"If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy." - James Madison

CHAPTER X: Confrontation

ZEREF stared at the pants.

"You put them on." Happy supplied helpfully.

He narrowed his eyes at the flying blue cat (exceed), tempted to throw the clothing at his large head. He knew what they were for; he just didn't understand why he would have to wear them. Happy munched on a silver fish.

"Are you always like this?" he wondered out loud, wishing he knew where Natsu was. Happy's fish stunk. Happy nodded with a wide smile.

"Pretty much, basically. Yeah."

He rolled his eyes and ran his fingers over the shirt. It was short sleeved—similar to the t-shirts some westerners were so fond of, except that it had a collar on it. Or sleeves. And it wasn't even fifty degrees outside.

"Does he think I like being freezing cold?" He mumbled, frowning at the shirt. That rotten cat snickered.

"You walk around in bed linens on a daily basis."

He wrinkled his nose at him. "They're warm bed linens though." He shook the shirt out and draped it over his shoulder. "Do you know if he keeps any coats or something?"

"He has the one Gray left. I think he's wearing the one Lushee bought him."

"Why would he...?" He shook his head, deciding that he really didn't want to know why Gray had left his coat here. He assumed it had something to do with his stripping problem. (Though he had no idea why he would come over here in the first place... unless it was to goad Natsu. Actually, that made sense.) "Never mind. Thanks Happy."

Swiftly, he stepped into the bathroom (which was surprisingly clean) and pulled the toga over his head. He caught the scars on his back and arms reflected back at him, and nearly flinched from the reminder. There were so many things he'd done wrong... so many things he would never be able to right. He may have been forgiven for what he'd done, but there were still consequences... He doubted any of them would fully trust him, not even Natsu.

Then again, he didn't trust himself.

Get your head out of the clouds, Zeref. He scolded himself with a shake of his head. You have to pay attention to what's going on today, and not. slip. up. Otherwise you'll condemn Fairy Tail as well.

After he slid into the shirt and the pants, he took a deep breath and looked at himself in the mirror. Black hair and piercing brown eyes stared back at him. The reflection reached up and touched his cheek when he raised his hand and touched his own cheek. Sometimes, it amazed he still looked human. There was nothing there that would tell someone of the monster hidden within him... Nothing at all.

He turned the facet on, letting the cool water run over his hands. It didn't turn red. He breathed in deeply and closed his eyes, bent over the sink and splashed it over his face. The cold woke him up, and he shivered. He dried his face off with the toga before he grabbed the coat and walked out the door.

"Finally!" Happy complained. "You take even longer than Lucy."

He hid a smile behind his hand. "I wasn't that long."

________________________

Zeref stepped into the guild, the normal chatter caressing his ears. Mavis smiled at him before she focused entirely on Makarov, her eyes serious. Serious, but cheerful. She was quite cheerful, wasn't she?

He slid into his usual seat next to Natsu, trying to ignore the way he ate his chicken drumsticks whole, bone and all. There were some things he really, really didn't want to understand – and that was one of them. He propped his elbows on the table and rested his head on his arms, breathing in slowly and exhaling to steady his nerves.

"Nervous?" That was Lucy's voice. It sounded sympathetic, and he nodded. "Natsu, would you stop eating like – oh, that's gross." He could see her wrinkling her nose up in his mind. Fingers tapped the back of his head and he bolted upright. Mirajane looked apologetic as she pushed eggs and a milkshake in front of him.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to startle you."

He shook his head and gave her a rueful smile. "No, it's okay. I'm just jumpy. Thank you, Mira."

She gave him a double-take before she smiled at him, big and wide, and turned back toward the kitchen. He took a small bite out of the eggs and savored the flavor on his tongue before he caught the wide-eyed look of wonder on Natsu's face. "What?" He asked around the egg, shoveling more into his mouth as his stomach finally made his brain realize just how hungry he was.

"You didn't sniff at your food and you called her Mira instead of Mirajane."

"Um... I don't understand?" He gulped the egg down and took a sip of the chocolate milkshake. Blagh, he thought with a shudder. Note to self: Chocolate and eggs do not mix well together. Ick. "Doesn't everyone else call Mirajane Mira?"

