Recommendation: Dragon Scales by Jazmin Gato

I feel like the song Little Me is one of those songs that I can connect to. I'm getting emotional listening to it, and I need to follow its advice. I wish more songs were like this one. ANYONE THAT DOESN'T FEEL PROUD OF HIM/HERSELF MENTALLY OR PHYSICALLY AND FEELS LONELY OR IGNORED LIKE ME LISTEN TO LITTLE ME and CHANGE YOUR LIFE BY LITTLE MIX! That's my advice. Also, I hope this chapter is good. I like it, but I'm a bit iffy on how everyone else will like it.

~ Lucy's P.O.V. ~

I closed my eyes and expected to fall until I hit the ground. That didn't happen. I fell a few feet. Then warm arms wrapped around me and pulled me into a hard chest. My eyes widened in shock. I looked up and saw an angry Natsu's. Confusion and fear swirled inside me. Was he mad at me or Phantom? What if he's mad at both? I push those thoughts out of my head as Natsu lands and set me down. He doesn't say a word as he unties me. His silence shouldn't make me nervous, but it does for some reason. I sit down and rub my wrists when he gets them untied.

"Mom!" Happy yells. I turn my head and see him flying to me. I turned and opened my arms for him. He flies into my arms and cries. "I'm so sorry! I'm sorry I couldn't protect you!"

I smiled sadly and pet his head. "It's ok, Happy," I said softly. "Those two were some of the strongest in Phantom Lord, so it's ok. I couldn't do anything either once they took my keys away."

"I was so scared," Happy whimpered. "I thought they were going to hurt you like they did to Shadow Gear." I flinched at the reminder of team Shadow Gear. They're pain is my fault. "Then I saw you jump from the tower, and I thought you were going to die!" I thought so too, Happy. You don't need to know that though. You've been through enough.

"Why did you jump?" Natsu asked.

I held Happy a little closer to me. I guess there's no hiding my past now. He deserves to know since it's causing so much pain to everyone. "I didn't want to go back to my father," I said quietly.

Natsu growled. "How stupid are you?" he growled. I flinched at his tone. "If I hadn't caught you, you would be dead!" he yelled. "Stop doing stupid things like that! Why would you even jump? A few bruises are much better than being dead! What does your dad even have to do with this?"

Tears filled my eyes. I tried to keep them in, but I couldn't. He's going to be mad when he sees the tears. He'll think I'm weak. Will he beat me like father would? I started to tremble. He's never hurt me before, but father never hurt me until mom died. Will Natsu start hurting me now? The feeling of safety I felt when being with Natsu suddenly left me, and I felt cold and afraid. "I'm sorry," I cried. "I'm so sorry." I let go of Happy, and moved away from him. I don't deserve to hold Happy. "All of this is my fault. The war is my fault. I made everyone suffer. I made everyone get hurt." A sob ripped out of me. I hunched over and buried my face in my hands. "I didn't want to go back! I didn't want to get tortured by my father again! I was going to die either way, so I might as well make it on my own terms! I don't want to go back! I want to stay at Fairy Tail! I love it here! I love Fairy Tail!" I sobbed even harder.

"Tortured?" Happy asked in shock. "How would he torture you?"

"He hit me all the time," I sobbed. "He beat me to relieve stress, and I look so much like mom that he takes it as an insult! He threw me across the room, choked me, and cut me with broken bottles! He'd beat me until I passed out from the pain! Then he'd leave me until one of the maids found me! I can't take it anymore! I can't take being beaten for everything I did! I can't take being beaten for things I didn't do! If I so much as breathed, he would beat me! I'm useless! A waste of air! A waste of space! I'm only a disappointment! I can't take it! I can't go back!" I couldn't hear anything other than my own sobs. I felt a hand on my head and flinched. So the beatings start. The hand slowly started to stroke my hair. Why isn't he beating me? My sobs slowly die down to soft hiccups. I slowly look up at Natsu.

