Ok, just for clarity, I will explain a couple things.

So, at the end of last chapter, her memory came back, including keeping all from the week they were kids again. HOWEVER! A weeks worth of information just coming into being would probably be a little bit disconcerting, so she kinda has to work through all of those memories. It feels a little like a dream that she's trying to remember. Especially considering she doesn't realize, initially, that she had been a child at all, or that she still is.

Fancy segway, yes, she is still in her child body, since the physical effects take longer to ware off than the memory effect.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask! :)

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When she woke up, she couldn't see or hear again. Feeling her heart rate increasing, she twitched, trying to feel around herself. It wasn't a lot of information: Hard surface, rocky feel. She needed more.

She rolled over, noting with an extra throb of fear that her hands were slippery; she wasn't one whose hands grew sweaty when scared, and all she could think of as she pushed herself up was blood.

But whose? What had been going on? Why was she unable to see or hear again? She had been at Lucy's- though not of her own volition, a bit of annoyance calmed her slightly. Natsu had insisted, because of her nightmares and the possible aftereffects of- of…

That was right; she had had a nightmare, even if it wasn't the usual kind. When she had woken up, though, she hadn't been able to see or hear again. Then… then she had woken up – she couldn't remember passing out – at the infirmary… crying for her brothers…?

While that was entirely normal, she couldn't understand how she had spoken; she had even called for their mother and father, too. Then Natsu had- her breathing hitched; Natsu had had such a small hand, she realized. It had been tiny, and when she had felt his face, it had been soft, more rounded.

And then she had been carried, and given a book, which she had… stroked…? She could remember the affection she had felt towards it, but she had access to plenty of books now; what had been special about that-

She choked on nothing as something kicked her in the stomach, sending her flying into a wall of some sort. Head spinning, she struggled to stand.

After a minute of nothing, she relaxed slightly; maybe she had been kicked out of view? She had no idea what could have just happened, but that had happened in the Sun Village, too.

Her thoughts shifted back as she propped herself up against the wall: After the book, someone- no, no, Porlyusica had arrived, and made her some kind of medicine that had actually worked against that horrid disease that no doctor had ever heard of, and no mage had been able to dispel. She had felt elated, ecstatic, almost painfully so, as figures were revealed in the fog, as her brothers voices- she gasped, eliciting several coughs.

Hand to her mouth, panting faintly – pathetic – she thought of her brothers' child selves – they hadn't even remembered that- and, and she had been- and she hadn't remembered-

She couldn't scream as something dug into her gut from a low angle, breath effectively knocked out. Falling to her knees, trying to drag in air, her lungs felt painfully deflated. She was kicked over, slumping – pathetic – to the ground without any means of fighting back.

That was right! She had been a child, too! She hadn't remembered anything either!

She bit her tongue inadvertently as she was yanked from the ground; she could feel the tears of pain in her eyes as she flailed in midair.

She had had a fun week, the first time in centuries that she hadn't thought about all the things that had happened over life, Lucy and Levy and the rest taking care of her before- before-

She gulped down air as the feeling of her lungs being pillows finally left, head spinning. A thin line found itself around her neck, tightening with each kick of her legs. She got the message, and went still.

"Where are the rest?" she managed faintly, knowing that she wouldn't be able to hear the answer, assuming one was given. She was quite right as nothing happened, except a slight shake.

Well, no. That was wrong. A lot happened. Nothing happened outside her. Her blind eyes widened as her brain finally caught up with events, and she started struggling again without thinking.

Her brothers. Her brothers and friends had been in danger, and she had stepped forward to save them, only to lose her sense of touch!

She felt the line tightening, thought she even felt the beads of blood dripping down the string, but didn't – couldn't – wouldn't – stop. Her brothers. Her friends. She needed to know if they were alright. She couldn't dangle uselessly while they might still be in danger.

She had woken up to see someone with a knife on her throat, similar to the string now choking her. That someone had told her to get up, but hadn't known how weak she was, and had pushed her to the floor.

A fist found her back, slamming her into the ground with a grunt of pain.

And her brothers had been there, still children, unable to do anything! And Gray and Erza had been-!

She shrieked as something stomped on her ankle, struggling to roll away as her foot slowly flattened. She thought she could feel each and every bone crunching, cracking, tendons breaking. She strained to pull herself forward, to pull away, fingers scrabbling at flat ground, crying out still louder as a particularly painful snap vibrated up her leg.

What had happened to them?! What had happened to her, so she could go check on them? What was going on? Besides being blind and deaf and terrified and- she whimpered as the realization fully hit: She wasn't able to interact with the world, anymore.

Can't- No! Please, please no!

The thing vanished from her foot, and she collapsed, heaving, choking back her sobs.

Her arms, stretched out in front of her, were grabbed, someone dragging her up. As her foot brushed against the ground, she couldn't help howling, prompting whoever or whatever it was to drop her again.

I need to work- I need to help – to save them!

Something found her ankle, pain shooting through what felt like every nerve in her leg individually. She pushed herself to her knees, lurching forward, but it had tightened its grip, and she couldn't fight off whatever had her, and her foot hurt so much, and she couldn't see or hear and didn't know if her brothers and friends were safe, and- and-

The pain was easing, fading, slowly but surely dissolving. Soon she was limp on the ground, that pain having gone completely.

