I DO NOT OWN FAIRY TAIL. I wish I did though. Oh, the unfairness of it all. *sigh*

A little prequel to my story, "caged hearts". This is my take on how Zeref, Natsu and Acnologia's story came to be. This probably won't take too long. Probably Three to Four chapters max. So without further ado, ladies and gentlemen begin reading. HEHE.

Natsu- 8

Cas and Zeref- 10

500 YEARS B.F.T. (BEFORE FAIRY TAIL)

RUN, CAS, RUN, I SAID TO MYSELF. IT WAS MIDNIGHT.

My tiny feet going as fast as they can. Adrenalin coursing through my body. My heart beating faster than the speed of light. I look behind me and see them, four drunks; chasing me. I went into an alley and saw a wall.

Fuck! A dead end. I turn around and heard them shouting, they're getting closer. Shit. I look at their shadows and I feel like they're staring back at me. Mocking me- As if telling me 'I'm going to catch you, Little monster!'. Fat chance! I'll go down trying. With renewed vigour, I ran towards the wall; pushing, feeling and clawing it with my hands. Like a blind man trying to find his way through Armageddon. I look back once more, my eyes widened. A sewer hole. I run towards it and in one swift movement, I lifted, entered and closed the sewer hole without much sound. My breath hitched when I heard them turn into the alley as if they would be able to hear me breathing. I put a hand on my beating heart calming it, or trying to- it wasn't really working. I knew I was being paranoid but my heart sounded like a drum and I was scared they would hear it. I hear their footfalls grow louder.

"He's not here." A man said with what sounded like surprise in his voice.

"No shit, Sherlock." Another man replied, a slur in his voice. "Enough yip-yap, find him!" With what seems like hours but was only minutes, I hear their footsteps and voices grow fainter. I released the breath I was holding and waited for a few more minutes. I pushed the sewer cover open and peeked out; watching if they're still there. When the coast was clear I went out of the sewer.

Suddenly a hand grabbed my foot- stopping me. I kicked him, he let go of my foot and I crawled out of the sewer. I crawled backwards facing the sewer hole, my face contorted in terror. I tried to scream but a hand covered my mouth. They caught me. I felt dread envelope me. My eyes watered in thought of what they're going to do to me. I tried everything for him to let me go, I kicked and screamed, but nothing seems to work.

"Shut up, cas-nii!" the person covering my mouth whispered "It's us!"

Pink hair ruffled outside the hole. "Jesus Christ, Cas. You broke my nose and some of my teeth." The person inside the sewer jumped out while clutching his bleeding nose. I grabbed the hand covering my mouth, yanked it and delivered a slap at the pink hair.

"That hurts cas-nii. What was that for?" He shouted while holding his head.

"You scared the shit out of me, both of you!" I said while flailing my hands "I thought they caught me and you so had that coming, Zeref. You grabbed my foot! What was I supposed to do!" I probably looked like a retard shouting-whispering my ass off but I couldn't help it these two idiots scared the shit out of me.

"And you!" I extended my arms and pointed to the person who had covered my mouth. "You covered my mouth like you were going to kill me, Natsu. Who does that?"

The Dragneel brothers smiled sheepishly while scratching their heads. I swear, they could pass off as twins if I didn't know that Zeref was older. Suddenly Zerefs smile was wiped of his face.

"Come on! They're close, I can hear them." He said with a straight face. He had this uncanny ability, he could use ma-ma-mahik or was it matik? Magic! It's magic. The adults said he could use magic like it was an extension of himself. Something even most adults couldn't do. Zeref grabbed his brothers' hand then grabbed mine and we dashed outside the alley.

WE RAN LIKE HELL

The moon shining above us, illuminating our way. The streets were a blur with how fast our feet were taking us.

"Come on! We're almost there." almost where? Where? Where are we going? Was it safe? Were we going home? Do we have a home? Question after question blasted through my mind like a machine gun. I finally decided to voice out my question. "Where are we going?"

Natsu looked at me and smiled. "Home!" He said with sparkle in his eyes. We ran, ducked, turned and crawled into endless streets and roads like a mouse trapped in a maze- a very very big maze. Finally in what seemed like the thousandth turn I saw a regular sized house, something plain- something people wouldn't even look twice at. We entered the house and we all collapsed onto the floor, heaving, panting and sweating like pigs. I looked around and raised my eye brow at them

"Nice place you got here. How much was it?" I asked with mirth in my eyes.

"Free!" Zeref answered with a booming laugh. "The people who own the place left for a month long vacation on some island. I think it was Ten-ten-tenrou Island." I flicked the lights on and looked around again. I felt my eyes widen. There were staves, wands, lacrimas and weapons hanged all over the place. Hmmmm. So who ever was living here is a mage or a hunter. We had to be careful. There could be some booby trapped or cursed items in here.

I saw Natsu stand up and pick-up a sword with jagged edges. He tried to swing it around but it was too heavy. "Come on Zeref-nii help me!" He asked with a strained voice, his face scrunched up in concentration trying to lift the sword up. Zeref came over to him and put both his hands on top of Natsus' "On the count of three. Oneeee. Twooooo. Three!" together they were able to lift the sword up- for about 2 seconds before they realized it was too heavy. It landed on a table with a thud, Natsu and Zeref flying towards the opposite side of the room. Suddenly the table glowed black and turned into dust. My eyes darted between the Dumbo's and the 'used to be table'- dumbfounded.

"Are you sure it's safe here? Whoever lives here is a mage or a hunter. We have to be very careful." I said with a look that said 'I'm serious'. "We could get turned into stones or rats if we touch an item that's cursed." I said while looking at the Dumbo's.

I kind of envied Zeref with his abilities to use magic easily, without even trying. It was my lifelong dream to become a mage and join the dragon war ever since my parents were murdered by a dragon. I watched them burn and scream while I hid in a corner brawling my eyes out when our town was attacks by a dragon. Yes, it's suicide to join the war. People are dying every day and the war was not on our side- it never was. Dragons were way to powerful for an ordinary mage to be defeated.

I sighed. "Come on, we might as well get some rest for the night. " I said while climbing up the stairs effectively stopping my train of thought. We chose the nearest room and checked if it was free of death traps. When we deemed it safe we slid inside the covers of the bed. "Hey. Natsu, Zeref. We're always going to be together, right? Even though we're not real brothers we're family, aren't we?" I asked while closing my eyes- fearing there answer. I felt Natsu hug my arm.

"Of course we are, Cas-nii." He said with a yawn. I looked at him, his eyes were starting to drop.
"We're brothers" He mumbled before going to sleep. I looked at the other side and saw Zeref with dried blood just outside his nose.

"Baka. We're brothers. Never doubt that." He said while smiling, his teeth were missing some from where I had kicked him. I felt tears falling down my eyes. That's right they're my only family.

"Even though you broke my nose and my tooth"

Awwwww give it up for some bromance. Give me a high five. Come on. Don't keep me hanging. Yes, I'm talking to myself. I know, I know. I'm a little rusty, but in my defence I only started writing again a few months ago. Anyways comments, suggestion, violent reactions would be greatly appreciated. SO anyhow this was something that was going through my head while writing "caged hearts" if you haven't read it yet, please do. THANKS! UNTIL NEXT TIME. PEACE OUT, PEEPS.

Baka: Idiot
Name-nii : Brother