Title: Struggle
Genre: Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Family, Drama
Word Count: 11,500 (25pages)
Characters: Zeref, Natsu, Mavis, Rouge, Sting, Cana, Gildarts.
Summary: A story of Zeref, his little sister Natsu, and their struggles to remain together despite how life seems to desperately want to separate them.

oOo

Natsu was different, but that's what made her special. Zeref had been the first to realize this. Zeref had been the only one to realize this.

Natsu was born; her head tussled with bright pink hair and her eyes a dark obsidian, she cries out for her mother as the nurse holds her gently. "Why does she have black eyes?" The woman questions, an undeniable frown on her face. "Why is her hair pink? It's wrong." The woman continues; the little ten year old boy stares at the baby girl with wide eyes. "She looks really weird too."

"She's… cute." Her new big brother mumbles; the look of disdain on the nurse's face changes into a smile as she catches his words.

"Would you like to hold her?"

"Could I?" The nurse's eyes flash with joy as she places the baby into the child's arms; he holds her tight to his chest, there's a look of kindness in his eyes as he stares down at her. To him, it feels as if it's the most natural thing in the world- to hold his baby sister. He wanted to protect her and love her more than anything or anyone else in the world, and he would, no matter what.

The baby stops crying, and it stares up at him with big curious eyes and a tiny little smile. It's almost as if she knows she's safe in his arms; that no harm will ever come to her here. She stares at him, and he can see himself reflected in her eyes. The woman in bed turns her gaze to the nurse.

"I don't want my son holding it. Please put it away."

The boy looks up at his mother with a confused glance; he looks absolutely against the idea of letting the precious being in his arms be taken from him so easily. He doesn't want to let her go.

"Zeref," She raises her voice; the boy now known as Zeref, reluctantly gives the baby back to the nurse.

"…What will you be naming her?" She looks at the woman in bed in hope of some kind of proper parenthood, but all she gets is a scoff and glare. It's obvious that she doesn't want to name her own daughter.

"Natsu!" Zeref announces; never really registering the looks of surprise sent to him by his mother and the nurse. "Because she makes people feel warm and happy… Just like summer."

The nurse smiles.

"Natsu."

oOo

"Natsu."

Natsu keeps her gaze down on the mess she made, her feet are cut up and bloody from the cup she had dropped. Broken glass has been scattered everywhere; she feels her eyes water up, but she tries her best to hold them back.

"Natsu," The woman repeats; there's annoyance and hate in her tone, she wants Natsu to look at her but her gaze never moves off of the shattered glass. Clicking her tongue, she grabs hold of Natsu's arm and squeezes so tightly that it turn reds. The three year old child cries out in pain; the woman shoves her into a wall and turns to leave.

"This is your mess. You clean it up." She scowls.

"I needed help," She finally stutters; the woman turns to look over her shoulder in surprise that Natsu had dared to talk back to her. "I can't get food by myself." She finishes, referring to minutes earlier when Natsu had asked for dinner and her mother had told her she should get it herself.

"You're three years old already! You should be able to feed yourself!" She yells and takes hold of Natsu's shirt collar; she pulls the girl up and holds her by the neck. "Have I raised an idiot? HAVE I?" Natsu shakes her head furiously.

The woman removes her hand and Natsu hits the ground, struggling to catch her breath. "Stupid and ugly, what a horrid combination." She glares.

Natsu quickly shuffles to her feet and picks up the shattered glass, not really caring if her fingers are pricked by the edges. Her mother gives a brief look of approval before leaving the room, the pink haired girl lets out a sigh of relief.

She doesn't even bother trying to wipe the tears from her eyes.

"Nii-san…"

It hurts.

oOo

"It hurts."

Natsu stares at her mother as she holds onto the back of her neck; the woman had shoved her into the counter and her neck had been scraped on the edge. She could feel the blood trailing down her neck; it was warm, warmer than her mother ever was.

"Get over it." The woman takes a swing of alcohol. "Don't get blood on my floors."

She turns to leave, but stops in her tracks when her son comes in through the front door. His school bag is lazily slung on his shoulder and he's breathing a little heavily, it's almost as if he had ran home right after school ended.

A smile lights up her face as she looks at him; her son was the complete opposite of Natsu. Tall, handsome, and smart. She loved him more than anything, but after Natsu was born… It was as if he had stopped caring for her all together. It was as if she was replaced by that horrible creature that had been named 'Natsu.'

"Zeref, welcome home!" She quickly puts the bottle down and opens her arms; her smile brightens as he takes a step towards her, but it quickly slips off of her face when he goes for Natsu. He drops his school bag; there's a terribly worried expression on his face.

"It hurts." Natsu repeats; mother rolls her eyes at the child's fake innocence. She sneers in disgust and leaves after a couple words of hate that fall on deaf ears; neither of her children hear her.

Zeref takes Natsu into his arms easily, she snuggles against him in his arms. The pain disappears as she listens to his heartbeat; tha-thump tha-thump He's alive. tha-thump tha-thump He's all she needs.

"I'll get you out of here as soon as I can, okay?"

'But you're only fifteen, and I'm only five.' She wants to say, but instead she just nods into his chest. They hold each other as if it were the most natural thing in the world; it was as if it was the only want to stay alive.

For now, it's okay.

It's okay.

oOo

It's okay.

Natsu thinks this to herself as she watches her brother leave the house on his first date; he's all dressed up, a beautiful girl with flowing blonde locks hangs onto his arm. They're both red faced, shy, and a little awkward; but it's okay. It will work out.

He says something funny and she laughs; they get closer by the second, they get happier by the second. She smiles as she watches them go; they get into a car and drive off into the distance, Natsu stares until she can't see them anymore.

It would have been okay, she thinks. It would have been okay if Zeref had gotten into that car and never came back; because he's happy this way, always smiling and never worrying because of her. It would be okay, she repeats. Her eyes sting a little. It would be okay if she never saw him again, so long as he's happy.

She stares out the window for a couple more minutes; she's alone tonight, not even mommy is here today. The house is really big when she's alone; big, dark, and a little scary. Brother made her dinner, but she's not really hungry right now. She doesn't think she'll be hungry later either.

The door downstairs slams; Natsu nearly jumps in surprise. It's mommy. Her first idea is to hide so that mommy wouldn't know that she was here, but the first thing the woman does is call her name. "Natsu! Get over here!"

The girl takes a shaky breath; in, out, repeat. It's okay. It's not okay. It's okay. It's not- It's okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. It's okay. She leaves her room, but doesn't see her mother when she reaches the steps. Had it been her imagination? Was she hallucinating?

