Title: Fata Donum

Premise: Based off of aloosh_s's masterpiece found on tumblr with the following description (written by illustrator herself but edited a bit by me):

"An AU where Zeref is a protective older brother of Natsu. He always takes an hour off from his tiring job to go take Natsu home after school, but he always finds his little brother crying while waiting outside. He would kneel down in front of him and ask him, with a warm smile, 'Why are you crying, Natsu?" "M-my…friends keep saying bad words about my pink hair…" Zeref would notice the kids in the distance laughing while eyeing Natsu, and his anger would start to snap, but he manages a way to hold it in. One day he decides to talk to his teacher…that is when he meets Mavis…"

replace each "*" with a period and replace each "#" with a backslash to view artwork...

aloosh-s*tumblr*com#post#130828258068#an-au-where-zeref-is-a-protective-older-brother-of

****************Chapter Twenty*****************

Zeref and Mavis quieted down as they pulled into the large parking lot at Dragon Gladiators.

"How the heck are we going to surprise him?" Mavis asked in a whisper as she carefully opened the door.

Zeref grimaced as he looked into his rearview mirror at the still sleeping five year old.

"It looks like he's really out. I can try to trick him and tell him we're home. If he's groggy enough he won't care and I'll act like I'm carrying him into the house." he quietly suggested.

Mavis smiled at the thought as she turned in her seat slightly to look at Natsu, who not only had drool coming out of his mouth, but was also lightly snoring. She had to quickly look away before she started to giggle out loud. She covered her mouth as she looked out the window and waited for the person in the driver's seat in the car to their right got out first. She then opened her door and found that Zeref was already out and unbuckling his little brother, who didn't really stir too much. Zeref bit his lip throughout the whole process, and Mavis watched. She led the way through the parking lot and grabbed the tickets from Zeref for when they entered the building.

"I hope you have a great show!" the ticket taker exclaimed causing Mavis to wince. The girl slapped her mouth with her hand. "Sorry." she said with a wince. "I didn't realize he was sleeping."

"It's okay. He'll hopefully wake up soon." Zeref replied as his hand was stamped.

He turned slightly so that the girl could also stamp Natsu's hand. Then the two made their way to their seats where Natsu finally started to wake up.

"Where are we Zeref?" Natsu asked groggily.

"Well, if you didn't fall asleep you'd know." the elder Dragneel teased as his brother blinked a few times to adjust to the bright stadium lighting. "He's starting to realize where we are." Zeref said to Mavis as the two watched Natsu's face.

"I can see that." Mavis said with a slight hint of amusement.

"We." Natsu started and then paused as he furrowed his eyebrows. "We're at Dragon Gladiators, aren't we?" he asked, clearly in a state of shock.

"Maybe." Zeref continued to tease as he put his brother down to get to their seats.

Natsu glared at his brother and looked over at his former teacher for a better answer. Unfortunately, Mavis couldn't respond because she quickly looked away from Natsu in fear of cracking up.

"Now behave mister." Zeref jokingly scolded. "It will be starting soon."

Natsu looked up at his brother and grinned. Five minutes later, the lights dimmed and the show began. They also ate a hearty meal of steak and potatoes without utensils, which Natsu thoroughly enjoyed.

The three watched the show and near the end there was a spotlight that randomly moved throughout the theater. It stopped right on the three and an emcee came over and shoved a microphone in front of Natsu.

"What's your name, young man?"

"Natsu."

"Well, young sir, who would you like to win this battle?"

Natsu, unsure, looked up at his brother who just smiled at him and nodded. Mavis then nudged Natsu to give him some encouragement as well.

Normally, when someone was asked this, they would answer with whichever dragon gladiator they wanted. Natsu, however, not so much. He looked back at the gentleman who was in front of him and grinned devilishly before answering with a semi-straight face.

"The dragon!" he exclaimed causing half of the theater to erupt in laughter and the other to stand their shocked, emcee included.

Mavis and Zeref were a part of the laughing crowd, but with Mavis it was more like an evil cackle.

Once the emcee got his thoughts together, he just shook his head and continued his small interview with Natsu.

"Now why would you want the dragon to win?"

"Because! Dragons are cool! And they always get the bad end of the deal. The dragon should win."

"I guess I can't argue with that." the gentleman said with a slight shake of his head.

He then moved on and continued with asking other guests questions leaving Mavis and Zeref to contend with Natsu.

"That was…interesting." Mavis commented on the side.

"Why?" Natsu asked confused.

"You know that's not the answer they wanted." Zeref answered for her.

