Fanfic / Keeping Secrets

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Post-Tartaros, Natsu finds himself alone and grieving in the forests of Ishgar. By chance, he stumbles upon a ruined house, two gravestones and a mysterious pendant, which trigger his long-sealed memories of his past life. After his memories return, he immediately tracks down his long-lost brother; Zeref Dragneel. After a bit of a spat, the two reconcile, and Natsu swears to help Zeref rebuild their family and cure his curse. Joining the Alvarez Empire as Crown Prince, Natsu makes new friends and carves out his place, but soon realises that this path may not be one he can turn back on...

Keeping Secrets is a Fairy Tail fanfiction written by SlitheryOwl77 on Archive of Our Own. It diverges from canon after the Tartaros Arc, and things spiral from there.

It can alternatively be found here on FanFiction.Net or here on Wattpad.

Keeping Secrets contains examples of:

• Ability Mixing: In his duel against God Serena, Natsu turns the tide by combining his innate Curse powers with his Fire Dragon Slayer Magic, creating Cursed Fire. This kind of fire is toxic to any other fire-eaters, as God Serena painfully discovers.
• Adaptational Badass:
  • Rusty Rose learns how to use his Arc of Embodiment to copy Historia of the Dead from Neinhart.
  • Jenny Realight was taken down very quick in the Grand Magic Games, so we never got to see much of her fighting skills. Here, she shows enough skill with her Machina Soul magic to fight and eventually triumph over Wall Eehto's remote body, which is no mean feat considering its Adaptive Ability.
• Adaptational Context Change: Gray still nearly kills Natsu with his Ice Demon Slayer Magic. Although in this case, he had no idea Natsu was END. And while Erza saved them both in canon, here August was able to save Natsu's life by using a Fairy Heart-empowered healing spell.
• Adaptational Heroism: Pretty much the entire Alvarez Empire. Granted, it takes a little while for some of them to change their mindsets, such as Larcade and Ajeel.
• Adaptational Jerkass: Draculos Hyberion and Wolfheim are on the receiving end of this, having No Sympathy for God Serena despite his Dark and Troubled Past as a former test subject of Brain and refusing to help him, contributing to the man's defection to Alvarez.
• Adaptational Job Change:
  • Jackal, the only active member of the Nine Demon Gates, becomes the first of Natsu's 'Shields of Salamander' in Alvarez.
  • Rusty gets recruited from where he was dwelling in the ruins of Grimoire Heart's HQ, and is made the second Shield of Salamander by Natsu, August and Wall.
  • After Crime Sorciere inadvertently try to kidnap the Alvarez Imperial Family (Zeref, Natsu, Ruth, Lucy and Mavis), Invel recruits them to serve as guards to said family.
• Adaptational Name Change:
  • Zeref was never indicated to have any middle name in canon. Here, his parents gave him the full name of Zeref Alexandre Dragneel, which his mother reveals after her Full-Name Ultimatum below.
  • Downplayed with Rustyrose. His real name is actually "Rusty Rose", the last of the Rose bloodline of embodiment-wizards.
  • God Serena's real name is Michael Alvestam Serena, as revealed by his old co-workers in the Wizard Saints. Although he does not go by that name anymore — see That Man Is Dead below.
  • Neinhart's full name is Neinhart Rosencrantz.
  • As Invel reveals to them in Chapter 46, the Crime Sorciere members with Only One Name all have surnames of their own.
    • Macbeth/Midnight's real name is Macbeth Paterson.
    • Sawyer/Racer's real name is Sawyer Talledega.
    • Erik/Cobra's real name is Erik Nygaard.
    • Meredy's last name is revealed to be "Forte", but she has it legally changed it to "Milkovich" in honour of her deceased mother-figure Ultear.
• Adaptational Relationship Overhaul: Oh so much.
  • Natsu and Ajeel were staunch enemies in canon. Here, they strike up a friendship very quickly, and after Natsu beats him in their duel, Ajeel gladly pledges loyalty to his new Prince.
  • Ajeel and Dimaria were simply co-workers in canon. Here, they have romantic feelings for each other, and become an Official Couple soon after Natsu arrives in Alvarez.
  • Wall Eehto and Jenny Realight never even met in canon. Here, Wall falls for Jenny after seeing her fight and win against one of his remote-controlled dolls.
  • Rusty develops a crush on Brandish, whereas in canon they never met.
  • Natsu and Lucy are still not together in canon. In this, Natsu awkwardly confesses to her, which Invel takes as grounds to arrange their engagement.
  • Zeref and Mavis only got married after both of them canonically died. Here, they also get engaged after Invel points out that their relationship can not remain the way it is.
• Adaptational Villainy: The Magic Council is portrayed as an entire government of corrupt bureaucrats, who impose unnecessary restrictions on magic out of fear, and kill off wizard families who don't agree with their regime.
• Affectionate Nickname:
  • Ajeel calls his girlfriend Dimaria "Marie".
  • After their reunion, Mavis takes to calling Zeref "Zere Bear".
• An Arm and a Leg: Because she was too distracted with fighting Sherria and Wendy, Dimaria wasn't able to react fast enough to Kagura's assault, and got her arm sliced off by Kagura's sword.