A soft presses onto her back; Natsu spins around, but the second she gets a look at the woman who touched her, she's given a slight push that sends her off balance. She falls. It's almost as if everything's in slow motion; she reaches for her mother for the first time in her life, but the woman only smiles. Natsu can see her own death in mommy's eyes as she falls.

Her back hits the steps.

She tumbles.

She lies flat on her back at the bottom; there's blood, but nothing seems to be broken. It's okay. I'm fine. She thinks. I'll live.

The woman calmly walks down the steps; there's something in Natsu's mind that's telling her to run or just get out of there as quickly as possible, but right now she couldn't move. It hurt. It hurt. Please stop. Why mommy? Why don't you love me?

Mommy kicks her a couple of times before finally putting her foot down on Natsu's thin arm; it's as if she's threatening to snap her arm in half. "If you dare say a word of this to Zeref, I'll hurt him too." It's a lie, Natsu knows, but she doesn't want to risk it. "Do you understand?"

Natsu nods furiously.

"Good." The woman picks Natsu up by the arm; her shoulder snaps, as it's unable to sustain her weight. There are hot red flashes of pain; even as the woman finally manages to force her shoulder back into place. "I'm sure you'll come up with some proper excuse; you don't want to make Zeref suffer anymore, now do you?"

Natsu shakes her head.

"Good."

The woman dismisses herself.

Natsu stands to her feet; wobbling here and there, it's hard to keep her balance. She stumbles into the kitchen and fills a glass of water; she drops it down the steps and moves on to turn the lights off. If she lies somewhere at the bottom when her brother comes home, it will look like she tripped coming up the stairs in the dark with a glass of water.

She waits. Sooner or later, her brother comes home. The pretty girl isn't with him anymore, but there's a smile on his face and lipstick on his cheeks. Something had to have gone well. Natsu tries her best to stay calm as her brother enters the house; he closes the door behind him silently and flips on the light.

"Natsu, are you awake?" He asks softly; loud enough for her to hear, but not loud enough to wake her up if she had been sleeping.

"N-No." She stutters; in a matter of seconds, he's behind her.

"Why aren't you asleep? It's really late…" He trails off as soon as he sees both the mess and the injuries littering her tiny body. She has a couple of glass shards in her hand; and there's water on the staircase, it looks as if she had tripped while getting a glass of water. "Are you okay?"

Tears well up in her eyes as she remembers what her mother did to her earlier, "I didn't mean to break it…!"

"Did you leave the lights off? Is anything broken?"

"I didn't think I had to turn them on…" She wipes her eyes, "The glass is broken."

"Not the glass, I mean you!" She shakes her head. He breathes a sigh of relief and lifts her up; quickly dumping the glass out of her hands before she can hurt herself any more than she already has. "Oh thank god, thank god you're okay. Let's get your booboos all taken care of, okay?"

She nods.

Zeref patches her up easily, kissing every individual booboo with love and taking all of the pain away in an instant. "I'm sorry," She apologizes again; it's more for lying to him instead of having him clean up her mess.

He puts a hand on her head.

"It's okay."

She sniffles and nods. Suddenly there's a more serious expression on his face.

"Mavis's siblings go to your school; how long have the other kids been bullying you for?" She stiffens slightly, but it doesn't last long. A small smile appears on her face.

"Since my first day, but they stopped."

"Really? For no reason what so ever?"

"No, because my friends protect me."

He raises an eyebrow; but it's obvious she's telling him the truth, so he doesn't pressure her to tell him anything else. He brings her in close; "What are they like? Are they nice?"

"Mm." She nods.

"They're just like me."

oOo

"You're just like me." Natsu says to her best friends one day at lunch; they're the outcasts, sitting close to each other in an empty room. The blond, Sting, looks to her with a look of agreement. His twin, Rouge, shares similar thoughts.

The black haired boy, Rouge, puts down his chopsticks with a thoughtful expression on his face. "That's true and false at the same time. True, we all have a mother and a brother, but the relationships, personalities, and problems differ."

Sting nods in his twin's direction. "We're twins, so we're always together."

"But your brother is ten years older than you; so you're either alone, with us, with him, or with your parents." Rouge contemplates. "Like Sting said, we're always together. It will always be us, us plus our mother, us plus our sister, us and you, or us plus our sister and our mommy."

"But our mommies both drink that…"

"Alcohol. Yes. But our mother only does it because she's an alcoholic; she could drink crates of it at once without it effecting her in the slightest. It's stressful for our mom, because she had our older sister when she was only seventeen. Your mother does it out of jealously; she doesn't even think you're her child."

"..And she hits you."

Two pairs of eyes fall to the bruises covering her body; her thin arms and legs and tiny figures, her clothing seems to swallow her up. "I'm kind of troublesome. I wish my brother would get married to his girlfriend and never come back…"

"Why?"

"I thought you loved him?"

"I want him to leave because I love him," She explains calmly; though she tries not to think of him leaving her one day, the thought lingers. "He'll be happy."

"Then we…"

"Feel the same about our older sister."

The three fall silent for a minute; none of them say a word.

"Why don't we run away?" The twins suggest simultaneously; Natsu's head perks up in surprise, having never even thought of that before. She nearly face palms for her own idiocy. Honestly, how could she be so stupid?

"That's a brilliant idea." She sighs.

Excited, Sting jumps to his feet. "We've all got money saved? Allowance and stuff like that?" Natsu and Rouge nod.

"One year from now." Sting and Natsu look at Rouge, urging him to continue. "We'll stock up on food, water, and money. A year from now, when you're eight, we'll run away."

Sting holds his pinkie finger out.

"Pinkie promise?"

Rouge, Natsu, and Sting all lock their pinkies together.

"Pinkie promise."

oOo

"Pinky promise?" Zeref looks at his sister with a raised eyebrow; she looks up at him with puffed out cheeks and a narrowed eyes.

"Mm! Pinky promise."

"For what?"

"Pinky promise that one day, you'll marry Mavis." Zeref flushes a light shade of red and he holds up his arms in defense.

"I'm only eighteen! I'm not marrying yet." He shifts his eyes away from her in embarrassment. "Did Sting and Rouge put you up to this?" She shakes her head at the mention of Mavis's youngest siblings; she remembers how surprised she had been to find out that their older siblings were dating each other. But at least this way, they'd both be happy.

Zeref looks down at his watch and his eyes widen in brief shock as he realizes what time it is; he needs to leave if he wants to pick up Mavis on time. "I need to go, but I'll see you tomorrow, okay?" He ruffles her hair and turns to leave, but she grabs the back of his shirt before he can take another step. "Is there something wrong?"

"No." She tugs him closer towards him; she gives him a quick peck on the lips and wraps her arms around his waist tightly. She breathes while listening to his heartbeat. "I love you..."

