400 years ago (flashback)

A man wearing black robes with a white toga draped around his torso and flung behind him like a cape walked across the marble floors that had once been the Mildian Magic Academy, the skeletons of all the students and teachers that had mysteriously died twenty one years ago scattered across the ground. The man had black hair and black eyes and it looked like time had not touched him at all. The truth is, in twenty one years time had not in fact touched him. That was one of the effects of being cursed with the Contradictory Curse: immortality, being forever the same age, never aging, never changing.

The man pushed open the doors to the hidden underground room, a room that he had discovered at his days at the academy. The outside of the doors were cracking and fading from its days of neglect but the room beyond looked as if it was only days old: there was nothing out of place, the floor was tidy and looked as if it had never seen dust at all. And in the very middle of the room was a stasis pod filled with green, bubbly liquid, the body of a small child floating in it, his spiky pink hair the only thing that looked alive about him. The man walked towards the stasis pod and looked at the young boy with sad eyes, resting a hand on the pod. And, so quietly you couldn't hear him, he whispered one thing. A name.

"Natsu ..."

The man sighed and leaned his forehead against the stasis pod, gazing at the child inside the pod.

"Natsu," the man repeated, caressing the glass and wishing to whoever was there that the ressurection had worked and his baby brother was alive once again. "Time to wake up."

As if the child could hear him, the child opened his eyes slowly, revealing onyx eyes like the older boy's own. The man's face cracked into a gentle smile that was full of happiness, happiness he hadn't felt since the child had originally died.

"My name's Zeref Dragneel," the man introduces himself to the still-dazed child. "I'm your older brother, Natsu."

The young child - Natsu - made a little noise that Zeref thought was cute before closing his eyes again. Zeref knew that Natsu needed to rest fully now so he drained the stasis pod and carefully pulled him out of the stasis pod and wrapped him in his white toga. Natsu made a little sleepy sound, fisting Zeref's robes and burrying his face deeper into Zeref's chest.

Zeref walked out of the underground room and stopped at the top of the stairs, frowning at the skeletons lining the ground. He had once studied at this school, Natsu running around the classroom as he worked. After their parents died the Mildian Magic Academy had bought the Dragneel siblings in. Natsu had still been a baby then so he didn't remember their parents, but Zeref, who had been five, did remember his parents. So he had started his research on life and death, his curiosity getting the best of him, and when the teachers told him to stop the research, he had stopped. But when Natsu had died at two years old when Zeref was seven, he had restarted the research up again. He had come up with the plans of the R-System and Eclipse, and when he was eighteen, he had been cursed with the Contradictory Curse and had accidently killed all his classmates and teachers due to it.

Zeref sighed and looked down at Natsu as he made yet another sound in his sleep before his eyes cracked open.

"Hello Natsu," Zeref cooed, caressing Natsu's pink hair. Natsu yawned, showing all his teeth. Zeref froze when he noticed that Natsu's canine teeth were sharper than they should be. Zeref narrowed his eyes and pulled the toga up a bit and saw black markings covering the bottom of his arms, shaped like flames. Zeref wasn't exactly surprised that Natsu would have demon marks - he was an Etherious after all.

Zeref wrapped Natsu up again, this time covering his head, and left the ghost academy, his footsteps echoing in the sickeningly quiet place that used to be filled with the sounds of people walking to to and from classes, talking amongst themselves and laughter. Now Zeref could only hear the ghost of that laughter.

Zeref stepped into the sunlight, the sun warming up his skin after spending so much time in the freezing cold underground room in the academy, even though the cold didn't bother Zeref that much because of his immortality. As soon as he stepped foot into the light the ground started shaking violently, causing trees to fall over on top of each other. It wasn't an earthquake though.

"Hello Igneel," Zeref greets as a great red fire dragon lands in front of him.

"Zeref, is that the boy you've been trying to revive?" Igneel asks, pointing his snout at Natsu, who had poked his head out of the toga to see what the trembling of the earth was.

"Yes, this is Natsu," Zeref says, covering Natsu's head again. "He's only just recently revived so he needs to rest but he refuses to. Even though he doesn't remember his human life he hasn't changed a bit. Oh and Igneel, thank you for helping me."

