Lucy's New Past

13 years ago, X771
Lucy was four years old, walking into town to get some things for her mother while her and her father argued about who knows what. She knew for a while that whenever they sent her out, it means that they were going to argue, and didn't want her to see it, which sometimes she gratefully appreciated. Lately though, their fights became more frequent. Sometimes, the little girl just wanted to yell at them to stop. But she knew that would anger her father, and she didn't like angering her parents. After walking around in deep thought, one other thought came to her mind as she noticed her surroundings. She was lost.
"Oh no. W-Where am I?!" She said in a panic as she ran through the woods faster, maybe to find civilization. She slowed down so she could calm down, to think of a plan. She stood up tall and walked up to a tree and took a hard look at it and saw a piece of small cloth hung to it. A year ago When her parents fought and essentially kicked her out to play she ran passed a couple trees, and her sleeve had gotten caught, pinned to the tree. She decided to keep it there, she thought it was cool. She then followed the path and ended up in the time square. She smiled brightly and searched for what to get for her mother. She walked slowly into a store that caught her eye and picked up a few things her mother would like.
"Hello! I'm here to pay for these!" Lucy set the items on the counter, using her tiptoes to reach the top.
"Yes, miss Lucy." The woman working at the store said with a soft smile. She had seen the little girl there often, with or without her parents. Everyone at the village down below protected the little Lucy and made sure she wouldn't ever get hurt. She was still only four.
"It's just Lucy!" The little blonde one said with a sincere smile. The older woman looked genuinely shocked at her words, even for a four year old, she was very intelligent. The woman laughed loudly and and pat the small girl's head affectionately. The blonde gave the woman a face splitting grin as she gave her a bag for her mother's items. Little Lucy was about to step out of the door when the store worker called back to her. Turning, Lucy managed to see the small but kind smile the woman gave her.
"Good day Lucy." Lucy smiled at that and left knowing she could count on the woman whenever she came around. The soon to be mage trudged into her mansion and set her mother's things on her bed and went down stairs for a snack when she heard yelling and then she heard a smack. It was so loud it echoed throughout the halls, then out of nowhere, she saw her mother turning around the corner and she took the girl's hand.
"Huh!?" She squeaked in confusion, to which her mother looked at her with fresh tears in her eyes and a red mark by her face. That's when it clicked with the four year old. Her gentle father had just slapped her compassionate mother. She blonde felt hot tears roll down her face as a thought came to her.
'Why would he do that? will he do that to me...no he wouldn't, daddy loves me, right? There has to be a reason for this' Lucy questioned herself as Layla led her to the small girl's room and grabbed a suitcase she had under her bed. From outside the door, she heard her father yelling apologies, she could hear the heartbreak in his voice. Like he was crying too. Like he regretted everything. Lucy wanted to console her father. Looking down at her shaking hands, she piped up at her mother's voice.
"Start packing, honey I need to get you far away from here. Your father and I have been arguing about this for quite some time but I need you to do this." The sniffling girl looked at her mother and nodded. She didn't know why her mother needed her to leave right now but she wasn't going to question it. She liked adventures after all, maybe that's what was going on. A fun little adventure. She noticed that her mother wasn't packing up just like she was. She tilted her head to the side and looked up at her.
"Why aren't you packing mama?" She looked at the little girl and embraced her in a small hug while she cried. Lucy was so shocked she couldn't say a word, but then felt more tears roll down her face Layla cried and held her tighter. She wasn't coming with her to stay it seemed, but maybe take her there?
"Where will I go mama?" Lucy questions through sobs. She had no idea where to start. How could she possibly live without her parents?
"Don't worry, I'll take you there." She gave the four year old a watery smile and took her hand swiftly, avoiding their sobbing father a few feet away. Lucy looked back at her and felt her lip quiver as more tears came to her. They left the mansion and headed for the woods off the property. Lucy tightened her grip on her suitcase and looked up at her mother. What exactly was she planning?
3 hours later
They built a fire and opened Lucy's case for her sleeping bag. They both made it pretty far on foot and built a small fire to keep them warm. Lucy looked up at the stars and noticed something. Where was the Draco constellation? It was just blank. Nothing there as far as the eye can see. She was confused but shook her head. She and her mother had bigger things to worry about than stars. They needed to sleep because both have a big day ahead of them tomorrow.
