This chapter was rewritten for a sixth time. Sorry.

Chapter 7

Zeref faced his enemies, the mages of the guilds alliance, as silence prevailed between them. No one dared to attack him, despite every wrong that he had committed. Makarov was correct. Zeref was in control there. In addition to his armies that were standing right outside the hall, he alone was probably strong enough to dismantle all the gathered mages there by himself. So the mages resorted to staring back at him, teeth bared and sweat forming on their faces.

Zeref stared back, a plain expression on his face as he could tell how much fear and disruption he was creating in the minds of his enemies. He found it amusing that he didn't really care for conflict while his enemies were beyond themselves with their rage against him. He had left humanity behind a long time ago, so the wondrous afflictions of the human mind such as fear and hostility were fun for him to observe. It reached to that part of his past when he was still a subject of such emotions and caressed gently.

Moonlight filtered in through the collapsed roof of the hall, and a gust of wind passed by. Zeref took it as his cue to start speaking. "Mine and Natsu's story starts… 700 years ago. Deep in the forests of Tenrou. We lived amongst the Dragneel tribe, a community of simple fishermen."

Mirajane watched him with confusion plaguing her mind as what he had explained was already causing questions to bubble in her. "Tenrou? We have been to that island so many times that… we have lost count. We have never seen or heard of a community or settlement living there. Not even the ruins of one."

Zeref turned his head slightly to look at her, his ever-persisting plain expression deepening as if her doubt had a plain solution to it. "Yes. The settlement was wiped off 700 years ago, soon after mine and Natsu's birth. Nothing remains where we lived but a forest. And we lived so deeply hidden from the outside world that no documents telling of our existence exist anymore either." Zeref seemed a bit forlorn at this point. "Me and Natsu are all that remain of our once peaceful and thriving community."

The mages focused on Zeref's face as the realisation that the Spriggan Prince was saddened about something was disheveling. To them, Zeref was so far removed from usual norms of the world that any expression on his face other than apathy was a sight to behold. Actually, anything regarding the greatly mysterious Spriggan Prince was news to them, so this story of himself and Natsu he was telling them was clawing deep into their minds.

Zeref shook himself out of his heavy emotions about his long lost and peaceful home. He took a logical route of thinking now, and dwelled in the thoughts of revealing something to his enemies that would be of a deeper effect to them. He smiled slyly, as if he held power over them because of the information he knew. "The Dragneels weren't alone on that island. Yes, the outside world was never the wiser about our existence. But there was one other group of people that lived on Tenrou 700 years ago, close to the Dragneels, and met the same fate as us–extinction. You must know of them already."

The mages narrowed their eyes as they racked their brains. When nothing was said, Zeref resumed, continuing to smile. "It was Mavis's people. The Vermillions. They lived on the island of Tenrou just as the Dragneels did."

Mirajane watched Zeref quietly yet dipped in shock as mutterings and chattering started around her, as the mages shared that shock with her. They had never heard of that before about Mavis or Tenrou, and both being well known names such an intricate connection between the two that went missed brought unbridled astonishment. As they dwelled in the revelation, they wondered what deeper secrets Zeref's story would unfold.

Zeref stared into the darkness as if to give them time to slowly swallow the facts that he was laying upon them. He then continued. "The island did a great job at hiding us from the outside world. We were safe from colonists, slavers and pirates, and foreign armies. And for good reason. We couldn't have defended ourselves. The Vermillions and Dragneels were non-magic people."

More mutterings, but this time softer than before started up as the last revelation further added to the growing list of things that weren't making sense or things that the mages were hearing for the first time.

Levy clenched her fists as her curiosity to question Zeref for details overpowered her timid nature. "I have read many books that… that said that Non-magic people were only legends. That no such people actually ever existed in the history of the world." She lowered her gazes, blinked at the darkness of the floor, and then lifted her eyes to meet Zeref's again, as if she thought of something more. "And, can't you and Natsu use magic? And I am sure that Mavis could use magic too, being the first master of the strongest magic guild in Fiorre."

Zeref watched her as he recalled reading about what she was claiming as well. He had also glanced over some old documents that claimed that non-magic people were myths. He laughed at the silliness of the human psyche, and its rush to brand things it didn't understand as legends. "The world has changed a lot in 700 years. New races have emerged, while many old ones died out. Amongst the ones that no longer inhabit our world are the Vermillions and the Dragneels."

