Refuse to Bow

Warnings: Mention of suicide.

Main Character: Lucy

Time Line: Just before the Grand Magic Games training, after Laxus was reinstated as a guild member

Lucy sees someone from her past and the guild gets a glimpse of the other side of her.

"You're kidding right?" The outburst from Lucy caught everyone's attention. "You're not actually going to let that piece of shit join Fairy Tail are you?"

The guy actually had the nerve to look offended, "Why shouldn't I Lucy-san? I'm just a normal mage."

Lucy's eyes narrowed, a rare hardness in them, "Can you even do magic?"

"Of course I can," but Lucy noticed the shifting of his eyes, too bad no one else did.

"What kind?" Lucy started walking towards him.

"Illusion magic," the guy was starting to look panicky now. Good.

"Type?"

"Sensory."

"What sense?"

"Seeing and hearing only."

Lucy was now in front of him, "Does your family know?"

He looked down.

Bingo.

"Why Fairy Tail? There are better guilds for people like you."

"Atonement for everything I've done in the past, to show people that I've changed." He answered automatically, like he'd rehearsed it.

A bitter chuckled escaped the blonde's lips and she grabbed the collar of his pristine white shirt, pulling him down to her eye level, "People like you—people like us don't change, Tommy. So why don't you tell me the real reason you're here?"

The guild stared in shock at the Celestial Mage, usually the girl was all smiles and sunshine but right now, it was like she was a different person. Her voice was acidic and ice cold, her eyes were hard as stone, and her body trembled with rage. This wasn't the Lucy that they knew and loved, this wasn't Lucy of Fairy Tail. This was Lucy Heartfillia, the heiress of the Heartfillia conglomerate, raised in a world they could only dream of.

Lucy continued staring in to Tommy's eyes and something like fear and something—darker flashed through his green orbs. Recognition dawned on Lucy, her face turned dark in disgust now too, her lips warped into a cold and disdainful smirk. Lucy's voice took an almost seductive tone as she purred in his ear, "Don't tell me. You came here to—for lack of better word—avenge your stupid record? Or perhaps you came here to avenge your 'friend'."

Tommy's face turned red with anger and pushed the shorter girl away. "Shut up you damn bitch. Not everything revolves around you."

"Oh?" Lucy's face turned mocking and her voice turned sugar sweet and slow, like poisoned honey, as she circled him like a shark would its prey while the entire guild watched, "So I haven't been on your mind all these years? I haven't been your obsession? After all, I am the first girl to reject you. The first girl to break you, even after you tried so hard to woo me."

Tommy's face turned cruel, "I remember you. Lucy Heartfillia, the heartless bitch that scared away so many of her suitors."

"And I remember you," Lucy said without missing a beat. "Tommy Lichen, the playboy that thought he ruled the world just because his family had a little bit of money, that if a girl wasn't in love with you, she must be gay."

Some of the guys in the guild hall giggled at that.

The rich boy flushed again in anger and embarrassment, "At least it wasn't my fault that Lila died."

Everyone looked confused at that but they could tell it was bad, they all watched Lucy closely with bated breath to see just how she would react. Lucy was still, her earlier trembling gone, her head was down, her hair falling around her like a curtain. Her hands clenching and unclenching was the only sign of how angry she actually was.

Then, without any warning and almost too fast to be seen, her hand shot out and slammed the back of his head on to the bar causing everyone in the guild to jump and watch her with wide eyes.

"Listen close you stupid piece of shit," Lucy hissed into his ear, ignoring his desperate gasps for air and ignoring how his fingers clawed at the hand that was crushing his throat and ignoring the way his body was squirming from the unnatural positioning. "It wasn't my fault Lila died. It was yours, her parents, and everyone in that stupid town."

"Lucy, let go of him, he can't breathe." Erza placed a gentle hand on her shoulder, the only person brave enough to actually try and stop the young mage.

Lucy looked at Erza and it took all of Erza's willpower to not take a step back from her. Erza had never thought of Lucy as scary before powerful, yes, but never scary. Right now though Erza was actually scared of Lucy, the younger girl's eyes were narrow with blind hatred and her face was a perfect mask that betrayed none of her thoughts but her voice was chockfull of negative emotions. She looked like a caged beast, full of rage and hate and just begging to lash out at someone.

Lucy let go of Tommy—but only out of respect for Erza and not wanting to scare the more innocent guild members.

The violet haired man collapsed to the ground, coughing violently with his hands drawn across his chest like a talisman. He got up and composed himself, a sneer on his handsome face, "The girl was clearly delusional. If anything she should've been grateful I took such an interest in her, heaven knows no one else would've."

The guild tensed expecting another head slam, Erza gripped Lucy's shoulders with greater force but instead the girl's leg shot out and round housed his side with so much force the guy was sent flying, crashing—and breaking—the table Natsu, Gray, Juvia, and Gajeel was sitting at.

Lucy glided over to him—an action that spoke of years of training to cover her emotions—and this action scared Tommy more than the crushing of his wind pipe. Because he'd seen her do this walk once and it wasn't an experience he wanted to see again, let alone experience.

