Chapter Three

Lucy frowned as she sat on top of a rock, hair swaying in the wind as she looked down below. She smiled as she saw a red dragon flying away in the distance, searching for a good meal for the girl. He was used to eating fire, so he didn't think much about humans' eating habits. Wendy was sitting beside the blonde, leaning against her shoulder as they both looked up at the sky.

The older girl never liked the idea of returning to the ground, still living in fear of the possibility that she would get caught and forced back to that evil place. Her vision blurred up as she thought of all the bad memories there, wondering how such a happy life could turn so frightening so quickly. She noticed that Natsu seemed to admire his Father a lot, as he talked about him all the time.

If only I was so lucky, to have memories like that.

"Miss Lucy?" A shy voice piped up, a soft hand suddenly resting on hers, breaking the blonde out of her trance. She smiled down at Wendy, who was staring up at her with the upmost concern.

"Yeah?"

"You were crying again."

Again. The older girl thought to herself, wiping a single tear away. She couldn't count how many tears she had shed in her life. It was way too many at such a young age. Instead, she forced a smile, "Was I?"

"Yeah." The bluenette confirmed, "This is the second or third time I've seen you cry. What makes you so sad all the time?"

"Oh, nothing." The blonde said, waving it off. Wendy didn't buy it, though, and the older girl was completely aware of this. Was it the sky dragon's senses that could tell, or was Lucy just a horrible liar?

"Lucy…"

"Oh, look, it's Natsu!" She interrupted, raising her arm and waving at him with the brightest smile on her face. He landed behind them, transforming back into a teenager and making his way over to them with meat in his hands, "This good?"

The blonde nodded, tears still stinging her eyes as she looked up at him, "You bet!"

"Lucy…" He mumbled, taking a seat in front of her and staring angrily at her. She winced and leaned back a bit, both confused and uncomfortable with the situation. He suddenly cupped her face in his warm hands, forcing it closer to him as he stared into her chocolate brown orbs.

"Is something wrong?" She asked, a light blush appearing on her cheeks, trying to loosen from his grasp.

He only moved her face closer to his, until their lips were almost touching, "Hey, you're gettin' kinda close…"

"Who did this." The fire dragon said angrily, "Who made you cry, Lucy?" He asked in pure anger, wiping some of her tears away while growling in agony, "They'll pay."

"O- Oh…" She mumbled, "You don't need to worry about me."

"Who made you cry?" He shouted, shocking her.

"I- I told you… there's no need…"

"Lucy!" Natsu bellowed, taking hold of her shoulders and frowning at her, "Just tell me already!"

"Lucy! You little pest, how dare you barge in without asking me first! What did I tell you about coming in here unannounced?" Jude Heartfilia shouted at his five-year-old daughter, who was shaking in her boots.

"B- B- But Daddy…"

"No buts! You ridiculous girl, can't you answer one simple question? Tell me now!" He ordered, "What are the rules?"

"T- To n-n-not to…"

"Exactly, so be quiet for once and get out of my sight! Why can't you be more like your Mother and learn your manners? It's your own fault that she's dead, you know! You stupid girl, go study your business classes and don't come back unless you are called!"

"B- B- B—"

"WHAT DID I SAY?"

The young girl yelped in fear, running out of her Father's office and to her bedroom.

"I- I- I'm sorry." Lucy apologized, "Pl- Please forgive me." She begged, getting down on her knees and bowing to the teenager, "Pl- Please… I'm begging you… I didn't mean to." The blonde said through a waterfall of tears.

Natsu and Wendy exchanged glances and looked at the girl in complete shock. The fire dragon took hold of her hand and tilted her chin up, "Luce, calm down. Everything's alright, I'm here." He reassured, offering a kind smile her way.

"Natsu…"

He wrapped her in a hug, one that was quickly returned by the blonde. He felt tears landing on his shoulders, though knew that now was not the time to interrogate her about this. She pawed her tears away and offered a kind smile, "I'm sorry."

"Hey, why are you apologizing?" He inquired, "You didn't do anything wrong."

"It's just…" She reached behind her neck and tried to find a way to take her collar off, but he quickly stopped her.

"It's just…" She continued, "I don't understand why you gave me this." She confessed, "I care for you and Wendy so much. You've been the first friends I've had in a long time."

"You don't have any friends?" The bluenette inquired, sounding shocked, "But you're so nice. How can a girl like you not have any friends?"

Realizing what she had just said, the Celestial Mage just faked a smile and waved the question off, "Nevermind. Say, I'm hungry, why don't we eat some of that yummy looking meat Natsu got?"

Wendy and Natsu shared another glance, but decided it was best not to push her any longer. The boy started a fire, and roasted the meat on it, handing it to Lucy as soon as it was finished. They all sat and ate their meal in silence, that is, until Lucy broke it.

"Natsu." She whispered, "What do you think would happen… if those people found me up here?"

"You know I would never let that happen."

"But if it did?"

"It would probably start another war." Wendy answered, "The humans wiped a bunch of us out and now there's only seven of us left."

"You could die…?" She sniffled, "See, Natsu? That's it, I'm heading back." She pulled herself up and gathered her things, lifting one of her golden keys to call a spirit when Natsu stopped her.

