Secrets In The Roots

"What doesn't kill you is the reason behind the sleepless nights, the shaking hands and that terrible void inside of you." - Nikita Gill

The sound of rain hitting the leaves and stone of the palace courtyard calmed Lucy's fraying nerves. It was a perfect spring rain, not too heavy but not a drizzle either; the water barely warm unless a breeze stirred up to work a chill down the spine. She was soaked through but she didn't care. This late at night she was alone in the courtyard. There was no one around to see her turn her face up towards the night, the raindrops masking her tears.

She'd had another nightmare. Most of it was indistinct, already fading from her memory. But the terror of it had overwhelmed her enough to wake her up. She'd been damp with sweat, and delirious enough to mistake the howling of the wind for her mother's screams. Needing to calm herself, she'd slung on one of her thin robes over her night dress and left her chambers behind for the pouring rain of the courtyard.

It had been a few days since her last meeting with Natsu. The heat of his flames was merely a phantom in her memory now, replaced by the cold of loneliness and isolation. It wasn't that she had no friends in the court- far from it actually. She had Loke, who was almost always with her whenever she went. And the courts young head librarian, Levy, who was always kind to her. But everyone in the court, as kind as some of them were, always spoke to her with respect. It was to be expected, given her title, but it distanced her from people. Her royal heritage often felt like a barrier between true friendship with her people. That, and their fear of Jude did not make them too quick to trust her.

It was only with Natsu that she felt like the barrier had never been there.

She wondered if he felt the same way when in his own court. Were all conversations in Summer as strained as they were in Spring?

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes for a moment, ignoring the bite of the cold on her legs where she at the edge of a stone fountain that was close to overflowing. She had to stop letting her thoughts always stray back to Natsu. What good could come of it? He was not of her own court and had burdened himself with a promise he was likely going to die keeping if she didn't find a way to make him revoke it- if that could even be done.

It almost made her angry, in a strange why. Who would do that? Who would make such a binding promise to someone they barely knew? What did he care for her wings or for her? She'd had a thought not long after he'd made the promise that perhaps he wanted her wings for the same unknown reason her father did, but all that thought did was make guilt churn in her stomach.

Lucy knew what liars looked like, and Natsu had never lied to her. All his motives were as pure as his heart, and that almost made her angrier. Was he naive enough not to see the evil that lurked around every dark corner, or did they simply just not have shadows in Summer?

She opened her eyes and pushed herself to her feet, the rain still pouring around her. She felt guilty for feeling anger towards Natsu- one of the few people in her life that had never wronged her. But she couldn't help envy him. His freedom, his court, his gifts. She yearned for even an ounce of the happiness he held in each smile. She hadn't felt that much since her mother died. Not here in her prison, or in the ancient woods, or even by the border with him. She felt a tiredness in her always. A hollowness. One that had only grown more prominent since the removal of her wings.

The memory of that night assaulted her. The pain and the fear. She felt her chest tighten as her breaths became shallower. The courtyard didn't seem safe to her all of a sudden. She was gripped by the fear someone would emerge from behind the stone pillars and cut off another piece of her.

She knew the thought was irrational, even as he turned in a circle and scanned the area, making sure she was alone. She saw no one, and felt only the pulse of energy from the trees and plants that surround her, not another person. Reaching out with her magic settled her thoughts a bit, the calming auras of the trees soothing her nerves.

Heart still beating wildly, Lucy gathered her magic, an idea forming in her mind. She had limited ways of venting her frustration, but this was one of them. Though she did it rarely, it was always a welcome reprieve. Whenever she felt like screaming or breaking something, she turned that energy towards her magic.

She used it to make things grow, to make them bloom, to make them brighter.

She used it to make things stop.

Unleashing her magic in one fell swoop, Lucy raised her arms upwards, directing the current of her energy.

She smiled to herself, arms shaking slightly, as the rain stopped, water droplets hung suspended in the air.

Her smile grew as she passed a hand through the water, sending raindrops colliding into others, making rivers in the air. Without the sound of the rainfall, the courtyard was still and quiet.

Quiet enough for her to hear the scream.

In her shock, Lucy let go of the rain, her head snapping to her left. It had come from the east wing of the palace. The noise of the resumed rainfall made the next cries fainter to her ears, but still undoubtedly there.

She ran towards the sound.

The old stone walls of the palace were held together with vines and moss, a testament to the strength of nature. But without the rays of sunlight that were usually filtered through the canopy, the hallways seemed cold and ominous, the effects of the rain filling Lucy's nose with the scent of damp.

Another scream rang out, the words unintelligible to her from so far away but guiding her in the right direction. She ran through the hallways, her bare feet near silent on the stone floor.

The closer she got the clearer the screaming became.

"No! No! Please, stop!"