His eyes are gentle. "Let's go back to the guild," he said softly. I slowly nodded and tried to stand up, but my legs buckled, and I landed on the ground again. Natsu sighs softly and kneels down in front of me. To my shock, he held his arms out to me as if inviting me for a hug. I hesitantly reached out for him. I wrap my arms around his neck and burry my face in the crook of his neck. Natsu wraps one arm around my waist and his other arm under my knees. He picks me up easily. Why is he being so gentle? Isn't he mad? I didn't question his actions though. I just held onto him as he and Happy flew back to the guild. I slowly fell asleep in Natsu's arms.

~ Natsu's P.O.V. ~

Lucy slowly relaxed in my arms, and when I looked down, I found that she was asleep. I growled softly when I saw the tear stains on her face. She shouldn't cry. She should be happy and smiling like usual. What did Phantom tell her? And what does her father have to do with all this? Sure, someone can get a request to find someone, but the entire guild wouldn't get involved. I sighed and shook my head. I'll have to ask her when she wakes up.

"We aren't going to send her back, right?" Happy suddenly asked.

"No," I said. Not after what she had to go through. No wander she's so scared of getting yelled at. I looked at where I was going. I could see the destroyed guild now since it's faster to fly than travel by land. Happy and I soon landed in front of the guild hall and walked to the basement. I lightly shook Lucy to wake her up. She snuggled into me instead. My cheeks felt a little warm, but I brushed it off. There are more important matters to think about than how cute she is when she's trying not to wake up. I sighed and shook her some more. "Wake up," I said. Lucy slowly woke up, but she didn't let me go. At least she's awake. Why won't she look around though? Does she think everyone will be angry at her? I sighed again and walked down to the basement. Everyone went dead silent as they saw me walk down the stairs. Their eyes grew wide in shock when they saw me holding Lucy. I ignored them and set her down on a barrel in a corner.

I turned to everyone in the room and glared. They flinched and looked at the ground. "Where's the old man?" I asked. No one answered, and I growled. "Well?" I growled as my glare turned deadly.

"Master is at Porlyusica's," I heard Mira say. I turned my glare to her. She flinched at its intensity and took a step back. "He was badly injured in the fight against Phantom Lord," she explained.

I sighed in irritation and turned back to Lucy. My gaze instantly softened when I saw her. She hung her head and covered her stomach with her arms. I could see her trembling in fear. I slowly stroked her hair. She relaxed just the slightest bit. "What does he have to do with this war?" I asked. I made sure that my voice held no anger or irritation. I was shocked to see that she became even more scared than before I started to comfort her.

"He hired the entire Phantom Lord guild to bring me back," she said quietly.

The only sign of shock I let anyone see was my hand freezing for a second. Who has that kind of money? When I continued to stroke her hair, I asked, "Who's your father?"

She hesitated before mumbling, "Jude Heartfilia." My eyes widened in shock, and my hand stilled again. I heard the entire guild gasp. I hadn't known that the guild had been quiet enough to let everyone hear our conversation. "I'm so sorry," she cried. "If I go back, this will end. No one else will get hurt." My eyes widened even more. She'd go back to her father to protect us? I then remembered some of the things she said earlier.

"If I so much as breathed, he would beat me! I'm useless! A waist of air! A waist of space! I'm only a disappointment!"

I growled loudly. She flinched away from me. "I'm so sorry," she sobbed. "For an entire year, he didn't do a thing about his runaway daughter! Then suddenly he wants me home again! This all happened because I ran away!" She buried her face in her hands again. She really thinks it's all her fault.

"No," Elfman suddenly said. "You're father is the evil one!" You have no idea how right you are, Elfman.

"Shut it, idiot," Gray said sternly. "Don't say things like that."

"Eh," Elfman suddenly said frantically. "No, wait! I mean Phantom! Phantom is the evil one!" I raised a brow at him. Is this his way of trying to comfort her? Lucy sobbed louder. I glared at Elfman, but he paid no attention to me. He was trying not to cry as well. "A man can't stand to see a girl cry!" he yelled.

Gray scratched the back of his head and looked at Lucy with concern. "Don't cry," he said. "It's not like you." He's right. She gets scared, but she doesn't openly cry like this.

Lucy shook her head and wailed. My heart cracked at the sound. "I have to go back! I have to leave!"

