Sorry for taking so long, this story is going to be very hard for me to write. I hope you understand. It might skip around a lot, and leave big gaps, but that's because I'm only writing the big parts, if that makes sense. I hope you enjoy, see you next time.

Warning: Possible triggering stuff? It involves food and cutting, but it doesn't go into much detail, so I don't think it will be that bad. But hey, you never know.

It was summer. At a birthday party, if she remembers correctly. A soccer friend of hers was turning 14, and her house sat upon a small lake, so all of the girls had brought swimming suits in order to swim about in the murky water. Swimsuits had always made Lucy uncomfortable, for they showed off two things she was very uncomfortable with quite flamboyantly.

It was always best to just wear swim shorts and a tee shirt, even if neither covered her scars or stomach much as she would have wished. The outfit always made her look like the ugly friend next to all of her beautiful, fit, soccer friends in their adorable little bikinis, but she tried hard not to mind too much.

Yes, it had most certainly been then when the first event had occurred. The first time he truly broke her heart.

Before she came to the party, Lucy had been arguing with Natsu over one of her best friends. It had always been a flaw of hers, getting involved with other people's problems, or at least that is what her mother had always told her.

'Trust me sweetie, it's gonna be your downfall one of these days,' Her mother constantly reminded her. But no matter how many times she was scolded over her habit, Lucy continued. Now, this was the first time she wished she had really listened to her mother.

'You protect her when she wouldn't be able to protect you...I mean she throws away the people who actually treat her well, and treats them like shit.'

Lucy tried not to scowl at the text she had received from her so-called friend. Natsu had been a real asshole lately, or maybe that was how he had always been. She wasn't sure, all she knew was that she was pissed.

Without even thinking, Lucy quickly typed back.

'She's protected me more times than I can even count. She's my best friend Natsu, and she's really helped me through a lot. So I'd really appreciate it if you weren't such an asshole to her for no reason and just fuck off.'

Send.

He read it almost immediately, and started typing just as quickly, but Lucy shut off her phone and tried to pay attention to the party around her, and she was able to, for awhile. But then her phone buzzed, and suddenly she was distracted again, however, she ignored it. She would come back to it later when she wasn't occupied.

So the girls, after eating, (an event that Lucy spent entirely in the bathroom in order to get away from the sickening stench of food) they went out to the small lake that sat behind her friend, Erza's, house. They swam, and pushed each other off the canoes and took pictures and actually, to Lucy's surprise, had a good time. For at least a little bit, she was able to forget about Natsu.

Eventually, everyone had hopped out of the lake, for every girl was very tired from their game of 'King of the Canoe', in which your team had to push the other team completely off of their home canoe and claim it for yourself. Many girls got long, bleeding cuts from the fish hooks that were located on the sides of the canoes, but they didn't really notice until blood started leaking onto the doc in which they exited the lake from.

"I'll go get some Band-Aids," Erza said, giggling, while limping slightly from the cut that marred the bottom of her foot.

"I'll come with," Lucy said with a small smile, wrapping Erza's arm around her shoulder in order to aid her walking, like a crutch. Erza smiled gratefully at the slightly shorter blonde, and together, they headed back to the house.

It was then that Lucy was not-so-distracted from the situation with Natsu, and took the opportunity to check her phone while Erza tried to locate a large box of bandages.

'That isn't protection I hope you know because I've done some shitty things and I do this thing called keeping it to myself which has worked pretty great so far. So to think that you need to be talked through a fucking problem which most likely had no major or relevant impact in your life just means mentally you are weak and must have your support (as you call it) given to you like you're a baby.'

Lucy's breath caught in her throat, and her chest felt as if it was being squeezed so hard it would burst. It was then she realized this conversation was not about Minerva anymore, the friend of hers that she had been trying to protect. No, it was in between Natsu and herself now.

Lucy sighed in order to get rid of the compression in her chest and she shakily typed back.

'Please leave me alone. Goodbye.'

The response was sent right away, as if he had been waiting for it.

'Why? So that you can get back to that retarded thigh cutting of yours? Please. You always act like you have a hard depressing life just because you were medically diagnosed with anorexia or depression when in reality it's your choice to do that stupid shit.'

Lucy felt like she was going to barf. How did he…?

'Fuck off asshole' She replied.

An immediate response. 'Stop acting like a little bitch and toughen up'

'Do I need to spell it out for you? F-u-c-k o-f-f'

'Do I need to spell out that you're a fake anorexic cutter?'

Lucy shut off her phone and set it down, far away from her. Her entire body was shaking, from her legs to her fingers.

"Lucy, are you alright? You look a little pale."

Lucy whipped around and grinned at Erza, holding her hands together in hopes that it would make her shivering less obvious.

"Yeah yeah, I'm fine! My dog's just getting surgery, so I'm a little worried. So you finally found those band-aids? Good. I have this huge slice on my thigh, and I was worried I might be getting a bit of blood on your floor haha."