• Artificial Limbs: After the loss of her arm, Wall builds Dimaria a gleaming mechanical one to replace it. It took her a couple weeks of physical therapy to get used to it.
• Back from the Dead:
  • Zeref is able to easily revive Jackal to serve as Natsu's bodyguard, since he still possesses Jackal's demon book. This is played with, because none of the Etherious can ever actually 'die' as long as their book is intact. So for Jackal, it was more like he woke up from a long sleep. Jackal later specifies that while dying doesn't stick for Etherious, it still hurts like hell every time they do.
  • Played completely straight in Chapter 36, where Zeref and Natsu use the remade Tower of Heaven to bring their mother back to life. And a few chapters later, Chronos reveals to them that Ankhseram brought their father back from the dead beforehand as an act of spite.
• Badass Boast: In their fight, Erza gets furious that Irene's manner of fighting eschews pure strength for ranged and complex spells, and calls her out for having more tricks than skill. Irene scoffs.
  Irene: My dear Erza, when you've mastered all manner of enchantments as I have, tricks become skill!
• Big "WHAT?!": Rather common among the Alvarez Royal Family.
  • When Natsu finds out that his brother Zeref is the Emperor of Alvarez, he lets out a massive "WHAT?!"
  • And when Ruth meets Zeref again after several hundred years, she mirrors her younger son and yells out a "WHAT?!" of her own.
  • Lucy first shouts this trope when she is 'ranked' by Marin, and then again when finds out that she is to be wed to Natsu.
• Blood from the Mouth: When Gray impales him with an Ice Demon Slayer Magic spear, Natsu hacks up a whole lot of black blood before collapsing.
• Broken Pedestal:
  • Jackal is not amused to find out that Mard Geer was lying about following the orders of END the entire time he was working under him, and has since abandoned all of Tartaros' ideals.
  • Rusty has had his worldview shattered ever since he came to work under Alvarez, and Natsu and August taught him that Precht's genocidal ambitions were purely that of a lying fool.
  • Makarov is not happy when he finds out that his fellow Wizard Saints were complicit in covering up God Serena's Dark and Troubled Past and they refuse to take responsibility that they're the reason he defected to Alvarez.
• Color Failure: August goes as white as humanly possible when Mavis mistakes Ruth for Zeref's lover. To be fair, look at it from his point of view; his mother just met his resurrected grandmother, and thinks the latter is trying to seduce his father.
• Comically Missing the Point: In chapter 44, Lucy is exasperated to find out that Natsu somehow still thinks that humans lay eggs after he tells her how he thinks marriage works.
  Lucy: Wait, are you telling me you actually do know how romance works?!
  Natsu: Well... kinda? Like, it's when two people love each other a lot, and they spend all their time together, and then they do... y'know... the thing. And then the girl lays an egg and a baby comes out!
  Lucy: (stares at him blankly) ...Eggs. You think humans lay eggs.
  Natsu: Well, yeah? How else would-
  Lucy: "Good God, Natsu! The worst part is you're not totally wrong about most of that, technically- but there are steps! You date! You hold hands, you hug, you kiss, you cuddle- and then you get engaged and then you get married! And there is zero egg laying involved!
  Natsu: Are you sure? Cuz how else does the baby-
  Lucy: That's what you're focusing on?!
• Conflicting Loyalty: When Natsu is forced to choose whether to stay in Alvarez or rejoin Fairy Tail, he's torn between the two homes. Although after August reveals his past and relation to Natsu, he chooses to stay in Alvarez. Later on, he clarifies to Lucy that the other reason he stayed was because of Zeref. If Natsu left Alvarez, Zeref would be all alone again, and Natsu knows in his heart that while Fairy Tail has each other, Zeref has no one except Natsu.
• Cool Ship: The airship known as the Wyvern is without a doubt the coolest vessel around. It was originally conceived when Natsu said that he'd only travel on an airship if it didn't give him motion sickness, and Wall Eehto took that as a challenge. After heavy experimentation, Wall created a gigantic armored airship with a dragon motif, which is powered by raw magic energy. It's armed to the teeth with extremely high-yield weaponry, has top-of-the-line cloaking tech, long-range magic sensors, and best of all, it's got a special device that completely removes and counteracts motion sickness, much to Natsu, Irene and God Serena's joy.
• Crazy-Prepared: Just in case Irene ever found his secret bakery, August had a second one built in an even more secret location.