"Get out. Now." Her voice was low and almost a growl. "Unless you want to end up like Roster."

"Huh?" His heart was racing from fear, a cold sweat had broken out over skin, and the extra blood reaching his head just reminded him of his throbbing, sore head.

"I said get the fuck out of my guild," Lucy hissed, murder blazing in her eyes. The guy didn't need to be told twice as he scrambled to feet and ran to the door, not stopping until his legs felt like jelly and his lungs were burning.

Lucy took a deep breath, "Stupid, idiotic, fuckin'…"

Lucy went off on a tirade that was so dirty even Gajeel blushed. Everyone was surprised Lucy even knew that many curse words—or could be so descriptive about way to torture someone. Every guy—and even some girls—winced, while the girls blushed.

Lucy kept on going until she had worn down the strip of wooden floor down a layer and her face was flushed and she was panting.

Lucy stopped in front of Makarov who had been watching the entire thing with a blank face. "Master you absolutely cannot let someone like that in the guild."

"Lucy, you know that forgiveness and second chances are principles of Fairy Tail."

"You don't get it," Lucy shook her head, her bitterness and anger gone, instead, in its place was a quiet desperation and a bone deep sadness. "People like him—people like me don't change."

"What are you talking about Luce?" Natsu asked, almost hesitantly, there was something clearly bothering the blond but he'd be lying if he said he wasn't afraid he was stepping on a land mine.

Lucy collapsed in the nearest chair, tilting her head towards the ceiling, closing her eyes, and letting a tired sigh escape her lips. "People like me and him—we're raised differently than you guys. We're raised to think that we're the best of the best, that as long as we say so we're right. All because of one reason, we're rich."

"Perhaps he's changed Lu-chan—just look at you—you never know," Levy whispered, sliding into the seat next to the girl.

Lucy looked at the petite blunette and Levy was taken aback by the stricken look in her brown eyes, "But I do know. I know exactly what he's going to do, he's going to chat up the girls, make them feel special, and he's going to make friends with the guys, gain their trust. Than he's going to get himself groupies, people who will do whatever he wants simply because they don't want to disappoint him. Than he's going to pick a target—one of the girls from the guild—an easy first to test out his power and see how loyal his followers actually are. When our guards are down, when we think hey maybe he's not so bad that's when he's going to strike."

"You sound like you've had experience," Carla said in her matter of fact of way.

"Something like that."

"What do you mean?" Wendy asked with big eyes but there was something behind that innocence—understanding.

Lucy sighed, "To get what I mean, you'll have to know how I was brought up. The place I was brought up was very old fashioned. Where men were in charge, where if you weren't a guy the only thing you were good for was getting married and producing a boy to be heir. In their eyes' the perfect woman knew how to cook, clean, was polite, educated but not so smart that they were smarter than their husband. They held their tongue, spoken only when spoken too. But most of all the women had to be submissive. They had to bow their head to whatever the men wanted them to do."

Many of the women in the guild snarled at the idea of them being submissive to anyone.

Lucy smirked, cold humor dancing in her eyes, "That's just the thing though. It's just not in my personality—I don't do submissive. I don't bow my head to anyone. That was troublesome for my father."

Gajeel smirked; he was a witness to just how stubborn she was. The entire time she was kidnapped, not once did she beg, not once did she plead. Instead she looked at her attackers dead in the eyes as if daring them to just try to break her. No matter how much he hurt her, no matter how much he told her to just bow her head to him, she never did.

Crazy bitch, Gajeel thought somewhat fondly.

"What happened?" Gray asked, clearly interested.

"As soon as he deemed me old enough, he started setting me up. But I scared off all of my suitors, no matter how charming, handsome, rich, or how much my dad liked them I always sent them packing. That was a problem so my dad decided to set me up with the nastiest, most perverted, cruelest rich guys he could find. Hoping that one of them would break me" Everyone gasped at that. "But here's the thing, instead of them breaking me, I broke them."

"What do you mean?" Cana asked, her booze forgotten.

Lucy chuckled bitterly, the sound sending shivers down everyone's spines, "There was this one guy. Real piece of work, took misogynist to a whole new level. By the time I was done with him, he couldn't even look at the opposite sex without crying."

"Then who was Tommy?" Warren asked.

Lucy's face turned dark again, "He was one of my suitors. After several of the meanest boys he chose ended up running away in tears my father decided to go easy on me because he thought I'd learned my lesson. I turned Tommy down."

"Who was Lila?" Laxus asked, remembering her extreme reaction to her name.

Lucy took a shuddering breath, her hands fisting together in her lap, her voice shook when she finally spoke, "She was my only friend back then—my only real friend. About two months after I rejected Tommy, it happened. I was leaving the library after a meeting with Lila and she was going to leave later because she had to look something up for class. Everyone knew about our friendship, the merchant's daughter and the Heartfillia heiress but I didn't care because Lila was the first person to see me. Me not the Heartfillia heiress but me Lucy."