"Well, yes but... you don't."

He frowned slightly. "Wait, I'm not supposed to call her Mira?"

"No, it's not that— it's just. It's weird? I don't know. I just never thought I'd hear you say it."

He stared at Natsu. Natsu gulped down his hot, jalapeño-drenched coffee.

"It's just a bit strange coming from you," Lucy explained when Natsu didn't speak up again. She was sitting on his other side, writing again. Her fingers were stained with ink already when she looked up and met his eyes. How is she always writing? "We don't expect you to call us by a nickname, since you're always so formal when you talk."

"Ah." He said, pretending to understand her. He waved his chopstick around as if he was about to say something, then dropped it back into the eggs. "Don't worry Lucy. I'll be back to normal tomorrow. I'm just trying to pretend my stomach isn't about to collapse on itself right now."

She chuckled. "Better stick to doing that."

This time, he was the one who was gaping at the side of her head as she absorbed herself with whatever she was writing again. He turned to Natsu and gestured at her, silently asking Did she just make a joke? Natsu shrugged, but the smile on his lips told Zeref he knew something more about her slightly more relaxed mood.

Huh. That was something he would have to look into later.

"Hey, is that a fox bite?" Someone asked, the youngest member – Romeo, right? His dark eyes were fixed on the scar on his right shoulder. Zeref automatically covered it with his hand before he dropped it and smiled ruefully.

"It is. I got it when I was your age. At least, before I was cursed. Don't try to pet fox cubs – the mother is very ... protective of them." He winced, remembering the burning pain that ran up and down his arm for days, despite Natsu's careful bandaging and the painkillers their teacher had given them. Natsu snorted suddenly, and he looked at him.

"You're not kidding." He swiveled his chair around and rolled up his pants, revealing a similar mark on his calf. "Wish I'd known that when I was a kid. I think Igneel panicked more than I was when I showed it to him."

"Ouch." He winced. "Those things hurt too, and I'd been training under a sadistic mage for—"

BOOM BOOM BOOM

Zeref jumped about a foot in the air at the loud banging noise that echoed through the hall, choking on the milkshake as it went up his throat and entered his nose. He clapped a hand over his nostrils as the burning inside of his sinuses made his eyes sting. Silence fell over the hall in a split second, conversation dying at once. As soon as he was sure that he wasn't about to sneeze milkshake out, he exhaled slowly.

He was pretty sure that that wasn't normal. Lucy had even stopped scribbling words down on those sheets of lined paper, which he was half convinced only happened when someone either talked directly at her or the end of the world had arrived.

Gajeel walked toward the doors with a disgruntled look on his face and pulled them wide open. Zeref gulped back the lump in his throat at the small army of soldiers that stood outside the walls.

And... this was all because they caught wind of Zeref staying in a guild. Because I saved Natsu's life.

Not that he would regret it, ever. By now, he knew that Natsu could have probably figured out how to protect himself and Lucy, but it had opened up the door to finally get to know his little brother again ... finally opened the doors up to a small light of redemption for even some of the wrongs he'd done. He'd been able to see Mavis again.

So, no. He'd never regret saving Natsu's life, though he did regret bringing the fury of the magic council upon Fairy Tail. It seemed like for every action he took, a consequence always followed it, whether or not the action he did was good or bad.

"What's going on?" Someone eventually asked loudly, piercing through the tension – the small girl, the daughter of the sharpshooters. He crossed his fingers behind his back, hoping that that would be enough for them to look like they had not in fact been informed that the magic council would be here today (except without the bang), hoping that they would not look at him twice. He breathed deeply, nearly jumping out of his skin when Natsu squeezed his shoulder before standing up.

A toad-like creature stepped forward, unrolling an important-looking scroll. Zeref barely caught himself from rolling his eyes at just how ancient the scroll was – it had been considered out of date before he was even born.

"On the twenty-seventh day of November, we of the king's men have arrived here today on account of suspicions of Zeref's occupation in one of the fourteen light guilds in the Fiore kingdoms... blah blah blah... please compel with the officials... don't fight... blah blah blah..."