He shook his head as he thought about Mavis, and what Levy had said regarding her. "Mavis never could use magic. She kept that part of her life a secret. She was never the one for undue attention, and being known as a rare species of humans that couldn't use magic would bring her just that."

The mages watched Zeref's shrouded figure in the darkness as realisation slowly dawned upon them that what he was saying could be true. Mavis had lived 700 years ago. Who knew what about her life that they knew was just rumours and what was reality.

Zeref looked away, as if thinking. "As for me being able to use magic, you must already know that I was cursed by Ankhseram in my very early years. He didn't appreciate me playing with the laws of life and death, something that he assumed only he could have control over. But he made a mistake. Along with his curse that he placed on me, he unintentionally brought me dark and obscure powers. My magic is as a result."

Erza's breath was cut short as she heard that. She remembered staying up nights and spending her days despairing over Zeref's frightening power and wondering how she could defeat him. To know that his powers weren't even real, and were born out of the curse that Ankhseram had placed on him was a strangely relieving thought. It didn't take away the fact that Zeref was still terrifyingly powerful, but it surely painted him as a less frightening figure in her mind.

Zeref looked at Natsu, and walked a few paces towards him, but halted as soon as Natsu took a step back, readying himself for a fight. He smiled as if to let Natsu know that he wouldn't attack him. "As for my little brother, he was always special."

Natsu watched with narrowed eyes as he didn't understand what Zeref was saying. Zeref caught on it, and proceeded to explain. He turned around and walked back to his original position. "When Natsu was born, the midwives that attended to my mother could swear that his body temperature was higher than the other infants born at the time. The nurses tried everything they could to quell his fever. Prayers, bathing him in the holy rivers of the island, medicinal plants. But nothing worked. It was realised that what he had wasn't a fever at all, but a gift from the gods…." He paused, standing still, and then continued softly. "Natsu was… born with magic."

The silence of the hall and the night quickly got filled up with gasps of shock. It was absurd already to know that Natsu's people were non-mage, but to overlap that fact with this next revelation that Natsu was born with magic was crossing the borders of absurdity. If Zeref's magic and Mavis' absence of magic had explanations, how come Natsu's didn't? Some looked at Natsu, fitting it inside their heads that it was him that they were talking about. Owing to all of these secrets about him, their image of him as a simple man in their minds was changing at a fast pace.

It sounded unreal that their close friend, someone they knew so well, had such a stain of obscurity and mystique to his past. They realised that although everyone who was present there had convoluted pasts, Natsu's story blew everything out of the water.

Erza, who had been listening closely, adding to her curiosity to know more about Zeref the fact that it was now Natsu's story as well, couldn't take this new unfolding of events silently.

"Why… why was Natsu born with magic? What happened?"

Her shock caused her to overlook the fact that Zeref was just as clueless as her on the matter. He let her know by shaking his head. "I don't know. It is beyond even me to know what game fate was playing. I have no information on what plans gods had that caused this to happen. And neither did our people. Yes, word spread to everyone. Panic followed. Our elders believed magic was the cause of strife and struggle in the world beyond ours, and its absence the reason behind our peace and happiness. So when they found out that a magic child had been born in their midst, they fell short of explanations. Some believed Natsu had come from outside the island, but that wasn't true. He was born to my parents just as I was."

He paused uncomfortably, with difficulty biding enough strength to keep himself from getting angry as he spoke further. "Our elders disregarded Natsu." He spoke through pressed teeth. "They believed that he was a monster. A demon of prophecy born to destroy our two tribes. And for what? For something he had no control over. He was born the way he was born. But that wouldn't get through their thick skulls. Even our mother believed that she had given birth to a demon."

The mages slowly dragged their gazes to look at Natsu, some seeing him from the sides while some only being able to spot his back, as sadness crept in as they could assume that he wasn't treated well by his own people. Zeref's angry voice revealed that much.

Natsu slowly dropped his gaze to his hands as he watched his empty palms, wondering what had caused him to be born with magic to non-magic people. Having no memories of any of this, and being told about it by someone else was really messing with his head.

Zeref sighed. "Natsu… grew up alone. No children would want to play with him. No men or women would let him get near, believing that he brought them misfortune. Only me, Mavis and our father treated him the way he was meant to be treated. He used to play alone, sometimes with us when we had the chance. But usually, all alone. Until one day," Zeref lifted his eyes up and looked at the lone moon, all alone in the night sky, yet glowing brilliantly. "One day, some kids from the village surrounded him. Even the children carried disdain for my brother. That was what they had been taught by their parents. They started to torment him."

