him what he wanted, so something obviously needs to change. Besides, any incident that truly involves Zeref in any way is bound to be S-class at least.
Getting himself placed on the examinee list is easy. He's been with the guild long enough at this point, he takes a boatload of additional solo jobs, and his job success rate is stellar—if he does say so himself. It helps, he supposes, that he concentrates on hunting and fighting missions, but it's not like there's a rule stating that his skill set has to be diverse.
He's heard of the island that the guild uses as its home ground, but he's never actually been there before and he doesn't know what to expect. Despite everything he's seen in his very long life, he's a little excited. Yet when the place comes into view on the horizon, it's not the impressive trees and sandy beach that catch his attention. Instead, it's a scent in the air, so faint he almost thinks he imagined it.
He stops mid-conversation with his companions and turns to stare at the island, surprise and excitement making his heart rate speed up. He inhales, trying to catch that scent again. It's not there, but he knows what he smelled before and he trusts his senses not to be mistaken.
Either Zeref is here or he was here not that long ago.
"Natsu? Natsu, are you listening?"
He isn't. Not really. But he mutters something that can pass for agreement so that the others will continue.
He only half registers the rules that the guild master outlines for the participants of the challenge. After all, if he finds Zeref here, he doesn't really care if he passes these exams today. There will be more exams. He's been searching for Zeref for more than a century.
As soon as the ship draws close enough to shore, he's out of it and racing for the woods, moving so quickly that he's gone before the others register that he's left.
"Hey!" Lucy calls out after him, but it's already too late.
Beside her, Levy says, "Do you think he's acting a little strange too?"
The shorter girl shakes her head. "I'm not sure what to think anymore."
Unlike Lucy and her friend, Erza is not here on Tenrou Island as a challenger. She is here as part of the exam team, and she has the suspicion that Natsu has forgotten all about the fact that he is here to take a test. What exactly has distracted him, she doesn't know, but she's curious to find out.
Following the Fire Dragon Slayer without being noticed is no easy task. She has to balance keeping her distance with being close enough to actually see what he is doing. But Natsu is weaving through the woods at a remarkable pace, and another obstacle soon presents itself to her.
There are intruders on Tenrou Island.
It's obvious by now that Natsu is looking for something in the woods. As much as Erza wants to know what that something is, the presence of potentially dangerous outsiders is more urgent. So she leaves Natsu to his search and turns instead to confront the nearest group of strangers swarming onto the island.
"We aren't here for you," the first of the invaders says with a sneer when she steps from the trees to block his way. "It's in your best interest to keep out of our way. Do that and we'll be out of your hair before you know it."
"This is private property," Erza counters. "You don't have permission to be here. Why should I let you stay?"
"Because," the man drawls, "we aren't here for anything of yours."
This declaration seems to amuse him, but Erza doesn't see the joke.
What in the world is going on?
At the same time Erza engages the intruders in battle, Gray and Loke find something much more disturbing on the other side of the island.
"He's dead," Loke says grimly. He rises from where he had been examining the corpse and adjusts his glasses, scanning the woods around them. "But there isn't a mark on him."
Gray frowns. "So then, what did he die of?"
The spirit only shakes his head. "I have no idea. Whatever or whoever caused this, they're obviously dangerous."
The ring of dead trees around them is clear evidence of that, assuming the corpse isn't evidence enough.
Gray mutters, "We have to tell the guild master."
His friend agrees. This is no time to be concerning themselves with exams.
As if to balance the good luck of running into his target's scent when he's not looking for him, both the dark wizards and other guild wizards find Zeref first.
Leave me alone."
The voice is cold and unfamiliar, and Levy finds herself grasping at Gajeel's sleeve to prevent him from striding forward and interrupting whatever conversation is happening up ahead. He turns his head to scowl at her, but she's insistent.
"We need to know why they're here."
From the way her companion's scowl darkens, Levy suspects he doesn't agree. They know from the ruckus that fighting has broken out all across the island, and it's obvious he wants to join it. Why does it matter why these intruders are here? Isn't it enough to know that they're trespassing? But Levy doesn't let go of him and, eventually, he relents.
Instead of charging in to confront the strangers, they creep carefully through the underbrush until they can see what's happening in a clearing up ahead of them.
There is a boy there, dressed in black and white with a mop of disheveled, black hair. He looks young, certainly younger than Levy had expected. And he's looking with clear distaste upon the collection of other strangers facing him across a stretch of leaf-strewn grass. From the looks of their clothes, Levy would guess that the group is composed of wizards from multiple Dark Guilds rather than only one.
She and Gajeel don't hear what the group's spokesman says, too focused on finding a good position from which to watch the scene, but they do hear the boy's reply.
"I told you, I'm not interested. I don't care what you think you know about me, and I have no wish to explain myself to you."
