When I finally finished signing to them my hands truly hurt.

It was nice to let other people into this thing I possibly call my life but it was their reactions to my story really caught me off guard.

I found myself suddenly squished between the bodies of my two new friends and they were both crying…

My heart shattered, why are they crying? Why are they crying for me of all people? I don't deserve this kind of treatment…father tells me all the time that I deserve nothing from this world…and I thought him right but…why…why does it hurt to see tears fall from their eyes? Why does my chest ache to make those tears shed for me disappear? I don't understand…

I didn't move at first, I was paralyzed, but it wasn't fear that had me in such a frozen state though, instead it was a warm comforting feeling.

Something that I haven't felt in so long…kindness…security…family…and dare I say it but love as well.

It was almost too much to bare, so many emotions flowing through me all at once but they weren't bad like they always are with father, so I did the only thing I could think of to rein back my whirlwind of emotions…I needed to make them feel better…so I hugged them back.

"Oh gods Lucy…we're so SO sorry, all that has happened to you…no child should ever have to go through what you are…especially by their father no less…a father is supposed to shower their children with love and affection, peace and kindness…it's too cruel of the world to not bestow you with the same care." Mira was still crying as she talked to me.

When she finally pulled away from my battered and bruised body, I silently winced as my heart shattered even more, someone as beautiful as her should never have tears staining her face.

'Please don't cry…' I started to sign to her, I reached up and with my tiny hands I brushed away the tears from her flushed cheeks before I signed again, 'I'm not sure why but it hurts my heart to see and hear you cry.' She smiled at me and placed a hand on top of mine that was back and busy brushing tears away, halting my movements.

That was when Elfman finally moved, he gently grabbed my body and lifted me up so I was now sitting on his lap and he then encircled my tiny body against his with this massive arms into a hug from behind. I didn't panic like I did before but instead reveled in the feeling, pulling my legs up, I was careful of my ankle, so I was in a tight ball and snuggled farther into his warm embrace. I felt safe here in the arms of this massive bear of a man, I felt like nothing could ever touch me…nothing could ever hurt me…as long as I'm surrounded by his warmth.

"Little one…how is it that you can go through so much…feel so much pain and anguish…but still care enough to put others feelings before yourself? How can you be so kind after all you've been through?" He asked as he rested his chin on top of my head.

I already knew the answer though,

I pulled my hands out enough so they both could see me sign, 'Mama always told me to show kindness to everyone no matter what they may do to you. She always told me that being mean and uncaring gets you nowhere in life and you should always forgive and move forward no matter how many times life may knock you back.'

When I finished signing I heard them both sigh, "That mother of yours sounds like a fine lady, and we would have loved to have met her in person." Elfman said

I inwardly sighed before signing, 'Mama would have liked you two…I miss her terribly…'

I felt tears pricking my eyes again, and I just cuddled farther into Elfmans' chest as he squeezed me tighter to him. I can clearly smell his strangely calming woodsy, earthy cologne seems to suit him very well, very bear like, maybe even manly too.

"Why don't we get you something quick to eat then get you to bed? I'm sure your starving and you must be exhausted and in pain from everything you've been through over the last day." Mira said.

I stiffened and was shocked for a second, they are going to feed me now too?

Elfman must have felt me stiffen because he hugged me tighter before asking, "When was the last time you ate little one?"

I put my finger to my chin, blinking as I looked up at him and thought hard…let's seeeeee….It's Saturday night, since Mira said over the last day…all this happened some time yesterday…that means Wednesday at school was the last day I ate.

'I had an apple and some chocolate milk on Wednesday at school, the lunch ladies sneak me food every now and then free of charge since I can't buy my own. They can't do it all the time but I am grateful none the less.' I signed.

The look on Mira's face though had me worried

'Mira? Is something wrong?' I signed to her

"You mean to tell me…that the only thing you've had to eat for three days was one apple and a carton of milk?" She asked

She sounds mad, I hope I haven't done anything wrong.

