Chapter One: Where It All Began

It was almost ten in the morning - there was a bunch of people moving around backstage making sure everything was ready for the conference. Lucy was isolated in her dressing room, getting her makeup done for the camera, making sure her face was camera and light ready for the recording. She had a makeup artist with her, and as she was putting on the last bit of bronzer on her outer cheekbone, Lucy pulled out her headphones and began to play a song on one of her playlist. It was a song she hadn't listened to in a long time - in a year, to be exact. She closed her eyes, and tilted her head back as the makeup artist put on the last little bit of lip-gloss on Lucy to finish up her look. She had ten minutes before she had to face the crowd, as the artist had reminded her.

I'm loving the pain

I never wanna live without it

So why, do I try

You drive me insane

And now we're screaming just to see who's louder

Sp why, do I try

She didn't open her eyes to acknowledge her - she didn't even hear her. She was far too occupied listening through her earbuds. Lucy was someone who loved analyzing the lyrics to a song, however, today was different. Instead of paying attention to the lyrics, she paid attention to the singers. Each unique voice gave her goosebumps all over her arms - she hadn't felt like this in a long time. It didn't even matter that it was a breakup-song; every single harmony made her smile. Lucy was almost completely in her own world, until a knock approached her door, indicating that she had to be on stage in about a minute.

As Lucy left her dressing room and made her way to the Hanashimashou stage, she felt an overwhelming sense of stage fright while passing through all the people backstage. She didn't know how she was going to start, where she was going to go with it, and if she should even tell an entire auditorium of people what she was planning to. ALl those thoughts kept piling on her head, but Lucy tried her best to rid them from her mind. She chose to do this, she was missing a day of school for this, but most importantly - she was doing this for herself. She needed this, and she also needed to do it for them. She couldn't retreat this moment; it would be pointless, and it would be an injustice.

Lucy took the first few steps from the back, and made it onto the stage, where she was greeted with a roaring applause. Lucy made her way to the center of the stage, waving at smiling to people, as they kept cheering. People who didn't know her - who have never heard of the name Lucy Heartfilia - were greeting like her as if she was someone that people would remember. Lucy kept smiling at everyone, as the applause died down, and she finally began to speak. "Hello everyone! Thank you for having me on Hanashimashou!"

…

It was a Friday morning, and Class 12-C in Magnolia High School were preparing to begin their lesson in English… however, their teacher, Miss Mirajane Strauss, always puts on the show Hanashimashou on as a treat for the students, and she did this every Friday. While the students took their places in the classroom, Lisanna - who was near the back row - turned to face Natsu - who sat right beside her on the left - in her seat, and asked, "Hey Natsu, what are you doing tonight?"

"Hmm," he thought for a moment as he sat his backpack down on the floor and took his seat, "I don't know. I don't think I have any plans. Why?"

"I just thought…" Lisanna began to say while combing her short white hair with her hands, "Maybe you could come over? I'm sure Mira wouldn't mind!" Miss Strauss also happened to be Lisanna's older sister.

"I guess, sure." Natsu said, while trying to force a smile. Lisanna returned his smile, as she began to unpacked her bag, Natsu glanced out the window his desk was next to, He let out a long sigh, and started observing the leaves ruffling in the wind. Why am I doing this, he asked himself as he leaned his cheek against his palm, and later placed his hand over his head - bathing in self disappointment. I can't believe I did this to her… but, she probably didn't even care. We were never meant to be more than what we were.

However, he just leans back in his seat, ignoring the retreating thoughts in his head. He was later interrupted by Gray, who scared him as he snuck up to him.

"Hey Flame Brain, what's up?" Gray chuckled as he clawed both of his hands on Natsu's shoulders, scaring him nearly to death. "Not day dreaming again, are you?"

"Okay, Ice Princess…" Natsu cracked his knuckles as he got out of his seat to face the raven-haired boy behind him, "DO NOT EVER SCARE ME LIKE THAT AGAIN OR YOU'RE DEAD!"

"Oh, come on Gray, " a blue-haired girl named Juvia followed closely behind Gray as she chuckled. "Leave Natsu alone, or you'll both be expelled from this school by noon!"

