Manipulation - Nalu

Chapter 1

  The brilliant marble arches, the lush green grass, the symmetrical square shrubs, and the polished marble statues and headstone, for a particular beloved family member, are what lay on the mansion's grounds of the Heartfilia Konzern.

One of the wealthiest and most recognizable companies in the Kingdom of Fiore, ran by its founder and legal owner Jude Heartfilia. After starting his career as a member of the merchant guild Love and Lucky in Acalypha, Mr. Heartfilia founded the company, and dedicated most of his time to it in order for the Konzern to expand and grow, while he paid little to no attention to his family.

After his wife's murder, he had devoted even more of his time to the company, but he trained his daughter to know how to run the company, as well as her to have lessons on being a Lady and having her take martial arts.

He wanted his only child to be able to beat the boys, because she was a girl. He wanted her to win every award. He wanted her to be able to ride horses. He wanted her to be at the top of her class. He wanted her to never fail. Getting one mark away from 100% meant failure. And Lucy new that.

So Lucy never failed. She did exactly what her father told her to do. She practiced till she bleed, was always polite, never strayed from her father orders, because it was her father. The only man in the world that loved her still. The only one that was still connected to her by blood. The only connection, besides the far away house, that they still owned with her mother filled in it.

So when her father told her to speak, she spoke. When her father told her to act like a lady as she attended their monthly and annual balls, she acted like a lady. When she was told to act nice with everyone she met, she acted nice. When he told her to take an exam at the hardest, most prestigious college and come out on top, she did.

After she was accepted, and she went on in that college, her father told her to become the president of student life, student government and to become the best in the Kendo club, as well as in Martial Arts and Archery, she did exactly that.

Her father ruled her life, and she was okay with it, because it is how her father showed his affection towards her, at least that is what Lucy believed.

So the story begins with our protagonist, Lucy, in her daily routine.  

Normal P.O.V.:

*Beep* 

*Beep* *beep* 

*Beep* *beep* *beep*

*Smack*

At 5 AM, Lucy wakes from her bed and puts on her laundered running uniform.

She heads out of the house with a water bottle in her hand and heads to her bike. After doing some stretching, she goes on her expensive bike and heads out to do a 10K bike ride, stopping at the 5K mark to catch her breath and take a drink, before continuing. After this, she returns home to wash the sweat off of her with Gold Bond Ultimate scent free, as well as be back in time for breakfast with her father.

She dresses in her prestigious blazer with the Fairy Tail insignia on the left breast pocket, as well as her stockings and skirt. She went down the stairs quietly and efficiently. By this time it was already 6:18 AM, her father will be there in two minutes. She should be in her seat by 6:20 AM on the dot ready to eat a meal with him. When she sat down in her seat, her father walked in the door.

He held the paper in his hands and had a scowl on his face.

He sat down, not looking at Lucy and the servants brought in the breakfast.

He ruffled out the paper and his scowl furrowed his brow further.

"Ridiculous," he chucked the paper onto the long table towards Lucy. That meant for her to read the section he had been looking at.

Lucy picked up the paper and read the same pages he had read. She gave it a puzzled look. Why was father upset about the endangered black-capped vireo, a bird, was on the front of the cover.

"You may speak Lucy." Her father said as he sipped his black coffee and the picked up his fork to cut into his eggs Benedict.

Lucy nodded, "are you upset that this bird is on the front of the paper instead of you recent transaction, or because it is just a bird, and has no use of being on the front of the cover of a newspaper?"

Her father looked at her and said, "listen Lucy," she did, "I am not upset that they put a mere bird on the front of the cover of the paper, I am upset at how they advertised it."

Lucy gave him a puzzled expression, while glancing back at the paper in her hands.

"I understand that the publisher was trying to do, which was pull the heart strings of the middle class people who will willingly throw their money away for a cause they don't even fully understand, however they could have advertised~" Jude went on in a rant about how the publisher was probably a newbie and didn't know how to do business correctly, or how the editor didn't know how to do business correctly so he was going to have to go down to the publishing sector and reprimand them on this mornings paper.

