Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.

Pairing(s): Natsu Dragneal x Zeref (pre-established, not incest)

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

In Zeroes and Ones

By V. Shalyr

Part One

A gentle breeze circulated the small studio apartment, bringing with it the clean, crisp smell of snow even though snow had yet to fall in the area. That was the advantage of living on campus, Zeref thought, turning a page of his book. Anywhere else in the city and that breeze would have been laced with car exhaust and concrete. At least the university had plenty of vegetation.

Their close proximity to the buildings where their classes took place also helped with Natsu's motion sickness issues. This way, they could get to class on foot easily.

The couch creaked a little when he shifted position. They'd gotten it from another student who had been moving out and it wasn't in the best condition, but it was clean and comfortable so that was okay. Dark eyes wandered from the neat lines of printed text to the digital clock on the table for the umpteenth time that morning. Natsu should be getting back soon. Zeref had taken the last of his own exams yesterday. It felt like forever until he finally heard the key scrape in the lock and the front door swung open.

"How did it go?" he asked immediately.

"Eighty-eight," Natsu declared, tossing the exam onto the coffee table with a gleeful grin. "Way better than last time."

The dark-haired boy smiled with a mixture of happiness and relief. He was always way more stressed about Natsu's exams than his own. Heck, he spent more time studying for them too, so he could help Natsu with anything he didn't understand and make sure he passed. It was lucky he was a genius because he was quite literally learning the material for twice as many classes as everybody else.

"Right," Natsu said, dropping his backpack by the closet. "Exams are over. We're not talking about school for the rest of the break, agreed?"

"Agreed."

"Great."

Walking over to the computer desk, Natsu switched on both laptops and picked up the two silver and black, helmet-like contraptions beside them. He held one of these out to his partner.

"Let's go then. You promised. We're spending the rest of today in the game. We've barely had any time to play together since before finals. You haven't had a chance to see my new magic yet, and I'm dying to show it off."

Zeref shut the novel he'd been reading, set it aside, and accepted the headgear.

"I am still amazed that you were actually able to find a dragon to teach you. They are extremely rare in this game."

"I didn't sleep for four days straight searching for one while you were attending that academic conference."

"...I'm not sure that's something you should be so proud of."

"Says the person who's leveled up his character so much he's practically immortal. And I take better care of myself than you do. You hardly remember to eat when I don't remind you."

"I play half as many hours though."

"Just because you're studying instead doesn't mean you can subsist on air, water, and sunlight. You wouldn't even get the sunlight if we didn't have such a bloody big window in here."

Zeref had to admit that this was true.

That window was one of the studio's few really commendable properties, situated in just the right place to allow the light of day to illuminate the entire room from kitchen to living area. It was honestly a little cramped for two people, but it was affordable and so they gave their thanks and counted their blessings that they were as close as they were.

It helped that Zeref was an extremely neat and tidy person too.

Natsu logged onto his computer and watched his companion do the same. Zeref had relaxed a lot since they were children. Natsu remembered meeting the other boy for the first time back when Zeref had first been brought to the orphanage. He had been... different. Many of the children there were quiet and withdrawn when they first arrived, but there had been a different look in the boy's dark eyes like he had seen too much of the world—and not just watched things happen but understood. He spoke like a grownup, never played with the other kids, and read books like their words were the only things that kept him alive. The only things that could fill up the emptiness that his life up until that point had left inside. It was because of those books that they'd first begun talking. The kindly old man who ran the orphanage treated everyone in it like family and made sure they all received a good education. Natsu had been having trouble with his school work and started ripping pages out of his textbook in frustration—until a quiet voice had asked him to stop. Natsu had been so surprised that he had listened, and then he'd spent the next half hour watching the smaller boy carefully and meticulously gluing the pages back in. He hadn't said anything, hadn't chided him like the teachers would or said that it was wrong like a lot of the other students might have, just looked at the book with such grave sorrow and disappointment that Natsu felt guilty enough not to ever do it again.

