Chapter 3

Unsteady

A/N: I'm back everyone with another chapter! Once again I'll be putting up a warning for the darks themes of this story just in case but other than that sit back and enjoy the chapter! BTW This chapter has a special shout out to my best friend Animeguitar96 she is an amazing person and without her, I would not be writing at this moment in my life!

Lucy was the first one at the cart, she had been walking past the medical cart when she heard a blood-curdling scream. She quickly ran in and froze at what she saw, lying on one of the medical beds was her long lost best friend crying her eyes out in her sleep. The young girl was shaking, as if cold, even though she had several layers of blankets covering her her tiny body. Porlyusica and Wendy were trying to wake the girl up to free her from the nightmare's claws.

"Levy?" Lucy breathed quickly she pushed passed Porlyusica and Wendy to hug the tiny crying blue hair girl, who were both trying to help Levy settle down. The girl slowly began to calm down and she woke up, her dazed amber eyes soon found Lucy's watery brown eyes. Lucy was in shock, what had happened to her once happy go lucky friend? With her bright amber eyes that could light up the room or her bouncy blue hair. Both were as dull as a gray sky on a depressing day, the Levy Lucy had left was completely gone. The one she had in her arms was a broken and shattered shell of a girl she had once known.

"Lu- Lu-Lucy?" Levy stuttered and she broke down crying and Lucy tightened her hug. Lucy pulled herself onto the messy bed, and held Levy tightly, but not too tight as she feared that she might break her friend even more. Porlyusica and Wendy soon realized that it was best for the two girls to have some privacy, Porlyusica whispered to Wendy to go check on the animals, the young girl grabbed a clipboard and quickly went out while Porlyusica began getting supplies ready in case anything went wrong with the vast amount of animals they had.

"It's alright Levy, I'm here, I'm here!" Lucy whispered trying to calm her down, gently running her hand thru Levy's tangled mane. Levy, on the other hand, couldn't make heads or tails of what was going on. Was she in heaven? Did Jet actually kill her finally or did that panther actually eat her while she slept? She wanted to look around where she was at but that scared her even more, she didn't want to know if this was heaven or hell just yet. Tears began to flow from her eyes and stained Lucy's blue and white shirt she was wearing, but Lucy didn't care.

"Levy," Lucy said softly not wanting to spook the frightened girl,"Levy please look at me?" Levy took a deep breath and summoned up the little courage she had in her to look up at her long lost best friend. "Levy what are you doing here?" Lucy asked softly, only to cause more tears to flow from the dull amber eyes. Lucy felt a sharp pain in her heart as she watched her once strong best friend break down in front of her.

"I'm dead aren't I?" She cried, only to realize the dull stinging pain in her leg, she looked down to see her calf had been neatly stitched up and the glass removed. "I really am dead," She whispered, this couldn't heaven if it was she wouldn't be in pain.

"Levy you are not dead. You're on the circus medical cart in Oak Town." she quietly whispered that seemed to catch the brunette's attention. Circus? Oak Town! But that is nearly thirty miles away from Magnolia. She thought that couldn't be right but once she looked around she realized Lucy was right. Looking around she saw they were in a train cart that had been converted into a medical art. Cabinets hung on the wall stocked with all sorts of medicine and equipment. There were only four beds in the already tight space along with screens to give some form of privacy. In one of the corners, she saw what looked like medical supplies for animals along with a gun.

"Levy what happened to you? Why did you stop responding to the letters I keep sending you?" Lucy asked, only to have anger fill Levy's eyes. Levy didn't want to yell or hurt Lucy but something dark took over her the moment Lucy said those words.

"You stopped writing to me Luce. The past two years-" She stopped to get a hold on her tears as bitter memories flooded her "The past two years I have got nothing from you! I thought you have forgotten all about me. That you no longer cared about me!" She bitterly spat, she hated yelling at Lucy but the bitter and anger she had dwelling inside her had finally spilled over. Levy truly felt that Lucy had abandoned her for the life on the road. Every day she desperately waited for the letters yearning for the comfort only Lucy's letters brought during her darkest moments.

"Every day I waited for them but nothing ever came! I wanted to have some comfort knowing that I wasn't forgotten. Knowing that someone still cared about me in this world!" Her amber eyes met with Lucy's watered brown eyes. Lucy felt a sharp sting in her heart once again. She desperately wanted to do something but her mind wasn't letting her.

She shook her head to get a grip on the horror that ravaged her mind, she had no idea that the letters that she wrote to her held that much importance to Levy. Much less that she wasn't getting them.

