"Queen Shagotte! Surely you cannot be serious! There must be some other explanation for such a drastic course of action!"

In a distant land parallel to where our story takes place, a black cat - with a head much longer than his body – called out in fright. Quizzically the bipedal feline was shaking his fist repeatedly for no real reason at all – this could be chalked up to a nervous reaction had he not done this same action all the time.

"I agree! There must be some other way! Man!" A second cat added his worries to the first. In contrast to his fellow feline, this cat was yellow with orange hair on his head, and quite the defined chin.

"There is no other way."

Sitting upon the throne in the middle of the large room was a snow white cat dressed in the most elegant of royal garb. She looked down on her subjects with empathy and sadness. She knew they would not agree with her plan - to be honest she didn't expect them to – but that mattered not. This had to be done.

"My vision foretold the falling of Extalia from the sky." She told them. "We must evacuate the eggs to safety before that tragedy is allowed to happen."

"Pantherlily! Please talk some sense into her." The long-headed cat turned his head to the back of the room. Standing tall against the wall was what could only be described as a beast.

This feline was noticeably larger than the others. His muscles bulging against the armored plate worn proudly across his chest. To be honest he was much more man than cat.

"There is nothing I can say." Pantherlily bowed his head as if in apology to his comrade. "The Queen's visions have never steered us wrong in the past. I see no reason to decry them now."

The queen smiled softly at his vote confidence. "Thank you, Pantherlily." She looked back to the others. "The elders and I have already decided. Prepare the anima."

With reluctance, both cats bowed before their Queen. "As you wish, Queen Shagotte." Pantherlily bowed as well.

Within hours, every newborn egg within Extalia had been placed within the anima chamber. The last egg to be placed was the queen's own. She kissed it one last time before placing it at the top of the pile. It pained Queen Shagotte to be separated from her egg so soon after giving birth, but it felt even worse to have her subjects feel the same as she did.

Things would never be the same for Extalia after this event. The Queen could see the betrayal and hurt in each family she had forcibly split apart with her, but such was the price to pay for such a drastic decision. Even if she were hated for all eternity, Shagotte would at least make sure that these children lived to keep their line alive. To pave the way for the next generation. To protect all life within her charge. This was the duty of a queen.

She looked to the assembled members of her guard, her heart free of all doubt. "Proceed."

"Yes, my queen." One of the guards pulled down the lever on the console, and in a matter of seconds the eggs vanished into the anima portal.

Shagotte clasped her hands in prayer. "Please...be safe."

The sky split open, and a portal to a strange world similar to the one's the eggs would have called home appeared. As they gently floated down to the ground below, the wind shifted and two eggs – one white with blue markings and the other white with pink markings – gently bumped into one another, sending them in entirely different directions than they were intended.

In an area known as East Forest, a young boy furiously punched one of the large trees, his fists aimed at a wooden placard he had made himself. On it were crude drawings of a young girl with long black hair, white devils horns, and fire spewing from her mouth, and a boy with light blue hair and cocky grin on his lips. The more the pink-haired boy hit the pictures, the angrier he got.

"Stupid Jerks!" he shouted. His hands were starting to go numb from punching, but he continued on. This was training for him after all. "I'll show them whose boss! Just you wait! I'll show Mira too!"

Seated against a tree not too far from him, a girl with wavy, light sapphire hair watched with a worried grimace. She clutched the book in her arms tighter, her eyes nervously darting back and forth.

"We should leave now." She pleaded. "There could be monsters here."

The boy ignored her and drew back for one last attack. His fist covered in searing hot flames, he struck the picture as hard as he could, the force rocking the great big oak. Satisfied with his training he placed his hands on his hips smiled triumphantly. The leaves of the giant tree began rustling, and soon something fell from the canopy, hitting the boy in the head and knocking him on his butt. "Ow~!" he groaned.

The girl ran to check on him. "Are you ok?"

"Yeah. What is that?"

"It looks like an egg." The blue-haired girl answered, though it was much larger than any other egg she had ever seen before. "What animal lays an egg that big?"

The boy's eyes widened with wonder. "I know! It must be a dragon's egg!"

"A dragon's egg? How do you know?"

"I just do! Come on! We have to tell everybody at the guild!" Without hesitation the boy grabbed the egg and ran out of the forest at top speed, his friend lagging behind.

"Wait! I can't run that fast!"

The pink-haired boy stopped so his friend could catch up. He handed her the egg.

"Why am i holding it now?"

