You never truly realize what you have until it's gone...

Smoothing her hand through his hair, Lucy could only stare in mute horror and pain as Gajeel shut Natsu's lifeless eyes. Lifting his limp and lifeless hand, Lucy pressed it to her cheek, the lingering warmth drying the tears she didn't realize she shed. Nuzzling his hand once more, she gently set it against his chest and leaned down to softly kiss his lips...warmth still clinging desperately, even after death. When she spoke, her voice shook and she couldn't utter more then a whisper.

"I've always loved you, Natsu...I realize that now...it's to late! It's to late, but I have always loved you and will never stop. All those nights in the warehouse...all those times I fell asleep so sore and aching...the notes you left me, the first blanket and our memories are what kept me going, Natsu! I wasn't sure at first, but now I am...I love you, Natsu Dragneel...I was just to late to save you...to late...I'm so very sorry...Natsu...please...? Wake up...I love you, damn it, so wake up!"

The screech of tires and the sickening tang of burned rubber sounded, but Lucy ignored it. Numbly, she stood and stalked slowly towards her house. A house of so much pain...so much anger, so much hate! A house where a psychotic madman ruined the lives of his staff...his wife...his daughter...a house where good things game to die and a little girl lost her innocence far to soon...

Just looking at it's over extravagance was enough to turn Lucy's stomach sour. Memories washed over her, the closer she got. Memories of such pain and sadness, they took her breath away.

She was a little girl, she and her mother in a room off on the kitchen, the noises of Chef and his staff comfortably in the background. Her mother sat on a stool, Lucy at her feet as the woman held out what were now Lucy's celestial gate keys. It was a secret mother and daughter kept all to themselves, especially from Jude. Much to the child's delight, her mother summoned a spirit whom she called "Loke".

During this time, Lucy learned all about the rare golden gate keys of the zodiac, Aquarius the water barer, Cancer the crab, Scorpio the scorpion, Aries the Ram, Taurus the bull, Virgo the maiden, Sagittarius the archer, Gemini and Mini, the twins who shared a key, Capricorn the goat, the paired fish Pieces and Libra, lady of the scales...

The memory faded and Lucy found herself standing in the living room. So emotionally and physically drained, her eyes focused on a small white scrap of cloth, stuck under a fallen table. Ignoring the empty book shelves, the scarred and skeletal remains of her books, the shattered mirrors and pictures...she tugged the scarf and held it to her, gently inhaling the scent she knew so well...tears flooded her eyes, obscuring her vision as Natsu's scent – the sweet tang of pine and charred wood...something else, some thing purely, indescribably Natsu – Lucy's eyes finally focused on the figure before her.

"And what do you want, you little wretch! That sick freak finally kick you out? Got bored of you, hey?! Well, he's dead! I heard your screams, I saw you pathetically trying to wake him! He's dead, Lucy...and he's not coming back...Would you care to join him?"

As Jude held the gun in his hands, Lucy cringed, waiting for the loud bang to be followed by a bullet ripping through her flesh, straight to her heart. Seconds felt like hours as she wait. Imagined over and over again, her limp body falling to the floor...crimson blood greedily soaked in by the white carpet beneath her feet. She could already see how her limp and pale hand would lie just so, along with the rest of her body...pale and lifeless corpse, just like Natsu. A ruin among the charred furniture...the cracked windows, the bullet riddled couches and chairs, left to lie there much like corpses of furniture themselves. Just another ruined and wasted object of Jude's he'd destroyed and tossed aside.

The last thing Lucy expected was her father's laughter. Not rich and warm as it once was when her mother was alive...this was the laughter of a broken and insane man. The laughter of a man that had nothing to loose and would do anything to stay alive. The rapidly cooling body of the man Lucy loved was testament to that...

"You poor stupid little whore...are you that blind!? That stupid, that you honestly couldn't see?!"

To afraid to speak, Lucy could only stand frozen...in her mind though, her thoughts were racing. What was she supposed to see? All she saw was madman that used to be her father...a man so twisted and cruel and foul...he wasn't her father anymore. The day he'd first laid a hand on her, he ceased being her father. They were just two people living in the same house with totally different and separate lives...

Seemingly impatient for an answer, Jude limped over to the alcohol cabinet and righting a table, poured himself a glass of scotch, downing it in one gulp. Three glasses later, he turned and tossed the glass at her, just barely missing Lucy's face, instead falling to the ground with a dull thud.

"You...you're nothing but a little bitch and a whore, sending that freak to do your dirty work! I thought I told you to stay away from Natsu Dragneel and his disgusting family! Mmmmmhmmm... You - You never listen. That's why I beat you! You stupid idiot little girl! Worthless! You're nothing! I moved back here hoping I could re set up my business and instead I find you going to that fancy spanks school of yours and be all chummy chummy with that mongrel! Bunch of half-bastards!"

Frozen in shock, Lucy could only stand there mutely as Jude limped around, dragging his clearly broken ankle through the ruins of the library. Ignoring Lucy for a moment, he paced, ranting to himself about the idiocy of the Dragneel / Redfox / Marvel family. Muttering names about Carla that were so foul and degrading...! She'd seen her father drunk before but never this bad...never to this extent. Desperately, she backed for the door, only to be stopped when the gun was raised and the click rang loudly through out the stone still room.

"Where do you think yer going, girlie?! Come here and give your father a hug, Lucy!"

Even from where she stood, Lucy could smell the alcohol. Trying her best to keep her face neutral, she stood still, hoping to not draw his attention. But it was to late...already he limped towards her, almost zombie like in his movements, his ankle still sickeningly dragging behind him. Just as Jude's arms wrapped around her, a loud groan of wood straining then finally giving in burst out, mere seconds before an explosion. Caught off guard, father and daughter could only stare at what stood before them.

Just as a giant fireball flared around her, Lucy felt weight crash around her, arms gathering her close. As soon as she heard the person holding her speak, the world around her spun wildly, dark eyes alive with the zest of life was the last thing she saw, a soft whisper the last thing she heard, before the world around her went dark...

"Answer me a question...and I will tell you a secret..."