Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.

Pairing(s): Natsu Dragneal x Zeref

WARNINGS: Slight AU , Shounan ai (boy/boy pairing); you have been warned so don't like, don't read

Firelight and Shadows

By V. Shalyr

Scroll LVII: Epilogue

Playing Villain

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Zeref asked, looking up at the crimson dragon that occupied almost all of the empty space in front of the cave. "We will have to leave this town."

The dragon yawned, displaying enough long, jagged teeth to send most people running the other way. "That's all right. I was thinking about leaving anyway. And this way, we can do some good while we're at it."

"If you say so," the Black Wizard said a little doubtfully. He just hoped this didn't bring a bunch of would-be dragon slayers after them.

A young woman peeked out from the cave, fidgeting with the end of her straw-colored braid. "I'm sorry. This was a stupid idea, wasn't it? I don't want to be troublesome."

Natsu stretched his wings and stood up, his claws leaving marks even in the stone. "If we thought it was too much trouble, we wouldn't have agreed to help you. Now go hide. He's on his way. Z, he's on the west road."

The dark-haired wizard nodded and went to meet the man. Well, not "meet" exactly. More like pretend to accidentally run into.

Zeref spotted the man quite awhile before they were due to cross paths. His clothes were a mess and his face seemed much paler than it had the only other time he'd laid eyes on him—back when the girl had pointed him out to them. Strange. The man didn't appear to be carrying any weapons.

"You don't want to go that way," Zeref called out to him as he came within earshot. "There's a dragon over there."

The man blanched but didn't turn back. "I'm looking for a dragon actually. Was it red?"

"Does it matter?"

"A red dragon kidnapped a dear friend of mine. Her parents are going crazy. I promised myself that I'd bring her home."

"Are you a wizard?" Zeref asked, already knowing the answer.

"No, I'm not."

"And you intend to fight a dragon with your bare hands? It's going to kill you."

For a moment, Zeref thought the man was going to be sick. Then he pulled himself together and squared his shoulders.

"Even if I had a weapon, I wouldn't stand a chance. So... I thought I'd try asking."

"Asking?"

"You know, asking the dragon to let her go. I mean, all the stories agree that dragons are very intelligent. I'm sure it would understand me."

Natsu was going to laugh himself silly over this, the Black Wizard thought. If Zeref had been kidnapped, Natsu would not have been looking for a peaceful solution. Then again, this man was no Dragon Slayer, and considering his resources and abilities, he was being quite logical about the situation.

"And if it doesn't listen? What if it attacks you?"

"Then I'm probably going to die."

"That does not frighten you?"

"Of course it does! But it would be worse to do nothing. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if she died and I just sat around at home letting it happen."

Whatever else this man may or may not be, Zeref decided, he had a good heart. He approved, and he was pretty sure Natsu would too.

"I wish you the best of luck then."

When this was over, the girl's parents would be insane not to let her marry him like she'd been asking.

Ill Tidings

"I can't believe that guy," Natsu said, shaking his head. The noise that filled the tavern meant there was no need to be cautious with his words. "He actually walked up to me, bowed all proper and polite, and then begged me not to eat them and to let them go because her parents were very worried and he loved her very much."

"That was very brave of him."

"I guess that's one way of looking at it. He's damned lucky it was all just an act though."

Zeref made a sound of agreement, taking a sip of his tea. He would have preferred coffee, but the tavern they had stopped in for lunch sold only tea and beer.

Sometimes, there was a fine line between bravery and stupidity.

Around them, the other tavern patrons chatted and laughed, accompanied by the clink of mugs and silverware. Although the place was located in a town close to Magnolia that they had visited more than once before on their way out to various jobs, it was the first time they had actually eaten here. It felt strange, in a way, like a mark of just how long it had been since they had last traveled this way.

The last time they had seen their fellow guild members had been at the latest hosting of the Grand Magic Games. Natsu and Z had stopped by Crocus to watch a few of the rounds, although they hadn't participated themselves. Like always, it had been a little too noisy and more than a little too crowded for Z, but visiting with their old friends had made the stop worth the trouble.

Really though, Z was surprised, after what had happened with the Eclipse Gate and the dragon attack, that the Magic Games were being held at all anymore. Then again, he supposed the competitions themselves hadn't been to blame.

A waitress set a plate of roast chicken and mashed potatoes on their table followed by a platter of duck and assorted greens. Natsu spared a moment to appreciate the delicious aromas before digging in. Good food was a traveler's best friend as far as he was concerned.

"Do you think everyone else will be home when we get there?" Z wondered aloud, retrieving his own fork to pick at the food.

Natsu shrugged. "We did let them know we'd be in the area, so it's possible. Then again, it's not like we gave them any concrete dates, so who knows?"

Z took another sip of his tea and nodded.

Neither of them mentioned the letter currently stowed away in their travel bags, the one that had arrived via Z's portable mailbox about one week ago and pulled them away from the trail of one of Z's old demons. Neither of them really wanted to think about it, to be honest. Not right now. There would be time for such serious matters when they got back to Magnolia City.