"I love you too Natsu," He kneels down to match her height level. "Is there something wrong?" She shakes her head.

"I… I had a dream last night… You were in it."

"Was I?"

"Mm… I was a baby, and you were holding me for the first time. Mommy didn't want to hold me, but you really wanted to. When I looked at you, I couldn't see anything else. Nothing else mattered. You… You were my world. You're the most important person in the world." She smiles. "And… And when you get married I'm gonna come with you and we're all gonna live a super happy life."

"That's right." Zeref smiles; he remembers that moment. The moment when he had held her for the first time and all he had seen in her eyes was himself; that had been the day he had decided to give her the best life possible. "We should get married really soon then, huh."

Natsu nods enthusiastically.

"I'll see you later, Natsu."

"Bye…Bye…"

The door closes. Their mother steps out from behind the door; a frown on her face as she stares down at her eight year old daughter. "If he loves you so much, why did he forget your birthday?" She questions. Natsu looks straight back at her.

"If you hate me so much, why do you remember?"

The woman scoffs. "You're leaving tonight, right? I left you some extra money, so don't you dare come back when things don't go your way."

Natsu nods, and she stares at her mother for a moment. There are a million questions she wants to ask before she leaves, but not a single word leaves her lips. Not even a 'goodbye,' comes out of her mouth.

She leaves twenty minutes later and meets her friends at the train station.

They look like her.

Crestfallen with tear streaks running down their red eyes.

"Let's go."

oOo

"Let's go," Mavis yawns as she leans against Zeref; her head rests on his chest and he wraps an arm around her. "To the amusement park next week. I'm sure Natsu will enjoy it, we could bring Sting and Rouge too."

"That does sound like something she'd enjoy. It's not often that we get to do thinks together." He trails off with a frown; she squeezes his side and sends a comforting smile in his direction. "She doesn't speak about school a lot, so I was surprised to hear that she had made two friends; I was even more surprised when I found out they were your younger siblings.

Mavis nods in agreement; "They were all being bullied, before they met each other. Now whenever one of them gets bullied, there are two more to stand up for them." She puts a hand against her head in thought. "It's also, really, really cute whenever they're napping together. They're all snuggled up, it's so adorable."

She shuffles through her phone and finally brings a picture up, she holds it up for Zeref to see. Natsu's in the middle of the twins, her eyes are closed softly, there's a little bit of drool coming from her parted lips, and her head and back are supported by the wall behind her.

On her right, Rouge has his hand loosely around hers. He's hunched over so that his head is on her lap; his facial expression is hidden by his hair. On Natsu's left, Sting has his head against Natsu's head and his hand in hers. There's a small smile on his face.

Zeref's eyes shift back towards his girlfriend. "Do you spend a lot of time with them at school?"

She shakes her head. "My mom took the picture. She worries about them a lot, so she was really happy when she found out they made a friend."

"I was happy Natsu had made some friends too; our mom… has never really cared for Natsu." He sighs, "Perhaps it's something more than hate, but she's been hitting Natsu ever since she was three. I could never really do anything about it… She would always wait for me to leave…"

"That's awful!"

Zeref nods solemnly. "Sometime last year, when she was seven, mom had literally pushed Natsu down the stairs. She tried to cover it up, and it would've worked if I didn't know her. It's obvious to me, when she lies." Beside him, Mavis gasps in horror at the thought of anyone pushing a child of any age down the stairs. "That's why I want to get her out of the house as soon as possible; she doesn't deserve it."

"I want the same, for my siblings as well. My mom would never, ever lay a hand to them, but she does drink when she's at home. She's not too well off on money, which is mainly because of all the stuff she buys that she doesn't actually need. It's not the environment I want them to grow up in, you know?"

"Mm…" Zeref recalls earlier, his face flushes slightly. "Yesterday, Natsu was acting weird before I left to spend the night here. She wouldn't let me go at first, and then she told me that… I should hurry up and marry you so that she can live with us."

Mavis's face goes bright red, she buries her face into his chest in a way that resembles a turtle hiding in its shell. All of a sudden, she stops, nearly frozen in thought. There's a confused look on her face. "Isn't that strange?"

"What?" Zeref's eyes shift back and forth. "Getting married?"

"No, that would be wonderful." She shakes her head; a smile rests on her face as she briefly contemplates the idea of getting married to Zeref and living happily with her twins and Natsu. "What's strange is that Sting and Rouge were acting weird earlier as well, they said we should get married too."

"How were they acting strange?"

"In a way that was similar to Natsu when you left, I suppose."

"Do you think it's because we're not spending enough time together?"

Mavis nods; recently, they've both been blowing their siblings off so they could hang out with each other and go on dates, so perhaps it would be a good idea to start doing things together more. All five of them.

They'd be a family soon, anyway.

A proper family.

"Let's get married, then."

They'll be happy.

oOo

"They'll be happy." It's been a week since they've left; right now they're underneath a small dome in a park, huddled together tightly. They fall silent again, until Sting repeats himself. "They'll all be happy." There are brief noises of agreement amongst the three of them.

Rouge listens to the rain hit the top of the dome and then slide off the top; the noises are repetitive, but somehow comforting. Rain would be more of a problem when the seasons changed; so the sooner they find somewhere to stay, the better.

His eyes shift to Natsu, who's respectively two years younger than them both. Right now she's easily subjected to sickness, and she's weaker than them- smaller and lighter- which is probably malnourishment. Her eyes connect with his, and he looks away quickly.

They need to find somewhere to stay.

"Let's make a treehouse." Sting suggests childishly; but considering their situation, such an idea isn't to be passed by so quickly. "We've got a ton of money, but we can't afford to spend it on housing."

Rouge nods in agreement; slightly surprised that his brother is making more sense than what he normally did. If they spent all of their money on housing, they wouldn't be able to pay for food and clothing when they ran out. Housing required multiple payments, after all.

"I like that idea!" Natsu announces with a smile, she jumps to her feet and begins to leave. Sting grabs her hand before she can leave. "What?"

"Idiot! It's raining! If we start building now, we'll get sick."

"Well you weren't specific!"

"I didn't think I had to be."

"Natsu has a point, Sting."

"Ah, you guys are meanies!" Sting pouts childishly, "Always gangin' up on me."

"It's only because we love you," Natsu smiles and Sting blushes a bright shade of red; his eyes shift to the side in embarrassment. 'Shut up,' he mutters underneath his breath; Natsu and Rouge share a smile. "Alright! I'm all fired up! Let's sleep, let's sleep!"

The three cuddle back up against each other, and they're out in an instant. Loud snores and sighs are muffled by the sound of the pouring rain; none of them worry about being found.

They're pretty far away from home, anyway.

They weren't coming home.

oOo

They weren't coming home.