He still had a habit of doing that, Natsu thought wryly, usually when Natsu neglected to do his homework or played videogames when he should be preparing for midterms. He still wondered sometimes how he'd ever managed to talk the other boy into trying out the new online game with him. The timing of it had probably been a major factor.

Fiore had officially opened to players around the world around three years ago and had proved a tremendous success. The two of them had been in their last year of high school, and what a rocky year it had been.

It had been a chilly afternoon in late autumn that Natsu had stormed into the orphanage library where Zeref could almost always be found when he wasn't with Natsu or in class.

"I looked at your applications."

He didn't explain why he had been doing that. He routinely went through Zeref's things when he was bored, and since the other boy never complained, he never stopped.

"You shouldn't be applying to those schools. With your test scores, you should be able to go somewhere way better."

Zeref had looked away and said, "I'll be fine. I don't think it really matters what school I go to."

He would do well regardless.

"Tell me you're not doing this because my scores aren't nearly as good as yours and you don't want to go to a different university."

Except, of course, he couldn't do that because that was exactly why he was doing it, and Zeref couldn't bring himself to lie to him.

Natsu had growled and stalked out of the room, returning moments later to slam Zeref's application onto the table in front of him.

"Change it."

"But, Natsu—"

"I'm not letting you throw this opportunity away, especially not because of me. I know you're not good at getting along with people, but that's no excuse. We're allowed to take the entrance exams again in the spring, right? Your job from now until then is to help me study so I at least have a chance of being accepted by any of the top five schools around here. I promise I'll work hard, and you know I'm not stupid. Now change it."

The dark-haired boy had stared at him for a long minute in shock and then mutely obeyed.

And Natsu had studied hard. Hell, he'd never put so much effort into studying in his entire life. In the end, they hadn't gone to the best school in the region, but second place wasn't bad at all. Besides, they had offered Zeref a rather generous scholarship, something he and Natsu badly needed to keep their loans down to a minimum. It was shortly after that that they'd gotten their hands on the equipment needed to play Fiore.

.

"Hey, haven't seen you two around for awhile. Brought us anything good today?"

Natsu grinned and placed a dagger on the counter before the tall and somewhat burly shopkeeper.

"See for yourself, Elfman. A wyvern fang dagger fresh from the depths of Hellfire Canyon."

"That place? You two sure don't mess around. Did you hear about what happened to the last group of players who went in there?"

"Uh, no actually. We've been a bit too busy to keep up with the news."

Elfman picked up the ivory blade and inspected the ornate carvings in its hilt while he answered.

"Don't know all the details myself, but it seems that a bunch of players got wiped out by some new monster. Rumor has it that it takes the shape of a red wolf, and there's a lot of speculation about it being part of a special event."

"Really?" Natsu said, intrigued. "Can't say we ran into any wolves."

Zeref had the feeling he knew what they'd be doing later. When his partner and the shopkeeper began to haggle over the price of the dagger, he let his gaze wander around the spacious shop, searching warily for any signs of a white-haired girl. The three Strauss siblings ran the most reputable magical items dealer in Magnolia City. Potions, weapons, books, and all sorts of miscellaneous accessories—whatever you wanted, they could find for you, so visiting the place was unavoidable. Still, the youngest of the three siblings made him uncomfortable. It wasn't really her fault. She probably didn't even know how great an impact she had had on his life.

Lisanna Strauss had been so happy to encounter Natsu in Fiore. Zeref found out later that she'd stayed at the orphanage for awhile back before he'd arrived, and she'd left when her elder brother and sister had finally found her. It didn't matter what tragic accident had separated them and robbed them of their parents. The three were just glad to be reunited, and since Mirajane had a fulltime job, they'd been able to move into their own house and live together again. Her only regret had been leaving Natsu.

Despite having an excellent memory, Zeref couldn't recall which visit had set everything in motion. However, he remembered the incident in question in vivid detail.

"I... always really liked you," the girl said, just a little shy because it had been years and they had only been children when she'd left.

The declaration hadn't actually surprised the black-haired boy who stood listening just outside the shop door. He hadn't meant to eavesdrop. He wasn't really the eavesdropping kind of person, but he'd come looking for Natsu and now couldn't bring himself to step into the neatly furnished room.

