Chapter Text
The walls beneath the castle tended to be a well-sought hiding spot for hunters and stowaways, so none flinched when a presence appeared below the dining hall. Zeref, for one, brushed him off with a wave of his hand, as if swatting a fly. They’d meet their end eventually, in the bows of the labyrinth with its crumbling stone walls. They’d be just the same as every other Fae after their heads, or Goblin, or even Human. And the funniest yet, “you should stop caring about these things, Natsu, you can’t make games out of their lives just because you’re bored.”
Oh, but he could. He loved their little visitors— the way their souls squirmed like flickering candles, inches from his breath. If he went to meet them, Father would just drag him back out and through him in the garden. If he guided them through the concaves by sealing wrong turns with a little magic, the same punishment awaited. If he killed them? Oh, look, a butterfly. There were only so many patches of wild grass he could roll through before the novelty ran out.
Gambling it was, at least in his head. He’d never get to meet a Fae, so what harm was it to make bets on how they died? To follow them through the pathways several feet above them, dancing through the dim lit corridors of the west wing and slipping through gaps in decadent furniture in a puff of smoke.
They usually stopped abruptly around the middle, the traps and debris beneath the throne room the worst to face. He’d stand in front of his father and wait patiently as their life snuffed out under his feet. It seemed only fair to be with them in the end, after he danced around their soul for hours on end, sometimes days. Zeref, when he was home, ruffled his hair until he looked as dishevelled as he felt.
But this one. This one was special.
A soul brighter than most, though that wasn’t unusual. A vigour for life and a burning determination was a given for those who made it past the third bookshelf in the west wing library. They often reeked of wood and steel, moulded around their figures and sharpened into weapons edges. Warrior hearts, Father called them, and this one was the most beautiful Natsu had ever seen, like amber in dawn’s warmth, or ruby in melting snow. He’d leapt out his chamber to follow it.
This one made it to the throne room in record time. Natsu stepped up onto his well trodden spot on the red carpet that led up to Father’s throne, where Father sighed through his nose. He propped his face up with his hand, red hair pooling down his shoulders, gaze steady. Natsu closed his eyes, mourning the pretty soul, when it flew out of his shadow and around the throne, shooting into the garden.
“What’s wrong?” Father said, eyebrow raised.
He grinned, “It made it!”
“Made it? You mean to say…”
Natsu left. He turned swiftly around the corner and down the stairs to the wide, sun kissed hall that led to the garden. The doors were open, sunlight pouring in and over the arched stone high above his head, sinking into the walls and the polished floor. The guards were on him immediately, “You’re highness, I really don’t think—“
“Get out of my way, Minnie, I’m busy.”
“I-it’s Maki— no, Sir, that’s not the point!”
“C’mon, just let me through!”
He pushed the guards to the walls and stomped past them, rushing into the garden. Zeref yanked him back by the collar of this cape before his foot touched the grass.
“What do you think you’re doing?” He said, his eyes wide in disbelief, “The sun’s out.”
He scoffed, “So? It’s not gonna kill me.”
“Natsu, be serious. What’s so urgent you need to burn yourself for it?”
“You didn’t hear?!” He turned to shake his brother by his shoulders, jaw hurting from his grin. Zeref let himself be rocked on his heels with thinned, worried lips, pale as winter. The guards apparently took his face as reason enough to scatter.
“No?”
“The soul!”
“Ah, there’s another one?”
“It got past the throne room, man!”
“What?!” Zeref cried. He pulled Natsu further away from the gaping doors and back into the shadows, his eyes twitching back and forth in shock, “That’s awful!”
“I’ve never seen one do that before! You’ve gotta let me follow it!”
He shook his head violently, “No, absolutely not! It’s too dangerous!”
“What?! Why not?” He’d been waiting for years for a chance to meet a soul, to see a face that wasn’t castle security, or distant cousins with the same uptight traditions. Danger was the least of his worries! It wasn't even on his list of worries at all!
“Natsu,” Zeref sighed, “I know this is fun to you, but those souls… the only reason they’re here is to hurt you.”
“I’m not some dumb kid! I could take whatever they threw at me!”
“That’s not the point, Natsu.”
He growled. He could feel the soul slipping further into the garden, and he knew Zeref felt the same. The power within it that licked their toes as it passed. He didn’t care if they thought him reckless or childish; just once, he wanted a friend that was different. He wanted a friend that had seen the world, and could tell him of their adventures. He wanted their freedom.
He ran away, Zeref calling after him. He’d deal with the fallout later.
He followed the brushes and plants that made up the meandering pathways of the royal garden, cobbled bricks overrun by fauna and tiny weeded flowers with ticklish leaves that brushed against his clothes. He slipped between a tall tree and a collection of bushes towering high above his head, bristled after years of being abandoned. A hidden path presented itself, one Natsu had sneaked down many times, always held back by royal guards. Once, father snatched him up himself, shielding him from what laid further down.
He wasn’t allowed down the underground passageways, for no other reason other than to keep him from destroying them, at least that’s what Natsu suspected. Dad probably also didn’t want him talking to the people that stretched through them, but if they were strong they’d make it into the palace walls regardless, so what did it matter if he met them a little sooner?
This was the first that had ever made it this far though, in his lifetime. The stationed royal guards began to circle his flank, staring silently with their weapons out, arms reaching. Father spread the word already, through the breeze, or the buzz of moths and butterfly wings, that a visitor had arrived. That they were resilient, and dangerous.
Somehow, Natsu had a strange feeling that they weren’t. As their soul grew closer, he studied the tendrils like brushstrokes on an ancient painting. They were strong, no doubt, but there was an innocence to them. In the molten gold that swirled through their core, flecked with curiosity and passion, was kindness. It pooled like honey, and steamed like a warm meal. No soul was naturally good, nor naturally evil, but there were patterns and constants. Something about this one… he could tell by most odds that they were good. He’d never seen that either, not from their visitors.
