Darkness surrounded me. Where was I? What happened?

"Layla Heartfilia was a beloved wife and mother. There was no woman better than her. We are deeply sorrowed to see her go, although we know her heart is in a better place…" the pastor continued. I stood under the umbrella someone held above me. Tears soaked my face, and the slanting rain soaked my shoes. After everyone left, I stood alone at my mother's grave. My heart shattered. Mommy, I thought. Why'd you leave me? Who was going to do my hair in the mornings? Who was going to spend the day with me while daddy worked? Who was going to play dress up with me?

"It's your fault she died,"a voice in my head said. "She got tired of being around you, so she died." My fault, I though over and over again. Mommy died because of me….

"Daddy, I made you a rice ball! It has your face on it!" I exclaimed. Today was my birthday, and I thought maybe if I could remind him then he would stop working for a little while and play with me.

"I'm busy right now. Leave," he muttered, not taking his eyes off the computer in front of him.

"Ok, I'll just leave it right here then. Eat it when you get hungry, ok?" I said, placing the little ball on his desk. "I don't know if you remember, but today is-"

"Did I not tell you I was busy?" he yelled. "I told you to go away! And don't make food, that's what the servants are for!" He swung his arm, knocking the rice ball onto the floor.

"I'm sorry," I cried. I gathered the ball in my tiny fingers and ran from the room, wiping the tears on the back of my hand.

"He hates you. He hates you, and so does everyone else. Nobody likes you. They never have, and they never will." I ran past that maids and servants as they tried to reach out to me. They were a bunch of liars. None of them actually liked me. They were only here because Daddy paid them to be.

"You're running away from home because you are a coward. You know nobody likes you, and you are trying to save yourself. You are a selfish little brat that will never do anything useful in your life."

"He only invited you to join the guild because he feels sorry for you. He knows you are a worthless Celestial mage and that you'll probably be killed soon anyway, so he thought there was no harm in it."

"Levy only pretends to be your friend. You have no one else, so she feels bad. You are her charity case, nothing more, nothing less.

"The entire fight was your fault. You are the reason the guild was destroyed. Levy being hurt was because of you. If you hadn't joined Fairy Tail, everyone would be happier right now.

I jolted up in my bed, sweat dripping down my face. Thank goodness, it was all just a really bad dream that's finally over. As soon as my heart slowed down, I got out of bed and dressed in my usual attire. Today was going to be a good day! I skipped through town to the guild. I froze the second I opened the door. Natsu sat in the middle of the hall with Lisanna, kissing her. Mirajane and Erza noticed me and started pointing, laughing their asses off. Soon, everybody guffawed at me. Natsu broke away from Lisanna for a second and yelled, "Lucy! Why don't you just go home?! Nobody here likes you!" My knees trembled, knocking together. My bangs hid my eyes from everyone in the room.

"I hate you most of all!" he called, and returned to Lisanna. I turned tail and fled back to my apartment. My heart broke into a thousand tiny, unfixable pieces. Those words would forever haunt me. Just when I found somebody that I really liked, he had to go and do this. He had to shatter my heart, just like my father did…..

All of my spirits gathered around me.

"I hate you! –ebi" Cancer said.

"Call on me again, and I'll help kill you. You don't deserve to own my key," Aquarius said.

"You are a terrible owner. Moshimoshi," Sagittarius added.

I was assaulted from all sides by every spirit I have a contract with.

"Loke!" I called in relief when I saw him step through the crowd of other spirits. He came to help me! He would stop everyone else! He promised he would always save me!

He was the one that hurt me the most.

"Get away from here. We all hate you," he said, shoving me back a step. I finally let the tears slide down my face. Everyone gathered around me in a circle. "Attack," Loke said calmly.

Aquarius whipped me with water. Cancer clipped every area of bare skin with his razor edged scissors. Sagittarius shot arrows into my arms and legs. Gemini morphed into Natsu and burned me. That laughed as they tortured me, slowly killing me. Loke was the last one to come. With his glowing fist, he punched me straight in my heart. More pain than I had ever felt filled my body. It was worse than breaking every bone in my body, tenfold. Nothing could compare. The spirits laughed as I screamed in agony…

Natsu's PoV

I jumped out of my chair when Lucy suddenly screamed bloody murder. She thrashed around in her bed, crying and screaming loud enough for half the world to hear. Erza charged in with a sword in her hand, ready to attack whoever was hurting her best friend. Gramps ran after her, with Levy and Wendy behind him. Gray entered and slammed the door behind him, keeping the rest of the guild out of the room.

"What happened?" Erza yelled, searching the room.

"She just started screaming! I didn't do anything!" I cried helplessly. Wendy walked up and laid her hands gently on Lucy, one on her heart and the other over her eyes. The room lit up for a moment, and then the screaming cut off. Loke appeared out of nowhere right beside her and cringed.

"She should be ok now," Wendy whispered, sitting in the chair beside the door.

"Damn!" Gray screamed, punching the wall. "Why can't we do anything to fix this?"

Happy floated over towards Levy with tears in his eyes. I rested my head on the edge of her bed and shut my eyes. Why did this have to happen to her? After she was knocked out in the fight against Umidjon, I was able to get up and fight some more. But it was mostly Loke that defeated him, using his light punch or whatever the hell it was. I carried her back to the guild immediately after and got help. She's been in here, sleeping, for the past day and a half.

"Oh, Lucy," Erza whispered. Gramps jumped onto the bed and kissed her forehead lightly.

"Princess, please wake up soon," Loke said, squeezing her hand.