Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.

Summary: They first met on one of Natsu's solo jobs. Perhaps it would be too cliché to say their lives were changed forever, but it was true. Because if anyone had the power to change the course of destiny, it would be this Dragon Slayer and the immortal dark wizard he can't seem to let go.

Pairing(s): Natsu Dragneal x Zeref

WARNINGS: Slight AU , Shounan ai (boy/boy pairing), you have been warned

Author's Notes: It seems I have an unfortunate tendency to become intrigued by characters who are given very minimal screen time.

Firelight and Shadows

By V. Shalyr

Scroll I: The Beginning

First Meetings

It had been on one of his solo missions.

The job had seemed straightforward and normal enough at first. Some Dark Guild had been causing trouble for a small village up in the mountains and the citizens had asked Fairy Tail for help. It had been awhile since he'd gotten any jobs that promised a good fight, and Natsu Dragneal had leapt at the chance.

When he arrived in the village, however, he'd been gravely disappointed. Whichever Dark Guild had its eyes on the place, it hadn't sent any of its more powerful members. From what the Dragon Slayer had been able to gather, it seemed the flunkies had been told to come to the village to search for someone. They wouldn't tell him who that someone was. Whoever their masters were, those wizards were far more afraid of them than of Natsu—which made sense in a way. Sure, the Fire Dragon Slayer was violent, but the worst he'd do was seriously beat them up. A man could suffer far worse fates than that.

So Natsu had been left to collect his payment and wonder about just who it was the Dark Guild had been after. That was when he'd heard the story.

"They say there's been a strange young man wandering these parts."

"Strange? How so?"

"It seems that everything around him is always dying. He can kill a man just by being close to him."

"You've got to be kidding. Really?"

"That's what I've heard. Even if you are a powerful wizard, if you see someone wandering around out there alone, you'd better keep your distance."

Of course Natsu had gone to investigate. How could he not?

And what he'd found... Well, what he'd found had been the shadow of an ancient legend.

The other boy had, like this mission, seemed normal enough at first. He'd been sleeping beneath a tree, his dark bangs obscuring half his face. Normally, Natsu would have run over to ask him who he was, butt instinct warned him to be cautious. There was something about the boy that was not quite right.

"Hey, you. You asleep?"

Eyelids fluttered open to reveal black eyes full of consternation as the stranger staggered to his feet and backed away from him. "Please go away. You have to stay away from me or I'm afraid that something terrible will happen."

"Are you the one that Dark Guild was looking for?"

The boy didn't answer. Instead, his body jerked and he gasped, his eyes going wide as the pupils contracted, and he seemed to struggle with himself even as a dark aura unraveled about his body.

"Get away!"

Natsu was already moving even before his shout, dodging backward—but not quite fast or far enough. He hadn't expected the darkness to move so quickly, and he was soon enveloped by the peculiar, smoky magic. Even as he watched in shock, the trees around them began to die and the grass shriveled beneath their feet. So that villager's story had been true. But when the black fog finally receded, Natsu still felt fine.

The stranger looked at him, apparently just as surprised as Natsu was bewildered.

"You're... alive."

"What was that all about?"

The dark-haired boy sank back to the ground staring at Natsu, now surrounded by withered leaves and dead grass. Instead of answering the question, he asked one of his own. "Are you... a Dragon Slayer?"

"So what if I am?"

"Then maybe you can do it."

"Do what?"

"Kill me." He said the words so calmly that it took a moment for their meaning to sink in.

"The hell?" Natsu demanded, bristling. This guy was just taking weird to a whole new level. "Listen, you, you've got a lot of explaining to do. Why would I kill you? And what was all that black mist about?"

"I can't stop it. My magic. It takes the lives of everything around me. There must be some powerful protection magic on you from your dragon. Dragon magic is one of the only ways to counter it."

"How do you know about dragon magic? Who are you anyway?"

"I'd rather not say."