• Dark and Troubled Past: God Serena's backstory is not what anyone would call 'pleasant'. It starts fifteen years ago, when a noble called Lord Bjorn Serena brought his son Michael to the Bureau of Magic Development. Young Michael suffered from magic deficiency, yet the boy wanted to be a mage regardless. Bjorn sought to make that happen, and paid Brain handsomely to find a way. The head of the BMD theorised that the best way to grant Michael magic was to implant him with a dragon lacrima. While the operation was very painful, Michael's body accepted the lacrima with flying colors, and it went so well that Brain suggested a second implantation. Once the boy recovered, they went through with the second lacrima implantation. Unfortunately, the pain of the second implant was nothing like the first. It was worse. Far worse. As was later revealed, with each implantation the agony for the recipient increases exponentially. The lacrimas have to synchronise their magical frequencies with each other, and that causes excruciating pain. By the third one, Michael was begging his father to stop, but by then the Bureau was paying Bjorn, because the aptitude of Michael's body was unprecedented. A 'perfect test subject', as God Serena put it. By the fourth implantation, Bjorn finally listened, and told Brain and the Bureau that there would be no more. For a little while, all was well, but that time ended swiftly and painfully. Brain and his men burned the Serena estate to the ground, killed Michael's parents in front of him, and had the audacity to apologise, on the grounds that Brain thought Michael was too valuable to be let go. Michael's rightful inheritance was seized by a greedy distant relative, Duke Sawarr Junelle. The man promised to manage the wealth till Michael came of age, but he was lying through his teeth, because Michael never saw a single jewel of it. For the next few years, Michael was tortured by Brain, day in and day out. Brain implanted more lacrimas, bringing the total up to eight. He conducted more awful experiments, pushing the poor kid's body past every imaginable limit.The only thing that kept Michael sane were discarded comic books the boy found in the library. Those stories of heroes — champions of justice who vanquished people like Brain. They were the Dragon-Slayer's only friends, his only hope that someday thing would be different, be better. Eventually, Brain tried to brainwash the boy into his Oracion Seis, but failed. It enraged Brain, and the mad scientist gave the boy to some slavers, and ordered them to take Michael to work at Brain's slave camp at the Tower of Heaven. But the moment Brain left the area... Michael made his move. The physical pain of the implantations, the torture, the experiments — it all dulled over time for him. But his despair remained. His broken heart over his family and the life he once had never mended. The heroes in his stories — despite the adversity they faced, they overcame their suffering, the tragedies of their past. But no matter what Michael did, he could never figure out how to overcome his own pain. Then, in a flash of manic inspiration, it hit him. God doesn't feel pain... so all Michael had to do was become one. That day, he rose up, destroying Brain's allies, freeing his fellow captives, and bringing Brain's crimes to light. That was the day that Michael Serena died... and the day that God Serena was born.
• Death by Adaptation: In contrast to canon, where she was aged into a wizened old crone and forced to retire, Ultear Milkovich's Heroic Sacrifice actually killed her this time.
• Death Glare: In Chapter 40, Mavis rages at Zeref and thinks Ruth is trying to seduce him. Ruth does not take it well. Her eyes widen, narrow to dangerous slits, and she unleashes a gravity-warping aura of pure fury.
• Defeat Means Friendship: Ajeel and God Serena pledge their loyalties to Natsu after he defeats them both in a duel.
• Distaff Counterpart: Natsu realises that Irene, Larcade and God Serena are pretty much the Erza, himself and Gray of Alvarez after seeing Irene maul the other two because they accidentally destroyed her cake.
• Doorstopper: This story has reached 331,400 words and 47 chapters as of March 13th, 2026, and counting.
• Dramatic Irony: It's almost amusing how often people make jokes about Zeref having a kid in August's presence.
• Dreadful Musician: Zeref and Natsu are horrible singers. The last time they and the Spriggan Twelve had a karaoke night, the Dragneel brothers' singing was so horrible that Irene walked out of the bar with both hands over her ears, and God Serena had such a fake smile on his face that it looked like it was about to crack.
• Entertainingly Wrong: In Chapter 30, Irene tells Erza that without Zeref, the younger redhead would not even exist. What Irene meant was that Zeref was the one who delivered Erza on the day of her birth. Erza took it to mean that Zeref is her father.
• Everyone Has Standards:
  • Dimaria is not amused by Makarov sending Wendy and Sherria to fight her, because she does not condone Child Soldiers being sent to fight someone of her threat level. Her usual affable demeanor even drops for a moment.
  • While there's no love lost between him and God Serena, Makarov is utterly disgusted by the Dragon Slayer's Dark and Troubled Past, and the fact that the Magic Council covered it all up due to their rich business partner and gave God Serena the #1 Wizard Saint position as a 'consolation prize' for all his suffering.
• Expecting Someone Taller: In Chapter 29, when Gildarts and Zeref meet in Cedar.
  Gildarts: So, you're Zeref? To be honest, I thought you'd be taller.
  Zeref: Oh really? That's fair. I thought you'd be more intimidating.
  Gildarts: [laughs heartily] That so? Well damn, no one told me the black wizard had a sense of humor.
