"Fa- I mean- Ankhseram. Please hear me for once in my existence! I am an aberration. A monstrosity never meant to exist, yet here I am. I just want to die and actually stay dead. But you just keep sending me back to the world of mortals time and again."

"I brought you into this world, alongside your mother. Only I shall choose to remove you from it. As such, you are not allowed to make that choice- over whether you live or die. That is something only I can decide. You are no God. And you certainly have no say over life and death, yet you persist on deciding for yourself whether you should live or die. You continually disturb and contort the delicate balance between life and death. You should know what happens to those who dare tread upon such sacred laws. You have left me no other alternatives.

From henceforth, you are banished from the realm of the dead- to that of the living so long as this punishment shall last. You wish to decide your own fate and death so greatly. Then I shall bestow it unto you. I shall strip you of your memories and whatever knowledge you have obtained through your lineage and deliver you unto Earthland. I will leave you with one single memory, however.

You are hereby cursed with a Curse of Contradiction made especially for you. When you can overcome the contradiction, you will be able to return and when that time comes, I will gladly accept you.

This curse is one for you and you alone, and you must decipher it yourself or through your own merits. You must learn how this curse is unique and different for you, and you will do it without a single memory.

The only things I will grant you is a safe delivery to Earthland, and the ability to learn Magick as a mortal would. And, the only memory I shall bestow unto you isn't even a truth. It will be but a name as mortals carry. And the last gift will be something you will discover in your new life- in due time."

--

"Oh... Oh, thank goodness... He's still alive. I-I didn't... Not everyone's- everything's-... Dead..." The small child was still alive. Still breathing. Zeref was so relieved. Even he could tell his voice, sorrow laced had the smallest traces of relief.

"I don't recognise you, but no matter. You're still alive. Can you hear me? Can you speak?" Zeref asked, seeing the child's eyes open a hint, revealing both a blood red and a moonlit silver.

The child tilted his head, giving a small, single and difficult nod before he tried to speak. The voice caught in his throat, words stuck as he coughed a good bit.

"Here, be careful. You'll choke." Zeref helped the boy sit upright, patting his back ever so gently until the coughing subsided.

"Are you hurt or do you feel sick?" Zeref slumped in relief at the shake of the child's head. "Thank goodness. I feared you would be afflicted as well." Zeref looked down into the child's eyes, tears spilling. He wasn't much older than Natsu had been when he died. His hair was black, but shimmered like stars in the night sky, a rainbow of subdued colours that were as inconsistent as each strand of hair.

"My name is Zeref Dragneel. Do you know your name, child?" Zeref asked, hopeful and so so thankful. He hadn't killed everyone there. Somehow, the small boy before him survived. Somehow.

"N... Nao... Ki." The voice was small, dry and cracked. But it was still there.

"Come on, then. Let's get you up off of the ground. And find some water. Your throat must be parched to be so coarse." Zeref was trying to avoid scaring the child or letting him see the academy of deceased scholars. The people Zeref had killed.

He was trying to avoid letting himself see it too. So many lives on his hands.

He wanted to get out of there. Away from the death. His choices took away countless lives. Killed countless innocent people.

Except this unfamiliar child.

They wandered away from the academy. The creek nearby would be sufficient.

Until Zeref saw the bellied-up fish. He wanted to leave there, not let the child see it. But the boy knelt down, cupping his hands and drank.

"Wait! I haven't- that water is still-" It was too late, and the child was gulping down as much as he could.

"Perhaps you'll be alright." Zeref couldn't stop the smile that crossed his face.

--

From then on, Zeref ended up taking Naoki along wherever he went. The child his sole companion, even as death trailed after him. Naoki was never fazed. He never grew ill, even when he ate things less than safe or when Zeref ended up leaving a trail of bodies and death in his wake.

Eventually, Zeref came to a realisation of his own. He had incurred Ankseram's wrath, but this child also seemed to have a curse similar to Zeref's as well.

For some reason, such a small, young child had an odd sort of Contradiction Curse upon him. Zeref's was typical, normal as per Ankseram's 'usual'. The more he valued life, the more death he caused.

Naoki's was not so simple but seemed based on the value of his own life. Still, Zeref struggled with understanding why Naoki's self-hatred and self-worth could incur something as horrible as the curse of contradiction he seemed to have.

The other noticeable difference was how the curse displayed in Naoki versus Zeref. Naoki didn't have the same release of miasma Zeref did. He only remained some small measure of immortal, though Zeref watched him consume outright deadly things and suffer grievous injuries most would die from instantly or at the very least, suffer from for years.

Naoki gave little about what happened for him to incur such a curse, but Zeref had an inkling that Naoki had no memory of the cause or source.

Still, as much as he could see Naoki enjoying himself, life or companionship, he would see past the mask, and see that self-hatred and lack of self-worth boiling beneath the mask, growing more and more fierce over time.