Through the wavy glass in the door, he couldn't make out Natsu's reaction, but that wasn't important at the moment. He was more preoccupied with the peculiar, almost detached feeling that had welled in his throat. Was he... upset? How strange.

It hadn't been especially dramatic. In fact, nothing much had happened at all because he'd wandered off in a daze to contemplate his own uneasiness. Funny really, for someone who was so prone to introspection, he really didn't know himself all that well sometimes. Natsu had always been better at understanding people, probably because he had excellent instincts and didn't over think things.

Natsu found him in Magnolia's central park some time later.

"You really shouldn't have gone off by yourself. I hear there's a lot of rogue players around lately who like to ambush other players."

Zeref glanced up from where he was standing next to the water fountain. Natsu always said that he had no sense of self preservation.

"Will you... be spending more time with her?"

"Do you want me to?"

"Well... if that's what you want."

Natsu raised his eyebrows. Zeref couldn't identify the expression on his face.

"She's a good friend, but she's not you."

Zeref thought that was pretty self evident.

Natsu searched his face for a moment then seemed to make up his mind about something.

"Right, I'm done being patient. Patience never was my thing anyway, and I think you're being willfully dense. Or needlessly selfless. Just don't go freaking out on me, all right?"

When Zeref just looked at him in confusion, Natsu glanced around to make sure they were alone in the park then took a step closer, cupped the side of his face with unexpected gentleness for someone who was usually so not, and kissed him.

Natsu was prepared when his friend suddenly vanished, logging out of the game. He followed suit a split second after, yanked off his headgear and lunged, tackling the other boy to the floor before he'd made it two steps towards the front door. They hit the ground with a thud that their neighbors would probably be wondering about and a brief struggle ensued before Natsu managed to pin him and put a very definite stop to any chances of escape.

"You can be such a coward sometimes," Natsu said, looking down at him with a mixture of exasperation and amusement. "What are you so afraid of? That I'll abandon you or something?"

Whatever Natsu saw in his face made his eyes narrow. Zeref would have cringed away from that glare but there was nowhere to go.

"I can't believe you still think that way. For someone who's so smart, you can be really stupid. You couldn't possibly have thought that I only hung around and worked so hard to keep us together because I had nothing better to do."

Zeref looked away. Of course, deep down, he knew better than that. He knew how much they cared for each other, had felt the easy closeness that they shared that other people might have called chemistry, but he hadn't let himself dwell on it.

His fear of losing those close to him was so strong it bordered on pathological. Natsu didn't know what had caused it—if anything—because Zeref never talked about his past, but that didn't mean he hadn't noticed it. And Natsu thought as he gazed down at him that he looked very young. Zeref had always looked young—younger than Natsu, even though he was actually a couple months older. Nothing about the dark-haired boy matched up with his real age. He looked young but had the attitude and values of someone very old. Sometimes, it seemed like he'd gone from being ten to being a hundred without passing through the years that usually came in between. He was a mass of contradictions, and it was no wonder that people found it so hard to understand him.

In retrospect, Zeref supposed he should thank Lisanna for forcing him to face certain things about himself that he had avoided or outright ignored. Still, he would have been perfectly happy to keep on avoiding the subject of his feelings for the rest of his life. He was more the "bottle it all up" kind of person, even though he knew it wasn't good for his mental health.

Natsu stowed away the coins they'd gotten in exchange, thanked the dealer, and snagged his partner's wrist on the way out of the shop.

Out in East Magnolia Plaza, a blond girl climbed up onto the lip of one of the plaza fountains and waved for everyone's attention, a nervous smile on her face. Several people paused to listen.

"Hi, my name's Lucy Heartfilia," she said, her voice squeaking a little. She stopped to clear her throat before continuing. "My friend and I want to start a guild, but we need more members to get officially recognized, so if anyone's interested, we'll be holding a meeting in the Golden Apple Orchard tomorrow at noon..."

She trailed off. Everyone waited.

"So, um, please come by and talk to us. Thanks for listening!"