Without explanation the boy scooped his friend into his arms bridal style and started running again. "Hold on to the egg tight!"

The girl and the egg secure in his arms, the boy raced through the streets of Magnolia - town located Eventually they reached a large building in the middle of tow, the plaque at the top archway reading: Fairy Tail. The boy burst through the doors, holding the egg - and by extension the girl - up high as he could.

"Hey, guys!" he called to the people in the guild hall. "Look what we found!"

"Let me down!" the girl shrieked, her face blazing red from embarrassment.

They say one event changed in the past can change the course of history forevermore. One quick decision, one alternate outcome, one death, can change the world drastically. It's been coined over the centuries as the "Butterfly Effect". A simple, even elegant name for such a complicated and sometimes devastating phenomenon. A single drop ripples outward and forever alters the rivers of time.

However, to understand how this change particular change happened, we must go further back in time.

She didn't know how long she had been walking. Days? Weeks? Time had long since become a mystery to her. The only thing she knew for sure was that she had to keep moving forward. Even if she could no longer feel her feet anymore she had to keep going. She wasn't far.

Bright red blood on the bottoms of her feet staining the pure white snow, the girl saw a lone silhouette amidst the blizzard. As she inched closer and closer, the hazy outline cleared into a cozy wooden cabin. Despite her aching muscles, she couldn't help but smile through the pain. She had finally made it home.

Her body giving out on a tree a few feet from the cabin, the young girl's dark eyes widened in shock at the scene through the window. She saw her mother, as happy as she could be, with two young boys. The three were enjoying a meal, smiling and happy as if all was right with the world.

A weight crashed through the girl's heart and down into her stomach. Her mother had forgotten all about her. After all this time, her mother had simply moved on. Her rage festered and compounded until hot tears stung her eyes and streamed down her face. Unable to move anymore, she finally collapsed to her knees in the snow. If this was the end, then she accepted it.

"Mother…"

Inside the cabin, a boy with spikey black hair noticed something was off. He rose from his seat.

"Gray?" the woman – both his master and guardian – called. "What's wrong?"

"You have to use the bathroom or something?" asked a boy with pointed pale blue hair.

"I thought I heard something." Gray ran out through the door into the snow.

"Gray!" his master shouted. "Get back here right now! You'll get caught in the blizzard!"

Both Gray's master and the other boy followed him outside. When they finally reached him near the tree, they saw him holding an unconscious girl in his arms.

"She's in really bad shape." Gray said. "We should get her inside."

The other boy was confused. "Who is that?"

Their master simply looked at the girl in shock.

"Master Ur?"

The woman fell to her knees, tears running down her cheeks. She reached out and Gray handed over the girl. Ur cradled her tightly in her arms.

"Urtear." She sobbed, pressing her face against the unconscious girl's. "My sweet baby girl…"

Closer, but not quite. We must go even further back.

"Simon! Simon, where are you!"

She could barely hear herself think over the screams. All around her homes were burning, and people – villagers she had known all of her young life – were either being taken or killed by the men in hoods. Her brother – Simon – had gotten separated from her while they were escaping with the crowd. Amongst the rubble and destruction she screamed his name.

"Simon! Simon!"

Just then a hand grabbed her wrist and pulled her away.

"Come with me! They'll find you!"

"Let me go!" the child protested. "I have to find my brother!"

She was pulled through the flaming wreckage to a building that had been untouched by the men. There she was placed in an empty crate behind the building. Unable to fight back, the girl squeezed herself into the crate. When she looked up at her mysterious savior, she saw a girl a year or so older than her with striking short, white hair and a caring smile.

She had never seen her around the village before. Had she always been there?

"Stay hidden. This way they won't find you."

"But what about you?"

She was almost too afraid to ask.

"I'll find somewhere else to hide. Don't worry."

"Hey! I heard her over here!" One of the hooded men pointed out the snow-haired girl to his comrades.

"Stay alive." With those final words, the white-haired girl closed the lid on the crate and ran away.

"Get her!"

The young girl watched fearfully as her savior was soon caught and forced to the ground by the hooded men.

"Thought you could get away, huh?" The leader smirked evilly. "Looks like we'll have to shackle you down harder this time. Take her back to the wagon with the others."

The snow haired girl struggled to to free herself from the masked men, but it was all in vain. The younger girl watched in horror as her savior was dragged off to where the rest of the captives were being held.

"Oh no."

"Hm? What was that?"