She looked up at the pink-haired boy in shock, "What?"

"Why do you have to be so stupid all the time?"

"Me? How am I being stupid?"

"No matter how many times I tell you that you're safe, why do you always try to leave me?" He shouted, "Get it through your thick skull, Lucy. You're staying with me forever, or does the scale I gave you mean nothing to you?"

"Natsu…"

"Just sit, stay, and eat your food."

"I told you, I'm not an animal!"

"Just do as I tell you to do!"

"And what if I don't?"

"Then you'll regret it!"

"How so?"

"Now, now you two, there's no reason to start a fight." Wendy said, "Now why don't you two shake hands and make up?"

"Like hell I will!"

"Exactly what she said!"

"Um… umm…" The brunette said uncomfortably, not liking being caught in the middle of another argument.

"Just sit down and eat your food!" Natsu shouted, earning a eye roll from the blonde as she reluctantly walked over to the fire and ate her food, turning her face away from everyone else.

She glanced down at the collar on her neck, despising it. All she wanted was to leave, and this time it wasn't to protect him. She would turn herself in, Father would have the collar destroyed and everything would go back to normal.

Normal. She thought to herself, an image of her angry Father filling her mind, making a shiver go up her spine.

Yes, everything's going back to normal…

She let out a raging growl that rivaled one of Natsu's and pulled at the clasp of her collar, which refused to come off.

"Natsu? I think you made her mad." Wendy pointed out. He just humphed and turned away, not even caring as he saw her yanking at the clasp, trying to get if off. He knew she wouldn't be able too, though. Only the dragon who crafted it could.

Father, I'm coming. Lucy thought to herself, I'll turn myself in this time. I don't care what that moron thinks. I'll leave. I'll stop all this. I'll return… home. Even in her mind, the word home felt meaningless when referring to her mansion. She was raised there, and for only seven years did it ever feel like home. Then when her Mother passed away, the once warm and loving mansion turned cold and lonely. Her father neglected her, pushed her away, and she ended up being raised by the servants and even her Celestial Spirits.

Though she couldn't help but wonder why exactly her Father had decided that he needed her back. She had been gone for a year and he hadn't cared, so what was so important that she could do and he couldn't? Feet crossed, she thought back to the day Natsu had saved her from the men that had been attacking her.

"Come here, dearie!" A wizard shouted, waving a lit torch in front of her face, "Everyone's lookin' for ya." He was clearly drunk, but that didn't stop him from failing the task at hand.

"Is that so?"

"Yes, Ms. Lucy Heartfilia." A short scruffy looking man from behind the taller one answered, "You have a very large bounty on your head."

Lucy internally rolled her eyes, knowing that her Father had no intention of paying them. It was just a trap to get his "beloved daughter" back home quicker. He was such an awful man.

"So why don't you come with me, Princess?" The torch-holding one asked, offering her his hand. She took one look at it and grimaced, then turned to run away. The group of men started attacking her, accidentally shredding some parts of her clothes and dragging sharp knives across her legs to make it harder for her to run away. Magic was shot at her, causing her to blast backwards and hit her head against a rock.

Her head throbbed, her vision blurry, she put two and two together and saw them coming over with rope and bolted. She was extremely wobbly, her body battered and beaten from all the attacks that had and were still coming her way. She knew she couldn't go on for much longer, but she had to.

They were getting close… so close…

With nowhere left to run, she was cornered against a tree. They were about to be here, the leader still shooting at her feet to slow her down, even though he knew she wouldn't be running anytime soon. She could feel the rope scratching against her wrists as a man started tying it up.

But then there was a flash of red and the rope suddenly fell.

Lucy thought she saw flames blasting the enemies back but knew that couldn't be possible. She didn't have any fire powers and it's not like any of the Phantom morons would attack their own group.

She felt something sharp scratch her skin and looked at the talons digging into her shoulder. No. Had someone from Phantom survived? Had he used transformation magic to take her?

She couldn't see much anymore. She could feel everything though because all of it hurt. She wanted to but she couldn't stay awake anymore.

Then everything went black.

Lucy shook at the memory out of her mind and laid down and curled herself up into a ball. The rocks hurt her back, they had for a while now, but she would never admit that. Maybe Natsu was right. Going back wouldn't solve anything, it would just be her running away.

But I've already run away, so how is leaving here any different?

Lucy's eyes softened as she tried to hold back the tears in her eyes, "Crying is unladylike. You should never express such a pathetic way of emotion." Her Father would say, "You are a weak, weak child. You will never grow into a strong woman like Layla. You are not worthy of your status. You will be the servants' problem from now on."

The blonde's eyes were shut and her whole body shook as the memories from before flooded her mind. The difference between running away from the mansion and running away from the cave was obvious.

Because it was here she felt most at home.

A/N: Wow! This took me a long time to write. Writer's block sucks to the max, y'all. I won't be leaving this story hanging, I promise. Hopefully you enjoyed this chapter and please remember to favorite, follow, and review!

Also, my friends and I have started a Fairy Tail group chat on Discord. If you are interested, please message me here for more information. I'll make sure to send you my username and link.

Love,

Sellybelly411