"You know I like to help humans effected by the Dragon War," Igneel says, blowing steam out of his nose. "Can I have a look at him? I did help you revive him."

Zeref indicated for Igneel to lie and he did, one leg resting on top of the other. Zeref walked towards Igneel and gently placed Natsu in the hollow between Igneel's legs, resting him against one of his legs. Natsu looked up at Igneel with admiration and awe, Igneel looking down at him with love. Igneel was a rare dragon. As most dragons saw humans as food, Igneel loved all humans.

"Natsu, this is Igneel," Zeref cooed, running his hand through Natsu's hair. Natsu gave Zeref a look filled with child-like wonder. "He's a fire dragon. He's the King of fire dragons."

"King Igneel!" Natsu shouts, holding his little arms towards the fire dragon.

"It would have been nice if Natsu's first word was my name but it nice to see that he's talking," Zeref sighs.

"He's adorable," Igneel gushes, tickling Natsu's belly. Natsu's giggles and shouts bought such joy to Zeref's heart, joy he had not felt in ages. The sound of Natsu, the sight of Natsu alive again after thirty one years of not seeing him bought positive emotions to Zeref.

"Igneel, can you do me a favour?" Zeref asked, a sudden sad look upon his face.

"What is it?" Igneel asked, stopping tickling Natsu (who started to cry at the lost contact).

"Even though I'm his creater ..." Zeref trailed off, looking away from Natsu, who was looking up at Igneel tearfully. "Creater, that's such a harsh thing to say, isn't it? He once been human, he once had a life before now."

Zeref leaned forward and wiped the tears off Natsu's face, causing him to grab hold of his hand.

"I'm only his brother and that's what I will always be so I want you to be his father Igneel." Zeref looked up at Igneel, who had gone quiet. "Igneel?"

"I'll like to be his father but there's only one problem," Igneel sighed. "Acnologia."

"What about him?" Zeref asked, knowing of the Dragon Slayer who was able to turn into a dragon after killing many dragons, friend and foe, and bathing in their blood.

"Acnologia has vowed to kill all of us dragons and has almost succeeded too," Igneel explained. "There's only Metalicana, Grandine, Weisslogia, Skiadrum and I left."

"There's always a way to defeat something, no matter how powerful they are," Zeref pointed out. Igneel rested his snout on Natsu's belly gently, Natsu grabbing his snout and burrying his face in his scales.

"We have a plan. Each of the dragons have taken a child who was left orphaned by the other dragons: Grandine took a girl named Wendy and is teaching her Sky Dragon Slayer magic; Metalicana took a boy named Gajeel and is teaching him Iron Dragon Slayer magic; Weisslogia took a boy named Sting and is teaching him White Dragon Slayer Magic; and Skiadrum took a boy named Rogue and is teaching him Shadow Dragon Slayer magic," Igneel explained. "And we're going to hide in their bodies and recharge our magic. The only problem is there is not enough ethernano in this time period."

"I have a solution to that," Zeref says. "I originally made a thing that can send someone into the future or back into the past called the Eclipse Gate, but it needs to be opened by a Celestial Wizard with the twelve Zodiac Keys. I can get one to send you into the future that has enough ethernano for you to recover, and you can use Natsu as your host, I give you my permission."

"Are you sure?" Igneel asked. "You only just reunited with him after all."

"The gate can only be opened on a solar or luna eclipse and the next one isn't for a couple of months."

Igneel looked at Natsu who had fallen asleep. "Thank you, I'll even teach Natsu Fire Dragon Slayer magic."

"I'm sure he'll love that, he used to be so fascinated with dragons." A sad look passed across Zeref's face. "It was only ironic that he was originally killed by one."

Zeref gathered Natsu back into his arms and wrapped him in the toga as Igneel stood back up, spreading his massive wings.

"I'll see you tomorrow, I have to go somewhere now," Igneel says before flying off.

"I wonder how dark the future will be," Zeref sighs as he walked back into the ghost academy.

