(c) Hiro Mashima owns Fairy Tail.

CHAPTER 1

When Lucy woke up, she immediately checked whether there's a salmon-haired mage under her covers.

"Oh."

No salmon-haired guy in sight. How stupid. Of course there won't be some guy in her bedroom at six in the morning. That would be very absurd. And very inappropriate for a lady.

"I should stop mixing my stories with reality. Baka Lucy. Natsu Dragneel is a character for your story!" Lucy Heartfilia, a second year student at Yousei Gakuen chuckled at her vivid 'imagination'. 'Actually, why salmon for a hair color?' She thought.

"Hmm thinking about it, Natsu would probably enter via the window to his partner's apartment – of course without notice – and tucks himself in her bed. Then in the morning, she'll kick him hard on the face for sneaking in. Happy, the flying cat, would suddenly pop out with fish on his mouth—Oh dear, I should save this for later, I might miss my class!" Lucy hurriedly fixed her beddings and prepared for school.

After taking a bath, she put on her school uniform. Her uniform consists of a white collared shirt under a gray blazer with the school emblem on its breast pocket and a knee-length pleated black skirt. Then she fixed her blonde hair by putting it up into twin tails. After putting on her socks, she went to the kitchen to fix herself some breakfast. 'Wouldn't risk leaving on an empty stomach. I might faint and Mama wouldn't want that.'

Lucy Heartfilia is a seventeen year-old girl who lives alone on a condo unit that her mother insisted on giving to her. Layla Heartfilia, Lucy's mother, was the one who talked with her husband and Lucy's father, Jude Heartfilia to just let Lucy alone and that she'll take the responsibility upon doing so. After several attempts of convincing (courtesy of Layla) and running away (courtesy of Lucy), Lucy finally got her independence but on the condition that she had to accept what her mother will give her—and that was the condo unit.

But even though she lives in a luxurious unit, Lucy works part time in order to fulfill her daily needs. She insisted that she have to earn her own money to survive because running away would seem pointless if she still relied on her family's fortune. She secretly learned how to cook from the maids at the manor when she was young and she was able to expand her knowledge of the outside world because of books. The mansion had a very large library and currently, she was able to read almost three-fourths of the whole book population. She read books across all genres and languages so she's very well versed in literature. Also, her craving for independence was sparked by her beloved books.

Her favorite genre was fantasy and adventure. Sure, romance stories have some place in her heart but somehow, there's something in fantasy and adventure that pulls her in. And that weird feeling made her heart crave for her own adventure.

And after falling into coma one year ago, books were still her refuge in order to get a grip on the reality that was suddenly presented to her.

It all happened in the year 2013.

One year ago, Lucy Heartfilia was involved in an unknown accident. She went missing for seven days. The whole Heartfilia estate went on high alert knowing that their princess was missing. After a few days, she was found back in her own room, sleeping soundly with some scratches and wearing a tattered outfit coupled with a whip and key-like accessories that could be considered as cosplay for it is showy enough. Lucy's parents were crying (yes, even her father) after she was found. But unfortunately, she woke up seven months later.

(Five months prior current time)

Layla Heartfilia was sitting near her daughter's bedside when noticed that Lucy have stirred a bit. Layla stood up knowing that it is time for Lucy to finally wake up and leaned closer to make so that her child won't miss her when she wakes up. "Lucy, my child…"

"M-M-Mama?" Lucy's eyes were wide open because of shock. She couldn't believe that her mother's alive! She's supposed to be dead in year X777! Examining the place, it looks unfamiliar. There were strange tubes connected to her body and she felt like she's missing something very important…

"Lucy? Are you alright?" Layla touched her daughter's forehead because of worry.

'I must be dead if my mother's greeting me like this.' Lucy closed her eyes once again and remembered a salmon-haired boy with a wide grin on his face. "Natsu…"

Layla flinched when her daughter uttered something unfamiliar. "My child, are you okay? Must have been because you've been sleeping for six months that your mind's all messed up. Do you want some meal? I'll have it fixed immediately—"

"S-six months!? That long?"

"Yes, my dear. You've been missing for a couple of days and then you were found in your room in a mess. What exactly happened?" Eyes of concern were evident on her mother's expression.

"I—" Lucy clutched her head in pain as she tried to remember what happened to her.

"Lucy!" Her mother held her in her arms in an attempt to soothe her sick daughter. "Don't worry, it's not important anymore. You're here now, so it's fine." Layla smiled as she hugged her daughter tightly.

"Mama…"

'Why are you alive?' Lucy thought as she drifted to sleep once again.

Lucy recovered at a fast rate. After a month, she was out of the hospital. Immediately after that, she suddenly craved freedom. It seemed that when she was asleep, she dreamt about a lot of adventures and it was fun. So she spent time on the estate's library reading the remaining books about adventure and freedom. She also figured out that she should write a story of her own so sometimes whengood ideas pop out of her mind,she'll write it down and arrange it to form a story after a while. She has collected a lot of stories and considered that she should compile them properly in a novel. She realized that confining herself in the estate would restrict her capability to expand her imagination to write more interesting adventures so she wanted to get out of the manor and live freely. She wanted to taste independence on her own. She even named one of the characters for her adventure novel with her own so that she could really get into it.

On the third month, she finally went out of the manor and lived in her condo unit. And in the year 2014, the present, she was able to attend a new school that she herself has signed up on her own and without any connections from the Heartfilias.

In her new school, nobody treated her as an heiress. Why? It's because they didn't know she was one. All that her classmates know was she lives alone and works part time. She wasn't exactly hiding it (she did not even hide her last name) but she wasn't boasting about it either. Again, her independence would sound so stupid if she relied on her social status and other stuff concerning her family name.

"Why did I even think that my mother was dead back then?" Lucy raised a brow as she sipped on her chilled frappe which she bought a night before. She has fixed herself some omelette, bacon and sliced fruits for her breakfast. After eating, she put away the dishes to the sink and glanced at her wall almost splurted all the contents of her frappe when she figured out the time.

"Crap! It's already 6:45!? Class is in 15 minutes!" Grabbing her bag and getting into her shoes, she closed the lights and headed for the door. Lucy panicked because she never gets late. Usually, she has a 30 minute grace period but it seems that her thoughts were more busy than ever and she actually spent so much time thinking.

"I'm off!" She smiled as if someone is watching her leave before closing the door.

And so Lucy Heartfilia ran as if her life depended on it.

AN: Hi! Actually, this is my first ever multichapter fanfic in years. I was kinda hesitating to post this because I'm not yet done with writing the whole story (I'm currently on the seventh chapter, btw) and I'm afraid that I might not finish this. Gaaah I shouldn't jinx this :)) But I have the outline done so the only thing that I should do is to write! Haha. I'm not really fond of writing long author notes but I got the feeling that I just have to put one in here :))

If my story seemed similar to other works (so far I haven't read a plot similar as mine... kinda), it's purely coincidental. Let me know if you're offended or something. I came up with this thing last May when my family moved to a new place and we did not have internet for a while so yeah this is purely from my head.

I'm not remarkable at grammar so I wish that you readers would understand. Thank you!

- platinum-breaker

p.s. I might post the next chapter when I finish writing a chapter (chapter 7 lol), okie? :) [example: when I finish writing chapter 8, I'll post chapter 3 and so on.] maybe... haha!