(A/N: Hey it's been quite a while. Sorry about that guys! School's been hectic but it's slowing down and I have winter break coming up soon so you can expect to be seeing me more frequently now. Thank you so much for being patient and for reading! Enjoy!)

What happened seven years ago

I awoke to the sounds of screaming. Confused, I walked to my window to see what was going on. There were people gathered around a huge fire that was burning in the middle of the property.

"MOM! DAD!" I yelled, running to their room.

Once I got to their room though, nobody was in there. I was scared and alone; I didn't know what to do. I saw a note in mom's handwriting sticking out slightly in the middle of one of her favorite books on the night stand, it was barely noticeable but somehow my eyes caught it. Once I saw it, all the memories came rushing to the surface like waves trying to pull me under. Mom died last night. My eyes started watering but I grabbed the note without reading who it was addressed to, wanting some piece of her and feeling that it was important for some reason, and stuffed it in my pocket before running downstairs to make sure my father was alright.

When I got to the lawn, I screamed for my father again. I spotted him in front of the fire, carelessly tossing things in.

"FATHER! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"

I attempted to come near him but was held back by one of our staff members.

"She was a witch!" My father yelled, "On her death bed she told me what she really was. Last night she told me about her magic just before she died, and this morning, I will erase my memory of her and her witchcraft. You know how I feel about magic, this is just what has to be done."

I recognized the things he was burning as my mother's old possessions.

"So you're just going to burn everything of hers' then? Before you found out about her, you loved her! Didn't you love her, daddy?! Mother was a good, caring person. She wouldn't do anything to hurt anybody! Didn't she prove that there is such a thing as good wizards? That there are good people with magic out there? Stop burning her things, dad! Daddy, stop!"

"I'm going to burn everything that reminds me of her. If I had known about your mother, I can guarantee that I would never have fallen in love with her, she used trickery to deceive me into loving her, she had to have. That's all magic is good for, is tricking people. Magic is evil and those with it must be punished for existing. Twice now I've been hurt by their kind and felt the effects of their deceptiveness. I will hunt every single one of her kind and bring them to justice. I'm going to kill practicing magicians."

"NO!"

"YES, LUCY! NOW GO BACK IN THE HOUSE AND LEAVE ME ALONE!"

I'd never been spoken to so harshly by my father. I ran back inside with stinging eyes and tears threatening to fall. I wanted to salvage some of mother's things so I went to the sanctuary of her craft room. To my relief, father hadn't gone in here yet, the only things he was burning right now were things from their room. I sat on her chair and pulled my knees to my chest and buried my face in them. I let the tears come and my back heaved with my sobs.

So what if mom was a witch? Why did dad hate magic so much? Magic was beautiful and wonderful, why couldn't he see that? Mom showed me all the amazing things she did with magic, she wouldn't hurt a fly!

I sat there for a long time, crying until it felt like I couldn't anymore. When I just about cried myself out, I remembered the note I had picked up earlier. I rummaged through my pocket and finally pulled it out.

To my beautiful Lucy was written on the front of it. So it was for me then. I rapidly unfolded the letter and a picture fell on the ground. I picked it up and examined it. It was me and mom when I was little. I closed my eyes and held the picture to my chest, hugging it and wishing it were mom instead. I set the picture on the table in front of me and turned my attention to the letter.

Lucy, by the time you read this letter, I will be gone. I am so sorry to leave you honey, but I want you to know that you mean the world to me. I love you so much and things will probably be hard for you from now on and for that, I'm sorry. But you're a strong young woman and I know you can handle it. There's something I wish to give you, for you to use and pass on to your children, should they be able to use celestial magic. In my craft room are my celestial keys, they're in the leftmost top drawer of my sewing table.

I curiously opened the drawer, and sure enough, there were all of her keys. I picked them up to examine them further and admire them. I'd been told in secret what they did and mother even showed me how to use them. Most of her spirits knew me and I knew how to summon them.

Since I have no need for them anymore, I want you to have them. I've informed all of my spirits about my illness and told them to take good care of you. When you feel ready, you may sign a contract with them. Please be careful though, honey, don't let your father know of this. I know he hated magic but I didn't realize he would react the way he did when he found out about me. He knows about me and you now, so he will be cautious of you. I only told him about me being a witch and he doesn't know that you already knew, and definitely doesn't know that you know how to use magic. Hide these keys away and never let your father see them. When you're old enough to take care of yourself, I want you to leave home and join Fairy Tail guild, they will be accepting of you. It's going to be hard, but for the time being, I want you to practice magic in secret and become independent, but above all, I want you to be safe. It's very much to ask of you, but I wouldn't ask you to do it if I didn't think you were capable of it.

(P.S. Once you've read this letter and understood everything I've told you, please burn it to ensure your father never finds it.)

Love always,

Your mother

I quickly stuffed the keys, letter, and picture in my coat pocket and ran to my room. I locked the door behind me before pulling the keys back out and staring at them in disbelief. It's a good thing I found the letter before dad did or he would've gotten rid of the keys too.

I pulled everything else out of my pocket and remembered that mom wanted me to burn the letter. I didn't want to, but I couldn't have dad see this. I tore the bottom of the letter off and threw the rest of the letter in the fireplace and watched my mom's goodbye letter burn.

Once it had completely vanished, I glanced down at the tiny piece of paper in my hands.

Love always,

Your mother

Such simple words that carried so much meaning. It may be silly to keep, but I will never throw this section of the letter away. I will remember these words when things get bad and they will help me get through the tough spots.

Just then, I heard a knock on the door and quickly stuffed everything under my pillow before telling whoever it was to come in.

My father stepped through the doorway and I couldn't look at him without feeling something awful that I've never felt before. Is this hatred? I wanted to scream at him and tell him how horrible he was but I knew that wouldn't get me anywhere so I just stared at him and waited for him to say whatever it was he came here to say.

"I understand you must be feeling a wide variety of emotions right now, sweetie…"

"Don't call me that."

"But honey, you used-"

"Don't call me that either," I glared at him.

"Um… okay, sorry," he said awkwardly, "uh anyway, I know you're probably mostly feeling anger at my actions earlier and I just want you to know that since you're her daughter, you also have witch blood but I don't want you to be scared of me because I won't harm you as long as you don't practice magic. You know I love you, I won't hurt you."

"Really? Because you used to love mom too and look what you did."

He was speechless as he stared at me. Unable to provide a comeback to that he simply said, "Dinner will be at 5:30, come down if you're hungry," and left my room.

That was the day my resentment and hatred toward my father began.

(A/N: Sorry that was kinda short and there were no Nalu moments, but I feel like the background context is incredibly important to further show why Jude is so feared by magicians and why Lucy can't stand him and doesn't want him to find her. As always, thanks for reading. I'll try to update again soon!)