Invitation delivered, she beat a hasty retreat.

Natsu watched her go with a thoughtful expression on his face where he stood before the items dealer.

"You know, I heard there are all sorts of new events that you have to be part of a guild to participate in."

"You would like to join a guild?" Zeref asked.

"Yeah, I think it might be fun. What about you?"

"If you join a guild then I will go with you. But I personally have no interest in playing with other players."

"Now we have to join a guild. It would be good practice for you."

This earned him a resigned sigh from his dark-haired companion.

"Sometimes, I wonder why I tell you the things that I tell you."

"Because you love me, obviously."

Zeref sighed again. Most of the time, Natsu's presence made life a little easier to deal with. He was straightforward, strong, confident—a down to earth, "live by the day" kind of person. Before Natsu had come along, the future had always loomed over him like a vast, dark and daunting place. But when he was around, Zeref felt as though, no matter what troubles came their way—and he was sure they would come sooner or later, they would be okay.

Unfortunately, at other times, Natsu made his life rather complicated. Then again, the other could probably say the same thing about him. Perhaps that was just an inevitable aspect of not being alone.

.

Magnolia was one of a dozen or so major cities in Fiore. Aside from being safe zones where beginner and expert players could rest and mingle, they served as major supply points and the base of operations for numerous organizations. There were also a variety of shops and special locations where players could take part in mini competitions and other activities that didn't involve monster fighting like winged horse races and candy making. There was even a karaoke house.

The Golden Apple Orchard was one of these "fun" locations. The apples that grew on its tall, pale trees were excellent health recovery items, but picking them usually involved herding them from branch to branch and working with teammates to corner them. It also contained a handful of gazebos where players could hang out to chat or watch the hopeful apple pickers.

Zeref trailed after his partner with some reluctance. Natsu didn't exactly have to drag him kicking an screaming to social events, but that was only because it wasn't in the other boy's nature to act that way. He had his own version of the kicking and screaming, however, which generally consisted of dragging his feet and giving everyone the silent treatment.

Besides, Zeref didn't really like being in the Golden Apple Orchard. Looking at it made him feel guilty.

"I wonder what happened," the blond girl was saying to a tall woman in armor with bright red hair down to her waist.

The two stood on the steps of a white gazebo, gazing at a spot not too far away. It didn't take a genius to realize what had captured their curiosity. Amidst the numerous, pale brown trees with their rich foliage in green and golden was a grove of half a dozen trees that looked like they had been frozen in the dead of winter.

"Strange how they haven't regenerated," her friend agreed. "I'm pretty sure they weren't like this last time I came here."

"Uh, sorry about that," Natsu said, making his way over to the group. "That would be our fault."

The red-haired woman raised an eyebrow, glancing over the two newcomers.

"Your fault?"

Natsu draped an arm about Zeref's shoulders and grinned, more amused than repentant.

"Yeah. My partner here picked up a crazy powerful spell from a special event a while back. It basically kills everything within a ten-meter radius of him, and when he first got it, it kept activating on its own because its level was too much higher than his. It was a real pain."

That was an understatement.

The white scarf Natsu now wore was a rare item they'd hunted down because he was tired of being logged out of the game or spontaneously teleported back to his last save point every time Zeref's new skill activated without his consent. He'd also been tired of how guilty and depressed his partner got whenever these accidents happened. It was just a game, but that was Zeref for you. He always took things so seriously.

The apple orchard incident had been a bit of an embarrassment. It had been their first attempt at the apples, and one of them had jumped into Zeref's hood, startling him. Next thing they knew, he'd killed half a dozen trees. Luckily, there hadn't been any other players around or they might have had to deal with a lot of angry people.

He wondered when the administrators would get around to fixing them. The dead trees did sort of ruin the scenery.

"Don't worry about it though," Natsu added as an afterthought. "That doesn't happen anymore."

Zeref had leveled up his character like crazy over the past couple months so that he could actually control the skill. He'd jumped up in ranks so fast that nobody would believe this was the only RPG he'd ever played. Natsu was quite proud of him for that.