He tried to pay attention, he really did. His problem was that he'd never been able to listen whenever someone started to just drone on and on in that tone of voice. It was the most surefire way to make him zone out. He'd never liked wasting his time on stupid people, and that was just something that had only increased over time. His leg bounced until Lucy leaned behind Natsu and smacked his arm.

Eventually, the Toad stepped away with a final flourish and bowed. He nearly scoffed at how ridiculous it was —they were Fairy Tail mages, none of them cared about formalities. The soldiers marched forward in an almost eerie sync. They almost didn't look human to him – more... robotic, and that made Zeref a little nervous. There was one thing to march in sync; it was another thing entirely to move forward without any expression and stiff movement.

They sat down at four tables without invitation, setting out their papers and scanners. The Toad stepped forward again, unraveling his scroll.

"By order of the king, we are here to inject serums into each mage for tracking in case of national emergency..."

Zeref's stomach plummeted even as his mind raced fifty miles an hour. He knew what this was—he'd seen it in action before, when he was a child ... The soldiers had come, demanding each mage to be injected with a tracking device. Five years later, each mage had been called to duty into the Imperial Army to fight off invaders, but in reality they'd been attacking other nations.

They weren't here for him – he'd bet an arm and a leg that saying that he was hidden in a guild was just an excuse to distribute these serums into the entire magical population. He stood carefully, not missing the way Natsu stared at him in confusion.

"Why would King Fiore need to be able to track us?" Makarov asked, stilling him. He was suspicious too – then he wanted to smack himself for feeling the need to go up to him. Makarov wasn't stupid – in fact, he was probably quite cunning. "Part of the reason why there are guilds is so that we can assimilate quickly in case of a state of emergency and act as a barrier between the civilians and the invaders."

It is? He thought.

"The huns have been promising to invade for years, and we've recently gathered intelligence that they are planning to kidnap and target mages. We wish to minimize that risk."

Bullshit. It was surprisingly fierce, and it sounded suspiciously like his teacher's voice. But it was the truth. The huns had been promising to invade each country for as long as he could remember. It wasn't old news. And mages could take care of themselves. Perhaps not like his teacher who he'd seen slay a bear with her own two hands, but they were certainly not easy to kill or kidnap. Mages in a guild were even more so, since they were used to constantly being aware of dangers thanks to the missions they took.

But... somehow, he got the feeling that even if they voiced their thoughts about the matter, they would not listen. Makarov must have had the same thought processes as he did, because he nodded slowly. He didn't look happy, at all.

"Very well."

The Toad cleared his throat. "Dragneel, Natsu. Dresier, Laxus. Fullbuster, Gray. Heartfilia, Lucy."

Zeref shot him a frantic look, but Natsu only smiled at him and squeezed his shoulder, whispering a "Don't do anything stupid." before he marched up to the table. He knew instantly that this wasn't going to be a short process when the soldiers began to riffle through the papers and tablets.

"You're going to have to lie, Zeref. And lie good." Mavis' tone was serious as she sat down on the countertop. He looked up at her. "There's a fifty-fifty chance you'll be able to convince them that you're a new member—"

"I am new." He reminded her. "I joined yesterday."

She rolled her eyes. "Don't tell them that you joined yesterday. That'll set off alarm bells. You need a name."

"Spriggan?" He tapped his chin, but he was only half joking. She laughed.

"You're not very ugly." She said, and his lips twitched up at the gentle reminder. Her foot brushed against the white mark on his shoulder, cool but somehow still solid. "Why Spriggan?"

"It was a nickname." The table Natsu was at suddenly lit up like bonfire, and his smile widened slightly. He wondered what had happened, though he didn't want to be on the receiving end of Makarov's Money-Induced Ire. "My brother gave it to me."

"Natsu, right?" He peeked up at her through his fringe, and her smile was beaming. "It's kind of hard to get much past me. That, and you mentioned your brother's name was Natsu once. It wasn't hard to put two and two together. You two look alike, especially when you're laughing." Her smile softened, and he looked away.

"It feels so strange sometimes. Part of me still thinks I'm dreaming."

She hummed as four more mages were called forward. Happy curled up on his lap, and he scratched him behind his ear.