Realizing she had said that out loud, the girl quickly hid herself back in the crate. The leader of the men was still there. She sat in the darkness of the closed crate, her mouth covered in a desperate attempt to keep her frantic breathing from being heard. Her body shook in fear, and she started to sweat. She could hear his boots creeping closer to the crate. She prayed to the gods above that she remain hidden. Those prayers went unanswered.

The lid of the crate opened. With tears in her eyes, Kagura looked up to the smirking man wearing the mask.

"What do we have here?"

Almost there. Just one more jump should do it.

"We have to keep running! Come on!"

Everything around them was burning. Smells of smoke, blood, and ash all mixed into a sickening scent that lingered throughout all facets of Tenrou Island. Even so two girls – one with short blonde hair, and the other with brown hair in pig tails - couldn't stop running. They couldn't look back. They dare not. Otherwise they would suffer the same fate as the others on the island.

"I don't wanna leave! My daddy and the guild are back there! And all my pretty clothes are-"

"They won't mean anything if you're dead! All those things you cherish are still in your heart, but they won't mean anything if you die! So let's just stay alive, Zera!"

The words struck a chord within Zera's previously closed heart. Even after all the things she said and did, Mavis was still trying to help her. She was trying to save her. The realization of how awful she had been made Zera cry even more.

"I…I've always been so mean to you…but you still wanna help me. I know I don't deserve it…but do you think…we could maybe be...friends?"

Mavis' smile was so bright and warm amidst the chaos that Zera thought she would go blind. "Sure."

That simple smile couple with an even simpler answer was all that Zera needed. "Thank…you…"

She then collapsed on the ground. Mavis jerked back when she felt Zera's dead weight and panicked.

"Zera? Zera?!"

She weakly looked up to Mavis. "I'm…fine. Just tired. Can we rest for a bit please?"

Mavis wiped the tears from her eyes and smiled in relief that Zera was still with her. "Ok. I think we're far enough away." She helped Zera to her feet, and slowly made her way to a nearby tree. Mavis placed Zera at the base of the tree. When she started to sit next to her, she winced in pain. Feeling a tingling she clutched her left side. During Blue Skull's raid Mavis had run afoul of one of their members when she reached town. She tried her best to escape, but she still felt the cold steel of her attacker's spear before running away. She had ignored the pain for this long, but now it was making it hard for her to keep upright. She gingerly sat next to Zera.

"Maybe I can rest...for a little bit too."

When Zera awoke an hour or so later, the sun had already set. Though it was dark, she could still see faint trails of smoke rising from town. Blue Skull was seemingly long gone…but so was Red Lizard. Zera's home was in shambles, and her father - along with everyone else in the guild - was dead. Unable to cope, Zera looked for the only person she had left. Mavis rested next to her; her head down and a smile on her face as she peacefully slept.

"Mavis?" Zera called her name, but she didn't answer. "Mavis?" Zera tried shaking her awake, but again received no response. "Mavis, wake up. We have to see if anyone in town survived." When Zera touched Mavis she fell over on her side. "Geez. How hard do you sleep?" Picking her up, Zera felt something wet and slightly sticky on her palm. "What's this?" the moonlight filtered in through the tree canopy, illuminating the mysterious liquid on Zera's hand. Her eyes widened in shock, and her heart began to race when she realized what it was. On her hand, was Mavis' blood.

"Mavis…? Mavis! Please! Wake up!" Zera shook her harder now, but Mavis refused to wake up. The grave reality starting to set in, Zera clutched Mavis' lifeless body to her own. "Wake up…please." She begged. "I promise I'll be nicer to you. I'll share all of my toys. You can wear my clothes. I'll even let you have my favorite shoes. We'll be best friends" she clutched Mavis tighter. Please…don't leave me…Mavis."

Her words fallen on the deaf ears of a silent God, Zera's anguished cries echoed into the night air.

The death of Mavis Vermillion. This was the moment that changed the world. From that moment forward everything shifted. Distorted. The world as we know it ceased to exist, and a new one took its place.

HAPPY NEW YEAR! I wanted to end 2016 with the prologue for a new AU I will be sporadically working on in the coming year. For those of you that remember, this is the story I axed Shifting Exceed for. Somethings from that story will be reintroduced here, but for the most part this is all new. Essentially I am attempting to do Fairy Tail from the ground up.

Honestly, the series hasn't had the best year. This current arc is pretty bad in my honest opinion, and I don't see things getting much better. But who knows? I always pays to be optimistic. We'll just see what FT has in store for 2017.

As always leave a comment/review letting me know what you think and once again Happy New Year! :D