Lucy rounded a corner just in time to see two silver-clad guards dragging a panicked woman down into a narrow staircase. With a shock, she recognised the woman as one of the maids that often brought her breakfast.

Lucy didn't hesitate to follow after them, but she couldn't help but pause at the top of the stairs. This passage led down into the bowels of the palace, to where the treasury was kept. As far as Lucy knew, there was nothing else down there. The dungeons were on the other side of the palace, so even if the woman the guards had been carting away had committed a crime- and Lucy doubted she had- why were they bringing her here?

Bracing herself, Lucy started down the stairs, her back straight and faced composed- ready to use her status to command the guards to stop whatever they were doing to that poor woman. She hoped she looked as regal as she could be, considering she was still in her night clothes.

The tunnel below was sparsely lit, but it wasn't long before it gave way to an antechamber at the end. Lucy shielded her eyes from the brightness of the flames that blazed in recesses that framed the juncture between the walls and the ceiling, the burning of the flammable liquid they held filling the air with a heavy, putrid scent.

Once her eyes had adjusted to the light, Lucy had to fight back a curse as she saw the guards shoving the whimpering woman into a strange bronze chair, blood dripping from her nose and tears streaming down her cheeks.

"Unhand her!" Lucy yelled as she stepped into the room.

The woman sagged in relief at the sight of her princess, but the guards still held her firm, even if they did pause in their actions. Lucy took a second to take in the room. The walls were etched with old carvings of the history of the Spring Court, the details faded over time. But aside from that there was nothing remarkable about the room. The large iron doors of the treasury were on the other side of the room, the vines patterned along their face seeming to move in the light. The sight was eerie, and reminded Lucy that she had not been down here since before the death of her mother.

The strange chair the woman was being forced into definitely hadn't been here then.

The woman in question found strength again at the sight of Lucy, struggling against the guards grip and reminding Lucy why she'd come.

"I said, unhand her!" She repeated.

Lucy made to march towards them but was stopped by a firm hand on her shoulder.

"Now, now dear." Jude's voice warned from behind her, "Stay away from there."

Her father moved to stand beside her, his hand firmly planted on her shoulder and rooting her to the spot- though his grip was far from bruising, which surprised her.

Jude gestured to the guards to continue. Lucy realised their faces were unknown to her, but that couldn't be right. She was familiar with all the palace staff and their loyal guards- she made an effort to be. How could she not know these men?

Her brows furrowed with even more confusion as she watched them strap the woman into the strange bronze chair. She looked at Lucy pleadingly, her whole body trembling. Lucy in turn looked to her father, but Jude didn't even blink.

Her attention was drawn back to the room when the treasury doors groaned open and a man with snake skin stepped out.

Jose.

Her lip curled with disgust. Since the moment he'd arrived in the Spring Court not long after her mother's death, she had hated him- and not just for his tendency to leave trails of shedded skin through the palace every through months. No, she hated him because he was a vile, repugnant man who treated anyone below his station like dirt, and used those above it to get what he wanted, no matter the cost. She much preferred to avoid him.

If he was here now, Lucy could only imagine what horrors he was conducting.

"Father, what is going on?" She dared to question, "For what crimes is this woman being punished?"

Jude turned her away from the proceedings as the guards backed away and Jose approached the woman in the chair. Lucy reluctantly complied, allowing her father to guide her closer to the walls, keeping their backs to the centre of the room.

Her father's calm unnerved her.

"Would you give your power to defend our court, Lucy?"

Jude didn't look at her as he spoke. Instead his gaze had taken a vested interest in the carving of the founder of their court, Spring herself. Lucy had always thought the deity this carving and many of the tapestries throughout the palace depicted looked a bit like her mother.

Her thoughts swam around her father's words, trying to deduce their meaning. Her power as in her magic, or her power as in her title? She supposed they were almost synonymous. And defend? Defend against what exactly.

"I suppose that would depend, father." She answered cautiously as they moved past the next carving.

"Depend on what, exactly?"

Lucy opened her mouth to answer but was cut off by a scream. She turned abruptly to see Jose watching with a slight smirk to his lips as the woman in the chair screamed. The veins beneath her skin were illuminated, as though her soul was rising up from inside of her.

Lucy watched, horrified. Her father didn't even react.

It continued for a few minutes, the woman screaming and no one else appearing disgusted at what was happening other than Lucy. Eventually, the light emanating from inside the woman began to flicker. Only then did Jose step forward and stop whatever was happening from the woman.

From her new position, Lucy was looking at the chair side-on. From this angle, she could see a thin needle sticking out from the chair and into the back of the womans neck. Her eyes traced the shape of the chair, surprised to notice some sort of root connecting it to the floor. Lucy could sense with her own magic that the roots were burrowed shallowly into the dirt, and stretched from the chair to the treasury doors and into the room beyond.