"Well, I can pinch you, if you want?"

He moved away. "No, thank you." He said politely, making sure her fingers were no where near his arm. "Please keep your claws to yourself, ma'am."

She hugged him against her chest, her lips brushing against the side of his head before she glided away, back over to Makarov. He watched her go as Natsu plopped down next to him, rubbing his arm.

"Those things hurt," he grumbled. Zeref yanked his eyes away from her long hair. "Like seriously. Did they have to inject the which-you-ma-call-it so hard?"

"Didn't you set a table on fire though?" He said thoughtfully. "That may have been why."

"No. That was when they insulted Igneel." He raised his nose into the air. "That was after they put the stupid stuff into my arm."

Lucy slumped down on Zeref's other side, taking the forgotten milkshake and gulping about half of what was left down. She grimaced, rubbing the mustache off with her sleeve.

"At least you didn't get some pervert who tried to stare down your shirt when he injected the serum." She said, running her hands through her hair, over her blouse. "I haven't had something like that happen to me in a while either. I don't know why I encouraged it when I was younger..."

"He what?" Natsu hissed, standing up. Lucy reached out and snagged onto his jacket, wheeling him back in.

"Whoa there, cowboy. Don't start any fights—we don't want to agitate them. Besides, I handled it."

Zeref moved as close as his seat allowed to Natsu. "She's scary enough normally. I can't imagine what she did to someone who genuinely ticked her off."

Natsu sat back down. "Did you Lucy Kick them?"

"I only save that for when you break into my apartment." She answered right off the bat. "I haven't actually planned any payback yet. I was thinking about calling Jason and having him right an article..."

He shivered. "Your girlfriend is terrifying." He muttered under his breath, knowing Natsu would be able to hear him. Happy twitched and snored, reminding him that he was still in his lap.

"She's not my girlfriend." Natsu replied.

"Yet." Lucy added, throwing a wink at Natsu. To his delight, he turned bright red and buried his chin underneath that dragon-scaled scarf.

_______________________

Eventually, the names reached "V" and the guy who did the weird dancing magic was finally called, indicating that he was the last one on the list. There was nothing Natsu or Lucy or Mirajane could do to calm the way butterflies made his stomach flip-flop. As three soldiers walked through the crowds up to him, Zeref carefully adopted a poker face to hide the terror that was making him feel a little sick.

"Name?" The man in the middle asked, his face blank and professional. Zeref clasped his hands together to hide the way they shook. Short. Keep it short. Don't elaborate.

"Spriggan."

"Last name too."

It fell off his tongue before he could stop himself. "Dragneel." He caught the look of surprise before the blank professionalism masked his face again. Natsu didn't react.

"Are you related to Natsu Dragneel?" Obviously, he thought. He could read the silent not another Dragneel in his eyes. Zeref only nodded. "Relationship to Natsu Dragneel?"

"I'm—"

"He's my brother." Natsu interrupted, voice calm. Zeref couldn't quite control the urge to look at him in surprise. Why would he...? The man didn't even look at him, his eyes fixed on Zeref's. He cleared his throat.

"I'm his brother." He confirmed softly, still trying to understand why Natsu would say that. It was one thing to talk to him; another entirely to admit that they were siblings. If they found out that he really was... The soldier tapped on his screen, held it up and he heard the click of a picture being taken. He breathed through his nose.

"Magic?"

"Healing." He answered automatically. After all, that had been the magic he had been trained in— that was the magic that had led him down the path of darkness. His teacher would have been furious with him if she'd known how much he'd distorted a once pure magic. The soldier lifted his head, raising a perfectly kept eyebrow.

"Isn't that a lost magic?" He nodded silently. Technically, it was, and he knew that if he Googled it up, he would get a blank search. The soldier stared at him before his eyes narrowed ever so slightly. Uh-oh. He doesn't believe me. "Prove it."

"I beg your pardon?" He stalled. Natsu tensed next to him.

"Prove to me you can heal. Cut your hand open and heal it." Zeref's eyes narrowed slightly. Cut myself? He thought. The idea of drawing his own blood on purpose made him a little sick to the stomach. "It's said that a true healer can heal him or herself."

