Decay of Agony

Chapter 22

A/U: I really want to thank my best friend with beta reading this for any grammar mistakes and whatnot (even though she'll never get to read this), but still want to express my thanks. 

Anyway, please enjoy? 

The first thing she noticed when she opened her eyes was that it was bright. She was outside, the sun shone brightly down on her. No clouds in sight. And everywhere she looked was grass and daisies. A never-ending field of daisies.

"Where am I?" Lucy scanned in every direction, only to conclude that everywhere she looked, it was all the same. She looked down at the beautiful daisies and knelt to touch them. Beautiful and soft to the touch. They even smell amazing.

Then she heard footsteps behind her. Lucy quickly stood up and turned around to who it was. Instead, she froze on the spot when she recognized who it was. Senses of familiarity and sadness washed over her. "Mother?"

Layla smiled and looked at her, or more specifically, behind her. Lucy followed her gaze and turned around and held her breath when she saw her father and her younger self. She wanted to feel repulsed by how close her younger self was with her father.

But seeing how warm his smile was and how gentle he was with her made her falter. She doesn't remember this. She must've been at least 5 years old. Maybe even younger. Then Layla walked past her and towards the two.

Lucy stood still and watched with clenched fists and anger for her father. But... the way her mother looked at her father, and vice versa... she could tell they loved each other dearly.

"Hey, mommy, daddy, can we take a picture?" Little Lucy asked with a large grin.

"Of course, little one." Jude smiled as he took out his camera, like he knew his daughter was going to ask that question.

"Yay! I wanna take it!" Lucy jumped for the camera with eagerness.

Layla chuckled at her eagerness and patted her head. "Be careful or you'll break the camera. Or even worse, you'll sprain yourself."

"I'm invincible!" Little Lucy declared with a fist to her chest, to impose that she's not weak.

Jude grinned and knelt to the ground and showed little Lucy how to handle the camera and how to take a picture. Little Lucy only stomped her foot. "I know how to do it!"

Jude smiled and pinched her little chubby cheeks. "I know you do, just want to make sure you can take a great picture. After you take this one, we'll take one with all three of us."

Little Lucy beamed at that. "Yeah! Sounds great!"

Jude handed the camera to little Lucy with a smile and stood back up and wrapped his arm around his wife. "She's the most precious thing in this world."

Layla smiled and leaned into him with a content smile.

"Okay! Smile!" Little Lucy cheered as she aimed the camera at her parents, who professionally posed at their little sweet daughter.

From the distance, the older Lucy watched with an unreadable expression. She remembers this. She remembered begging to take a picture of them. She remembered her father's kind smile and her mother's warm smile. Just that... this memory was buried so deep because of her hatred for her father, she had forgotten about this until now.

But watching the interaction of her past self with her parents, she realized something. "Is this what Daphne was trying to tell me?"

As a little child, her father's abrupt change after her mother's passing confused her. But that confusion eventually turned to hatred for how he treated her. Even now, she refused to understand the reason because she was afraid that her feelings would change.