Fairy Tail - Twilight Empire

Chapter 39 - The Fall of Yukino

The dungeon guards were at least smart enough to have the only torch in the vicinity of Natsu's cell be one far beyond his line of sight at the entrance to the entire facility. The guards were not of any division but were devoted solely to Mercurius itself, as it attached to it as an entity. They were cloned copies of the Executioner Death Squad, put into anti-magic armor developed by the Emperor. The prison was designed for only the worst of the Empire's enemies, and there weren't many still alive in there.

It was meant to be a psychological nightmare. Oppressive darkness, food churned through hundreds of yards of tunnel muck and waste, and water that was even more disgusting. The only way to get out was fealty to the Empire or death. None could escape, not even a legend like Natsu Dragneel.

"Bring the torch," Yukino said as she arrived, alone, at the entrance to the hallowed dungeons. "I want to see where I'm going."

"You might feed him, General," the guard said.

"And then what? He'll have a light snack and I'll still have more than enough power to put him down if he gets any ideas," Yukino said. "Grab it. Let's go."

Yukino followed the broken guards into the dungeons, moving well into shadow, cold, and despair. She wondered how many that she'd captured had been forced into the dungeons. Sorano was brought in early enough that she wasn't subjugated to it. Would she have been put in the dungeons? Sting and Rogue?

One skeleton was still pressed against the bars of his prison. Yukino ignored it and focused instead only on the footsteps of everyone's boots as they marched on, eventually reaching a level area where a set of chains crinkled.

Yukino held her hand out and grasped the torch from the guard. She glowered at them, her face basked in light and shadow.

"Leave us."

"General Eucliffe..."

"Leave."

They had no voice over hers, no sway. Guards of this domain, but not its masters. They turned and stomped away. Yukino waited for them to vanish before setting the torch down, rolling it toward the iron bars that kept the hungry, dirty, yet not at all pathetic form of Natsu away from her.

"You're suffering a fate far kinder than the rest of your Fairies have, you know," Yukino said. "The Empire must have some incredible interest in you."

"Got any food for me?" Natsu asked.

He was sitting against the side wall, his arms folded over his bored knees. Yukino tossed the torch at Natsu, who caught it and consumed its flames in seconds.

He opened and closed his fists, testing his strength against the chains.

"Anti-ethernano chains are something of a standard we like to keep in our prisons, you won't be casting spells any time soon," Yukino said.

Natsu tried once again.

"And I'll incapacitate you if you try."

"Think you can?"

He roared and leaped to his feet, straining against the chains drilled into the wall. He stopped, huffed, and was about to give it another chance when Yukino held her hand out for the torch.

"Tell me what I want to know and you can have more. I'm sure you're hungry. The muck they give you down here hardly counts as sustenance."

Natsu halted. A dog knew to stop when food was around. He stooped and picked up the torch, gesturing at Yukino.

"Sure."

He flicked to her. She caught it between the bars.

"When I was a little girl," she said, staring at the barren torch. "I wanted to be as powerful of a wizard as my sister was. It seemed like she could do it all, and she was tough. Not gonna let anything get her down. So, I set to learning. I set to become stronger."