Chapter Two

Pep-Talks By Lady GaGa

Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail, nor do I receive any form of financial gain from this work of fiction.

The next few years passed faster than I expected they would.

Despite my best attempts, Jude grew as cold and distant as he had in the anime, only interested in our education and, after we hit puberty, our marriage prospects. It was good to know that the patriarchy was alive and kicking in Fiore, forcing their gender ideals on helpless heiresses everywhere. Every time I saw a new lace and silk monstrosity laid out on my bed in preparation for yet another business dinner where I was expected to sit still and look pretty while men 10 years my senior spoke to my tits, I threw up in my mouth a little.

The feminist I was in my previous life launched a protest complete with picket signs and catchy chants inside my head every time I slipped into the role of dutiful daughter.

To maintain the perfect princess persona Lucy and I were forced to uphold, we were tutored in mathematics, history, dance, and etiquette. One small concession our father allowed was a hobby of our choosing - an opportunity I had leapt upon with next to no sense of dignity as I had all but begged to allow us martial-arts lessons. There had been large brown eyes glistening with tears and trembling pinks lips and unashamed use of the word 'daddy'. But I think the real clincher was the presentation I had put together outlining the benefits of Lucy and I being able to physically defend ourselves in the unfortunate situation of either of us ever being kidnapped. I had even included recent statistics of how the abduction of children belonging to wealthy parents was becoming increasingly popular.

I had to stop myself from laughing at the irony of it all, considering he would one day hire Phantom Lord to do that very thing.

Once away from prying eyes I was ensuring Lucy grew her magical capacity in between her magic lessons with Bero. It was soon discovered that I had little talent for summoning. Something that I wasn't overly upset about considering how awkward it would have been for me to divvy out the Zodiac keys between Lucy and I. I couldn't very well protect her with silver keys alone, and I knew there was no way in hell I could ever take any of the golden keys away from her. They were her friends, not mine.

I soon discovered I had my own magic, anyway. A type of magic that had never been heard of before, and was solely unique in its distinct lack of a use of seals or phrases to activate it. I wondered if this had anything to do with my past life for all of 5 minutes before simply being ecstatic about the fact I had magic and decided not to question it in case it decided to take off in an offended huff. I ended up dubbing it Psionic Casting, it was a type of energy manipulation that allowed me to project blasts, waves, and bolts of psionic energy with a mere gesture. Manifesting itself as a form of amaranth mist and electricity that clung to my fingertips and soaked into my skin like sunlight on a lazy summer afternoon.

It was quite frankly, rad as fuck.

Naturally, though, I couldn't allow anyone else to know about this. Except for Lucy, of course. I kept no secrets from Lucy save my previous life. It wasn't that I didn't trust her with the knowledge at all, but rather I wanted to protect her from it. Could you imagine how dangerous it would be if anyone found out about my knowledge? If the Magic Council knew? It would be like the American Government in every single sci-fi film where a team of white-coats would eagerly dissect the suspected alien to see if it had compatible genitalia or some shit.

As far as I was concerned the League Of Magical Nitwits could keep their enchanted scalpels far far away from my soft prepubescent skin, thank you very much.

And God forbid Jude to discover it, he'd probably go megalomaniac and make me help him take over the financial world. He already had the facial hair for it and the super tall chair and ridiculously large desk. That chair and desk were borderline impractical, but as a slave to aesthetics myself, I could admire his dedication to emulate a Bond villain.

When we were 14, Jude made Lucy and I attend our first business dinner with the Junelle family.

Puberty had hit us the year before and it had hit us hard, with the pair of us possessing the bodies of women despite still being children. Our etiquette teacher had started instructing us in the art of 'womanly wiles' the moment our father heard about Lucy's terrified breakdown when she woke up to bloodstained sheets. My poor sister had believed she was dying. While I was stroking her hair while she cried on the floor of the shower I cursed our mother for never discussing the finer points of menstruation with her. And myself for not even thinking to give her a heads up. In that moment I declared myself the worst sister ever and mentally pelted myself with tampons as punishment.

But anyway, dinner at the Junelle Estate.

We had been squeezed and pinched into corsets that made it hard to breathe and enough layers of pink silk and frothy white lace to clothe a small army. A number of pins holding my long blonde hair in a ridiculously lavish updo were started to give me a headache as they dug into my scalp, making me even more short-tempered than usual. And seeing as I was normally a volatile powder-keg of emotions at the best of times, any slip of self-control often spelt imminent disaster. More often than not, Lucy was able to keep me in line. Knowing that it was easier to protect her with cool and calm logic than heated words and wild gesticulations.