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Legend

June eyed the two newcomers seated at the other end of the bar nervously. She'd been working at Fairy Tail for two months now, but she'd never seen them before.

The young man wasn't exceptionally tall, but he stood out nonetheless in a dangerous, "don't mess with me" sort of way. He was all sharp edges and lean muscle with a head of wild hair and a grin that showed actual fangs. Wizards didn't usually have fangs; June knew this for a fact. Still, nobody else seemed particularly disturbed.

His companion, on the other hand, looked more normal—slight and pale with a mop of black hair to match his dark robes. Actually, that one looked like he could use a few square meals and more time out under the sun. Maybe he looked more normal at first glance, but the longer June looked at him, the more a disconcerting sense of wrongness began to plague her. She wasn't an accomplished wizard herself, but perhaps working in a wizard guild had made her paranoid.

In either case, both young men made her uneasy.

She snagged a passing wizard and asked in a whisper, "Hey, do you know who they are?"

The young woman—Sara, she remembered—turned to follow the direction of her gaze and gasped. "Oh, they're back! I'd better go tell Torrance. He'll want to say hi. I hope Tym gets back soon. He'll be so upset if he misses them, it's been so long. I wonder if they stopped by to check on Master Makarov."

The elderly guild master had fallen ill almost two weeks ago and everyone was worried.

June blinked. "So they're old members then?"

"They are." Sara smiled a little wistfully. "They supervised my team on one of our first official guild missions. I'm sure you've heard of them, but they travel a lot and are usually gone for months at a time. The one with the scarf is Natsu, and the other one is his partner—he goes by Z."

June's mouth dropped open. She'd heard of them all right. The two were practically legends. Rumor had it that they had completed some of the most difficult jobs accepted by the guild.

"But they look so young!"

Sara laughed. "They do, don't they?"

And even though she didn't say anything else, June got the feeling that Sara knew something she didn't.

Immortality

"I've been thinking..."

Natsu trailed off.

"About what?" Z prompted.

The two of them sat on the roof of the guild house where they could look out across the entire city of Magnolia. Natsu liked the vantage point and Zeref preferred the quiet.

Natsu frowned and glanced from the sea of rooftops to the golden wash of the afternoon sky. They'd just been in to see the guild master, and they'd left that meeting feeling contemplative and somewhat somber. Of course he'd known that the old man was... well, getting up there in years. But he'd never seriously sat down and thought about Gramps being gone one day. Luckily, with Wendy's help, it looked like Makarov would recover from whatever cold he'd caught this time, but it was still taking longer than it would have when he'd been a young man.

That was just the natural progression of things. Still, it had gotten Natsu thinking—mostly about the last time he'd caught a glimpse of his own reflection in a mirror. He wasn't the kind of person who bothered with mirrors much, so the matter had slipped his mind. But with the aged guild master asking Z about things like dropping in now and then to look after the guild when he finally did pass away, the Dragon Slayer found himself finally putting together the bits and pieces of a nagging suspicion that had been lurking on the edges of his awareness for some time.

"I'm not really aging much anymore, am I?"

Zeref turned his head to look at the Dragon Slayer, guilt curling in his stomach. He'd sort of noticed it too, although he'd been wary about allowing himself to think about what that might mean. It hurt to hope too much, and hoping only made him feel more guilty.

"I'm sorry."

Z figured that it had to be his fault somehow. There was no other explanation. The other first generation Dragon Slayers were aging slower than their completely human wizard friends, but somehow, they just knew Natsu's situation was different.

Natsu raised his eyebrows. The warm, afternoon breeze made his wild hair even more disheveled.

"Why?"

The Black Wizard looked away. He couldn't think of how to put the roil of emotions inside him into words. Anyway, he was pretty sure Natsu knew what he was thinking.

"I'm relieved, to be honest," Natsu said after a moment, his tone deliberately light. "In fact, I was sort of hoping something like this would happen."

Had even been trying to encourage it somehow. Maybe someday, he'd tell his partner about that, but as it was, it hadn't been a subject that they could safely talk about.

Z started at his words and glanced cautiously over at him.

Natsu gave him a fond, lopsided grin. "This means I don't have to worry about you being left alone again. I was afraid you'd eventually go off the deep end if that were the case."

Zeref would have the guild, sure, but even with the acceptance of most of Fairy Tail's members, many people still harbored some fear or dislike towards the so-called "most evil wizard who ever lived".

Z swallowed, hesitated, then asked, voice small, "Is it wrong of me to be glad that I won't lose you?"

"I'm not condemning you for it," Natsu assured him. He reached out to tug Z closer so he could wrap an arm around his shoulders. "It's good to know you still want me around, even after so many years."

This finally drew a small smile out of the other wizard. He still looked troubled, but the Slayer would count that as a victory.

"I think we'll stick around for a bit longer before we get back to work," Natsu continued, tone growing thoughtful. "Check in with everybody while they're all in town, maybe visit some of our favorite restaurants."

"Sounds like a plan," Z murmured.

"But first," and here, Natsu grinned abruptly in a way that made his partner eye him with trepidation, "there's something else we still have to do. I can't believe I almost forgot."

