Warning: The story you're about to read may not be for the faint of heart.
While maybe not in this chapter what i have planned for this story will easily make it my darkest work so far.
With that said i hope you'll at least have a good time.
Lucy In The Dark With Traumas
Chapter One
Lucy pulled and dragged at the belts keeping her pinned to the chair. Her small arms burned as the needles she hated so fiercely entered her veins.
"There, there little doll. Just keep calm and all will be fine."
"N-no." Lucy sobbed tears and snot covering her face "I hate you, let me go!"
Her requests were denied as more needles entered her legs this time sending burning pain through her veins.
"N-no… Stop… MOMMY!"
Lucy shot out of bed, cold sweat clinging to her body, plastering her hair over her face. She got out of bed and walked into her bathroom.
The face of the woman in the mirror seemed bizarre, there wasn't a hint of the cheerful, strong woman of Lucy Heartphilia in there.
It was the face of a little weak child, crying for help that wouldn't come, a child who was unable to stop people from hurting her, a child who cried day and night for a mother long gone...
A weak and scared little child Lucy thought she had buried with the rest of her past.
Eventually Lucy managed to get back to what was uneasy sleep filled with shadowy figures and sharp needles.
At one point she had summoned Plue just to have something to hug for comfort. Morning arrived and Lucy ate breakfast, went through her usual morning routine and headed off towards the guild, the bags under her eyes skillfully hidden with some makeup.
"Good morning Lu-Chan!" Levy's silvery tone came from behind a desk as she entered the guild hall where a brawl was already in progress.
With cat like speed Lucy dashed for the desk, joining Levy and some other girls in cover while waiting for the storm to pass.
A few minutes later Erza arrived and swiftly ended the brawl. Apparently Natsu had accidentally spilled some juice on Gajeel's jacket and the rest was history.
Lucy tried to laugh as Erza smacked the boys on their heads but all that came out was a yawn.
"Didn't get enough sleep last night Lu-Chan? Were you up late writing again?"
Lucy flinched at the memories but flashed a fake smile towards her friend nonetheless not wishing to worry her. "Something like that. So what have you been up to lately?"
"Oh not much. Gajeel and Lily joined Team Shadowgear on a mission to round out a Bearabbit colony which was getting out of hand. The beast were eating all the farmers crops so they asked us to kill off a few males."
"Well that sounds easy enough doesn't it?" Lucy snickered while ignoring the headache she felt coming.
In response Levy just paled as if she was remembering something unpleasant.
"Yeah... But for some reason Gajeel got into a contest with Jet and Droy about who could kill the most... It ended with me and Lily just watching from the sidelines while they did all the heavy work."
Lucy began talking but was suddenly interrupted by Levy.
"And then it turns out we killed too many off them! So these small little creatures called Deerats suddenly show up out of nowhere! Apparently they are usually feasted on by the Bearabbits which keeps their numbers low! But because those idiots killed most of the Bearabbits those little buggers ended up quadrupling in numbers overnight! So it ended with us spending an extra three days doing nothing but killing those little buggers just to stop them from eating all the crops!"
While Levy was raging, Lucy had managed to summon Mira and get some aspirin and a tall glass of water effectively countering her headache.
"Sounds rough. At least you got your full reward right?"
Levy suddenly turned red with rage and took a deep breath.
"YEAH! Except we got a little too much reward! You see because not even the entire village could eat all the animals we killed they gave us everything that were left afterwards! So now I have sixty pounds of disgusting Deerat meat which tastes like someone dipped a dirty sock in the sewer and let it ferment for a week just filling up my entire freezer!"
Levy suddenly slammed her hands on the table and rose her face twisted in fury of the cutest kind before heading off towards the library.
"Where're you going?" Lucy asked her raging friend.
"To see if that disgusting meat have any positive about it! And if not I'm going to burn it outside of Gajeel's house!" Levy said before storming off. Leaving Lucy with her coffeé.
"I've never seen Levy that mad before! What that all about?"
Lucy turned to face the voice and saw Natsu sitting on the table right next to her, nursing a blackened eye, presumably the courtesy of Erza.
"Gajeel, Jet and Droy apparently screwed up on their last mission leaving her with too much Deerat meat. I'm told it's disgusting."
"Huh." Natsu replied, pondering the answer for a minute. "You know if you steam the meat for a few hours before preparing it it's actually pretty good. Kinda tastes like chicken only rougher."
Lucy's eyes widened in shock. Natsu was talking cooking?! She always thought the only thing he knew about cooking was how to set things on fire.
"How the heck do you know that? I've never heard of a method like that before!"
Natsu looked a little insulted but let it be. "Igneel thaught me. The woods outside our cave was filled to the brim with Deerats and other animals. He showed me lots of ways to cook other animals too. Then when I joined Fairy Tail Lisanna and Elfman showed me some too for when I couldn't eat at the guild."
