Walk Away(Fairytail AU)

Chapter 1

Lucy

I love the sound of crunching leaves, the feeling of the twigs on the forest floor pressing deeper into the soles of my feet, the faster I ran and the harder I pushed myself. 

I ditched the horrid shoes I was forced to wear the first chance I got, but the best I could do with the the dress was... well let's just say it doesn't look  like anything lady-like now. That was one reason for my smile.

I used the swiss-army knife - that one of the staff had given me on my birthday once - to shorten the skirt, so that my legs were free to move and to cut the strings of the corset so that my lungs could expand.

My hair was probably caked in mud, with leaves and twigs sticking out of it. It probably looked like a forest on its own, but... for once... in my entire existence... I actually felt... Free. 

The cold night air was compressing and tightening around me, but I loved it.

Even though there was still an ache in my chest, a banging in my head and a force trying to slow each step I walked further away from that man.

He doesn't deserve the title of father anymore. Just like he lost the privilege of being my father years ago.

I haven't called him my 'father' since my mother died, but I thought I still owed him a little bit of respect. But after what he had done he should consider the fact that I still acknowledge him as a human and not an animal a blessing.

My pace must have slowed while I was lost in my thoughts, my breathing had started to settle, and the tip of my ears don't feel the coldness that comes with running fast.

I slowed my pace a bit more noticing the trees beginning to thin, as I came closer to a clearing. I stopped at a spot where I am hidden from what lays inside the clearing.

I took the bag that had been thumping against my back for god knows how long. I searched through the list of things that should be inside it.

I always knew there would be a day that I would have had enough of the ignoring, pretending, showing off and not showing up and I would run away. I'm sure that even the staff - that he hired - knew of my plans, not that I tried to hide them.

I may have hid who I am to him, but it's his fault for not allowing me to show him who I am.

Even in this moment as I stand in a forest, somewhere I don't know, with no shoes (on my feet at least), and a badly cut dress and dirt covering at least sixty percent of my body, while I clutched a bag with my only possessions, closely to my chest. I don't feel desperation, fear or anger but the most pure form of joy I have felt in my entire life, which I'm having a hard time containing.

In this moment, I remembered that I am an actual person and not just another pawn in that man's game of control.

As I breathed in the cold night air, I understood that not only had I just walked away from him, but also from the shackles that held me down.

I walked closer to the clearing, seeing a strange shape through the curtains the trees made. I wondered if it was a hut or a cottage? If it was, would anyone be there?

I stopped, closing my eyes for a moment and took a deep breath to calm my growing nerves.

Opening my eyes with a new determination, I walked into the clearing and towards the door of the... hut? Raising my fist I tried to knock... only to realize the door was open.

Looking inside the interior showed me nothing except the fact that there is no one here.

'Why do I feel like snow white with blonde hair?' I think in amusement.