Worried I upset her I only nodded, sinking myself back into Elfman.

She got up after that, she didn't say a word more, and went to what I'm guessing was the direction of the kitchen. Elfman stayed silent too, only keeping his hold around my body.

Mira came back about half an hour later with a bowl that looked like watered down ketchup, two sandwiches with I think that's cheese in the middle, a big glass of chocolate milk and what looks like some pills. She set everything down in front of me on the small coffee table between the two sofas.

I admit…my mouth is watering right now, it smells amazing.

"Eat, please." She said to me as she sat back down sideways next to Elfman and me on the sofa.

Wondering what I'm about to put in my stomach, I signed, 'What is all of this?' as I just stared wide eyed.

She and Elfman both laughed at my amazed face before Mira says, "It's my homemade tomato soup, two grilled cheese sandwiches and a big glass of chocolate milk to wash it down. The pills are for pain, I know you haven't had any today and you must be sore, they will also help bring the swelling down in your eye and ankle. Now please eat, you will need it to help you heal."

'I've never had tomato soup, or grilled cheese. They smell amazing, are you sure I can eat all of this? Father says I'm not allowed to eat more than bread and water because of how fat I am and I'm just wasting his money if I were to eat anymore.' I signed still eyeing the food.

I felt Elfman's grip become tighter around me and it kind of hurt my ribs but I didn't worry about it, Mira's face though…it looks like I just told her a scary story. She looks like a ghost now, I wonder why…

"Dear gods child please eat. You're allowed, whatever you want, just please eat."

She sounded like she was begging me, but I don't think anything more of it as I turn my attention back to the food. Elfman released me from his grip so I could move closer to the table while still sitting on his lap and I dug right in.

Gods it's heavenly, the soup just slides down my throat coating it in a warm tomato-e flavor. The grilled cheese is amazing too, I wonder what they would taste like mixed together…DEAR GODS….I think my tastes buds just exploded with cheese-e ketchup-e goodness.

I finish everything Mira gave me in no time flat and take the pills as I chug down the chocolate milk even that is so rich and amazing. How was she able to do that? She's like a cooking genius, I wonder if she could teach me…

"Do you want anymore?" She asks with that bright smile again

There is no way I can eat anymore, I haven't felt this full in years.

This is nice…I actually feel really sleepy now.

I lay my head back against Elfmans chest and shake my head 'no' as I start to feel my eyes grow heavy.

"Come on little one, it's already midnight so you're staying here tonight. I'll take you up to your room so you can get a good night's sleep." Elfman said as he lifted me up princess style, I only nodded as I finished closing my good eye and felt sleep come to me already.

~NORMAL POV~

Elfman made his was upstairs while carefully carrying the small already asleep girl in his massive arms, Mira right behind him.

Opening the door to the room she was in before she left the house, he laid her down on the bed covering her up with the covers and rose back up. Both siblings just stood and watched the girl sleep peacefully for a minute before turning to walk out of the room, carefully closing the door behind them.

They stayed in the hallway, both silent for a while…before Mira finally spoke up,

"Gods Elfman what are we going to do? This is worse than we thought, her own father is abusing her and has been for YEARS." Mira said in a panicked voice

"I don't know Mira but that…THING who's supposed to be little one's father is no man…who hit's a child and has no remorse afterwards?" Elfman all but growled out.

"Did you see the look on her face when I brought her food?" Mira asked.

"Yes I did, I've never seen a face light up, but not smile at the same time just because of a simple snack like tomato soup and grilled cheese." He said, his massive fists clenching at this sides.

"I would put money she would of lit up just as bright if I only brought her bread and water…it only makes me wonder more how much she's actually able to eat and when she's able to eat. The poor thing is nothing but skin and bones, she's so malnourished." Mira slightly whispered out, her heart ached for the small girl in the room they were next too.

