Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.

A Different Beginning

Acnologia was frustrated - his teeth bared while he sat on the edge of an overlooking cliff. He had spent his entire day flying around; most if not all the remaining dragons had now gone into hiding, their numbers dwindling into the single digits. He wanted them dead and gone already. There was a small village nearby he had yet to check around. Worst case scenario he could always just destroy it. The thought of destruction made him grin. Perhaps he would wait, and come back later just in case.

'Let them live a day longer in ignorance' he thought.

The dragon-in human form-was pulled from his musings by what sounded like crying. Slowly his eyes began to wander, penetrating the dense foliage and landing on a small human stumbling a short distance from where he sat. His lip curled in disgust. From what he could see of the pathetic thing it was a girl. Unruly short pink hair, a simple-looking dress. Acnologia realized it was the one crying, for what reason he didn't really care.

Standing up from his spot, Acnologia transformed back into his dragon form. With an experimental flap of his wings Acnologia swept through the breezeless sky landing directly in front of the still sniffling girl. He dove forward crossing the threshold of space in a mere minute or two, whereas any human would have taken at least a good few days. As expected - she screamed, surprised by the sudden appearance of the Apocalypse Dragon.

"G-Go away...!"The girl cried out after only a moment of shocked silence. Acnologia remained still, staring.

"L-Leave me alone!" She yelled, throwing a pebble she found. Acnologia inwardly frowned, as he was not feeling particularly tolerable, evidenced by the low growl that spilled from his throat scaring the girl further. He raised his right arm to kill her and be done with it. Humans were pests anyway.

"Leave!" She screamed one last time, this time not out of fear, but as a demand. For a reason he didn't really understand, Acnologia paused before his claws could bisect her. He looked at the child more closely, seeing an odd resemblance to someone he knew, which piqued his interest a bit. 'Could it be? Zeref?'

"You smell like a guy I know..."The dragon rumbled. Immediately the child's eyes shot up from the dirt.

"Y-you can talk...!?"

"Where are your parents?" He asked, pointedly ignoring her question.

No answer.

"Well?" He hissed.

He saw how her tiny fists clenched the dress she wore, new tears springing into her eyes.

"Answer me, or I will kill you." He said seriously, already wishing he had done so in the first place. That got the kid talking.

"Z...Zeref-nii s-said...they died." The small little girl said, her voice hoarse while she trembled." I-I don't..."

"Did you say Zeref?" Acnologia said, slight disbelief dripping in his voice. Even more so when she only nodded. "Zeref is your...brother?"

"Y...Y...ye-"

"Stutter again, and I'll crush you like a bug."He spat venomously.

"Yeah!" The small girl yelled, quicker than before.

Despite himself, Acnologia began to laugh. The spark of interest in this child growing by the second.

"What's so funny?..."Natsumi asked, nervous.

"What's your name, sister of Zeref?" The dragon asked, ignoring the girls question again.

"I'm Natsumi!"She yelled back, furiously rubbing her eyes to dry them of any tears.

'Summer Beauty, eh?' Acnologia couldn't help but smirk at the name. Something told him the name would grow to suit her, if her pink locks and sun-kissed tan were anything to go by. "You're an interesting one alright, perhaps it will prove useful, not exterminating you." He announced, and with that, he scooped her up off the ground in his claws.

"Listen here girl," He began raising her so she was eye level with him. It was more than a little intimidating to say the least. "Starting today you will be my apprentice."

Natsumi's eyes turned wide again.

"Y-you mean...you're going to take care of me?"

"No. I wouldn't say-"

"Thank you! Oh, thank you, thank you!" She shouted jumping up for joy, too caught up in things to stop and process his words more carefully. Without thinking she had grabbed onto his nose while attempting to hug him or something.

Suppressing the intense urge to gut the child, Acnologia decided to let her have her moment of peace. Contrary to what she may think now, he was not doing her any favors by taking her in to train her. For him, it could prove useful. If he could raise Natsumi, who shared Zeref's blood, as a dragon slayer, it was all the better for him. Killing two birds with one stone, as they say.

"At first light, we will begin training."

Natsumi huddled closer. Her frail body shivering when it started raining outside making the ground all muddy, and her pink hair stick to her face more.

"Do NOT stand so close to me." Acnologia ground out through clenched teeth, giving her a rough shove. He walked ahead of her a few feet at a reduced pace, while Natsumi struggled to keep up, shivering from the cold.

He had turned back into his human form to get out of the rain. Leading her back towards a cave he knew of, using it as shelter for the night. Natsumi commented on how she thought his transformation was cool; attempting to make small talk at one point, but he shot her down with another death threat.

That was pretty much what happened with every attempt Natsumi made to communicate with the mysterious dragon-man. The more it happened, the less she tried, nearly getting her head crushed once or twice.

Natsumi was snoring softly, laying on the cold cave floor with mud in her hair and covering her dress.

"Wake up!" Acnologia yelled, landing a hard kick to the young girls ribs. She yelped in pain smacking into the wall with a very audible crack, sliding down to the floor and rubbing her head. Groaning she straightened herself while sitting on her knees. Acnologia stood towering over her, scowling.

She blinked, looking up at him with bleary big brown eyes. It was almost sickening.

"h-huh? But...it's still dark outside..." She mumbled still half-asleep exhausted from their trek through the forest to find the cave. A clawed hand slammed into the wall beside her head, cutting her cheek and drawing a thin stream of blood. The sleepiness was replaced by more alertness.

