"No! Jude's going to do the same to her like Layla! He's going to rape her!"
"And? What do you want with me?" Lucy sat down arms crossed with a serious look on her face.
"I've missed you, my only daughter. Why don't you come back to the estate to live with me?" Jude walked towards Lucy with his arms extended towards her. She scrunched up her face, stood up and took a step backwards cautiously. "What's your real motive? I know you wouldn't be one to 'miss' people, you emotionless rock," Lucy spat at him. His face fell and turned into a devilish smile.
"It's not like I'm going to let you go, so who cares!" He yelled, pushing her down with a thud and pinning her arms down. She yelled and spat in his face.
"What the hell are you doing? This is incest, incest! Disgusting!" She screeched in his ear. He leaned down and proceeded to lick her behind the ear.
"Who cares if it's incest?" he breathed in her ear, making her shiver.
"Fucking Let me go!" Lucy kicked him in the family jewels with her knee, making him fall over. She grabbed the leg of a nearby chair and lifted it over her head.
"Come a step closer and I'll smash this on your fucking head," Lucy growled dangerously at Jude. He rubbed his sore head and stood up, scoffing at her.
"You're not going to do that to your own father, now are you?" He smiled a sickly sweet smile, making Lucy's insides churn in disgust and horror.
"Don't underestimate me, you sadistic pathetic excuse for a father. I hate you! I would never hesitate to kill you!" She screamed at him, raising the chair even higher.
"I'll have to resort to this then…Put your hands up or I'll kill you." He grabbed a gun from the back of his coat and aimed straight for Lucy's head. Now it was her time to scoff.
"You're not going to do that to your own daughter, now are you?" she mimicked his sentence in a baby-like voice and shuffled towards a window near the back of the room. Jude moved closer and closer towards her, the gun cocked and ready to shoot, still aiming at Lucy.
She glanced towards the clock on the corner and smirked to herself, an idea popping in her head. "Well, it's time for the next class, I think. Gotta get to class. Bye bye!" She smashed the window with the chair, throwing it at Jude.
"It's the 3rd floor!" he yelled at her, throwing the chair off himself. "You'll die!"
"No! I still need the money from the arranged marriage! I can't keep the family waiting when there's money to take!"
"I've learned a few tactics since I was gone, you shithead. Don't talk to me ever again." She saluted and somersaulted down the window. A flabberghasted Jude ran towards the window and peered over, grumbling in anger when he saw her walking in the garden towards the entrance of the estate.
"Someone go get her! I'm not letting her get away this time," he growled into a speaker.
"You heard the orders! Go go go!" Bodyguards clad in their suits ran outside in the direction of Lucy. Jude smirked to himself, rubbing his hands together. "You're not getting away this time, you little wench!"
All of the bodyguards – 10 of them in total – ran towards Lucy and faced her, bare-handed.
"Well, what have we got here?" Lucy smirked to herself and crossed her arms. "You're not getting the best of me!" Jude watched in amazement as she flipped, dodged and attacked each and every one of the bodyguards. They fell to the ground in the blink of an eye, and when she finished, she glanced up towards Jude and saluted. He slowly drifted down towards the floor, only her back facing towards him as she walked out of the estate.
-X-
"Tsk tsk, the mailbox is full of mail," Lucy stepped over the piles of letters cautiously, as to not rip any of them. She peered into the pile of letters after stepping out of it and picked one up at random.
To Jude, it read. Lucy shrugged and peeled open the letter.
Dear Jude,
I'm very sorry for leaving you with Lucy –
Lucy dropped the letter and gasped, her eyes widening with shock. There was no way….No way! There was no way that this letter was from her mother! She quickly grabbed the letter, her eyes quickly reading the neat handwriting almost identical to hers.
I beg of you, let me see Lucy just once! I know that you were the one who forced me to give birth to Lucy, but she is still my daughter and I want to see her dearly. I also want you to meet my partner. He is a wonderful person but despite our divorce, I also want Lucy to meet her step-father. Please reply soon.
Your ex-wife, Layla.
Tears welled up in Lucy's eyes, dripping down her cheeks and dabbing the letter with small wet puddles.
"M – mom…. Dad raped you?!" The shock was incomprehensible – she couldn't speak nor breath. The air started to suffocate Lucy, making her grasp at her neck desperately and hack her chest for air.
"I can't breathe! Someone help me!" Her throat clogged and it felt like water had filled her lungs – she was drowning in the air! She slipped in and out of consciousness, her breathing still ragged, throat desperately searching for air, her head screaming for someone to help her.
