Life has been busy lately and it's only going to get busier. So I suspect it'll be a while before the next update. But I'm not giving up! Anyway, here's the disclaimer.

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Fairy Tail. I do not own these characters. I do not own this story idea, at least not entirely. Then again, someone else may have had the same ideas I did. Eh, how about I don't own anything in this story. Is that good enough for a disclaimer?

Chapter 18.

Tenrou Island (Part 2)

"You need to come up with better plans, bro."

Those words echoed through the room along side the sound of a slap. After a moment the small blonde woman giggled. Her brother-in-law was a man of his word after all. The dark haired man took the hit, blinked, heard what was said, and then blinked again. Then he burst out with a laugh of his own as the pink haired man retracted his hand.

"I suppose I do."

Zeref chuckled as he gracefully pushed away from the wall to stand up and give his younger brother a hug. Mavis had told him that Natsu would come with a few accessories that would block out his Death Magic if his curse caused it to activate, so he felt confident that he could interact with the pink haired man at the moment.

"It's good to see you Natsu."

"Good to see you too Zeref."

After a rather manly hug and a hearty slap on the back, the two separated and joined Mavis at the table.

"It's safe to come in Cana!"

Natsu called out towards the doorway he'd entered through. His brunette mate poked her head in before carefully picking her way across the ruined floor to join them. Baby Koharu's head was practically spinning as she looked at their surroundings from her place in Cana's arms.

"Mavis told me a bit about things have been for you with Fairy Tail, so I roughly know who they are. But why don't you introduce them to me, brother?"

Taking the hint, Natsu smiled towards Zeref as he gestured with his hands towards the two.

"This is Cana Alberona. She's the daughter of Fairy Tail's current Ace, Gildart's. She's also my mate," Here he paused and leaned in, before whispering despite the fact he knew that her newly developed dragon slayer senses would still let the brunette hear. "She's also my soon to be fiancee, as the engagement ring I commissioned a friend to make should be finished shortly after we get back to Magnolia later this week."

Zeref smirked at Natsu's words before looking to the Cards mage and nodding.

"It's a pleasure."

"I'd shake your hand, but I'd have to hand the little one to Natsu first."

That made Natsu lean back in his chair and turn to her so he could hold his daughter. Taking one of her hands in his, he had the babe wave to his brother as he introduced her.

"And this little one here is Koharu. Thanks to a wyvern attack, her magic was partially awoken and she was orphaned. Since the wyvern in question had a fire affinity, I decided I would take her in. After all as a Fire Dragon Slayer I also have a fire affinity, and would be strong enough to finish the process of awakening her magic. Cana and I were on a mission together when we met the little one, so we adopted her."

There was a grin on Zeref's face as he listened.

"That sounds like something I'd have done if it weren't for my curse. And it wasn't during one of what I have taken to calling my 'insanity' periods…. Though I must say, she has a few features from each of you, so she could easily pass as your actual daughter."

He commented. And it was true. In the time that they'd taken her in, the baby's hair had begun to darken from it's light and soft golden brown to a darker shade that near perfectly matched Cana's own. Her face was shaped almost exactly like the Cards mage too. But the little girl had the same onyx eyes as Natsu, and the same skin tone; and while they were different, it took him a moment of searching for differences to spot that it wasn't exactly the same, but the little one in Natsu's arms had a very similar nose.

"Honestly that's a rather happy coincidence."

The adult brunette replied.

The black haired man nodded and let out a sigh as he slumped back into his chair.

"So Mavis told me that grandmother was with you, when she visited. How'd you find her?"

"Well…. Considering they're your demons I take it Tartaros reports on things to you right?"

When Zeref nodded, Natsu continued "Then you've probably heard about the fact that Dark Guilds the world over have become more active in the last year or so."

"Indeed. I've even heard that the Magic Council organized for a meeting of the greatest guild masters to gather for a meeting to plan out how they're going to counter all the Dark Guilds."

Mavis who until this point was just listening in, went wide eyed. Having been in what could be considered self imposed exile, the news of what was going on in the world was a bit shocking.

"It can't be that bad right?"

Yet Cana shook her head.

"I can't speak for outside of Fiore, but I know for a fact that Natsu's been involved in taking out a fair few dark guilds in the past 8 months or so. I'm actually a little shocked it took four guilds deciding enough was enough and taking out Oracion Seis for the Magic Council to act."

