Cursed (Zeref X Reader)

Chapter 5

Natsu glares up at the mage standing across the clearing. The dark-haired boy stares in shock at Natsu and begins trembling. Tears carve paths down his cheeks as the two wizards silently gaze at each other.

A strangled noise emerges from his throat as the boy, through his tears, manages to choke out, "Natsu?"

After a few more beats of silence, Natsu glowers at the wizard, his face contorted with an expression of absolute rage. "Who are you?!"

"Natsu, why are you here?" Evergreen manages to say in the ensuing silence.

"Yeah don't go scarin' me like that," Elfman grumbles.

You spare a glance at Wendy to make sure she's okay and she meets your eyes with a small smile, though she looks scared out of her mind. Before you can say anything you hear Happy fly up to Natsu and question what he's doing here.

"I don't really get it but I smelled somethin' really freaky!" You hear Natsu announce and you snort. That's not very surprising.

Happy lets out a sharp gasp and everyone seems to notice their surroundings for the first time. "Hey...what's up with the trees? They're dying..." The Fairy Tail wizards turn their attention to the dark wizard who has yet to say a word.

"Is that his magic?" Happy wonders.

"You don't see that every day," murmurs Evergreen.

Natsu clenches his fists, "I don't know who you are, but this island belongs to our guild!"

The boy seems unimpressed and continues mumbling to himself, "You've grown up nice and strong. I wanted to meet you, Natsu..."

In that instant said pink-haired mage leaps at the boy and plows his fist into the other's face. "Who are you?!" he demands angrily. Wendy lets out a startled squeak and the other Fairy Tail mages have identical expressions of shock at Natsu's impulsiveness.

Strangely enough, the mysterious dark-haired boy doesn't appear to be hurt at all and even has a small smile on his face as he lands in a crouched position on the ground. You can hear his thoughts as clear as day: I see...you're not ready yet... Natsu, you can't...destroy me...

Natsu's expression is still one of rage. "I don't know you," he growls roughly. "State your name!"

The boy pushes himself to his feet, still shaking. You can almost feel his pain as you listen to his thoughts. Even though I don't want to kill anyone anymore. But you were the only one who could have stopped me, Natsu. Was it too soon? Your eyes narrow at this information and you glance at Wendy again, but she doesn't appear to have heard anything out of the ordinary. Strange. Maybe being raised by Acnologia has allowed you to hear people's thoughts some of the time.

You watch his shoulders shake with silent sobs and a pang of sympathy courses through you.

"He's crying," murmurs Happy.

Evergreen still looks suspicious. "This guy takes creepy to a whole new level," she mutters.

A rustle in the tree branches makes everyone look up and you notice dark wisps of magic begin to rise up from the boy's feet. In a few moments he is completely shrouded in the darkness and he puts his hands to his head again.

"R-Run," he gets out through clenched teeth as he struggles to fight the black magic.

The Fairy Tail wizards tense. "It's that black wave from before!" Elfman exclaims. "It's magic that steals away life," agrees Evergreen.

"All of you get away from here!" Natsu orders.

Beside you, Wendy tugs on your arm nervously. "(Y/N)-san, we should leave." You shake your head, unwilling to leave while this boy is still clearly in pain.

The dark-haired boy lets out a strangled scream and a black wave even stronger than before tears through the clearing as Elfman, Evergreen, and Happy try to get away. As the dust clears, you and Wendy watch in horror as the nearest trees disintegrate into sand.

Coughing, Natsu sits up as Happy comes flying. Belatedly, you realize that the mysterious wizard is gone. Cursing inwardly, you turn to Wendy. "Keep following Master's trail to the First Master's grave. We can't lose it."

"What about you, (Y/N)-san?" questions Wendy.

You glance off into the trees where the scent of death still lingers. "I need to find out what's going on here."

A/N: Hi people! I'm so sorry that I haven't updated in such a long time! Honestly I just lost some of the motivation for writing and I was so busy. Hopefully now that it's summer and I've gotten back into this I'll be able to update more often (until school starts again *dun dun dun*).

Also, please feel free to give me criticism about my writing, I don't mind. All of the "Please update!" comments finally pushed me to write another chapter XD.

Anyway, thanks for reading as always and I hope you enjoyed the chapter! You finally got to meet Zeref, yay! :)