Fairy Basket chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail or Fruits Basket

Lucy's POV:

I walked out of the school gates towards my job. I work as a cleaner for a block of holiday units. I don't get paid that much but I enjoy my job (cooking and cleaning is about the only useful skill I have so I don't have much of a choice).

Once I had finished work it was 10 pm and I was really tired so just trudged back to my tent, knowing I had to finish studying for a test as well as having to wash my face in the stream near my tent.

I arrived at my tent and said hi to mum before picking up a face cloth to use at the stream. As I crawled out of my tent I saw two figures and one was laughing like crazy and the other one was just standing there shocked. I realised that the two figures were Guildarts and Gray. Guildarts was laughing very hard and I soon realised why. I was crawling out of a tent with a face cloth in hand. I blushed and went to crawl back into my tent when Gray took me by the arm and pulled me out of the tent.

"Lucy what are you doing in a tent and how long have you lived in it?" Gray asked me.

"Well. Uhhh... You see, my mother died three years ago and since then I have been in the custody of my father."

"Go on." He looked impatient so I decided to get straight to the point.

"As soon as that happened he became a shell of what he used to be. Not talking to his own daughter, I never heard him laugh again. After a year he became focused on work and nothing else. And finally, at the start of this year, his business went into debt due to some complications with the accounting and he grew really vicious around me. He said I was a worthless piece of crap... And you know the days I came to school with a few bandages on my arms or legs? That was from him."

Gray looked shocked and at a loss for words. "W-wow I just thought that you had been really clumsy."

I gave him a watery smile. "Don't worry you weren't the only one, everyone thought that and that's what I told them. Even to my two best friends."

He looked at me sympathetically then brightened his mood. "Lucy are you any good at cleaning?"

"Well yeah it's about the most useful skill I have."

Guildarts finally spoke up after having a silent conversation with Gray. "Would you like to stay at my house and be like a maid. Of course we will pay you for your troubles."

I waved my hands in front of my face. "No I couldn't possibly do that. I would be a hassle and a nuisance why would you want me to live with you guys?"

"Our house needs a good clean and you need a good house it works out perfectly." Guildarts said with a smile.

I knew I really needed a house so I had no reason to turn down his offer but I didn't want to cause them any trouble. 'But he offered.' I thought. "Ok" I smiled, "it's a deal. Only I don't want any money. If I do earn any money it is going to go towards food and my living expenses."

"Sounds like a plan." Gray and Guildarts said simultaneously.

I left all of my stuff in the tent and promised to get them in the morning and then dragged my feet out of the tent that I had called home to go to my new one.

I got to Guildarts' house and went inside. 'What a big house for two people.' I thought to myself. Gray met me in the living room and guided me to my new room. It was pretty big without a bed in there and obviously hadn't been used I a while. There was a few small spots of mould that could easily be taken care of by some fresh air and a dehumidifier.

"So how do you like your new room Lucy?" Gray asked me.

"It's really nice. Thank you for doing this for me."

"No problem."

I smiled warmly at him and set out the mattress I had been given for the night when I suddenly realised that I hadn't brought my pyjamas or my photo of mum. I stopped putting on the sheets. "Gray... Could I please borrow some pyjamas? I left mine back at the tent."

"Sure. Let me get some for you." Gray walked out of my room and came back a few minutes later with a comfy looking shirt and some loose pants.

"Thanks. I appreciate it."

"Don't mention it."

We both went into the living room and had a sandwich and then went to bed.

I was walking to school with my mum. It was just the two of us and we were talking about random things. I smiled widely when mum made a silly joke as we were crossing the road. Suddenly her face became panicked. I didn't even have time to ask what was wrong before she shoved me off the road as a car barrelled into her.

"MUM! MUM!" I screamed as I ran towards her body. I looked over her and could see her eyes were closed. Blood was pooling around her legs and there was a trickle of it down the side of her mouth. "Mum, mum please wake up. Please don't leave me! Your going to be ok. Please don't d-die," I cried as I threw myself onto her and I hugged her. I heard sirens in the distance and vaguely thought someone must have called the ambulance. I heard a cough and looked towards my mum.

"I want you to know that I love you very much, sweetheart." She put one of her hands on my cheek, "Please always keep that wonderful smile of yours." Her hand started to slowly slide off my cheek as she lost more and more energy with each passing second.

