"As you guys most likely know...I did not have the greatest childhood- not that anyone at Fairy Tail had a good childhood," Lucy sighed and brushed a hand through her hair; she was going to have to cut it soon, she noted absently.
"But, despite what people think, being apart of the upper class isn't all jewels and dresses and balls. My childhood and teenage years were nothing like that. First and foremost, my father abhorred magic. He hid it well from my mother during their marriage, being in love with her beauty too much to care that she used magic. But… then a mage broke into our mansion. He used a type of dark magic called Necro-Astheneías; it's literal translation means Death Sickness. He could infect certain parts of the human body to literally wither and die in a matter of minutes, days, and/or months, depending on his will. Luckily, it's now a Lost Magic." Lucy had a vindictive emotion in her eyes which caused Cobra to make a small, startled noise in the back of his throat.
"Anyway, this animal," She continued, spitting out the last word with so much acidity that it caused the Raijinshuu to shift uncomfortably. They weren't used to this side of the blond woman. "Came into our mansion, while my father was away attending a trade meeting in Crocus, and proceeded to target my mother. You see, the Heartfilia line is connected to Fairy Tail's first Master, Mavis Vermillion, and this little bastard thought that the best way to get back to a guild who has no idea about us, it to rape the descendant of said guild master."
Everyone, bar Lucy and Cobra- who had already heard this tale before- were horror-struck, each one in varying shades of sick.
"D-don't tell me…." Freed asked, eyes wide as he pieced together the hidden details.
Lucy nodded, eyes closing as she tried to block out the memories. "Right on the nail; I was in the room at the time. Mom and I would play dress up and stargaze on nights like these, before she would tuck me in and read me to sleep. The mage came in while I was changing in the closet." Lucy swallowed against the bile that rose in her throat, quenching the rage and utter helplessness that overtook her in that moment.
"What about the maids, the attendants, and the workers?!" Evergreen asked, slightly hysterical. "Where were they?!"
"The Heartfilia land is immense, Evergreen." Lucy replied, opening her eyes again to look at the other woman. "They had gone back to their houses for the night. Mom and I didn't require any food, nor services we couldn't do ourselves, so we let them go home for the night. My father was usually the only one who kept the servers in our mansion." Her hand was clenched tightly, knuckles going white under the pressure. A hand was laid on her shoulder and she looked up to see Bickslow smiling softly.
"What happened next?" He asked, softly and so un-Bickslow like.
Lucy sighed and then took another deep breath to continue. "He infected her kidneys. Once they shut down, everything else started to as well. She faded after opening the Eclipse Gate to allow the rest of the dragon slayers to arrive in this time safely; my father's rage against Magic reared its head again when she died and started to grow. My mother passed on her magic to me- we're actually one of the only Spatial and Holder type mages to pass on our magic through genetics- and she had given me her keys before she died, simply telling me to keep them safe. Which, I had. My father didn't know I was practicing magic until I was about thirteen, which is when he forcefully took all but one of my keys and locked them away." Lucy rubbed at her collarbone and lowered her gaze to ground in front of her.
"Aquarius, I knew, would have been livid to know that I had let my father take the keys my mother gave me to protect and lock them away. And she was. It was the first time she tried to actively drown me while summoning her." She let out a wet sounding laugh. "I got them back of course; I was small and spry and could hide well, so I stole his keys and got them back and then never performed magic inside of my home ever again. I did my schooling with private tutors and lived in fear of my father, because I knew that if he knew I had my keys, he'd have them smelted. I grew up with almost no self-esteem, no confidence, and almost crippling depression because my father saw to it that I was kept as a demure heiress who couldn't even properly mourn the loss of her mother. I was berated every day with harsh words and the occasional lashing, but it just fueled my desire to leave."
"Which you did." Laxus almost growled out. He could remember his own lashings; the scars on his back itched like hell in that moment.
Lucy nodded and wiped at her eyes, biting her lip. "Which I did. I was sixteen when I successfully escaped my prison. I made it to Fairy Tail with Natsu and from there it was a fucking roller coaster. And then, Tenrou happened and I lost everything again. My father had died before we returned and though I hated the man, I also loved him somewhere in my heart. He was my father, you know?" She looked at the group in front of her and they gave her understanding expressions. "He left the world liking magic surprisingly enough, after spending decades and decades of being repulsed by it and then completely hating it. After him, came Michelle, she was my 'cousin', but in fact she was a doll that was animated by the Neo Oraciòn Seis back when they were crazier than a bag of cats," She paused and looked at Cobra.