As her father finished his breakfast during his rant he picked up a document from his file and placed his reading glasses on his eyes. Lucy finished up her nutritiously balanced meal when her father placed down the document.

The time was 6:40 AM and Lucy had to hurry to do her morning club activities along with the student council work and student life.

Lucy drove to the college and made it there by 6:58 AM. She parked and entered the school at 7 AM, right when it opens. She first placed down the papers in the student council office that she had finished the night before, then she went to the student life room and handed in a hard copy of the program flyer that she will be running in two weeks.

Finally she went on to her activities and club routine. She placed on her kendo uniform and practiced her state of mind and well being. She practiced her stance and focused her mind. Most believe that kendo is a violent sport that only the strong can achieve greatness in, but that is wrong. Size doesn't matter, you train your body, mental state of mind and learn the way of the samurai.

After she has finished this exercise, she changes into her archery garb and focuses her mind on her one goal, of aiming for her one goal . The red dot in the middle of the target. The reason she changes into the Kyudo is because her sensei, used to say , "a practice uniform was important because as we change from our regular clothing into the kyudo uniform, we leave behind the everyday world, and enter into the world of kyudo."

Those words have stuck with Lucy so for every event, to where she goes into a new mind set with, she believes that changing your outfit will help with this task, no matter if it's just changing the stockings or the entire ensemble.

After she hit all eight targets in the exact center, she headed to the martial arts hall and changes into her fighting robes. By this time, most of the students are here and she is able to accepts challenges from her underclassmen and seniors, or upperclassmen.

"Come," Lucy says as she fights the small blue haired girl in front of her. The girl dashes to Lucy and grabs her shoulders and used all of her weight to bring her down. She was fast, but Lucy was faster. Lucy grabbed the girls forearms and shifted hr to the side, bringing her down to the mat in one swift movement.

"Whoa," "amazing." "I told you she'd win, pay up."

"I've told you time and time again, stop betting on my matches," Lucy said as she stood up from the floor, offering the girl her hand.

The blue hair girl took it, "it's impossible to beat you Lucy-senpai."

"It's not impossible to beat me Wendy, it's just that you are using the wrong tactic," Lucy went off in explaining on how Wendy could use the other opponents larger size to her advantage.

Around the room you could hear the praise of the Heartfilia daughter, how she was elegant and strong. How she was kind to everyone in the club and how she told each and everyone of them what they could work on after she spared with them, because she was the captain.

After sparing in a few more matches, winning them all, and watching over a few, she hit the showers and changed back into her blazer and skirt.

At that time it was 8 AM and she was off to classes.

At noon, she had two and a half hour break from her classes to squeeze in a lunch, talk with her teachers and peers that always seemed to need her help, and she worked on any student government and student life work, which, if you don't know, is a organization inside the school that puts on events, programs, activities and gives out newspapers of current events and stuff to do for students that dorm and those who commute.

So that being said, our Lucy has close ties to the newspaper room, to the writers who write the stories, and to the editor of the Fairy Tail Daily News. His name is Gajeel Redfox, a long dark haired, very pierced faced man, who enjoy's calling Lucy a cheerleader or a bunny, she never understood why though.

One of his lead writers is Levy McGarden, a blue haired girl that enjoy' Lucy's company, whenever Lucy has free time, Levy accompanies her to lunch, if she's not out sniff for a story.

At 2:30 PM, she way back to classes till 4 PM, and then she went to the kendo club to train with her seniors and underclassmen at 4:15 PM.

One senior that she had trouble defeating was Erza Scarlet. She was a beautiful scarlet haired women, with strong eyes. She is a year older than Lucy, and she was trained in the art of the sword all of her life.

Today, Lucy won by striking her in the head. The underclassman who always gather to watch the two of them fight, clapped their hands at their battle and congratulated Lucy for winning. Again you could hear the buzz around the room about the Heartfilia heiress and her many skills.

"Thank you, that was a great match Lucy," Erza extended her for Lucy's after they both removed their helmets.