"She's got a point, you know." Elfman, Lisanna's older brother added, as he placed himself in the seat in front of Lisanna, just after gently ruffling her hair. Shortly after Gray and Juvia took their seats, the rest of the gang - including Lyon, Sting, Loke, Rogue, Gajeel, and Levi - soon took their places in the classroom around the group of students. Natsu irritatingly sat back in his seat, looking pissed off.

"Hey guys, who do you think will be on Hanashimashou this time?" Sting asked eagerly as he took a seat behind Natsu before bumping fists with him.

"I don't know, but it's always someone who is weird in the best of ways." Rogue, Sting's fraternal twin brother, exclaims as he took an empty seat next to Sting, and behind Lisanna.

"Remember that guy who came on the show responding to scam emails? That was the best thing ever!"

Levi laughed at Rogue's remark as she took the seat on the right side of him, "Remember the guy that kept asking the scammer for a free toaster? I actually kind of felt bad for them! I mean, I'd be annoyed out of my life."

"Whatever, man." Gajeel grunted as he placed himself in front of Levi, and on the right of Elfman. "Scammers are lowlifes. They can rot to the core for all I care." Levi giggled at what Gajeel had to say, proving to all the girls who have fallen in love, that they will laugh at all their boyfriends' remarks… no matter what the remark is.

"I hope they bring that hot model on again!" Loke piped excitedly as he sat next to Levi on the far back right end of the classroom. "Damn, was she fine!"

That statement was greeted with a smack on Loke's head from Lyon, who took one of the last available spot in front of Loki, "Oh would you grow up already? You still sound like a twelve-year old who just hit puberty. And Ashley Graham is way too hot for you, so don't even bother fantasizing about her." Groaning, Loke crossed his arms, annoyed.

Everyone in the gang found a place to sit in the classroom, and that was when Miss Strauss entered the classroom with her white locks falling down her shoulders. She made her way towards her desk, and smiled to her class, "Hello everyone, Happy Friday!" She gave out a quick wave to her two siblings, who returned it, as she went to sit in front of her computer. "Since today is Friday, we're watching another Hanashimashou live stream! I wonder who's coming to the conference to talk this time…"

As Miss Strauss was looking up the website to put on the livestream, Levi glanced at the corner of the room, where the only remaining desk left right in front of Lyon, and her usual infectious grin turned into concern and uncomfortableness. "Hey, you guys… where is Lucy?"

The back row where the gang was sitting all went silent - including Natsu. They all knew Lucy had never missed a day of school, and even though she hadn't been the same in the last few weeks, but nonetheless her record was flawless… until today. Sting and Rogue looked at each other, Lyon sat in his seat and ran through the thoughts in his head, Gray crossed his arms while Juvia had a worried expression on her face, Gajeel sighed roughly and Loke pushed his glasses in place as he faced down on his table. Natsu placed both of his hands over his forehead, and Lisanna was able to catch it. She let her eyes fall on her table as well, as she tried distracting herself. She was tired of all her friends - especially her boyfriend - obsessing over the blonde bimbo. She didn't understand what was so special about her anyway; she hadn't been in Magnolia High for one school year, and all of a sudden… everyone is in love with her - including her own man. Lisanna was aware Natsu and her had a "thing", however she tried her best not to let it get to her.

"Aha! I got it!" Miss Strauss exclaimed happily, as she pulled up the webpage for the video to load so the live stream could be properly broadcasted. The video was finally done processing, and the audio signalled a loud applause for this week's guest. But nobody could have prepared themselves for the guest that would be speaking for the next hour.

"Hello everyone! Thank you for having me on Hanashimashou!"

The entire room went silent, while the audio continued blasting. Everyone in the classroom - including Miss Strauss - was in complete and utter shock when they saw a familiar looking blonde on the screen, speaking to a large group of people, and in front of many other people watching online. There were a mix of gasps, people covering their mouths in shock, stares at the screen - including from the gang, who knew this girl better than anyone. But when Natsu saw her on the screen... he froze.

Lucy…

…

"I know that none of you know who I am…" Lucy began to address the crowd, who were now in silence following the introduction, "... and I know that generally, people who aren't exactly established or haven't really made a positive difference in society aren't invited on this show."