Natsu growled, stalking up to the stranger and grabbing him by the collar of his robes. "Just answer me, damn it. I have a feeling you're the one those wizards were looking for, and I want to know why."

Well, he had a pretty good guess at why with the display of power just a moment ago, but still.

"They want my power," the other had said at last, making no move to free himself from the Dragon Slayer's hold. Instead, he simply stared up at him, his dark eyes solemn and unhappy. "That's what people always want, but I'm not going to give it to them. I've done enough. In this era, I'm not going to do anything."

In the end, the Black Wizard hadn't told Natsu his name. The Dragon Slayer had only found out because it turned out that not all of the Dark Guild members had left.

"My lord, I don't understand why you refuse to come with us."

"I have no interest in helping you or anyone else. I thought I told you to leave."

"But you're the great Black Wizard, aren't you?"

"That was a long time ago. Stop bothering the village and leave. If you don't, I might get angry, and then I won't be able to stop myself from killing you."

The Dragon Slayer had been shocked to say the least.

"You're Zeref? But how is that possible? You're supposed to be dead. I mean, it's been hundreds of years, hasn't it?"

"Four hundred," the wizard agreed, the scowl slipping from his face once again now that the Dark Guild representative had fled and they were alone once more. Pulling the folds of his clothes tighter about himself, he turned and started to walk away.

"Hey where are you going?"

"I've been here too long. People are starting to notice me. I need to find somewhere where I will be alone."

And Natsu had watched him go because he couldn't think of a logical reason to call him back. Yet he couldn't help but be curious. He'd never thought that much about what kind of person the notorious Black Wizard Zeref would be, but if he had given it any thought, he was pretty sure it wouldn't have been anything like this mysterious, rather depressed looking boy.

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Black

The entire way back to the inn where he was staying, Natsu couldn't get the dark-haired wizard out of his head. He wasn't an idiot. He knew what the Black Wizard had done in the past and all the terrible monsters that he'd created, but still, the image lingered in his mind of the strange boy wandering around alone out there in the dark. He wasn't like any evil wizard Natsu had ever met, and he'd met quite a few in his time as a Fairy Tail wizard.

The Dragon Slayer had always been curious, and this boy who answered to the name of the world's most infamous dark wizard had piqued his curiosity. He wanted to know why he was here. He wanted to know who he was, not just his name and his reputation.

"What happened to your scarf, young man?" the innkeeper asked as he entered.

"Huh?" Natsu looked down and finally noticed that his formerly white scarf had turned an inky shade of black. He stared, gaped, then scowled. Why that—! This scarf was a gift from the dragon who had raised him, a dragon that he considered his father!

Well, that was as good a reason as any to go back.

Locating the wizard was easy, All Natsu had to do was track his scent. The faint but distinct trail led him far into the woods away from the village and finally to the side of a small stream. He spotted the person he was looking for sitting by the water, his dark clothes and hair making him blend in with the shadows.

"Hey!"

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The True Story

If someone had chanced to pass by the stream at that moment and realize who they were, the two wizards would probably have painted quite a peculiar picture. Zeref was still sitting where he had been when Natsu had found him, and the Dragon Slayer had found a seat on a boulder beside him, glancing down at the mop of black hair.

Natsu had been mad about his scarf turning black, but then Zeref had been so sorry about it that he just hadn't had the heart to stay angry with him. And, well, it was sort of nice to know that even now, Igneal was looking out for him. Not that Natsu had ever doubted it.

"So why are you still here? And what was it that happened back there with your magic? I thought you were supposed to be a master of the dark arts or something."

And Natsu was pretty sure masters of the dark arts weren't supposed to lose control of their magic that way.

Getting the whole story out of the Black Wizard was a feat in itself. The guy obviously had no people skills. Half the time, he seemed to be lost in his own head. Of course, not that he'd had much chance to improve. First, the dark wizard had been too busy making monsters and destroying things to care. Now that he had learned to care, most of the people he ran into on accident he either ran away from or dropped dead before he could get in any practice.