"Not that some of them aren't still batshit." Cobra smiled, baring his teeth at her. She shook her head and continued, turning back to Laxus and the Raijinshuu. "Anyway, long story short, they tried to sacrifice me after Tenrou to this fucking giant clock-fish and it turned out that Michelle was really a mage named Imitatia. I was saved and Michelle 'died' that is to say, she was transformed back into a doll and there were lingering effects from being trapped in the clock; one of them having an unstable magical core for a while. It's one of the reasons I did so poorly at the GMG. Normally, I can open two to three gates at a time, something that is extremely rare in Celestial Mages because of the amount of magic it takes."
Bickslow frowned. "How much magic does it take?"
"One gate summoning- especially if it's a gold gate- is equivalent to the amount of magic it takes Laxus-sama to perform his Breakdown Fist." Freed informed, stroking his chin as he tried to remember the magic statistics of Celestial Mages. Bickslow's jaw dropped a bit as he sucked in a sharp breath, Evergreen gaped and Laxus raised his eyebrows, looking at the small blond woman in front of him appraisingly.
"Well shit, Jiggles, that's some power you have." Cobra said, leering at her as he wiggled his brows at her. She pushed him back and pursed her lips.
Lucy blew her bangs out of her face. "Yeah and I didn't even unleashed the full amount of power I have today." They looked at her incredulously.
"What do you mean?" Laxus asked, looking at her intently. "I thought the goat said to use up all your magic."
Lucy nodded. "All the magic that is currently not being locked behind my limiter." She turned her head so they could see a delicate looking, gold hoop attached at the top of her ear with a small white gold star dangling from it.
"Why do you have a limiter?" Freed questioned, intrigued by the glowing piece of jewelry.
Lucy shrugged. "It goes along with what happened after Tartaros. I don't know if you guys saw me during Alvarez, but I have been taught a new form of Celestial magic called Star Dress. I'm able to channel my spirits power into my body and take on their magic. Like a combination of Mira's takeover and Erza's requip."
Evergreen furrowed her brow. "How did this happen?"
Lucy bit her lip. "Everyone was trapped in the Cube. Everyone, but me." She glanced up at them hesitantly. "The demons were attacking me and I… I was running low on magic. The last spirit I summoned was Aquarius," she rubbed at her collarbone again, not noticing the makeup coming off on her fingers and the black mark peeking out from under her fingertips. "It was a breaking point, literally. I had to choose between my oldest spirit and pseudo-mother or my guild." She looked up at them fully, unshed tears in her eyes. "Can you take a guess as to which one I chose?"
She took a shuddering breath. "Breaking a Celestial Key is not something one does. It's taboo and dangerous and next to impossible. It requires love and trust and both parties agreeing wholeheartedly and since I loved this guild so much, since this guild had become my family, I chose to break Aquarius' key and summon the Celestial King." She ignored the sounds that they made and continued. "He helped me take down Mard Geer and the rest of the demons before taking out the Cube and releasing everyone. We sealed the demons away and destroyed most of their books, except Mard who is locked away in the Celestial Realm. Everyone was free and then Master disbanded the guild. Natsu left with Happy, leaving me a note on my desk. Erza left in search of the Walking Taint and to work for the Magic Council. Gray and Juvia went off together, same with Gajeel and Levy. So, I was alone, by myself in Magnolia and I started to travel and worked in Crocus for a time."
"Then Alvarez happened and it was just another sacrifice wasn't it, with you saving Natsu and rewriting his book." Cobra added, nudging her shoulder with his.
"Rewriting his book?" Freed wondered, looking at Lucy with a frown.
"I did exactly that. Natsu was dying and I used magic and my knowledge of runes to rewrite him back to life." Lucy replied, wiping at her eyes. "When the guild got back together again, I didn't have the motivation to rejoin with everyone. At some point in my journey, Fairy Tail stopped being a family to me, it stopped being a safe place. I have so many scars in my body, so many things that haven't healed properly. I contacted Makarov and told him my decision, telling him that I was now an Independent Mage and on my own personal mission- that's when Crime Sorciere found me and here we are."
The group looked stunned, expectedly but hilariously. A sudden clapping noise startled Lucy and she looked at Laxus, who had a maniacal grin in his face, as he rubbed his hands together.
"I say Team Natsu deserve the ass kicking they're about to get." Lucy snorted at his expression before letting out gut-busting laughter.
Hey Ho, I wrote this in like an hour. Shoutout to: Creatbeautynotwar for being my soundboard. There's some exciting things about to happen in these next few chapters, so stick with me.
So, I also finished a NaGaLuLa fic, if you want to check it out (a little shameless promotion) If you don't know what NaGaLuLa is, it's Lucy+Laxus+Natsu+Gajeel together. It's my first PWP so please go take a look and give me feedback.
As always, drop me a comment or question or critique.
