Keeper of the Stars

Part Two: Just Lucy

Chapter Eight

Her father and step-mother had been gone away on business for the past three-days and Lucy had noticed something weird about the painting that was placed in her baby sister's nursery.

As she cradled her baby sister in her arms, Lucy narrowed her eyes as she felt someone's gaze pierce her back.

The first day she felt it was the day of her parents' departure and she had continued to feel it every day, the past couple days, whenever she was in the room with Michelle.

Thinking quietly to herself, as she made her way towards the nursery room, she summoned the Corona Borealis- Second Star, and as the earring appeared on her ears in the form of little shining stars, she had finally made it to her sister's room.

"Miss Lucy, I've finished with the young Miss for the day. Please don't hesitate to call for me should you, or she, require anything." Spetto informed the child before she hurried out.

Lucy nodded and, true to form, a figure appeared behind the portrait that was hanging up, just as Spetto closed the door behind her.

At first, Lucy thought Imitatia had asked hired someone to keep an eye on her around Michelle, however, when she would leave Spetto to look over the baby, the figure would disappear from behind the portrait and appear behind another, following her from room to room.

"Hey Misha," The baby girl cooed in reply "Why don't we go outside today for some play time?"

Lucy reached into the cot to pick up the baby, keeping an eye on the illuminated figure hidden in the wall, as she cradled the baby close to her.

Michelle sighed in content as she felt the warmth that always seemed too emanate from the blonde child holding her.

"But first, Misha, let's go to the kitchens to get some snack food, eh?" The little blonde girl nuzzled her nose against the baby's temple, breathing in the scent of the child in her arms and feeling her resolve harden as she did so.

Michelle cooed in delight at her sister's affection as Lucy headed out of the room.

The figure hidden in the painting watched the child leave the room before replacing the eyes of the portrait and making haste towards the hallway so they could follow the pair, however, when the figure managed to get behind one of the many portraits in the hallway, they had found that the hallway was empty.

Hurrying towards the kitchen area, the figure failed to notice that they were being followed.

Upon getting to the kitchen and finding the place deserted of the cooks, the figure narrowed their eyes.

But as they were surveying the kitchen, the figure failed to notice the small child pressed up tightly against the wall as she pressed a hand to the frame and charged it with her magic.

*BANG*

Startled, the figure swore as they were stung by the force of the explosion and their eyes burned from the bright light of the magic.

Falling out of the hole in the wall, the figure knelt down on the ground and rubbed at their eyes so as to get rid of the spots they were seeing.

"Who are you and why are you spying on my family?" The figure froze as a voice as cold as ice whispered menacingly from behind him.

The sharpness of the voice only being emphasised by the feeling of something sharp poking into the left side of their back

Turning their head slightly, the figure came face to face with the current heiress of the Heartfilia Konzern.

The young blonde girl had charged one of the small ornamental swords, that had decorated the hallway, with her magic and pressed into the spy's back.

Brown eyes dull and hard, cold and unfeeling, stared at the figure impassively as she pressed the charged up sword even harder into the figures back when she got no reply.

"I asked you something…" The figure locked eyes with the child and saw that she would be a challenge to deal with.

Hoping to get the weapon away from the girl, in case she hurt someone trying to use it, the figure smiled an obvious fake smile at the girl.

"My Lady, I'm sure there's no need for such drastic measures, please. Lower your weapon." The young girl, Lucy, pressed the tip of her sword harder into the figure kneeling before her.

"You call me your Lady yet I have not seen your face. Remove your mask. Now." The figure sweat-dropped at the cold order from a child who, according to his reports, was meant to be meek and bubbly.

'That fool Tullius…His reports were wrong!' The figure mentally cursed out the man as he slowly reached a hand up towards his head 'Surely she's bluffing…'

With that thought in mind, the figure jumped up and attempted to get away from the child with the dangerous weapon but before he could get away from her, he felt a light pressure hit his back before he could get away.

'W-What…?' Turning back, as if in slow motion, the last thing he saw before he felt the intense pressure on his back explode, was the cold brown eyes of the young heiress as she stalked towards him

'B-But…how?' The force from the explosion had sent the man flying through the kitchen doors and out on to the back patio.

As Lucy stalked towards him, she ripped off his mask and got a good look at his face.

Light brown hair hung over down to his shoulders and he had grey eyes that were wide open with fright, she sneered at the look on the man's face as she raised her sword towards him threateningly.

"Last chance, worm. Who. Are. You." The young man, writhed in pain from the burns on his back as he tried to shuffle away from the young girl.

"P-Please…Spare me, PLEASE! I WAS ONLY FOLLOWING ORDERS!" He threw himself at the young girl's feet and wept, begging for his life.

"Who gave you those orders?" The man before her sniffled before her as he clumsily told her everything.

"H-His name was…is…Marcus. Marcus Tullius." Lucy raised a brow at the young man's words.

'Tullius, huh? Hmph.' She had always thought there was something shady about that man.

"Why?" She questioned. "B-Because he pro-promised me so-some of the riches! Please! I have a family!" The man before her sobbed.

"For what purpose? Quit your snivelling." She rolled her eyes exasperatedly as the young man continued to sob at her feet.

"We-We were meant to…k-kidnap either you or the young miss before his lordship returns…I was given the job to…spy…learn your routine so we could…get you at an open opportunity…" He shamefully bowed his head under the heavy weight of the child's glare.

"Why did you agree?" Lucy questioned. She thought over his words and understood why Tullius would do that.

