Unbreakable
Prologue – Ashes in the wind
Cold wind blew across the mountain landscape, rustling through the trees that framed the scenery. Mist was rising from the valleys, crawling up the sides of the tall mountains like an animal, clawing its way toward the sky.
From one of the valleys rose a darker kind of mist. Smoke.
The wind was carrying it in every direction, dispelling it slightly, but it was unmistakably rising up from the valley behind the highest mountain.
Upon moving closer, a village came into sight behind the mist and smoke. Or rather, what was left of it.
The first houses, the ones closest to the trail, were burnt down to the ground, leaving nothing but rubble and ashes.
The hooded figure stepped closer, the only sound apart from the whistling of the wind were the soft crunching noises of the figure's feet on the pebbled ground.
It walked closer to the remains of what once had been a small and peaceful village.
The further it advanced along the road, the more of the destruction became visible. Not one stone was left on the other; the entire place had been destroyed.
Suddenly, a sharp scream pierced the peaceful air of the early morning. The first rays of sunlight crept over the mountaintops, abruptly bathing the entire valley in bright light. The crisp, chilly air carried the sound of the scream around the area, where it rebounded off the mountains, causing a loud, reoccurring echo.
The figure looked up, raising its hooded head and turning towards the source of the noise.
The scream that had sounded shocked and horrified had now changed to crying – a sad, desperate noise, that seemed just as out of place in this seemingly peaceful valley.
With soft steps the hooded person walked down the road, past large piles of ashes. In some of the ruins lay the corpses of those who had once walked these roads; men, women and children alike had died here.
It was plainly visible thought that they had not died peaceful deaths – this had been a massacre. Some of the dead had no visible wounds; they had most lightly died in the fire that had destroyed the houses. Others had deep cuts from some sharp weapon, most lightly a sword or dagger; these were probably those who had tried in vain to protect their homes.
The hooded figure looked around for a sign of movement or life.
At the end of the road, atop a pile of ashes, sat the source of the crying. It was a small child, a girl, her body stained with blood and dirt, her face streaked with tears. Her hair was smeared with grime and she was covered in fragments of ash. Her skin or hair color was almost impossible to determine underneath all this, as she sat there, looking down into the ruins of the town.
The figure stepped closer to her and stretched out its hand to her.
"A survivor?" it asked. Its voice was that of a young woman.
The little girl choked in an attempt to stop crying as she stared up at the newcomer.
"…Mom…?" she whispered quietly.
The woman under the hood shook her head.
"I'm afraid I'm not your mother, child. But I can help you, if you like. I actually came here to speak to someone, but he isn't here anymore. I can take you someplace safe, you can't stay here."
The girl shook her head, fresh tears rolling down her cheeks.
"I… I'm waiting… for mom… to come back…" she said, between sobs. "I don't… want to leave…"
She hiccupped slightly.
The woman with the hood gently placed her hand on the child's shoulder.
"Come with me. I can give you food and shelter. You'll see, everything will turn out alright for you."
She removed her hood to reveal long, curly, golden hair surrounding a beautiful young face and light golden eyes.
The girl seemed to relax a tiny bit when she saw the face of the newcomer.
"I'm not so scary anymore now, right?" the woman asked, smiling.
There was a short pause, in which the child continued to cry softly.
"Mom… mom was… in the house… when they came" she whispered finally, choking again. "She's still here… somewhere…"
She looked around her at the ashes.
A sad look crossed the beautiful face of the woman.
"Your mother… isn't going to come back, I'm afraid…" she whispered, equally quietly, while looking at the girl seriously.
"…like my dad?" the child asked. "He… fell off the roof… one day, and mom said… he wasn't coming back…"
The woman's eyes widened slightly. Then she nodded sadly at her.
The girl began crying louder again, leaning forward and threatening to fall from where she was sitting. She didn't seem able to keep her balance anymore. The woman reacted quickly – she reached out and caught the child in her arms.
"Shhhh" she whispered. "I'll look after you now."
Hey there, everyone!
This is just something that was bugging me, I wanted to write it down and it's going to be a more or less long story, depends on what I feel like and how much time I have :) So here is the prologue, for starters. Please let me know if you like it! This does not directly have much to do with the actual storyline of this fanfiction, it's more like... the background story to the female main character, as you will find out when I post further chapters.
Anyway, thank you for reading this, I'd love to hear your opinion and criticism, both positive and negative. If you have any suggestions or qustions, don't hesitate to leave a review or send me a PM.
~ZoeTsunami~
Btw I don't own Fairy Tail or any of its characters. Technically I haven't used any names or places yet, but still - I feel safer to have written that.