"Levy that isn't true. I wrote to you every day! There wasn't a day where I hadn't sent a single letter to you. I would never stop caring about you or ever forget about the one person who helped me escape from my family," The blond said tearfully she reached into the back pocket of her jean shorts to retrieve a letter with Levy's name and address titled on it. Levy gingerly touched it, afraid that it would turn to dust, and with a lead heart realized who could have been the reason the letters never reached their destination. Her mind drifted too much darker memories that caused her to freeze in place.

"Levy? What's wrong?" Lucy asked as she saw the girl go into deep thought, but before Levy could answer the door opened and Levy tensed up in Lucy's arms. Two men came crashing into the already packed medical cart both out of breath. Lucy felt Levy beginning to shake in her arms as the two men approached her only to be stopped Porlyusica, who had her trusty broomstick read in her hands.

Gajeel and Levy eye's met for a moment. He could tell she was terrified of him, her eyes and body said it all. He wanted to talk to her, to comfort her in a way that Lucy was doing right now. But was stopped by a broom that hit him hard in the face.

"Both of you men out! This child is not fit to have any contact with filthy humans just yet!" She snapped, the broom was in her hands ready to strike the ringmaster and Lion tamer, daring them to a single step forward.

"But we heard her screams and wanted to make sure she was alright-!" Makarov began only to be smacked in the face by the broom, knocking off his top hat and sending the elderly man flying into Gajeel.

"Both of you out now! She's fine without you causing her more damage!" She barked. Gajeel having the better sense of the two grabbed the elderly man and made a break for the door. Once it closed shut Porlyusica put the broom down in its corner. She knew that the girl in front of her was going to have a long, long, long recovery ahead of her. At that moment Wendy came back in and placed the clipboard back in its original place.

"Wendy get this girl something to eat and drink, as for you fire dancer," Lucy froze like a deer in headlights, fearing the elderly woman's broomstick more than anything "you stay." She stated, with that the cranky old women began to go thru her medicine cabinet. Mindlessly sorting thru it to give the girls privacy, but kept a sharp ear tuned into what they were saying.

"Levy, did Jet hurt you?" Upon hearing his name Levy flinched, and that was all that was needed for Lucy to confirm her worst fears. Lucy hugged her tightly, he was going to pay for doing this to her best friend. That caught the doctor's attention and she made a mental note to have a one on one sit down with the girl without the fire dancer.

Right from the start Jet had been controlling of Levy but not enough to raise any eyebrows it had been in small ways so small one might even consider it possessiveness, but Lucy had her doubts. Countless times, she worried about Levy's well being and now seeing her battered friend like this made her feel sick to her stomach. She now saw exactly how skinny Levy was, she could make out parts of her arm and shoulder, even though Levy had always been tiny and thin she had never been this thin. Her face was sunken in and no light or happiness radiated off her face like it use to.

"He's never going to touch you again Levy I swear to it!" She growled, anger pooling like a dark pit in her stomach. Wendy returned with a small tray of food and a glass of water. As Levy reached to take the water a shooting pain ripped thru her arm like lightning, causing her to fall back onto Lucy.

"Oh, my gosh Levy!" Porlyusica shushed Lucy out of the bed and away from her friend. Before Levy could say anything the doctor began to gently palpate her arm, a slight twist of her whole arm confirmed what the elderly lady needed to do.

"Child, I need you to hold still for a moment. Your arm has been pulled a bit from your socket it isn't fully but still it needs to be pushed back in." Once again Levy began to shake from sheer terror, why won't the pain stop for once! She wanted to yank her arm away from the lady and just hide away in the corner away from pain and from people. Lucy had made her way around and gently rested her hand on her left shoulder and gave her and it's alright smile. As soon as Levy looked up at Lucy, Porlyusica took her chance and quickly popped the arm back into place. Levy let out a light scream and soon the aching pain was gone.

"There. I'll get you some pain medication but first, eat and drink." She commanded, not leaving Levy any room to protest.

"Don't worry Levy, you are safe here now at Circus Fairy!" With that, Lucy began to introduce her to Wendy one of the youngest people at the Circus. The young girl was extremely kind and sweet as she helped Levy sit up and never did the smile vanish from her face. Deep down Levy realized that maybe just maybe that there was hope; that maybe she can learn to break away from the damage of this abuse.

A/N: Please read this. So due to my schooling and work, I do not have enough time to be working on this story. So please be aware that the December chapter will not take place at it's normal time instead it will take place on Christmas, my gift to all my amazing and awesome fans! Thank you so much for the support and for being patient with this the postings!