Protection: A Fairy Tail Fanfiction

Chapter Nine: Conviction

"Friendship must never be buried under the weight of misunderstanding." - Sri Chinmoy

CHAPTER IX: Conviction

UNANIMOUSLY, it was decided that Zeref would go back with Natsu to his house. The flying, talking blue cat —seriously, Happy was blue—chirped about fish and Charle, the white talking cat-girl. He had an eccentric personality—not that Zeref was any better, or Natsu for that matter. He wondered if it was something that ran in the family. Natsu laughed occasionally at something Happy said, and snatched him out of the sky to run his fingers through his fur. Happy would purr during those occasions for a moment before he leapt out of Natsu's arms, bristling, and Natsu would laugh and Zeref would smile a little.

"Ah, it's such a beautiful night." Natsu said, stretching his arms toward the sky. The stars shone in his eyes and the soft smile on his face was different from the way he never seemed able to sit still. Zeref hummed in agreement. He felt calm. He was a little worried about what tomorrow would bring, but he knew that he could only deal with that when it came so he tried not to let it spoil his good mood.

"You seem happy." Happy snickered a little at his pun. Zeref allowed the smile that had been playing at the corners of his lips to form fully, and it must have taken the exceed off guard if the wide eyes were anything to go by.

"I am." He was more than happy, actually. For once, his past wrongs were not haunting him and Mavis had forgiven him, though he suspected she'd forgiven him a long time ago. He felt at peace with the world, and that was a strange feeling. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught Natsu smiling at him. "What?" He asked, turning his head a little so that he could catch his gaze. The smile widened.

"It's nothing. Just nice to see you so happy."

Zeref raised an eyebrow at the response and decided that it was time to... tease him a little about Lucy. That was something big brothers did, wasn't it?

"I saw you talking to Lucy earlier." Natsu's cheeks turned a little pink and Zeref smirked. "Are you ever going to confess you likeeeee her?"

"Have you been corrupting him, Happy?" Natsu groaned, sinking a little lower into his scarf. A laugh bubbled out of his throat to his surprise, but he decided to let it loose into the cool night air.

"Nope!" Happy shrieked gleefully, flying around Zeref's head. "Though it's really obvious. Except to you two apparently." Natsu made a swipe for the exceed, but Zeref snatched him out of the air and jumped out of the way.

"Don't blame him for stating the truth!" He tossed over his shoulder, and Natsu let out a frustrated groan. Happy giggled before he flew out of his arms, and Zeref subtly high-fived him.

"It's Mira then, isn't it?"

"A little," he admitted as he casually plopped his hands on his hips. Natsu crossed his arms, standing a little taller. They stared at each other for a moment before Happy began to laugh, and Zeref blinked. Natsu laughed then too, a little sheepishly, as he rubbed the back of his neck. "But seriously," he said, sobering a little. "I could see it from the very first moment I saw the two of you interact together. You're not that obvious, right? I mean, you're in Fairy Tail. You have Makarov and Cana and Macao and the chain-smoker to tell you all about that." He made a face. Natsu snorted, before he looked away from him.

"I was really kind of obvious about it for a while, I guess. But after the guild disbanded and got back together again, she's all I've been able to really think about. Well, before that really. I think I started to like her more than just a friend after her future self died in front of me..." He closed his eyes and shook his head. Zeref stayed silent, even though he wanted to ask what he meant by "future self." That probably would be something that was difficult to explain; time travel was a messy business anyway.