The Fire Within (#Wattys2014)

Chapter 2-Lucy's POV- Leaving Home and Joining Fairy Tail

Today I start my life at a happy place called Fairy Tail. That's right, I decided to run away from home a week ago, my dad and these awful memories of being beaten daily. This last time was the final straw as he locked me in the tower and used a flame whip on me. When he left, I decided that it was my time to escape so I asked Loke and Virgo to help me out by distracting the guards as Sagittarius used his master archery skills to create a zip line for me to escape.

I ran that night until I reached a port called Hargeon. Before I had a chance to get my barring, two large men put me under some kind of sleep spell and the next thing I knew it, I was on a large ship in a room that looked like a captain's quarters. I was scared, but not as badly as when I am around my father. I soon found out that these men were pirates and their leader Bora was about to brand me with a hot iron when the ceiling of the boat collapsed. Before I feel after I got hit in the head by a flying piece of timber, I saw a quick flash of salmon pink.

When I woke up I was surrounded by strange people in what looked like a hotel room. I sat up with a start, when a boy around my age with spiky pink hair and a blue flying cat. The boy was wearing a sleeveless, gold trimmed, black waistcoat, exposing his chest with white knee-length trousers, a thick black wristband on his left wrist and black open-toed sandals. Around his neck was a scarf which looked like it was made out of scales. I had no idea who these guys were so I let out a scream.

“Hey are you alright?”the boy asked.

“Where am I?” I said in a puzzled tone.

“You are in a hotel room. My name is Natsu and this is my partner Happy. We saw you being captured by those creeps and decided to help. What’s your name?” Asked Natsu.

“I’m Lucy. Thanks for saving me.” I said shyly as a grin began to grow on my face.

Although I just met these two, I knew that I would be alright around them. For some strange reason, I feel calm around them.As Natsu and I were chatting about what just happened, my celestial spirit names Loke (Leo the Lion) appeared and became very protective over me. Suddenly he punched Natsu in the chest and sent him flying into the wall. I was about to stop Loke and rush over to help Natsu when I saw flames beginning to surround Natsu. Fire, the sheer sight of it brought painful memories back into my mind of the constant abuse that my father inflicted upon me daily. I was afraid that Natsu was going to be burned to a crisp but then I noticed something odd, it did not seem as though he was even getting burned.

“How dare you show your fire powers in front of Lucy!” shouted Loke as he noticed that I was beginning to breath heavily and was falling onto my chest.

The searing pain from the lashes that I had just received that day came back with a vengeance. Natsu lowered his flames and rushed to my side to make sure that I was okay.

“Lucy, are you alright? I did not know you did not like flames.” It was at that moment when he looked at the back of my blue and white shirt and saw that it was shredded. My back was torn into strips, bleeding and burnt in many places.

“It’s okay Natsu, you didn’t know. “ I muttered as I began to lose consciousness from all the blood that I lost. The last thing I remember was Natsu shouting at Happy to get a girl named Wendy.

When I woke up, my back started to feel better. I looked around and I noticed that I was no longer in the hotel room but in a large white room on a bed. There was a lot of light from the large windows as well as curtains surrounding my bed and five others. I was in an infirmary. After I had figured out where I was, I looked down at my clothes. I was no longer wearing my blue and white shirt and skirt outfit that I normally wear. Instead I was wearing a tea-length light blue nightgown with little golden stars on it. My hair was not in the side ponytail that I usually have Cancer style it in but it was free flowing, landing on my shoulders. I knew that the outfit must have come from Virgo from her home in the Celestial World but when I looked around the room, I could not find her. Instead I saw a little girl with long dark blue hair and a green and yellow halter dress. Next to her were Happy and Natsu asleep. She nudged them awake when I started to speak,