Lucy swiveled her neck, her dark eyes darting over her surroundings. She took it all in, trying to absorb and memorize every last shred of grass, every last aspect of the place. After all, it was her favorite spot in the entire world, and she wanted it engrained in her mind. She never wanted to forget it.
It was her and her mother's secret spot—they'd encountered it a couple years ago on their daily walk through the Heartfilia estate together, and decided to claim it as their own. There was something about that little clearing in the woods that made everything seem a bit more magical. Lucy's mother swore that the trees grew taller there, that branches were thicker, that the birds sang louder, and that was why it was so magical. But Lucy didn't think so. No, the secret spot was magical because almost instantly, the second they stepped out of the trees and into the little meadow, Layla's smile grew.
They kept the meadow to themselves, telling no one else. It was their little spot, and theirs only.
Lucy's eyes danced around the meadow, trying to recall every single detail, trying to burn it into her memory. Every single leaf, every single blade of grass, every chirp the birds made…she wanted to keep the memories forever.
Her mind recalled every precious moment she'd ever encountered here. The time, when she was seven, and her mother put birdseed in her palms; within minutes, little birds were strutting all over her hands, eating the seed without even the slightest hint of fear. Or the time when Lucy was eight, and they made themselves a picnic basket and went to the secret spot for lunch; they'd stuffed their bellies full and laid on the picnic blanket, trying to find shapes in the grey clouds.
Lucy's favorite moment, however, was one where she was much younger.
"Momma," Lucy had asked, her high pitched voice ringing above the whistles of the nearby birds. "Why is everything all the same color?"
Lucy's mother, Layla, had glanced over at her young daughter, a playful smile working its way onto her lips. "What do you mean, Lucy?"
Lucy's eyebrows had mashed themselves together in frustration. "Well, it's just—everything is the same. There's nothing different. Why is that?"
Layla made her way over to Lucy, her long dress brushing against the long blades of grass. She'd taken her shoes off, and her bare feet were squishing in the soft dirt. With a sparkle in her eyes, she took a seat beside the young girl. "That's a really good question, my dear. Do you want to know the answer?"
"Yes." Lucy replied with a nod.
"Well," Her mother began, voice sing-songy, "There once was a girl—a girl with magical powers. Her parents were afraid of her powers, and they locked her away, even though she was just a child. She wasn't allowed to be in contact with anyone."
Lucy frowned. "That's sad!"
Layla nodded. "It is. She grew up terribly lonely. However, her parents had left her with tons of books to keep her occupied, and she read them. Fairy tales, every single one you could think of. After quite a few stories, the girl decided on her one true dream: to fall in love." Layla's eyes glazed over as she told the story, totally invested in it. "She practiced her magic, learned how to control it. And, at the age of seventeen, she used her magic to break free of her parent's jail cell and ran off, looking for her one true love."
"Well, did she ever find her love?" Lucy urged, too impatient to wait for the end of the story.
"She thought so," Layla murmured. "She met a boy. He was handsome, and he swept her off her feet. She fell in love so quickly. She was so happy, finally finding her one true love, that she wanted to give a gift to the world. And she did."
"What was the gift?"
"She used her magic to create the rainbow, the most beautiful sight in the world. She wanted everyone to be just as happy as she was when they saw it."
Lucy made a face. "A rainbow? What's that?"
"It shows up in the sky after a rainfall—it's a mix of every color."
The young girl's lips twisted into a pout. "How come I've never seen one?"
"Well," Layla continued with a slight sigh, "That's because the girl got her heart broken."
"What happened to her one true love?"
Layla's eyes went soft as she looked at her daughter. Lucy could practically feel the sadness of the story reflected in her mother's gaze. "The boy didn't love her the same way. He found someone new, someone he preferred." She paused. "He left the magical girl all alone, breaking her heart into a million pieces."
"Oh no…"
"The girl decided she never wanted to be hurt again. She decided that she didn't want anyone to feel as happy as she did, because it only made them hurt once the happiness was gone. She never wanted anyone to see the beautiful rainbow she had created for the boy."
Little Lucy's eyes began to well up. This story was much more depressing than she'd thought it would be.
"So…" Layla murmured, "She used her magic and took away the colors from the world."
"This story is awful!" Lucy cried, pigtails flailing as she crossed her arms, upset. "That poor girl…"
"That's not it, though," Layla said, interrupting Lucy's angry tirade. "Right after she took away the colors, she saw the boy and his new love. She saw them comfort each other about the loss of color, saw the love between the two of them. So, she made a new rule, and altered her spell: if you found your one true love, colors would return to you, and you would see them again."
Lucy blinked. "And?"
"And the boy and his new love could see the colors."
"This story is stupid," Lucy hissed, annoyed. "You mean to tell me that the boy and his new love, the one he left the magic girl for, were true loves?"
"That's right. And once the girl saw that, she left and never returned. So, the spell is still in place. That's why you can't see colors, why you've never seen a rainbow. Because you've never met your true love."
Lucy's face twisted up into a deep frown as she ran these new facts through her mind. One true love? Colors? Rainbows? It seemed rather silly, but her mother seemed to truly believe it, and she knew her mom would never lie to her…
"Momma, can you see the colors?"
Layla smiled. "I can."
"You can?" Lucy gasped with excitement. "Was it when you met daddy?"
Layla giggled, resting her hand on top of Lucy's head. Her eyes sparkled, her expression absolutely radiating with love. "No, Lucy," She paused, and her eyes got a little wet. "I saw them the day you were born."
Lucy's eyes were wet now, as she peered around the meadow.
Remember, remember, remember, she urged herself. Don't forget a single thing.
She glanced around one last time, hiking her bag up over her shoulder. Grey trees, grey leaves, grey grass, grey flowers. Grey birds flew by, whistling a goodbye song to the teen. Tears streaked down her cheeks now, leaving grey little water stains on her grey shirt.
It had been six years since Layla had died. Lucy had been ten. She'd watched her mother's health fail from start to end. She'd watched her lose every single aspect of herself. Lucy had watched her mother lose the ability to walk, to hold herself up. As time went by, she watched her mother start to lose her memories as the Magic Deficiency Disease took up her life force. She watched her mother forget the secret spot, forget everything. On the last day of her mother's life, Lucy came to the realization that the disease had taken her mother's eyesight.
The idea that her mother had passed without having another chance to see the colors broke Lucy's heart.
Years had passed, and things had never quite recovered. Lucy's father, Jude, had thrown himself into his work, causing him to heavily neglect both Lucy and the estate he owned. It had taken a year of deep thought, but Lucy had come to the conclusion that there was nothing keeping her on the estate any longer. She had to take some time and leave, go find herself, live life to the fullest in her mother's honor.
And so, she did. But first, she'd come to say goodbye to the secret spot, the only place on the estate that had held her mother's heart so dearly.
With one last look around the bleak, grey meadow, Lucy murmured out a couple words and then made her way back down the little path in the trees, off to catch the train to god knows where.
"Goodbye, Mom."
A/N: Hi readers! So, this is just the first little chapter introducing this story, I hope you liked it! I'm not really sure how long this story will be...at first I was thinking it would just be a oneshot, but now its transformed into what I think might be a short story (just a couple chapters), but this may end up snowballing into a true multichapter story. Let me know what you think, or how long you think this should be! Please review, please message me with ideas, feel free to critique as well :)
Also, title for this story is inspired by "Life in Technicolor " by Coldplay, if that matters to some of you :)