"That sounds like quite a spell," the woman said. "I've never heard of anything like it. My name is Erza, and I'm a Dimension Knight."

Before the others could introduce themselves, a fifth person joined the group.

"Hey," he said to Lucy. "You're the girl from yesterday, right?"

"That's right. Lucy Heartfilia," she said, smiling. "I'm a Celestial Summoner."

The ring of gold and silver keys jangled on her hip.

"I'm up to being able to summon two spirits now, but not for very long, although I can keep one spirit on the field for at least half a day if necessary. What about you guys?"

The newcomer—a black-haired boy dressed in a long, white coat—stuck his hands in his coat pockets.

"I'm Gray, and I'm an Elemental Mage specializing in ice. I only started playing this game recently with a friend of mine who's also an Ice Elemental Mage. He couldn't be here today, but he said he might join us later if it's all right with you. My spells mostly create objects—you know, like weapons. I can also make copies of certain objects out of ice, although they don't last very long."

"That's cool though," Lucy said. "And it could really be useful."

She looked at Natsu who grinned, revealing fangs.

"Zeref is a Demon Summoner. I started out as an Elemental Mage, but now I'm a Dragon Mage and I specialize in fire spells."

Lucy's eyes widened.

"But that means you have to have met a dragon."

"Sure did. It was awesome."

"A Demon Summoner, huh?" Gray asked, turning to Zeref. "I haven't met many of those. I heard it's hard to play as one."

"That's probably because you've got to solve a bunch of insanely complicated puzzles to unlock any of their really good skills," Natsu said when Zeref hesitated a bit too long.

"They're not that bad," Zeref said. He'd quite liked those puzzles. They had provided a nice change of pace from all the writing and reading he'd been doing for school, and they weren't as monotonous as monster fighting.

The main difficulty with being a Demon Summoner as far as he was concerned came with the fact that even though their endurance and defensive capabilities were exceptionally high, recovery items and healing spells had little to no affect on them.

"Seems like we've got a good collection of occupations," Erza said, looking pleased. "I've collected almost all of the available armors, and I have my share of special event weapons as well. That should help. You see, you have to clear a team quest in order to be recognized as a guild. If everyone who is interested is here, we can head over to the registration office, and they'll let us know what we have to do."

Later, after they had all logged out with plans to meet up again in two days, Zeref sat staring at his dark computer screen with a slight frown on his face.

"I can't believe we've actually joined a party. I'm... still not sure I'm happy about it."

"Don't worry so much. It's a game. We can quit any time, if that turns out to be what we really want to do."

Natsu grabbed their jackets from the row of hooks by the door and tossed one to him.

"Come on, we're going out for coffee."

Zeref got up slowly and pulled the jacket on. He still looked mildly troubled, but that was all right. Natsu was sure he would be okay once they got some coffee. That was how it always worked out. He knew the other boy well enough to know that Zeref wasn't actually upset by this change in events. He just didn't handle change very well and required plenty of time to adjust.

Besides, Natsu had a different reason for wanting them to be in this guild.

.

The downside of it being the holidays was that most of the shops and restaurants on campus either cut down their hours drastically or didn't open at all. This meant they had to go an extra two blocks to find a decent coffee shop. Winter was well on its way and it was a little chilly, but other than that, it was a pleasant walk. The streets were packed with people intent on enjoying the first afternoon of their holiday vacations. They exchanged greetings with a few of their classmates when they passed, and they even spotted one of their professors through the window of a small boutique. For some reason, that had made the vacation feel suddenly more real. It always felt strange to see teachers outside of the classroom, which was silly but still true.

They chose a table by the window, and the waiter brought them two mugs, a pot of coffee, and a dish of cream, the little cups piled into a miniature pyramid.

Zeref liked coffee.

Natsu liked most things edible.

"Wendy invited us and a bunch of others to a Christmas party. I told her we'd think about it."

Zeref looked up from his steaming mug.

"Do you want to go?"

"I'm good either way. I wanted to know what you thought," Natsu said with a shrug.

