Keeping a Piece of Me
Chapter 7: Decision Making
Lucy woke up to the sounds of someone giggling, followed by a clicking noise that sounded awfully like a camera.
Too tired to pay any attention to her 'over active imagination', the blonde ignored the sounds and snuggled closer to Natsu's warm chest. She smiled softly, attempting to reclaim her sleep when she heard another camera noise, followed by an all-too-familiar voice.
"They liiiiiiike each other!"
The blonde's eyes suddenly snapped open as she immediately shoved away from the male's chest, earning a groan from the unsuspecting victim. Unfortunately for Lucy, that shove had sent her off her bed, thumping against the hard-wood flooring.
She groaned, feeling the back of her neck heat up as a blue exceed flew next to the blonde, smirking mischievously. He held a camera in his paws, the look in his eyes making the woman shiver.
However her creeped out feeling quickly turned to anger.
"What the hell do you think you're doing here?!" She hissed, making the cat summon his wings and fly up to her bed.
"Natsu! Lushi is scaring me!" He exclaimed, burrowing himself under the covers next to his partner. The male stirred and sat up, propping himself up on his elbows. He let out a very loud yawn and stretched out his back, reaching to pat the place where Lucy was sleeping.
He made a noise of confusion and looked over the side of the bed to see the blonde looking completely enraged on the floor. Oblivious as always, he gave her a large smile.
"Hey Luce!" He greeted, making the woman's eye twitch.
"Tell the cat to hand the camera over." She said as calmly as she could (which wasn't calm at all). He involuntarily shivered at her voice before lifting the covers where Happy had hid.
"Why does he have a camera?" Natsu then asked, blinking as he easily took the camera away from the exceed. When he got no response, he looked over to the mage, seeing her avoiding his eye contact while her face vaguely resembled a tomato.
"C-Can you guys just go home?" She stuttered, attempting to look angry when she was really just embarrassed. If you asked the male why she was embarrassed, he wouldn't be able to tell you. Women were just weird.
"Gladly!" Happy chirped, zooming out of the window while Natsu blinked in confusion. He hesitated for a moment, before following the blue cat out of the window, though he wasn't going home. He just sat outside her apartment, ready to beat up any assassins that may come to attack Lucy.
The blonde, however, was still sitting inside her apartment, cursing at herself for being so awkward. Honestly.
She forced herself off her floor and went over to her dresser, trying to ease the blush she knew was on her cheeks. Why did he have this stupid effect on her?
With a shake of her head, she pushed all the thoughts from that morning to the back of her mind. She had more important things to worry about at the moment.
Like this whole situation that she was trapped in. The Heartfilia's knew where she lived, and there was a good chance that they knew she was in Fairy Tail, which was even worse. It was only a matter of time until they would come and kill her, and she was in no position to make a fuss.
The Heartfilias had hundreds of trained assassins, and the blonde knew her parents well enough to know that they would send every single one out to destroy her and her guild. The two men sent after her didn't know she had magic- which was strange knowing that her parents knew about her spirits when she was… captured.
Was it a test, maybe? To see if she would kill them? The more she thought about it, the less sense it made, but her brain was stuck on the idea.
Ignoring it altogether, Lucy opened a drawer of her dresser, picking out a white shirt with blue trimmings and two thick blue stripes. She chose a black skirt to match and pulled out a brown belt that she tied around her hips, attaching her keys and whip to it as well.
She then went into her bathroom, cringing at her rats-nest hair. She quickly picked up her pink comb and began to brush her out, working through tangles and knots. Once she was finished, she styled it into a side pony, using a blue ribbon to keep it in place.
After checking over her appearance for the umpteenth time, she exited her bathroom, returning to her main room. She wandered to her door, but paused upon hearing a noise from her ceiling. She instinctively reached for her keys, her eyes narrowing as the sound disappeared.
The woman looked around her apartment quickly, but paused when she saw a small blue lacrima sitting on her counter. Immediately, a bad feeling rose in her chest as she went towards it, seeing that a note was sitting beside it.
Picking it up, her eyes roamed over the words, her jaw clenching as she looked back to the lacrima.
When you have the time, watch this little video we put together for you.
-The Heartfilias
She moved over to her window and shut it, closing the blinds along with it. She moved back to her counter, picking the lacrima up and sitting down at her table.
Tapping the top of the rectangular crystal twice, it made a small 'ding' before a blue screen appeared in front of her. A moment later, a woman appeared on the screen, making Lucy's blood run cold.
"Hello, Lucy. If you are watching this, that means Don hasn't fucked anything up."
The woman on screen brushed her long golden hair over her shoulder, a malicious and wicked look in her brown eyes. The woman looked so identical to Lucy, it made her sick.
"I just wanted to tell you that we really miss you here back home. And your Father and I would really appreciate you coming back home. It seems that our um… 'workers' had failed in bringing you back, so we'll have to do it the good old fashioned way."
Lucy stared at the screen, her hands beginning to tremble as she clasped them tightly in her lap.
"If you do not return within the next week, I will be sure to send out a few of my workers to retrieve that little boy toy of yours. And I wouldn't doubt me. He isn't as strong as you think he is."
There was a small pause as Lucy's jaw clenched.
"It seems like you haven't told anyone about your family heritage, and honestly- it pains me. To think you aren't proud of what your Father and I do… it breaks my heart."
A cruel laugh bubbles out of the woman's throat as Lucy flinched, her breathing beginning to quicken. She doesn't even notice the tears that were collecting in her eyes, all she could focus on was the unforgivingly dark eyes of her Mother.
"If you choose not to return, I will make sure your little boyfriend fears you by the time I'm finished with him. I also won't forget to tell your precious family about how you're a Heartfilia. I will make them hate you with every ounce of their being. If you think I'm lying, here's a little visual of what I'll do to the Dragon Slayer."
The camera suddenly turned around to a tall man with dirty blonde hair. He was smiling crazily as he held a rather large machete in his hands. He looked almost animalistic.
Lucy felt her sobs begging to escape as the camera zoomed out a little, revealing more of the room. There was a man who was on his knees, gagged and blindfolded. He visibly shook as her Father laughed wickedly, raising the machete and slamming it down into the man's neck.
Her eyes widened to the size of saucers as a sob tore from her throat, hearing the man scream in pure agony as her Father wacked him over and over with the machete, killing him painfully slow.
She tore her eyes away from the screen, shutting them tightly as bile rose in the back of her throat. Running to her sink, she emptied her stomach contents, into it, still hearing the man screech in pain.
Minutes felt like years, and the screaming finally stopped, but she could hear the distinct sound of the blade hitting the man's skin.
"Now, please make your decision. Feel free to watch this as many times as you want, Lucy Ashley. You'll be a Heartfilia again soon enough."
With that, the lacrima shut off, the screen disappearing.
Lucy washed out her mouth with some water, her stomach churning with resentment towards her parents. They hadn't given her any loophole, she couldn't just run away this time. The one person she cared about most in the world- his life was at stake.
It was time to stop thinking about herself, and return to them. But protecting her family was more important than her life.
She knew by returning, she was willingly giving her life away.
Yo. So I had like no inspiration yesterday, so I kind of was just like- "Tomorrow is good." So I updated today.
Anyhow, I hope this was satisfactory for all of y'all and I hope you're enjoying it. I'm actually excited for the next few chapters, which means they may or may not be longer then usual. The next chapter is going to be a doosey. I'm also thinking about a new story that I'm itching to write, to watch out for that.
I hope you have a fan-freaking-tastic day/afternoon/night!
Until next time my loves!