I gave Lucy a stern look even though she can't see it. "You're staying here whether you like it or not," I said. Everyone gasped. Lucy suddenly stopped crying and looked at me with wide eyes. "That beast doesn't deserve you. You're supposed to annoy me all the time and be smiling and happy. If you don't agree, I'll just tie you up while I turn everyone that wants to take you away into ashes." Lucy's eyes started to water again, but she nodded and gave me a small smile. That's better. I don't want to hear her cry again. Happy flies over and sits on her lap. He gives her a warm smile, which she returned with a few tears still slowly rolling down her face. I moved to stand closer to her and looked at the rest of the guild. They had small smiles on their faces as they turned back to whatever they were doing before Lucy, Happy, and I came in.

I noticed that Loke was staring at Lucy with a serious face. Why is he staring at her like that? Is he trying to figure out how to flirt with her? Of course, he's been avoiding her since they first met. Why? I glared at Loke. If he's actually trying to figure out how to flirt with her, I'll beat him to a bloody pulp. I intensified my glare, and he soon felt my gaze. When he looked at me, he flinched and quickly walked somewhere else to help with battle preparations.

I turned my gaze to the others in the room. Cana was trying to figure something out with her cards. She suddenly threw her cards down in frustration. "It's no good!" she yelled. "I have no idea where Mystogan is!" So that's what she was looking for. It would definitely help to have him in the fight. He's strong. Not that I'll ever tell him that.

"Really?" Mira asked. "That's too bad." I turned my gaze to Mira, who was standing a few feet behind Cana. She was standing in front of a big communication lacrima.* Who is she trying to contact? There are a few strong people on missions at the moment.

"If Lucy is their target," Cana continued, "then they'll come and attack again. We've got a lot of wounded. This could be bad." Even though she drinks so much, she has a brain. I don't think many people in the guild have thought of that.

A face showed on the communication lacrima. It was Laxus. Does she actually think he'll help? "The master is in critical condition," Mira explained, "and we can't find Mystogan. You're the only one who we can ask for help, Laxus." He's never going to help defend the guild, and definitely not Lucy.

"Huh?" Laxus sneered. I growled quietly. He grates on my nerves more than anyone in the guild. He's way too cocky. Next time he's here, I'll have to beat him down a peg or ten.

"Please," Mira begged. "Come back and help Fairy Tail in its darkest hour." I raised a brow. It seems I've been moved down from Fairy Tail's darkest hour. It's nice, but more importantly, it's not going to make Laxus help.

Laxus laughed. "You mean that old fart finally almost croaked?" He smirked at Mira. "Do it yourself. The whole thing has nothing to do with me."

"Laxus, you-!" Cana jumped up and glared at Laxus.

"Well, it's true. The old man started all this, right?" Lucy flinched at that. She still blames herself. I stroked her hair again. "Why do I have to clean up after him?"

"They're after Lucy," Mira said. If he doesn't care about his grandfather, he's not going to care about Lucy. "She's someone in our guild."

"Really? So am I!" I stiffen and glare at Laxus. "She's that new girl with the big jugs, right? Tell her that if she'll be my woman, I'll help out!"

I shot my flames at the lacrima and incinerated it. The guild had gone silent again. I glared at everyone in the guild. Then I felt a small tug on my sleeve. I looked down and saw Lucy giving me a thankful smile. I calmed down a bit, and the guild slowly went back to what they were doing.

A few minutes passed with nothing eventful. Then a sudden loud noise disturbed the murmurs of the guild. Everyone looked around. Alzack ran down the stairs from the guild hall with a frantic look. "Look outside!" he yelled. Everyone ran outside, but I calmly walked. What's the rush? It's going to be there even if I take my time.

I saw everyone stare in horror at something in the water. I turn to look at what would cause them to have that kind of expression. I raised a brow at the Phantom Lord guild hall. Very convenient. The guild hall had four legs and was walking toward Fairy Tail. I sighed. This just made things more irritating.

*Lacrima – a Latin word for "tear." The Japanese use the word to describe certain types of crystals and beads. (Got the definition at the back of the printed manga.)