  Zeref: [expression softens] Forgive me, it seems my brother's influence on me is showing.
• Faint in Shock: When Natsu awkwardly says that he has always wanted to marry her, Lucy blacks out from sheer amazement.
• Food as Bribe: August keeps Irene in line by supplying her with strawberry cheesecake from a hidden bakery. Since it's one of the few things that she can actually taste, she’ll do just about anything to get her hands on some.
• Full-Name Ultimatum: When Ruth Dragneel finds out that Zeref and Mavis "did a lot more than just kiss" before they were engaged.
  Ruth: Zeref. Alexandre. Dragneel. That had better not mean what I think it does!
• Graceful Loser: Ajeel and God Serena take their losses to Natsu very well indeed.
  • Ajeel wanted to serve a Prince who wasn't a weakling, and he gladly says that he got his wish after their fight.
  • God Serena swears Undying Loyalty to Natsu after their duel, and he even declares his admiration for Natsu's Cursed Fire.
• High-Pressure Emotion: Lucy was already blushing red from Zeref introducing her to his mother Ruth as his new sister-in-law, but steam comes out of her ears when Ruth states that she'd like Lucy to give her some grandchildren.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Larcade's Famished Soul spell backfires horribly when he uses it on Natsu, as Natsu hallucinates Larcade as food and chomps him hard.
• Hostage Situation:
  • Zeref teleports behind Cana and grabs her shoulder, threatening to kill her if Gildarts and his team of Fairy Tail mages don't stand down and let Alvarez's forces retreat. Gildarts reluctantly surrenders, and Zeref, a man of his word, lets Cana go.
  • A rather complicated and entertaining version occurs at roughly the same time, when Jackal seizes Lucy. The misguided Etherious threatens to blow her up if Ishgar's forces don't let Alvarez leave. Jackal takes Lucy back to Alvarez, intending to use her as both a hostage to prevent Ishgar trying anything, as well as a gift for his boss, Natsu. Natsu nearly has a blue fit when he finds out.
• I Know Your True Name: In Chapter 30, after God Serena is done curb-stomping the Wizard Saints.
  Wolfheim: Does it feel good, looking down on us? To betray your comrades? To spit on the home you once fought for... Michael?
  God Serena: What the Hell did you just call me?
• I'm Going to Hell for This: In a flashback to August's childhood, Precht acknowledges that he's almost certainly damning himself when abandoning the infant son of his former master.
• In Spite of a Nail:
  • Dimaria still fights Wendy and Sherria, and she still loses to them when Sherria gets her Third Origin unlocked.
  • Jacob and the rest of Alvarez still manage to infiltrate Fairy Tail's basement and successfully steal Fairy Heart.
• Instantly Proven Wrong:
  • When seeing the destruction of the Magic Council again, Lucy mentally sighs in relief that at least it couldn't have been Jackal, because he's dead. Cue Jackal gleefully announcing himself over the intercom.
  • Jackal himself winds up on the receiving end of this trope in Chapter 37, after his ill-thought-out plan to kidnap Lucy and give her to Natsu gets him in trouble with Rusty. Rusty tells Jackal that he'd better be ready for some punishment, and Jackal waves it off. The following exchange occurs:
    Rusty: You know, I'm going to have so much fun coming up with a punishment for you for this whole fiasco.
    Jackal: Pfffft. Dream on, fruit loop. The boss won't let you do anything to me!
    Rusty: (smirks) Oh, contrare. [pulls out his communication lacrima, which has a message from Natsu on it]
    Natsu's Message: Come up with a punishment to make sure Jackal never pulls something this stupid again. Ask Invel if you need ideas.
    Jackal: What? No fair! [slams his head on the table]
• Irony: Quite a common theme in this story.
  • When Larcade and Ajeel rescue Dimaria and easily defeats the rest of the Fiorian mages, Larcade muses that the Fiorian mages — the so-called 'good guys' lost because of their blind hatred for Zeref and his 'evil minions', while Zeref and his forces stuck together and accomplished their goals without losing any of their friends, while leaving nearly every single one of their foes alive.
  • Crime Sorciere was created as an illegal guild for the express purpose of hunting down dark guilds and eventually killing Zeref, and now they've been recruited by Zeref to protect his family.
• It's a Long Story: In Chapter 45, Jellal and Sorano find Natsu and Lucy and wonder what the two are doing on Zeref's private beach resort, instead of being supposedly locked up in an Alvarez cell. The two newly-engaged imperials both stammer and say (almost in sync) "Uhh, it's a really long story."
• I Want Grandkids: When Ruth Dragneel meets Lucy, the Dragneel matriarch tells Lucy that she'd like plenty of cute grandchildren from her new daughter-in-law and Natsu.
• Kneel Before Zod: A variation, in that it's the subordinate who orders that they kneel. When Zeref and Invel arrive to face Gildarts, Cana, Laki and Max in Cedar, Zeref unleashes his suppressed aura, causing all but Gildarts to collapse in sheer terror. Gildarts quickly realises just who he's facing.
  Invel: It is customary to bow in the presence of an emperor, you know.
