Unfortunately, I am not Hiro Mashima.

Note: I am in no way trying to look down upon schizophrenics. I respect them, they endure a lot every day. Please do not take it lightly, and I apologize if it seems like I am doing that. If this offends anyone, I will remove this fic.

Chapter One

Lucy hums quietly to herself as she reaches up her hand to the books. It is kind of master to let her down here in the library for the afternoon, since the rest of Team Natsu was busy; Erza went on an S-Class mission (but keep it a secret from Natsu, okay?), Natsu and Lisanna were on a regular mission, and Gray was dragged away by Juvia and Lyon. She isn't really lonely by herself, not while she's surrounded by books. Besides, it's nice to have some peace and quiet every now and then, since she is in peril on a daily basis….

Her hand skims the spines of books as she walks along the rows, her eyes reading the titles, and occasionally stopping to read the summary of an interesting-looking book every once in a while. A particular book spine catches her eye; it seems familiar in an odd sort of way when she pulls it out half-way. She recognizes it with a gasp, jerking her hand back and letting it fall to the floor.

Shaken, she averts her gaze and moves on, her mind in turmoil, willing herself to calm down she runs her hands through her hair and drops to the floor.

'You're so stupid. Look at you; stupid. Stupid. Pointless. Worthless. I can't stand you. Stupid. Worthless. Die. Die! Look at you. Stupid, stupid. Pointless. Worthless. Stupid. Worthless. Stupid.'

Another voice joins with the raspy baritone, and she curls into the fetal position and starts rocking back and forth.

Deep, controlled breathing now enters the cacophony and a tenor joins in the fray, muttering nonsensical babblings, although her hands were now clutching at her ears as if that would make the voices disappear.

'Stupid.

I can't stand you.

Why are you still here?

Pointless.

Worthless.'

"Stop! Stop it! Go away! Please, go away!" Lucy shouts frantically, fat tears falling from her eyes.

"Lucy-san?" The real voice doesn't reach her in her hallucination. "Lucy-san?" It's louder this time, but Lucy still doesn't seem to hear it.

The owner of the voice crouches down next to Lucy, an arm hovering hesitantly over her shoulders. Lucy, still lost to the real world, starts shaking uncontrollably; the voices get louder and more persistent, saying more hateful things.

Then all at once, the hallucination goes away leaving a trembling Lucy.

"Lucy-san?" the voice asks again, and Lucy hears it this time, a vaguely familiar sound. She shrinks farther into herself, the only indication the voice was heard. "Lucy-san, are you alright?"

Lucy takes a few deep, even breaths before responding. "Yes, Fried-san. I'm okay. Thank you," she says, albeit unevenly.

"Can you get up? Do you need me to call Wendy? What happened?" asks a concerned Fried, asking an unusual amount of questions for his normal nature.

"Y-yeah, I'm fine," Lucy answers as she tries, unsuccessfully, to stand up. Fried immediately steadies her, saying, "No, you are not fine. I'm taking you to Wendy."

"No!" It comes out sharper than Lucy intends, and she backtracks, "No, really. This has happened before. I only need some rest."

'It has?' Fried thinks. He dismisses the thought for later and says instead, "Well at least let me escort you to your apartment. Or the infirmary, if you can't make it."

"I can make it just fine by myself, Fried-san," insists a wincing Lucy, as she tries to take a step and stumbles. "Ah, forget it. Fine, I'll let you walk me home."

Fried smirks internally, "You're too stubborn for your own good. I suppose it's a good thing you're in Fairy Tail, then."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Lucy huffs, leaning shakily on Fried as they exit the library. As if realizing her situation, she groans. "Oh, what's Mira-san going to think?"

"Well, knowing her…" Fried trails off in amusement, watching the blonde sag in defeat. "But what I'd worry about is your team."

"Ah! That's right," Lucy says in annoyance. "Please don't tell anyone what happened. I don't want them to worry."

"Well, what did happen? You even said that this has happened before!" Fried demands. Frankly, it scares Lucy a little. She's not used to a Fried like this, he's usually so stoic and quiet, unless with Laxus, of course. Although, there was that one time, during the S-Class trials….