He made a point of making sure both of them attended some sort of social event at least once a month, but it was the holidays and he wasn't going to force the issue—even if it was for Zeref's own good.

Zeref's gaze dropped back to his mug.

"I will think about it."

"That's fine. Just let me know by the end of the week."

Natsu sat back and looked over at the menu on the wall. Now that he had something to drink, he liked the idea of something to eat too.

There had been a time back in middle school when Natsu had grown concerned that his friend was becoming just a little suicidal. Everyone knew that Zeref was brilliant, but that brilliance tended to set him apart and made him think too much, analyze things too closely, and perhaps remember more than was healthy. He was also much more sensitive than people generally gave him credit for. Counterintuitive though it might have been, it was because he cared about people that he disliked them so much. He saw all the terrible things that people did to one another, big and small, and he couldn't forget them—couldn't forgive them. He looked at the world and the lives of the people in it and found despair.

"What's the point of it all?" he'd asked one dismal, rainy evening, lying on the floor of Natsu's room and staring blankly at the ceiling, a textbook open beside his head. "History is simply this constant cycle of human mistakes and cruelties. Society advances, civilizations grow, but nothing seems to change. Nothing that matters. People study the past but never seem to learn from it. War or revolution, it's all the same. There's so much selfishness and greed and suffering... What's the point of living in such a world? Sometimes, I just want it to be over..."

That was when he'd decided that Zeref needed to get out more.

Natsu couldn't remember everything he'd said and he hadn't understood half of it anyway, but he had understood that somehow, all of these thoughts—or observations or theories or whatever—were hurting him.

The Saturday after that, Natsu had pried him out of bed at seven in the morning to go to a book signing for an author he knew his friend liked. That had been followed by an outdoor music festival with a few of Natsu's other friends, and then the pumpkin-carving event at the library for Halloween. Zeref somehow managed to make his own pumpkin perfectly symmetrical, and even though that hadn't been the point, people had been impressed. The pumpkin had also looked rather sad, and people had encouraged him to change that. Pumpkins, they said, should laugh at Halloween.

Natsu liked to think that they had fun, but more importantly, they met a lot of people—some of them not so nice and just a few downright rude, but many more that had been thoughtful, generous, or kind.

Zeref's mood had improved, and Natsu had turned the outings into a tradition.

.

Zeref had honestly been amazed by Fiore. Once you put on the headgear and logged in, it was like you were really there. Like the entire world around you had changed.

He and Natsu had appeared in a the Town of Beginnings like all new players, and his first view of the world had consisted of a vast, open plaza lined on all sides by massive, elegant archways. He had stood for a moment, taking it all in, and then turned to find Natsu,, who was inspecting him from head to toe.

"You must be the only player in all of online gaming who looks exactly the same in the game as you do in real life."

"You only look different because you gave yourself fangs and claws."

"Different's different."

"I had no idea that gaming technology had advanced this far."

"Pretty amazing, huh? So what's up with the book?"

Zeref blinked and held up the red-bound book in his hand, only just realizing that he had it.

"This? I believe it's a starting item for my character."

"A book? That's kind of weird. Suits you though."

Zeref opened the book, but the pages were blank. Most likely, he'd have to fill the pages himself.

"Hey, forward me the beginner hints for your character. I'll cross reference them with mine so we can decide what to do first."

The assignments had been easy then, more like small, low-stakes self challenges.

"Okay, so I've just got to beat a dozen monsters in this hedge maze, and you've got to reach the center in under ten minutes." Natsu cracked his knuckles. "No problem! Let's go."

Different occupational categories had their own array of tasks and requirements in order to acquire new spells, so they had focused on the ones that took place in the same areas. Players needed to build up a good number of spells before venturing out to explore for real and accepting serious quests.

There had been that garden maze on the east side of the Town of Beginnings, then the treasure hunt through the Honeycomb Fields adjacent to it. Some of the tasks were silly—playing a song with the musical water fountains, chasing down dust bunnies in a crabby old woman's mansion, and making sand castles on the beach. Others had been strange or strangely difficult—fishing for bejeweled lake serpents, team racing through the Frozen Woods, and catching a rare golden butterfly. That one had taken several tries because Natsu kept accidentally killing it. It was a good thing that it wasn't a real endangered species.

