Dos weeks later

The gang is chilling on the roof of the school during lunch and...

"It's prom time people!" Juvia shouts in excitement. Natsu and Grey were the only ones cheering along. "Oh come on guys, be more excited." She pouts.

"I don't see what the big deal is. I never got along with anyone besides you guys at school and I'm not really known for being the 'going wild' and 'having a party-rific time' girl." Lucy states.

Levy nods her head invested into the book she is reading, "and I'm more of an intellectual indoor knowledge seeker." She flips to the next page.

Natsu and Grey both cough at the same time.

"Bookworm."

"Nerd."

Within a split second, Levy slams her book shut and aims it at their heads but before she had the chance to throw it Gajeel stops her.

"Tch, It's enough that I had to deal with the pink fruity idiot. Now I have to deal with the stripper fruity idiot too." Levy grumbles as she opens her book once more and continues reading.

"What did ya say shrimp!?" Natsu walks towards her ready to knock her out. Levy immediately reacts to being called shrimp and snipes the book at his head. "Oh, it's on midget!" With a huge bump on his forehead, he marches towards Levy.

Grey steps up, "I'm right behind you Natsu!"

Gajeel puts his hand on Grey's shoulder, " You make this a two on one and I'll make it a two on two. Wanna fight that battle?"

Grey takes three steps back, "Natsu, you're on your own buddy!"

Natsu looks over at him, "Thanks for nothing buddy!" that very moment Levy pounced on him and kept bonking his head. "Get off of me munchkin!"

"Go, Levy!" Lucy and Juvia chanted. Juvia then turns to face Lucy, "I know you don't want to go to prom but-" She was stopped mid-sentence when Lucy suddenly offers her hand. Confused, Juvia takes her hand anyways.

"I don't want to go to prom but since it's senior year and we are close to graduating, I guess I'll go. I suck at dancing though," Lucy admits.

Juvia giggles, "You can't be that bad. Now repeat 1,2,3."

Both teens began to waltz around the roof, an occasional cry of pain erupts from Juvia as Lucy accidentally stomps on her feet. Nevertheless, she continues to dance with her unrhythmic partner.

The pain became unbearable, "Hunk of metal, come over here and be Lucy's dance partner." Juvia calls over to Gajeel. Lucy felt guilty for stepping on Juvia's feet so many times.

"Hunk of metal? Dang, that's cold." Gajeel makes his way over to them with Grey right behind him. "Alright, I'm at your service ice queen." He bows playfully.

Juvia felt mix emotions about being called an ice queen. She weirdly liked it.

"Besides, who waltzes at Prom?" Grey comments.

As soon as Juvia and Lucy were about to say something, voices can be heard approaching the door, the teens scatter all over the roof trying to find a place to hide.

"Crap. crap. crap. crap. crap"

"We are going to get in trouble."

"Shhhh"

"No you shhhhhhhhhh"

"..."

"When did my shirt come off? Do I nervous strip now?!"

They continue to freak out but soon became silent as the voices became more distinct. They all froze where they stood as the door begins to open.

"Alright, this spot is restricted so no one will interrupt us." A male voice whispers huskily. A female's giggle can be heard right after.

"Oh Gildarts, you're so bad." The woman replies flirtatiously.

The door is wide open and Gildarts was about to continue making his move on the lady until he saw the kids he despised, "Why? Why? Why?! Why can't you kids not make my life miserable for one day at this school."

Natsu was the first to speak, "Oh, you're our drama teacher!"

"Math teacher." He immediately corrected it.

Grey comments, "I didn't know you had game man. Look at you trying to score yourself a fine- oof!" Juvia cuts him off with an elbow to the gut.

The lady decides to speak up, "Gildarts, honey, just get these kids suspended for being in a prohibited place and that solves-" She traces her finger on his chest seductively, "-both our problems." Her eyes glazed with lust.

The teens became worried and Juvia was the first to rebuttal, "Hey, don't let that succubus tell you what to do! -"

"Succubus?!"

"- You know we meant no harm being up here nor are we doing any illegal activities up here either. If you just tell us to leave then we will leave. No need to suspend us, prom is right around the corner." Juvia felt pumped up to start a fight. The others were right behind her ready to jump if they had to.

