TRIGGER WARNING - There are big mentions of self harm, suicidal thoughts and attempted suicide. Also elements of abuse throughout the story. Please read with caution.
Lucy's eyes widened before they narrowed into slits, then lost all their emotion. Only then did she see Natsu stiffen in the corner of her eye.
"Mother. Father." She murmured, her voice barely above a whisper.
The moment that Lucy said 'Father', she felt Natsu jolt. She looked to his face to see his eyes hard on her dad. It was obvious he was trying to control his expression. Lucy turned to see her father's face, which was not happy.
"This your friend?" He asked, stepping into the room. His jaw was taut, and Lucy felt her throat dry up as she nodded.
"Yes," Lucy managed. Father nodded slowly and smiled. It looked wrong.
"Wanna give us some space, boy?"
Lucy felt Natsu rumble, and she pressed a palm to his shoulder. She tried to ignore her father's intense gaze as she nodded.
"It's fine. You can go."
"You'll be alright?" He asked, his voice hard. Fear laced through her – Father wouldn't like that he had to ask that.
"Of course," She smiled. It was so fake that she didn't know why she bothered. Natsu watched her for a moment longer before forcing himself to stand. He squeezed her hand and walked around her parent's but not without sharing a look with her father.
Father stared blankly at the door as Natsu closed it behind him. He cleared his throat and turned back towards Lucy.
"You two seem close," he said nicely, but the blonde knew him well enough to know that it was fake.
"Yeah. Yeah, he's great."
"He didn't seem to like me very much."
Lucy said nothing. Father cast an annoyed look at her mother, and Lucy was scared he was going to ask her to leave for a second so he could do whatever he really wanted to do.
"We heard about your little… Outburst, this morning," Father went on as he made his way over to the bed. Lucy shook her head as he drew closer, her eyes closing. He faltered to a stop about a foot away from the bed. She heard her mother swallow thickly and step forwards to stand besides her husband and look at her.
"Yes," Mother managed. "Your doctors said that maybe if you told us about it, it would help - So, do you want to – "
"Help?" Lucy croaked, suddenly brave. "You don't get it, do you?"
Father clenched his fists in warning – Lucy ignored it.
"This isn't just a little outburst." The blonde narrowed her eyes as she spat the words. "This isn't some phase I'm going through. No, listen to me: I'm sick. There's something – multiple things – very wrong with me."
She shook her head at her father and glared at him.
"Why is it so hard for you to accept that?"
Mother recoiled slightly, but Father's eyes only narrowed in annoyance.
"Because you have no reason to be," he growled, and Lucy nearly laughed. Now, this was the Jude Heartfilia she was used to. "You live in a big house, a castle even, you get everything you could ever want. You're just being overly dramatic. Acting out for attention. What did we do so wrong to cause you to suddenly have all these – these - conditions? Seems a little too sudden to me. No, I think you-"
And she snapped.
"Are you fucking kidding me?!"
She leapt up from the bed, her eyes burning with outrage as she stood chest to chest with her father. She saw surprise in his eyes at first, then a flood of anger.
"Sudden? How the fuck is this sudden? I have been absolutely miserable my entire life because of you." Lucy sneered the word as she stabbed a finger to his chest. Her lips curled down in outrage, but Lucy wasn't done.
"Not Mother, not school, you. Because, if it wasn't for you, mother wouldn't be unhappy, school wouldn't suck and I wouldn't be fucking crazy, due to my so-called Father being a pathetic, no good, raging alcoholic, whore – "
Lucy's face exploded in agony.
Her ears ringed and her head snapped to the side as the back of her father's hand hit her cheek, whipping her face the other way. She heard her mother's gasp before anything else but couldn't really think about it since her father's fist connected with the other side of her face. He threw all his full, grown-man's strength into the blow and the momentum of it threw the small blonde onto the bed.
Then it stopped.
Lucy didn't look up when she heard the door slam open and father was pulled from the room, along with her mother's hysterical apologies and outrage. She didn't want to look up. She didn't want to see his face, his expression. She slowly brought a hand up to her cheek. It ached familiarly and blood trickled into her hand.
She suddenly felt hands on her shoulders and lifted her head to see Miss Erza looking at her with eyes full of pain and… guilt. Lucy could see her lips moving she but couldn't make out the words. That was the last thing Lucy saw before everything went black for the second time that day.
Lucy woke up in a different room, but she still seemed to be in the hospital wing. She frowned and sat up slowly, rubbing the back of her head before recollection dawned on her. She sighed heavily, lifting her hand back up to her cheek. It felt swollen and his stupid ring had obviously cut her face, but she couldn't see it. Her lip and nose felt wrong, they had obviously burst. Her throat felt thick and tight. She coughed a few times before swinging her legs over the side of the bed and sat up.
The blonde was about to stand when she heard a knock on the door. Horror swelled in her chest, but she chased it away. He wasn't here, they wouldn't have left him to find her again. Her eyes were trained on the door when she told the person to come in. Lucy's entire body relaxed when she saw Natsu, so much that her body drooped. His eyes on her face made her feel naked – Judging from his expression she must have looked worse than she thought.
Natsu slowly approached the bed to sit in the chair besides it, his eyes never leaving her face. Slowly, his hand drew up to trace where her father hit her with eyes full of regret.
"I – " His voice was low and rumbling. He cleared his throat. "I shouldn't have left."
Lucy shook her head.
"No. I'm glad you did otherwise it wouldn't have happened."
Natsu frowned in confusion.
"I told him." She whispered, almost not believing it herself. Natsu still looked confused, so she went on.
"How I felt all this time - I really told him. I've never shouted at him before, and it felt so good to since everything that's wrong with my life spirals from him. My mom would probably be amazing if it wasn't for him. The hit was just – necessary. And nothing I'm really unused to."
Lucy shrugged and Natsu tensed.
"He - He did that a lot?"
"… We don't have to – "
"This bad? Was it like this, all the time?"
The blonde hesitated. She didn't know if she should burden him with the truth, but she couldn't lie again.
"No," she said, and Natsu relaxed. Lucy cringed before adding: "It was worse."
She felt him stiffen and couldn't bring herself to look at him. She squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head as his hands grasped her upper arms comfortingly.
"Did – " the tone of his voice made her feel sick. "Lucy, did he – Did he ever – "
"Don't." Lucy shuddered violently and pushed him away so she could stand. Natsu watched her from the chair, his eyes wide. "You can't just – "
"Okay," Natsu lifted his hands in surrender. "I won't. I'm sorry."
Natsu stayed quiet and it was a long moment before he spoke again.
"The staff are going crazy. Erza is having a fuckin' mental breakdown she feels that bad about lettin' them in. Not only was it clear that most of your problems are 'cause of your life at home but now he's showing signs of abuse…" he shook his head again, his eyes glazed over.
"They won't let you go back to him. Never."
Lucy shrugged from her position by the door.
"I don't really care where I end up if it's as far away from that man as possible."
It was quiet for another long moment before Natsu spoke again.
"You – You know you're gonna have to talk about it, right?" He said quietly, his low voice impossibly seeming lower. "They're gonna try and make you dig it all up – Relive it."
"I know," She whispered, and her chest burned.
"If he…" Lucy stiffened, but Natsu went on. "If he – Did that – They're gonna have to… You'll have to tell them…"
Natsu trailed off again till she felt his arm wrap around her shoulders and pull her to him. She hadn't even heard him get up.
"I've got you," he muttered, and she crumbled. His arm tightened. "I've got you."