"But, Lord Zeref—"
"I said no. You're starting to try my patience."
Levy's jaw almost hits the floor. She would have thought she'd heard incorrectly if it wasn't for the flabbergasted look on Gajeel's face.
Zeref? As in the Black Wizard Zeref? Is that even possible?
Gajeel's expression is changing. His chin juts out in what Levy interprets as obstinacy, and he makes as though to stand—to stride out into the clearing and demand answers. Levy scrambles to her feet, unsure whether she intends to try and stop him or join him.
The decision is taken from them when one of the members of the group—a woman, Levy thinks—takes a step forward, and a gout of flames forces the stranger to jump back.
"Hey!"
The flames vanish almost as quickly as they arrive, and Natsu lands in the middle of the clearing between the boy and the people he had been speaking to. The Dragon Slayer ignores the latter entirely. Instead, he stalks over to the boy, punches him rather unceremoniously, grabs him by the front of his odd clothes while he's still reeling, and then proceeds to shake him.
"Why the hell didn't you wait for me? I told you I was coming back, didn't I? Do you have any idea how long I've been looking for you? Or how worried I've been? The least you could have done was leave me a note!"
The boy makes no attempt to free himself. All the coldness that had been in his gaze before has evaporated, replaced by a kind of dazed shock at Natsu's tirade.
The rest of them are simply stunned. Confused too, but primarily stunned.
"Natsu?" the boy says, his voice full of startled wonder.
Natsu grunts. "Who else would I be? You'd better have a damned good explanation for disappearing on me like that. You owe me at least a hundred years of catching up. Do you hear me?"
Natsu shakes him again for emphasis.
Before the boy can respond, the dark wizards they had hitherto been ignoring finally grow fed up.
"Who are you? How dare you speak to Lord Zeref that way?"
Natsu stops ranting and turns to glare at the intruders.
"How dare I?" he repeats, his tone low and dangerous. "I'll talk to him however I want. How dare you barge in here like you own the place? And didn't you hear him tell you to leave him alone? He doesn't want to talk to you."
The dark wizard puffs up with indignation. "Our mission is to retrieve him. We're not leaving without him."
"Is that so?"
Natsu's grin is feral.
He turns back to the boy and orders, "Don't go anywhere," then lets go of him and turns his full attention on the other occupants of the clearing. He cracks his knuckles and flames leap into being about his hands. "Now then..."
The boy does wait. In fact, he sits down exactly where Natsu left him, his dark eyes following the trail of explosions through the trees towards the coast.
"I advise that you two not come any closer," he says without looking at Levy or Gajeel. "I'm not especially safe to be around and I've already killed one person today, so I'm not in an especially stable frame of mind."
No longer intent on staying out of sight, Gajeel straightens and growls, "What the hell's that supposed to mean?"
The boy finally looks away from the direction Natsu had gone and tilts his head, puzzled but unperturbed by Gajeel's outburst. "I mean exactly what I said. Was I unclear?"
Gajeel starts to retort, but the words stick in his throat. Levy puts a hand on his back, her gaze trained on the patch of grass where the wizard had settled himself. The same patch of grass that her companion is staring at.
The grass is dying even as they watch.
"I think we should wait for Natsu," she murmurs.
For once, Gajeel simply does as she says without comment.
.
VIII.
Natsu has thought often about what he would do and say when he finally found the wizard who had created him. Angry, worried, irritated—none of that really covers the full range of emotions he feels regarding the situation. He does not expect to punch the wizard and then shout at him for several minutes, but he can't say these possibilities have never occurred to him. After more than a hundred years, he has a lot to get off his chest after all.
Conveniently, there are plenty of dark wizards on the island upon which he can vent his accumulated frustration.
By the time Natsu returns to the clearing where he had left Zeref while he cleared out the trash, he is considerably calmer—which is good because Makarov had arrived in Natsu's absence. So had Erza, Gray, and several other people Natsu really doesn't want to deal with right now.
He's not sure what to do.
He wants the two of them to be alone right now. They have a lot they need to discuss, and he doesn't want an audience while they do it. Stalking into the clearing, he plants himself between Zeref and the guild wizards while he gives himself a moment to think.
It has occurred to him to wonder before how he should introduce Zeref to his fellow wizards. However, he'd never come up with a good answer. Neither had he considered the possibility that he would have just fought a bunch of dark wizards over him, making the situation just that much stranger.
Long-term planning apparently isn't Natsu's strong suit.
"Natsu, who is this?" Erza asks.
The tension in the air is unfortunate, Natsu thinks. Because it's making Zeref increasingly uncomfortable, and his discomfort is, in turn, making Natsu bristle. He takes a moment to rein in his emotions before he replies. He doesn't want to fight with the other guild wizards right now.
"You know I've been looking for someone," he says, blunt and to the point. "Well, this is him."