She frowns, gathering her courage to face him. "It was nothing. Just a small attack, I've had worse."

"Worse what?" Fried knows that he's not acting like himself, but he can't explain why, maybe because he still owes it to Fairy Tail, for taking him back again and Laxus at that. He owes it to them to take care of their beloved celestial maiden.

"Worse…! Never mind," Lucy looks away quickly, walking while leaning on the wall for support.

Fried sighs and catches up with her, putting one of her arms around his shoulders and holding her up by her waist.

"Hey, don't hold me like this! I can walk!" Lucy struggles in his grip, which is surprisingly strong.

Sighing again, he lets her go after taking a few steps and instead just lets her lean on him like before.

Walking out of the hallway, they're both relieved to see Mira absent from the bar for the time being and not very many people in the guild hall, much less paying attention. They continue walking that way for the rest of the way and stop outside Lucy's apartment.

"So…"

"So…" Lucy repeats. "Would you like to come in, Fried-san? It looks like rain is on its way."

Fried widens his eyes in surprise as, right when Lucy finished talking, rain started falling. "Well, I'd love to."

Lucy quickly shuts the door behind him and they go up the stairs together, stopping in front of Lucy's door.

"Would you really like to know what happened?" Lucy asks quietly, so quietly that Fried had to strain to hear.

"Yes, please. If you don't mind, Lucy-san."

Lucy leads him into her apartment, seating him at the table and putting a pot of water on the stove.

"Tea?"

"Hm? Oh, sure, thank you."

"I hope you don't mind rosemary."

"I have no preference."

A sort of awkward silence falls upon them once Lucy is seated at the table herself, across from Fried.

"If I'm going to tell you this, then I have a request for you. Two, actually," Lucy starts. "One, call me Lucy. You have the right nobody else does if you're going to hear it. And please don't tell anyone what I'm about to tell you."

Fried ponders her conditions for a moment. "I will comply with the first one, if you call me Fried in response.—" Lucy smiles briefly—" and I will not tell anyone, as long as it is possible to be kept a secret."

"I suppose I'll have to settle for that then?" Lucy asks with a wry smile. "Alright then." She takes a deep breath, closing her eyes. "I have… a mental illness. Schizophrenia."

Silence reigns in her home, only broken by the forgotten kettle boiling.

"Schizo…phrenia," Fried repeats slowly. "So…"

"So I hallucinate. My form of schizophrenia is not as bad as it could be, but I'm not completely safe either. Today, in the library, I heard voices, that you didn't. I have other attacks like those, sometimes I hallucinate images. Sometimes I feel a sort of phantom pain. It varies from time to time. I used to have some medicine to ward off the attacks, but I've used them up now," Lucy finishes, looking down into her lap.

"So, you've been almost a year at Fairy Tail, and nobody has notice this?" Lucy is surprised to hear the indifference in Fried's voice.

"Yes. But I repress the signs, so it's not obvious. Now that the medicine's gone, though, I'm probably going to start losing myself. I may have to leave Fairy Tail, even."

"No."

"What?" Lucy looks up in confusion.

"No. I said, no. You aren't going to leave Fairy Tail just because you have schizophrenia."

"Why stay, though? Why should I stay just to let the others see my mind deteriorating? Why should I make them suffer through each and every one of my attacks alongside me, until I finally go insane?"

"Because. We're family. We won't let you go crazy, and I won't let you leave Fairy Tail. Isn't there anymore medicine left, somewhere?"

Lucy smiles, pleasantly surprised by Fried's determination. "Only at my father's mansion, though. He was the one who ordered the medicine so I don't know where to get it myself. But I've held on to myself for so long already. I ran out of the medicine about two weeks ago. I'm just not going back there again."

"Well then I'll go there by myself." Fried's gaze meets Lucy's evenly, although he's not sure who's more surprised by his proposition.

"No, I can't let you," Lucy says after a moment. A high-pitched whistling sounds throughout the apartment, ending their staring contest, and Lucy gets up, pleasant smile in place. "Well, the water is ready. We can discuss this later."

Hey people! And here ends chapter one of Schizophrenic. This was, unfortunately, unbeta-ed, so please inform me of any mistakes. A review for your thoughts?