"As horrible as that sounds Mira you're probably right…we can't let her go, we can't let her go back to that…that…MONSTER…" He scowled out

Mira smiled at her brother, he's always had a soft spot for children, "You love her already don't you Elf?"

"Yea….I do, that little one has stolen my heart already and we've only really known her for a full day." He sighed out, a small smile decorating his lips.

"We should get some sleep too Elf, we can figure everything out tomorrow. I'll call gramps in the morning and let him know we're both not going to be at FC tomorrow night. I'll make her a big breakfast too and make sure she's good and fed." Mira exclaimed

"Sounds good big sis'. Let's just keep little one to ourselves for now until we can figure things out." Elfman said as he kissed his sister on her cheek before walking to his room to sleep.

Mira opened the door to Lucy's room once Elfman closed his door, peeking in at the still sleeping girl she smiled softly, "I hope we can convince you to run away with us Lucy…" she whispered out before closing the door and turning in for the night.

~LUCY~

I woke up the next morning and honestly I felt great, I do have a headache but at least I could see out of both of my eyes again as I looked around at the still amazingly blue room. I was slow sitting up since my ribs were still aching but I'm not going to complain, could be worse.

Pulling the covers off I noticed I was still fully dressed, I shrugged not thinking much of it, it's not the first time I've woken up like this. Carefully twisting my body around I put my bare feet on the carpet waiting for a minute to make sure that nothing started hurting out of nowhere.

Satisfied I slowly stood up, my ankle still isn't very happy but at least it's not as swollen as it was yesterday. I started to hobble my way to the door when I caught scent of an unbelievably amazing smell, my mouth instantly started watering and I opened the door hoping to find out where that wonderful smell was coming from.

Walking out in the hall way I didn't see Mira or Elfman but I hear noises coming from downstairs. I cursed inwardly at the stairs of hell once again as I started making my way down, it wasn't as bad as yesterday but it still hurt. Doing a happy dance inside my head I finally make it off the last step, taking a deep breath in and out I hobble some more following my nose to where the smells were coming from.

I figured out that they did indeed have a kitchen and let me tell you…wow…it was HUGE!

You could easily fit 20 people and still have room to move around, all the appliances were black and the cabinets were a beautiful dark cherry wood. Black marble covered the counters and black and white tile covered the floors. I'm guessing Mira's style, some strange reason dark seemed to fit her.

I just stood in the doorway, gapping at the massive room before I heard voices, that snapped me out of my daze and I walked away from kitchen heaven and followed the sounds. I was limping down a smaller hallway before it suddenly open up into a beautiful dining room. The table again was big enough that it could fit a small army of people, why do they need so much space? Do they have a lot of people over all the time? I was still standing in the doorway pondering the amount of people Mira and Elfman could possibly have over when a voice broke my train of thought,

"Good morning little one, I hope you slept well."

It was Elfman, he was sitting at one of the ends of the table with a massive amount of food in front of him, and Mira was sitting next to him with her own plate of food. I nodded my head before limping slowly to sit on the other side of him.

"Lucy honey are you hungry?" Mira asked smiling at me

I nodded my head again eyeing all the food she had laid out on the table, there was pancakes, french toast, eggs, bacon, sausage, toast and jelly, orange juice and milk. I've seen all these before, and I swear if my mouth wasn't closed right now I would be drooling all over the table.

I heard Mira and Elfman both laugh at me,

'What?' I signed tearing my eyes away from the food to look at their laughing faces.

"Little one you've got a little…uh…" Elfman started but then he just ran his thumb across the corner of his mouth a couple times.

