The air was thick with acrid smoke, and as she curled up into a ball, the girl wept as it stung her eyes and throat. It hurt, so very much, just to breathe. Why did it hurt? She drew in a shuddering sob, squeezing her eyes tight against the smoke. At least the screams were gone. They had echoed through her, bouncing from present to future, and there was nothing she could do to stop them. Why was this happening?

She tried not to focus on anything beyond simply drawing another breath, living just another second longer as she prayed that the monsters wouldn't hear and find her, before rending her limb from limb, but against her will thoughts continued to trickle through her mind, the images and sounds she had never been able to make sense of flashing past her mind's eye.

XXX

THey had come in the night, red eyes that glowed in the darkness the only sign of their passage. She had been dancing in the moonlight, treading well-worn paths into the clearing she had claimed as her own since before she could walk. It always helped her forget the memories, those that had passed, and those that were yet to come.

When the first screams pierced the night, she stumbled. She never stumbled. Then, when the first screams rang once again, she didn't just stumble, falling completely, just barely managing to catch herself with her hands. Even as she wondered what was wrong, why anyone would be screaming at a time like this, their voices filled with such depths of pain, fear, and anguish, more came, carried on the same winds that brought the first stench of the smoke she would become intimately familiar with in the next few hours.

As she lay there, her arms failing to support her weight any longer out of fear, the girl trembled, her thoughts whirling. Memories invaded her mind, the simple rhythmic motion and course of dancing no longer present to hold them at bay. Oh, she remembered screams, so like those she was hearing now even though the air they rang through had been different, as were their cause. She could see from her position on the forest floor dark shapes winging their way through the night, the broken moon she had been named for once again shining behind them. That moon had always been the only other thing that could soothe her thoughts, proof that those memories of the past might be only that, although still the others persisted. She had always loved the moon, as her namesake. Tonight, however, there was no love to be had, no shelter from her thoughts.

It took her a while to move, her limbs trembling in fear both remembered and present. Then she was running through the woods, her long silver hair streaming behind as the wind whipped it free. She could only hope that when she finally made her way back to the village, there would be something left.

XXX

That hope had been dashed the moment she set foot within the place. Everything was burning, and there wasn't a single soul left alive in sight. She could hear them though, survivors fighting desperately for life even as they screamed and shouted at the monsters that had come to destroy them. It was useless, however. Soon enough, even they would be silenced by the creatures of Grimm.

The child looked around, even though she knew that there was nothing left to be salvaged. Even the orphanage, which had taken her in after she was found abandoned in the forest, was utterly destroyed, not even children spared the wrath of nature's darkness. After a glance, she had already looked away, There was nothing for her there.

SHe wandered for hours, trying desperately to hold back the tears, but eventually the smoke grew too much for her, and she crawled under a fallen wall. Only then, buried under debris and out of sight of the few Grimm she had dodged in the ruins, did she release the tears she had been holding.

Why? She thought, a sob turning her breath ragged. Why was it that wherever she went, death and destruction followed. She was six now, in this life, but before, she had been just as cursed as she was now. Her mother, her friends, even her father, all had fallen around her, through accident, war, or betrayal, it mattered not.

Even more hours later, the girl jerked out of her curl at the sound of shifting rock. Unconsciously, her hand reached out and gripped a piece of loose rubble, the stone not much for an adult but in her tiny hands appeared a formidable weapon. She didn't care that it would do little to whatever monster had managed to sniff her out. Memories of friends, each a paragon of bravery and strength, flashed between her eyes, hardening her resolve. She would fight, and die, facing her enemy head-on. Maybe then she would be allowed to meet them in the afterlife, as had been denied her once before.

The child's fear came to naught. When the wall shifted, it was not a creature of Grimm standing there, eyes burning with the hatred and hunger inherent in their kind. Instead it was a man, though she could make out little more features than grey hair and some sort of large weapon on his back.

"A survivor? Well, I wasn't expecting that." She smiled at the voice. It was attempting sarcasm, but she had always been more attuned to emotion than others, and the relief in his words was plain to her ears. "So, little one, are you coming out of there? All the big baddies are gone." For a moment, she hesitated. Surely, if she went with this man, her curse might just rain doom down upon him as well. Even if that was not the case, he would take her to somewhere else civilized, and then it would only be a matter of time. Perhaps it would be better for her to die out here.

It was the smile that convinced her. Surprisingly soft for one who was obviously a warrior, it almost reminded her of another of her friends, kind and firm. In it, she could see the promise that no matter what, this man would keep her safe. Maybe It wouldn't be such a bad thing after all. Grimm attacked everyone. Who said it was her fault?

The girl wasn't sure, but as she took the offered hand, Luna Lovegood had to think, just once, that things might turn out alright this time.