"Yeah, but he asked me who I wanted to win. Of course I am going to say the dragon!" Natsu quipped surprising Mavis at his wit.

She then grabbed the blue crayon and drew an octothorp symbol on the back of Natsu's paper placemat and handed him the red crayon while she chose the green. She then explained the game of tic tac toe to him again before Natsu took the first turn.

Zeref smiled at the exchange, but kept his thoughts to himself as the waiter came over to take their dessert order. He ordered his and the waiter looked at Mavis, but didn't get a response from her, so Zeref got her attention.

"What did you say you wanted, Mavis?" he inquired.

"The chocolate cake is fine." Mavis said with a smile as she was playing another round with Natsu.

"And what did your son want?"

Zeref flinched as he blinked a few times.

"Son?" he questioned and then realized. "Oh, Natsu's my brother. And he'll have the dragon pie." Zeref answered.

"I'm sorry. You three just seemed like a really nice family." the waiter apologized grimacing.

"No worries. It wouldn't be the first time someone thought he was my son. I am just always stunned by the assumption and comment."

The waiter apologized again and then left leaving the three to watch more of the show. The desserts were brought out within a few minutes letting Natsu fill up on his dragon pie.

"What did the waiter say to you before that caused you to get whiter than the powdered sugar on my cake?"

"Oh, nothing really. He just…uh…asked what my 'son' wanted for dessert and it threw me."

"Threw you where?" Natsu nonchalantly asked not getting the phrase and causing Mavis and Zeref to giggle.

"He meant it shocked him." Mavis answered as she smiled at both Natsu and Zeref. "How many times has that been brought up?"

"Too many that I've lost count, but I usually average something along those lines like once a month."

Mavis couldn't help but giggle.

The three enjoyed the remainder of the show and right after it was finished, they headed into the souvenir shop to pick up copies of the group photo that was taken, and to buy some other souvenirs. Natsu had made his way to the children's section as soon as they walked inside.

"How many copies should we get and what size?" Zeref asked as they were looking up at the screen with the picture on display.

"Uh, well, I think I'd like three myself."

"Three?" he asked semi shocked.

"Yes. I want one for my house, one for my classroom, and one to mail to Zeira." Mavis explained. "But they can all be four by six in size."

"Why don't we get one eight by ten," he started and then moved in closer to whisper in her ear, "and then I'll make copies at my job."

"Is that legal?" she whispered back.

"I'm not sure but I don't want to spend a fortune when I can make copies myself."

"Okay, we'll do that." Mavis chimed. "And I am sure you aren't the only one who thought of that."

Once they ordered their print of the picture, they started to look at the rest of the souvenir shop. Zeref kept an eye on Natsu as he and Mavis walked around.

"Zeref! Can I get this?" Natsu yelled as he found the two looking at keychains.

"Why?" Zeref questioned as he looked at the art kit.

"It can teach me how to draw dragons, and then I can draw Igneel!" the five year old exclaimed enthusiastically.

"I can't argue with that." Zeref commented as he took the box from his brother's hands. "Anything else you want?"

"Uh…a shirt?"

"Sounds good to me. I want one too." Mavis commented as she headed glanced over at the adult clothing.

"Will you even fit into adult clothes?" Zeref teased.

Mavis glared at him before heading over to the small clothing department. She found a nice dark pink shirt and picked one up.

"They have this in black and blue too." she commented as he approached. "We can have semi matching shirts." she added with a huge grin.

Zeref looked over where the black and clue shirts were.

"My personal preference is saying get the black one, but that navy is nice too." he said as he picked up the navy blue shirt. "Natsu, which color do you want?"

Natsu didn't answer, but came over with a red one already in his hands.

"What other color would I get besides red?" Natsu asked confused causing Mavis to smile.

"Is it the right size, Natsu?" she asked him as she stuck her hand out to get it from him.

"Yes."

Once Natsu handed the shirt over to her, he went back to play with the toys that were on display.

"Give me." she ordered Zeref.

"What?"

"Give. Me. The. Stuff." she sternly reiterated as she reached for the items. "I'm treating."

"No you're not."

She didn't respond verbally, but she did raise her right eyebrow at him.

"Fine." Zeref relented. "But I'm not happy about it."

"No one said you had to be happy about it. I told you I said I would help with the souvenirs, and I am. You had your warning."

"I have to say. I do not like this side of you."

"What?" Mavis choked out in surprise.

"This mean side." Zeref answered. "I mean, I know you can get stern, and I know you hate it, but I don't think I'd ever want to be on your bad side."