Gildarts contemplated listening to the seductress or just not care and tell them to leave knowing that they will listen. "Alright, kids-"

"You're not allowed up here either," Lucy interjected quickly. The teens' worried faces turned into mischievous smirks.

Gildarts gives them death glares and the lady was getting annoyed. "Gildarts, be a man and show your authority!"

"Hoochie and the Tramp."

The lady whips her head around, "Who said that?!"

Lucy laughs, "Hey didn't you call me a hoochie in the past? Like who calls girls that? Sounds so dumb like that woman over there."

The lady was offended and is getting tired of these kids. She marches towards them. Gildarts tries to stop her but she shakes him off and proceeds forward.

Levy snipes her head with her book. The lady stumbled back and trips over her feet falling to the floor. Lady Hoochie looks up and glares at Levy grabbing the book and throwing it back at Levy. Gajeel grabs the book before it came in contact with Levy, "I don't hit women..." He glares at her, "Don't be the first." His tone so low it caused everyone to shiver.

Lady Hoochie picks herself back up, dusting off her rear. "I just wanted to have some freakish fun with Gildarts."

'Sex-driven' They all thought in unison.

"Yes, I use sexual intercourse to be a stress reliever. You kids aren't worth fighting with to do that here." She received a message on her phone, "Oh it's from the caretaker of my youngest child ..." Suddenly, one thought led to another, "I wonder what happened to my little angel's father." She starts to mumble to herself but it was still audible for the teens, "he hasn't been sending me money to take care of our child as he has been, he doesn't usually break his promises..."

Gildarts walks up to her, wanting to comfort her.

"Should we be feeling bad for her?" Natsu whispers to the others and they shrugged in response. None of them really caring too much about her problems after their first impression of her.

"He was a man of many secrets yet, I still wanted to be around him. He was older than I, it didn't matter much to me. He gave me a false sense of comfort and I cherished it. When I was pregnant, he didn't throw me away and told me irresponsible things like 'take care of it yourself', he offered to send me money in support but that's all he was willing to give... Never his heart." She looks up, a sad nostalgic look appeared in her eyes.

Levy, Lucy, and Juvia were tearing up, finding themselves deeply invested in her story.

"That was two years ago, he had been supporting me from a distance for the past two years. Only allowing me to see him every once in a while with my child. I knew Gildarts way before I met that man, we have a daughter named Cana, she is the same age as you guys."

Now they were all invested in what she was saying. "Gildarts and I had some bad blood, so we separated and during that time of hurt, I end up meeting that man but after having my second child and us separating, Gildarts came back in my life and has been helping me get over him little by little. Bless his patience. We're even engaged." She shows her ring to the girls and they squealed with excitement. The boys look up to Gildarts with shiny eyes, making him feel awkward.

"Master, teach us your ways," Grey said jokingly. Gildarts rolled his eyes in response.

The lady continues speaking, "My first impression must've sucked. I apologize for that when I start role-playing with Gildarts, I get into character."

"Role-playing!?" They shouted in unison.

Lucy shakes her head trying to forget the role-playing comment, and walks up to her wanting to know more about the man, "Do you at least know his name? Unless the guy was apart of the role-play?"

She chuckles, "No he is not, I could never forget his name, it was the only personal thing he was willing to reveal about himself. His name was..."

The school bell rings indicating that it was lunch. No one heard her except Lucy.

Lucy's face twisted with shock and disgust. "Jude heartfilia?" Unbelief stained her words.

All their faces turned stone cold. Gildarts takes notice of their faces, not knowing what to say or do.

Lucy backs away from her, not knowing how to react. "You-you had a child with him?" The lady was taken aback by Lucy's sudden change in character.

"Do you know him? Did he do something wrong to you? It's hard to imagine that good man-"

"Good?" Lucy scoffs. Natsu walks up behind her, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Lucy I know you're upset but she doesn't know anything. Please, calm down and think about this clearly."

Lucy pushes his hand away. "I'm calm." She takes three deep breathes before asking, "Is it a boy or a girl?"

The lady's eyes her, confused as to why she reacted the way she did. "She's a girl... How do you know him?"