Panting, tears on her face and cheek pressed into the dirt, she urged herself to move – to get up and do something, to fight…

But – she realized as she was lifted once more – how could she? Beyond the fact that she couldn't see or hear, as a child, she had little to no magical capacity and no way to handle it. She wouldn't be able to use a single spell.

She whimpered – pathetic – in fear – pathetic – as a finger stroked her neck, sliding around it, stopping occasionally. Her breathing instantly became heavier, expecting to be choked at any moment. She could almost hear its laughter, and was it wrong? As it wrapped two fingers around her throat and she trembled, as it forced her chin up by a simple tilt of its hand, she thought it might be right; after all that had happened in her life, she was still afraid? Of the same thing that had plagued her when she had actually been a child? How could centuries have passed, and she was still petrified, brought down to quivering in fear by the mere lack of sight and sound?

She was set roughly down, back against something or other, still able to breathe, and she cringed. She cringed. It was literally the best thing that had happened yet, and she cringed at it. Why?

Her arms were roughly taken, and she felt handcuffs being pressed onto her wrists; she didn't fight it – didn't struggle. She wasn't sure she could have done, if she'd tried.

No, she simply sat there like a broken, useless doll, limp as its puppet strings had been cut, not fighting back as something was attached to her ankles, as well. She guessed they were magic suppressing restraints, but she wouldn't be able to tell while still a child… while still fragile, useless… while still the burden she'd been when Natsu had died…

She whined involuntarily, biting her lip to stop the noise as she quivered at the rush of memory. She thought she heard the laughter again – ridiculing, amused laughter at how weak she was, and it was right. She was laughably pathetic, useless, a hindrance to her brothers, to her friends, to her guild, eternally burdening.

Something yanked on the cuffs attached to her wrists, trying to pull her to her feet, but she couldn't stand. She didn't have the energy to, after the pain and already meager energy her disease allowed her. She just dangled as it lifted her, trying to bite back her cries as her arms pulled, straining to find her feet under her, knowing she wouldn't be able to.

Something grabbed her, and she forced down a scream as memories flooded through her. Memories of past nightmares, past fears, past torments, past…

She was thrown forward, crying out as she crumpled against cold, hard stone.

Something else lifted her, and she murmured inarticulately. She knew that touch, knew that feel and scent. Her brothers, supporting her as she, once again, did nothing but burden them.

Tears were flowing down her face, and she struggled to swallow her sobs, blinking furiously, desperately, wishing not to be so, so pathetic, wishing the tears would stop, wishing she wouldn't shiver, wishing the pain in her lungs would pass her by.

Wishing she could just handle it, like those who were always blind or deaf – or both.

Slowly, she resolved into faint whines, feeling them stroking her hair and rubbing her back, keeping her leant upwards at just the right angle – held just so, as her worthless body demanded. She quivered as her lungs clenched, forcing herself to remember what she had wished to forget for so long.

"When your throat burns…"

"If your lungs get small, then…"

"Careful, slow…"

Consciousness recalled her, and she groaned weakly, trying to raise her head. She found it heavy as an iron ball, and, in blinking rapidly, was forced to remember exactly what was going on.

But, her brothers were here. They were here and Zeref would understand her – Natsu, surely, would, even if he couldn't answer. Heaving, choking, she scraped out, "Oh-h-h-h-kay?"

She felt her hand squeezed twice swiftly, then twice for a longer time. Bittersweet relief flooded through her. They were okay… they weren't safe.

She and Zeref had, in the years after Natsu had died, developed a code of sorts for when she couldn't see or hear so that they could communicate. Well, by 'developed a code,' they had really developed several, adapting real world codes to suit their needs; this one was partly morse code, with long and short squeezes of her hands. Another was entirely morse code, while another used her hand, held out and open, him tracing letters one by one on her palm, pausing for each finished word.

That particular sequence, two short, two long, indicated positive, but negative, and, knowing Zeref, she knew what he was trying to say.

Something found her mouth, and she reflexively cringed away from it. She felt two short squeezes – saying positive – and relented, tremulously accepting whatever it was. This further confirmed that it was her brothers, as she was given a ludicrously small amount of what she guessed was water at a time, knowing that she would choke on anything more.

Then it was gone, and she was leaning against somebody. She heard their heartbeat, racing like a horse's, but steady, alive and kicking, and whimpered again.

Alive.

They were alive.

Sometime later, after a few more sessions of drinking tiny bits of water, the abyss had begun to glow with shadows.

She blinked rapidly, desperate to escape the hell of silent, blind unknown that seemed determined to stick with her until the day she finally died. Vague shades of grey swirled around and above her, surely taking several eternities to resolve into shapes.

Eventually, they did, and she blinked blearily up at the fuzzy shape of… she squinted. "Zer-"

He squeezed her hand twice, a second long each – negative – and she fell quiet.

She heard as from across a field snatches of speech she couldn't truly make out, then silence. After a short while, he squeezed her hand once, telling her that he had turned his attention to her, and she focused on her hearing and sight – neither were particularly great.

Actually, both were horrible, but she managed to make out- "…ca…hear…"

She shivered; she was hearing that horrid question again. "Q-quarter… probably…"

"…ove…"

She attempted a smile. "Love you, too…"

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AIGHT! (=￣ω￣=)

ueueueueueueueu I love angst ueueueueueueueu

I kiiinnnddaaaaaa want to post another chapter… hmmm…. What do you guys think?