Present day

Zeref sat underneath the trees, looking up at the canopy where he could see birds of many different sizes and colours sitting on top of the branches, the sun poking through the leaves and causing the brightest birds' feathers to sparkle like diamonds. Zeref smiled kindly at the birds in the trees, but the smile fell from his face when the birds dropped to the ground, dead, around him, as well as the leaves and the trees, the leaves wilting before they hit the ground.

Zeref closed his eyes, a lone tear falling from his eye. When would this all stop? When would he finally die and be at peace?

In the distance he heard the sound of a dragon's roar, causing Zeref to cold sweat. He looked up at the sky above him which was now visible due to the leaves dying and saw a massive blue and black dragon fly passed, causing the dead trees to shake violently. Zeref quickly got out of the way before a tree fell down exactly where he had been not a moment ago. Zeref stared after the black dragon with wide eyes.

"Acnologia ..." he whispered.

He walked further up the clearing and stood at the edge of the mountain he had been sleeping on, looking down as the wizards that had come were fighting the giant dragon. He watched as the three Dragon Slayers Gajeel, Wendy and his brother Natsu combined their Dragon Roars to attack Acnologia, who seemed not to be effected by the attack. Acnologia swiped at them, knocking them to the ground, and Acnologia started to charge his own Dragon Roar. Zeref couldn't care less what happened to the wizards on the island, but he couldn't let Natsu die after seeing him again after not seeing him for four hundred years.

Zeref used his Immobilisation Magic to freeze everything in time and walked over to where Natsu was lying on the ground, unconscious. Zeref knelt beside him and caressed his cheek.

"No mater what happens to these wizards I can't let anything happen to you," Zeref whispered, running a hand through Natsu's spiky pink hair.

Zeref pulled Natsu into a sitting position and hooked his arms under Natsu's knees and his arms and picked him up bridal style, resting Natsu's head against his chest. Zeref counted down until the spell will wear off and Acnologia would destroy the island.

Five.

Zeref walked away from the frozen in time wizards of Fairy Tail, looking up at Acnologia with a frown on his face. He never really liked Acnologia but he didn't exactly like him either. He had a neutral feeling for the Black Dragon of the Apocalypse. He just disliked Acnologia because he was the reason that Igneel had to take Natsu into the future. He was the reason that Zeref was separated from his precious brother again.

Four.

Zeref looked down at Natsu in his arms, noting the pained expression on his face. Zeref frowned, noting the red stain on Natsu's leg, which was spreading. Zeref gently laid Natsu on the ground and rolled the pant leg up and winced at the deep wound on Natsu's leg which was bleeding heavily.

Three.

Zeref ripped the pant leg off and tied it around Natsu's leg to staunch the bleeding before looking up at Natsu's face, noting Natsu's pained expression. Zeref sighed, wondering what was going on. If only he knew what was going on with Natsu because this surely wasn't a regular flesh wound. Something must have happened to Natsu to cause him such intense pain. Zeref leaned towards Natsu's leg and unwrapped the now-red fabric and his eyes widened at the black veins spreading around the wound. It seemed one of the wizards from that dark guild, Grimoire Heart or whatever it was called, had poisoned him with a poison that only came into effect when the victim was wounded. Zeref knew a cure to this but unfortunately it put the person into a deep sleep until the poison fully left their system, which could take years.

Two.

Zeref picked Natsu up again and looked back at the island again, silently saying goodbye to the wizards who would be killed by Acnologia. Zeref only cared about Natsu's safety and Natsu only. A black magic circle formed bellow Zeref's feet and on top of him, the magic circle above moving down him and Natsu, teleporting them away.

One.

The Immobilisation Spell wore off and everything went back to the way it should have been. Master Makarov shielded his children as Acnologia sent his Dragon Roar towards them, destroying the island. Mavis Vermillion, the first master of Fairy Tail, cast her Fairy Sphere on the Fairy Tail wizards, protecting them but also putting them into a seven-year-long sleep.

During this entire catastrophe no one noticed that their Salamander, their nakama, wasn't there with them.

Zeref walked through the streets of Alvarez towards the grand castle, carrying an unconscious Natsu in his arms. Natsu had broken out in a cold sweat, whimpering in pain even when he was asleep. Zeref ignored the people standing on the streets, cheering that their emperor, who had mysteriously vanished, had returned. They didn't seem to notice Natsu in his arms.

