A/N: Heya, guys... Wassup! wiErD here and I just got another brilliant idea. Everyone never seemed to wonder about how would the course of the manga Fairy Tail would actually go if and only if Natsu didn't die and remain human. What do you see? A new plot of course. Everything starting from Zeref's obsession in life and death to his creation of the so-called Etherious will never happen if it weren't for his dear little brother's death.
Let's take another route of the plot now shall we?
Remember, this is an alternate story wherein Natsu didn't die, thus Fairy Tail isn't exactly present here so keep in mind to those who wanted to bring up characters from Fairy Tail for no reason. This story will mostly circle around the life of the Dragneels as they cope to the world 400 or so years ago. OCs are present also so be reminded. All arcs are not available here.
Disclaimer: I never own Fairy Tail or any of its characters. Hiro Mashima owns them...
- Prologue: Born in the Distant Summers -
The land of Ishgar is full of majestic beauty carved by nature itself in a millennium.
Inhabited by many creatures, the peninsula has been an ancient forefront of Earthland itself. Lush trees and floras occupied the lower lands and desolate, icy blizzards dominate the mountains. Showered by the ever changing seasons, the ancient land have its own marvelous forests and oceans that is the most distinctive feature that define the very land itself.
Of course, the land has also never lost its prominent inhabitants. Humans are one of a kind. They live peacefully in remote places like forests and grasslands.No one sure knows of how they migrated to Ishgar but they've been the land's long-surviving species despite having to live in fear towards a more higher being that dominates the land and to themselves.
Dragons.
That's right.
Even though being known to be a beautiful place, Ishgar had its shares of great danger apart from its beautiful remarks. Dragons are counted one among them. Like the humans, dragons have existed long enough to call the land their home and eventually has all of its riches, including the humans. Being the embodiment of destruction and hell, many creatures have feared them for a very long time. There were no defiance or debates among the inhabitants except for a fact that they are counted to be as the highest form of species that ever existed.
No one would be ever as higher than that. As a result, many humans considered them as their rulers and gods but despite the praises and their worthiness of worship, the dragons never changed their outlook upon them except for being expendable creatures for their appetite.
..
..
Until one day, one dragon spoke about the coexistence between two races of mankind and dragon, thus dividing the superior race with two sides that soon engulfed the whole world in flames and destruction. Lands were burned to the ground, skies filled the air with smoke and fire and lives were lost in the midst of the devastating war. All seemed to end in a stalemate until the dragons who wished for the coexistence of humans devised a new strategy.
..
The birth of the dragonslayers.
..
..
By involving mankind into war, a new form of human warriors have finally turned the tide of the war to their favor.
And this is where our story begins.
Ishgar - June 5, X280 (In a nearby forest...)
The chirping of the birds from their nests filled the silent area as the enthralling sounds of nature simply occupied the atmosphere. Sunlight flickered from the leaves on the branches as it swayed gracefully from the faint movements of the wind outside. The presence of the bright light also attracted small creatures to crawl out from their dark homes and embraced its warmth, leaving out in the open welcoming the morning daylight.
A small figure crept through the shadows as he stalked a deer lying beside a stream, keeping his sights on it without any distraction like a predator it would seem to be. Twigs snap silently as he neared towards it with a small pointed spear on his right hand before gesturing it and aimed it to the creature's head.
The deer had seemingly raised its head that was nuzzled beside its body in alarm as the figure stopped momentarily before eyes between deer and the human finally met. Sensing both danger and death towards it, the deer immediately stood up and tried sprint away but the hunter was able to react fast enough to thrust its weapon towards its head and finally fell down on the ground.
It gave convulsive movements for a moment until it finally died down as the figure walked towards it, carrying a huge sack on his other hand and eventually sat beside the dead creature and tried to get his spear back from its head before wiping of the blood smeared onto it. Slowly putting the dead creature inside the sack, the figure simply wiped off a bead of sweat from his forehead as his face turned carefree after that seemingly hunter-induced expression towards the creature.
"That finally serves as the last count then... I guess, this should cover us with enough food in the next three days." He spoke lightly in glee as he finally made his kill for today. Hunting was no easy job and to be able to complete one is already an achievement for him.
Slowly dragging the heavy loot towards his direction, the figure simply began his journey back to the open fields as he neared towards the boundary between the forest and the open fields.
After a few minutes of dragging, he finally made his way out of the forest and eventually found himself in a small village just at the center of the fields, surrounded by the forest as trees had seemingly covered around it as if it was completely isolated from the outside world. Situated at the back of a mountain, the village itself was rich in its farming agriculture as the inhabitants mostly worked on hunting and plowing fields for their basis of living. Most of the people were simple folks who gathered into one place and eventually formed a small community that benefited them both in their daily lives in which finally created this small village.
There are also children roaming around the village, playing with each other while the adults watched them from afar with warm smiles as they continued tending their fields to work. Elders who were the leaders of the village are also seen gathering into one place, guiding the rest of the people as they tried to maintain the peace as long as possible.