Zeref ignores it.

"They can't be dead." Zeref mumbles to no one; he has bags underneath his eyes as he walks to college, his lips are spread in a thin line and his eyes are dull. Beside her, Mavis walks with a similar expression. They wordlessly share a gaze of sympathy and understanding, before continuing to school as if nothing had happened. "They're okay."

They both want to believe it; even though their parents had told them otherwise, such a thing had to be impossible. Right? Right?

She takes his hand and intertwines her fingers with his, easily using him for comfort while comforting him at the same time. It's been two months since the twins and Natsu disappeared. Looking back, it should have been obvious that something was up. They had been silent and awkward and had acted so weird that it was hard not to believe that they were hiding something.

It was as if they were indirectly saying their goodbyes.

It was frustrating, exhausting, infuriating, and depressing all at the same time.

There are infinite possibilities on what could have happened to them, hell, they don't even know if they're still alive or not.

The only thing that had been left behind was an incredibly short note.

『We love you Nee-san, but mom can't support all of us and you can't keep troubling yourself with us. We've taken Natsu with us, as she has similar feelings. ~Sting&Rouge.Ps Get married and have a happy life!』

『Nii-san, I'm sorry. I wanted you to leave and never come home so you could be happy with Mavis-nee, but you didn't want to leave, so I'll leave instead. I love you…』

There had been teardrops on the letters.

Old ones and new ones.

Mother had been the one to call them a day after the kids disappeared; she spoke in monotone as she brought up the event of three children sized bodies being buried underneath the rubble of an old house. If that's true, where are the graves? They couldn't be dead.

They couldn't be.

Zeref tightens his grip on Mavis's hand.

They both breeze through the day while doing nothing but run through the motions. Neither of them interact with anything or anyone, which is a normal school day for them both. The teachers understand, so they don't complain. It's not understanding or care, it's just pity.

Shameless pity.

The day ends slowly, and when Zeref gets home the same thing happens to him again. He has a hard time stepping into the house, especially knowing that his sister isn't in there. He remembers how excited he had been to get home after a long day of school; Natsu would normally be there, taking a nap or waiting for him in front of the door.

He misses her adorable little pour when he teased her, how she's take his hand and drag him off to show him something, or how she'd hug him so tightly that it should've been impossible for someone of her stature.

Though Zeref had forgotten about how special the day was, Natsu had left on her eighth birthday; obviously taking advantage of their mother's absence, who had disappeared on a business trip two weeks before Natsu had disappeared. She was supposed to come home soon, and though Zeref wasn't looking forward to it, it would be a lot easier to come home knowing that there was someone waiting for him.

The door unlocks; a woman with bright pink hair walks in, but all Zeref sees is a child. Natsu. It's Natsu. A shaky smile stretches across his face as he rushes to stand in front of the door and be let the first thing Natsu sees after all this time be a welcoming smile. But all of a sudden, it's not Natsu.

It's mom.

Why is her hair pink? Did she know Natsu was missing and was mocking him because of it? His hands ball into fists; she was taking this too far. He opens his mouth to stay something, but his words fall flat when he meets her face to face.

She looks a lot thinner than she did before. Her eyes are red and puffy and her hair is a mess; it looks almost as if she's suffering from a horrible cold or the death of a loved one, like when their father died. Her eyes widen when she bumps into him, not knowing what to say as he stares at her questioningly.

"Why is your hair pink?"

Her eyes shift to the ground and she lets out a sigh. "It's my natural color."

His eyes widen for a brief second; they narrow in anger seconds later as he remembers all of the times she has made fun of Natsu and called her ugly for having bright pink hair. She had discriminated and hurt Natsu so much that it had long passed the point where it could be excused. "Explain."

Another sigh. "Your father hated my pink hair, but I loved him, so I dyed it black. We were perfectly happy together, but if I forgot to dye it, he'd yell at me or slap me for not dyeing it. I never understood why he hated it, but I just lived with it… It was a blessing when we had you; you, who looked so much like him and me at the same time…"

"He's gone now, why do you go through such lengths to hurt Natsu just because she has pink hair that came from your genes?"

"Because I never wanted one of my children to have any hint of pink hair!" She exclaims. "I was extremely happy when I found out I was pregnant with her, but when she was born with pink hair I knew what was going to happen. Your father forced us to get a divorce; he told me to tell you that he died, and it was all because of Natsu being born with pink hair! If she had been born with black hair or… or if she hadn't been born at all!"

Zeref's eyes narrow as he listens to his mother ramble nonsensical words, his stomach churns and leaves him feeling sicker than ever. "She's was your daughter!" He yells at his mother, and she flinches at his tone. "It's not her fault!"

"I know, I know that!" She cries; "I just treated her the same way your father treated me! It was wrong, and I hated myself for it, but I couldn't stop! Whenever I looked at her it was like… It was like I was looking in the mirror at my ugly self. Why did I have to be born with pink hair? Why couldn't I control myself?"

"You… You loved Natsu, didn't you?"

She takes a couple of steps backwards in surprise; the words of her oldest son echo in her head so many times that it hurts, she wants them to stop but they just get louder and louder and louder and louder…

"Mom."

"…I don't! I hate her! I hate her! I hate her! I hate her!" She yells as she puts her hands over her head; shutting his words out of her head. "I hate my precious little girl! I could never love her adorable smile or loving personality! I don't like her! I hate that I loved her!" She backs out of the house and Zeref knows it will be awhile before she comes back.

Right now, he doesn't know what to think.

His heart hurts.

He puts a hand over his chest.

It hurts.

oOo

"He said, 'It hurts.'" Natsu says as she helps hold the twins up; both are sickly and pale, the man who has been supporting them for the past few years is quick to take their temperatures. "Are they going to be okay?"

Gildarts smiles and puts a hand on the child's head. "You did the right thing, bringing them to me. I'll take care of them for you; they'll be just fine." With teary eyes, the eleven year old girl nods as she watches Gildarts tuck the twins into bed.

"Won't you stay here until they're better?"

Natsu shakes her head. "I need to go to work. Please take care of them for me."

The young man's eyes furrow as the eleven year old turns to leave, but no matter how much he tries to convince her and the twins, they won't come live with him. They're constantly working to support themselves; really, the only thing Makino he's doing them is providing them school lessons and teaching them how to do things they can't figure out by themselves.

He knows full well that they've all run away from home, abusive homes, and so he understands why they don't want to go back. They've made it perfectly clear that if he was to go to the police, they'd be gone the next morning.

He didn't want that. He wanted them somewhere where he could support them, even if it was very little. Really, it was the only thing he could do to make up for losing contact with his younger sister Cana, who had three little children of her own. A young woman and two twins.