He pressed his lips together before he slipped out his pocketknife. Part of him wondered if he would be able to get away with stabbing the man in the shoulder and running far, far away from Fairy Tail. The other part of his head worried that his curse would creep back into the back of his mind and eat at whatever sanity he had left.

"Spriggan..." Natsu sounded worried, and he flashed him a thin-lipped smile.

"It's okay. After all..." He slid the sharp blade over the base of his palm, cringing at the pain. "A healer knows how to fix his mistakes." He glared at the soldier, who, to his satisfaction, gulped.

His eyes closed as he focused inward, remembering his teacher's words in his head. Center yourself in the natural world, Zeref, before you look for your core. He anchored most of his presence with Fairy Tail, clutching the chair with the hand that wasn't bleeding. And he searched, diving deep down, carving through the ugly dark taint of the curse that suffocated that warmth.

And then he touched it.

Warmth exploded through him, like liquid sunlight. It pierced through the cracks of the curse, surrounding his heart, making his fingertips and toes tingle. It warmed his ears. Unconsciously, a smile wormed its way onto his face. He hadn't used it in such a long time... he'd been scared to let that small bit become tainted as well. Not my magic, you bastard. You can take everything but my magic and my brother. He'd thought that once, when the curse had been new.

His eyelids opened and he concentrated on the wound. Gather it up, Azula's voice murmured into his ear. Turn it into energy. Focus on what you want to heal. The once forgotten heat burned behind his iris, and he knew that they were turning from brown to gold with the slowly gathering magic. He heard someone gasp.

"I cure." He whispered, the ancient language caressing his tongue. The skin began to etch itself back together. It wasn't exactly neat, but it was proof.

As soon as the magic resided back down, he felt drained to the core. The urge to lay down and take a nap was strong, but he forced his eyes to remain open and his back rigid. He met the gaping soldier's eyes, allowing a small smirk to settle on his lips.

"A golden eyed mage..." He said, his voice soft. Zeref wasn't sure what that meant, but he figured it wasn't anything bad. "Um. Right. Okay. Err." He fumbled with the serum, pulling it out of the bag. "Protocol." He said, the mask of professionalism fraying at the edges. He jammed the needle into his skin, and Zeref flinched back as the stuff was forced into his veins.

As soon as the soldier left, Lucy practically pounced on him. The Toad was saying something about thanking and cooperation, but Zeref was preoccupied with the pantheress in front of him.

"You can use magic?!"She hissed. "And healing magic? Direct healing magic? Not like Wendy's sky dragon slayer healing magic?"

He bumped into Natsu's arm in his effort to move away from her. "Yes. Though I haven't used it in centuries. It's basically a lost art magic, isn't it?"

"Your eyes turn gold." Natsu seemed contemplative. "Don't they turn red whenever you go on a..." He waved his hand, like he was cursing someone. "Killing spree? Is that something with you? Do my eyes turn gold?"

"No. Your magic's more diluted than mine." He said. At the confused expression on his face, Zeref explained. "Magic used to be much harder to learn and master because it required energy from the mage performing it, rather than an object. Granted, yours is closer to the fire magic I was required to learn to become a healer, but it was passed down to you from a dragon, therefore, not all of the energy is your pure, magical energy."

His blank expression told him that he still didn't understand. So, Zeref pointed at Lucy.

"The original celestial mages didn't need keys to summon spirits. Just needed the chants. Now they do, because they "burrow" magic from the natural world—etherno?" He shrugged. "It's just a different source of energy we tap into now. For all I know, in another couple hundred years, magic could be all but extinct and physics will be taking over again."

"Physics...?"

"It was science. And math. I never was able to understand it."

Lucy groaned. "Me neither. My father made me take both of them and I was never able to wrap my head around algebra, let alone physics."

There was a lull in the conversation, long enough for Zeref to begin to fall asleep again. Then someone spoke up, waking him up again.

"So, he's your brother?" Gray Fullbuster asked, directing his question at Natsu. He jabbed his thumb in his general direction. Natsu's eyes narrowed but he nodded.