Lucy woke up to the sound of chirping and buzzing. She looked a bit dazed and went to wake her mother up. She older woman knit her eyebrows together and opened one eye to see her daughter's staring back. A smile came to the woman's face as they packed up and kept moving. The whole time, Layla looked so determined. Like she knew exactly where she was going. That's when they stopped at large cave, much bigger than her mansion.
"We're here," Layla said with a sad smile. She knelt down to Lucy's height and began to speak quickly. "Honey, let's go into town real quick okay? But this is where you'll need to be for a while. I know it looks grimy and dirty but there is a method to my madness. I promise." Lucy nodded at Layla's firm words and followed her into the village nearby. They came across a woman selling a variety of items. Such as meat, vegetables, and fruits. Her mother stopped and began to talk to the woman.
"Good morning ma'am, could I get some of everything?" Layla questioned and looked at an older women who seemed to be in her forties or fifties. The woman looked to both Lucy and to her mother, as if she was studying them. Both were a little dirty from their night in the woods, but their clothing looked expensive.
"How much you got?" Layla knew what the woman was trying to do and began to make several facial expressions as she looked down at the bags in her hands.
"10'000 jewels ma'am." Layla coughed as she looked at the money sadly. Lucy could vaguely tell it was all an act though.
"5,000 jewels then." Layla gave her the money and smiled.
"Thank you so much, now my daughter will be able to eat." She mumbled humbly as she walked away but before Lucy could fully turn around, she saw the woman's lips twitch upwards a bit while shaking her head. They stumbled back to the cave but before they went in they saw something move inside and went in with their guard up. Layla pushed Lucy behind her and narrowed her eyes at the darkness in the cave. That's when she saw it, a white scaled dragon with beautiful gold specks within those white scales. He held the kindest looking ruby red eyes that Layla had ever seen. Both were so awe struck they didn't even hear him speak.
"Who goes there?" His kind voice rang through Layla's ears. The mother's smile came back and she bowed respectfully.
"Layla Heartfilia, sir and who might you be?" The woman asked softly. She had already knew who he was but it wouldn't hurt to make sure. His laugh was loud and boisterous as he gave both the woman and little girl a big grin.
"Why, I'm Draco, the dragon constellation." It all made sense now, that's why he wasn't there last night because he somehow became real.
"H-how?!" Lucy's yelled to the large dragon.
"Don't worry, Lucy. This is who you're supposed to meet," Layla got on her knees and gave Lucy a hug. Lucy shook her head and watched Layla let go and go up to the dragon. "You promise to take good care of my daughter, won't you?" He nodded his head and closed his eyes, a gentle aura surrounding him.
"Of course. This was planned from the very beginning, wasn't it?" The older woman's expression softened and she hummed.
"I supposed it was," she turned back to her daughter. "Lucy, listen. I must leave now. I would only get in the way okay. But I promise I'll come back every so often to visit okay. Please be kind to Draco." Lucy's shoulders shook as she ran to her mother, begging her not to leave her with the scary dragon. Not to make her scared. Eventually, after hours of coaxing her daughter, Layla was able to leave reluctantly while her daughter sobbed. Layla looked back at Lucy, she knew it was for the best. But then why did it hurt so much?
...
"Are you okay to speak, Lucy?" Draco said hesitantly. He'd rather not upset the girl anymore than he already did. It had been a week since Layla left and Lucy had hardly moved. She didn't even bother eating, letting the food they had bought a week earlier rot away. Draco sighed and sat next to the blonde who looked out of the cave blankly. "I know it's hard, but this is what was always decided by your mother and I. Though I'm sure Jude wasn't so thrilled about it." Draco mumbled.
"Why?" Lucy asked as her voice cracked sadly. "Why am I supposed to stay here?" Lucy wiped away the fresh tears away and looked up at the dragon who was supposed for be her adoptive father now.
"You need to get stronger. To protect your loved ones. There is a much bigger plan that I can't discuss, but your mother had to make the sacrifice and allow you to become stronger, even if that meant leaving you with me. Has she told you about the zodiac keys yet?" He asked quietly. She shook her head and went to her suitcase, pulling out two gold keys and a couple silver keys.
"She gave them to me before we left. I already owned Aquarius, but was given Cancer last minute. I haven't even made a contract yet." She grumbled as she gazed at the keys. It was the only memory of her mother she had left. Even if she promised to come back, Lucy still felt that she was never going to.
