Protection: A Fairy Tail Fanfiction

Chapter Eleven: Reflection

"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." ― Friedrich Nietzsche

CHAPTER XI: Reflection

"BROTHERS, huh? That explains a lot."

Natsu's imaginary hackles raised at Gray's tone of voice, the instinctual urge to snap at him strong. Instead, he shoved his hands underneath his legs so that the popsicle couldn't see the way they clenched as he angled his body around to face him.

"Yeah? So?" He smacked his forehead with his hand mentally at the defensive tone. Idiot, he thought. Sometimes, he wondered if the reason they constantly thought was really because their personalities crashed with each other's, or if there was something more sinister behind it.

Like the fact that I'm END and he says he's going to slay END.

He shook the thought out of his head. He still hadn't entirely wrapped his head around it, probably wouldn't for a long time yet. Besides, that was before he even knew that he and Zeref were related, let alone siblings.

Gray stared at the drink he clutched between his whitening knuckles, as if that held the answers to the universe. A sigh escaped his lips. "END is an abbreviation of someone's name, isn't it?" Natsu tensed. While most of the people in the guild had left after the morning's events and anyone who had stayed were down in the basement with Zeref, he still didn't know if some of the people from the council were here.

Unconsciously, he ran his fingers over the tracking serum they had put into his system. It made him nervous, having it. He doubted it was good news.

"...Yes." He eventually admitted. He didn't look at him, couldn't really. He didn't want to watch the pieces of the puzzle fall into place, because he knew that he would work it out. There were many things Gray was—a bastard, obnoxious, cocky, a popsicle—but an idiot wasn't one of them. If anything, between the four of them, he was the best at connecting Point A to Point B to Point C.

"I'm pretty sure that the E stands for Eterious..." Gray said softly, and Natsu closed his eyes. "Eterious... N.D. It's said that END is a Fire demon... he also started a guild. A dark guild, granted, but a guild nonetheless. And guilds represent family and working together..." He couldn't help himself. He met Gray's gaze, watched the realization dawn in them slowly. "Zeref's last name is Dragneel, just like yours... Both of you must have been born over four hundred years ago. Something must have happened to you... otherwise he wouldn't have gone looking for a way to create demons... wouldn't have cursed himself... And he's so protective of you now. You must have died." His eyebrows furrowed together. Natsu looked down.

"A fire." He said softly. "Zeref says it was from a fire. I think our parents weren't around either—he talks about a teacher a lot."

Gray let out a small gasp that he would have teased him for and started a fight over in any other circumstance. As it was, it took everything he had not to stand up and flee. He wasn't ready to face the condemnation of... a frienemy.

"END... your name is Natsu Dragneel." He was too nervous to say "way to state the obvious, princess" even though he thought it. "You're a fire mage, an incredibly powerful one." He would have preened at the indirect compliment at any other time. "In fact, some people say that you're almost inhuman... a monster, or maybe even a demon."

He flinched at the two words that'd been directed at him for so many years. They'd always bothered him. It must have been the final confirmation that Gray needed, and Natsu figured that he might as well offer up what he knew as a peace offering. While he did enjoy fighting, he really wasn't in the mood for a duel to the death, especially against someone he thought as one of his closest frienemies. (Well, technically, Gray was his only frienemy but he ignored that bit.)