Zeref was walking slowly and nervously to E.N.D and lucy tent. The guild was planning on a bonfire and he wanted his little brother to join. He decided to take Lucy's advice and talk to natsu about the past and try to fix things.
He reaches the tent, "hey, natsu. Can I come in?"
"Step into my office," His voice was heard from inside.
Zeref was confused at his brothers reply but, he steps in, to find E.N.D sitting down crossed legged, with a bottle of brandy. Most odd thing was he had a deerstalker cap on and a pipe in his mouth. He looked like a detective. The black wizard couldn't help but, role his eyes and smile.
"What may I help you with, young sir? Or should I say old? Hm...." the demon ponders, "you look young but, you're like four hundred years old...."
"I could say the same thing to you, and are you drunk? Where did you get the alcohol anyways?"
He smiles evilly, "stole it from Cana."
"That makes alot of sense."
He picks up the bottle and brings it to his older brother, "have some? It'd be fun."
"I don't know..."
"How could you say no to me?! I'm your little brother!" He shouts playfully.
"Fine! I will," he takes a few sips. The liquor sending chills throughout his body.
"And now the fun begins... hehe," the Etherious taps his finger tips together like an evil master mind.
"So, why are you dressed like that?" Zeref asks him.
"I'm trying to find more information on Raynare and her demon. One could say im doing some.... detecting." He moves his eyebrows up and down, "get it? I made a punny."
'Wow, that was lame.... I make better jokes...' zeref thinks to himself.
"Anyways, there's no information on her demon because, he's new and not old like me," he laughs to himself.
"There's not much on you either."
"True... but, there's enough to make me uncomfortable. Anyways, why did you come here?"
"Guild is having a bonfire. I want you to join."
"Yum! Flaming marshmellows!" He yells with excitement. Suddenly his face turns serious, "is lucy going to be there?"
"Probably... why?"
E.N.D just shrugs, "drink some more," he hands the bottle to him again.
"I don't know... could be a bad idea."
"Awwwe, I'm zeref.... I never do anything fun out of fear I'll kill people. Waaa!!" The demon rubs his eyes like a child crying, "waaa! Why can't I be any fun?" He looks over at the dark Mages annoyed face, "my eyes are red right now because, I'm upset! Why can't I have a normal life? Why?! Why can't I die? Why do I have to be mentally insane..."
"I'm not mentally insane, you idiot!" Zeref shouts with anger, "and why are you making my voice high pitched and annoying?!"
"I'm mentally insane but, I'm in denial about it. Waaaa!"
Zeref reaches over to the etherious, grabs his hat and pipe from his mouth. He puts the costume on.
"Hey, give that back!" E.N.D exclaims.
"Make me! I'm the detective now."
"Like hell you are!" He grabs zeref by the collar, trying to grab the hat with no prevail, "stop it!"
Zeref was laughing hard, his chest hurt.
E.N.D started to use his foot to push the black wizard away as he grabbed the hat but, zeref wouldn't let it go.
"Give me... it... back."
"No. This is what you get for picking on me!"
"Am i interrupting something?" Erza stands at the doorway. Her expression filled fear into the demon and dark mage.
"No way. Just having some brotherly bonding time," E.N.D smiles innocently as he pets his brothers head aggressivly.
"Why are you petting me?" Zeref asks causually, "and stop. It's not pleasant." He tries to shake him off. Then he realizes the hat was gone from his head. The black wizard glares at his little brother.
"Come for the bonfire. It's nice." Erza orders them.
"We'll be there," zeref tells her.
She nods and turns to leave, happy to see them two getting along.
"I got a plan..." E.N.D says micheavously
"Oh no..." Zeref was scared. His plans were never good.
"I'll need you though. Here drink so more. You'll need it," he hands the brandy to him.
He chugs a lot of it, "okay, so what is this plan," His smile evil as he looked at his brother beside him.
"I'm glad to have you on my side."