That was sort of... depressing, actually. Depressing and ironic.

It was no wonder that the wizard had convinced himself that the world would never accept him, quite aside from his rather long and shadowed history.

Zeref had turned his gaze on the water of the stream, and Natsu took the chance to examine his face. As far as he could sense, the wizard was being sincere. At least Natsu believed him, and the Dragon Slayer usually had pretty good instincts when it came to people.

Which meant there was really only one thing to do.

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Names

Happy hadn't gone with him on that job because Lucy had needed the flying cat's help with one of her own projects, and Natsu was very glad for that. It meant he didn't need to explain his decisions to anyone.

"Travel with me," he said. "We can take the long way back to Magnolia. There's quite a bit of wilderness around the city. We'll find somewhere for you to stay."

Zeref looked startled. "But—a city—I can't..."

Natsu rested a hand on Zeref's shoulder, ignoring how the dark wizard flinched at the touch. "Hey, calm down. We'll find a way around it. And I didn't say you had to stay in the city. Maybe we can find a cave, or build something. Besides, it wouldn't be very responsible of me to let you go on wandering about the kingdom by yourself."

This reasoning made Zeref pause. "Oh, I see."

Natsu chose to interpret this as agreement and continued. "Hmmm, I can't call you Zeref. If someone overhears, that would be bad. So what about just Z?"

And that was the start of it all really, a spur of the moment decision that set a lot more into motion than either of them could have predicted.

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Living

"All right, Z, listen up."

Zeref blinked, pulling his thoughts back to the present and looking up at Natsu who had come to stand in front of him with his arms crossed and a serious expression on his face.

"If you really are sorry about everything that you did, then you should spend the rest of your life doing something more helpful with yourself. I don't want to hear any more about dying or me getting strong enough to kill you. Dying isn't going to solve anyone's problems, and it certainly isn't helpful."

The dark-haired wizard glanced pointedly up at the dead branches of the tree above his head.

"Yeah, about that," Natsu coughed. "We're going to have to work on that. I've got a few ideas. But before we get to that, I want you to promise that you'll take all this seriously. Living is serious business."

Living.

Zeref looked down at his hands then back up at the Dragon Slayer's intent gaze. Quite honestly, he hadn't given "living" much thought in... Well, in centuries. Had he ever really cared that much about living? He certainly hadn't cared that much about life back then. And he had certainly never entertained the idea of possibly being able to live like a normal person.

"Hey, are you listening to me?"

Meeting the Slayer's unwavering gaze once more, Zeref asked, "Do you believe... that it's actually possible?"

Was it actually possible for someone like him to live peacefully in this world? Could he really learn to live like everyone else? Was there really a place in this kingdom for him?

The rest of these questions went unsaid, but they hung heavily in the air between them. Natsu's eyes softened. They had only been together for a few days, but he was quickly learning how to read him. The quiet and mostly calm dark wizard had a complicated history to be sure, but there was a certain simplicity to him too—as a person. And he was a person. No matter how powerful he was or how long he had lived, the Black Wizard Zeref was still a human being.

"Of course it's possible," Natsu answered him, a confident grin breaking across his face. "And we're going to make it happen."

.

Warmth

"What's this?"

Natsu grinned, pushing the bowl into his hands and handing him a spoon. "The town back there is famous for its vegetable stew. I got two bowls for each of us, so dig in."

Zeref stared down at the still steaming soup. In all honesty, he couldn't remember the last time he'd eaten anything. He was immortal. He didn't really need to eat to keep himself alive and really, eating hadn't been high on his list of priorities. If his miserable existence could have been ended by something as simple as starvation, he would have gladly let it.

"You should eat it," Natsu said, perhaps guessing at his thoughts. "It's really good, and I'm sure it'll help keep your mind off—you know, things that might trigger your magic. After all, I think about food all the time."

