Author's Note: In the future I won't put these at the beginning of chapters, but I need to get a bit of info across. This is a modern day, Fairy Tail AU. The main pairing will be a slowly-developing NaLu. Side pairings are Gajevy, Gruvia and Jerza. There may be additional pairings that pop up, but I have none in mind. This will be slow to be uploaded, so please forgive me for that. Now for the important stuff. I wanted to read a NaLu Fairy Tail story that fit a certain hurt/comfort mold, but was unable to find one that suited, so I began to write this, instead. If there is no interest in this fic, it will not be continued. However, if there is interest, I will see it through to completion, no matter how long it takes. This story is written from only one point of view, that of Lucy Heartfilia. It is, as I mentioned, a hurt/comfort/romance. It is rated "M" for a reason, and the following may be potential triggers for some readers: domestic violence, criminal violence, very light descriptions of sexual violence, PTSD, abandonment, co-dependency, very light descriptions of drug use and of course, politics. All situations (except for the criminal) come from either my own experiences, or that of close friends. However, any discrepancies are my own.
Disclaimer: Fairy Tail and associated characters belong to Mashima Hiro, et al. All other characters are my own creation.
Can we pretend that airplanes
In the night sky
Are like shooting stars?
I could really use a wish right now…
"Airplanes" B.O.B and Hayley Williams
There was a halo around the moon that night. It was red, blood red. Didn't that foretell bad luck? Lucy paused, wiped her eyes. No. The blood color was coming from her own fluid, dripping steadily down her face from her nose, mouth and numerous cuts on her face and hairline. She clutched her bad arm with her good and stumbled on.
God damn this rotten city. No one paused to help a girl in need, no one even looked at her twice, preferring to avert their eyes and avoid any trouble. She stumbled again. Where was her street? Certainly, she had gone too far. She was dizzy, and the blood kept flowing. She couldn't feel her fingers in her right arm. She thought it might be broken. It hadn't been the first fight between them, but it was certainly the worst. Lucy had no doubt that if she hadn't gotten away when she did, she would have lost her life. As it was, she couldn't help but wonder if it was not already hanging on the line. She was so tired…
"You bitch!" He screamed at her, so angry that spittle flew from his mouth. "I told you to keep your fucking mouth shut about my business, and instead you went an blabbed it all to your daddy!"
"I didn't" Lucy whimpered, trying to get her split lips to function properly. "I swear I didn't say a word, Eli!"
He hit her, his fist sending her sprawling. Lucy had already tried to block one strike, and now her right arm ached and she had no feeling in her hand. Because she couldn't properly cushion her fall, she hit the side of her head on the floor and saw stars. Eli grabbed her by the shirt collar, lifting her up. His voice hissed out in a furious whisper. "If you didn't say anything, then how come the whole of Heartfilia Enterprises knows about the deals I've been making?"
She was crying, the tears making pink tracks on her bloody cheeks. "I swear to God, I don't know! I haven't talked to my father in months, you know that! Eli, please!"
He threw her down and began pacing, muttering to himself. "Jude is pretty closemouthed, but I don't know about his minions. If word of this gets to the D.A., I'm fucked. FUCKED, YOU HEAR ME?" The last words were bellowed at Lucy. She whimpered and held out her hands.
"Please, Eli, stop this. There has to be a solution. I'll talk to my dad, I'll work things out. Your reputation will be safe, I promise, just please, stop this."
He looked at her and she shrank back. All Lucy could see in her boyfriend's eyes was madness. His pacing ceased and he came over to her. Putting a hand to her cheek, he cradled her throbbing head.
"Poor Lucy. Does it hurt? You know I never want to hurt you. But don't you see? You've betrayed me. What should I do with you now?"
"No…" She whispered. "No, I would not do that to you. I love you, Eli."
He tsked. "I love you, too, Lucy, and that's why this hurts me more than it hurts you." She didn't see his other hand come flying, missed the strike, but heard the sound of bone breaking and felt the warm slide of blood down her lips and over her chin. The pain was so intense that she was blinded by tears, and she didn't realize Eli had left her until she heard the sound of boxes moving in the bedroom. The bedroom… where he had a gun hidden in the closet.
"I'm sorry it had to come to this, Lucy. I really am. But I can't leave any loose ends flapping about. I've got my career to think about…"
Lucy didn't hear the rest of his words. Understanding now just how far he was gone, and knowing exactly what he meant by loose ends, she staggered to her feet. Using the dining room table to leverage herself, she started for the front door. Her hand was on the knob when she heard him again. "Lucy?"
She fumbled with the knob cursing her useless right arm, and didn't dare to pause and look at him. Flinging the door open she forced her feet into a run. She could hear Eli approaching behind her, then she was bursting into the fire escape with only the sound of his voice echoing plaintively behind her. "Luuuucy!"
Those five flights down the stairs had been the longest steps of her life. Lucy had been certain that at any minute, she would hear Eli behind her, or that he would fire a shot at her. She supposed that even a homicidal maniac had enough sense of self preservation not to go shooting up the public areas of the building he lived in.
