Insane

The Sad Truth

Natsu didn't go home that night. He had things to do and flaws to fix. He had stayed up tweaking the plan to take down Zeref and adjusting it to Lucy's strengths.

It was around 2 a.m that he heard the thrashing.

Looking up from his paperwork, he assumed that Lucy was trying to find a way to escape, which pissed him off. He immediately got up and out of the lair underneath the whole building, taking the key that locked Lucy in the room out, ready to unlock the door.

When he got up the stairs, he heard the screams loud and clear. She screeched so loudly that it was actually audible through the steel door.

"No! Please! Stop! Get away from me!"

He hurried towards the door and quickly unlocked it.

The sight that greeted him shocked him.

There on the floor, drenched in sweat, was a withering Lucy. It was clear she was still asleep, for her eyes were unopened. She kicked and screamed and shouted until Natsu's ears couldn't take anymore.

He got close to her and lightly touched a part of her arm. Lucy's eyes bolted open from the sudden contact and she twisted her body around, kicking one of Natsu's shins in the process. She crawled as fast as she could to the corner of the room, brought her knees to her chest, wrapping her arms around them and started rocking herself back and forth slowly, whispering comforting words to herself.

"They can't hurt me. They can't hurt me," she chanted over and over to herself, her voice raw and barely above a whisper.

After a certain amount of time, Lucy finally noticed Natsu and whispered lowly, "Please leave."

And with that, Natsu walked out the door, but not before making sure the door was locked.

He could still hear the tiny whimpers.

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When people started piling on through the day, and the agents were all under the bar, Natsu came out again to check on Lucy.

"Hey Natsu," MiraJane, one of the best agents they've had, 'worked' behind the bar. If they were gonna run a fake business to cover up the fact that they're using an underground lair as their temporary HQ, they needed to make it look real but use somebody that that knew what was going on. Mira was the perfect one for that.

"Hey, Mira. Has Lucy made any noise? Does she want something to eat or something?"

Mira smiled but you could see a little distaste at the mention of Lucy's name. "Nope. Haven't heard a peep."

Natsu nodded and went to walk up the stairs. Not one person that walked into the bar was allowed to go up the stairs and if they did, they'd have to face the consequences.

Natsu took out the key from his pocket and unlocked the door. Once he opened it, he could tell that the whole room was pitch black. When he turned on the lights, he saw Lucy, laying on the bed, her eyes red and blotchy.

"Leave."

She didn't speak as a request. It was a demand. When Natsu didn't move, she spoke again, this time, her tone firm.

"I said leave."

And that's what Natsu did. He left.

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The same thing happened for two days. When people asked Natsu why she hadn't been to any of the mission briefings, he said that she felt out of place. Truthfully, he thought that she didn't want to face him after her breakdown, but that was understandable.

On the third day, when he made a move to check on her, he was surprised to see her dressed and ready to go. She put on a smile, but when she spoke, her voice was raw, like she hadn't spoken in days, yet screamed all night. Slowly, Natsu realized how close that must be to the sad truth.

"So what crazy stuff are we doing today?"

Natsu smirked and led her down the stairs and into the bar. It was a Sunday, so they had closed the bar and all the agents were out in the open instead of hiding underground.

"Wait here. I need to get the mission file to explain it to you." And with that, Natsu went through the steel door that led to a place Lucy didn't know of.

As Lucy sat at the edge of the bar, the same seat she took on her first day here, she felt everyone's eyes on her. She held her head up high, even though the attention was rather uncomfortable.

She was a criminal. She learned how to not draw attention. Of course, there were moment when she loved the spotlight, but this was just overwhelming.

She sat there for a little over five minutes before she heard a soft, innocent voice speak up.

"Mama, why does she look lonely?"