I tilted my head a little clearly confused, was there something on my mouth? I used the back of my hand and ran it across my lips and instantly went wide eyed, ok so maaaaaaaybe my mouth wasn't as closed as I thought it was and maaaaaaaybe I was ferociously wiping the line of drool off my chin at the moment. I blushed massively red before signing 'sorry'. They both laughed at me again…

"Grab whatever you want, you're welcome to anything you see in this house." Mira smiled at me

I looked at her clearly shocked, 'Really?' I signed

"Really." They both said in unison

Then I did something that I thought I would never do again…I smiled. Then I quickly stood up and limped to the two and wrapped my arms around them both, tears were slowly falling down my cheeks but my smile never fell. I think I shocked the two and poor Mira looked like she was going to burst into tears at any second, so I let go and made my way back to the chair I was sitting in.

'Thank you' was all I signed before I started piling food on my plate.

We sat at the dining table and talked and talked…well they talked, I signed.

I found out Mira was nineteen and Elfman was eighteen and they both are co-owners of a really famous bar/club thing called Fairies Corner or FC for short, I guess they are really super rich too and it explains why they have such a nice house and big things. I also found out that the other owners of the bar/club thing were an old man named Makarov and his grandson Laxus who just so happens to be dating Mira. I then found out that Makarov was the sole owner, principle and dean of the Fairy Tail Academy and University or FTAU for short.

Is everyone she's telling me about loaded beyond all belief?

Anyways…

I've heard so many stories about that school, apparently you can go there from kindergarten all the way through to college and apparently each section has their own building. So like Elementary has their own building, Middle school has their own…you get my drift, it's just plain huge. You never have to leave as long as you have the money to pay for it.

I would love to go there…but father would never allow it, too expensive for a rat I suppose.

Annnnyways, I found out some stuff about their friends and family too.

Apparently there is this girl named Erza, she's the same age as Mira, and she's working on opening up a sweets shop right across from FC (yup everyone is rich). I guess she's also engaged to a guy named Jellal who has a tattoo on his face! I know! Crazy right?

They also told me about his girl named Cana, she runs the bar at FC but I guess she has a drinking problem or something because they say she always has a bottle of alcohol attached to her lips. She told me about these two old guys, named Macao and Wakaba, that hang out at the bar practically every day, like they might as well live there, she said they have A LOT of regulars who hang out and party there.

She said a good way to describe the place is like a home away from home because they treat everyone like family there. I guess they even went as far as anyone who is considered family are declared "members" of sorts to this bar/club thing and everyone gets these really cool matching tattoos. Elfman had the symbol on the side of his neck (ouch) and Mira had one on her thigh, it looked like a fairy of sorts.

I want one…

Then they told me about these two boys who are one year older than me, one goes by the name Natsu Dragneel and the other was Gray Fullbuster, I guess their families are super super rich.

Natsu's family are the owners of 'Fire Dragons Inc.' and they run five star hotels all over the world. From what Mira told me they have hotels going from California all the way around the world to Japan and apparently Natsu is the heir to the company. I guess their headquarters is here in Magnolia, Colorado.

…I need to get out more…

Gray's family on the other hand are the owners of 'Ice Make Inc.' and they run five star ski resorts all over the world. Anywhere its cold or snows there is a resort there and Gray is the sole heir for that family. I guess sometimes you can find overlapping of hotels and resorts from both families in one territory but they purposefully do it that way Mira was explaining to me.

…I really need to get out more…

I found out the boys' parents: Igneel and Grandeeney Dragneel, and Silver and Ur Fullbuster, are all childhood best friends and helped each other build their companies from the ground up. That's why they work so well together, makes sense I suppose, both families already know what the other is thinking.

Getting off track here, from what Mira and Elfman told me both families left with each other to go overseas to help promote more hotels and resorts. They have no idea if they are coming back or not but she told me that those boys still keep in contact with everyone here. That's good.

Then they told me about their little sister…that was definitely hard to hear because both of them were so upset and so down when they talked about her. I don't blame them, I'm the same way with mama.

They told me that she was born with a large brain tumor, which was actually the cause of her deafness. They said she fought hard to win against the tumor but every time they surgically removed it or did chemo and radiation it just kept coming back and each time it only got worse. She fought for nine years before her body finally gave out and she passed away, which was two years ago.