But I digress.

This particular incident happened halfway throughout the dinner. Sawar Junelle, the son and heir of the Junelle family, had insisted from the beginning that Lucy be the one to sit next to him. Despite the two of us being identical down to our hairstyles and shade of lipstick, there was a certain softness that set Lucy apart from me. My sister didn't have the same level of cynicism in her eyes that I did as a result of living out two lifetimes and that often made her infinitely more appealing in the eyes of the disgusting older men our father paraded us in front of. Between the two of us, it was simply assumed that Lucy would be the wife easier to break in, less defiant and opinionated and educated. They were wrong, the difference being that Lucy knew how to pick her battles whereas I did not. If anything, I could probably do with putting a few battles back.

A point Lucy made often enough that we had a routine memorised for it.

So when I noticed Lucy stiffen beside me as a result of Sawarr's large hand resting on her thigh, I drove my knife into the roast duck on my plate with enough force that I launched a caramelised carrot clear across the table with the most unholy screech of serrated silver against fine china. Uncaring of the eyes locked on me along with the varying expressions of disapproval, or my father's thinly veiled rage-mask. I could feel my growing resentment of Jude coiling in my stomach with every second that he stood aside and said nothing in regards to the sexual harassment Lucy and I suffered.

If he wouldn't do anything, I sure as fuck would. Screw him and his reputation.

Within seconds I had my fingers locked around Sawarr's wrist as I forcibly removed his hand from my sister, eyes narrowing at the damp handprint he had left on the pale pink silk of her skirt. I knew my actions would yield punishment, that I was embarrassing our father and bringing dishonour upon myself, the Heartfilia name, and possibly a non-existent cow, but in that moment not a single fuck was given. All I cared about was the revolting man, who I was holding tightly enough that the thin bones in his wrist started to grind together, that had dared to touch my sister like she was a prisoner of the Playboy Mansion.

When I spoke, it was even and controlled, and there was no mistaking the threat beneath the words that spilt from a saccharine smile:

"How clumsy, it seems you've mistaken my sister's leg for your own. I'm sure you won't be making that mistake again."

The 'because if you do, I will curbstomp you through the Earth and into the fucking moon you piece of misogynistic shit' goes unspoken, though I felt that I conveyed it through aggressive eye-contact alone.

Letting go of his wrist I once again took up my utensils in hand before placing a bite-sized piece of duck between my lips, making a show of chewing then swallowing without breaking eye-contact with an increasingly perspiring Sawarr Junelle. Finished, I turned to Lucy with a blinding smile and proclaimed, "Luce you have got to try this duck. So moist."

I felt a surge of accomplishment rush through me as I pictured our father no doubt shuddering in revulsion at my use of the word 'moist'. How anyone could have a physical reaction to a word is beyond me, but I wasn't above getting a sick pleasure out of it.

Eventually, the rest of the dinner guests went back to their own meals and decidedly boring conversations while I pointedly ignored Jude's furious gaze burning into the side of my head. Those dark eyes promising retribution for the embarrassment I had caused him that night. At the time I hadn't cared, arrogantly believing I could handle anything he threw at me. After all, not a lot scared you once you had experienced the sweet sweet embrace of death.

That was a mistake.

Jude Heartfilia was a lot of things, but he wasn't an idiot. He had an uncanny ability to be able to pinpoint a person's weakness and exploit it - something that probably aided in his rise to being such an industrialist. It just happened that this was the first time he had ever used that on me. Due to the bond we had forged before Layla's death and the return of my memories he often went easy on me. Any disciplinary action consisting of a raised voice and relatively empty threats, despite my constant challenges to his authority.

But not this time.

Instead of going after me, Jude went after my sister, attacking my weak point with the sort of pinpoint precision I would expect from a heart surgeon. The result being the same as if he had cracked open my chest and torn into my heart with a scalpel when the broken sob tore from Lucy's mouth as he announced he would be taking her keys.

As Lucy clung to me that night, sobbing into my neck while I ran my hands soothingly through her hair whispering apologies, I vowed to never put Lucy's happiness at risk again. No matter how angry I got, I needed to bide my time until we were free.

That was the beginning of Jude Heartfilia's cruelty. It was 2 weeks before Lucy received her keys back, and I had requested that she summon Aquarius, Cancer, and Taurus for me to apologise and take the blame for Lucy having lost them.