Lucy answers, spite tangled with each word, "He is my sperm donor."

"Literally or... is he your fath-"

"Don't finish that sentence. It wasn't literal but I would never call him that." Lucy places a hand on her head, letting her emotions get the best of her. "I just don't get it. He is dead-"

The lady whispers in unbelief, "He's dead?"

Unheard by Lucy, "-Yet he still finds a way to ruin my life. I thought I was free from him but nope, he had this up his sleeve. To have another child that he can molest. I bet he was damn happy that you had a girl!" Lucy shouts at her, hot tears streaming down her face.

This was too much information for the lady to intake, her face was contorted with conflicting emotions. "Molest? Wait... He was a molester? That man? There's no way. I-I don't want to believe it. That's your father... I don't know what to think. How did he die?" Gildarts places an arm around her shoulder pulling her closer to him.

"Lu-chan..." Her friends were worried for her but they knew she was way past calming down any time soon.

"Lucy, please. She does not know the kind of man that he is, look at her!" Natsu continues to try his best to keep Lucy from going back to old Lucy. He was scared that if she kept letting her emotions overtake her, she will go back to the Lucy that didn't let anyone in and hold in all the negativity; the Lucy trapped in Jude's cage.

Anger muting those around her, except the woman in front of her. "He killed himself after shooting my son in court. You are right when you said that you know absolutely nothing about that man. Rejoice that he is dead." Her eyes showed apathy.

The lady walks up to Lucy and slaps her. "Don't ever say that about someone! I may not know everything that he has done to you or what you have seen him do but to tell someone to rejoice over death is sickening! I'm sorry if your life has been a living hell but a death should never be celebrated. Up until this moment, I thought he was a good man, a decent man at the least. He is the reason that I was able to support my child and my home before Gildarts came into my life again. I can't rejoice at his death."

Everyone stood silent.

Lucy kept quiet, her face still looking away from the lady. Seconds past, carrying the weight of a hundred hours.

.

.

.

The lady suddenly feeling guilt-ridden, embraces Lucy, catching her off guard and causing her to tense up. "I'm sorry that you had to go through such a hard time and I'm sorry that I slapped you..."

Her voice cracks, "... Her name is Lillian, she looks so much like me, hardly has any of his features. Except for his nose, but who cares about a nose." She lightly chuckles. Lucy loosens up, listening to the lady. "My name is Cornelia. Please, don't look at me with the same disgust you have for Jude. I promise you I didn't know anything, I was naive to be attracted to him. Please, don't feel disgusted towards my little angel because she didn't ask to have a father like him. Neither did you, don't think for another second that he's still going to haunt you. My child wasn't born to be a curse to you." Lucy broke down once she heard those words.

"I'm sorry Cornelia, I'm so sorry." She repeatedly apologizes as Cornelia kept Lucy in her embrace. "I'm so sorry, that was horrible of me to say to you. I'm sorry I acted that way towards you." Cornelia combs through her hair, listening to Lucy vent. It pained her to see Lucy like this, it reminds her of the time Cana had broken down just like this. "Your baby isn't a curse, I know that. It's just that I was so happy now that he is dead and to hear he had another child that is a girl brought up so many bad memories, I feared for her, thinking what if he was still alive then she would've possibly suffered like me. That fear twisted into jealousy, I started thinking 'she is so lucky that he is dead, why couldn't he be dead before I became of age for him to touch me.' I'm so sickening to think that."

Cornelia loosens the embrace and firmly looks Lucy in the eyes, compassion written all over. "You have every right to feel the way you do but sweetie, don't let it overcome you. Don't let this stain your heart. The moment that despicable man died, was the moment for you to fly free. The one who put you in the cage is gone, the ones who freed you are still here. What does that tell you?"

"That I won't be in that cage anymore..." Lucy answered between sniffles. Cornelia smiles and nods her head. "Congratulations sweetie, you won your life back." Lucy tackles Cornelia with a bear hug, crying even more.

Despite her words of encouragement, Cornelia was hesitant to ask, not knowing how Lucy would react, "Do you want to meet her?" She felt Lucy nod her head hesitantly against her shoulder.

"I have someone for both of you to meet as well," Lucy mumbles.

"Who?"

"My son."