"Well then, we should work on that. To become stronger, you must work on stamina and summoning your spirits to come out for more than five minutes. But were not only going to work on your celestial magic, but another kind as well. One that's a lot more tedious." Draco informed her. They were already behind on training as it is, they couldn't delay any longer.
"What...do you mean?" Lucy blinked.
"I mean, I'm going to teach you dragon slaying magic."
1 year time skip, x772
Lucy had been training with Draco for awhile now, and she's enjoyed every minute of it. The rush of magic, adrenaline, everything. She even considers Draco as like a second father to her. She walked into the woods to start hunting. Draco said buying food makes it easy so he makes her hunt it for him. She then tripped on something large and yelled out a small curse.
"Ouch, what the heck was that?" She glared back at what she tripped on, her glare fading into a large smile. On the ground, there was an egg laying there, half her size. It was white with golden specks, just like her father. She grabbed the egg and looked at it with a smirk.
"Imma hatch me a dragon." She mumble as she took the egg back to her father to show to him. Once she made it back to the egg, she found her dragon father sleeping away, his head down on the cave floor. She walked right up to him and held out the egg in excitement.
"Look dad look what I found!" She yelled up to his snout while he snored. She huffed and bonked him on the nose. He woke up instantly and on his guard while Lucy only laughed. He looked down at girl with a small glare. She eyed him back with a look of pure innocence, he sighed.
"What?"
"Look what I found when I was hunting" Lucy grinned up to him, holding the egg for him to see it. He raised a brow while she laughed happily. Then, out of nowhere, It started cracking and Lucy dropped it out of shock. She then saw a furry little white head pop of the egg.
"What the- no dragon?" Lucy said as her brows turned down to make a V-shape. A small cat climbed out and looked around with weariness. She was white with a gold belly with the same ruby red eyes that Draco had. Lucy looked for permission to keep her, and Draco nodded. The first name that came to her mind was Marie. She was just as silly as Lucy was, but managed to keep her in line at the same time.
Draco certainly thought she was perfect.
3 year time skip, x775
Lucy was eight when she mastered a couple moves, like celestial dragon iron fist, celestial dragon wing attack, and celestial dragon roar. Draco noticed just how fast she could learn. Lucy grunted while she trained with Marie, the cat had just learned max speed with her area magic.
"Lucy... When was the last time you had a bath?" Draco questioned one day. Lucy looked around the cave and chuckled nervously.
"A month..." She confessed sheepishly.
"Go to the lake right now, you reek, how can you not smell yourself right now!" He yelled at her and bonked her head lightly.
"Alright already! I'll go, come on Marie." She followed Lucy out by the lake, Lucy conversing with Marie while she cleaned herself. They walked back to the cave when Lucy was done and noticed Draco had fallen asleep. She snuggled up to her father and Marie and drifted into a dreamless slumber.
She woke up to the sound of her father's calm heartbeat. She had another nightmare about that night. She looked up at the cave, tears threatening to fall. After her mother left her with Draco, promising to come back, she never did. Lucy hoped for the best, but a nagging feeling she had in her chest told her otherwise. She knocked those thoughts out.
She wouldn't allow herself to cry about it.
2 year time skip, July 7th, x777
Lucy walked back to the cave with Marie. It was their turn to gather fare wood, so their arms were filled with wood. So much so theh could barely see where they were going.
"Hey Marie?" Lucy asked suddenly, her voice losing its mirth.
"Yeah?"
"I don't smell daddy yet and were almost to the cave." She informed, worried. By the time they got back it was nightfall and they were still waiting for their father to come home. Lucy and Marie suddenly got an odd feeling and ran outside the cave and looked up at the stars. There he was, Draco in his constellation form. Ever since he and Lucy met, while she went star gazing, she had never seen his constellation. Lucy fell to her knees and sobbed.
"He's gone...he left us here while he's up there as a constellation!" Lucy cried. She knew he wasn't coming back and she knew all good things must come an end. Lucy looked up at Marie as the small cat shook. The blonde suddenly got angry and stared at Draco's form and yelled at him for making Marie cry and never keeping his promise to stay. She wasn't angry, she was livid. Lucy cursed at him until her throat was sore.
"Come on Marie we're going...we'll be okay I promise, trust me." She whispered, her tone hoarse and forced. Her best friend flew to her with tears rolling down her fuzzy cheeks, hiccups being heard as she cried on Lucy's chest. Maybe she wasn't livid towards Draco, maybe she was just angry in general.
Angry that she was ripped from her family once more.