.

Words

Zeref looked out at the people flooding the streets from behind the counter of one of the refreshment stands. He still couldn't quite believe he was doing this.

The Magnolia Harvest Festival. He'd almost forgotten about it. It was easy with how little time he spent around the guild house.

He greatly appreciated the fact that there was a counter in the way to shield him at least in part from the noisy tide of humanity that had swept through the city for the celebration. These crowds could compete with the ones at the wizard guild competitions. Z had turned down taking part in the actual parade, and Natsu had let him do so reluctantly with the promise that he would help Mirajane with her festival project instead.

"So how are they coming along?"

"Quite well," he said, lifting the cover off one of the trays to show her.

The sweet smell of fresh baking wafted up around them from the neat rows of circular cookies. Powdered sugar dusted their golden brown surfaces, and each one glowed with its own personal light, emanating from the runes he had carefully printed atop each one.

"They certainly look good," Mirajane said approvingly. "I bet the kids will love them."

She had a bunch of other snacks prepared too, and simple toys thought up by different members of the guild.

"I think we should have some things to teach people more about what it's like to be a wizard," she'd told them. "Things that will help people understand magic a bit better, and hopefully learn something too."

Despite his reservations about having to interact with visitors, Zeref had volunteered to help because he liked the idea. Understanding went a long way towards acceptance, and it was about time he started doing his part for the art that he had devoted so much of his life to, doing something that inspired simple wonder rather than fear.

Magic

"You see the marking on this cookie?" he asked, showing them the round, baked disc on his palm. "This is a rune for light. By drawing this symbol correctly, you can create light. It was one of the first spells ever cast by human beings."

The children gathered around him stared wide-eyed, and then one little girl raised a tentative hand.

"So what happens when you eat it?"

Z shrugged. "If the rune is imperfect or broken, it stops working."

To demonstrate, he broke the cookie in half and the light faded. It was a very simple magic, but his miniature audience was awed by it anyway.

A mousy-haired boy bounced excitedly on the balls of his feet. "That's so cool. I can't wait to be a wizard. It's the best job in the world because magic can do anything."

This made Zeref pause. Magic couldn't do everything, but these children weren't old enough to care about or understand that. They hadn't come to learn about how no matter how powerful a wizard was, there were things that he or she could not do. They had come to the festival to be amazed. To wonder at the possibilities and to be inspired.

"Yes," he said at last, "magic can be quite amazing."

Someday, these children would grow up. They would learn that there were things in the world even more amazing than magic—things like compassion and forgiveness, trust and friendship and love. But they would have to learn all those things on their own because that was how life worked. Some lessons had to be learned through experience.

.

Evanescence

It was far past midnight by the time the crowds finally began to disperse. The parade had ended, and most of the merchandise had either been sold or packed away.

Natsu ducked around behind the counter and threw an arm around his shoulders, dragging him close to his side and grinning a little madly, still running high on adrenaline.

"See? I told you it would happen someday. I'd say our guests had fun. What about you?"

"Did I have fun, or do I believe that it was fun for the people who came?"

"Both."

Zeref shifted so he could rest his head against his partner's shoulder while he thought. "The children were very excited, although I'm not sure if it was because of the magic or because they got to eat the cookies."

He could feel the Dragon Slayer's chuckle as a low rumble in his chest.

"And you?"

The Black Wizard hesitated. A child waved goodbye to him as her mother led her past along the street, and he tentatively waved back, feeling awkward but also warm in a way that made the awkwardness less acute.

"I think... I had fun, yes. I have never done such a thing before, but certain changes can be good."

"Well, a little change is inevitable, so I'm not sure it matters if it's good or bad."

Zeref smiled a little at that. "I suppose it doesn't. But I still like having routines."

His life had been too unstable up until this point for him to feel otherwise.

Natsu shrugged. "Nothing wrong with that."

After all, the Dragon Slayer was pretty happy with things as they were now too.

They had a lot of work ahead of them, no doubt about that. Tracking down and destroying his partner's darker legacies was proving to be anything other than quick or easy, and who knew what other adventures or problems would present themselves in the future? But despite all that, they had found—or rather built—their own form of equilibrium, and he had confidence that they would be able to handle anything that came their way.

Z tilted his head to peer up at him. "You seem very happy."

"That I am." Natsu's grin had fangs in it. "And what about you? Are you happy?"

The Black Wizard didn't have to think about that one. "I am."

END

AN: Okay, that's it:) Frankly, I'm amazed at how long this story became, and I'm glad I was able to finish it. My first outline of this only had something like nine chapters... But then I decided to rewrite the Edolas arc, and I figured I may as well do some more—and then I started adding more original story arcs, and it just kept growing. I started this story just to scratch an itch after watching the Tenrou Island arc. I had no idea I would get this attached to this pair, let alone write so much on them.

I'm considering starting a sequel to The Will to Live, but I haven't quite decided yet since I've only outlined the first three chapters.

In the meantime, I'm still working on A Matter of Souls and The Things We Dream, although I'm finding the latter rather hard so it's really, really slow going.

Anyway, thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed this story as much as I did.

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