• Lamenting Wasted Potential: When Zeref sees Gildarts' Crush Magic in action, the Black Wizard laments that he never met and trained Gildarts when he was younger, as he could have helped the man refine his magic into something truly extraordinary, instead of just being a destructive juggernaut. Indeed, Zeref even says that Gildarts would have made a fantastic member of the Spriggan Twelve, which is quite the compliment.
• Laser-Guided Karma: Ankhseram cursed Zeref and Mavis because he took their actions as an insult to his own position as God of Life and Death. Basically, they did a better job than the actual god — and he cursed them out of jealous spite. This gets him cast out of the realm of the gods, as well as losing a good chunk of his worshippers.
• Laugh Themselves Sick: Zeref practically collapses laughing when Jackal reveals that his reason for kidnapping Lucy was so he could give her to Natsu as a gift. Zeref redoubles his laughter when Jackal nonchalantly reveals that Natsu loves Lucy, in the presence of both of them.
• Let's Get Dangerous!: When Ajeel negates his Lightning Dragon's Iron Fist, the sand-mage cockily tells Laxus that he'll have to come up with something better than that. Laxus obliges, and unleashes Red Lightning Dragon Mode.
  Laxus: Better than that, huh? (grins sinisterly) Alright, sandman. You want something better?
• List of Transgressions:
  • The first example occurs when Lucy starts protesting over the use of the R-System to revive Zeref and Natsu's mother. Jacob stops her protests by revealing the sacrifice they intend to use for the ritual. Said sacrifice is a particularly unpleasant death row inmate, whose crimes are explained by a disgusted Invel.
    Invel: Miss Sammett has been charged and found guilty of, including but not limited to: multiple counts of first-degree murder, aggravated sexual assault- including against minors and the elderly- desecration of human remains, destruction of public and private property, terroristic threatening, conspiracy to commit felony offenses, obstruction of justice... [...] There’s more, but must I continue?
  • The second example occurs when the Dragneel family and their inner circle prepare to use the R-System again, after its previous use worked like a charm. The sacrifice that time was a corrupt noble, who has a hard time comprehending his fate.
    Zeref: You may not remember since you were so adamant you would be rescued, but you were sentenced to death for high treason, terrorism, destruction of public property, extortion, murder of military officers... [...] I could go on, but I believe you understand.
  • The third example occurs in a far less dramatic context, when Invel is interrogating the captured members of Crime Sorciere after their misguided attempt at 'rescuing' the Dragneels. Erik sarcastically asks Invel to point out what they've done wrong, and the icy man obliges.
    Invel: Illegal entry into the Empire. Breaking and entering within the Imperial Palace. Viewing classified documents. Theft of an aquatic motorized vehicle. And of course, attempted abduction of the Imperial Family.
• Literal Metaphor: When Invel walks into the cell containing the captured members of Crime Sorciere, a chill sweeps the room. That wasn's an exaggeration — the room's temperature literally dropped when he entered.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Zeref has had quite a few of these, but the biggest one was when Natsu revealed that his death would mean Natsu's death too, since the Etherious are tied to Zeref's life force. This is what ultimately makes him abandon his Neo-Eclipse plan.
• Named by the Adaptation: Zeref and Natsu's parents were never given any names in canon, apart from their surname being "Dragneel". Here, their mother's name is Ruth and their father's name is Thaddeus.
• Never Heard That One Before: When Lucy meets Zeref face-to-face aboard his flagship, she still thinks that he's evil.
  Lucy: Whatever you've done to him, you won't get away with it.
  Zeref: (unimpressed) Sure. Never heard that one before.
• No-Sell: Much to Ichiya's horror, his Poison Pafume spell has no effect on Wall's doll. As Wall points out, his mechanical puppet lacks a nose, so spells that attack the nasal regions would have nowhere to go.
• No Social Skills: Jackal is, as Brandish puts it, "the Empire's biggest idiot", probably from spending too much time in a flying cube-shaped fortress full of psychopathic Etherious. He somehow thinks that the best way to woo a woman is gifting her a bone, and thought Natsu would be overjoyed when he decided to kidnap Lucy and gift her to him.
• Nothing Personal: When Jackal prepares to stop Lucy and Fairy Tail from following Alvarez back to base with a round of explosions:
  Jackal: Sorry blondie, nothin' personal, orders n' all that jazz!
• "Not So Different" Remark: When Richard begins to understand that Zeref isn't the monster that the world thinks he is, he points out to Jellal that the two men aren't that different.
  Richard: Jellal… as someone lost in the darkness yourself once… forced to commit atrocities against your will… perhaps, it's time to accept that someone like Zeref could have suffered something similar.
• Oh, Crap!:
  • Zeref's heart almost stops when Natsu threatens to burn his own Etherious book.
  • Erik goes white as a sheet when he overhears August's thoughts about the Dragneel family.