Zeref nodded at that.

"Mard Geer, who is one of my demons, as well as the guild master of Tartaros told me about that. He was begrudgingly praising you and your guild mate with the epithet of Titania for that fight."

"Just us? I mean there was also a wizard saint on that mission. And you didn't need to mention that he was one of your demons. I already knew that every member of Tartaros was one."

Natsu asked, a bit flabbergasted that Jura wasn't mentioned.

"Mard had a subordinate watching that whole 'debacle' as he called it. Part of the reason he so readily agreed when I asked him to send a test your way, was because he deemed you in particular to be a potential threat. Your guild mate was discarded as a potential threat because, while she's a dangerous opponent in a head on fight, she can be taken out via poisons rather easily."

That made Natsu understand why Jura wasn't praised by the Dark Guild's leader. He didn't go beyond what was expected of him like Natsu and Erza had. So when he nodded that he understood Zeref smiled.

"As for your comment about every member of Tartaros being one of my demons that isn't exactly true. I made a demon by the name of Keyes; and he well, he has gotten it into his head that he is going to be my successor and has already figured out how to mutate others so that they are demons. In fact, you fought one of the demons he created when I asked Mard to test you."

Cana on the other hand had to pull herself out of her memories as she recalled the list of injuries Natsu had received from Tartaros when they were testing him. As well as how little Gray, Gajeel, and Mira had actually managed when they were protecting her and Koharu from the one that was supposed to kidnap them.

As if sensing the unease that Cana was feeling as she thought about it, Mavis steered the conversation back on point.

"I see. But you were telling us about how you met up with Selene again."

"Oh right. We mentioned that the Magic Council had called for a meeting to decide how to counter the Dark Guilds. One of the guild masters was a self taught Dragon Slayer, who wanted to meet with me and the other two that are part of Fairy Tail. So we were tasked with escorting him to the meeting. He was representing the guild Magia Dragon out of Guiltina. But there was another guild from Guiltina that had been invited. For some reason that she won't tell us, grandmother was at the meeting as the guild master of that second guild."

"So you basically just ran into each other? I'd say I don't believe it, considering I've search for her on and off throughout the years since I helped the dragons get you and the other slayers to a more safe time period. But I never managed to make it up to Guiltina."

Zeref retorted at Natsu's explanation. Knowing how absurd it sounded the Fire Dragon Slayer just shrugged.

At this point neither Cana nor Mavis were paying attention to the conversation, as little Koharu had started to tug on Cana's shirt for attention, and was babbling towards her adoptive mother. When Cana's head turned to focus on the baby, Mavis' attention followed.

Almost instantly, a smile came to Koharu's face as she got the attention she wanted, though it was replaced rather quickly with a frown as the baby's stomach started to rumble. Realizing that her daughter was probably hungry, Cana reached into the diaper bag for a bottle, and silently thanked whatever Gods were still paying attention to Earthland to receive her praise that she had remembered to prepare a few bottles in case Koharu got hungry or fussy while Natsu and his brother talked.

Both of the women giggled when the child greedily latched onto the bottle. Drawn by their laughter the two men saw what they did, and smiled. As they did, Cana had one thing run through her mind. 'If I had any doubts about Natsu and Zeref being brothers, that would have just killed them all. They have the exact same smile.'

"It seems your daughter is already trying to be just like you, little brother."

Zeref teased.

"If you mean she's a glutton like he is, then I shudder to think of how much food we'll need to buy for the house when she's older."

"Hey I'm not that bad!"

"Not normally. But when you've used up a lot of magic, or when you're celebrating you pig out, Natsu. I mean how many times now has Mira had to go out and restock the guild's pantry because of you? I'm betting it's almost in the triple digits."

Natsu pouted at that, but the three other adults could see that he was only doing so playfully.

"Gramps has me beat on how many times someone has had to go restock on food for the guild. So does Elfman. Gray is just as bad as me, and Gajeel hasn't been around as long as the rest of us, but he also does that quite a bit."

The younger couple bantered. Seeing how at ease the two were made Zeref smile. Since he and Mavis were being forgotten, he turned to his lover.