Lucy paced across the floor, as she was speaking, indirectly captivating the audience. "You may not know who I am… but I'm sure you know who these girls are." Lucy was holding a small remote in her hand that was given to her by the slide show crew before she got on stage, and she turned to the screen right behind her that was working as a background, and she pulled up a picture of four girls posed together. One of the girls had short white hair with big beautiful brown eyes - resembling Lisanna quite a bit in appearance, and the other two girls looked as if they were related - with bright strawberry red-coloured hair, with one of them having blue eyes and the other having brown. The last girl, placed closer to the center, had light brown hair, and bright blue eyes. Each girl looked confidently beautiful with flashing smiles, as they posed together as if they were having the best time of their lives. "Does anyone know who they are?" Lucy asked out towards the crowd.

"Those are the girls that were in that music group, Fairy Tail!" An audience member called out from the back row.

Nodding her head in approval, Lucy kept on speaking to the crowd, "That's right. These are the girls from the girl group, Fairy Tail. A very successful group of girls who made quite the mark in the Japanese music industry." Lucy sighed, as she continued pacing the stage. "Now, can anyone remember what happened to this group?"

There was an initial silence across the audience, but soon enough, someone else in the audience called out, "I think… wait, there was a car accident on the news that talked about the girls. I believe three of them died in the hospital, and the brunette was left in a coma."

Lucy nodded her head again, and gave a half smile to the crowd as she stood still for a moment. "Yes, three out of the four girls in this picture have since passed away due to a terrible and horrendous car accident a little over a year ago. Three beautiful and talented girls with so much potential had their lives taken away from them due to this accident. And, one of them was left in a coma. Does anyone know how the surviving member is doing?"

There were a series of murmurs that were scattered, but nobody came forward with a legitimate answer. After waiting for a few moments, Lucy broke the small discussions. "Well, I can tell you how she's doing, based off of what I've seen. She's alive." Lucy said as she clasped her hands as she kept speaking. "She's alive, and she's doing…. Well, she's doing… not so well."

The crowd went deadly silent this time - so silent, a pin could be heard from backstage. "She's been suffering quite a bit. She's been suffering for the last year now, ever since she woke up from the coma. She lost three people that were extremely important to her, and I don't know about any of you…" she said as she turned around to face the entire audience, "... but that would've been devastating and horrific for anybody. She felt alone, isolated, secluded, and felt as if she had no real person to confide to."

"However..." Lucy continued, "... she started meeting some friends who accepted her, and cared for her. They listened to her, and they tried their very best to make her happy. She also had her grandfather, who loved her to pieces, and would do anything for her. She had also met someone extremely special who she grew to care for… a lot. She had so much support around her to help her get back on the right track - and she knew that, however, she didn't take any of it. She didn't talk to anyone, and she didn't open up to anyone about what she was going through. She knew she wasn't alone, but she still felt increasingly isolated." The audience was paying extremely close attention to every word Lucy was saying, as if she had captivated them in a way they never have been before. "However, after observing her for that entire year, I've been able to figure out why she couldn't bring herself to talk."

Lucy took a deep breath, and finally said, "The reason she wasn't able to talk… was because she wasn't able to accept what had happened that night, and also because she blamed herself for the deaths of her dear friends, by being the only survivor. Through the entire year, she would always wonder why she didn't die with them? It wasn't fair that their lives were taken and I was left on this planet to live. I should be dead too. This type of thinking held her back in spades."

The crowd of people in the auditorium's eyes dropped to the floor, as they could probably feel some of the hurt and pain that was coming through the speech. "You can fill the tank of a car with fuel, you can wash it, you can vacuum the interior, you can even change the tires. But if you don't use that key to start the engine, that car won't go anywhere. That was the most important thing this girl was missing - a key to start the engine to her recovery. Support from others mean nothing… if you are not willing to help yourself."

Lucy let off a sad smile, and she walked towards a stool that held a water bottle. She took the water bottle off the stool, put it on the ground, and sat on the stool. She glanced at the people in front of her, and closed her eyes for a moment before reopening them. "And you know what… if she figured that out eleven and a half months ago… she wouldn't be here sharing her story with all of you."

Song featured in this story: Why Try by Ariana Grande

Hanashimashou: "let's talk" in Japanese

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