Fire, Blood and Stars

Chapter 18

A/N To all of you- I was in a bit of a slump, so this chapter took so much time. You would seriously have not gotten this chapter for around another week if pxstelix had not written 50 comments through 18 chapters. Be grateful, people!

"I still think it's a horrible idea", muttered Gray, as they got on the boat.

"Oh, shush. It's gonna be fine."

"He's a dark mage! We can't bring him to the guild!"

"He's a guild member, you dumbass!"

"He murdered a lot of people! He created monsters!"

"Um, would you two mind not talking about me as if I'm not here?"

Both Erza and Gray looked back to their semi-reluctant passenger, who looked like he was on the verge of running away. Matters weren't helped by Gray's insistence that Zeref was evil.

"Hang on a second!" burst out Gray, concentration now shifting to Zeref. "How the hell did someone like you become a Fairy Tail member?!"

A corner of the dark wizard's mouth lifted up into a wry smile. He lifted up his hand, showcasing an ornate ring, with the guild mark embellished on it.

"I happen to be the legally wedded husband of the first guild master, Mavis, you know? Believe it!"

You could have fit several elephants inside Gray's mouth, with how wide it was. Thankfully, no one tried it.

Gray looked unflinchingly at the dark mage's face. "Let's bring everyone to the boat", he finally said. "Then, you will tell me everything."

Natsu was trying ridiculously hard not to explode. No one would give him a ride to Galuna Island. That wasn't necessarily a bad thing, it would have been a pain either way, but, on top of that, they wouldn't even give him directions! Natsu would have thought they would be happy to get rid of him.

That is, until he met a fisherman, who told him that the people living there turned into demons.

Then he understood.

If a normal, non-magical person became a fearsome demon on going to the island, what would a person like him become? A dragon?

After being rejected more times than Wakaba got in bars (Wakaba was accepted at least once, by his wife), Natsu got an idea.

Do you guys remember the Lullaby incident? More specifically, the fact that it ended with Lullaby jumping into Natsu's bag? Yes? Good.

Natsu went to a secluded area and brought out the flute. He shook it a few times until its eyes started glowing.

"Who dares- Oh, Lord Dragneel! What happened, sir?" the flute asked meekly.

Natsu shook his head. "Why do you call me Lord Dragneel?"

Lullaby spoke hopefully, "Because Grand-uncle Dragneel makes you seem too old?"

For Natsu, that raised more questions than it answered. He resolved to get the whole thing out of the flute after rescuing Happy. For now, he had to focus.

"Can you sense demons?" he asked.

Lullaby grinned, which looked creepy. "Yes, of course! What do you take me for, some kind of horny imp?!"

Natsu frowned. "Horny?"

"It's the word dad used to describe idiots! It obviously means little demons with horns!"

Natsu nodded sagely. "Ah, yes, of course. That should have been obvious. Now, tell me, can you sense any humans that have turned into demons?"

Lullaby closed his eyes in intense concentration. After a moment, he opened his eyes and looked at Natsu gloomily.

"There are no humans being turned into monsters near to us." Then, he perked up slightly. "But there are some monsters being turned into people!"

Natsu shook his head. "Why do you think I would need demons turning into humans?"

Lullaby looked up with puppy dog eyes (which did not go well on a skull). "Because they're similar?"

"Really? Because to me, it sounds like they are exactly the opposite." Natsu thought a bit. "Do you know where Galuna Island is?"

"The place where uncle Deli is?" Lullaby looked both excited and scared at the prospect.

"Uncle Deli?" It would not be a pleasant surprise if they met another monster.

"Yeah! Uncle Deli! He's the one that influenced me to become a death flute! Although", he said, becoming a bit gloomy, "The way he went about it was not so good."

Natsu wasn't the least bit curious, but he had learned after years of research that you should let people say what they need to say, or they keep getting obsessed with it.

"How did he go about it?"

"He told me my music was so horrible that people would die from listening to it."

Natsu couldn't help but laugh at that. Lucy really was rubbing off on him. Then he became serious.

"Take me there."

Lullaby looked thoughtful. "How? It is an island."

Natsu cocked his head to the side. "We swim."

Lullaby cocked his head in the opposite direction. "I'm made of wood. I can't swim."

"Then. Stay. In. The. Bag!"

If Lullaby had had a tongue, he would have stuck it out.

Meanwhile, on the bot, Erza and Gray were listening intently to Zeref's story.

"I was born around four hundred years ago. I had loving parents, and a little brother who looked up to me. We were not a mage family, until I found a source of magic. Pure magic. And I learned how to use it. I vowed to become the best magic user in history.

When I was sixteen years old, there was a skirmish between two dragons near the town. One of them, I gather, had been created by a dark guild, Bloody Fang, by mutating a dragon. Anyway, after the fight, they lay there injured, and some townspeople got the brilliant idea to burn the to death. To burn a dragon to death!

Obviously, the dragons were not harmed in the slightest. They, along with many more dragons, attacked the town in retaliation. Everybody except my brother and me died. I had to use a lot of my magic to save my brother, and then I had to leave. If I hadn't, I would have collapsed, and he would have been killed.

Two of the dragons took him in and trained him.

Then, a few years later, I heard that one of the most powerful dragons had been taken over by Bloody Fang, and I arranged for my brother to be taken into the future. Then, I attended a school of magic, where I learnt how to control it. I prolonged my life in an attempt to see my brother again. It was here that I learnt how to manipulate life and death.

Several centuries later, I met Mavis. We immediately clicked. Sometime later, she brought some of her friends with her, so that I could teach them magic, which I did.

But then, one of them meddled with a forbidden magic. Yuri Dreyar. He couldn't control it, and ended up killing Mavis.

I used every single thing I had learnt to resurrect her. She did come to life, but as a demon. And I was cursed with immortality and bringing about death, as I had violated the laws of life and death.

She was the only one my curse didn't affect. After a few years, we got married. Neither of us could have children, so we only had each other. We were happy."

After listening to the story, Erza had tears in the corners of her eyes. Gray asked, "Where is Mavis now?"

Zeref smiled. "Ah. Well, as long as I live, she can't die. So I know that she is alive. We were both looking for my brother. Two years ago, she had a vision that my brother would go to an island where one of my demons is staying now." Zeref grinned.

"So, let's set sail for Galuna Island, shall we?"