I felt myself being gently lifted up by one of the paramedics. "No! Let me go! I wanna see my mum," I screamed and thrashed around. "Please let me see my mum." My plead fell on deaf ears and the man simply put me down and inspected my injuries.

"Hello miss," The man said as he tended to my small injuries. "My name is Liam, what's yours?"

"L-L-Lucy," I managed to croak out.

"Well Lucy, you've got a sprained wrist and a few scrapes but nothing too serious... Could you please tell me what happened?" He asked.

I described what had happened a few minutes prior with tears threatening to overflow at any time. He looked shocked and saddened and put a comforting hand on my shoulder, "Lucy your mother seemed like a brave and selfless woman."

I looked at him with a face of horror on my face, "What do you mean by 'seemed' my mum isn't d-dead."

A pained look flashed across his face, "I'm so sorry Lucy but with the injuries she sustained she will pass away no matter how much medicine and care we give her."

"No that has to be a lie. My mum can't be dead she just can't be. Your lying aren't you?"

He grimaced and bowed his head, "I'm so very sorry Lucy, but I'm sure she would be glad that you didn't get hurt too badly."

"No," I whispered, "She was laughing and smiling until just a few minutes ago," my voice rose from a whisper to a shout. "Why? Why did she have to die!?"

I shot up and rubbed my eyes, 'There's no time to think about that I've gotta go get mum's picture and my stuff.' I thought.

I opened up my door to find Gray standing on the other side of the hallway.

"Well it's about time we go to get you stuff from the tent." Gray said to me.

"Yeah."

Guildarts suddenly materialised from the doorway. "There was a landslide last night so you'd better be careful." He turned around, "and Lucy? You might want to get changed first." I looked down to realise I was still in Gray's pyjamas and blushed.

"How do you know about the landslide?" I asked.

"Well, you see it's something called the nature ability-"

"Oh shut it Guildarts and tell me where the landslide is." Gray cut Guildarts off obviously annoyed.

"It could possibly be near her tent."

"Geez, your no help at all," Gray sighed.

We reached where my tent was supposed to be but all we found was a massive pile of dirt. "No. No. No. No. This can't be happening." I fell to my knees and started digging wildly. "Mums picture was still in there. I need to get it out now. She would hate me for leaving her in there." Gray put his hand on my head.

"Don't worry Lucy, I'm sure your mum was glad that you didn't get hurt." My eyes widened at his comment but he didn't notice. "But I don't think that dirtying your uniform on a school day is the best way to go about this."

I looked down at my uniform to find the white material covered in dirt. "I'm sorry, I've just caused more trouble for you."

"It's okay Lucy don't worry about it. I'll ask Guildarts to get some of the dirt off your tent while we are at school." I knew by the tone of his voice that his decision was final and I couldn't argue with him so I just nodded my head.

When Gray and I finally got back from school I found all of my belongings in my room with a small set of drawers and a desk and a comfortable looking double bed with a fluffy pink doona. 'When did this get here?' I wondered. My eyes widened, 'Wait, did Guildarts really dig my stuff out and get me a bed? He's so nice but this is just too much for me. Why would he do all of this for me?'

I turned around to see Guildarts standing at the frond of my door with a smirk on his face. "So, what do you think of your new room? I didn't have enough money to buy a bigger or comfier bed and the draws are second hand but I thought you needed at least the bare minimum in your new room." I gave Guildarts a huge smile and thanked him for doing so much for me. He smiled and patted me on the head. 'Just like a real father' I thought, tears were forming at the edges of my eyes as I pulled away from him and thanked him again. "You know since your father isn't very good to you I could be your fatherly figure. I mean I am Gray's fatherly figure so I could be yours too. Then you and Gray can be like siblings."

"Thank you Guildarts, I would like that a lot."

Gray strolled into the room and whistled. "Wow, this room is actually nicer than mine now that I look at it."

Suddenly there was a big crack and the ceiling started to cave in. I yelped and dived out of the way of the cracking ceiling. It was a good thing too, right where I was standing a minute ago stood a boy who looked around the same age as me with obnoxious pink hair that stuck up in every direction. He started to talk to Gray. "Its been a while, hasn't it? You stupid rat."