Marco's personal world was covered in endless green fields beneath a clear blue sky. White clouds drifted overhead, and a calm sea stretched across the distant horizon.
A gentle breeze carried the cool scent of saltwater over the grass.
It was a private dimension attached to Earth-land, created entirely by Marco.
Within it, he was the creator and absolute ruler.
He had never bothered building an extravagant palace.
Instead, he filled the world with peaceful natural scenery, somewhere he could lie in the grass and enjoy the wind whenever he wanted to relax.
Mavis and Zeref could speak freely here without anyone interrupting them.
Marco could have listened if he wished. That was true whether they were inside his private world or anywhere else in Earth-land.
But he was not that bored.
Whatever they needed to discuss was personal, and both were part of his extended family. He respected their privacy.
Marco also had no intention of interfering in their relationship.
Even if Mavis decided she wanted to die beside Zeref, he would not stop her. She had already returned from death once.
If she genuinely chose not to continue living, forcing her to remain would have little meaning.
They finished talking before long.
From the look of them, they had reached a decision together. Mavis's reddened eyes made it obvious that she had cried.
Buzz.
Marco brought them back to Earth-land, and the three appeared in the forest east of Magnolia.
"So?" Marco asked. "Is there anything else you need to say?"
His tone almost made it sound as though he were asking whether Zeref had any final words.
In truth, that was exactly what he meant.
Whatever Zeref's original nature had been, Marco could not simply allow him to walk away.
The man's suffering was real, but so were the countless deaths caused by his actions and the demons he had created and abandoned.
Zeref was pitiable.
That did not erase the consequences of what he had done over the past several centuries.
Truly evil people existed, but they were rare.
Most enemies Marco had encountered had tragic histories, painful motives, or some reason they had fallen so far.
Ultear was a perfect example.
But suffering did not grant anyone permission to make innocent people suffer in return.
"Nothing else, Marco-kun."
Zeref shook his head.
His expression had gradually returned to something calmer, and he understood exactly what Marco intended.
"Then what do you want to do?"
Marco still allowed him some freedom in choosing how his story ended.
"Take me to Tenrou Island."
Zeref answered without hesitation.
He had already chosen the place where he wanted to sleep forever.
"All right."
Marco nodded, then glanced at Mavis.
The First Guild Master kept her head lowered and said nothing, which was answer enough.
"I'm sorry, Mavis." Zeref raised a hand and gently touched her hair. "I'm too tired. Please let me sleep first. I'll wait for you, and someday... we'll meet again."
In the end, he chose the release he had spent centuries seeking.
Even without the Curse of Ankhseram, Zeref knew his shattered mind was no longer capable of loving anyone in a healthy way.
He was exhausted beyond words and wanted nothing more than endless rest.
He also knew he had accumulated far too many debts over the centuries.
It was time to repay them.
"Yes." Mavis sniffed and nodded firmly. "We'll meet again."
Zeref wanted to sleep without interruption, so she would continue living until he had rested enough.
Then she would go and find him.
"Good." Marco looked at him calmly. "Then rest properly, Zeref. You've suffered long enough."
Marco did not truly hate him.
None of this had been easy, and Zeref had tried in his own broken way.
If there was one being Marco blamed above all others, it was Ankhseram.
....
Zeref died on Tenrou Island.
After living for centuries, the founder of Black Magic finally achieved the one thing he had wanted most.
His death was peaceful, and he even left the world with a smile.
For Zeref, there was plenty to smile about.
His younger brother was alive and happy, surrounded by companions he could trust.
Natsu had never become the terrible demon Zeref once feared he might be.
Mavis had been resurrected and freed from her curse. She could finally experience the life that had been stolen from her.
Because of Zeref, she had died far too young and spent what should have been her brightest years trapped within a grave on Tenrou Island.
She had never deserved that fate.
Most importantly, Zeref and Mavis had promised to meet again in another life.
Zeref's soul entered the Underworld directly. With magic as powerful as his, it would not simply fade away.
For mages like Zeref and Mavis, meeting again after death was more than an empty promise.
Their souls were strong enough to survive in the Underworld for a very long time and eventually earn the chance to reincarnate.
Marco could technically still visit Zeref whenever he wished. He could even bring Mavis along.
But there was no reason to do that.
The man had died.
He should be allowed to rest instead of being dragged back into everyone's lives whenever they felt like talking.
"Zeref's problem is settled, but he left behind one more mess."
Marco sighed.
He knew that Zeref and Mavis had a son.
The child's existence had been revealed by Precht, who had been far too ashamed to tell Mavis himself.
Instead, he confessed everything to Marco and asked him to help the boy if possible.
Their son had technically been born after his mother's death.
He had not come into the world through a normal birth.
Precht had discovered the unborn child inside Mavis's crystallized body and separated him from her.
Unable to bring himself to kill the baby, Precht had chosen the next most terrible option.
He abandoned him.
Naturally, Precht had never been eager to admit that part.
The child survived a lonely and painful childhood before eventually being found by his own father, Zeref.
Under normal circumstances, that would have been a fortunate reunion.
Unfortunately, Zeref had no idea the boy was his son.
The whole situation was almost unbelievable. The child looked strikingly similar to Mavis, and Zeref had noticed the resemblance.
He even named him August after the month in which he had met Mavis.
Yet somehow, it never occurred to him that August might actually be their child.
It was difficult to blame Zeref for that.
How could anyone possibly guess that after Mavis died, Precht had extracted a baby from her sealed body, abandoned him, and that same child had later been found by Zeref himself?
The situation was far more absurd than Cana and Gildarts failing to recognize each other.
Even someone with a wild imagination would struggle to reach that conclusion, and Zeref's mind had already been badly damaged by then.
He had little attention left for such possibilities.
August, however, eventually discovered the truth.
He knew who his father was and even understood who his mother had been.
He was born with an extraordinary talent for magic, so great that it frightened Precht.
His power belonged to neither light nor darkness, and Precht could not understand it.
That fear was another reason he abandoned the child, effectively leaving August to die.
Without intervention, August might genuinely have been destroyed by his own talent.
His natural gifts surpassed even those of Laxus and Ultear.
Fortunately, the person who found him was Zeref.
In a strange way, August was Zeref's version of Cana.
He remained beside his father for years without ever revealing the truth, and he was not even the person Zeref trusted most.
Marco had told Zeref about August once the man had already decided to die.
The founder of Black Magic had fallen silent for a moment before smiling with quiet acceptance.
At least he and August had still formed a bond.
Even without recognizing him as his son, Zeref had saved August's life.
He had failed to act as a father, but under the circumstances, perhaps that had been the best possible outcome.
If Zeref had known the truth, tragedy might have followed.
The only reason the people of the Alvarez Empire had survived around him was that he treated them as tools rather than people he loved.
Had he cared for them deeply, the Curse of Ankhseram would likely have killed them all.
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