"Insanity is relative. It all depends on who has who locked in what cage"

She gripped her bleeding side as she ran and gritted her teeth. Wearing a tattered, blood-stained, too big flannel and stained sweatpants, Lucy ran through an unknown forest, trying to find some sort of place to hide.

She could see the sun setting off into the distance as she ran. The forest was growing dark and she could see nothing but endless trees without their leaves.

It was cold.

She didn't know the exact date or the hour, but she definitely knew the season. The wind blew right through her but she could handle it. The tips of her fingers and toes felt like they didn't exist anymore but that was the least of her worries. Right now she needed to just run.

Being trapped in a basement for four years really does things to a person.

Lucy continued running, hearing distant growls and shouts behind her. 'Keep running, just keep running' she told herself while her body pleaded for rest. She knew she was weak; she didn't need to look at herself in the mirror to know how her body had been deteriorating for the past four years; she didn't need a mirror to know that her once pale skin was now black and blue; she didn't need a mirror to know how she looked like someone who crawled and clawed her way out of the ground.

Well actually, she hadn't really looked in a mirror for four years.

A gun shot brought her out of her mind and back into reality. She looked around the forest while pumping her legs faster than before. Lucy couldn't let him take her again. She had to escape, she just had to. She would not let him steal another year away from her. Not anymore. She had to do this on her own.

She was so desperate to escape that she ripped the flesh off from her wrist and parts of her hand just to slip the shackles from her hand. Lucy wouldn't suggest doing that. The sad piece of her flannel that she had ripped off that was covering her wrist was soaked in blood, but in all honesty, it felt numb. At this point while running, she had forgotten about her bleeding side, bruised body, foggy vision and just about anything that caused her pain.

She was numb.

Another gun shot was fired. This time, the sound seemed like it was coming from right behind her. A sound that seemed like a whimper escaped her at the thought of not being able to make it out alive.

She practically went insane living there. If she thought she was isolated before she went missing for four years, then that life... that was absolute hell. Though, she preferred the isolation for weeks on end over him coming down to see her. The first year down there was the hardest for her, but after that, her mind had shut off and her main goal was to just stay alive. Lucy knew something in her snapped a while ago. Clearly, you'd have to be mad to scratch and rip your own flesh off.

The darkness was what bothered her the most, though. Being out here now, she just wanted to cry out of happiness just by looking at the moonlight. It was so big and beautiful. Being deprived of it for years, she just wanted to lay down and watch it all night.

The next thing she knew, she flew out of the forest and onto a road, where she lay on her knees, gripping her wrist to her chest. Another few shots were fired but they seemed more distant than before.

Maybe he had given up. Maybe he was just too much of a coward to go out into the real world and get her back. Maybe he was tired of her and wants someone new.

Did she actually make it out?

Or maybe he knew exactly what he was doing, letting her go. Her escape seemed so easy and she was sure as hell that there was no way, in her state, that she could have outran him.

Laying there in the middle of the road, Lucy closed her eyes for a few moments and let herself breathe for the first time in many years.

When she reopened her eyes, it was dark. She picked herself up from the ground and looked at the long winding road in front of her. She had no idea where she was and if she was even in Magnolia, her hometown. She had been absent for four years from the world, locked away with nothing but her own, twisted mind.

Lucy, now at the age of sixteen, did not know where to go.

Lucy was smart though. She knew how to figure her way around. Hell, she managed to stay alive for four years while being tortured nearly every day. Finding her way was not an issue. It was just another bump in the road that she could manage.

For the next hour or so she walked down the unnamed road, trying to keep consciousness. Lucy knew the amount of blood loss was going to catch up to her eventually but she couldn't afford to stop. Lucy decided it'd be best to examen her body and make a list of all the things that would kill her if she didn't find help soon. Hey, at least this little game would keep her on edge, right?

First things first, her bleeding stomach. Yeah that definitely was going to kill her. The bastard managed to get her while she was escaping. She had managed to knock him out with a brick but it clearly didn't do much damage if he was already so close to catching her. Probably exhaustion would be the next thing to kill her, if that was even possible. For the past four years she was fed the bare minimum to keep breathing, not to stay healthy. Add in not being able to sleep for months on end and a weak body and you've got a recipe for death. Then, her next source of death could potentially be her skinless wrist. An infection could probably start up and knowing her luck she'd probably die from it. Those seemed to be her major issues.

Oh and if the man who kidnapped her four years ago managed to find her and just shoot her dead. That would probably be another reason why she'd die.

She started laughing to herself. She finally got out and here she was, probably going to die within the next few hours. After four years she saw trees and the moon and the stars and just about every nature thing she was deprived of. Before she could even talk, she was obsessed with constellations and stars. Not being to see the stars took a great toll on her.

While walking she saw a squirrel at one point. She saw a squirrel and now she was convinced she could die happy. She didn't realize how much she missed an owl hooting, or a squirrel scurrying up a tree. Yup, she could die happy.

Clearly, she wasn't good at humoring herself in times of distress.

And honestly, when it came down to it, she would rather die out in the open, with a squirrel, instead of dying in that place with him, standing over her, with nothing but lust and evil in his eyes.

Lucy's head started pounding and she was starting to get wobbly. She needed to find someone or something or anything. And fast.

Her heart then skipped a beat when she saw the upcoming gas station. She could literally say she was going to cry of happiness. And here she was about to pass out on the ground.

She quickened her pace in order to make sure she was at least able to enter the gas station. Her legs and feet were so numb. She only had on socks with holes in them to cover her feet, allowing her right big toe to peek out from the top.

The numbness, now seeping away, caused her to almost run into the gas station. The pain from her injuries... she could feel everything; every inch of her body ached and racked with sharp pain.

She got to the door and leaned on it for a second or two, gripping it like her life depended on it, to catch her breath. Her golden hair fell down past shoulders and stopping right under her chest, showing the ends stained with her blood. The blood staining her hands and clothes felt like dust and she rubbed it between her hands and watched it disappear.

The bitter cold stuck to her bones as she gritted her teeth. Picking herself up from the door, she pushed it open. Looking around the gas station, which seemed to be a small family business from the looks of how it was set up, she caught sight of the cashier and the man standing by the counter.

Wow, leave it to Lucy to examen a business as she's about to die. Though, she blames that on her worthless father.

She looked straight at the cashier, who looked terrified to see her and said two words before dropping to the ground and blacking out.

"Help me"

Hi everyone or anyone who has decided to stick through my awful writing and has now made it to my little authors note :P

This is my first NaLu fic and I hope you guys enjoy! The beginning is a little rough, I struggled a bit writing this first chapter but ah c'est la vie. I was trying to add a bit of humor in here because I don't want it to be a serious through out the whole fic, I promise I'll try and humor you guys every now and then. Oh and sorry it's a little short... I just wanted a quick and good hook!

Anyway, I really hope it's a good opener for my fic :) Thanks for reading. Oh and I DO NOT OWN FAIRY TAIL. THAT'S ALL HIRO MASHIMA. THE REALLY BAD PLOt IS MINE THOUGH!

Hope everyone has a nice day :)

-Mad