Jude had just informed Lucy of her upcoming marriage to the heir of the Junelle family. Duke Sawarr. He was a short, fat man, with sweat always falling down his face. He looked more like a pig than a normal human in Lucy's opinion. She really wasn't looking forward to this.

Not after all her training.

She had trained every day to increase her magical power. She had started training with her star dresses and being able to use Urano Metria without having it take out all the fight in her. She was also training to being able to have three spirits out simultaneously. She started off easy with that, with just Plue, Pyxis, and Lyra. Then one by one she would begin to rise it. Pyxis out and Cancer in. After that, Plue out, and Gemini in. Lyra out and Scorpio in. Cancer out and Aries in. Gemini out and Capricorn in. Scorpio out and Sagittarius in. And so on until finally she could summon the most power consuming ones: Loke, Virgo, and Aquarius.

But now that her father was going to force her to marry that pig, she would never be able to fight. To use her magic. To join a guild. It just wasn't fair in her opinion.

Lucy sighed as she sat in her massive bed. She stared hard at all of her stuff. Stuff that meant nothing to me, Lucy thought. These fancy dresses, this nice mansion. This entire place. It was all so lonely. Ever since her mother died all those years ago. She reached over to her nightstand and grabbed a picture frame. In that frame was a picture of her mother, father, and her. She was about five in this picture. Her mother was smiling sweetly into the camera, and her father had soft eyes. Not the hard look he held now. Lucy's five-year-old self had her mouth completely open in a wide smile. She looked so happy there with her mother and father. But ever since Layla died, Lucy's smile had vanished. Jude's soft look died. Lucy and her father hardly ever made contact with each other. It's almost as if she were living with a stranger.

Lucy held the framed picture to her chest. She could feel tears beginning to fall as she once again mourned her mother's death. She couldn't help it. Even though she and her mother shared only a few years together, Lucy loved her more than anything. She was just so supportive of her.

Lucy remembered the time when she was saved by a girl with blonde hair and a pink mark on her hand. Mrs. Spetto had told her that it was the Fairy Tail mark. She remembered that she had promised herself that she would join that guild. No matter what.

Guess it wasn't meant to be... Lucy thought sorrowfully. There were times when Lucy wanted to run away, not like her father would be able to tell. But after informing her of her upcoming marriage, she knew something bad would've happened if she had left. There were also times when Lucy wanted to object her father's wishes, tell him that she wanted to do more with her life than to stay locked away in this mansion. She wanted more than just money, pretty dresses, and everything he could give her with his money. She wanted them to go back to how they were before Layla's death. She just wanted to know she was loved and respected by others. She just wanted a family.

She sighed. She sometimes wondered what her mother would've said if Lucy had told her she wanted to join a mage guild like Fairy Tail. She knew that she would've supported her. Telling her to follow her heart. She would've let Lucy choose. Unlike her father. But even though she wanted to hate him. Because he took away her freedom. He took away her dreams. He made nothing but money matter. She wanted to hate him, to leave him, to go to him and say farewell, but she just couldn't. Because no matter how he treated her, he was still her father. And she still loved him as her father.

"Love is a pretty hurtful thing, huh, Plue?" Lucy said to her Nikora, which she named Plue.

"Pupuun!" The little white dog-like celestial spirit answered.

"It's pretty confusing too." Lucy sighed once again.

"Pupun..." Plue answered solemnly.

"Love is a difficult thing, huh?"

Lucy shot up at the new voice. She looked around frantically and grabbed her keys, which rested on her hip. Whenever she wasn't near her father, she changed into more comfortable clothes. Her keys and whip, which she received from Virgo, hung on her belt. "Who's there?" she called out. She was prepared to fight if she had to. Loke and Capricorn have done a pretty swell job at teaching her how to fight hand-to-hand.

"Please, calm down princess. I'm only here on a simple job to capture you." the manly voice said.

Lucy couldn't detect where the voice was coming from. She looked everywhere and didn't see anything in her room out of place. "Just come out and face me, you coward!"

"You're pretty feisty for someone who has it all."

"Shut up! Just face me!" Lucy yelled. She could hear footsteps starting to gather at her door. Without a doubt, the guards must've been alerted by Lucy's shouts at the voice in her room.

"Ms. Heartfilia, open the door!" a guard, Julian Lucy recognized, shouted as he pounded on the door.

Lucy inched closer to the door. Even though she was prepared to fight all on her own. She knew if she fought an unnecessary fight, her father wouldn't be very happy. Neither would Loke or any of her celestial spirits for that matter.

Just then, some type of special magic separated Lucy from the door. It sent her flying across the room. Lucy let out a yelp as she hit the wall. She got up instantly and took out her fleuve d'étoiles out and unleashed it from its dormant power. She whipped it against the ground as a warning for the person in her room.

"Lucy Heartfilia, you really do not want to fight against me. I'm just here to capture you."

"Like hell! I'm not gonna go to you willingly." Lucy shouted.

Suddenly she felt someone behind her, she lashed out, only to have her arm caught. They twisted her arm and flipped her so she would be on her back. Lucy felt the breath being knocked out of her as she landed on the floor. The figure climbed on top of her and held their hand on Lucy's neck.

Lucy wasn't able to reach her keys, she couldn't summon anyone to help her. She kicked her legs wildly, trying to use only her strength to break away. But then she felt another pair of hands grab onto her feet.

"Sleep," The male sitting on top of her whispered in her ear.

"L-Loke... Vi-Virgo... He-Help." Lucy tried to call out, hoping her voice carried onto them.

It didn't, and she fell into a deep sleep.