"I'm surprised you heard that."

"It's kind of hard not to hear your heartfelt declaration. Do you know what could've happened if he ended up being discovered by the council?" He rolled his eyes and sat on the countertop. Mirajane pushed a drink over at him, and he gulped it down. "Though it explains why you've had bipolar actions with him in the last few months."

Natsu shrugged and plucked the mug out of his hands. "Sorry for melting your popsicle brain with my confusion." He snarked. Gray's eyes narrowed at him as he drank some of whatever was in the mug. "Whiskey? Seriously?"

"I need something stronger than a beer." He grumbled. "I should have stayed undercover."

"I'd have never forgiven you."

"Sometimes, I wonder if you have."

Natsu sent him a scary grin. "For being an idiot? Of course I have."

"I'll have you know that—"

BEEP

There was a moment of confusion as they looked around for the beeping sound. Lucy's eyebrows had joined together as she looked at him.

"That sounds like an alarm... clock..."

Her eyes fell to his wrist, and he lifted his hand.

.05 Bars Left

"Oh, shit!" He breathed. "Lucy, the bracelet—"

"Levy!" She shouted, pivoting in front of him. He pulled the sleeve up, displaying the blinking red lights on the wrist. "Horologium!" She snapped. He wheeled away at the command in her tone, then blinked in surprise when the grandfather clock spirit materialized in front of them. She looked up at him as Levy skidded over, sliding a bit on the slick floor.

"I need your help—I don't know how it happened—"

"It's okay Lucy-san." Horologium said, tone reassuring both of them. "Just keep a clear head and tell us what to do."

She breathed. "Right. Um. Levy, can you reinforce Freed's runes before I recharge it? Just in case?"

The small bluenette nodded. "Of course. Solid Script: Statistics!"

Numbers and strange letters danced in front of him, too confusing for Zeref to read. He closed his eyes and focused on pulling that warmth through him to hold the darkness at bay long enough for them to recharge it. It must have been the magic... I shouldn't have done it. But then I'd be revealed as a nonmagic user, and then they would look into my records. Maybe. There's only a possibility they'd looked at the—of course they would have looked at my records and figured out I wasn't real.

"Lucy," he hissed through his teeth. "You might have to recharge it then reinforce."

"I'd risk undoing everything if I did that!" She sounded closed to panicked. He pressed his forehead against the counter to support it.

Something's fighting me...

"Then do it quickly." He tried to keep the snap out of his tone, but he was pretty sure it came in anyway. "Please." He added for good measure. Why would you say please? ...Why wouldn't I?

Oh, crap.

Voices swarmed in and out as something warm touched his shoulder. He sensed the nervousness of the crowd —Good. Wait, what? No, bad—and breathed in through his nose. Voices. In his head. The curse.

Then suddenly, blessedly, the pressure building inside of his skull abruptly left. Left. It didn't dissipate or dissolved. It just left. Poofed. He raised his head and blinked, waiting for his vision to stop spinning and blurring in and out of focus. Belatedly, he realized that he'd been leaning against Mavis, not a countertop. She looked worried. The others looked scared. Except Natsu. He looked nervous.

"You're Good Zeref, right?" Gray eventually asked, breaking the silence. "Because if you're the Evil Twin Zeref then I'm going to feel obliged to knock you out."

He smiled thinly. "Please do that if I do something off." He closed his eyes and leaned against Mavis again. Her thin but strong arms wrapped around his back. "Thanks, Lucy. Levy."

Both of them laughed nervously, high pitched and aching against his skull. Migraine. He had a migraine. "Don't mention it—" One of them said. Probably Lucy.

"Lucy did most of the work anyway."

"Horologium did it."

"No, Lucy-san, you're the one who—"

"Shut up." He rasped when he couldn't take too many voices anymore. "Please."

Everyone silenced. Mavis' fingers ran through his hair before her hands pushed him down. Into her lap? "Get some sleep." She whispered. "You used too much of your magic at once."

"It was a cut." He mumbled weakly, protesting. He opened his eyes half-way to see Natsu's worried face and smiled at him to reassure him that he was all right.

"Shh. We'll talk later."

"...Okay."