The bonds of the soul

Chapter 4: Explanations

Looking at the two boys as well as the exceed, Zeref realised that they must have thought that he was here to hurt the woman that was hiding herself behind the ice-make wizard. 
"It seems you have jumped to the wrong conclusion seeing as I am not here to hurt her nor am I here to hurt you three. In fact I am actually here to help you out and visit an old friend" Zeref said as he looked at the gravestone of Lucy's mother. 
"Y-Y-You knew, knew Mama?" Lucy asked though she didn't remove herself from behind Gray. 
"Yes I knew Layla just as I know who you are, Lucy Heartfielia, Natsu Dragneel and Gray Fullbuster. You are all powerful mages that I have been watching over, then of course there is Happy Dragneel who is...let's say different from the other exceeds" Zeref commented as he looked them all over. 
"Why have you been watching over us? Why bother with us?" Natsu demanded as he drew Zeref's attention back to himself as he saw Lucy shifting uncomfortably. 
"To explain why I am watching over you Natsu I will have to start a long time ago as for why I am watching over Lucy and Gray it is simple. Gray has the potential to become an Ice demon slayer just like his father and I have been watching Lucy because she is a summoner" said Zeref. 
"I-I'm only a c-c-celestial wizard" Lucy whispered. 
"What do you mean just like my father? My father died years ago when one of your demons destroyed my village" scowled Gray. 
"Hm I see neither of you have realised or been told, then I suggest we find a place to sit down because this is going to be a long explanation" Zeref said and the three of them looked at each other while Happy flew into Lucy's arms to make sure she was fine. 
"We can go inside since no one lives here at the moment but you will follow a few rules got it?" Natsu demanded with a glare and Zeref nodded. 
"You are not to be within ten steps of Lucy, you will never stand or be behind Lucy and lastly you will not look at Lucy for too long unless she has told you it is okay" said Natsu and Zeref looked at them curiously but nodded his concent before they headed into the Heartfielia cozen. Once they were inside Lucy led them to a sitting room and sat on a two seater couch by herself with Happy still in her arms while Natsu and Gray sat on a three seated next to Lucy's couch and Zeref sat on a single lounge chair. 
"First why don't you explain how and why you have been watching me" Natsu said and Zeref nodded with a sigh. 
"Very well, this tale starts over 400 years ago when I was born, I was born as Zeref Dragneel to kind and loving parents and soon enough my brother was born, he was named Natsu Dragneel. I loved my little brother more then anything else in this world therefore I was devestated when I lost both my parents and little brother to a dragons rage. In my grief and anger I dove into dark magic and I managed to bring my brother back this time he was known as Ethenious Natsu Dragneel or E.N.D and he was the first demon that I managed to make. Unfortunately it was not for free seeing as I was then curse because of what I had done, the more I care about something the more potent my magic became and it lashed out at anything and everything, killing whatever it touched" Zeref said and the three wizards and exceeds sat in shock as they tried to process what they had just been told. 
"So you're saying that Natsu-" Gray started but trailed off. 
"That he is my little brother, yes. That he is a demon, well he is only partly demon he is also part human and part dragon. I gave you to Igneel to be raised and so that you could one day be strong enough to verse Arcnologia and destroy him since only dragon slayers stand a chance at defeating him" said Zeref. 
"So me, Wendy and Gajeel we were all raised and taught dragon slaying so that we would be able to defeat Acnologia" Natsu said. 
"Correct, of course me and the dragons that raised you all hoped that we would be able to destroy Acnologia so that you would be able to be raised as a normal child but unfortunately that did not happen" Zeref sighed. 
"W-What did you, you m-mean about me b-b-being a summoner?" Lucy asked to change the subject since they all were sitting in silence not sure what to say. 
"Most people see people that summon celestial spirits as celestial wizards and in some cases that is true but in other cases they are actually what is known as summoners. They have the magical abilities to not only summon celestial spirits but also summon other beings such as beasts, fairies, creatures and even demons if they have the right tools and have proven themselves to the thing that they are summoning" Zeref explained to them. 
"D-Demons?" Lucy asked hesitantly. 
"Yes, to summon one of the demons you would need their book which most are stored with my library since I was the one to create them but some of them have managed to get out by themselves and been punished much like Deliora who is still suffering" Zeref said. 
"What do you mean 'still suffering' my teacher killed that monster" growled Gray. 
"I hate to be the one that tells you this to you but Deliora did not die but he will not be giving anyone any trouble, when your teacher melted and flowed into the ocean so did Deliora and he will spend his undying life in the ocean being punished for what he has done" Zeref said making Gray to sit there stunned, not sure how he should feel about this. 
"Demon books? L-Like this one?" Lucy asked as she reached into the bag that she had been travelling with and pulled out the book that she had been given when she finished her job. 
"Exactly like that one, that is the book that belongs to Natsu or it will if he fully embraces his demon side since he has only half embraced his demon nature hence why he has the black tattoos" Zeref said as he looked at the book with longing in his eyes. Seeing the way his eyes shone in sadness Lucy got up while still holding Happy she walked over to Zeref and held the book out for him to take. 
