DISCLAIMER: If I owned Fairy Tail I would have probably ruined it, so yeah.

I hope you enjoy this.

The Changes in Her

Lucy Heartfilia; age 6

At 6, Lucy was a handful, and her mansion was a castle.

She was adventurous, and reckless, and a crybaby all rolled into one. Lucy firmly believed that in her castle no one could get hurt, and so she was always trying to climb trees and bringing her favorite doll, Gonzales, everywhere. She played in the garden, and made dresses from flowers and leaves for her dolls. She played that she was a princess and held grand tea parties. She explored every inch of her castle.

Lucy shone. When she smiled, her parents and the servants couldn't help but smile back at the troublesome child, no matter what sort of mess she had gotten herself into. She was one of two stars on the huge estate, the other one being her mother, Layla. She brought laughter and smiles everywhere she went, and when the servants began joking that the child gave luck to others, Layla began calling her daughter her Little Lucky Lucy.

To Lucy, the servants were as much family as her parents, since she had grown up with both.

Her father, despite his strict demeanor, was considered a giant teddy bear to Lucy. She was constantly asking Jude to carry her around and going into his office to pick out a new picture book to read.

Her mother was like a best friend to Lucy since Jude was often busy with work. Layla frequently showed Lucy her celestial spirit magic, and when she saw potential in her daughter to learn it, she began teaching her. She always, without fail, read Lucy a goodnight story.

Despite Lucy's bright personality, she was scared of strangers. All of the people at her castle she had known since birth, and so when her father's business partners visited she would hide behind Layla's skirts and whisper a hello to those unknown people.

Lucy Heartfilia; age 10

At 10, Lucy was so, so lost, and her mansion was just that: a mansion.

Her mother, Layla, died, causing Jude to distance himself from her. The child looked so much like her mother, even at that age, that Jude found it too painful and he buried himself in his work.

Jude threw almost everything of Layla's into the attic, only his late wife's celestial spirit keys were spared and given to Lucy. One of the maids, Mrs. Spetto, managed to save a photo and gave it to Lucy.

One day, when Lucy went into his office to tell him about how one of the chefs was having a baby, the man lost his temper with the girl that he now tried to view as an object and screamed at her that the only reason the servants played nice with her was because it was part of their job.

After that, Lucy created a wall around her heart that she let no one break. She smiled for others, but she never let anyone in. She made sure to lock even her spirits out. She still loved them of course, but she made sure that she detached herself from them. The servants thought that the change in their last star was because of her mother's death, and didn't pressure her about it.

Lucy learned to lose herself in reading, and then to cope with the lose of her mother by writing letters to her. She became quieter in an effort to please her father, only going outside to visit her mother's garden and grave. She focused on the tutors her father sent to her, and tried to learn everything they taught in an effort to please him. Lucy lost herself in a vain effort to gain affection.

When she felt too lonely to bear, she would summon Aquarius, even though the spirit wasn't the kind to give affection, or go down to the kitchen and ask one of the chefs to help her learn how to cook. Lucy wanted to become as good of a cook as her mother had been.

Lucy Heartfilia; age 14

At 14, Lucy was a dreamer, and her mansion had become a prison.

She dreamed of adventure, and romance, and of joining a wizard guild. She didn't know which one yet, but that didn't matter. She could still dream. She thought of writing, becoming a wonderful author that spun tales that took a reader on far away journeys. She began to wonder how life outside her prison must feel. After all, a golden cage is still a cage, no matter the luxuries provided.

She started to resent her father and how he just tossed her aside. He dressed her up like a fancy doll for parties, but that was as much attention as he would pay her. Lucy had given up on impressing him, but still continued her studies out of boredom and a small hope that maybe he would pay attention to her today. It was another of her dreams.

She still had a wall around her heart, though much better built after years of fine tuning. The servants didn't even notice a difference now. Lucy was still Lucky Lucy Heartfilia to them, she was still the mansion's star.

She was better at cooking, and had taken to her magic well, though she was far from an accomplished mage. Lucy continued to write to her mother because she found the action to be very calming. She had recently gone through puberty, and because of her growth spurt she was rather clumsy, unused to the increase in height. Lucy had also developed very well in the chest area, and though at first she was embarrassed, she began to feel a little proud of her assets.

In her prison made of gold and finery, Lucy was beginning to feel a little restless. However, she was scared of what might occur should she leave. What might she find in the world outside this place?