Speaking of buildings… Lucy wiped her eyes again and looked around desperately. She was definitely not in her right mind, but the trip to her apartment from Eli's shouldn't be this long. She wanted to get home, call the police and take a trip to the hospital, in that order. Her purse and other personal items she had left behind in her haste, so she didn't have her mobile phone. Nor did she have her keys, for that matter, but she could get a spare from the Super. It seemed, however, in her delirium she had lost her way. She wasn't familiar with this part of Magnolia, and as she looked around she grew decidedly more uncomfortable. If she thought people went out of their way to avoid her in the nice part of town, on these streets folks were avoiding her like the plague.
It was easy to understand why. Magnolia was a city ripped apart by brutal gang warfare. Its proximity to the nation's border made the movement of all manner of illegal goods incredibly easy, and cartels from several neighboring nations had set up shop within the city limits. Respectable folks stayed near the city's bustling western business district, where the police still patrolled, and kept a modicum of order. The closer you got to downtown or the southern shipyards, the more dangerous the streets became. This was where the rival gangs fought for control and even your manner of dress could be the reason you ended up with a bullet in your brain.
Lucy was extremely dizzy, and extremely tired. She wanted nothing else but to just lay down forever and let the pain slip away. Desperate to keep her bearings, she searched for some sort of landmark. There, up ahead, a street sign. She went toward it, tripping several times but managing to stay upright.
"Ha… ci…enda." She muttered to herself. Hacienda Street? Was there such a place in Magnolia? Looking right, she could see what appeared to be an open establishment about a block away. Perhaps she could use the telephone. She started towards the lights she could see in the windows when a wave of dizziness overwhelmed her. She took another step, and this time the dizziness was accompanied by nausea. Concussion… was her last thought before the blackness took her.
Voices buzzed in her ears like flies, and Lucy tried in vain to pull herself out from under the strange, grey fog that seemed to be blanketing her vision. She didn't know where she was or how she got here, all she could sense were the murmur of voices and a searing pain shooting down her right arm.
Voices… there were two. One, a rough male baritone coming from her left side. The other, a high female voice that sounded young. It seemed like the female was on her right. Perhaps related to the pain? Lucy couldn't string her thoughts together. Before she had a chance to make sense of anything, there was a prick in her arm and then giddy relief washed over her. She was unconscious again before she could understand what was happening.
The second time Lucy woke up it was to silence. She still couldn't seem to bring herself to full consciousness, but she was aware of what felt like a pillow under her head and a blanket over her lower body. There was no pain, still only a blissful lethargy and she wanted to float in that emptiness forever. She supposed she was in a hospital, yes, some good, gentle soul had taken pity on her. She didn't hear the beeping of a heart monitor or any other sounds she would normally associate with such a place, but Lucy attributed that to the darkness encroaching on her mind. Pleased, she let herself slide into nothingness.
When Lucy became conscious for the third time, she found herself fully awake and aware. Her body still seemed to be difficult to move, and she had a funny, giddy feeling about her, but she struggled to sit up. Her eyes felt like they were held together with glue as she peeled them open and looked around. This was not a hospital, or if it was, it was the most under funded hospital on the planet. The stark walls were cinderblock and nothing adorned them. There was no window, only a cheap plywood cabinet, laminate counter and metal door set in the opposite wall. The bed she was on was a standard twin bed with a lumpy mattress and itchy polyester blanket.
"What… where am I?" Lucy muttered to herself, while attempting to wiggle her toes. It seemed she had control over her body, except for her right arm, which was bandaged tightly and set in a sling. The more she attempted to move, the more pain was creeping in both her arm and her face. Gingerly patting herself, Lucy could feel swelling and several bandages, the largest being over her nose. Tiredness washed over her and Lucy thought about just laying back down and drifting back into comfortable oblivion.
A tremendous bang from outside the door startled that thought right out of her head. Lucy's heart raced as she listened desperately, trying to make out the sounds of anyone coming her way. She suddenly realized how vulnerable she was, and couldn't get the image of Eli coming to clean up loose ends out of her head. Forcing her body into motion, she slid off the bed and stood shaking. She was wearing only a real hospital gown, which someone had kindly cinched tight in the back, and her own clothes were nowhere in sight. She shuffled over to the cabinet, finding it easier (and more painful) to move with each step. Inside the cabinet were shelves full of regular first aid items, as well as some more interesting medical equipment, but no clothes. Shutting it again, Lucy stepped away from the cabinet and considered her options.
The Lucy from before would have sat down on the bed again and waited for someone to arrive. For more than a year now, she had been relying on Eli to guide her, and to make her decisions for her, so to be without his guidance felt unusual. Despite that, Lucy could remember a time when she'd been independent and fearless, and had never questioned herself. That Lucy was clawing her way to the forefront, screaming that she'd been there all along and it was about damn time. In her newfound burst of confidence, Lucy decided to leave her confinement, clothing be damned.