--------
They all sat at the bonfire. Loving the warmth it gave off. E.N.D and Zeref were still drinking along with Cana now. Lucy watched the demon laugh and joke around. She didn't know how to feel exactly. Everything felt wrong to her.
Zeref almost falls from being to drunk.
"I think you should go home," the demon king hiccups.
"Yeah... I think you're right. I can walk home by myself." He stumbles over to his tent and falls face first into the bed.
"I think it's time for scary stories!" E.N.D shouts, "i got one to tell!" He slurs.
"Is it about a demon king who has to destroy mankind?" Cana snickers.
"No... it's a story about the monster who lives in this part. It happened four hundred years ago. I remember this as I was alive then so, it's a true story." He lights a small fire in his hand, bringing the light close to his face, "it was a dark chilly night, like how it is now. A man was lost as he walked the woods. His name was Darcio. He was afraid. He could feel dark magic radiating throughout. Darcio eventually decided to turn back the way he came but, there was no way out. The forest just got deeper and darker. Then he heard a noise. A twig snapping. Whispers were heard around him a few seconds after. Whispers of demons and devils. Then one last sentence was heard. It was loud and clear. It said, 'may our devil control your pure soul, and put you into eternal suffering.' All the man could see what pitch black. He could feel the cold cool hands of the demons as they dragged him away to meet his fate. Their eyes glowed red. Then the man who Darcio used to be.... was gone. Possessed in forever darkness by the devil. Right where we are sitting, was were his life got taken away. Each person who comes here, falls victim and he drinks their blood. Leaving nothing left and they become one of his red eyed demons."
The whole guild was cowering. Clutching onto each other.
"Is that story really true?" Levi asks with fear. She was shaking.
"It's supposed to be. Everyone back then talked about it. In this world full of magic why wouldn't it be true?"
"Eek!"
"Come on, that's a stupid story. Of course it's not true. I've never heard of it and wouldn't you think we would've got job requests for it." Grey states acting brave unlike the others.
"Um... grey.... behind you.... it's HIM!" Juvia screams out, shaking.
Grey turns around slowly and sees a black shadowed figure with red eyes staring back at him. His eyes open wide, filled with dread, "ice make...."
Black shadows wrap around the ice wizard and the scream he let's out sent the fire demon laughing so hard he fell in the dirt. Grey screamed like a girl.
The monster started to laugh to. The shadows around him dying, to show Zeref.
"Zeref?!" The whole guild shouts.
"That was an awesome prank. I never knew you had that kind of scream grey." The black wizards says.
"Shut up!" Grey crosses his arms, his cheeks slightly pink.
"Zeref, sometimes your absolutely the best. You did a good job! It went better than I thought! Grey! Your scream! That was the best sound I've ever heard," E.N.D wipes a tear away from laughing so hard.
"Uh... E.N.D.... behind you...." Grey says with worry.
"Yeah, right. There's nothing behind me. Good one."
"He's telling the truth..." Levi agrees with Grey.
The whole guilds eyes were full of fear. E.N.D turns around fast to see a black shadowed creature with red eyes looking at him. He shallows hard. He couldn't believe he was feeling fear. The demon decides to make a run for it, leaving a white cloud of him behind.
Zeref follows his brother to a cliff. When they reach it they stop. The black wizard laughs.
"What are you laughing about?!" E.N.D questions.
"You ran away scared!"
"I was not scared," he pouts.
"Really? Could've fooled me. I wonder if the rest are okay and I wonder if that was the real monster," zeref thinks hard for a moment, "ah ha! It makes sense now! It was rogue! Remember he went to bed early."
"And it was a shadow! He'll pay for what he did!" The demon king punches his fists together.
"We kind of did the same thing though."
"That doesn't matter! He'll pay. No one scares me and gets away with it."
"So you were scared?"
"I was not!" E.N.D sits down on the edge of the cliff, his feet dangling.
Zeref does the same, "natsu..."
"Hm?"
"I need to talk to you..."