"I've told you before that there have been times I regretted having Igneel raise him. And times where I regretted sending the dragons and their slayers through that time portal."

"But seeing him now, healthy and happy, you've realized it was the right call?"

Even though she already knew the answer, Mavis asked anyway. After all Zeref wouldn't have spoken up if he didn't want to verbally acknowledge the truth.

"Right. I wasn't exactly in the best head space when Igneel and I sealed away the Fire Demon magic that Xaphan had placed in his new body. Not to mention all periods of time where I was certifiably insane. I don't think I could have taken care of him the way he needed. I also don't think he'd have been anywhere near as happy."

The Black Mage answered with a sigh.

Of course Cana and Natsu both heard the conversation despite their playful argument.

"You know Igneel raised me as a dragon slayer so I can still hear you. And Grandmother likes Cana. Enough so that Cana's started training as a dragon slayer too."

The Fire Dragon Slayer commented even as he took Koharu from his mate so he could burp the baby while she put the now empty bottle back in the diaper bag.

"That hearing must make it hard for people to plan surprises or gifts for you" Mavis said with a giggle.

Natsu's response was to snort in amusement. Though Cana nodded as she remembered a few times when they were younger that someone tried to surprise her mate.

"Anyway. Igneel told me about what you did and why after I forcefully broke the seal you two placed on the Fire Demon magic I had. It seems Grandmother wasn't sure how I'd react if she mentioned you, so after we met up again, she stayed quiet until Mavis came to visit."

"So you haven't regained your memories from before the seal was placed then?"

"Nope. Igneel thinks that thanks to the traveling through time without actually experiencing it, I've permanently lost all memories that were sealed away, due to just how much time has passed since those memories were originally formed."

The pink haired man answered with the idea that his adoptive father had come up with when they talked about why Natsu couldn't remember anything from before the seal but had already made good progress on learning to control the new magic he'd inadvertently created.

"I see."

"I don't need the memories to know that we're family. My magic feels the sibling bond between us and that's all I need to care about you. Just ask Cana the lengths I'll go to when it comes to helping or protecting those I care about."

The Fire magic user stated when he heard the slightly depressed tone his brother had used. When Zeref turned to him with a stunned look, Natsu couldn't help but grin.

"Besides if you think I'm going to let you suffer from that damned curse any longer than I can help it, then you've got another thing coming."

"What my mate means to say, is we're going to do everything we can to remove that curse."

Cana chimed in.

"Why?"

Was all the older Dragneel sibling could say.

"Because that's what a family does."

The younger of the two men responded. It was such a fast answer, and said with so much certainty that Zeref almost couldn't believe it. But the words were laced with Natsu's conviction so strongly that he had to believe his brother.

At that point Mavis noticed a signal flare through the window. Since she and Makarov had worked together to set up this meeting, and she had originally created all of the protocols for when the guild was testing members to become S-class she knew that the meeting had to be cut short.

"As much as I would love for the two of you to spend time together and reconnect, I just saw an emergency flare coming from the direction Makarov told me your base camp would be."

The blonde woman turned and used a bit of magic to float an old yet obviously cherished photo towards her brother-in-law and his mate.

"You two need to go see what's going on. Just in case it's not something bad enough to suspend or even cancel the exam you'll need to take that back as proof you passed this part of the test."

"Damn. Well, just in case, I'll have to take my leave. I don't think I should risk being caught by anyone else just yet. Take care and stay safe you two."

Zeref commented as he stood up at the same time Natsu did.

"You take care and stay safe as well."

The Fire Dragon Slayer retorted as he and Cana quickly made their way out of the ruins.

"He'll be fine. After all, like you, he's a Dragneel."

Mavis told her lover when she saw his gaze following his younger brother.

"That's what I'm worried about."

The Black Mage replied as he thought about just how unlucky his family was.

Yes I know this was much, much shorter than the other chapters. But I felt this was the best spot to end it. I wrote a fair bit, but when rereading to check for spelling mistakes and potential grammar issues, I realized that the flow would work better if I cut it here. I'd rather the set up for the next fight, and the fight itself to be contained to their own chapter. Thankfully that means I've got a good portion of the next chapter written. But like I said in the Author's note at the start, life is about to get even busier for me so I'm not sure when I'll be able to finish it and post it.