"That won't happen. It takes a lot to get on my bad side." she stated as she walked up to the next open cashier and plopped their merchandise on the counter.

"I'm going to get Natsu. We'll meet you outside."

"Ten four." Mavis replied with a grin.

A few minutes later the three were leaving the building with Zeref taking one of the two bags from Mavis.

"So, did you have fun Natsu?" Mavis inquired.

"Yes! Thank you!"

"Were you surprised?" Zeref asked.

"Very!" Natsu answered as Zeref unlocked the car doors.

Natsu climbed in and Zeref opened the trunk to put the two bags inside. Mavis started to head to her door, but Zeref beat her and opened it for her.

"Thanks." she said softly.

"No problem."

Mavis climbed in and then he closed the door once she was clear and buckling up. He walked around the car to his door and got in.

"You look beat." he commented.

"I am. Normally I am okay, but now I am tired, and really feeling it." Mavis commented.

"I guess all of the excitement finally caught up with you."

She smiled as she rested her head on the part of the seatbelt and looked out the window.

"If you fall asleep, I won't mind. I can make it home."

Mavis slowly turned her head to her left and smiled.

"Are you sure?"

Zeref nodded as he was looking in his rearview mirror.

"Yes. Besides Natsu is already out. I like the quiet sometimes after an eventful day like today."

She turned more to her left to see that Natsu was, in fact, already asleep on his Igneel plush. Mavis smiled as she faced forward.

"He goes to sleep so easily it's a bit scary." she admitted causing Zeref to let out a small laugh and nod in agreement.

Zeref was pulling into Mavis's driveway three hours later. Once he put the car in park, he gave her a small nudge to wake her up.

"Sorry!"

"I said don't worry about it. Come on. We're at your place." Zeref replied as he opened the door and popped the trunk while she fiddled to find her keys.

He got out, grabbed her bag, and walked up with her to the door.

"I had a great time today." she commented as they approached the door.

"So did we. It was fun."

There was a small awkward moment of silence between them before she grabbed the bag from him.

"Go get him home. It's been a long day." she said with a smile.

He nodded, but then leaned in and kissed her on her forehead.

"Go to bed. You're still tired." he teased. "And I'll call or text you tomorrow."

She nodded and then opened her door. Once she was inside, she made her way to the couch where she put the bag on the coffee table and plopped down on the couch.

Zeref, meanwhile made his way back to his car and got inside.

"Where's Miss Vermillion?" a groggy five year old asked.

"She's inside her house. And we're about to go home ourselves." Zeref answered.

"Okay." Natsu replied. "Say, Zeref?"

"Yes, Natsu?"

"Can we start planning my birthday party now?"

"Sure. We can discuss options. What did you have in mind?"

"I don't know. I was thinking of Dragon Gladiators with a few kids, or maybe asking Mr. and Mrs. Heartfilia if I can have a party at their house to use the pool."

"Okay, but if we did Dragon Gladiators, how many kids are you thinking of?"

"Just me, Lucy, Gray, and Levy." Natsu started to answer. "Maybe Lyon, Laxus and the Strauss kids too."

"We'll talk at home. We need to make a list of everyone and then reduce it. And I need to do some research on my computer about birthday parties at Dragon Gladiators." Zeref eventually answered.

"Okay."

About ten minutes later, the two were heading into their house and Zeref went over to his desktop to start it up and Natsu pulled up a dining room chair next to Zeref's chair.

"You still have a few minutes. Get me a notebook and a pen."

Natsu gladly obliged as he got off his chair and found the notebook and pen on the kitchen counter. He ran back over and got back in the chair.

Zeref loaded up the website for Dragon Gladiators and found the page about birthday parties.

"Let's see…" Zeref started as he skimmed the paged. "It says there's a minimum of twelve children in a birthday party, besides the guest of honor."

"What does that mean?"

"It means you need to invite at least twelve people." he answered. "Give me the notebook and start naming who you want to invite and I'll write them down."

"Okay." Natsu handed the notebook to his brother and waited until Zeref opened to a blank page. "Ready?" Zeref nodded. "Lucy. Lyon. Grey. Lisanna. Elfman. Laxus. Mira. And Levy."

"That's only eight. You need four more."

"Uuhhh."

"What about Laxus's friends? The green haired ones?"

"Oh. Freed and Evergreen. Yeah! They can come."

"So, we are now up to ten. You need two more."

"I don't know anyone else that I would want to invite that I see."

Zeref pursed his lips and then thought about the two new girls that just moved to Magnolia.

"What about Ultear and Meredy?"

