"Lucy!" Lucy's mother said to her as the door to her room opened, "We need groceries!"
Lucy didn't look up from her desk as she answered back, "Send Capricorn."
She heard her mother let out a heavy sigh, "We can't just send Capricorn for everything."
Lucy still didn't look up from her desk, "We always sent him before. He knows how grocery stores work, and he likes getting out of the house."
"Well, I wanna go with him this time." She said indignantly.
"Have fun." She said, waving over her shoulder with the hand that wasn't holding her pen.
"I want you to come to!" Her mother cried.
"Can't." Lucy said simply, continuing to write.
"You've been writing for three days straight! Isn't your hand tired yet?" Her mother whined. Lucy snorted. Everyone always talked about Layla Heartfilia's gentle and kindly nature but, in truth, she was a real brat when she didn't get her way.
"Very tired." Lucy said, continuing to write.
"Then take a break!" Her mother commanded.
"Can't." Lucy said.
Growling, her mother marched over and grabbed Lucy by the arm.
"Hey!" Lucy exclaimed, her pen falling to the floor.
"It's not healthy for you to spend all your time cooped up in your room! You need to get outside, live your life!" Her mother dragged Lucy away from her desk.
"I am living my life!" Lucy protested, struggling to escape from her mother's iron grip.
"A life away from your desk." Her mother said, pulling her towards the door.
"I'll do that after I finish writing! Mama! Lemme go!" Lucy whined.
"It'll be healthy for you to get out of the house!" Lucy's mother said brightly. Lucy stopped struggling and slumped in defeat. Even if she could go back to her writing, her mother had completely messed up her rhythm.
"I want you to write, sweetie. I just think that it's unhealthy for you to stay in your room for three days straight." Her mother said gently, seeing her daughter's unhappiness.
"You don't seem like you want me to write." Lucy grumbled childishly.
"Of course I want you to write. I always want you to write. You writing is beautiful, and the world could do with more beautiful things in it."
Lucy smiled, a pleased blush tinting her cheeks.
"But," He mother continued, "I care about your well-being more than anything. And I'm telling you that it's not good for you to stay cooped up in your room forever!"
Her mother resumed dragging Lucy to the door. Lucy, deciding to salvage some of her dignity, yanked her arm out of her mother's grasp and walked ahead with her head held high.
"Good afternoon, Lucy-sama." Capricorn greeted her. She looked up at her mother's driver and personal bodyguard. Dressed in a black suit with dark sunglasses and a neatly trimmed goatee, her definitely looked his part.
"I better be getting some carambola for this." Lucy grumbled, going through the car door that Capricorn was holding open for her.
"As you wish, Lucy-sama." Capricorn said, giving a light chuckle.
A few seconds later, she heard Capricorn exchange greetings with her mother as she got into the car. The door closed behind her, Capricorn got behind the wheel, and they set off.
"Aren't you excited, Lucy?" Her mother said, practically bouncing in her seat. "You're going to a grocery store for the first time!"
"Sounds boring." Lucy mused.
"Don't be like that!" Her mother whined, shaking her by the shoulders. "You're gonna love it! There's these long, long shelves completely full of food! And-"
"I know what a grocery store looks like, Mama." Lucy cut her off. In truth, she had never actually been to a grocery store. But she'd seen plenty of pictures, and they didn't seem that interesting.
"You've never even been to one." Her mother sniffed.
"And you've only been, like, twice!"
"It was thrice, for your information, and that's more times than you've been!"
"What's so great about grocery stores, anyway?" Lucy asked.
"Well-"
But Lucy's mother never got to tell her daughter the reason why grocery stores were so great. It all happened so fast. One moment they were talking, and the next the car was swerving and Lucy somehow got knocked unconscious.
Lucy awoke in a dark room, surrounded by several voices. They were all murmuring quietly, but Lucy heard some distinct sobs.
"Lucy? Oh, thank god, you're awake!" She heard Loke saying to her. Loke was the strongest of the Heartfilia family's servants, and one of Lucy's bodyguards, though he didn't act like it. Despite his flirtatious and perverted nature, Lucy loved him as much as all her attendants.
"Loke?" She extended her arms upward, and immediately regretted that decision. "Ow!"
Several things were insde her arms, keeping her from moving too much.
"Careful." Loke said. "The doctor thought the IV tubes would be helpful."
