Disclaimer: Everything Fairy Tail related belongs to Hiro Mashima, I only own my OC.

Obs: As seen in the manga, Zeref is a pretty calm, self-hating being. He's scary when angered, and will kill, even without his conscious present. That's how I'm going to portray him.

Obs2: Maria is my original Fairy Tail character. Her description will be shown thorough the story, but if you don't like her appearance you can imagine a different one. C:

Enjoy~

I

He looked at his hands. Those hands, which he used to hate so much, that took so many lives.

Now, however, he didn't hate them as much as he did back then. With those hands, he could brush her cheeks, play with her fiery red strands of hair, hold her hands (which he found incredibly fragile, compared to his), mess her hair and everything else one could imagine.

Her hands, he mused, should be more calloused (not that he was complaining or anything) since she used summoning magic. Closing his eyes, he re-played their first meeting, which he had played over and over again in his head. It was exactly because of her magic they met in the first place.

It was cold, too cold for an autumn evening. She was shivering and complaining in her small apartment, murmuring something about stupid heaters and why in the seven hells they had to break in the most crucial moment.

Sighing, she figured she might as well use her magic for something useful. Gathering her pendant, she chanted.

"Hear my needs and you shall be useful. Follow my wishes and leave none unfulfilled. I summon thee, worthy being!" White smoke covered the place, and focused on a spot on the floor. Slowly, a figure begun to form.

She squinted her eyes. This was no ordinary creature she had summoned. Somehow, it was clear how much power it had. However, it didn't really seem dangerous, now that she felt it.

The features showed up as the smoke dissipated, and Maria saw white and black robes. Then, she saw pale skin and dark hair. Finally, as he looked up, she saw deep black orbs that seemed to look into your very soul.

"Who are you?" He had blinked owlishly as he stared at her. Striking green eyes stared right back at him, making him wonder how he had gotten here. And why was the place so cold?

"…" Truthfully, he was both surprised and scared. Surprised that she didn't know who he was, and scared to give his name, knowing she'd probably run away screaming bloody murder.

Maria tightened the blanket over her small frame and walked over to the boy standing in the middle of her living room. He couldn't possibly be much older than her 18 year old self.

He could only stare fearfully at her as she got closer to him. What if he killed her, like he did so many times? No, he didn't want to do that anymore!

However, when she was only inches away from him, nothing had happened to her. He had to look down slightly; her height only came to his chin.

"Who are you?" In his confusing moment of not revealing his name, he threw a question at her instead.

"Who are you?" His voice wasn't particularly deep, but it had a nice sound. He spoke calmly, even though his eyes told otherwise.

"Oh, so it talks." She smiled at his confused face. "I'm Maria. Just Maria."

His lips formed a thin line. He had to keep her talking; he had to keep distracting her. But also, he had to find out how she had summoned him.

"Where did you come from?" She grinned, and Zeref briefly wondered what he had said wrong.

"Well, when a man and a woman love each other very much…"

She had laughed at his face back then, saying something about being 'too amusing and too cute for her to handle.' Later on, she somehow managed to get his name out of him, but thankfully (or not, he couldn't decide) she wasn't aware of how dangerous he could be.

Turning his gaze back to her sleeping face, he played with a lock of her hair.

Briefly, he wondered if he was being too selfish. He could've let her go the moment he noticed how fragile she was. But then again, he didn't want to let her go. Nor he would.

With that thought in mind, he too succumbed to slumber.