Lucy Heartfilia; age 17

At 17, Lucy shone as brightly as she had before her mother's death.

She had found a new home in a wizard guild called Fairy Tail and a pink- sorry, salmon- haired boy named Natsu, and left her prison far behind.

Despite trusting her new friends with her life, Lucy refused to take down the wall around her. After all, even though she trusted them with her life, she was still too scared to trust them with her heart.

Then her father payed another guild, Phantom Lord, to attack Fairy Tail and bring her back. Lucy felt helpless and lost, and so very sorry. However Fairy Tail fought to keep her, and she couldn't help but think that she was not worth it.

After Fairy Tail won, her walls crumbled a bit, but not enough to keep her from hiding the bruises. Not enough to go back to the guild until she could smile again, because she believed that after everything they did for her, she needed to show them a proper smile.

Lucy had become selfless. She didn't care what happened to herself, she only wanted to fight for Fairy Tail with the rest of her guild mates. She would give up her life in a second to save anyone of her friends. This only made her shine brighter. She was Fairy Tail's very own star. She become Fairy Tail's heart, and when she cried, it was for Fairy Tail. When she laughed, it was for Fairy Tail.

Despite this, she still tried to hide bruises she got from enemies, and show only smiles and optimism. It's wasn't until much later that she realized that her walls had fallen down completely, but only with Natsu. She still tried to hide her tears from the rest of her guild mates, and it was only with Natsu that she let them out. She trusted Natsu completely. Knew that he would never leave her, and that she would never leave him.

And then she lost Aquarius to save her friends. To save Fairy Tail.

And Fairy Tail left her.

And Natsu left her.

And she broke.

Lucy Heartfilia; age 18

At 18, Lucy was broken, and she refused to pick up the pieces and move on, because that meant giving up on Fairy Tail. On Natsu.

So she pretended. She rebuilt her walls. She moved to Crocus. She became a journalist. She acted like she was fine. She kept herself busy.

Because as soon as she was not busy, she got lost in old memories, and had to keep herself from drowning in them. She was her own worst enemy.

So she tracked down all of the Fairy Tail members. However, she couldn't bring herself to contact them. They left. She was alone again, and this time she didn't have Aquarius. What if they didn't want to see her? She was always weak. What if they thought it was all her fault that the guild disbanded? Maybe it was.

Lucy knew that her friends wouldn't think that. She knew. But she was alone. No more family. No more friends. No more Natsu. And since she was all alone, she couldn't help but think.

She hated her reflection. Which was ironic, because Lucy used to be so proud of herself, of how she looked. And now she hated it. Her bright blonde hair looked duller somehow, and her eyes didn't sparkle like they used to when she laughed. Her smile is calmer, more polite, like when she used to live in her mansion. And she hated it, because every time she looked at herself she couldn't help but remember why she looked like this.

She had become a faded star, but somehow she was still a star and her smile brought happiness and hope to others. Lucy's bright smile could mend others, but no one was there to mend her.

Then Natsu showed up. She was working, covering the Grand Magic Games with her boss, Jason, and he just showed up and beat the winning guild all by himself. She felt her walls crack, and she had to force herself to rebuild, because she wouldn't survive him leaving her again.

He and Happy acted like they hadn't left her all alone for a year, and that got to her more than she wanted to admit. Then she found out that they didn't know about Fairy Tail disbanding, and she felt guilty because she didn't want them to find like this. When he realized, he felt guilty for leaving her all alone, and for some reason, Lucy didn't feel happy about that. She just felt so, so very tired.

She invited them to her house, and they caught up. She acted and acted and acted. She pretended that she was not mad and confused, that he hadn't hurt her, that she was okay. But she wasn't.

She really, really wasn't.

Then, the next day, she found the King's army in front of her apartment, and Natsu grabbed her and jumped out the window, Happy close behind. He told her what had happened, and how Fairy Tail's not over, and she felt hope well up in her chest all over again, and her walls began to crumble, and for the first time in a while, she didn't bother to rebuild them.

Maybe, just maybe, Natsu was the one who could help her pick up the pieces so that she wouldn't be broken anymore.

Notes

I'm a bit unhappy with the last part, and I feel like some of this could have flowed better but...sighs. This is just a little character study into Lucy Heartfilia from how I view her and I hope you guys enjoyed, or at the very least felt it was interesting.

Thank you for reading this little chappy of mine!