A sad and almost desperately insane smile was on her face, "I should've cared though. If I had maybe—maybe she'd still be alive. After I…left the library Tommy and his two most loyal followers cornered her in the library. He had," Lucy swallowed and her jaw clenched, "He had his two goons' hold her down while he…while he…augh!"

Lucy let out a frustrated cry and brought her clenched fist down on the table next to her breaking it in half and causing everyone to jump at the sudden noise. Everybody just stood there, staring transfixed at Celestial mage.

Lucy took a deep breath but it didn't calm her down if anything it seemed to make her more worked up, "That spineless, pathetic, asshole had his worshipers hold her down while he raped her."

Everyone's eyes widened, their voices stuck in their throat, for once the guild was quiet.

"After that she was never the same." Lucy's voice broke, "She-she tried to tell her parents but they didn't believe her, she tried to tell Tommy's parents but they sent her away without ever meeting her and, as if that wasn't bad enough, Tommy started taunting her saying that no guy would ever want her now. That she should just go and kill herself because she didn't matter to anyone. No matter, how much I tried to convince she did matter. She never believed it, she got worse, until she rarely spoke, ate, or even left her room. One day she decided to take his suggestion."

Lucy's left hand was gripping her right wrist in a death lock and her eyes were shiny with unspilled tears that she refused to cry, "I tried to stop her. God, I tried so hard. But there was so much blood. I tried to stop the bleeding but she'd already lost so much. The-the blood was everywhere, on her clothes, in her hair, on her skin, on my skin, on my clothes, in my hair, on my hands. She died that night, right there in my arms and I was too powerless to do anything but cry and beg and plead for her not to leave me alone again."

Lucy started shaking, her head rocking from side to side and her nails drove itself into her skin, "But you want to know what the worst part was? For two years after Lila's suicide no one could say her name they all called her that stupid girl."

Cold hands carefully pried open her palm; dark ocean blue orbs stared into honey brown.

"Stop it," Juvia murmured. "You're going to break the skin."

Lucy didn't say anything, didn't move, just stared unblinkingly into Juvia's eyes. It unnerved the ex-rain woman. Juvia had never really taken Lucy's past seriously, always thought of her—in the darkest, deepest, most hidden away place in her mind—as a spoiled brat that didn't know just what she had. Because Lucy had parents, love, and acceptance, things that Juvia never had. But right now, staring into Lucy's dead eyes, she knew she was wrong. Lucy went through hardships too, ones that Juvia couldn't even imagine because Juvia had never lost a friend. Never watched a person she loved wither away right in front of her eyes until they were little more than a shell, never had to watch them bleed to death, never had to experience that utter helplessness. Never had to experience the things that Lucy had too.

"What did you do to them?" Juvia asked, when Lucy just continued staring she clarified, "The two followers."

A cold, cruel, smile appeared on her lips and her voice was laced with malicious humor, "One of them is in a coma in a very expensive hospital. Oh, I remember him; he kept on crying out for Tommy to save him. As if Tommy could have stopped me from doing the exact same thing to him."

"How did you get away with it?" Gajeel asked, a bit disturbed at how cruel bunny girl could actually be.

"It was only a week after Lila's death so the police chalked it up to emotional and magical instability or something equally dumb. Probably helped that my dad paid them off too.

"And the other one?" Romeo cleared his throat.

"He got away but if he ever had the misfortune to see me again…" the blonde let the threat linger in the air.

"What about Tommy?" Lisanna asked.

Lucy's lips twisted up into a dark snarl, "The coward ran away as soon as he heard I was looking for him. Moved to another city."

Lucy suddenly stood up, almost knocking over Juvia who was still kneeling in front of her, and stalked over to Makarov. She slammed down her keys and weapon on the table in front of him.

"What's this for Lucy?"

"If Tommy's going to be in town, I have to make sure to reduce my chances of successfully killing him. I don't think pleading emotional instability will work so well this time." With those last words, Lucy sauntered out of the guild.

Everyone stared at the door long after she was gone, none of them could wrap their heads around the fact that Lucy could talk like that, let alone actually do it. They were right the first time, that wasn't the Lucy they knew. The Lucy they knew started from when she joined the guild, that girl was funny, smart, and always happy. But the Lucy they just met was someone who had gone through more in her 17 years of life than most people did in two life times. This Lucy was bitter, dark, jaded, and always ready to rip out someone's throat. This Lucy was someone they'd never met before, a girl who was shrouded in mystery and would probably never trust anyone fully.

But what frightened them most of all was the fact that they were the same person. They'd all seen some kind of sign, an ominous flash of the eyes, a piecing glare that cut steel, a tight lipped smile that betrayed none of her thoughts or feelings. So it made them wonder, who was Lucy really?

Lucy of Fairy Tail, the bubbly girl that brightened up a room with her presence alone.

Or…

Lucy Heartfillia, the girl who'd rather rip out your heart than trust you with her's.

DONE! I wanted to do something like this since I think people underestimate how much Lucy's past hardened her because in a lot of stories they all put her as some, trusting, naïve girl. But I don't think that's Lucy because she basically spent her childhood taking care of herself and being alone. So in my opinion Lucy isn't as fragile as people think she is. REVIEW!