Behind Me (Relationship Between Natsu and Zeref)

Chapter 5

The next day arrived much earlier than Zeref wanted. He wasn't ready for the fight at least not mentally. Sure he had been training full on for weeks since his mother had used Natsu as leverage over him but that didn't change the fact that Zeref couldn't bear to fight him. Now he only had a few hours before he'd be thrown out into the forest to go up against Natsu.
"Z-Zeref?" Natsu awoke groggily. "Why are you up so early?"

"Silly." Zeref grinned at Natsu. "It's the big day and you know what they say early bird gets the worm." No matter what he thought he had to stay positive for Natsu's sake.

"Then I need to get going!" Natsu squealed. He jumped out of his bed as his sheets went flying across the room but before they could hit the ground a gust of air flew them back to the bed.

"Natsu? Did you do that?"

"Yeah, Daddy's been teaching me some elemental magic. I'm not very good at wind stuff but he says I'm great with fire."

"Elemental uh. How's he teaching you that?"

"I dunno he reads something out of a books and I copy him. Is that wrong?"

"No, no it just means your really smart." Zeref ruffled Natsu's bright pink hair. "Come on I'll race you downstairs!"

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The wind made the golden field sway as Zeref and Natsu stood at opposite ends. Natsu had the look of determination that he could do whatever he wanted, Zeref on the other hand did his best to hide his uneasiness. Not far away Zeref's mother chided him for all of his possible mistakes. A flare was sent off between the two brothers and the fight began.

Natsu ran forward towards Zeref. Zeref turned and ran into the woods behind him. Zig-zagging through the trees Zeref narrowly dodging the bursts of magic Natsu sent flying his way.

"Come on Zeref attack back!" His mother shouted from somewhere behind him. The thing was is that Zeref had panicked. As soon as the flare we nt off something had changed in Natsu's eyes. They were no longer the dark green that Zeref always saw laughing, instead they took on a red tinge like the battle was no longer for fun. 

Zeref was now terrified and his heart was pounding at an alarming rate. As he gained a little distance he spotted the tree with the large hole in the middle of it. With all of the energy he had left he dove into the tree.

What am I going to do? Zeref thought. Natsu looks like he wants to kill me. What happened? This morning he was laughing. Zeref was shaking as he crouched low in the tree. Outside he could hear the Natsu's pounding feet as he got closer to the tree. Mother!

With his anxiety leading up to the fight he complete forgot about his mother's threat. She must have done something to him that's the only possible explanation.

Zeref waited until Natsu got closer to him and then with the majority of his ability he transported them back to the field. Both of them fell into the golden grass and Natsu looked around dazed. For a split second Zeref thought he saw the green return, but the red came right back as Natsu quickly collected himself.

"Come on Zeref let's play." Natsu sneered.

At every attack Zeref had little chance to defend. He didn't know what to do it was obvious that sooner or later he would run out of magic power. He thought. He would have to break his promise with Natsu and use the spell. He gathered what was left of his magic energy and a dark violet globe began to gather around his finger tips. The globe grew and consumed his hand. Just as he was about to fire Natsu dropped.

Zeref shot the energy ball towards the trees and ran to Natsu screaming his name. Tears flew off his face he didn't know what happened but he knew it wasn't good. Natsu was pale and Zeref could barely feel a pulse.

"Well that's finally over." his father yawned. "I'm disappointed in you Zeref I thought you would've done better than that."

"What did you do?!" Zeref shouted clutching to Natsu.

"Honey why don't you take Natsu back to the house? He'll need a bit of care." his mother said to his father. Before Zeref could protest Natsu was cradled in his father's arms being carried back to the house.

"What did you do? Why did you do it?" Zeref screamed at his mother.

"Simple, to teach you a lesson." she replied calmly.

"His eyes were red, he wasn't himself. And then, then he just fell." 

"Yes the red eyes were unexpected but pleasing to see. Means he's a fighter." His mother chuckled to herself. "Now the fall was my doing as I'm sure you guessed. The why? Simple your weak."

"So what he's your son, my little brother. I didn't want to hurt him." Zeref was seething. He knew that his mother was cruel but this took it to far.

"Point being what." his mother finally raised her voice. "In case you haven't noticed there are things out there a lot bigger than yourself and you can't coddle every weakling you see. You need to toughen up or become dragon meat." With that his mother headed back towards the house. "And one more thing if you use that spell in front of your father again I will personally end you." Then she was gone into the house.

Zeref plopped down on the grass and cried. He didn't understand her at all. What was the point of living if he couldn't protect life, if he couldn't protect Natsu. But, could he? Sure his mother had meant it as a threat but he knew now that the only way to save Natsu was to find a dragon.  

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I don't know how to feel about this chapter. I had this amazing idea for it, but then school happened and I couldn't get it all down. Let me know what you think :)