Lucy was surprised. Did Natsu actually know how to cook? She'd just assumed he got all his food from the guild.
"Really." She said. "Like what? I'm curious now."
Natsu scratched his hair trying to remember. "Uuum... Oh! Did you know that if you fry Crocodingo's in olive oil you can actually eat everything on the animal! Even the organs are edible if you fry them first!"
Lucy, while happy she found a new topic of talk with Natsu looked positively disgusted at the thought of eating organs, fried or not.
Once the two began talking, they were not stopped. Natsu talked about all the ways of grilling, boiling or roasting meat Igneel had thaught him, while Lucy filled him in with what she knew about more balanced meals such as stews or salads.
From her spot at the bar, Mira looked at two teens talking It out about food and how to cook it. The two really were a match made in heaven. At this rate they were going they'd end up waking up one morning soon realizing they were already a couple.
The two kept talking through the late morning and before they knew it, it was already noon and the guild was bustling with people coming in for a quick lunch or if you were Cana already passed out drunk on a table, hugging a beer barrel like it was a teddy bear.
"Oh no! Is it already noon! I have to get a mission done today or my landlady will kill me!" Lucy shireked before running over towards the mission board.
Now it might not have been the kindest thing to do but Natsu couldn't help but to laugh at her facial expressions as her eyes fluttered about, trying to find a good mission.
Still chuckling he rose and joined the blonde at the mission board. The woman in question mumbling to herself as her eyes ran across the board.
"Teaching magic to kindergarteners 3000 jewels... No that is too little… Modeling for a underwear magazine 10 000 jewels… No thanks i'm fond of my dignity… Help an old couple move 5000 jewels… No that won't do either…" Lucy muttered becoming increasingly more stressed by the lack of good jobs.
"Then what about this one?" Natsu said pointing at a piece of paper getting Lucy's attention.
Mission:
Take out the bandit gang terrorizing the town of Migaranda.
The bandits have taken over the town and are extorting money from the townsfolks.
Reward:160 000 Jewels
"Sounds great right?! We take the mission together, and the split the reward 50-50 meaning that you get…. umm… Carry the one… No wait that's not right..."
Lucy sighed at the dumbass who couldn't even do basic division. "That means 80 000 jewels each you dolt. And yes that is enough to pay my rent and food."
Seriously if he wasn't so cute Lucy had little doubt that she'd never even consider joining his team.
…
…
...
Wait what?
Before Lucy could question herself Natsu had grabbed her by the wrist pulling her out of the guild.
"Great! Then let's get going, we're wasting daylight!"
"W-Wait! What about Happy?!" Lucy shrieked, shocked by the physical contact.
"Oh, Happy? Eeeeehhh…. He's…. Uuuum… away... visiting New Extalia! He should be back tomorrow."
Before Lucy could question his apparent insecurity about the whereabouts of his best friend, They were already at the train station buying tickets for the trip and boarding the train.
Oh well. Lucy thought as Natsu left the train carriage to go empty his bowels in the bathroom. Maybe Happy had just left on a short notice, nothing to do about it now.
"Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!" Natsu's shout echoed through the town shortly accompanied by the horrified screams of bandits being sent flying.
As always Natsu had run into the bandit's lair right away, searching for the strongest one he could find leaving Lucy with all the small fries.
The bandits were no mages, just ordinary humans armed with swords, axes, bows and other weapons. Lucy smiled. If this was back when she first joined Fairy Tail she probably would've freaked out.
Now however she wasn't the timid girl she was back then. These guys didn't even scare her.
"Open! The gate of the Archer! Sagittarius! Open the gate of the Golden Bull! Taurus!"
The air around her glowed golden as the Gates opened and let out the two spirits. The bandits looking a whole lot less confident all of a sudden.
"Moshi-Moshi! How can we be of service Lucy-sama!" The archer asked readying his bow.
"Mooo! Are these men threatening your nice body?" The bull asked sending a quick glance at Lucy's chest before staring down the bandits.
"Oh shut it already you dumbass! And yes i'd be most grateful if you'd help me take care of these guys." Lucy said readying her whip, extending with her magic power.
The bandits looked with uncertain eyes at each other before readying their weapons and charging towards the trio.
"It shall be done! Moshi-Moshi!" The archer said as he fired a volley of shots at the charging bandits, picking them off three or four at a time.
"Indeed! I shall protect Lucy-san's nice boo-dy!" Taurus roared, swinging his axe and sending a good ten bandits sprawling onto the ground.
Some of the bandit's decided to make use of the spirits being distracted with the others and ran towards Lucy weapons first.