It's been a long, long time since he's heard from them.

He's making it up for it; slowly but surely.

"If they wake up; tell them I'll be home later." Natsu says, successfully snapping him out of his trance by popping her head back into the room. "Goodbye." The door clicks as she closes it; she breathes a sigh of relief now that her friends are in good hands, and that they'll be perfectly fine.

Natsu walks down the street in silence; the neighbors had become accustomed seeing her or the twins walking around, apparently they've come to acknowledge them as Gildart's niece and nephews. She smiles at them as she crosses the road.

Someone not paying attention to the road crashes into her.

For a moment, she sees Zeref. Or, someone who looks a little like him. He takes one look at her bright pink hair before narrowing his eyes in absolute disgust. Without another word, he drives off and leaves her in the middle of the road.

The scenery around her merges.

Everything goes black.

Darkness.

oOo

Darkness.

Gildarts is surrounded by it as he opens the door to his house and finds a familiar face standing outside; she looks lost and so, so tired. "Cana." His little sister looks up at him with red eyes and a look that she knows he can't refuse. He doesn't hesitate to let her in. She's never looked so grateful before.

A cup of hot tea is placed in front of her; it goes mostly untouched as it sits on the table, looking just as lost as she was. "I'm sorry to just show up like this, after all these years." She finally says. Her softly spoken words murder the silence that had surrounded them. "I… I just don't know what to do anymore."

"What else are big brother's for?" He sends her a smile; a familiar atmosphere falls around them, and so she can't help smile back at him. She had missed her idiot of a big brother. "If you can forgive me for just disappearing like I did, I'll do my best to listen."

She nods, wiping her tear barren eyes. "Of course I forgive you." She stops, and she sends him a look that tells her it's okay to continue. A look that lets her know that he's ready to listen, and eager to help. Reassurance piles up on her chest. "My children… They all ran off on me. My oldest into the arms of her boyfriend… They're only twenty one, yet they've engaged and married already…" She lets out a cold laugh. "I can't blame them to be in such a rush to get away from me."

"You were the same with our parents, remember?" Gildarts rests his head on his palm; elbow pressed against the hard surface of the table. "In such a rush to get away; you wanted to be your own person and do what you wanted. It's fitting, seeing as she is your daughter."

"Yeah… But my case was different." A hand flutters to her stomach. Flat, no bump to be found. "I was stupid and young; pregnant at just seventeen. Our parents wanted me to get an abortion… I wanted… I wanted to keep her. I wanted to raise my own child. I wanted to be a good mom…" Her breath shudders. "God, it was so hard to raise my little Mavis… But she still loved me. I didn't start drinking until…"

Gildarts reaches over to put a hand on his sister's shoulder. She sends him a smile, but he knows she's not okay. He knows that there's more to come. "You had two more after her, didn't you?"

"Yes." She sighs, burying her face into her bony hands. "My boys… I thought it would be okay. I had gotten married and I wasn't a single mother anymore. They were five years old by the time my husband left us. I… I couldn't handle it by myself. I was raising three kids alone…"

"And that's when the drinking problem started."

She nods. "It was stressful. I drank so much… So much… I started yelling more and getting angrier… I left empty and broken bottles all over the house… I forgot things, important things. Like birthdays or even what they liked to do- I didn't even know if they had any friends or not…" She takes a moment to rub her temple, reliving herself of any oncoming stress. "I would never, ever, ever, ever hit them I never did. But I must have been scary enough for things to end up like this."

"Are you still drinking?"

"I kicked it ever since they left…" Her eyes toddle off towards the window. "My twins, they're twelve today. Just as old as I was when I started my rebelling against our parents… It really is fitting…" She runs her hands through her brown hair; she looks ready to cry again, but she doesn't have any tears left. "I… I want to find them again and apologize and… and make it up to them and give them the life they deserve… I just want my babies back…!"

Gildart's heart nearly skips a beat. "Did you say twins? What… What are their names?"

"Sting and Rouge."

oOo

Sting and Rogue exchange glances with each other as they sit in two uncomfortable white chairs. Natsu has a look of absolute confusion on her face; she stares at them from the hospital bed she was being forced to stay in, and can't help but question the huge smiles on their faces. "Why are you two so happy? Did something happen?

Again, the twins look at each other before the younger of the two suddenly blurts something out that makes Natsu freeze in her spot wordlessly. "Gildarts is our mom's big brother, and it turns out that he's our uncle. Mom came by and talked to us today."

Rogue nods, and though he's just as excited as his brother, he speaks a little more calmly and a lot clearer than Sting did. "She apologized for everything and said she wanted another chance to be our mother; properly. She's not even drinking anymore."

"We're gonna go home real soon too! I'm really excited to see Mavis again!" Sting cheers, shaking his brother and proving himself unable to control his excitement. "We don't have to run away anymore, isn't that great?"

"You'll be able to see your brother again too."

It takes a couple of seconds, considering the surprise that had just been thrown her way. "Does that mean he knows where I am?" The twins nod. Their smiles don't falter. "And is he coming here to get me?" They nod again. "And you two are going home?"

"Yeah! It's great, isn't it?"

"…Yeah…" She pauses, taking a moment to look down at her hands before she continues the conversation. "It'll be a couple of days before they all get here, right? How about using that time to prepare a surprise party? The doctor said it'd be better if I didn't get any visitors for the next two days anyway, that way I can heal faster."

"That's a great idea." Rogue says as he slides off the chair. Sting follows.

"Yeah, we'll see you in a couple of days then!" The blond grins.

"Aren't you excited?"

oOo

"Aren't you excited?" Mavis has a questioning look on her face as she stares up at her husband; the expression on his face hasn't changed since they left the house or got off the train. Stupid question, Mavis tells herself, his shoulders look uncomfortably stiff and he's a little shaky. He's just trying to contain himself. "No, I mean, is there something wrong?"

His grip on her hand loosens a bit, but she tightens her grip on his reassuringly. A brief look of gratefulness is sent towards her in reply; he sighs, it's long and tired and burdened. "I… I don't know." He stops as they reach their destination; just outside Gildart's door, he runs a shaky hand through his hair. "I feel like… Like everything's going to be different from now on… And… it feels like things are going a little too easily."

"Easy?" She frowns. "It's been two years since they've disappeared and we never even figured out where they were until just a couple of days ago. If anything, this has been the hardest thing we've ever done in our lives."

He looks away for a moment; she has a point, he knows, but that doesn't stop him from worrying. What if his little Natsu wasn't Natsu anymore? What if she had changed? Was she happy? Was she healthy? Was she any different than she had been two years ago? Does… Does she even want to see him?