Eventually, Zeref came to the conclusion that his own death would save others from suffering by his hands, so he undertook the most forbidden of Magicks. The study of Life and Death. He had all the time in the world, after all.

He began with small things. Eventually, the Etherious came into being. But none of them were strong enough to kill him.

So, after a suggestion from his occasional assistant, Naoki, he came upon an idea he had glanced at more than once, yet never quite got to trying. Until then.

He had kept Natsu's body preserved, and taken good care of it throughout the years. So, when life was breathed anew into his little brother, he finally made his ultimate dreams come true. He had his little brother back again, finally. And he had an Etherious that would be capable of killing him once Natsu became strong enough.

That left only a few things on Zeref's plate. Someone he could trust to ensure Natsu did grow strong enough. And... Someone to look after his other companion, as much as he found himself enjoying Naoki's constant company, it was going to eventually become inconvenient, or possibly used against him. He did not wish to be the cause of such an unfortunate event. Naoki remaining at his side would become a hindrance one way or another, and the child deserved better. Deserved to find someone who wasn't intent on the selfish desire to die. Deserved someone who could show him how to love himself, and that was something Zeref didn't have the capacity to do.

Zeref could end his curse, Natsu would ensure it eventually.

But Naoki may never be able to do the same with his. Especially not on his own. And Zeref wasn't sure he could live or die knowing that, knowing what he does, and not doing something about it.

So, he would give Naoki the same chance he would give Natsu. And the same starting pieces. A blank slate, a foster parent, and a chance to grow.

In the end, he requested Igneel, the Fire Dragon King's help in reguards to Natsu. Igneel and a few other dragons already had something in the works to hopefully defeat Acnologia in the future. Then, he asked if there was another Dragon who would take Naoki as a child and teach their art to.

Igneel was at a loss as for whom to ask, but agreed nonetheless. Naoki was strong, and even if he had to teach the child himself, another who could face Acnologia in the future was no sort of hindrance or unwanted goal.

Though Igneel's worry was in reguards to the antibodies Naoki would need to avoid becoming a Dragon eventually.

Zeref explained what he knew of Naoki to Igneel, both amazing and concerning Igneel and the other four dragons. But the problem could potentially end up being null if there wasn't an initial likelihood Naoki would turn into a Dragon eventually.

So, while Naoki was asleep, Zeref left him with Igneel, taking all of the memories the two shared away and into himself until he may need Naoki to remember- if that chance ever did arise.

He couldn't risk loving Naoki, in case the boy did escape his curse before they met again, so once he took Naoki's memories, he removed them and his own where Naoki was involved, writing Naoki's existence out of Zeref's memory and sealing it away somewhere outside himself, but never far from him.

--

In the end, Igneel took care of Natsu and another dragon ended up joining their cause. One they almost couldn't fathom having an interest or agreeing to their mission.

She raised and trained Naoki until the year before their plans with Anna were to pass into reality. Naoki came back to Igneel, covered in wounds that were rapidly healing, but alone.

He couldn't get the words out of what happened. His mind seemed unable to come to terms with it, and the dragons feared the worst.

They weren't wrong to fear. They investigated the realm this other dragon had resided in to raise Naoki in her Dragon-art. It was the work of Acnologia, plain and clear.

Still, Igneel assured the others that they must proceed, and that he had good reason to believe Naoki wouldn't come to need the antibodies the other children would.

Naoki had always had traits normally associated with Dragons. Among which were the trademark slit pupils, and sharp senses. All that their adopted children now had. Zeref had reasoned to Igneel that Naoki was not entirely human, but could in fact have dragon's blood in his veins.

It was based on more than that, and Zeref had detailed as such. He had researched and tested Naoki, studied and learned what he could about the child over time.

And that, atop his abnormal Curse of Contradiction, he was unfazed by typically life-threatening injuries. He survived Acnologia, but his wounds were more than enough to kill a normal child or any human mortal. That gave them some small level of relief, but concern at the same time. He was still younger in appearance than Natsu- albeit very slightly, despite having been raised the past years by another dragon.

So, Natsu was reintroduced to what Igneel explained as his younger twin brother, who had been raised by a different Dragon until then, and Naoki, to his elder twin brother, raised by Igneel, who would then be his foster dad as well. Naoki's memories of his previous mother faded out as Natsu took to caring for his little brother and the two were raised together after that point by Igneel.

When the time came for the remaining dragons to seal themselves into their children using Dragon Soul, Naoki was also rendered unconscious so things would flow smoother for the children, and things continued as planned.

Anna opened the gate from her end, and Layla from the other. Igneel's final request was to try and ensure Natsu and Naoki end up together for their own sakes. And for the Dragons as well.

Naoki was still their greatest concern, after all. If he was close to Natsu, then Igneel could watch over him, and monitor his growth and how he lived, how he grew and matured. How he would turn out.

And what the other female dragon taught him, as well as how she did it. If she did it properly and safely. She was a tricky one, and suspicious from the start.