Before they even got close however, Lucy had snared her whip around their legs, tripping them all over and creating a huge pile up of men.
In the end the battle took only five minutes for most of the bandits to end up defeated on the floor.
Left were just an older man wearing more armor than the other bandits, most likely being some kind of leader or officer and a young boy who looked like he had already wet himself.
"Eeeek! They're all down! What do we do captain!?" The youngster shrieked.
"Shut up, dammit!" The captain roared, trying to figure out what to do. "Fine. I'll try and hold them off. You need to flee and report to Liberio-sama right now! I'll stay and buy you some time."
His words suddenly got Lucy's attention, twisting her face into one of pain and rage.
"What… Did.. you say…" Lucy growled, clenching her fists until they turned white her eyes seemingly glowing red.
The captain felt a chill down his spine as he turned to face his enemy. The younger soldier didn't waste any time doing as he was told, running away towards the forest as fast he could without looking back.
The captain drew his sword and entered his fighting stance with a whole lot more doubt than usual.
The weak-looking summoner girl whose spirits had been mostly responsible for the annihilation of his troops was now dispelling her spirits who dissipated with a look of surprise on their faces.
Lucy growled a disgusting growl as she drew her whip letting magic pour into it, extending and enlarging it until it was ten times her own size and twice as broad.
The captain did not realize the whip had struck until he felt the pain and part of his shoulder armor being sent flying.
In the blink of an eye he saw the whip coming towards him again, this time barely blocking the strike with his blade.
With a roar of rage, Lucy let the blows rain down on the soldier, who looked as if he couldn't believe his eyes. For every strike he blocked, two more would hit him, each one stinging and shattering his armor.
The power between each strike was ridiculous! Rather than a flimsy whip each strike felt like he was struck by a hammer made out of pure iron.
Each swing tore the brick road open. Each impact let him feel how his bones were about to shatter. Even when he managed to block the attack he felt his sword being ready to break into tiny pieces.
Lucy was lost in a cloud of rage. Her only instinct right now was to completely break whatever bones she could find in this mans body.
"WHY DO YOU KNOW THAT NAME?! HUH?! ANSWER ME!" Lucy shrieked sounding like a banshee right out of hell not letting her whip rest for even a second.
"TELL ME! TELL ME! TELL ME! TELL ME YOU GODDAMN BASTARD!"
The captain however couldn't even hear Lucy's screams. Each and every blow slammed into his armor and blade, almost busting his eardrums with every strike.
Lucy however didn't realize this. All that was on her mind at the moment was to hurt this man as much as possible.
"GODDAMMIT TELL ME!" Lucy roared before sending a quick look at her spirits.
With the wave of her hand, both of them dematerialized, returning to the spirit world despite their protest.
"WELL THEN! IF YOU WON'T TELL I'LL JUST BLAST YOU TO TINY PIECES! YOU SICK BASTARD!" Lucy roared completely lost in rage.
With the twist of her wrist she snared the whip around the poor soldier, restraining his arms towards his body, before pulling out a key, golden light gathering around her.
With a voice sweetly sick from rage, she began the oh so familiar incantation.
Survey the Heavens, Open the Heavens...
All the stars, far and wide...
Show me thy appearance...
With such shine.
Oh Tetrabiblos…
The soldier having recovered from the ringing in his ears watched in horror as the spheres of light gathered around Lucy, desperately trying to free himself from the iron grip of the whip
I am the ruler of the stars...
Aspect become complete...
Open thy malevolent gate.
Oh 88 Stars of the heaven…
"W-W-wait… please… I beg you… I'll do anything… just don-"
Shine!
Urano Metria!
With that. All the spheres floating in the air rained down on the poor man. Screams of fear and pain echoed through the town as the man was struck by every last bit of magic left in Lucy's body.
As the smoke cleared, all that remained was a bloodied and beaten piece of flesh, barely breathing, lying almost still in what used to be a street, the whip that restrained him no longer there.
The soldiers had been scattered all over the surrounding area, lying on the ground, rooftops or having been blown through windows like ragdolls.
In retrospect Lucy was wobbling on her legs from the magical exhaustion.
In her rage, she hadn't even considered summoning Gemini to support her with the spell, using it by herself always left her completely drained of magic and near unconscious.
However… Had Gemini been there. The man would not have as lucky as he was.
Before Lucy could even get three steps closer to the man she collapsed like a puppet whose strings had been cut, landing face first in on the ground.
Like that. The battle which would be remembered in the town for decades to come ended in silence, with both combatants lying down on the ground.
End Of Chapter One
Well then.
Hopefully you enjoyed the first chapter. The next one is in progress and should be out sometime next year (going by my usual writing pace.)
Jokes aside if you liked the story or hated it leave a review so i'll know what to improve next time.