• An Offer You Can't Refuse: When Natsu, August and Wall go to recruit Rusty Rose to help them recreate the R-System, he initially refuses, but after hearing the truth behind Zeref and finding out just how much Precht lied to him, Rusty joins Alvarez as one of Natsu's Shields of Salamander. Of course, Natsu and August could have just teleported him to Alvarez anyway, so he wouldn't have had any luck escaping them in the first place.
• Once Done, Never Forgotten: The Dragneel family's inner circle will never let Lucy forget that she called the Alvarez Empire "Zeref's evil minions" when she was still under the impression that they were murderous despots.
• On Second Thought: In chapter 41, Lucy is frantically trying to deny that she and Natsu are engaged. No one buys it.
  Zeref: From what Natsu’s told me, you two were practically inseparable back in Fairy Tail. I heard he was at your house practically every day, even spending the night.
  Ruth: (chuckles) Oh my.
  Lucy: It wasn't like that! We didn't do anything... like that!
  Invel: Are you really telling us that after sharing the same bed multiple times, nothing of that nature ever occurred?
  Natsu: (completely innocently) Of what nature?
  Invel: On second thought, I believe you.
• Pay Evil unto Evil: Neither Zeref or Natsu are particularly proud of feeding criminals to the Tower of Heaven to resurrect their family, but they do it anyway. As Natsu puts it, why should serial killers, sexual assaulters and arsonists get to live while their innocent farmer parents rot in a grave?
• Preemptive "Shut Up": When Larcade sees Natsu and Lucy walking together after Lucy was kidnapped by Jackal and brought aboard the Wyvern, the Etherious smirks and opens his mouth, only for Natsu to say "Not a word, Larcade," with a very sharp expression.
• Psychic Strangle: After Gray impales Natsu, an absolutely furious August seizes Gray by the neck with invisible force, and slowly starts breaking his bones one-by-one, while simultaneously releasing his suppressed magic aura. If not for Jacob and Rusty talking him down, he might have killed Gray then and there.
• Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: In Chapter 32, Larcade protests when Ajeel asks him to use a potentially lethal spell on Fairy Tail, Lamia Scale and Saber Tooth after they were specifically ordered not to kill them. Ajeel, who's trying to get out of the battlefield and get a badly wounded Dimaria to medical care, could care less.
  Ajeel: I. Don't. Give. A. Damn about our orders!
• A Rare Sentence: In Chapter 10, after the aforementioned Defeat Means Friendship moment with Natsu and God Serena, Zeref voices his opinion.
  Zeref: Congratulations, little brother, I think God Serena has officially become the first member of your fan club. (furrows his brow) That is, without a doubt, a sentence I never thought I would say.
• Relative Error: In chapter 40, after Mavis wakes up from her coma and finds herself in Alvarez, she storms off to find Zeref and give him a piece of her mind. When she finds him, he's with a pretty dark-haired woman. Mavis mistakes her for Zeref's new lover and tells the woman that he isn't worth it. Everyone present has a collective Color Failure — because the woman is Ruth Dragneel, Zeref's recently resurrected mother.
• Secret Secret-Keeper: Because of his Super-Hearing/Telepathy, Erik accidentally finds out about both August's true parentage and Zeref's original plan for rebuilding his family.
• Series Goal: The Dragneel brothers, Zeref and Natsu, have the following as their goals for this story:
  • Cure Zeref (and Mavis) of the Curse of Condradiction. So far, all they've been able to do is suppress it, but they're making good progress on fully curing it thanks to August reverse-engineering the Face weapon.
  • Resurrect Ruth and Thaddeus Dragneel. Succeeded with Ruth as of Chapter 36, but they've run into some complications regarding Thaddeus.
  • Kill Acnologia and avenge Igneel's death at the Black Dragon's hands. Ongoing, but shafted to the side for the time being.
  • Marry Mavis Vermillion and Lucy Heartfilia, respectively. Zeref & Mavis and Natsu & Lucy are currently engaged.
• Shut Up, Kirk!: A rather complicated example occurs when Mavis attempts to chew out Natsu for siding with Alvarez, and calls him by his other name.
  Mavis: Oh, of course. Etherious Natsu Dragneel. E.N.D. Jackal and all your other demon pals must be thrilled to have their real master back.
  Natsu: (face darkens) Don't you dare call me that, Mavis. And stop acting like you have everything figured out -because you don't know the half of it!
  Mavis: I figured out that you betrayed us! You were someone the entire guild looked to, depended on! We needed you- and you turned your back on us!
  Natsu: What about Zeref!? My brother! The person you claim you love! He needed someone too! Was I supposed to just abandon him?! After how much he’s lost, after everything he’s done? Everything he’s sacrificed for me?!
  And I didn't betray anyone! I never turned my back on Fairy Tail! I stayed here because it was my best chance to protect everyone! There were no fatalities in the guild during the fighting- and you wanna know why? Because I ordered Alvarez's soldiers to use non-lethal force!
  