"It, it must b-be important to you" Lucy whispered. 
"Ah thank you" Zeref said taking the book but he made sure that he didn't touch the girl at all and as soon as Lucy let go of the book she retreated to her seat. Once there she pulled Happy up to her face so she could hide her face in his fur. 
"It's okay Lushee, you're okay he won't come near you" Happy said as he hugged her back. 
"What happened with Lucy? The last time I saw her she was headstrong and happy but now she is terrified and sad" said Zeref. 
"It's none of your business, explain exactly what you meant about my father" growled Gray with a glare making Zeref nod. 
"You believe your father is dead and I suppose that you would be correct in thinking that but at the same time he is not. One of the demons that I created over the years named Khey's is what you people would call a necromancer, he can use the dead as his puppets. He just so happened to find your Father's body and decided to try and bring your father back as his puppet. Since your father has a strong will he was able to be revived and he soon learnt ice demon slaying so that he would be able to kill any of my demons if they got in his way. I believe he is driven by his need to get revenge on Deliora since he believes both you and your mother died in the attack" Zeref explained. 
"You mean that my father is alive, but being control by one of your demons?" Gray snarled as frost started to roll off him as he glared heatedly at Zeref. Unfortunately this made Lucy start to tremble and she soon slid over the back of the couch to hide while Happy tried to get her to calm down. 
"It's okay Lushee, he isn't mad at you it's okay" Happy tried but the blonde girl didn't listen as she tried to hold her sobs in as she remembered what had happened to her the day before. 
"Gray, I will warn you only once, get your emotions under control or get out" Natsu growled, his eyes narrowed as he stood up to his friend. 
"Natsu he-" Gray started. 
"I know, don't think I don't understand after all he has just told me that not only am I his brother but I am also a third demon but you are frightening Luce so take a deep breath and calm down now" Natsu warned and Gray nodded before moving away from the couches while he took a few deep breaths before letting them out and he began to calm down. 
"Hey it's okay now Luce, Gray won't ever hurt you after all I am not going to let anyone hurt you ever again" Natsu said as he walked over to Lucy to cocex her out of her hiding place. 
"You have my word that I will make sure that Khey's let's your father rest in peace, I did not expect my demons to do the things that they have done" Zeref sighed. 
"What do you mean? You created them and they are demons, what did you expect them to do?" Gray asked. 
"Each demon that I created was different and each of them have a power source, their books but they were not created for destruction at least not like you think. Each of my demons were created for one purpose and that purpose was for them to kill me" Zeref said, getting all of their attention. 
"Wait, you wanted them to kill you?" Happy asked since he was the only one that seemed to be able to get his mouth to work. 
"Yes, I am over 400 years old and nothing can kill me, not even Acnologia and no matter what I do I keep killing everything around me therefore I created my demons to try and kill me but even they failed. Over the years that they have been alive some of them have grown in power like Deliora, Lullaby and Mard Geer and decided to start on their own paths thinking it was what I wanted. Since Deliora and Lullaby have been punished and I will be dealing with Mard Geer soon enough you do not need to worry about my demons anymore" Zeref said as he got up and started to head to the doors. 
"Where are you going?" Natsu questioned as Lucy finally sat on the couch again. 
"I have been here too long, if I don't leave now my power will lash out and there is no guarantee that you would be able to survive therefore I must leave quickly" Zeref answered. 
"Your not going to stick around so we can talk more? Or even explain our different abilities to us?" Gray asked with a frown as he looked at the black tattoo on his arm that he now knew was from the ability to be a demon slayer. 
"I will send you books about your different abilities through a reliable source but for now I must, take care of yourselves hopefully next time we meet we will be able to speak more and Lucy is feeling better" said Zeref before he left. When they followed him to the door to see if they could see him, Zeref was already gone, seeming to have disappeared somehow. 
"What do you guys think?" Natsu asked, looking at his pseudo family. 
"I don't know what to think everything he said is just kind of bouncing around my head" sighed Gray as he subconsciously stripped down to his boxers. 
"I think we can trust him" Lucy said as she picked up Gray's clothes and they looked at her. 
"Think about it, why would Zeref approach us to spin some fantasy about our abilities and family? He wouldn't after all he risked getting into a fight or even killing us by accident" Lucy said and they nodded. 
"Maybe he wanted that book that he said was Natsu's book" Happy pointed out. 
"If that was the case though he would have just killed us and taken the book after all if he is powerful enough to create things like Deliora and Lullaby then he would be able to kill us easily" Natsu said with a frown. 
"Perhaps we should head to the closest town and book a hotel room for the night so that we can all just think it over and then we can choose what to do" Lucy managed to get out without stuttering but her voice was still soft like she was whispering. 
"Good idea Luce let's get going" Natsu beamed. With their minds made up they headed to the train station to head to the nearest town to rest for the night. None of them knew what was going to happen next or if it would be bad or good but one thing that they all knew was that things were bound to get more interesting than they already were.