There was once a girl in the middle of the forest.

The clearing was disturbed by the recent fight, leaving behind dirt paths and a large hole. She was lying in the middle of this giant hole with rumble surrounding her body. Streaks of blood colored the dirt around her.

Her enormous smile filled others with love whenever they seen her.

The girl seemed knocked out. Her eyes were closed, but there were still movement underneath the eyelids. Her hair, brushed to the side, was slashed from whatever beast fought her, leaving her hair unbalanced. Her wonderful smile was nowhere to be seen, instead only a bruised face that sweated in the sunlight.

Slowly, she started to awake. Her eyes blink wildly as she regained her surroundings. Her dazed mind steadily recounted the memories before gotten to this point. She could only remember that the others were nearby, in the mist of their own fights. But she was sure that was a while ago since she had no recollection of how much time has passed, so wouldn't they have beaten the others and found her by now?

There was another thing that she noticed while lying in the hole.

There were no sounds.

A forest should be roaring with wildlife, yet there were none to be heard.

Except a set of footsteps.

Even the gloomiest of men were pleased whenever she was around, except not this time.

He stood at the side of the mount, looking down on here with eyes of reject and depression. Those emotions were always lining his facial features, but this time, it was stronger than before. As soon as she set her sights on him, a gasp escaped her mouth.

"Zeref!" The girl gasped as she suddenly shot from the ground. Her eyes darted behind him, looking for any signs of her friends or anyone.

"Natsha-san, how long has it been since we last meet?" His voice sent a chill up her spine. She raked through her memories for his last appearance, but he always came randomly and unanticipated. When she gave him no answer, Zeref continued on. "Do you remember what happened before this?" His finger made a circular motion, talking about the environment around them.

Natsha stared at him for a second and then spoke, timidly as if her answer will cause some sort of reaction. "A fight."

"Do you remember anything else? Such as creating the hole yourself?"

"No…?" She shook her head, "I just know…everyone else… They were fighting against these…beasts?"

His eyes gazed down upon her with sympathy, or in her eyes, she saw it as pity. "Your power has been unsealed, I'm afraid."

"Wait, that's a good thing. Right? It means I'm more powerful!"

Zeref held her eyes for a moment before taking in the forest beyond them. "Where do you think your foe is at the moment? Or the wildlife that roamed the forest? Where are they?"

Instead of answering herself, she climbed out of the hole and gazed around herself. Just like she thought, there was no living thing around. That's why were was no chirping or howling, because they all disappeared. "…You don't mean…you killed them?"

He shook his head. "They were dead long before I appeared, Natsha-san."

"Then HOW?!"

Once she unsealed her powers, a curse was unleashed and killed all those she cared about in miles radius.

The animals.

Her friends.

Everything.

"Your powers were sealed away, but now that END has been unleashed, your powers returned, as well as your curse."

"B-But that can't be true!" Her pupils shrunk in size as she scanned the forest. Was her friends gone? Did they try to find her and got killed in the process? Did she cause her foe to vanish as well? Why didn't she remember? The only thing that moved was Zeref with his eyes that expressed a certain emotion. He has gone through the same experience as well; he knew exactly what she was feeling at the moment. Lonely. Within that one look, she knew that he was telling the truth.

Zeref nodded. "It's true. Everyone you care about…they will vanish from the earth as soon as you see them." He turned his head towards the south, where the snap of a twig echoed through the trees. "Unless if you want to see the Redhead gone, then let's leave this place. Quickly."

Is this how it will be? Always running away?

She left a small message in the dirt before backing into the forest after Zeref's lead. Hopefully Erza would notice the writing and listen, but that wasn't the Fairy Tail way. She knew they will follow soon. Wanting answers as well as her back.

And so the girl followed after the Dark Lord, into the path of loneliness and hate.

All love that filled her smiles vanished.

And so, our story begins.

I'm still on hiatus on my others stories, so I'm only working on this and Last Chance. This will only be a small side-story with the pairing of Fem!NatsuxCobra (unless if you guys got any other suggestions).

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