As Zeref was faced away from them and only his back was visible, it looked like he had brought his left hand to his face. It looked like he was wiping his eyes. But of what? Tears? They couldn't tell.

"Natsu ran and hid from them in a fishing hut, but they found him. In a bid to defend himself, his magic accidentally flared up, burning the hut to the ground. Only he survived."

The mages listened closely, their mouths hanging slightly open as their hearts panged with shock. They couldn't wait for Zeref to speak up again so they could learn more of the riveting and morbidly shocking tale.

Zeref placed one of his hands against the wall, as if to stabilise his feet. "An angry mob showed up to our house, wanting to kill Natsu. Never before had Vermillions and Dragneels known or even thought of violence. Maybe the elders were right. Magic did bring misfortune along with it. Our father defended Natsu with his life, and was beaten to death. I… I had to escape with Mavis, Natsu and my mother and hide in the forest to escape the angry villagers. Then… came Acnologia."

The sudden mention of the black dragon's name brought fear back into the mixture of grief and shock that the mages were going through. It caused them to suddenly break out of the shockingly sad turn the story had taken and think why Acnologia was mentioned in the story at all. What role did he have to play?

Zeref continued, still glancing at the lonely moon outside the window. "I told you before how Dragneels and Vermillions have perished and gone extinct. How only a forest grows where we once lived. Well, Acnologia is to be blamed for that. Or to be thanked, rather. If he hadn't turned up at that very moment to burn down the two villages and kill everyone within them, the hunters would have found and killed us. That demon of prophecy that our elders percieved Natsu to be, was Acnologia all along."

The mages stood still as they couldn't believe that Acnologia had saved Zeref and Natsu. That fact sounded humorously twisted. They realised that if it wasn't for that random whimsical act of violence that he rained upon the two villages at that very fortunate timing, Natsu and Zeref wouldn't be here. They were reminded yet again how fanciful fate was. But they knew that Acnologia didn't save them intentionally. Even 700 years ago, the only thing on that dragon's mind must have been purely death and destruction.

Zeref looked at the floor and kicked a piece of rubble, sending it sliding against bigger pieces of rubble and the wall, a series of tapping sounds echoing throughout the hall. "As… as we hid on the island, our mother grew more and more insane. Claimed that she did what she did because voices in her head told her to. But her intentions were clear. They had been ever since she had outwardly shown her disdain towards Natsu. But I would have never guessed that she would go that far, and that's why me and Mavis left for hunting one day, leaving Natsu in her presence. I was foolish. Naive. I didn't gauge the true extent of the evil that had taken hold in her. Maybe it was because Acnologia's evil magic was still remnant in the air after his attack on the villages. Whatever the reason was, to avenge her husband, she slaughtered Natsu."

The hall was bereft of any noise, except for the plinking of water droplets somewhere from a broken pipe. Outwardly, the world around them was silent, but chaos was brewing inside each and every mage that was present there that listened to the story. Their mouths hung agape, eyes tore up wide, and bodies still in the darkness of the moonlit night.

Erza, whose eyes watered slightly at the image that formed in her mind as she heard what Zeref had said, slowly wiggled her finger as if to check if she still had control over her body or not, and to make sure it hadn't turned into a statue completely. What was she listening to? How could something like this even happen? Was what she was listening to a fictitious tale, or the reality? Her mind was swimming.

That's how Natsu had died.

...

Zeref wiped tears off his cheek. He continued. "I got rid of our mother after that. She deserved it. As for… Natsu, Mavis suggested that we bury him. But… I wasn't ready to let my brother go. I loved him dearly. And I was ready to jump across any perceivable hurdle to get him back. Even the hurdle of death. Even inevitability. So, I mummified Natsu. He remained by my bedside as I researched for the next ten years. Finally, I had the secret to bringing him back to life within my grasp. Once Natsu had returned to me as Etherious, my next plan was to rain hell on earth. A cold and merciless desire to rip it apart for all that it had taken away from me. Mavis was horrified at the idea, and further horrified at what I had done with Natsu. She gave me an ultimatum. Either I stop planning what I was planning, or I do it without her. On that day, I chose hatred over love. Mavis left me, resolving she would stop me one day. And I, cursed by Ankhseram for bringing Natsu back, went my own way. Years passed, and Fairy Tail and Alvarez came into being."