Trying the handle of the metal door found it to be unlocked, and Lucy peeked out into the hallway. It was a normal looking hallway, with fluorescent lights overhead and boring white linoleum underfoot. At one end of the hall was an emergency exit, at the other were three doors. The door to the right was unmarked but had the type of port hole you might see in a restaurant kitchen door. The door on the left had a little plaque on the front, but Lucy was too far away to make out the writing. The door in the middle was also unmarked but looked much like the door she had come out of. Picking her way down the hall, Lucy eyed the three uncomfortably. This close she could see the plaque on the left door read "Office". Lucy tried the handle. It was locked. She turned to the right and nearly came nose to nose with a girl coming through the swinging door. Lucy jumped back, while the other girl let out a yelp. She nearly dropped the tray she was carrying and Lucy made motion to grab it before a shooting pain in her arm halted her.
"Oh, gosh." The girl chuckled. "Oh, you frightened me."
Lucy didn't say anything, just stared at her tensely. The other girl shook her head. "This is terrible, you shouldn't be up! Is something wrong? Do you need more morphine? Wendy isn't here, so you'll have to wait."
Lucy took a step back, and cleared her throat. "M-morphine?"
"Oh, yes. You'd be in a lot of pain, otherwise. You have a pretty severe fracture to your ulna. It's going to hurt for several days. Along with that a myriad of cuts and bruises and a broken nose. Oh, but don't worry, it's set straight."
Lucy gulped. "Where am I?"
"Ah, ah. Well, this is something like a clinic? Among other things." The girl seemed nervous and it set Lucy on edge. She looked at the tray in the other girl's hand, noticing for the first time the covered plate and cup.
"I was just about to bring this to you", the girl nodded to the tray, "but it slipped when I tried the door handle. I had to prepare a fresh plate."
Lucy looked nervously between the girl and the emergency exit. Could she make a break for it? But she wasn't wearing any clothes. The girl was still talking.
"Come on, now, and let's get you settled again. By the time you finish eating Wendy should be in and you can have some more morphine."
"No!" Lucy was a little embarrassed by the volume of her voice, and took a deep breath. "No, thank you. I just want my clothes so I can leave."
"Your clothes? Oh dear. Well, I think they are around here somewhere, but their conditions are awful. If you wait, someone is supposed to be bringing you something."
Lucy felt her heart drop. "Eli? Eli is bringing me clothes?"
"Who? No, I don't think so. The last time I heard, Erza was going to bring something."
Erza? I don't…never mind. Can I just have my own clothes? I don't care about the condition. Just please, I want to go home."
The other girl looked hard at her but shrugged. "I'll get them." She disappeared back into the kitchen then returned empty handed. Taking a key from her pocket, she let herself into the office. A moment later she returned with Lucy's dirty, torn clothes.
Lucy took the garments. "Thank you…" her voice trailed off questioningly.
"Mirajane. Mirajane Strauss." The other girl smiled. "And you are?"
"Lucy." Lucy turned abruptly and headed back to the clinic room. Once inside, she struggled into her clothes, biting back curses as she avoided any movement with her bad arm. It wasn't easy and by the time she finished she was sweating with exertion and pain. Leaving the room again, she found Mirajane in the same spot that Lucy had left her.
"I really don't think you should leave." Mirajane said with a frown. "At least wait until someone can drive you home. The master will be here, soon, too and I'm sure he'd like… well you should speak with him."
Lucy shook her head. "No, thank you, I will be fine. However, I don't have my purse with me, so to reimburse you for your services, I will need to mail a check. To whom and where should I send it?"
Mirajane shook her hands in front of her. "Oh, no, no. Like I said, we're something of a clinic. We help those in this neighborhood that can't afford medical care. Reimbursement is not expected."
Lucy pressed. "Well, I can afford it. Please, I wouldn't feel right not offering repayment."
"Then, wait until the master gets here. You can work out a payment plan with him."
Lucy sighed. "Mirajane Strauss, right? I'll just mail you the check and you can do what you want with it." With that proclamation, Lucy turned through the middle door and marched out to the sound of Mirajane's protests.
The clinic, she saw, was not a clinic at all. It looked more like a tavern, with a bar on one side, tables and booths crowding the floor and billiards tables and pinball machines tucked into a corner. Despite the deserted room, the front doors were unlocked and Lucy stepped blinking into the grimy afternoon sunlight. She didn't know what day it was, or how long she'd been out, but she was ready to put this all behind her. She eyed the storefront out of curiosity but wasn't surprised that there was no name. In this part of town a charitable clinic wouldn't be safe, especially if they stocked drugs like morphine. Thinking that made Lucy realize just how stupid an idea it was for her to try and get home on her own, but stubborn pride prevented her from returning inside and asking Mirajane's assistance. Somehow, Lucy felt like she didn't want to be around when the so-called "master" returned, so escaping now was her best bet. She headed north, where she could see an east/west street about a block away. As long as she went west, she'd reach the business district sooner or later.
She was almost to the corner when a sleek black motorcycle turned that corner and rushed past her. She paused, followed it with her eyes to where it turned down an alleyway. Walking with a little more purpose, the eyed the street signs at the corner. Hacienda and Bank. That was good. Bank Street was one of the major thoroughfares in Magnolia. She just needed to get out of this neighborhood and she would be fine.
Right arm pressed tightly against her and back ramrod straight, Lucy set off, not noticing the person who stepped into place behind her.