"Of course she'll want to see you." Mavis interrupts, placing her hands on each side of his face warmly. "Out of everyone else in the world, she loves you the most, and she always will. The only reason she ran away is because she thought it would help you. Just, just give her your best smile and I promise she'll come running to you with tears in her eyes."

Zeref finally smiles; all signs of nervousness and worry disappears from his being under the warm words from his wife. "Thank you," He takes hold of her hand again before finally knocking on the door; in just a couple of seconds, two children come barreling out towards them and nearly manage to tackle Mavis to the ground.

Just as she had told him to do, she gives them her best smile and they don't hesitate to cry as they hug her tightly. "Idiots," Red faced and snot nosed, the three smile and Zeref can't help but smile back. "Don't you dare leave again…!"

A red haired man leans out from behind the corner and ushers the black haired boy into the kitchen.

"We need to talk about your sister."

The smile on Zeref's face falls. "What happened?"

oOo

"What happened?" A man with dark raven locks and pitch black eyes stares down at his wife with a dull gaze; her pink hair had never been tasteful to him, she looked so much better with it dyed. "You look awful, Natasha."

She blinks tiredly at him; the unamused expression on her face remains as she downs a couple of medicine tablets. The headaches were getting worse, and the fact that her husband had made an appearance wasn't making anything better for her. "Why are you here?"

"Why wouldn't I be?" He leans against the doorway and crosses his arms over his chest; his lips curve into a smug smirk as he continues. "We're married aren't we? I may have left you, but we never got a divorce."

"Maybe we should." She whispers; if he heard it, she's ignored.

"Things wouldn't have turned out so bad if you hadn't given birth to that pink haired freak." He makes a point of putting his hands on her shoulders; she stiffens underneath his touch. "It would've been a lot better if you just had another one like Zeref…"

Her lips shrivel up in anger. "Yeah, because he looks more like you? I always knew you were a narcissistic jerk; but surly there's a limit, isn't there?" She easily removes his hands from her shoulders. "Perhaps the real reason our marriage never worked out was because you never loved anyone but yourself."

He scowls; his obsidian eyes seem to darken even further. There's a pregnant silence that takes over the room until the man finally clicks his tongue against his teeth loudly. "You know, I ran into that brat of yours."

Natasha looks up.

"She was pretty far away from home, did you finally scare her off?" He laughs; obviously entertained with himself enough to laugh about it. "It took you awhile, but congratulations! Why don't we get back together now that she's gone?"

With a fierce look in her eyes and a newfound determination, Natasha glares at her husband so strongly that her face twists up with anger. "What did you do to my little girl?"

"Oh," His malicious grin stretches from ear to ear. "Let's just say that she had a fated meeting with the side of my car."

The pink haired woman feels sick to her stomach.

"She was… hit?"

oOo

"She was… hit?"

The red haired man, Gildarts, nods quietly while putting a warm hand on his shoulder. He flinches and takes a step back. "Is that why she's not here? Is she… Is she dead? In the hospital? Dying?" He panics; the world around him used to be so bright and sparkling- now it's just, gray.

Gray, gray, gray.

Hadn't she suffered enough? He wonders, painfully, he can't help but question if he should be asking the same question himself. Life had been so hard on him and his sister, and yet, it continued. Where was his happy ending at? Just how could he achieve it without all of this suffering?

Why did Natsu have to suffer in the first place?

"It wasn't a head on collision," The doctor supports; feeling as if there was a better way to bring up the news without being so blunt about it. The woman stiffens underneath Gildart's glare, and tries her best to continue talking calmly. "The car swerved and the side of it hit her. Her injuries weren't serious. A concussion, a broken leg, and… oh, a punctured lung from a fractured ribcage…" She clears her throat awkwardly. "She's fine now, however, we were just keeping her here to monitor everything. She's just fine."

Thank god, Zeref breathes.

Right now the mention of injuries didn't bother him; all that mattered right now was that she was alive, and well, and waiting for him in that little white room. Knowing Natsu, she's probably be squirming around and whining about how much she wanted to go home. Or how she wanted to do everything they told her not to.

He calms himself down. "Please," His voice is broken and stressed by now. It's a wonder how it's done so well up until this point. "Just let me see her."

The doctor nods as she shakily hands him the room number; Zeref has never moved so quickly in his life. Though as soon as he reaches the door the adrenaline dies down and he feels himself hesitating; nervous, sweating, please be in there.

"Natsu?"

No reply. "Natsu?"

Again, there's no reply.

"I'm coming in, Natsu." He opens the door to an empty room.

The window is wide open; there's a note left in the middle of the messily made bed.

All of a sudden, Zeref can't breathe. The sound of people calling out to him falls on death ears as the same two words he read on the note repeat themselves over and over again in her head.

"I'm sorry."

oOo

"I'm sorry," Zeref holds a hand to his head as he tries to suppress a headache that's already let him know that it's not leaving anytime soon. He feels slower than usual, a little more detached. It was as if he was here and wasn't here at the same time. His wife holds his hand, and for a moment he wonders what would happen if she were to let go. "Could you repeat that? I didn't quite get it."

She sends him a warm look and gives his hand a soft squeeze; the action is comforting, and somehow more calming than what he would've imagined it to be. "You had a panic attack, sweetie." She repeats; slower this time, a little calmer. Again, he blinks at her, but this time he understands. "It's okay now. Just breathe with me, okay?"

"I'm fine now." He exhales deeply; gladly accepting the small glass of water his wife had put to his lips so caringly. He feels calmer now; his chest still hurts, but at least it doesn't feel like the world is going to end anymore. It's okay. He's okay. Natsu's not okay. "Where's Natsu?"

She looks away from him; Zeref feels his heart fall. He places the glass of water onto the table beside the bed and quickly brings a hand to his chest; he needed to stay calm. Calm down. Breathe. "Don't worry." She takes hold of both his hands. "We've come this far haven't we? There's no way we're letting her get away again."

Unexpectedly, the hospital television clicks on. The news reporter talks of a car accident that happened a couple of days ago; the security footage plays a video of a car skidding into a pink haired girl, and the man that gets out of the car in a panic is horribly familiar.

He takes one look at the child he hit, his lip curls up in disgust, and he gets back into his car and goes.

"He did this to Natsu? He put Natsu into the hospital? He did this?" Hyperventilation sets in; Mavis is quick to stop it.

"Calm down, please, these attacks aren't good for you." She cries, pulling him into her chest and comforting him the best she can. It doesn't take him long to calm down. "I apologize if you don't want to answer, but who was he?"

"That man…" Zeref growls. "It's his fault things are like this… It's his fault that mom… That Natsu…"

"Zeref."

Mavis holds her shaking husband and wonders why he has to go through so much. He shouldn't have to suffer; no one should. And yet, here he was, trembling in her arms.