"Crap…I can't hold on anymore…"
-X-
"So that's it? Her mum was raped and forced into marriage, and suddenly disappeared a few years after her birth?" Sting nodded and sighed, hands in his head, Rogue lying unconscious next to him. Erza and Jellal sat together with furrowed eyebrows, Laxus and Gajeel leaned backwards on their chairs, Levy paced around, trying to think of a plan and Lisanna sat next to Natsu, who looked up towards the roof quietly. Gray just sat in the infirmary bed like a lost soul – his eyes were jet black and he lay limply on his side.
"Oi Gray….you like her, right?" Natsu mumbled, his question almost inaudible even though the infirmary was dead quiet.
"…..Mmm." Gray hesitated for a moment before whispering a small response in reply.
"Go get her then. Isn't that your job?"
"….Mmm."
"Then what are you waiting for?"
The questions that Natsu asked went through one ear and out the other, Gray's replies only consisting of small 'Mmms' or 'Yups', all the while not budging from his spot.
"Ah, geez! Just go and get her!" Natsu ripped aside his blankets and did the same to Gray. "Suck it up, ice princess! Blizzard! Chicken! Flimsy! Stupid! Droopy eyes! Snowman! Stripper! Exhibitionist!" Natsu screamed into Gray's ear, but he continue to lay as still as a rock.
"Gray! Just go! She's waiting for you!" Lisanna yelled at him, punching him lightly on the arm.
"Idiot! Go get her!" Levy threw a plastic cup at his head.
"She's your girl, right? Go get her, you dumbass." Gajeel threw a pack of metal at his arm.
The rest of the gang threw insults at Gray, continuously beating him up in the process. After 10 minutes of harsh words and injuries, Gray still didn't budge from his spot. "Just leave him alone. He needs time to….to think." Gajeel snarled as lightly as he could, exiting the room quietly. The rest of them followed after until the only person left in the room was Gray.
"Lucy…." He repeated her name several times over and over, as if he were going crazy. He could just imagine her standing next to him, hands on hips.
"Stop saying my name over and over like that! Do you like me that much, you idiot?!"
His lips trembled slightly and eyes glossed over, blinking multiple times to try and stop the little teardrops already escaping from his eyes.
"Lucy…I'm coming to get you." Gray flung off the bed and pulled open the infirmary door, only to be greeted by a bunch of people falling over his legs.
"Go get her, Gray!"
"Gambatte!"
"Go get your girl, Stripper!"
"Hurry up already!"
"Good luck."
Gray grinned and ran out towards the exit of the hallway. "Thanks, everybody!"
-X-
"Geez….how far does this damn estate have to be? I should've taken a taxi or something…" Gray thought inwardly. In the distance, he could see someone or something lying on the floor. Maybe it was a dog? He started jogging towards the house, guessing what the unknown object on the floor was.
Soon, he made out the figure of a person in the distance. As he got closer and closer, he found that this person was Lucy.
"Wha – Lucy! Lucy! Are you alright? Lucy!" Gray sprinted towards her and rolled her face over into his lap.
"Lucy! Get a hold of yourself! Lucy!" Red marks appeared where he had attacked her face, but she still didn't move. He laid his head towards her chest, where he could faintly hear her heart thumping in his chest, He ran a hand through his hair, sighing in utter relief.
"Thank Kami you're alive…..I wouldn't know what to do without you…" Gray whispered, stroking her hair.
"Shut up…idiot…" Gray's eyes widened.
"Lucy, Lucy! What happened? Oh crap, what am I doing? We need to get you to a hospital!"
"Shu –"
"Crap, where's the nearest hospital?! I'm going to carry you bridal style, okay? Let's go!"
"Shut u-"
"I don't even know where we are!"
"I SAID SHUT UP!" Lucy yelled into his ear. Gray stood up straight and stiff like a soldier, nearly dropping Lucy in the process.
"Sorry…." he sweatdropped. "I thought you were Erza for a moment," he mumbled under his breath.
"…I heard that."
-X-
"I haven't been to a hospital in ages….kinda feels weird now," Gray muttered to himself, looking around the white walls of the hospital. Gray had taken Lucy to the hospital and was told she just fainted from shock and fatigue, luckily. She would need to rest at the hospital for a day, though. He smiled at her softly and stroked her golden yellow hair.
"I hope you wake up soon, Lucy," he sighed. "Also….I didn't notice till today, but I've fallen for you. Lucy Heartfilia…I love you." Gray muttered. A few seconds past, and he stood up, exiting the room to get a glass of water.
Lucy shot up from her bed sheets, eyes widening.
"He….he likes me?!" She screeched quietly, falling back on the bed. "No way no way no way no way." She repeated words of denial over and over again, mulling over his sentence in her head. "What do I do? I can't just pretend I didn't know!" Lucy whispered, rolling around in a flustered way. She heard Gray's footsteps coming closer and his under her blanket covers again, pretending to be asleep.