Taurus seemed to like my tits too much to bother holding a grudge, and when my left eye started to twitch in increasing frustration as the celestial minotaur continued to stare at my chest with heart-eyes Lucy dismissed him before things got messy. Cancer forgave me without question, commenting offhandedly about how I should have cut Sawarr's hand off. And Aquarius simply attempted to drown me in the bath while calling me a stupid little girl and threatening to actually kill me if I ever had Lucy summon her from a bath again. I had to stop myself from shouting at her that I was technically in my 30's and to shut the fuck up.

That was the moment I insisted that Lucy learned to requip, so that nobody could take her keys from her again. Like in the anime, Lucy's lack of confidence in her magical abilities stood in my way. That self-doubt was something I had trouble relating to.

Like Lucy, I was a bit vain with a tendency to be an attention-whore - in my past life I would often act out for attention or say the most scandalous things to elicit a response. I was also highly arrogant of my abilities. Pride would always be my biggest flaw. And coming into this world with the previous knowledge I had only exacerbated this, making me sometimes believe I was untouchable since I already knew how everything would play out.

Of course, that wasn't the case, and my Oedipus level hubris - minus the incest - was quickly proving to be my downfall in most confrontations. A trend I could honestly see continuing into the future to my frustration.

I often forgot that Lucy didn't have the same experiences that I had had to fall back on. The things that I found old-hat were new and daunting for the 14-year-old girl. Our etiquette lessons had served to give Lucy confidence in her looks, but that was the only thing the girl had confidence in. Even her talents were so riddled with insecurities it had taken her 4 separate attempts to admit to me that she was trying her hand at writing a novel. I had encouraged her with suitable exuberance, insisting that she let me read it and subtly influencing her creative direction.

One night Lucy was having a particularly hard time practising her requip magic, studying from a book I had procured through Bero under the guise of being interested in the field from a purely academic point of view. After hearing her curse under her breath for the umpteenth time, she fell backwards onto the carpet and gripped at her hair in frustration.

"Cassie I'm never gonna get this!"

"Sure you will!" I cheered automatically from where I was sprawled over the bed above her, half of my attention still on the book I was reading about the history of Fiore.

"No, I won't!" Lucy wailed as she wiggled in frustration. "Aquarius is right! I'm just a dumb little girl who will never get a boyfriend and will die a spinster with 23 cats!"

It was proclamations like that that left no doubt in my mind that we were related.

Glancing out of the balcony doors I was happy to see that it was a clear night. Standing over my sister's prone body, I held out my hand and waggled it in her face until she gripped it and allowed me to tug her to her feet. It was the time of year when the Leo constellation would be perfect for viewing and I admitted that gazing at the stars that made him up made me feel closer to my favourite celestial spirit.

"Come on Drama-Queen, looks like you could do with a break."

Leading her out to the balcony, I snagged one of the blankets on the back of the loveseat along the way. Dropping down onto the cool stone I tugged Lucy down with me, throwing the blanket around our shoulders and pulling her close to my side. Resting my cheek against her crown I tucked her head underneath my chin while she curled one arm around my waist. Soon enough things descended into our most common competition of who could spot the most constellations, and then who could name the most stars.

"You're not gonna be a spinster with 23 cats," I told her when we had finally named the last star in the sky and were simply sitting in content silence. "I'll have you know that that role will undoubtedly belong to me."

"Okay, so we'll be spinsters together. 46 cats between us."

Chuckling at the resignation in her voice I kissed the top of her head, "You're going to fall in love Luce. You're gonna meet a boy who makes you smile, and laugh, and you're going to struggle remembering what life was like without him in it. I promise. Just please remember to visit your crazy cat lady sister."

Images of dark green eyes and blossom pink hair played through my mind as I assured Lucy of her epic romance to come. An ear-splitting grin and infectious laugh, warm hands and an even warmer heart. Once she met Natsu in Hargeon everything would fall into place, and I had to remind myself that I would have to step back from my role as protector to let the pink-haired dragonslayer take over. The majority of NaLu moments were when they were both facing extreme danger together, or when Natsu was there to pick up the pieces when Lucy finally broke. Sometimes I wondered if Mashima just really enjoyed drawing Lucy crying.

Turning her face towards mine, Lucy blinked her big brown eyes at me as they sparkled with mirth. "You're going to find that too, Cassie!" She assured me with a sly grin. "There's gotta be at least one guy out there who's brave enough to put up with you!"