Lucy grabbed her forearm and and stated, "no, thank you for the great match Ms. Scarlet, it is always a pleasure to connect swords with you. Yours is the loveliest of anyone's I have ever faced."

Erza blushed and said, "Thank you, I learned it from my mother. She and I are very much alike."

Lucy forced a smile and said, "daughters tend to be like their mothers I guess."

Erza smiled and they parted ways as friendly foes.some of the boys and girls in kendo, it was a co-ed sport after all, came up to Lucy and congratulated her on her win.

Lucy accepted the compliments and gave her thanks. She then trained until or spared with someone else, but she always left at 6:20 PM on the dot because she need to clean her body, dry up. Drive home and get ready for her music and ballet lessons at 7:20 PM.

When she arrived twenty minutes early for her lesson, like always, she put lotion on her dry body, because of the many showers she took daily, ate a small snack that her the maid Virgo secretly prepared for her so she may retain her strength for the lessons after school.

Lucy once didn't have enough time to eat and went without the snack, and by the end of the lesson she was starving that her manners were appalling at the dinner table. he actually asked for seconds, which she know she can never do. She swear then that she would always sneak something healthy in between

By the time she was done, she put her dancing shoes, her practice leotard, which she called a leo, and waited for her dancing instructor Capricorn and music Lyra.

They both always come in at the same time because Lyra provides the music for all the balls, dinner parties, business meetings and anything else the Heartfilia's' needed.

Capricorn is a older gentleman that has a clean goatee and is Jude's butler, but he was a ballet dancer and instructor when he was younger. Now he is a white haired butler that teaches Lucy Ballet.

Lyra is a young looking women, but she is actually quite old. She has a baby face that hides her real age. Lyra has waist length hair and loves to wear long dresses that reach her ankles. She wears a harp necklace with small white wings on each side. Lyra said it was a gift from Lucy's mother, so she has to hid it from Jude because it causes him pain.

"LUCY! I hope you're ready for your lesson!!" Lyra shouts as she bounces into the room.

Lucy looks over at her, "you say that like I have been late for a lesson once before."

"You are little miss perfect timing, the only way that you would be late for a lesson, or stars forbid miss a lesson, would be if Jude told you to miss it because of something more important. And how can there be something more important than education!" She was a bundle of energy that didn't end.

"Yes well as you can see, Ms. Lucy is here and waiting on us as usual. So let us begin." Capricorn diverted Lyra's attention to the piano.

Capricorn instructed Lucy just as he always had, to keep her strength in her body, but don't let the strain show on her face. And just like always, Lucy performed excellently. When Lucy switched over into a stunning dress and high heeled shoes to play the violin, piano and harp, Jude always came by the music hall to see how her studies were going at 9:23 PM, as well as to call her to dinner that will be held at 9:45 PM.

When Jude walked in Lucy was in the middle of performing Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata - 3rd Movement. He would always wait till the end of the piece which ended at 9:28 PM.

He would clap his hands, and tell her that it was perfect, that he didn't expect any less of his daughter.

"It is time for dinner darling, was up and get ready. Be at the table at or before 9:45 PM." Jude told Lucy the same thing like night and night before.

She replied with the same thing that she has always replied with, "yes Father."

After she washed her body once again throughout the day, she put on her dining cloths. A simple but elegant dress that made her look like a princess. The way her father wanted her to be.

His perfect daughter.

When they had dinner with each other, Jude would discuss whatever happened that day at work, and towards the end he would ask Lucy what happened in school that day.

"Today I had lunch with Ms. McGarden and defeated Ms. Scarlet in our kendo match as well." Lucy replied happy that her father had time to ask what happened.

His interest was piqued, "I am proud of you my dear, I remember that a few weeks ago you told me that you had lost to her. I am very pleased that you have made up for that failure." Father told be with pleased eyes. "Tell me, how did you defeat her today," he said as he placed down his silverware on his plate as he was finished with his dinner.

This was something that rarely happened. He stayed at the table after he was finished and he asked further onto the subject. Lucy thought that he must be really happy with what she did.