"I said. Get. Up." Acnologia repeated, the dark lines beneath his eyes thickening making his face appear more malevolent. Swallowing she nodded, not wanting to be on the receiving end of his rage.

"We have no time to waste." Acnologia affirmed once outside. "We will start now. Right now you are weak. Dead Weight. Useless." He sneered watching her tear up a bit at his harsh words.

It didn't take long for Natsumi to start bleeding, as Acnologia's training was borderline cruel and torturous. From before morning peak hours to long after the sun would set he ran her ragged, breaking her limits, setting new ones and then breaking them again. Most if not everything Natsumi was told to do required strength far surpassing that of any normal-or even sane-human being.

She broke apart boulders, uprooted trees, cleared out forests. Once she was done, and only when she was done was she allowed to eat and rest. She didn't know where Acnologia got her food from, and overtime she learned not to care, especially when one loaf of bread was supposed to get her through the next three days.

There was one time, however, when the hunger got in the way.

Natsumi collapsed, panting heavily after only just barely making a dent in one of the surrounding trees.

"What are you doing, girl!? Who said you could lay down?!" Acnologia snarled, reverting back to his dragon form and flapping his wings refusing to allow Natsumi her much needed rest.

"Get back on your feet!" He yelled. She cried easily getting lifted into the air, forced to hang on for dear life to a few nearby roots, struggling just to breathe. Her vision was already starting to blur.

"I-...I can't...!"She rasped, defeated.

The winds increased. Her grip on the roots went slack, unable to hold on any longer, flailing in the air before being thrown back into the tree's branches and slammed into another's half broken trunk.

"Well then..."Acnologia began, watching her fall on all fours gasping."Why are you still down on the ground? Only a fool would lower their heads on a battlefield."

"I-…"

"Is blood the only thing you have inherited from Zeref?"

Natsumi remained on all fours, her hair falling over her face, hiding the tears that sparkled in her eyes.

Natsumi looked up, hearing the crunching of grass and seeing Acnologia had turned and started walking away at some point.

"I have no time for weaklings. You are not even worth killing as you are now." He surmised coldly. "My guess is your brother didn't have the heart finish you. You will only ever be a burden to anyone as you are now, a liability."

Natsumi watched, her fists slowly clenching, as Acnologia morphed back into a dragon-largepowerfulunbeatable -and flew away.

His words rung like bells in her head.

(...not even worth killing...)

(...burden...)

(...liability...)

"I-...sniffle..."

Catching his scent on the wind proved to be a simple enough task.

"Acnologia."

Zeref greeted calmly certainly not expecting a visit, if one could call it such a thing, from him of all people.

Acnologia found him, seeking him out for some unknown reason when Natsumi's training had reached a grinding halt. Even looking back on it he couldn't say for sure what led to him seeking out the dark wizard's, he wouldn't call it assistance, or even advice. Presence seemed to fit just fine.

"You have a sister." The dragon said, straightforward as ever. He had to admit, it was worth it to a degree, just to be able to watch the usually stoic face twist into an array of emotions; Shock. Worry. Anger.

"A little sister." He added with a sneer, because really, why the hell not.

"Where is she?"

A cruel sneer marred the apocalyptic dragon's face hearing the hard edge enter the other male's voice. Cruelty shone in his dark eyes, moving to occupy the rock, using it as a temporary chair.

"Does it matter?" He challenged.

The look that came onto Zeref's face could almost be mistaken as feral-almost. And that was still his greatest weakness. He was still just a boy-far too softhearted for his own good.

Blinking rapidly Zeref averted his eyes, drawing in a deep calming breath. His fists slowly clenched at his sides. "Please...take me to her..."

.

.

.

"Please."

"Fine, but on one condition..."

Zeref felt his heart-what remained of it anyway-crack. Nodding, he followed along back to where Natsumi was.

"You were supposed to go with Igneel."

Natsumi sniffled lightly, her small little fists balled against Zeref's dark cloak while he held her close for the first time since...no, it was the first time wasn't it? He figured she hated Humans after being revived. It was one of the reasons he asked his dear friend Igneel to raise her.

"Nii-san...I-I'm sorry...!"Natsumi sniffled some more, burying her face deeper into Zeref's arm. He had to say, even though he realized it wasn't smart to get attached, he didn't completely hate the warmth his dear sister gave off. "I didn't mean t-to...forget you...!"

Even as he did the spell, Zeref couldn't help the swell of pain that settled in his heart.

He kept telling himself it was for the best. She didn't need memories of him, her cursed older brother-in her life. She would grow strong. Make friends.

She would have a life.

The days turned into months, and the months into years. Natsumi's training began to show incredible results, though because of how she looked people would often make the mistake of underestimating her. Acnologia found it quite humorous really.

That time was the closest thing to peace either of them could ask for.

Then it all changed on the seventh day of the seventh month of the year 777.

"Acnologia!" Natsumi called out, stepping into the clearing where she usually met up with the dark dragon for training. She looked around.

"Acnologia!" She called again.

Again there was no answer.

"Where are you?"

Silence.

Eventually Natsumi began to trek through the forest, a familiar and disgusting feeling clawing at her heart.

"Dad! Where are you?" She called one last time, tired from how far and how fast she had started running. She looked and looked, but found no trace of him.

"Dad...!"A soft whisper, cracking just a tiny bit in despair.

Finally as the sun dipped below the clouds, Natsumi fell to her knees sliding against the trunk of a tree with blooming sakura leaves on the top. For every tear she would have cried, a petal fell to the ground instead. She watched them fall, alone.

Her father was gone. She was alone again.

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