GLASS HOUSE

PROLOGUE: FEAR

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fear /noun/ - an unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous, likely to cause pain, or a threat.

( Third Person POV )

For as long as she could remember, her family had always lived on the Heartfilia estate.

She remembered the small house they lived in, the two bedrooms barely enough to contain her family and the bathroom smaller than even a quarter of the Heartfilia patriarch's own bathroom, but she remembered being happy with it. A smile always lit her face because, even as a young girl, she knew living in a small house was better than living in no house at all. She was grateful for what she had, even if she didn't have much at all.

And she remained grateful even after she turned ten and was forced to work in the main house with her mother, away from her elderly grandparents and baby brother that she knew needed her. All the money she and her mother earned, though it was never nothing more than a few coins in their breast pockets, was always delivered to the part of the family that truly needed it, the coins gathering up in a small, cracked jar. Though the young girl was grateful and happy for what little she had, her family was not. Her mother loathed working for the Heartfilia's and wished that her own great aunt hadn't invested in becoming a maid for them, because now it was in their blood. It had been the grandmother's idea to raise money and leave the estate, and now it was the mother's duty to make sure the plan was fulfilled.

However, there was one thing that kept the daughter from wanting to leave the Heartfilia estate along with her family. And that was the only child of the patriarch, Lucy Heartfilia.

Daughters, sons, grandsons, and granddaughters of multiple workers lived on the estate, and it wasn't that she didn't like any of them; it was just that none of them liked her. All the children she knew were not as grateful as she was when it came to being able to work for the Heartfilia's, and loathed her positivity when it came to the topic. The optimism that was so scarce around the large plot of land was loathed by all children. They saw no joy in being forced to work for the rest of their days, and took out their anger on her with harsh words and silently snarled threats. Around the time she was ten, her optimism began to dim. Just a bit. No one around her wanted even a taste of the positive words on her tongue. Except Lucy.

The girl in question was a few months older than her, and a cloud of depression and negativity. Something always seemed to be weighing heavily on her shoulders, sadness seemed to always be etched on her face. Nothing about the girl said that she had ever been happy in her life. The light in her heart had seemingly dimmed to complete and total darkness. But, that was when the daughter of a lowly handmaid appeared, light and joyful, unlike the other children in the estate that were grim and dreary. Light twinkled in her eyes, and her small, calloused hands worked hard to make joy and happiness a common thing in the house. Meeting a girl like her ... was different, and the blond silently appreciated the positive words that escaped the other girl on a daily basis.

Over time, after several months of only watching each other and never interacting, the two finally spoke, discussing the short story Lucy had misplaced earlier in the day. The other girl had read it, and bowed all the way to the floor after handing the paper back to the heiress, whimpering for forgiveness. It was practically taboo to take something of the Heartfilia's and go through it without their permission. Doing such a thing required punishment, the older maids and butlers whispered among each other, and punishment handed down from a Heartfilia was something to be terrified of. Luckily, Lucy was no such Heartfilia.

That was when a friendship was born, upon the rich heiress and the poor daughter of a hand maid, known by none other except the two girls involved. It was no one else's business, and, if they knew, the two girls would be split up-and, after having no one for so long, finally having somebody, and then getting them torn away, wasn't a thought that was bearable.

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It rained the day her family decided to leave.

April announced it's forthcoming with two weeks of endless rainfall, and the young maid found herself using her time to count as many raindrops as she could as they hit the window. Technically, she was supposed to be in the main house right now, making tea for the ill patriarch, but she had instead decided to spend a bit more time in her old bedroom in her family's house. Her bedroom remained the same as it had been when she left it. The sheets beneath her body still smelt faintly of her grandmother's homegrown gardenia's, and the pillows were still stacked in that peculiar way only that only she seemed to do. The only noticeable differences were the blankets pressed against the floor where her brother slept, and the two pillow pressed against the place where her nightstand used to be. How old was her brother now? A glance towards the scratches on the floor told her that he was now eight, and that he was also competent enough to keep track of his birthday whereas she knew their grandparents and mother would not. In a way, she was disappointed that he knew that much, that he had grown up without her. Three years without his sister ... three years without her brother, and they both had missed so much.

Pounding against the door told her that it was time to go, and she slowly released the sheets and blankets in her arms, letting go of her thoughts in the process. She pressed her bare feet to the floor and slowly trudged towards the bedroom door, pulling it open. Standing in the hallway was an older woman, her hair a shade off from purple and tied into an extremely tight ponytail. An apron was tied tightly around her waist, covering the tattered rags others called clothes that were wrapped around her body. Narrowed and piercing steel grey eyes peered down at the girl, who cautiously opened the door a bit wider upon seeing the woman looking down at her. "Yes, Mother?" The girl questioned softly, looking down and avoiding her mother's eyes. "Is it time for us to go back to the main house again?"

The woman gave an annoyed grunt and shrugged, scowl lifting just a bit and the dim light in her eyes brightening. It was rare to see such softness in the mother of two and the maid of nearly twenty years. "No, it isn't ... come downstairs. Everyone is gathered in the kitchen; we need to talk," she intoned quietly, before she spun on her and vanished from the hallway, presumably to go into the kitchen.