The wizard said nothing for a long moment, not quite able to believe the Slayer's proposal. Using food as a distraction from thoughts about life and death and the past... Leave it to Natsu to come up with a solution like this. Frankly, Zeref had a hard time believing that it would work, but he had nothing to lose by giving it a try.

The stew really was very good. And for the first time in decades, the Black Wizard found a bit of warmth creeping back into his body—and perhaps also into his soul.

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Balance

"Maybe I'm not the best one to talk about this, but you really need to work on your anger management. I mean, I get pretty angry about a lot of things too. But when I get angry, I just yell a lot, destroy things and hit people. When you get angry, people die."

Zeref looked around them at their now deceased assailants. He couldn't stir up any remorse for their deaths though, however much he felt that maybe he ought to. These weren't innocent people. They had blood on their hands, not as much as stained his own but blood nonetheless.

"They deserved to be punished for their crimes."

Natsu sighed, running a hand through his already ruffled hair. He'd heard about the rather vicious group of bandits living around these parts in the last town they'd passed through, but he hadn't thought they'd actually attack them. Perhaps they should have taken a different road, not that they'd had many choices. Still, if they had, perhaps they could have avoided this whole mess.

"Yes, I know. But that's what the law is for, and deserving to be punished isn't always the same as deserving to die, and... Argh, how can I put this? It's not about whether or not they should be punished. It's about you and not being the evil, dark wizard anymore."

The red faded from Zeref's eyes and he turned to look at him. He'd never thought of it that way before.

"So just leave the getting angry part to me from now on, all right? I'll make sure the bad guys get what they deserve, and you just work on staying calm."

After that, Natsu borrowed some shovels from a nearby farm and, after some hesitation, Zeref helped him burry the bandits who hadn't gotten away.

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Power

Zeref knew what it meant to have power. No one would dispute the fact that he was a very powerful wizard, and almost everyone had feared him for it. He could destroy countries—and had done just about as much. He could walk through the most dangerous of battlefields and come out unscathed without actively having to lift a finger. And now that people knew he was awake and around, it seemed like everyone who knew was after him for his magic, seeing him either as a great asset or a grave threat.

So yes, Zeref knew what power was. But he'd never encountered power quite like that of his new traveling companion.

Certainly, the Dragon Slayer was a powerful wizard in his own right. But he harbored a different kind of power as well, one that Zeref had never imagined before.

It was just so easy for people to place their trust in him, even people who had only known him for a brief time, to trust that he could conquer the impossible. He had such faith and strength in his own beliefs; that was something that Zeref himself had never had. And he'd been alive long enough to realize that in the end, that was the only kind of power that mattered. The only kind of power that lasted, as bright and as necessary to life as the sun.

In comparison, Zeref was but a shadow, a ghost left over from a time in history that had left its scars upon both the earth and the people who lived upon it. And he gladly let the light wash over him, finally starting to chase away some of the demons that haunted him.

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Experience

"I do not think this is a wise decision."

"Nonsense," Natsu said, waving a hand dismissively. "You're never going to fit in if you don't get more experience when it comes to interacting with other people. There's a seafood grill in this town that I want to try that doesn't do takeout. It's a perfect opportunity for you to get some practice. And it's close to the edge of town, so I can get us both out of there in a hurry if need be."

Zeref still looked doubtful, but he'd learned quickly that once Natsu got an idea into his head, it was futile to try and change it. So instead of trying to argue further, he pulled up the hood of the plain brown cloak Natsu had gotten him—because black suited him, but brown made him stand out less—and tried not to think too hard about anything.

For the most part, the people they passed on the street didn't give them a second glance. So maybe the cloaked one looked a bit shifty and the wild-haired one had a mad grin on his face, but you got all sorts of strange people in these parts. They were simply two more.

Zeref took in all the bustle mixed with the noise of chatter and the pungent aromas of food, and it was hard not to feel just a little overwhelmed. It had been so long since he'd been in a town that the last time seemed like a distant dream. Not to mention that these settlements had all changed quite a great deal over the past four hundred years. Mostly, they'd grown tremendously in size and population.