He stood at the entrance to the passageway, feet together, breathing in the soul like he did in Father’s throne room. It was so different from his own, from Zeref’s, or any of the guards. Fresh as mountain air, sweet on his tongue.
It flew at him in a whirlwind, hair like stardust, a blur of steel. He side-stepped the pointed tip of a spear and felt the cold metal graze his cheek. They were here.
They turned on their heels and swept across his chest, then down into his feet, elbowing him in the gut. He caught it just before it landed and held them still, taking the moment to scrutinise their features. Bright blond high tied in a high ponytail, sharp eyes, a shiny metal breastplate over her chest, and smooth skin, made ruddy from exhaustion.
“I’ve got you!” She cried, and pushed her spear to his heart. He let fire burst from his skin and lick her blade, melting the metal and burning her hands. She flinched, shocked to stillness, as he singed the grass at her feet with a wave of magic.
He stopped. One calculated slip, and he’d kill her. He'd miss the chance of a lifetime if he got too cocky, the one soul that made it through the catacombs in centuries. He watched as she spun her weapon and thrusted the blunt end of her spear into his gut. He winced in pain, stumbling back.
Zeref swept around the bushes, half a dozen guards on his tail. He made eye contact with his brother through the leaves as his face scrunched from the blow, and in seconds they were surrounded by guards. They restrained the girl, discarding her weapon and letting Zeref dissolve the remnants beneath his fingertips. He pulled Natsu towards him and threw his cape over his head, keeping the sun from his skin and hiding the girl from his sight.
“Let me go!” She screamed, “Monsters! Let me go!”
Zeref scoffed, “what made you think she would listen to you, huh? She’s clearly made up her mind.”
Natsu sighed harshly through his nose and lifted the cape from his eyes. He knew this would happen eventually, “I’m fine! I told you I could handle it!”
“She nearly killed you!”
“She was nowhere near it! I didn’t need your help.”
Zeref gave him a pointed look, squinting in the sun. They both knew he hesitated. It wasn’t as if she actually injured him, though, and if he could find a way to take her down without injuring her it would’ve been a piece of cake. He told Zeref as much, but he shook his head.
“Just kill her, for God's sake. All you're doing is giving her hope she has a chance against us.”
Her eyes widened. He caught the slightest hint of terror on her face, hidden under her mask of anger and malice. It was enough for him to shake out of Zeref’s grip and trudge into her space, batting guards away until only two remained, securing her by her arms. She flexed and struggled in their grip, glare back on her face.
She was strong, fit to burst like a comet in the sky. He didn’t want to kill her, not yet, not until he’d learnt everything he possibly could about the outside world. Faes, humans, what if she’d met a unicorn? He couldn’t lose his only chance in this century to talk to a traveller.
“Natsu,” Zeref said, worrying his lip between his teeth, “She’s dangerous, be careful.”
“It’s fine, relax,” he said. He walked up to her and crouched down to her view, feet digging into the dirt, “what’s your name?”
She snarled, launching like she’s trying to bite his nose off. There were tears in her eyes, a beautiful brown that drew him in, “like I'd tell you, vampire.”
He grinned and showed her his fangs, letting the sun glisten against his saliva. That wasn’t near as insulting as some creatures seemed to think it was. He kind of liked it, in a way. Father told him he just liked showing off.
“I like you,” he said, “you’re interesting.”
“Fuck off.”
Zeref sighed, “take her to Lord Dragneel.”
“Yes, my Lord.”
The guards knocked her out with a swift pulse to the back of her head. She dropped like an anvil, her furrowed eyebrows falling slack. They carried her inside, and Natsu trailed steadily behind them. He stepped back into the hallway with a sigh of relief, the sun finally off his skin. His hands were beginning to itch and burn, his palms clammy. Zeref pushed him from under his cape with a huff, as if to quietly chastise him. He was dangerously close to hugging him, something Natsu doesn’t think he’s done in years.
“You’re never going to listen to me, are you?”
Natsu smiled, “Nope.”
He laughed, “I don’t get it, but I hope she’s worth it. You know now no ones going to let her leave alive.”
“I can take it.”
“I know you can,” and again, wearily, “I know you can.”
They flew into the throne room, the human lugged over the guards shoulder and presented to the King like a prize. Father’s face was stern and emotionless, his body folded comfortably into his seat on the throne above them.
“Can I keep her?” Natsu called, and the guards gasped like tiny mice under kitchen floorboards. He kept his eyes on his father in hopes of appearing more earnest and away from their horrified faces. They didn’t understand anyway.
Father looked at him. He never really relied on words, and so Natsu grew up learning to read him through the way his eyebrows raised, or his feet tapped against the carpet. His eyes were sharp, like polished knives, but there was humour there at the surface.
“She’s dangerous,” he said.
“I can take her if she tries anything! I’m way stronger than her!”
He hummed, chin in hand, an amused gleam in his eyes, “alright then.”
The room exploded with voices, “Lord Igneel—!”
“You can’t be serious, Sire!”
“The prince couldn’t possibly—!”
He held up his hand to silence them, then raised a single stern finger. The weight of his gaze alone made Natsu feel like a child under his calloused palms, his power gentle and kind but unyielding, “On one condition.”
Natsu quickly nodded, “Name it.”
“You may keep her only if you figure out how to tame her.”
He thought about it. A friend was what he wanted, but a pet. A pet would mean he never had to worry about them leaving, never worry about losing them to greed or longing or wrath. Their stories and adventures would be extensions of his own, as if he’d lived their life and had their journey in the outside world, all for himself. Better than a friend, more constant than a friend.
He grinned, “Deal.”