  You really think I don't feel guilty? That I haven't been tearing myself up about this ever since I realized this was the only way forward?" (starts crying) Because you're acting like I was some sadistic monster who wanted to fight you, to fight my friends! I didn't! I HATE the fact it came to this!
  But this is what had to be done. To save my brother. To save everyone I love.
  
  You said I was someone the guild looked to, depended on… but… after I lost Igneel... I was lost. I had nothing. No answers, no purpose... Nobody to understand what I was going through.
  
  And then I discovered the truth. About my family. Who I really was. What my brother had done, how much he had suffered to give me my life back. I spent a whole year with him. Bickering with him. Laughing with him. Just… living with him. And somewhere along the way... I realized if it came down to it, if I had to make a choice between him and the guild…
  
  I... I just knew I wouldn't fight him. I couldn't.
  
  I couldn't spit on all he'd sacrificed just because it would be easier to just go back to something familiar.
  
  But you expected me to just show back up to the guild, to rile everyone up, to help you take him down. Because that's what I do, right? Scream. Punch. Burn everything til the threat’s gone. But... this wasn't just some threat. Some thug. This was my brother. The only reason I ever had a life in the guild at all.
  
  I had just seen my dad’s life ripped away right before my eyes. And you know what I heard people around me- people in Fairy Tail- say afterwards? 'Leave him be. It's Natsu. He'll be alright.' But I wasn't alright. I needed my friends... but I was left alone. And outside of Happy, I didn’t have anyone who saw that.
  
  But even then, you all would’ve expected me to just come back, set my own feelings aside and fight for everyone else like always.
  
  I can't do that anymore. I can't be that idealized person you think I am. I'm done.
  