"She's still not awake? What is she, a rock?" Gray chuckled to himself, sitting down. With a clenched fist, Lucy resisted the urge to punch the living daylights out of him. She heard water swishing and clangs of the table, which meant he had put his cup down onto the table.
"I can't pretend any longer…"
"Urghh….where am I?" Lucy groaned with slurred speech, blinking rapidly as if trying to get used to the bright lights of the hospital ward.
"The hospital. You fainted from fatigue, but you have to stay in the hospital for a day," Gray replied calmly, as if all if that confession hadn't happened.
"O – Okay…thanks. Wait – what the hell am I saying? Argh!" Lucy rolled up her blankets and rolled to the other side to hide her flustered and blushing face.
"So…did anything bad happen at your uh, estate?" Gray asked, taking another sip of his water.
"Why are you being so nosy today?" Crap, that came out wrong.
"S – Sorry, I guess I am being nosy."
"Nah, I guess it's fine. Nothing really happened."
"By the way, what's this letter? You were holding it when I found you. I haven't opened it though."
Lucy rolled over and grabbed the letter from his hands, clutching it tightly.
"It's nothing. Shouldn't you be at school? Where are the others?" Lucy looked at him accusingly, eyebrows raised.
"Erm…long story short, I stormed out of school," Gray sweatdropped. He sighed and shifted his chair closer.
"Sorry, I lied. I read the letter."
"Wha – How dare you!" Lucy shot up and was about to slap him but he grabbed her surprisingly thin wrist.
"They told us – Sting-sensei and Rogue-sensei. About you. Your past. Your mum."
"Wha – They knew?!" Lucy raised her voice and tried to attack Gray with her other hand, but he caught her other wrist. She looked to the floor as tears started to drop on the floor quietly.
"She was raped! She was….dad…no, Jude! Jude raped her! That's disgusting! How dare he!" her wrists shook violently against the grip of his hands. Suddenly, he stood up, grabbed her by the back and embraced her in a hug.
"Wha – Let go of me!" Lucy yelled in his chest.
"Stop struggling! Just cry all you want. No one's in this room except for us. I know you're sad, Lucy. Just cry all you want," he said softly, hugging her tighter. She sobbed quietly into his chest, spilling her feelings into her tears. She cried not only because of her tragedies – she cried because she had someone to lean on. Finally, after all her years, there was someone who would actually lend an ear, outstretch a hand and listen to her for once.
She didn't care that in her childhood, he was the bully who haunted her nightmares, all of that was pushed out of her mind at that moment. The only thing she focused on was crying out her strong yet extremely delicate and fragile heart.
Knock knock!
"Heartfilia-san? Are you awake?" The high-pitched voice of a nurse rung from behind the door. Lucy and Gray flew away from each other immediately, causing Lucy to bang her head on the bed, Gray falling backwards on his chair and knocking the table, making his cup of water splash over him, the cup smashing into pieces on the floor. Lucy, on the other hand, fell off the bed with a series of crashes and bangs after falling onto the floor.
"Oh dear!" The nurse ran into the room, discovering that everything was either broken or tipped over, Lucy and Gray lying on the floor with swirls in their eyes, both knocked unconscious. Lucy's eyes, however, were red and puffy, and Gray's shirt and tear stains on them.
She cupped her cheek with her hand and sighed. "Was I…interrupting something?" She tsked at the two teenagers and quickly carried them onto the bed, making haste of their conditions and cleaning up the room.
She tucked the two into the bed and nodded to herself in approval of the sparkly clean room and walked out, closing the door as quietly as she could.
"Alright she's gone so bye." Lucy kicked Gray off the bed, making him yell out in pain.
"You didn't have to treat me that rough, you know. Is that how you treat someone who lent their chest for you to wipe your slobber and tears on?" he asked, grinning from ear to ear. Lucy rolled her eyes.
"Shut up, idiot."
"Well, I guess I gotta get going."
"Wai –"
"Don't worry, I'll be back. I guess you really want me to stay, hmm?" Gray hummed, smirking.
"Wha – No!" Lucy dived into the safety of the blankets, blushing beet red.
"Whatever you say, Princess."
"Hmph."
"Anyways, I'll be back with the others. They'll probably be glad that you're safe. Bye!" Lucy peeked at Gray to see him waving at her, back turned and exiting the door.
She whispered so softly that she could barely even her herself. "Bye."
A/N: yaaaaaay! more relationship developement! I just watched katanagatari (kinda old, but I reaaally recommend it) and felt like writing a cute kinda chapter. tell me what you thought in a review!
Make sure to review & read / support my other stories: Valentine's Day, Darkness, Of Dragonslayers love and best friends, The proposal, Fairy Tail Academy and Replacement!
- hime