"Oh." Lucy said, realizing she was in a hospital. "Turn on the light. Why are you just standing in the dark?"
"What?" Loke asked, sounding alarmed.
"What's wrong with her?" Lucy heard Aquarius, one of her mother's attendants, ask in alarm.
Lucy giggled, "Are you worried about me, Aquarius?"
Aquarius didn't respond, which Lucy found odd. Normally, Aquarius would've made some harsh remark and dumped a bottle of water on her.
"What's up with you, Aquarius? And can someone turn the light on, please?"
"Oh no…" The twins, Gemi and Mini said in unison.
"Princess?" Virgo's voice came just a few centimeters from Lucy's face.
"Ah!" Lucy exclaimed. "Virgo, what're you doing?"
"Can you see me?" Lucy's quirky maid sounded almost hopeful.
"Obviously not. How you see anything? It's so dark in here." She said irritatedly.
"Lucy…" Loke voice sounded strained, as if he was trying not to cry. "The light is on."
Lucy, for a moment, was frightened. But then, she realized,
"Nice try, Loke." Lucy said, laughing. "As if I would fall for that!"
"No, Lucy, this isn't a joke." Loke sounded so serious that Lucy was suddenly afraid. "The light is on, you just can't see it."
The meaning of those words didn't really hit Lucy at first.
"I'm… blind?" She asked, not really understanding the meaning of that and not wanting to. She didn't try to think about how she was going to live her life now, she didn't think about anything. Ignorance was bliss.
"It would… seem so." Loke said.
"I'm so sorry, Lucy-sama." Capricorn sobbed. "This is all my fault."
"Don't cry, Capricorn." Lucy comforted. "It's not your fault."
"I'll get the doctor!" Aries said meekly. "I'm sorry!"
"Where are my parents?" Lucy asked once she'd heard the door close behind Aries.
The room went silent.
"Your father…" Sagittarius said slowly, "Went home. He spoke with the doctor for a bit… and then left, hello."
"He didn't even come to see me?" Lucy asked, feeling hurt.
"He..uh… wasn't feeling well, hello."
"Oh," Lucy said, her hurt turning into worry. "Is he okay?"
"I'm sure he'll be fine… eventually, hello." Sagittarius said.
"What about Mama?" Lucy asked, hoping that she would be here.
The room fell into an uncomfortable silence once again.
"Guys? Did you hear me? I asked for my mother, where is she?" Lucy asked, slightly disconcerted by the silence.
Again, nobody answered, though this time the silence was pierced by a few sniffles.
"What's the matter with you guys? Did Mama go home with Papa?"
Her question was only met with several sobs.
"She's… okay, right?" Lucy asked.
Nobody answered.
"Come on, she has to be okay… Please tell me she's okay."
"Lucy…" Aquarius said.
"She has to be okay!" Lucy screamed. Her heart was pounding out of her chest, her breathing felt erratic, she'd never felt this much dread in her life.
"I'm so sorry, Lucy…" Aquarius said.
"Don't apologize!" Lucy shrieked, suddenly feeling very trapped in her own dark world. "You have nothing to be sorry for! There's nothing wrong!"
"Lucy.." She felt Loke's hand on her shoulder. It did nothing to comfort her, she had never felt more terrified.
"Where is she?!" Lucy screamed. Never had Lucy asked a question that she didn't want to hear the answer to, until now.
"Your mother… has passed away. I'm so sorry, Lucy." Loke said solemnly.
Lucy had already known it, or suspected it, but the blow of hearing those words became too much for her. The world didn't go dark (it's not like it could get any darker), but Lucy suddenly felt lighter. As if her body was floating, away from the world, and away from her troubles. It was a pleasant, dreamless sleep.
And Lucy never wanted to wake up again.
Oh my god... is this what I think it is?! It can't be... A MULTIPLE CHAPTER FIC! Am I ready for this kind of emotional commitment? Probably not, but I'm doing it anyway. Also, I tried to think of a good name, I really did. The first thing I came up with was Blind Words which I thought was really cool and poetic, but then I realized it made no sense whatsoever. So... yeah, I ended up using the most generic name for a story about a blind person falling in love. Sue me.
Please review!
With love and carambolas (if you don't know what those are, fret not, all will be revealed in due time),
Dolly