Zeref halted in his steps as several children dashed out into the street, cutting in front of him.

"Hey! I want to play too!"

"But you can't. Someone needs to be the demon."

"I don't want to be a demon. I want to be a wizard!"

Zeref watched the smallest child stamp his foot, angry tears springing to the boy's eyes. He looked from the crying boy to the other children, frowning but unsure what to do. He was saved from having to do anything by Natsu who had noticed him missing and doubled back. The Dragon Slayer crouched so that he and the children were at eye level.

"Hey, what's going on here?"

The boy sniffled. "I don't want to be a demon. I want to be a wizard."

Natsu smiled. "That's great. Being a wizard's awesome."

The other children gathered around them, wide-eyed.

"Are you a wizard, sir?"

"Sure am! In fact, I'm a member of Fairy Tail."

Gasps of surprise and excitement greeted this announcement.

"When I grow up, I'm going to join a guild too, and it's going to be just as amazing as Fairy Tail," one of the other children declared.

"Yeah? That's cool. But you should know that a guild is like a family. And your guild will never be strong if you don't take care of everyone in your family."

The Slayer looked pointedly between the previously arguing boys and they looked down at their feet.

"I'm sorry."

"I—I guess it's all right."

"Um... maybe we can go on a treasure hunt instead. Then no one has to be a demon."

Natsu waited until the children had said their goodbyes and run off before turning to Zeref. "Ready to go?"

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Family

The seafood grill in question turned out to be a moderately sized shop near the outskirts of the town. They sat at one of the smaller tables near the door and Natsu cheerfully ordered one of everything on the menu.

"So Fairy Tail is like your family?"

Natsu polished off the dish he was working on and put it atop the quickly rising stack of other empty plates. "Yeah, you could say that. Some of them drive me crazy and we get into fights all the time, but we always pull together when it matters. When we all work together, we're unbeatable."

The black-haired wizard just nodded, examining a piece of something marinated in an unidentifiable sauce before eating it. Once upon a time, he'd regarded such confidence as idealistic and foolish. But he couldn't deny that he'd seen people accomplish some incredible things together over the years, things that no one would ever have been able to accomplish on their own. Then again, these amazing feats tended to revolve around a few individuals who kept everyone together and striving for a better future.

One thing was for certain. Human beings were very complicated creatures.

"So how is it?"

Snapped out of his contemplations, Zeref looked up in confusion.

Natsu jabbed a fork at his half full plate. "The food, what do you think?"

"I'm... not sure."

When the wizard just looked back down at his plate, the Slayer shook his head. "You know, you think too much sometimes."

.

Proof

"Are you the wizard from Fairy Tail?"

The woman who interrupted their meal was dressed in an elaborate, trailing gown in shades of emerald and gold. The sunlight falling through the window shone on her auburn curls and picked out the anxious frown on her face.

"Maybe. Why?"

"Oh, thank goodness!" She clasped her hands before her and gave Natsu a pleading look. "My friend bought this book at an antique shop and it's done something to him. I got Sara—she's a wizard who lives around here—to look at him, but she's never seen anything like it. We don't know what to do."

Interest piqued, the Dragon Slayer polished off the remainder of the food and stood up. "So exactly what happened?"

What happened was that her friend had gotten her a mysterious book from an antique shop for her birthday, knowing how much she loved strange and foreign things. Only when both their hands had touched the book, he had been turned to stone.

Natsu scratched the back of his head, examining the statue from all sides. It was... well, incredibly lifelike for obvious reasons. This wasn't really his area of expertise, but he wasn't one to give up either, especially not after he'd already promised his help.

"I believe that it's a curse," Sara told him, showing him the book that lay at the heart of their current predicament. "I'm not sure why it activated when it did, but I did find the runes of the spell hidden amidst some of the text in the back. I've done some curse breaking before, but this language, it's been centuries since it was used. If we only had someone who could read it, I might be able to solve the problem."