Nonetheless, she would hold his hand throughout it all.

She'll make Zeref happy again.

oOo

"She'll make Zeref happy again." Natsu says wholeheartedly; her obsidian eyes gleaming with determination as she clings to her own words like she would be lost without them. The swing she was on was old and rusty; yet it pushes on and endures her weight. Natsu wonders why such a thing interests her.

The woman who leans against the swing post scoffs, her arms crossed against her chest and her frown stiffens just a bit. She's careful not to get too close to the pink haired girl in fear of scaring her; even though it seems like Natsu doesn't quite care anymore. "Of course she will. There's no doubt about it."

"Then why do you think I should go back? I make people unhappy." The woman flinches, knowing full well that it was her who gave Natsu this kind of mindset. It was her that made Natsu flee; it was her fault. Everything was her fault. "You were unhappy when I was born. Daddy left because he didn't want me. If I had never been born…"

"On the day you were born," She, Natsha Dragneel, begins with a look of nostalgia on her face. A ghost of a smile possesses her lips; her eyes crinkle a little bit. Natsu can't help but be amazed. "You should have seen the look on Zeref's face when he saw you for the first time. Up until that point, he's been a rather plane child. Always listening, never complaining, and never really caring about anything."

"That doesn't sound like brother at all." Natsu interrupts, but the look in her eyes is guiding the woman to go forward. To continue her story. The fascinated expression never really leaves Natsu's face.

"It doesn't. Because the day you were born, he did a whole one eighty." She sighs, her eyes are welling up a bit. "He took you into his own arms and looked down at you as if you were the most important thing in the world. As if nothing else mattered but you…"

Natsu finds herself smiling too; even if she tries to hold it back. Her eyes sparkle. "Did I look back at him?"

"You did, Natsu. You did." The woman runs a shaky hand through her hair, the smile falls from her face and she clenches her fists tightly. "I was jealous. I was so utterly jealous that it was sickening."

"Why were you jealous?" She cocks her head to the side in confusion; the woman glares at the girl's pink locks. "Did I do something?"

"You were born with pink hair." She growls. Natsu flinches just a bit, remembering what that tone of voice usually led to. The girl doesn't calm back down until it's obvious that Natasha isn't going to hit her. "Growing up, I was never accepted for having pink hair. My parents had red hair, so why did mine have to be pink? Everyone teased me and called me a freak; it wasn't until high school that your father- my current love interest- came up to me and said, 'If you dye your hair, I'll go out with you.'"

"Did you do it?" The woman laughs.

"Of course I did! I was desperate! He accepted me after that, and we even got married!" Natsu looks down. "But the point is, no one ever accepted me for having pink hair. Not even my own husband! And then you come along and-" She snaps her fingers. "Just like that, you're accepted in a matter of seconds! 'Why was she loved instead of me? Why did I have to suffer?' Such stupid childish thoughts… but they were true."

"So you hate me because I was born with pink hair?" Natsu swings her feet back and forth; the swing creaks and the chains shudder. "That's okay. It's my fault, then. I'm sorry for being born with pink hair."

The woman kicks a nearby tree. "Why the hell are you apologizing!? I hated you when I should've loved you and accepted you like everyone else? I constantly hurt you while you were growing up! I ran you out of the house! Don't fucking apologize!"

"But I drove daddy away." The swing stops. "It's my fault that he's gone. If I hadn't been born, then Zeref would be happy. He'd be in a normal family with a mommy and daddy."

Natasha really doesn't want to say it, but it hurts hearing her daughter talk about herself like this. It hurts to hear Natsu blame everything on herself, even things that she could have never controlled. It hurt. It hurt. It hurt. "Shut up, just shut up already!" Natsu flinches again, her shoulders go up and her head goes down. "Zeref grew up just fine. He's always had everything he ever needed. The moment you left him, he lost something important. Do you understand?"

"Doesn't he have everything he needs now? He's married now. To Mavis."

"For god's sake, are you an idiot!?" She yells. "Everything he's ever done has been for you! All he needs is his little sister back! So stop being a baby and go home! You're his everything! When you left, you took everything away from him! How do you think this could be fixed?!"

Startled, Natsu jumps to her feet. "I'm going home!" Natsha scoffs and crosses her arms across her chest, watching as her youngest child leaves her for what seems to be the last time.

"Brat," The woman sighs. "You'd better stay there this time."

Not too far away, Natsu turns and puts her hands by her mouth. "MOMMY!" She yells, "I LOVE YOU AND YOUR PINK HAIR!" A cheeky grin appears on her daughter's face.

"Tch." The woman looks up at the clear night sky and wonders how there's water on her face if it's not raining. "I love you to."

She exhales.

"Idiot."

oOo

"Idiot," Natasha's ex-husband speaks calmly; he rolls his eyes as he listens to the person on the other end of the phone. "Why the hell would I be taken to jail for something like that? So yeah, obviously, I hit her with a car. Obviously, I drove away. Obviously, that's illegal."

He pauses to listen.

"No, it'll be easy for me to get out of. That pink haired kid's my freaking daughter! I'll just go in and explain the situation tomorrow." He grins. "There's always a way to get out of things."

The doorbell rings; in just a couple of seconds, it's followed by rampant knocking. It's not hard to become annoyed. The black haired raven scoffs; sparing his friend a couple words before hanging up. "I'll be right back." He puts the phone down and makes his way to the door.

He nearly stumbles as he opens it. The police officers standing before him don't look amused.

"Acnologia Dragneel, you're going to jail for a long time."

Acnologia sweat drops.

"Fuck."

oOo

"Fuck!" Sting scowls as he stubs his foot into the door, his sister doesn't hesitate to hit him over the head for swearing. "Ah- what the hell!?" She hits him again, her cheeks puffed in irritation at the sound of yet another swear word leaving her mouth.

Rouge rolls his eyes at his siblings as he sits back on the sofa; a small book rests in his hands as the rest of his family takes their places around the warm room. "She'll stop hitting you if you stop swearing. Isn't that how it's always been?"

"Yeah…" Sting mumbles underneath his breath, sending his sister an apologetic stare before seating himself beside his brother. He leaves just a little bit of room in between to make room for Natsu, who, oh, isn't here anymore. The brothers stare at the empty spot on the couch with sadness clearly etched on their faces.

Mavis quickly picks up on their strange behavior. "What's wrong?"

"Natsu… She's always been in the middle, no matter what we did. Sleeping or walking or… or…" Sting sighs.

Rouge puts his book down. "It's weird that she's not here. It's only been a couple of days since she ran off, but… it feels like it's been so long since we've seen her."