The world really is a cruel place…but they seem to be doing better now and from the sounds of it, they have lots of friends and family too.

I'm happy for them.

By the time we finished talking it was around five in the evening, we literally talked the day away and it was nice.

It really was...

But it's time for me to leave and go back home.

'Guys…thank you so much for taking me in and treating my wounds, not only that but feeding me and listening to my story and sharing so much about yourselves. I've never had friends since mama died and I greatly appreciate it…but it's time for me to leave.' I finished signing and both of their faces instantly dropped.

"Lucy…I-we…we don't want you to go. We want you to stay here with us, we can give you a home, family, friends, clothes, food, anything and everything you could ever wish for or ever want we can provide for you. That room upstairs that you've stayed in…it's yours. Please don't go, please don't leave. We want you to stay with us, become our family, and be our little sister. Please Lucy." Mira was begging and crying.

"Please little one, stay with us. We can't tolerate to see you hurting or in pain anymore, we can protect you, I-as the man of this house can protect you and be your big brother, I want to be your family, we want to be your family. Please stay…" Elfman was crying now too

I could feel my heart shatter all over again, they want me to stay? They want me to become there family? Their little sister? But…

"Please Lucy…I know we haven't know each other for very long but…We already love you, we already consider you our little sister. Please don't leave us."

Mira had walked around the table to where I was sitting and kneeled down taking my hand in hers, begging me not to leave.

But I can't…

I can't stay…

'I'm sorry…really I am, I've come to care for you both as well and I would love to be able to stay but…I have to go home. I have to go back to father, I know he hates me and will never feel for me what you two feel…but he is still my father and he is my only connection I have left to mama, that house is my only way to stay close to mama. Please forgive me.' I signed silent tears were streaming down my face now.

They both dropped their heads sighing, "We were never mad at you little one, so there is nothing to forgive and we understand. Who would have thought that someone your age could be so smart? Please at least let me drive you to your home." Elfman said with a clear heavy heart.

I only shook my head once before signing to them, 'As much as i would like that, if father saw then he would know i talked to someone.'

I heard them both sadly sigh before nodding their heads, we all stood up and slowly made our way to the front door, I stepped outside and paused for a second.

I turned around slowly so I could look at my two friends standing in the door way to their home,

'Could I-'

I stopped myself, no way I could ask them that after all they've done for me.

Shaking my head I turned back around to walk away, before I made it to the steps though a massive hand dropped down on my shoulder.

"What little one, what is it you were going to ask? Please you can tell us anything." Elfman asked.

I turned back around to see both of their smiling faces and I felt tears build up in my eyes again, lowering my head i signed, 'Could I maybe, come back? To spend time with you again?'

I kept my head down, I knew I was asking a lot after all they have done for me but I really felt at home here and I truly did want to come back.

I felt smaller arms wrap around my shoulders hugging me for a second before pulling away, Mira was looking down at me with her tear stained face. She handed me a piece of paper that had some writing on it.

"This is mine and Elfmans cell phone numbers, our address is also on there. You come back whenever you want to or text whenever you want to. We will always be here for you whenever you need us." She smiled again.

I couldn't take it anymore and I crashed myself into her hugging her tightly feeling the tears that built up run down my cheeks. I then felt a hand on top of my head too and I looked up to see Elfman smiling down at me.

I pulled away wiping my eyes with my hoodie sleeve before looking up at both of them and I smiled, very brightly.

'Thank you, so much, big brother and big sister.' I signed

Then I turned and walked away, to head back into my personal hell but I felt free, I felt good. For the first time since mama, I felt loved.

~AN~

Ok so I mainly wanted this to be a chapter of explanations of sorts about everything and everyone.

I also really wanted Lucy, Mira and Elfman's bond to take hold here.

Let me know how I did

UNTIL NEXT TIME!

Much love from a tkitty! XD