"Centuries, huh?" Natsu smirked, holding out his hand. "Can I borrow that book for a moment?"

Once the book was in his hands, Natsu opened the door of Sara's cottage and poked his head outside to look for his companion. "Hey, Z, come over here for a moment, will you?"

The Black Wizard had opted to stay outside while Natsu dealt with the woman's request, taking a seat beneath one of the trees in the garden. At the Dragon Slayer's call, he rose and made his way over, albeit with some reluctance to be so close to the people inside.

"Can you read this?" Natsu asked, showing him the spell runes in question.

Zeref glanced over the writing and nodded.

"That's great. Hey Sara," Natsu said, turning to wave the other wizard over. "This is Z, a friend of mine. He's great with ancient languages and he knows quite a lot about magic too. If the two of you work together, I'm sure you can come up with a way to break that curse."

The announcement made Zeref a little uneasy, but he didn't argue. Since he didn't want to go inside, the small group relocated to the gardens where he patiently explained the runes to Sara, who took copious notes in a small, worn notebook. Natsu seemed content just to watch from the sidelines, ready to move if the need arose. Eventually, a few lines of writing were carefully set down upon another blank page and everyone stood back as Sara read it out loud.

A soft glow surrounded the frozen man like a fuzzy, golden mist. It faded to leave him blinking in confusion as the auburn-haired woman ran to embrace him, giddy with relief at not having lost him.

Before any explanations or thanks could be given, a look of panic flashed across Zeref's face and Natsu reacted immediately. He bid the three farewell, wished them luck, made some excuses, then grabbed the dark wizard and dashed for the woods.

It was a little sad that a few trees had to be sacrificed for everyone else's safety, Natsu reflected, but it was necessary.

When the fog of darkness finally receded, Natsu grinned at the wizard next to him. "See? I told you. You're already being more helpful alive than you would be dead."

.

Haven

What had been a two-week long journey turned into three months with numerous detours and small ventures on the side. Natsu didn't mind. The extra time was exactly what he'd needed to get his new friend settled and comfortable with their strange arrangement. They'd learned quite a lot about each other in that time, and even if he'd have a lot of excuses to make when he reported back at the guild, Natsu was pleased with their progress.

They found the caves somewhat by accident while wandering through the woods. The mouth was well hidden amidst several boulders, a seemingly narrow crevice that opened out into a spacious cavern linked to another, smaller chamber. Nothing lived in these caves and so there was nothing for his magic to accidentally kill. In other words, as Natsu put it, it was perfect.

They found the necessary furnishings in various shops across the city. It didn't really take all that much to make the place livable. Well, livable by Natsu's standards. Zeref was perfectly comfortable just sleeping on the ground as he had been doing on his wanderings, but Natsu was stubborn. And in order to be "home", the place had to be more than a bare, empty cave. Seeing as the dark wizard had no personal belongings, they had to find other things to make the place feel lived in.

That added another two weeks to Natsu's time of absence so he and Zeref could visit the shops in some of the nearby settlements. Magnolia had those shops too, of course, but Natsu didn't want to risk someone recognizing him just yet. Aside from the basics like blankets and something to sleep on, they ended up buying several dozen books ranging from philosophical essays to lighthearted works of fiction.

When all that was done and Natsu couldn't put off returning to the guild any longer, the Slayer brought them to a small restaurant in a part of the city he didn't visit as often and ordered them each a couple of the chef's recommendations.

"Are you okay?" he asked, looking sidelong at the dark wizard seated beside him. Zeref hadn't said a word all evening.

The other wizard took his time to answer. "It simply feels strange to think that I won't be traveling for awhile. It's been a very long journey."

Longer than most people could possibly imagine.

"It's about time you had a rest then." Natsu smiled and clapped a hand on his shoulder, pleased to note that Zeref no longer flinched away from him. "Welcome to Magnolia, home to the best wizard guild in the world, Fairy Tail."

TBC...

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