"It's been two years since Zeref has seen Natsu." Mavis says as she settles down across from them; arms crossed loosely, her gaze calculates their reaction. "So what feels like a long time to you, feels like an eternity to him."

The boys look down guiltily. "It was our idea."

She sighs; choosing to rest her head on her hand as her elbow digs it's was into the arm seat. "I know," She replies. "You told me already." Constantly, she wants to add on, but it's not her goal to make them feel guilty. She wants them to realize just how stupid they were and that they'd better not do it again, ever. "But I'm happy that you three went together."

"Why?"

"If you two were alone, who knows what kind of trouble you would've gotten into… if you didn't kill each other first," She hums; there's a thoughtful expression on her face for a moment. "If Natsu had went by herself… I don't want to even imagine that."

Rouge stiffens. "There's no way we would have let her go alone. She's Natsu, after all."

"Yeah," Sting huffs. "She's Natsu. We need to protect her."

"Just as I need to protect you, and Zeref needs to protect Natsu." She reaches over and places two of her hands on top of their heads, "So don't you idiots ever leave me again, got it?"

"Got it."

"Understood."

Cana and Gildarts come down the stairs; both moving as silently as possible.

"We walked past the guest room; Zeref's asleep. We closed the door, but I think it would be best for us to get out of the house so we don't wake him up." Gildarts says as he holds a hand to his lips. "So why don't I take my older sister and my favorite nephews out for a bit while Zeref's wife makes sure he stays in bed?"

Mavis flushes, still a little unused to the title. Her mother sends her a teasing expression, which only succeeds on making Mavis blush even deeper and resort to flustered stuttering. "I g-g-g-got it!"

"He hasn't been sleeping too well lately, so he should be out for a while." Cana whispers; she's quick and efficient about getting both the twins and Gildarts out the door at the same time, she turns back just before she closes the door. "We'll be back by dinner time. I'll make everyone's favorite… and Mavis?"

"Hm?"

"Thanks for giving me another chance."

Mavis smiles warmly. The blush on her face dies down a little bit. "Don't mention it, mom."

Things seem amazingly bright at that very moment.

The door closes.

oOo

The door closes.

Natsu doesn't know how to describe what she feels as she steps into the house that belongs to Gildarts; it had been easy to leave Sting and Rogue here knowing that they were sick and that they were going to be taken care of. It was hard to come back in hopes of meeting her brother again; who she had ran away from two years ago, and had left behind just a couple of days ago.

She was always running, wasn't she?

Zeref was probably tired of chasing after her by now.

She sighs and looks down; the multiple pairs of shoes by the door had been significantly decreased. The house itself was very silent, and so Natsu comes to conclude that just about everyone is gone. Which is okay. That will just make things easier.

She looks around the house for a couple of minutes, sticking to the first floor where she finds nothing and no one worth mentioning. What if no one was home? What if they had just left the door unlocked? What if she had stumbled into the wrong house?

Taking a moment to give a horrified expression; she calms herself down and quickly decides to check the upstairs rooms. Her bare feet don't make much noise as she trails up the steps; though the halls are silent and dark, she can hear her heartbeat thudding louder with every step she takes.

And then she comes across a room with a closed door.

Her fingers brush against the handle, and then they retract they moment a voice calls out for her on the other side. "Natsu!" There's ruffling of what Natsu assumes to be blankets on the other side of the door. She can't really see them, and she wonders if it's even a good idea to go in and see the person making the noise.

"Natsu, where's Natsu!"

His voice sounds the same.

"Zeref, calm down. It was just another dream."

It's Zeref.

"But she was crying! She was crying and calling out for me…! I just ignored her!"

She presses her back against the door.

"We both know you'd never do that."

The muffled sobs from her brother are heartbreaking to hear.

"But I left alone for so long… I was so focused on graduating and getting a job and moving out so that I could bring her with me… I just ended up leaving her alone! I abandoned her! It's my fault that she's gone!"

Natsu slides down. Her knees come into her chest.

"We'll find her, no matter what it takes." She sighs. "You just need to focus on sleeping and eating properly again. Don't forsake your health."

"It's been two years! And then when we found her, she just ran away again!" Mavis sounds to be comforting him, Natsu guesses. "What if… What if she doesn't want to see me anymore? What if she hates me?"

Natsu clenches her fists; she doesn't even try to stop the tears streaking down her face. "Of course I want to see you again! I could never hate you!"

There's sheer and utter silence after Natsu's outburst; in the next moment, there are footsteps scrambling to the door. Scared of handling the situation, Natsu ducks into the pile of clean clothing that had most likely been left by the house owner.

Zeref is the first to shove the door out of the way in an attempt to get out of the room; Mavis follows, a lot calmer than her husband. She spares one glance towards the laundry basket before placing a hand on Zeref's shoulder. "Good luck." She continues down the steps, and then most likely out the door.

"Natsu?"

Silence.

"Natsu?"

A small sniffle.

"Natsu, please. Please. You are here, aren't you? Please don't hide from me."

…

"I'm not angry. I could never be angry at you."

…

"I've missed you so much…"

…

"I've worried even more…"

…

"I'm just so happy," He wipes his eyes, "That's you're okay!"

…

"I… I know I should be happy with that… But your big brother is selfish… So please, Natsu, please…"

"Mommy says I'm everything to you." His head snaps up; he stares at the talking laundry basket impatiently. "So because I ran away, I took everything away from you."

"Ah, that's right." He sits down in front of the laundry basket with his legs crossed. "You gave me everything and then took it away. Do you want to fix it?"

The clothing nods, a small head in the center bobs up and down. "Y-Yes!"

"Then please, give everything back to me."

He opens up his arms and Natsu stumbles to get out of the basket; she wraps her arms around his thin midsection and refused to let go. He doesn't hesitate to hold her to his chest as tightly as possible; burying his face into her pink hair while she ducks into his stomach, Zeref feels as if a large piece of him had been returned.

A piece he was never letting go of again.

"You're my everything too, Zeref!" She sobs.

For the first time in god knows how long, Zeref smiles. His eyes crinkle up happily. "I know, Natsu, I know…" He kisses her forehead. "Welcome home, munchkin."

"I'm home…!"

oOo

A/N: Thank you for reading. Please do let me know what your opinion of this story is.

It's been awhile!

Good god, I've been working on this for weeks and it's the longest one-shot I've made so far. I hope you've enjoyed it. I finally finished it at 4a, haha, I need to sleep.

This is a little bit different from the way I usually write, let me know what you thought of it, I might write more like this sometime. I feel like it wouldn't have the same effect if I broke it up into chapters, so I won't.

I put a ton of thought into this; linked everything up, and had a fun time writing it.

Again, thank you.

Leave some thoughts behind.

~Crimsy