"Why you little!" Narrowing my eyes at her in offense, Lucy's laughter soon turned to shrieks as the hand around her shoulders dropped to her ribs and started tickling in earnest. It soon descended into an all-out tickle war, both of us being intimately familiar with the places on each other's bodies that when touched most likely would result in a foot to the face in retaliation. Moments like this I felt more like the 14-year old I was supposed to be and like my past self was slowly slipping away the more I immersed myself in my new existence.

Once we had finally sobered, now laying splayed out across the balcony with our heads nestled in the curve of the other's shoulder, I turned my face so my nose brushed against her cheek. "I really wish you had more confidence in yourself Luce," my words sounded too-loud in the cool night air, despite the fact that I had spoken barely above a whisper, "You are so much more than what you think you are. What our asshole father has made you think you are."

"I'm not like you, Cassie," Lucy finally whispered into the night, "I'm not brave or clever or talented. I'm just pretty. Sometimes I wonder if I was the 'mistake'."

"Bullshit!" I sat up so that I could stare down at her, seeing the sheer frustration on my face reflected in her eyes. "You are so much more than just pretty," I spat the words out mockingly, "You are beautiful. You are kind and forgiving and have an enviable capacity for love. You were born absolutely fucking perfect and I have had enough of you being ashamed of it. God makes no mistakes and you were born this way for a reason. You were born for a reason."

While tears welled up in Lucy's eyes I realised the sheer amount of Lady Gaga references I had used in my pep-talk. And quite frankly, I couldn't find a single fuck to give about it. Lucy could do with some of Mother Monster's wisdom right about now and she should count herself lucky I hadn't started singing yet. If it came to that though, I damn well would. Unlike my previous body, this one wasn't tone deaf and could actually hold a tune quite well.

My daydreams of an impromptu Lady Gaga covers concert were interrupted by Lucy launching herself at me and attempting to strangle me with her skinny little arms. My own arms instantly came up and around her, holding her firmly against me, as she sniffled into my neck.

"I love you so much," Her words were muffled against my skin, but they still managed to make me feel like I was basking in sunlight, "I promise to start loving myself just as much."

"That's a pretty bold claim there Luce, I mean I love you with the power of a thousand suns exploding into a supernova of kittens and rainbows."

Hearing her wet laughter against my neck assured me that my romantic-comedy love-confession had done the trick. Ah, nothing like lame with extra cheese to break the tension. On a more serious note, however, I truly hoped that my sister would start to love herself as much as I did and seeing herself as the amazing person she was instead of just a pretty doll to sell to the highest bidder.

Eventually I would have to hand over the role of protector to Natsu, but for now, I was more than content to make the most of being Lucy's hero myself.

AN: Hi everyone! This is the last chapter before we jump into the main Fairy Tail storyline - that's right team, we're off to Hargeon! Thank you so much to everyone who has followed or favourited this story so far, I'm hoping you're enjoying it! I've also come to the decision that if a chapter receives 4 reviews, I'll post a Sneak Peek of upcoming chapters after my Authors Notes. I'm happy enough not to do this, but if you're eager to know what's coming up next drop me a line and let me know what you want to see =)

Also, I know Cassie's 'voice' has changed a lot in this chapter compared to the previous one. This is partly because of the timeskip - I mean she's a bit older now - but also because her old personality of Rory McAdams is marrying up with her current personality of Cassie Heartfilia. Rory was a sarcastic, feminist, dramatic, foul-mouthed meme-lover lol so pair that with over-protective child prodigy and we get a very BIG personality.

In My Dreams 0220: Thanks, I look forward to seeing where I take this too! Hopefully, you enjoy the ride haha

dreamerwithapen: I'm stoked that you're loving Cassie as much as I do. Plus doesn't everyone desperately want to be friends with Natsu? I mean, come on, the guy is like GOALS lol

Aguyinasushibar: I'm super happy that you like what I'm doing so far! I promise my chapters will get longer once we reach the more nitty gritty action, I'm just not wanting to drag this backstory and exposition out too much right now.

Ink Outside The Lines: Yasss I'm so happy you're enjoying this! I promise this is the last chapter that will be so exposition heavy - this was just the easiest way I felt to get you guys all the information needed to not be completely lost when we get to the fun stuff. And as for looking forward to Cassie meeting the rest of the Fairy Tail gang - you and me both my guy! There is definitely gonna be a bit of 'this isn't quite as I remember it' moments, which will be a lot of fun! I hope lol

As always, happy reading!

- susiesamurai xo