"Oh no.... here we go...." He says sarcastically.
"What happened at the school long ago?"
"You left... I was hanging out with my best friend name Isabelle. When we got back to the school, Mard Geer attacked it. Killing everybody... he told me that you wanted me to leave school and start getting serious about my destiny... I reacted with anger and shot fire at him but, he had Isabelle in his vines and the fire spread to her.... I killed her...." He explained, his head down low.
"I didn't want any of that. I didn't want you to leave school. Mard Geer made his own plans it seems.... I mean you would've had to leave eventually..."
"He said you had a new plan for me. What was that?"
Zeref eyes open wide, "it's a long story... but, I might as well tell you... you weren't with Igneel for four hundred years. He didn't raise you for that long."
"What do you mean?".
"The dragons.... the ones who raised Gajeel, Wendy, sting and rogue... and you, were all part of a plan. The magic was pretty weak then. Too weak for the dragons and they wanted to destroy acnologia. Me and Igneel were friends, he told me all this and told me he wanted you to be a dragon slayer. He offered to take care of you. I agreed. I knew you wanted to be a dragon slayer raised by him and only him. I saw it as an oppurtunity... the plan was to travel into the future to the year x777 where magic energy was high. A celestial wizard named Anna opened the eclispse gate for you and the other children to pass through, though the dragons spirits were in your bodies. A celestial wizard from the future opened the gate four hundred years later. Her name was Layla, which you know was Lucy's mother."
"Why don't I remember any of this?!" E.N.D shouts with confusion and rage.
"Igneel erased those memories. You didn't need to know..."
"I was the reason for Lucy's mothers death wasn't i?"
Zeref nods.
"I thought I met Igneel just by chance... he kept all this from me...." His fist clench tightly, "How could he...? And lucy is going to hate me even more now.... I have to tell her...."
"She doesn't hate you."
"Really? Because when me and her talked I told her something. I told her that me and natsu are the same person. I told her it was me a long.... I just didn't have the memories then...."
"What? I didn't know that.... I though you both were different people... just in the same body..."
"It seems there's some things you don't know. That surprises me..."
Zeref hugs his little brother tightly, "natsu... I'm so sorry.... for everything. I want to be real brothers. I want to stop fighting and hating each other. I won't do anything to hurt you again..." He was shaking as tears of happiness rolled down his face, "please forgive me...."
E.N.Ds eyes were opened wide with shock, then they softened and he embraced his big brother, "I forgive you... don't make me regret it..."
"You wont."
"Zeref.... what do I do about lucy?"
"What happened after you told her?"
"She said she hates me.... it seemed like she meant it..."
"It was probably just shocking and it hurt alot... she'll come around. Just have patience." He smiles.
Natsu does his famous grin, "I sure hope so."
------
E.N.D returns back to the tent to find lucy still awake. She looked up at him, then quickly looked back down at a book she was reading.
"Lucy..." He says quietly.
"Dont..." was all she said.
"Can we please talk?"
"I don't want to!" She almost shouts at him.
He flinched back surprised at her outburst.
"Can you turn around? I want to change into my pjs," She stands up.
"Sure... me too..." He faces away from her. He slips off his shirt but, it falls out of his hands. Bending over to pick it up, he unintentionally sees her just in a bra and panties. Her back faced to him. E.N.d stands up straight and watches her. He wanted to look away but, his eyes were glued to the side of her face. He watches her eyes. They held so much hurt. Hurt caused by him. His heart felt heavy in his chest.
Finally she makes eye contact with him. He inhales and she does the same. Lucy didn't yell or scream from him looking. She understood what was going on. Her heart beat faster. Some part of her wanted to go to him but, no matter what he told her, he wasnt the natsu she knew. Her gaze breaks away from his. She puts on her pjs and slips back into the bed, her back facing him. He sighs and climbs into the bed next to her.
An hour later the demon hears something. He listens more and noticed it was lucy. She must've thought he was asleep because, she was crying.