The figure eventually made his way back to his home which is only a simple hut just like the rest of the houses in the village. The structure of the house itself was mostly made out of straw and was poorly built on the outside. A small window is only seen from the side of it as the figure laid down the sack for a moment and tried to enter inside.
Slowly calling out from the entrance, the boy finally began to speak.
"I'm home!" As his voice reverberated from the silent hut, another figure came from the inside the greet the boy. He was lean muscular man with black spiky hair that slightly protrude from all direction with most of it sliding to the right side. He seemed to wear simple clothes which consisted of a brown farmer shirt with baggy pants that reaches down to his feet in which contained a pair of worn-out boots just like the rest of the people in the village as he eventually showed himself in front of the door where the boy was.
"Oh, it's good to have you back, Zeref... I was starting to get worried." The boy named Zeref simply beamed back towards the man before him.
"I can handle myself, father... Look, I got a kill from my hunt earlier." Zeref pointed over to the large sack beside the house which only made the man to smile in relief.
"Well, I'm glad that you were able to help... Sorry for making you do my things. Sofia is still recovering and I can't leave her alone in the house." He sheepishly replied back towards the black-haired boy who then remembered something after hearing that news.
"Speaking of mother, is she alright?" Zeref asked worriedly but his father could only put up a smile once more before motioning himself and led him inside.
"Come see for yourself." Zeref followed him inside and slowly made their way towards the room and eventually saw a woman with a black silky hair that simply cascaded down to her shoulders and back. She seemed to be wearing simple clothes which only consisted of a white short sleeved shirt with a light brown worn-out long skirt that reaches down to her feet. She also seemed to be holding a small baby in her hands who was lightly crying for quite some time. Despite the cries of the newborn child, Sofia couldn't deny a very faint smile that soon crept unto her lips as her eyes gazed upon the baby she was holding.
It took her a couple of seconds to finally realized Zeref and her husband from the door and eventually called out to the black-haired boy.
"Zeref... You've come back..."
"I'm home, mother." Zeref replied with a smile before trying to make his way towards her and curiously looked at the baby who then eventually managed to see him face to face which also stopped his crying.
"Isn't he cute?" Sofia cooed.
"Yes, he is... Do you have a name for him?" Zeref turned over to the black-haired woman who slowly shook her head disapprovingly before glancing back to him once again.
"I was thinking that you would be the one who would give a name to him, Zeref... What do you think?" She replied which slightly surprised the boy since he never did this kind of thing before. Slowly recomposing himself, Zeref pondered for a moment and tried to think up a way to give his little brother a name. Looking at the door window outside, he saw the warm heat of the sun shining down on the world outside, accompanied by gentle winds as it blew past the plants that swayed gracefully beside it.
His mind trailed off in thought as both Sofia and her husband looked at him in confusion as they saw him seemingly spaced out for some reason.
"Natsu... ..." He muttered which caught their attention as they looked back at him with a puzzled look.
"Natsu?"
"A-Ah, I was just thinking of the summer so I thought that it would be... umm." Zeref panicked for a moment until Sofia simply smiled in response to his answer.
"Natsu... That's a great name." She faintly spoke in relief before looking towards the baby in hand and nuzzled her head beside him.
Zeref, on the other hand smiled in content and not before long slightly wincing in pain as he felt his father hand roughly patting his back, causing the black-haired boy to stumbled forward before looking back at him with irritation.
"Natsu Dragneel, huh? That's a pretty good name... I knew you could do it..!" He grinned widely in spirit as he stifled a proud laugh towards them.
"Don't be like that, Zeke-kun... You're the one who gave Zeref a name." Sofia smiled warmly.
"Haha! It's nowhere different from my name... I jumbled them a lot to be honest." Zeke made a gruntled laugh before realizing the time of the day. "Ah, I gotta go back to the fields... I'll have to leave the chores to you now, Zeref."
"Of course, father... I'll take it from here." And with that, Zeke finally left from the room and went out from the hut to tend to the field along with the other farmers. Zeref and Sofia simply stayed at the room before the former began to look curiously at Natsu who giggled after seeing his face. A small smile crept its way towards his lips before shifting his gaze back to Sofia with the same cute smile.
"Listen, Zeref... From now on, you're gonna be his big brother... Be sure to take care of him, okay?" Sofia looked back to the black-haired toddler.
"Of course, I'll try to be the best brother I can be for him!" He proudly declared while making a pumpfist in the air. After a moment, finally returned his attention towards the baby with beaming smile on his face.
"Big brother, huh... I like the sound of that."
A/N: Sup! Here's another story for you guys! Note again that there's gonna no FT characters in the present time appearing in this fic since this takes place in a far more ancient time even before Mavis so keep in mind. I'll be only featuring about Natsu and Zeref in this fic with additional OCs and there such as their parents. Before you all could even ask, I have plans for the involvement of Igneel and the dragons... END is also out in the league this time just to remind people who wished to see END/Natsu here in this fic.
That's all for now in this prologue. I'll see you on the first chapter. I might or not update this fic regularly since I have my own focus on a certain story so I'll just keep posting whenever I feel it or if I set my priorities in this story in the future.
- wiErD SpeCtrumz blacking out... ... ...