The man before her stuttered as he spoke "I-I um…My wife and I, we're poor, my father sold our family farm to your father to make way for more railway tracks…my father left us behind with nothing but a measly shack. My wife was once employed by the late Lady Heartfilia but, for some reason, upon her passing your father dismissed her with no explanation." He said bitterly.

'I am a fool.' he thought bitterly to himself. 'Their father is the reason why…that damned Jude…'

Lucy felt her heart twinge as the man spoke, she could clearly hear the disdain in his voice. 'Stop it, he was going to take Misha…'she gripped the hilt of the short sword tighter.

"Oh…so you were going to hold either myself or my sister ransom for money?" She asked.

"Yeah…I didn't want to but Tullius made a good point…My wife and I are starving, we have an eight-year-old little boy and my wife has just had our second son…I had no other option" He bowed his head, ashamed. He had told his wife he would return with enough money to get them back on their feet.

'But now? She will get a husband locked up behind bars and who knows what will become of my children…' The man thought to himself in despair. He really felt like crying at that moment and so he hunched over to bury his head in his hands.

'I should never have trusted Tullius…' He thought to himself bitterly. His wife had warned him many times that the old fool was as cunning as he was a liar.

Lucy felt a bit of regret seep through her as the man winced when he stretched his back.

"Look, I'm sorry about trying to kill you, but I was afraid that you were going to harm my sister. I couldn't allow that to happen."The man before her flinched at her words.

"Tullius said it would be an easy job, that no one in this place used magic but…you spotted me on the first day, didn't you?" He said wryly.

"Yeah." Lucy confirmed as she studied the minor burns on the man's back.

There was a reason why the stake out had lasted as long as three days, "I didn't want to." He rubbed his arm as he looked to the side, avoiding the young girls gaze.

"I didn't want to kidnap either of you…not once I saw the way you interacted with the baby…I…My wife and I, we have a son. He's eight years old…and my wife, she's still recovering from the birth of our second child…we really are desperate for money."

"My sons, they're the same ages as you both and your sister." He told the young girl, though he was unsure why he was confiding in such a young person.

Lucy frowned and, though she kept a tight grip on the hilt of her blade, she ushered the older man onto one of the kitchen stools, ignoring the young man's feeble protests.

"Please, no…" He weakly tried to push her away but the pain was something new to him and all he could do was grimace in pain.

Lucy grimly frowned at the damage done to his back and while it wasn't deadly, it still wasn't anything to smile at either.

"I did this to you and I can fix it. Hold still." And at that, he silently did as she said.

"What's your name?" She asked him as she forced magic into her hand, less malevolent than the type she used to stop him.

"Grimm. Basil Grimm." Lucy hummed in reply as she poured her magic over the wounds that she had caused the man.

"Chef!" Her sudden shout made the man, Basil, jump in his seat as a tall, grumpy man walked into the kitchen.

"Well I can see you haven't fucking killed anyone, brat. Good. I don't like blood. It's a fucking headache to clean." Basil felt his eyebrows raise almost to the top of his forehead at the man's cursing and felt himself wanting to reprimand the fellow speaking like that in front of a little girl.

However, the receding pain in his back reminded him that, little or not, the girl packed a mean punch.

"I'd like you to create as much food as you can while I take Mr. Grimm here on a tour around the mansion. Misha is safe. We'll be back in an hour." The chef raised a brow and scoffed at the young girl but followed her orders anyway.

"Mr. Grimm, if you'd be so kind as to follow me." Flabbergasted, all Basil could do was stare after the little girl as she made her way towards to doorway.

"Well?" She said through gritted teeth as she paused and looked back at him.

"Are you coming or not?" Basil stood up and scrambled after the young girl, feeling awe fill him as there was no longer any tightness pulling at his back.

'S-She…healed me?' He thought to himself, hesitantly reaching a hand up to feel at his back. Laughing breathlessly as he felt nothing but smooth skin, he even felt the ache in his back from a fall he had taken some years ago, disappear.

"She would have killed you, you know." Startled, Basil turned around to face the chef.

"Pardon?" The chef shrugged nonchalantly in reply.

"She would have killed you, and had she not, I would have." The chef aggressively cut up the vegetables as he spoke.

"But she didn't. You have an hour before you can fuck off, I suggest you get a move on." Basil gulped and he didn't doubt for a second that the chef in front of him would have no trouble in cutting him up.

"R-Right." The mousy young man nodded before he sprinted through the door and after the young heiress.

"Fucking twit." The chef muttered under his voice as he continued to cut up and prepare food that could feed an army.

"Our heiress may be cold, but she still has that heart of gold inherited from her mother…suppose that's a good thing." He mused to himself as fellow cooks entered the kitchen to help him cook and servants entered to fix and replace the painting on the wall.

"Oi! You lot! Get over here!" "YES, CHEF!"

C.C.

A/N: Sooo it wasn't Tullius himself but someone he hired. Cookies to whoever can guess who Basil Grimm is without resorting to Google. Also, can anyone guess who the chef is? Shouldn't be too hard haha

Special Thanks: Flamey Owl, Misty Raymond, artistofthemind and of course the lovely Ice Huntress.

Thank you guys for your kind words! I'm usually never happy with what I write but seeing everyone's enthusiasm and really nice words makes me think you're all lying to make me feel better :P jk.

Thank you also to the people who have favourite and followed this story! I've passed 100 followers! Yay.

Um, this might be a bit weird and idk if I'm technically allowed to add this in but whatever. I love reading fanfics just as much as I love writing them. If any of you have any suggestions on good Lucy fics then could you lot please drop their titles in a review or pm? Would love to find and read more.