Our Shelter

by Icarus213

"I found you on a bridge." "You came one day, on the steps." "The stork brought you." "I found you outside the building inside a cardboard box." These are all funny excuses parents make when kids ask, "Mommy, Daddy, where did I come from?" However, in the Fairy Tail Shelter, these are all true stories.

10. The Truth

"Master!" Erza bursts into a hospital room, looking around frantically until she sees Lucy lying down on one of the beds, her frantic expression turning sad, "Is Lucy alright?"

Makarov looks up, and nods, "The doctors said that she would be fine, she just needs some rest. They also said that it's very possible that stress and anger is the reason of her sudden collapse."

Erza frowns at this, "Stress? Anger? But she was smiling and laughing just the other day."

"Exactly. That confused me as well. So I asked Mirajane to look into news on the Heartfilia Inc., and she found some interesting information," taking out several magazines and newspaper clippings, Makarov passes them over to Erza.

"Heartfilia Reunion, Love Returns to the Household... The Heartfilia Siblings... Master..." Erza's expression changes as she picks up a certain magazine, looking both horrified and intrigued, "What is this?"

Makarov sighs, "It truly is terrible, isn't it?"

Erza shows the magazine to Makarov, revealing a girl with a bikini, making a pose that would have made any man hoot. Eyes widening, Makarov grabs it out of Erza's hand, throwing it out the window, "I don't know how that got there... Continue looking at the other articles, Erza."

Erza stares at Makarov momentarily before continuing to sift through the articles, "Returned Heartfilia Begins Road to Success... Heartfilia Maiden and the Engagement... Death of the Heartfilia Mistress... Heartfilia Maiden Commits Suicide..." at the last article, Erza puts a hand to her open mouth, looking at Lucy's sleeping face, "Master... Does this mean...?"

Makarov nods sadly, "It seems Lucy didn't have too great of an experience with her family..."

Kneeling down beside the bed, Erza holds one of Lucy's hands, tears rolling down her face, "I can't believe we let you go to that horrible place..."

Makarov goes over to Erza and pats her back, looking at Lucy with a pained expression, "We must do everything we can to make sure she gets better. Don't tell the others about what happened."

Erza looks up at Makarov through tearful eyes and nods, "Yes, Master. We must truly do everything we can to help her..."

Makarov smiles at this, and walks out of the hospital room, sighing, "Now we just have to make sure she's not found..."