The woman sunk in the hair, gasping. Jose gave her no time to recover before stepping forward and releasing a cloud of his vile breath into her face.

Lucy flinched as the woman slumped into unconsciousness.

"It would depend on what, Lucy?" Her father prompted, starling her.

She swallowed the bile rising in her throat.

"On what exactly it is we are defending against."

Jude made a snort of derision but continued on towards the treasury doors, now ignoring the carvings all together.

"We are defending ourselves against the stupidity of other courts."

Lucy blached. She glanced back towards the chair as the woman was being untied. She was undoubtedly still breathing, which she wouldn't be if they'd somehow been harvesting her soul as the light suggested. So… her magic then?

Face still scrunched in thought, Lucy looked up from the chair just in time to see Jose shoot her father a look. The look turned into a sly smile directed at Lucy.

She turned to her father, but he still wasn't looking at her. His gaze was fixed on the doors to the treasury.

Unable to hold herself back and determined for answers she was sure her father would not give her, she dived towards the treasury doors. She pushed them open hard, her father just a second too late in grabbing her by the arms.

The iron doors opened with a groan. The room beyond them looked much the same as it did in Lucy's memory, aside from one large detail.

Most of the artifacts and treasure inside had been moved aside to create a pathway to a giant crystal that sat on a raised platform at the back of the room. The place where the crown jewels usually sat. Lucy couldn't see where they'd been pushed aside to. Instead her gaze focused on the fractured steps that led up to the platform, and the roots that had broken through the old stone and wrapped around the crystal that was emitting a soft glow.

The roots wrapped around the crystal were thick and tangled, casting shadows into whatever strange stone the crystal was made out of. She almost could have sworn they made it appear as though there was a silhouette inside.

Her gaze was torn away has her father pulled her the now empty chair.

"Father please!" She screamed, "I don't understand!"

He threw her into the chair, the remaining guard rushing to restrain her as Jose secured her to the chair. It was difficult to fight against the guards hold while also trying to avoid the needle that protruded behind her.

"You never did, Lucy. And you never will." Her father's voice was cold as he spoke. His face as she shot him a pleading look betrayed nothing. She didn't know why still- after all this time- she was surprised by his cruelty, "This realm has secrets. Secrets that a fragmented by the courts. Secrets your mother died trying to understand."

Jose finished tying her restraints, but he still leaned disturbingly close. His eyes were full of malice.

"Father-"

She was shoved back onto the needle.

The words caught in her throat. Her breaths too. Her eyes fluttered closed for a moment as a numbness spread through her body. She could feel the needle inside of her. It shocked her that it hadn't come through the front of her neck.

"You didn't think I sold your wings for no reason did you?" Her father's voice was distant, "All secrets have their price, and the words of those lost to time don't come cheap."

She wanted to answer but she couldn't move. All she could do was groan as she felt her magic rise up without her permission. The groan turned into a wail as it was sucked out of her.

Her own draining seemed to last much longer than the maids. Lucy didn't know if it was because she possessed more magic than her or if it simply seemed longer when awful experience was her own. She felt as though everything she was made of was being robbed from her. She felt as though she was dying.

As suddenly as she'd been shoved onto the needle, she was separated from it.

"They are the only ones that can help us."

Lucy ignored her father's words, too dazed to make any sense of them.

"Shall I make her forget, Your Majesty?"

"No, let her remember." Jude answered his pet snake, "Who would she tell?"

What little energy Lucy had left turned to anger at his words. She would tell the people! She would let them know how their king was using them! His actions disguised her. Lucy seethed as Jose removed her restraints.

Once free, she rose shakily to her feet.

"Spring would be able to flourish on its own, if only you became the ruler it needs you to be!" Lucy spat at her father's feet, "Look at you now, you're disgusting! I don't know why you're using people like this, but mother would be disgusted. And ashamed. When will you stop mourning, and become a king worthy of her?!"

She made no reaction as her father darted forward and clasped a hand around her throat. After what he'd just put her through, she'd expected it. But her current state of frailty wasn't ready for the harsh pressure of his rough hands.

"You know nothing of the sacrifices I've made for this Court!" he bellowed, "You've no idea how to rule."

His hand squeezed tighter around her throat, almost lifting her off the ground. Only when she began to claw at his arm did he finally let go, tossing her to the side with a harsh command to have her taken away.

Her strength truly depleted, she let the unfamiliar guards pick her up and drag her away. As they hefted her weight down the corridor, she heard her father call after her.

"You may as well tell your Flame Prince to call off his hunt." A bark of laughter, You are never going to get your wings back."

A/N: DRAMATIC CHAPTER. Also two updates? In a month? Depression who? But seriously, I really hope you guys enjoy this chapter and as always I would love to hear what you thought!

Much love,

-HN