  So keep yelling at me, keep glaring at me Mavis. Keep calling me a traitor. But know this- you don't know what it's like to actually have to choose between two people you love. If you ever even loved him. Because the fact that Zeref's curse took your life but yours' didn't take his really makes me wonder.
• Sitcom Arch-Nemesis: Larcade and God Serena really do not like each other. Natsu is often reminded of when he and Gray used to fight back in Fairy Tail.
• So Proud of You: While Irene's feelings for Erza are complicated at best, she still expresses pride for Erza's loyalty to her friends and sheer unwillingness to quit, as she would do the exact same thing if their roles were reversed.
• Stunned Silence: Lucy can only listen in disbelieving shock when Invel tells her that Natsu of all people was the key to forming important diplomatic relations with the region of Caelum.
• Sue Donym: People are rather amused to find out that Rustyrose's real name is "Rusty Rose". August theorizes that he wanted to honor his ancestors with that alias.
• Supernaturally Young Parent: Due to time travel and resurrection-based magic, Zeref and Natsu's mother Ruth is still biologically 28 compared to her sons, who are 500+ and 18, respectively.
• Taught by Experience: After losing to Natsu, Ajeel developed a technique that Punch Catches a Dragon Slayer's Iron Fist, so as not to be beaten by the same attack twice. Laxus finds this out the hard way.
• Talk to the Fist: When his fellow Spriggan Dimaria gets badly wounded, Larcade and Ajeel decide to end the battle quickly with Rest Calm. When Sting resists the spell despite the risk of death, Larcade warns him to stand down or die. Unfortunately, Sting doesn't get the hint, and starts dissing Larcade and his forces, which makes Larcade decide to simply knock him unconscious by hitting Sting with his iron cross.
  Sting: You mean to tell us Zeref's empire gets a boo boo and calls it quits? That's fucking pathe-!
  WHACK
• That Man Is Dead: According to God Serena, his old self of Michael Alvastam Serena died fifteen years ago, when he was just a child being experimented on by Brain and the Magic Council. After going through eight utterly agonizing dragon lacrima implants, being forced to watch his father killed, then sent to the Tower of Heaven, he finally snapped, and realised that a god does not feel pain — so all he had to do was become one.
  God Serena: The day I was meant to be sold as a slave, I rose up! I destroyed Brain's allies! I freed the other captives! I brought his crimes to light! That was the day Michael Serena finally was laid to rest. And that was the day God Serena was born!
• This Is Gonna Suck: August, Invel, Brandish and Lucy are mortified when Mavis mistakes Ruth for Zeref's lover and coldly tells the woman that Zeref isn't worth it.
• Team Member in the Adaptation: In canon, Meredy left Crime Sorciere after Ultear's sacrifice. Here, however, she has remained a part of said guild.
• They Would Cut You Up:
  • The sad fate of anyone subjected to the Bureau of Magical Development. God Serena was a victim of this, as was Rusty Rose.
  • According to Wall, the reason why the Machias race stay hidden away is because they fear that if they ever left their homeland, they'd be taken apart to see what makes them tick.
• Took a Level in Kindness:
  • After failing to kill Natsu and being chewed out thoroughly by Zeref, Larcade strives to be less of a jerk.
  • Jackal goes from being one of the most Ax-Crazy madmen in the whole anime to being a pretty good, albeit rather stupid, friend to Natsu and loyal soldier of Alvarez.
  • Ajeel learns from Natsu the importance of bonds and friendship.
• Tsundere: Deconstructed by Brandish in chapter 37. As she puts it to Lucy; if she keeps pretending that she's not in love with Natsu and acting like an emotionally stunted schoolgirl, she'll just be leaving Natsu up for grabs... and he has a lot of female admirers who'd love to get a piece of him.
• Two Words: Added Emphasis: In chapter 46, Erik spells out why accepting Alvarez's offer to join the Royal Family's guards is the best decision for him and his comrades in Crime Sorciere.
  Sawyer: Your apology... is offering us jobs?
  Jellal: IF YOU THINK FOR A SECOND WE'D EVER WORK FOR ZEREF-!
  Erik: Pen. (everyone turns to look at him) I'll sign it right now.
  Beat
  Meredy: Erik-
  Richard: What can you hear that hasn't been said aloud yet, my friend?
  Erik: Two words. Diplomatic immunity.
• Wham Shot: In Chapter 38, a flashback shows Zeref and Layla activating the Eclipse Gate to bring the Dragon Slayers and Anna to the present day. But not all goes as planned. While the residents of the past successfully got to the present day, something went wrong with the Gate, and the six time-travellers were scattered to the winds. And that's not all. A seventh person came through the gate as well, and their identity and location remains a complete enigma.
• What Is This Feeling?: After Jenny outsmarted and defeated his doll, Wall gets an odd warmth and tingling sensation throughout his body, and even name-drops the trope word for word. Dimaria identifies it as love soon afterwards.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Makarov calls out Wolfheim and Hyberion for covering up and sweeping all of their problems under the rug, not to mention their unwillingness to pay God Serena the reparations that he was rightfully owed for his torture/unwilling experimentation and the death of his father.
  Makarov: This... this isn't just abominable. It’s evil! You two- and everyone who helped cover this up- you should be absolutely ashamed of yourselves!
• Worf Had the Flu: Laxus is undoubtedly one of the strongest mages in Fairy Tail, to the point that Ajeel views him as the one member who had actually earned his respect at that point. He still loses to Ajeel, although he put up one hell of a fight before going down. While he himself states that he would have won had he not been suffering from bane particle infection, he likely would have lost anyway.
• Worthy Opponent: Ajeel is overjoyed at a chance to fight Laxus again when they meet in Hargeon Town. Their first meeting consisted of Ajeel mistaking him for a terrorist, and he wound up nearly killing Laxus and his friends. While Ajeel doesn't hold a grudge over it, Laxus does, and has a bone to pick with the sand-mage. The two began a heated battle, which ended in Ajeel's victory despite Laxus pulling out Red Lightning Dragon Mode. Nevertheless, he was extremely impressed with Laxus' performance, especially after Laxus revealed that he was suffering from bane particle infection while fighting. As in the particles that are meant to kill you if you inhale them.
  Ajeel: HOLY FUCK! You're walking around with that crap in your lungs and still throwing out hits like that? I take back everything I ever said about Ishgar being full of weaklings. Hell, how are you not a wizard saint?
• Wrench Wench: Jenny Realight spent her childhood helping out her father, who was a mechanic. It was there that she developed her appreciation for machines, and trained her Machina Soul magic.