"Your highness," a man with glasses greets the Black Wizard. "You've returned."

"Invel," Zeref greeted one of his shields. "Gather the other Spriggan Twelve and come to the basement and set up a lacrima."

"Yes, your highness," Invel bows, turning on his heel and going to gather the other Spriggan Twelve.

Zeref made his way towards the basement where he kept all his research hidden from the twelve. They didn't know that he was Zeref the Black Wizard, they just simply knew him as Emperor Spriggan and nothing else.

Zeref entered the basement and walked over to the black worn out couch and rested Natsu on top of it and expected the wound. The black veins had spread. Zeref ran a hand through Natsu's sweaty hair and his hand travelled to the muffler around his neck, the one that Igneel had given him. Zeref remembered that day. Igneel had given the muffler to Natsu at Zeref's request before they went into the future. Zeref had injected it with a bit of his power that he learnt would protect someone from him when he accidentally released his curse.

"Your majesty, we have made the lacrima for you," Invel's voice announces. Zeref had not noticed the twelve entering so he did not notice them creating the lacrima with their magic. Zeref closed his eyes and nodded.

"Thank you," he says, rising. The twelve than noticed Natsu lying on the bed. "You may be wondering why I left so suddenly. The truth was I was searching for my brother that I had not seen in ages. And when I did finally find him he was poisoned with the time poison."

"So that's why you wanted us to make the lacrima," August realised. "The magic infused in the lacrima would slowly heal the poison from your brother's body. But my lord, the healing process usually takes years to take full effect, my say ten years"

"I'm very well aware of that," Zeref says. "But with all our power combined in the lacrima it should take at least seven years. But I don't want him to loose that time so I have to take extreme measures and seal his memories."

"Are you sure?" Ajeel asked. "That is an extreme measure."

"I'll do whatever it takes."

Zeref rested his palm on Natsu's forehead and formed a magic circle. Natsu's face contorted in pain as his every single one of his memories were sealed away, from Igneel to the day he first joined Fairy Tail; the day that Lisanna went to Edolas when everyone thought she died to the day he met Lucy; and very recently the adventure to and from Edolas. All the memories were gone, sealed away with a tight padlock on it, only to be opened by Zeref himself.

Zeref pulled Natsu back into his arms again and walked towards the lacrima, the twelve stepping aside to allow a path for the Dark Wizard. Zeref gently pushed Natsu into the lacrima and stepped back in between Ajeel and Brandish, six on either side of Zeref. Zeref sent his power towards the lacrima crystal, lighting it up a dark purple, sealing his magic inside with Natsu. The other twelve wizards in the room did the same, combining their magic with Zeref's and creating some sort of magic that was slowly healing Natsu from the inside.

"It's done," Zeref sighed, turning away from his comatose brother. "Hopefully it'll only be seven years like I hope."

They left the basement, leaving the comatose body of the Fire Dragon Slayer in the lacrima, the magic from the thirteen wizards slowly travelling through his body causing a slight ache in his body. Natsu didn't know where he was or who he was, but through his clouded mind and the aching pulse going through his body only one thing went through his mind, something he didn't exactly understand.

Lucy ...

PLEASE READ

This is one of my fanfics that I would be publishing the next chapter at the end of January or the start of February. There would be some warnings for future chapters:

• there will be lots of smut that involves dirty talk and sex scenes. If that's not your thing but still want to read I'll put up a warning

• this is NaLu, Natsu x Lucy. If you do not ship them then DO NOT READ.

• if you do not like self harm or torture but still want to read this I'll be putting up a warming when it comes. I don't want to trigger anyone

• I haven't decided yet but there may be some rape in later chapters, but I won't write the detail, but I'll still put up a warning

• Zeref would have a massive brother complex in this fic

• since Natsu lost his memories he'll be a bit OOC. I'm sorry about that. Plus when he begins gaining his memories he may/may not go insane and that would be warning for a lot of blood and gore. Natsu will be E.N.D. in this fic, I know that much

• if there's anything else I'll put that up in later warnings.

• please comment on some ideas of torture. There will be torture but I won't say who will be tortured, and please spread this around and vote!