Natsu pauses a moment to let this settle in then continues briskly, "It's been awhile since we've seen each other, so we have a lot to talk about. I'll be back to talk to the rest of you after we've had the chance to catch up."
Declaration made, Natsu turns to Zeref and asks more quietly, "Can you transport us—back?"
Natsu doesn't say "home" because the island isn't really home anymore. Hasn't been home for decades. Funny. It's not until now that the loss really hits him. It's not until now that he lets himself feel it.
Zeref looks up at him and nods. He doesn't need Natsu to tell him where he means.
They're gone before any of the guild wizards can get in a word or try to stop them.
.
IX.
"I'm sorry."
Those are the first words out of Zeref's mouth when he breaks the silence of the deserted courtyard.
Natsu's anger fades as quickly as it had flared.
"Why didn't you wait for me?"
It's a genuine question this time rather than an accusation.
Dark eyes slide away from him and towards the dark windows of the building that occupies most of the island. Natsu is a little surprised that the island is still floating despite having been abandoned for so long. It feels startling, too, that so little of the place has changed.
"All of you were changing," Zeref says finally. "Discovering what you wanted and who you wanted to be. I suppose I didn't want to be a burden."
It's such a simple explanation. Yet a century ago, Natsu wouldn't have really understood it. A century ago, he wouldn't have been certain how to respond or how to put his own feelings into words.
Now, he simply snorts and demands, "What was the point of creating us if you weren't going to depend on us now and then?"
Natsu can tell from the slight widening of the wizard's eyes that he has surprised him. Which is ridiculous really. Natsu would have expected Zeref to know him better than that. He can't speak for the others, but as far as Natsu himself is concerned, he has always wanted the wizard to rely on him.
With a huff, Natsu grabs the other by the wrist and tugs him along towards the mansion doors. Well, towards where the mansion doors had once been. Whoever had ransacked the place hadn't bothered to check if they were locked before breaking them. Now that Zeref is back with him and safe, Natsu has the presence of mind to be quite angry about this. What right did anyone have to invade their home like that? Not, he supposed, that there is anything he can do about it now. For almost everyone but the two of them, the events of that day are ancient history.
Through the halls they walk, Natsu tracing a path that he remembers more clearly with each step. Finally, they emerge onto the terrace he had been looking for, the same one where they had last said goodbye. He has mixed feelings about the place, but the view from it is still spectacular and it seems right.
Natsu sits and tugs the wizard down with him. The stone of the terrace isn't exactly comfortable, but it's warm from the afternoon sun.
"Talk," he says. "Start from the beginning. What happened here? Who did it? Why didn't you stop them?"
Natsu has no doubt that Zeref could have if he'd wanted to.
Zeref's gaze lingers on Natsu's fingers still gripping his wrist like he thinks the dark wizard might disappear on him again. He's dazed—not surprised exactly, because Natsu has always taken liberties with his person, but more as though he still half thinks he's dreaming.
"It... didn't seem worth it."
Natsu doesn't let go.
Zeref doesn't ask him to.
It's hard for the wizard to walk back through the intervening years of wandering to recount the thoughts that had passed through his mind at the time. His memory is good, but honestly, things blurred together after awhile when you had no reason to pay attention to the changing of one day into another. And the fact was he'd been depressed, and that all-consuming grayness had sapped away many of the details.
Natsu wonders why he'd never recognized that depression before. It seems so obvious now in retrospect.
Eventually, Zeref winds down and repeats, "I'm sorry. I should have left you a note."
"Yeah, well, as long as you realize it." Abruptly, Natsu changes the subject. "I bought a house."
"A... house?" Zeref repeats like the words are from a foreign language.
Natsu grins. "Yeah, in a city called Magnolia. I figured we could stay there. Unless you want to renovate this place."
When the wizard continues to stare at him, his grin fades into something more serious.
"It's not enough, you know, just staying up here. Maybe things were good here for awhile. They could be good here again, but what happened before can always happen again too. Something has to change. I've done a lot of thinking since I started searching for you. I think maybe leaving this place behind wasn't a bad thing. I want us to give living around other people a try. And I know you might need some time, and that's okay. We can wait as long as you need. But I still think we should do it."
He stops. Catches the wizard's gaze. Holds it.
There's uncertainty in Zeref's eyes. He's not an easy person to read, but Natsu knows him. Knows him better now, in fact, after having met plenty of humans to compare him to.
He wonders what Zeref sees in his own eyes. Whatever he sees, Zeref eventually looks away and lets out a long, careful breath.
"Okay."
Natsu blinks. He'd expected the wizard to struggle a bit more.
"Yeah?"
His surprise must have shown.
The ghost of a smile flits across Zeref's face. But when he looks back at the shadowy structure of the deserted house behind them and then at the seemingly endless expanse of sky and clouds before them, the primary emotion Natsu reads is resignation.