Natsu looked at his brother and then slowly smiled.

"That's fine! Book it!"

Zeref laughed as he called the phone number and spoke with a manager about which dates were open in August. Luckily, they were able to get the middle show for a party the first weekend in August. The manager said he'd email Zeref the PDF documents, which contained the invitations and directions to include while they were talking on the phone and taking the deposit.

Zeref got the email and let the manager know, and while Natsu was off upstairs playing in his room, he asked a favor of the manager.

"How can I help?"

"Is there a way to make the dragon win at this show?"

There was silence at the other end and Zeref was worried he got cut off. That is, until he heard someone chuckling.

"Was that your brother at today's show earlier?"

"Yes." Zeref shamefully admitted.

"I think I can work something out."

"That would be awesome."

After they ended the conversation, Zeref forwarded the email to his work account to print the invitations on Monday morning. He then logged off of his computer and started to make a light dinner for the two of them, which Natsu engulfed before crashing on the couch as they watched How to Train Your Dragon.

~Four Weeks Later~

Zeref, along with Natsu and Mavis, met up with all of the kids invited to Natsu's party at nine in the morning at the Heartfilia house at the request of Jude.

"So, why are we all meeting here again?" Zeref asked.

"Well, Zeref, Jude and I thought that instead of taking separate cars to Crocus that we, as part of our present to Natsu, would pay for a limo bus to Dragon Gladiators. It allows us to relax and converse all together." Layla answered.

Zeref and Mavis both went wide-eyed.

"Limo….bus?"

"Yes. Isn't it awesome Miss Vermillion!" Lucy exclaimed as three cars pulled up and the limo bus followed them in.

"Will it fit the seven adults and thirteen kids?" Zeref asked worried.

"Yes. It will fit up to 24 people, actually." Silver answered. "So we have room to put the presents, unless you want him to open them up back here."

"Bring them. We can always have him open them on the way or on the way back." Layla commented. "I'll grab a couple of trash bags for the paper." she added and then headed back inside.

Once everyone had arrived, they all piled into the limo bus and the kids buckled up. Natsu was bouncing in his seat the entire ride as he sat next to Lucy.

After a three hour ride, a two hour show with the dragon succeeding in winning (much to Natsu's enjoyment), and after a quick stop in the souvenir shop for the group photo, the kids and adults were exhausted and heading back to the limo bus to head back home to Magnolia

Mavis was able to have a little bonding moment with her future student, Meredy, much to Ur's enjoyment on the ride home since her seat got switched thanks to Natsu wanting to fall asleep on Zeref.

Once home, it was time for everyone to head to their right homes, and enjoy the last two weeks of summer before school started again.

-~-THE END-~-

(for now)

A/N: dun..dun..dunnn...I don't know if I will ever continue this, or maybe make a one-shot down the road as an epilogue or something, but only time will tell. I have been trying to write this chapter since I posted the last one, but I was finally able to make some headway yesterday and today, with me finishing it today. I hope you all approve.

THANK YOU SO SO SO SO MUCH FOR STICKING BY ME WHILE WRITING THIS! I am grateful for all of the reviews, follows and favorites (even if some users changed screen names throwing me for a loop). I am just glad this project is now over, for the time being...but now I need to figure out my next writing project since the summer is coming and I will have a lot of time to myself...

Thanks to the following users for following: Koizumichii, akozak, Lily-Faerie (putting a period does crazy stuff to a username in here for some reason), ashinsky, CelestialXoz, Awesome393, Futuristic Laser, Redfeather Child, and DarkenedSkyFlame.

Thanks to the following users for adding this to their favorites: Koizumichii, Luna2859, akozak, Lily-Faerie, Golden Apple Tree, Fiery Keys, CelestialXoz, Awesome393, darkmoonlight700, Redfeather Child, and DarkenedSkyFlame.

And now for the review responses:

darkhuntressxir: Yes he would be ecstatic about getting more friends. I am glad you liked that part. Thanks for sticking with this story.

Epicocity: I hope I did not disappoint this time around and that I was better with writing the convos. Thanks for sticking with this story.

Gol D Aiko: No, I'm not dead. LOL! That would be horrible. I am glad you liked the last chapter and I hope this one does not disappoint. Thanks for sticking with this story.

Sayuriin: Thank you for being a dedicated reader and for reviewing. It means a lot.

foxydame: Don't worry about the "late" review. As long as I get one I am fine. Hope you enjoyed the final chapter and have a wonderful day! Thanks for sticking with this story.

...

Until my next writing adventure my friends...HAVE AN AWESOME DAY!