Zeref had a lot more fun than he had expected, due in no small part to Natsu. That was probably why the two of them were still playing.

Three years.

In all that time, they had never played as part of a group, but he supposed it was bound to happen sooner or later.

The five of them stood around the dry fountain that stood in the front yard of the abandoned house. It looked old and most of the details had been worn away by weather and time, but it was still recognizable as a petite woman with hair spilling in waves all the way down to her feet. According to the bronze plaque in front of her, she was Magnolia City's patron spirit, also known as Mavis.

"Our task," Erza announced, reading over the scroll in her hands once again, "is to restore this statue by locating three things—a Fairy Cloak, a Star Broach, and an Angel's Prayer."

"I think I saw something on the discussion boards about the Fairy Cloak," Lucy said, a hand at her chin while she struggled to recall. "If I remember correctly, you can only receive one by completing a quest for the Forest Queen, but she's really picky about who she gives one to. She offers a bunch of quests all year round, but only a handful of players have received one, so it's not enough just to finish the task she assigns you. Like maybe you need to get a particular kind of quest."

"Well, at least we know where to start," Gray said. "I don't mind asking around to see what kinds of players managed it. What about the other two things?"

Erza replaced the scroll in her dimensional pocket.

"Broaches and other such items usually have to be bought or made by craftsmen. Perhaps we should visit the marketplace. I know a number of good metal workers."

"Is the Angel's Prayer even an item?" Natsu wondered aloud. "I don't think there are any angels in this game."

Zeref agreed.

"No, there are not. But there are quite a few spells with "prayer" in their names. We may be able to find something in the Magic Library."

"Right," Erza said, taking charge of the situation, "this will be faster if we split up. Gray and I will head to the marketplace. We can ask about the broach and the cloak at the same time. And the rest of you can head to the library..." She considered this for a moment then added, "Message us if you three need help."

Ah, the Magic Library.

Natsu didn't much like the Magic Library, although because of Zeref, they were frequent patrons of the place. It wasn't that he had anything against books. It was just that these books were different. The Magic Library wasn't just a resource; it was a maze-like dungeon with more than a dozen levels rigged with traps and festooned with odd monsters.

Nobody ventured into the Magic Library alone, not if they were there for information anyway. You needed at least one other person to help protect you while you searched for the right shelf with the right book and the right page. Worse, if you accidentally destroyed a book, it took a whole twenty-four hours for the game to regenerate it. Needless to say, Fire Wizards weren't especially welcome. And even though Natsu was an excellent physical fighter, not using spells cut his firepower considerably.

"I've never been here before," Lucy said, looking around at the seemingly endless walls of bookshelves with amazement. "Is it really that dangerous?"

"Yeah, well," Natsu said darkly, "let's just say that it's the only time I've ever had a book try to eat me."

Zeref finished rearranging the pages of the books on the table beside which the gate had deposited them and stepped back. The open pages glowed followed by a subtle shift in the maze of shelves around them.

"I've arranged it in alphabetical order by subject. Hopefully, that will make finding something relevant easier."

"So would that be under angel, prayer, or spell?" Natsu asked.

"The "A" section is closest," Zeref said, gesturing behind them. "It would be easiest to start with that."

"Angel it is then." Natsu cracked his knuckles and started down the lane of bookshelves. "Hey, Lucy, since you've never been here, just a heads up. Try not to destroy any books if you can. The more books you destroy, the more monsters show up."

Lucy gulped, her hand going to her Gate Keys as she made a mental list of which spirits she could use. Most of them would cause far too much damage in these close quarters.

While she hesitated, Zeref moved past her, a book appearing in his hands. He flipped it open, and as he did so, the pages began to glow and then the book transformed into a smoky, monkey-like creature with eyes that glowed faintly red. It looked kind of creepy, and Lucy edged away from it.

"Bring me any books you see that might talk about angels," he told it.

The creature acknowledged the instruction with a nod and preceded him down the lane of shelves.