"I'm tired, Natsu."
"Yeah, I know."
Natsu let go of his wrist and shifts to lace their fingers together. It's an impulse, one he doesn't entirely understand. It feels right though. And, after a brief moment of startled tension, Zeref relaxes.
"I know," Natsu repeats. "But it'll get better. I promise."
.
X.
It's nightfall by the time they arrive in Magnolia.
Zeref hesitates on the outskirts, looking uncertainly at the sprinkling of city lights. Natsu knows it's not the first time Zeref has passed through a settlement of this size, but he also knows it's always an anxiety-inducing experience. So he says nothing, only shoves his hands into his pockets and waits, keeping an eye out while he does so to make sure they aren't interrupted.
"Do you like it here?"
Natsu turns to him at the question then glances back over the city, remembering the first time he'd seen it himself. It hadn't left much of an impression then. But now?
"Yeah, I guess I do. But if you don't, I'm not against moving. Choosing someplace else. Starting over."
Slowly, Zeref nods. He's tired of wandering, but it's still reassuring to know that he can change his mind. That Natsu won't abandon him even if he decides that he doesn't want to stay.
Natsu leads the way through the streets, sticking to areas with fewer people and fewer streetlights. He steers well clear of the guild house. He doesn't want to run into any of the other wizards yet, not until Zeref's had time to get accustomed to the idea of them.
That doesn't stop Natsu from making several stops at food vendors that he frequents. The vendors cast curious glances at the figure hovering in the Dragon Slayer's shadow, but it's late and none of them ask questions.
Zeref is surprised by his first sight of the house.
"It's very large," he comments, pausing at the start of the garden path to study the building. "You bought this place?"
"It wasn't as expensive as it could have been," Natsu says cheerfully. "It was haunted before I got it, so I got a discount."
"You don't say."
"We got rid of the ghost though, so no need to worry about that. And really, compared to where we used to live, I'd hardly call this a big house."
"True enough."
Natsu's proud of what he's done with the place. He shows Zeref through the different rooms and tells him a little about the various people who had helped him furnish it. The wizard listens quietly, taking it all in with something Natsu translates as baffled wonder.
They stop at last in the library, and it's not until Natsu is watching the wizard study the books upon the shelves that it occurs to him to be anxious.
"So, what do you think?" he asks.
Zeref lets his hand drop from where he had been running his finger along the spines of the books. The truth is, he feels a little overwhelmed by how much thought Natsu has put into this. By the simple fact that Natsu had, in fact, been thinking of him. Planned to have him around. Planned for him to be a part of this life that he has created for himself.
He doesn't know how to explain all this to Natsu, so for the moment, he simply says, "I think living here could be nice."
Natsu beams.
They eat dinner in the small living room on the third floor at a table by the window. It's too dark outside for there to be much of a view, but it's not difficult to imagine what daylight might bring with it. And... well, it's cozy.
Normal.
Funny really, how something so simple can bring such contentment. But then, the two of them would be the first to say that normalcy was often underappreciated.
Natsu does most of the talking, but that's okay. Honestly, he's accumulated so many stories that he could spend months sharing them, and he has already decided that the two of them will start creating experiences of their own. Shared ones this time.
Eventually, Natsu excuses himself to check the room upstairs he had decided would be the best for the wizard to sleep in. The bed has to be made, and it looks like he had forgotten to draw the curtains across the window. There is a box of books on the floor that still need to be shelved, but that can wait.
Natsu returns to the library, intent on collecting Zeref and showing him to his room, only to stop in the doorway. The wizard is slumped on the couch where he had been reading, the book he had chosen still open on his lap. His eyes are closed, and his breathing is slow and even.
Natsu wonders how long it's been since Zeref had last had a proper night's rest.
Even in his sleep, the wizard looks exhausted. Still, he looks peaceful too, and Natsu wonders if he can take credit for that. He decides that he can.
Eventually, Natsu pads across the floor and gathers Zeref up, careful not to wake him. He likes the feeling of the wizard in his arms, and he pauses a moment to consider it. Unlike back then, it's just the two of them here in this house. It's quieter, sure, but not in a bad way. In fact, Natsu has the strong suspicion that he's going to enjoy it quite a lot.
Perhaps they could hunt down and check in with the others in the future, but... Well, Natsu kind of likes the idea of having Zeref to himself for awhile. Yeah, they can hold off on that.
For now... For now, they have a new home to build. New stories to write.
END (?)
AN: Okay, that's probably it. Like I said, this is more of a pre-story.
I did originally have a third part in mind, but I've wracked my brains for awhile and just can't decide on an event to focus on. I didn't really feel up to writing a whole other version of joining the guild (or not).
So anyway, I hope it was an interesting read and that the present tense wasn't too hard to read.
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