Fairy Tail - Twilight Empire

Chapter 0.2 - Lost

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Towers of books surrounded Zeref. A desk of thick stone and wood, with two long and wide appendages to house even more tomes, lay before Zeref as he wiped some sweat from his brow, then rubbed his temple.

He'd been at this for months. He agonized over Fairy Heart. He never slept, in general, but in his periods of rest, he thought about Fairy Heart.

And about Natsu.

And about Tartaros.

August, Irene, Larcade, and Invel came every now and then to check on him. Some had reports about Imperial matters. Invel handled it all, expertly, but still wanted Zeref to be aware of the Empire's goings-on. Fiore was quieter than Zeref anticipated. The Magic Council had likely not yet deduced what'd happened, especially not the severity of it. Perhaps Fairy Tail didn't, either.

Zeref sat back in his seat. It was well-cushioned and quite soft. Perfect for long bouts of studying.

He was no closer to unlocking the power of Fairy Heart than he was upon its acquisition. The key, or at least the most obvious one, was in learning one of the three Fairy Spells. However, such magic was blocked from Zeref. It had to be bestowed upon a wizard by Mavis or enacted by a Fairy Tail wizard. Neither of those things would be happening for Zeref, so he had to dig to the roots of those spells.

Since he had no true understanding of them, he had to dig quite deep.

It led to a thought that was, for a while, prevalent in his mind.

What if he brought Natsu back to life again?

A revival spell was simply not going to happen, but he could once more write a book for E.N.D. Bring Natsu back as a little boy to grow up under his specific care. Sure, he wouldn't have Fire Dragon Slayer Magic, but perhaps he didn't need to be destined for slaying Acnologia. He could be raised as a prince, an heir to the Empire, should Zeref grow tired of his rule.

As Zeref considered this, the light of the crystals faded. Magic dwindled all around him. His heart soared at the idea of seeing Natsu again, and containing the power of the curse was nearly impossible.

All that stifled his daydream was what he said to August and Irene.

There was no more going back.

Writing Natsu back to life would be fruitless. Something would tear them apart again. Their fates were no longer aligned. Maybe they'd never been in the first place. Maybe Zeref was meant, simply, to suffer with the memory of a boy who had all the potential in front of him.

If Zeref brought Natsu back, he'd just die again. And Zeref would watch again.

No. He could not do that.

However...

The table on his right had eight books propped up, the eight books for the Etherious gathered under one banner: the Tartaros guild.

Mard Geer had his hands on the true Book of E.N.D., one he intended to deliver to Zeref once they were all reunited, and they attempted to kill him. But Zeref always kept their books close, just in case, in a moment of clarity, he decided to wipe them all out and remove more of his enemies from the board.

His contemplation regarding Natsu, one that lasted many days, led him to a different, far more plausible and useful solution: Why bother recreating the book of Etherious Natsu Dragneel when he had eight other powerful tools at his disposal he could rewrite?

This process took weeks. It took whatever shoddy bits and fragments of Zeref's soul away. He peered into the etchings of darkness he created for the sole purpose of killing himself, and whispered to them, "Now, you shall protect me as we fix this world."