With no need for a push Lucy launched into how she was on the ropes for a while, but when she pushed forward Lucy tapped Erza in the head and won the match. And that she took her forearm after the match and they exchanged thanks for the great match.

Her father was very pleased, until Lucy said, "and when I told her that it was lovely to connect swords with her she had blushed and said that she learned it from her mo-" At the mere syllable of that word Jude's expression fell.

"I see, well in the working world Ms. Scarlet is an amazing women as well. Irene is strong and a difficult opponent to face. Mr McGarden is an owner of one of the largest private libraries in the world. They are both respectable people whom I approve you to accompany you to any gathering you please." He started to stand up from the table, "no if you will excuses me, I have a lot of work to attend to before the night is through."

"Yes of course father. If I am not able to say so, have a good slumber Father." Lucy said, as she stood up as well and bowed to her father as he exited the room.

Lucy was upset with herself for mentioning the word that makes father sad. She loves her mother very dearly, but she said that she would not speak of her mother or any mothers in front of her father unless he told her too. This way she was not hurting his feelings, but only her own.

She knew that her father loved Layla, Lucy's beautiful mother who was very accomplished.

Lucy was always sad though. Every happy memories with her mother, were erased by Jude's hands. Moved away from the household that holds all mother in it.

They used to live in the country Stella, the country that was two countries away from Fiore. It was a beautiful country that you could see the stars perfectly because of the Iceberg mountain that runs through the top of the country.

Jude couldn't take the house anymore that his wife was murdered in. He was already planning on moving back to Fiore with our mother, as surprise gift for her to go back to the country that she was originally from. But he was unable to tell her.

Going back to Lucy who had finished dinner and returned to her room to finish her studies, practice the piano and violin in the soundproof room, that her father added on for her, and to do a daily care routine. She took a bath, listened to classical music and just sat and soaked the day away.

It was what her mother told her to do whenever she was stressed, tired or just wanted a moment to herself. Sometimes Lucy even picked up a book for her enjoyment. Being that after 10:20 PM, when Lucy and Jude usually finished dinner, the rest of the time is when Lucy can do what she wishes after she finished her homework.

As she dried her hair and spread lotion all over her skin, Lucy look at what had happened that day.

"Well I was efficient in my daily run, I spoke well with father at breakfast, I should have practiced more on my archery, I will have to cut down on my kendo time. I should just do afternoon practice, my aim seems to be lacking. My ballet lessons were as always, I'm not a prima-ballerina just yet, but I have the structure to become one. My violin needs tuning, and being that we are canceling our kendo practice tomorrow, as well as my teacher canceling my last class, I will have free time from noon till 7:20 PM. That means I will be able to go to the repair man and have my violin returned, as well as check on acquiring a new one and going shopping for a dress for Saturday's monthly ball." Lucy spoke to herself as she wrote down her changed schedule in her black leather bound planner that her father gifted her.

As she checked her school emails for new updates, she looked over this mornings papers. She figured that, even though father was upset about the endangered animals on the front, that didn't mean that a donation was not in order. Lucy planned on visiting the nearest World Wildlife Fund. Leaving a paper trail made her feel better.

Lucy looked at the clock and it was already midnight.

"Five hours of sleep again, I get to sleep a lot this week." Lucy was happy that she was able to sleep more than an hour of sleep. The least amount of sleep that she has ever had was 5 minutes, and then she continued to sleep after her alarm went of, skipping her morning run. After she awoke at 6 AN, she dressed quickly and dashed to breakfast so her father wouldn't know.

As Lucy snuggled her comforter, she dozed of into her dreams of nothingness. She has not had a a dream for years. Nightmares visit her occasionally, but only on special occasions. It was if Lucy herself had stopped herself from dreaming. As if she had given up hope.

The night drifted on, whispering to the earth and the sky in its wondrous voices, speaking to the trees, the mountains, and the streams. For what they new was that something was about to change for one sleeping golden haired girl and one rowdy pink haired boy.