Well, Lucy had to admit that a monkey, creepy or not, was a good choice under the circumstances. These bookshelves felt like they stood half a mile high.

A tremor ran through the wooden floorboards and both her companions went still, listening intently. The monkey turned its unblinking stare towards the ceiling, lost in the shadows of distance. Lucy froze, her heart pounding in her chest. Sometimes, it was disturbing how realistic this game was.

"What was that?" Lucy asked.

"Something's coming," Natsu said, taking a fighting stance. "Hard to say what though. Probably something beginning with the letter "a". You should summon a spirit or something to protect yourself. And the more eyes and ears we have here the better."

"Oh, um, right."

They were joined shortly by a young woman with tiny, curled ram's horns poking out from her pink hair. And she materialized just in time to catch a hail of arrows from above with a fluffy cloud of dense, pink cotton. Aries wasn't especially powerful, but her skills could be useful and her attacks also weren't likely to destroy any books.

Only a second later, a massive alligator lunged up through the floorboards as though the wood had the consistency of water, jaws snapping. Its scales were brown and patterned like wood chips, and the deep browl in its throat reverberated in the air around them. His companions were behind him, so instead of dodging, Natsu braced his feet and caught the oncoming attack, wresting with the aligator for a moment before throwing it back. The reptile struck the floor on its back and lay still for a second before its body melted back into the ground.

When the giant, armored ants dropped from the ceiling behind them, Lucy started wishing that she'd gone with Gray and Erza instead.

.

Zeref woke to the sound of a cell phone ringing—his, he realized, recognizing the ring tone. Natsu was still asleep and half sprawled on top of him, but he managed to squirm free enough to reach out and retrieve the blaring device from the nightstand. He let his head drop back onto the pillow and placed the phone to his ear.

"Hello?"

"Hi," Wendy's cheerful but slightly uncertain voice came through the receiver.

Zeref woke up a bit more, wondering why she was calling him at this hour. Normally, their friends called Natsu.

"Do you need help with something?" he asked, hazarding a guess.

"No, I... Has Natsu told you about my Christmas party?"

"He's mentioned it, yes."

She sounded relieved when she said, "Oh, that's good. Anyway, I wanted to call and invite you personally. I really do think it would be wonderful if both of you come. And I've heard a lot about your chocolate cake."

Zeref blinked bleerily at the face of his alarm clock. The letters were still wiggling around in his vision.

"My chocolate cake?"

"Natsu's always raving about it, didn't you know? The whole class wants to try one now."

His somewhat dazed, early morning mind tried to imagine how many cakes he would have to bake to serve their entire class. They weren't an especially large cohort, but he wouldd still be baking for days. There was no way their tiny studio kitchen could handle the demand.

"Are you sure you want chocolate cake? It's a Christmas party. Perhaps ice cream cake from that ice cream parlor you're always visiting would be more fitting."

"There'll be ice cream, but chocolate is always a favorite no matter the occasion."

She trailed off, coughed, then said more softly, "So that's it. I wanted to invite you and make sure you knew that you're welcome to join us if you like."

Despite the drowsiness, Zeref understood what she was trying to do. She wanted him to understand that her invitation had been sincere, and that sincerety extended to Zeref's invitation. Yes, she was one of Natsu's many friends, but she was one of Zeref's friends too, and she wanted him to remember that.

"Thank you, Wendy. I'll... call you back when I make up my mind."

"Okay. Um, tell Natsu I said hi."

After she hung up, Zeref set the phone back on the nightstand and lay for awhile staring up at the ceiling but not really seeing it. Every now and then, he still felt like he was dreaming when he realized that he really did have good friends. Natsu teased him about it sometimes, but it wasn't necessarily a bad thing. At least it meant that he never took the people in his life for granted.

Natsu grumbled something in his sleep and tightened his hold on him. It didn't look like he'd be waking anytime soon. Zeref closed his eyes and let out a soft sigh. Well, it was the holidays so there wasn't really anything that needed doing. He was perfectly content with going back to sleep until Natsu woke up and decided to let him go.

TBC...

.