Meanwhile, the heart of the woman's daughter stopped. What was going on? She asked herself over a thousand times as she slowly padded her way into the kitchen, wringing her hands nervously in front of her. Had she done something wrong? Were they being kicked out of the estate for good? Had someone found out about the jar they kept so well hidden? Had her grandfather's old age finally overcome him? Had there been word on father? A million questions sped through her head at a billion miles per hour as she thought over all of the possibilities. An overwhelming sense of nervousness overcame her. Never before had a family meeting been called, as there had never been time for one. Family meetings meant something serious had happened; and nothing serious had ever happened before. More questions raced through her head, only this time they strayed towards the blond heiress no doubt thinking herself into a sour mood over in the estate:

Had they found out about her friendship with Lucy-sama?

She had no time to think on it, no time to think of how they could've figured it out, because she was suddenly standing in the doorway of the kitchen. Power had been out for several hours now, and only a single candle lit the small room. Shadows were cast upon everyone's face, and everything inside of the young girl screamed for her to run from the monster that looked so much like her family members. Instead of listening, she stood her ground and flexed her fingers at her side, face stony and blank. She could make out the facial features of her grandmother at the head of the table, features twisted into an all-too-familiar scowl. At her immediate left was her grandfather, whose face was not as angry as her grandmother's but not very kind, either. In fact, the kindest looking one at the table was her mother, whose words burned through skin fire against paper. Even her brother was scowling at her.

"Come, girl. Sit." Her grandmother stated without even a twinge of emotion in her voice that was hoarse and rough with age. Without even thinking about disobeying, the girl sat at the seat closest to her, the seat that was directly across from her grandmother's. She swallowed the lump in her throat audibly as those steel grey eyes bore into her soul. "Good ... seems you are not the disobedient twat I once believed you to be. Congratulations, brat." She dryly said, waving a hand in the air as though dismissing whatever remnants of a compliment there once had been. "Now, this meeting has been called to speak about the money we have kept hidden for fifteen years, before even my child's eldest brat was born. We are here to discuss the fact that we have finally kept enough money in our jar to fuel our escape."

"It's been raining for fourteen days, and fourteen nights, and Mother Nature could not be more clear with her words. She wishes for us to escape under the cover of rain, while storm clouds and lightning block our shadows from any of those who may be watching. Even our gods whisper to us while we sleep that it is time for us to run." Her grandmother cleared her throat in her hand, "Our family has been working for the Heartfilia's for years, and years, without being granted the permission to leave. I remember by great aunt cursing their very existences to the greatest of her abilities, wishing to be free of their wrath. And now ... now we have the chance to leave. It's been too -"

All of the words her grandmother said fell upon deaf ears afterwards, everyone at the table taking a moment to process what the elderly woman was saying. They could leave, taste freedom. Be free of the iron grip upon their lungs, the magic that chained them to the floor until it was completely scrub. They could finally escape this Hell. Only ... for one family member at the table, working at the Heartfilia escape was no longer Hell; it hadn't become heaven, but it had become much closer once she found someone who she could talk to freely, without believing that she would be judged. The youngest female in the room slowly sunk down in her seat. She couldn't deny that she wanted to leave - god, she dreamt of it! - but she also couldn't say that she wanted to leave her first and only friend, either. If she left with her family tonight ... Lucy would never forgive her. Never.

Could ... could she really betray her only friend like? Could she really betray the only person who truly trusted her like that?

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AN: IMPORTANT!

Gonna be completely honest here, I didn't expect to right a Fairy Tail fic ... ever. Especially one that's OC-centric like this one will be. I actually didn't expect to write anything for quite a while - there's nothing driving me to write anymore ... I dunno why.

But ...

I'm going to try and finish this story. I abandon projects a lot but this one will be different. I promise. Now - info on this fic ...

...

I literally just started re-watching Fairy Tail a few months ago, and I made this character on a whim right there. I wrote numerous fanfictions where she was the star (sadly, they're all on my Mac, of which needs a new hard drive - new hard drive means goodbye all my old stories), and drew her obsessively for a few weeks. But then ... bad news hit me like a truck on at least seven different levels, and I abandoned all of my previous fics and all of my OCs. I stopped writing.

Good news is that I've been inspired to write again, and I'm taking a lot of risks with this story. It will go AU at some point, but then converge back with the normal story line, and a lot of couples and characters will be twisted and turned until I'm satisfied with them. A lot of the canon relationships will be dimmed down a bit, or just shoved into the background completely, so I can focus on OC growth ... the main pairing or relationship or whatever in this story will be LucyOC.

So, if this doesn't please you, feel free to never read this story again, but that's how it's going. The relationship probably will not be entirely romantic, and will only be platonic, but that depends. I call these things as I write ... sorry. But ...

Review, favorite, and follow if this catches your eye - and, hopefully, it does! Porcelain x.