A/N: Hey guys! I don't know if you remember me, but I'm back with a new story! Now let's get some things cleared before we start, 1. I did not write this story, Chrys Stone did.

Disclaimer: I do not own FT or it's characters! Hiro Mashima does! I only own my OC's.

"Mommy please; no more!" The small child covered her head, tears streaming freely as she shielded the smaller child in her arms. There was a crack of a whip, and the pain seared through her back again. This wasn't the first time she had felt pain like this, her body was littered in scars from the torture she endured.

"You foul creature. How dare you speak back to me?" The woman's golden eyes burned with fury and disgust. Her slender figure shook with rage that had no business in a mother of two.

"Please just don't hurt the baby!" The child cried out again, blood was running down her shoulders now, staining what remained of her blouse. She refused to release the child in her arms, fearing for her safety.

She should have stayed quiet, taken the beating like always, but she couldn't just let her innocent little sister become a victim like her. Mizu opened her one good eye to make sure the little bundle in her arms was safe.

Big brown eyes stared up at her questioningly; she could see her own disheveled appearance reflected back. Her brilliant purple bangs were matted to her forehead with sweat, her left eye swollen and purple. Her right eye was puffy and red from crying, making the gold of her irises more prominent. She could see the fear she felt all over her young face.

The child in her arms however didn't have that fear yet, she was innocent and pristine. The woman towering over the pair had gone crazy when the baby was born, and Mizu was the sole recipient of her anger. Even though it hurt, she wouldn't let it be any other way, this child would never have to go through pain like this, ever, if she had anything to say about it. She gave the little girl a shaking smile, petting the short blue locks on the top of her head.

"It's ok baby girl, I'll always protect you." Mizu's voice was no more than a horse whisper, shuttering as she took another blow to the shoulders. "I won't ever let her hurt you."

Mizu woke with a start, sweat matting her bangs to her forehead. Her nightmare was still fresh enough to make her old scars burn into her pale skin. She reached up to the mark that came all the way around to her collar bone, rubbing the rough surface absently; remembering how crazed the woman who gave it to her looked. Her body shuttered as a phantom whip lashed out at her skin, the ghost of searing hot pain shot through her as she remembered the day she had left her home.

It had been a while since the last time she had a dream like that; she had almost been able to put her horrible past out of her mind completely. Her hands were gripping tightly to her shoulders now, finger nails biting into her golden guild insignia. It was a long moment of weighted breaths before she realized she was crying, hopelessly weeping over a past she couldn't forget.

"It's ok Mizu, it was just a dream." A soft furry paw patted her knee in a soothing rhythm. "I'm here now." The girl sniffled pulling her small friend into a tight embrace allowing her tears to run their course.

After a while there was a knock at the door, which brought Mizu's attention back to earth.

"Mizu let me in." It was the stern voice of the one and only Erza Scarlet.

It was then that Mizu realized her sobs had been loud enough to wake all of Fairy Hills' occupants. 'Dammit' she cursed inwardly. She didn't want to explain herself to them, but she knew that Erza wasn't someone who took being kept waiting very well. She scurried out of her bed, not bothering to put her pull over sweater on to hide the evidence of her abuse from the red haired woman.

"I-I'm sorry, did I wake you." Mizu mumbled as she pulled the door to her room open. Erza was still clad in her favorite pajamas, hair up in a high pony tail, and an expression of sympathy on her face. Not many people got to see this side of the warrior woman who always guarded herself in the presence of others.

"You screamed out for help." Erza was already perched in the overstuffed arm chair that was in the corner of Mizu's modest room. "I came to make sure you're ok." The honest concern in the voice of her friend gave Mizu comfort. This was precisely why Erza was one of the only people she had entrusted with her secret.

"I had the dream again; it's been so long I lost my self in the terror of it all." There was a deep sigh before Mizu plopped on her bed in the most ungraceful manner. Erza was so lucky that her body was nearly unmarked from her childhood trauma, unlike Mizu who was scarred from head to toe, inside and out.

"It was just a dream; remember that they can't hurt you anymore." Erza reassured the younger woman softly. Mizu replied with a nod, not trusting her voice in the moment, but she knew Erza was right. The past was in the past, and she was here to move on with her life.

A/N: Hope you guys liked it! Stay tuned for the next chapters!