Hello my babies! I'm here to wish you a happy (very, veeeery) belated Valentine's Day, since I hadn't been around to update anything. This chapter is dedicated to enviious, who suggested a theme, and to LuxLux1, who remembered me that this story still exists and that there are people who still read this.

Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail, only my OC.

Enjoy~

VIII

Her lungs burned.

Tears streamed down her face and her legs felt like they would leave her on her own at any second.

But she kept running.

She had to.

Her green eyes darted between random spots in the thick forest, looking for any signal of her pursuer. The scenery was unnervingly quiet, and her ragged breaths sounded too loud in her own ears.

Just then, a giant dark monster flung it's claws at her out of nowhere, and she barely dodged it. Grabbing her pendant in a death grip, she chanted a quick spell and summoned a kitsune the same size as the monster.

"Get him."

Her voice was barely a whisper, but it was enough for the kitsune needed to understand that thing was hurting its mistress, and that it needed to be destroyed as soon as possible.

The battle between the two seemed to go on forever, until Maria gathered the very last bit of her magic and prayed.

"Oh ye God, I beg of thee to listen to your humble servant. Give thou being strength and speed, defense and intelligence. I ask in the name of the most sacred liquid!"

Cutting herself with a small dagger, blood started to come out of a cut that covered the whole palm of her right hand. The kitsune, then, glowed briefly and wasted no time in charging at the creature.

His lungs burned.

Desperation was clear in his face and it was the only thing moving his legs.

So he may have done all of her jobs in five seconds.

So he may have told her to just hide.

He understood her every time she refused to hide and wanted to help because that was her job.

But what if she got hurt?

He couldn't- no. He wouldn't have that.

Ok, so he recognized he was a little over-protective and tried to understand her wanting to go on a job alone, but something just didn't feel right.

A couple of hours after she left, Zeref couldn't shake the feeling off that something wasn't right.

Her job was simple. She just had to escort a merchant who was afraid of some thieves.

And yet he ran with all his might to find her, to make sure the feeling was just him being paranoid.

However, when he saw the monster about to attack her, all he saw was red.

Everything happened so fast, she wasn't even sure if it really happened.

One moment, her kitsune had defeated the large being with a swift attack.

The other, a blur of black had come from her right straight to a spot on her left, mere feet away. Her crimson locks swung around her face when she turned around to look, and her eyes widened in both shock and horror.

Another monster, much bigger than the one she had just defeated, lay burning in the middle of terrifying black flames, and a lone figure stood there, silently watching the creature cry in agony.

Merciless, blank crimson eyes stared at the shrieking creature, death practically forming a protective circle around him.

Maria stared, horrified, as Zeref impassively made his way over to her kitsune, in his hand a dark, unknown magic already forming.

Zeref thought her kitsune was a threat too!

Gathering the strength she didn't know she still possessed, the green eyed girl stood up on shaky legs and ran, literally, to her death.

Almost tripping on the way over to him, tears once again blurred her vision as he seemed to get further away each passing second.

Finally, finally, she reached him and didn't think twice before putting her thin and bruised arms around his torso, effectively stopping him.

"Zeref."

He stood rigid, the dark ball of his spell slowly burning her skin.

"Please stop."

He whipped his head to look at her, crimson eyes screaming death.

"Please."

She looked at him with those eyes of hers. Those eyes, of which he dreamed about so often, glistened with tears as she begged at him.

And then, nothing.

Zeref woke abruptly, covered in cold sweat. He frantically looked around only to realize he was home.

Home.

Where Maria was.

Maria.

MARIA.

Where was she? Was she okay? What about the job? Just what had happened?

He stood up from the bed in milliseconds and ran, finding Maria curled up on the couch, a small creature resting on her shoulder looking at him with vigilant eyes. As soon as she saw him, she got up and cupped her hands around his cheeks, his eyes begging for her to explain.

"Are you okay?" The green-eyed girl asked him. He didn't answer. Instead, he took her bandaged hands in his, and took a good look at her.

Bandages covered both her arms, from her feet to her knee and around her forehead, not to mention the various cuts and scratches that seemed to cover her whole body.

"Are you?" He asked.

She nodded, closing her eyes.

"Yes. I'm fine."

"What happened?"

"I don't know. All I know is that you were scary."

His eyes widened and he suddenly let go of her, as if his hands were burning.

The creature he now recognized as a kitsune seemed to narrow its eyes at him, as if telling him to back off.

"I-I was terrified, Zeref. You told me you were scary, I read in books you were scary, but I never thought I would be seeing that side of you." Tears threatened to fall from green eyes as her hugged herself, and the Dark Mage took a step back.

By the Gods, no.

He had hurt her.

He had been the one to hurt the very reason he was alive.

"But please-"

She reached for him, and he took another step back.

Her eyes widened and a tear fell.

"Zeref?"

"…"

"Zeref, please, listen to me. Let me finish. Please."

"…"

"Please promise me you'll never be like that again. That you'll never get out of control like that again. Please, Zeref, promise me."

"…did I…"

"…what?"

"Did I do that to you?"

His dark bangs covered his eyes, and she couldn't see his expression. He gingerly mentioned her bandaged self and she took a step towards him.

"No. It wasn't you. You almost burned an entire city down, but even in that state, you didn't even get close to me. You protected me, Zeref."

Maria, then, took that one remaining step and hugged him loosely, resting her head on his shoulder.

For a while, he didn't move, nor did he talk. There was no sound as she let the information sink in, hugging him tighter each passing second.

Finally he slowly hugged her back, pressing her impossibly closer to him.

"I promise."

She smiled, burying her face in his chest.

"I promise. I won't scare you anymore. I will protect you properly. So please don't- don't give up on me, please."

"I would never give up on you. But you can't give up on me either. Okay?"

"Okay."

On the following day, she woke up only to find herself unable to move. She opened her eyes and white covered her vision. Looking up, she saw Zeref's calm sleeping face and noticed his arms around her.

Realizing they had fallen asleep on the couch, she sighed and closed her eyes with a smile, preparing to fall asleep once more.

Things weren't exactly perfect, but she was content.

Little did she know her life was about to get a lot more hectic.

Holy-

I have no excuses.

Except for college.

College is a good excuse, yes?

Yes?

No?

Okay.

Please, do review!