Fairy Tail: Falling Towards the Chaos

Chapter 11

Lucy winced, feeling aches all over her body, arms straining from where they were nailed into the wall. A kunai knife whizzed past her face with speed, hitting the piece of wall next to her cheek.

"Damn, I really thought that was going to hit for a moment there,"

A gruff voice chuckled roughly. A group of wizards had gathered in front of her, no doubt from Phantom, but the man who had kidnapped her had a distinct look to him.

"Gajeel, you shouldn't do that! Master said to retrieve her alive and unharmed," a guy in the back warned.

"Piss off, I'm bored," Gajeel waved off, "now, where should I aim next?" He grinned, showing off his canines. He stalked towards Lucy, pausing before he briefly sniffed around her face. Lucy recoiled, not wanting this guy anywhere in her vicinity; squeezing her eyes shut. "Oh, you're with Chaos, aren't you? I can smell that bastard's scent all over you, he's imprinted like a puppy, how cute!" Gajeel chucked once more.

"I-imprint?" Lucy dared to ask, looking away from her kidnapper.

"And he hasn't even told you! Well, this just makes this ten times more fun, let's see how he'll react if I push you around a bit," Gajeel snarled, an evil smile on his face. Lucy tugged furiously at the restraints, caring less about his words and more about escaping.

"You think you can play with a dragon, sweetheart?"

A rough, callous hand gripped onto Lucy's neck, and she gasped for air on instinct. He tightened his hold on her airway, watching her struggle to breath. He made the metal restraints fall away, the only thing holding her up being the grip he had on her throat. She grasped at his hand weakly, blubbering like a fish, before he roughly threw her to the other side of the room. She crashed into the wall, shrieking on impact, her head spinning as she let herself sink to the floor.

Her vision was blurry, and she felt terribly dizzy, watching him stalk towards her. All she could make out was a black blob, and she tried her hardest to crawl away. She bit her lip when he grabbed a fistful of her hair, pulling her up to eye-level. She spat in his face, instantly regretting her decision, as he chuckled lowly. He punched her straight across the face, cracking her head to the side, before he unceremoniously dropped her. He kicked her back to the original wall she was restrained too. This time, when she tried to get up, she couldn't. She groaned, feeling her cheek swell, her head pounding and side aching. She shakily took a breath and almost laughed at how reminiscent this situation felt.

"My father hits harder than you do," Lucy hissed, finding enough strength to at least bring her face off the ground.

Gajeel cracked his neck, rolling his shoulder.

"I got to admit, you do have a mouth on you," Gajeel sneered, "let's fix that." As he neared her again, Lucy barely blinked an eye at him, focusing on the raging heat she felt beneath her. A crack appeared in the floor then another before it crumbled, bursting open, revealing Natsu who roared; uppercutting Gajeel, sending him tumbling backwards.

"Lucy!" Happy cheered. Finally, they found her. Happy had watched as Natsu tore down the base, looking for her; he was frantic. Natsu had been downright furious when news of Lucy's kidnapping reached him, until he caught the faintest sniff of her scent. It was masked by Gajeel's who spent his time making her extra pretty for when Natsu came for her. He knew he would. A glance at Lucy told the fire dragon everything he needed to know, and he felt his hackles rise, letting the rage consume him.

"Happy, take Lucy and get out of here, it's about to get ugly," Natsu whispered, he let the flames consume his body. Lucy had never seen him like this. Even in the moments where she thought he was at his scariest, nothing compared to this. His eyes narrowed, locked onto Gajeel who managed to pull himself out of the rubble with a barking laugh. Lucy could only stare as the two slayers let their power build before they jumped at each other in sync.

"GAJEEL!" Natsu roared before they collided.

-----

"Well, this was fun," Happy said, lowering Lucy down to Natsu who laid sprawled on the floor. She rushed over to him, staggering a bit as she went.

"Natsu! Are you okay?" She asked worriedly, checking for wounds. They were both pretty beat up, yet she was more concerned with him than herself. He sat up, eyes downcast.

"I just didn't want to get up yet," he confessed quietly, climbing onto his feet with the laughter of Happy and a small giggle from Lucy uplifting him. Lucy wrapped his arm around her shoulders, helping him walk, even though he knew he didn't need it. He allowed it, though -- allowed himself to lean on her and breathe out a small sigh of relief.

"Did your dragon disappear too?"

She'd almost forgotten Gajeel laid ten feet away from them, sprawled out too, tired of the fighting.

"Either that, or he's dead," Natsu replied curtly, sweeping Lucy into his arms, flying towards the guild. As they touched the ground, a bright light glowed from the depths of the Phantom Lord guild, causing Lucy to squint before Natsu carefully tucked her into his chest, with Happy hiding his face in his shoulder.

"Such a bright light," Lucy winced.

"The old man must be in there settling the score," and if Lucy didn't know any better, she thought she'd heard a hint of smugness in Natsu's voice.

Soon, the guild was all together again. Mira running around tending to the wounded, coming over to them once to ask Natsu if he needed anything, to which he shook his head. Erza and Gray sat with them too, the team tuckered out as they leaned amongst one another. Master emerged from the hall on the water, joining the group, who rejoiced for his return and good health. There were cheers and joy everywhere. This was one victory Lucy would never forget.

"Master, I -- " Lucy said, stepping forward, she bit her lip nervously, "I'm s-so sorry," she whispered. Master looked at her thoughtfully, glancing at something behind her.

"Although the guild was trashed, it's no problem,"

"Yeah! We can just rebuild it better than ever,"

The sight of Levy, Jet, and Droy standing and awake took the breath out of Lucy. Ducking Natsu's arm, she hurried to give her a gentle hug.

"I'm sorry for making you worry, Lu," Levy consoled, "I heard your story but this isn't your fault, no one here thinks you're to blame for Phantom's actions." She murmured, rubbing the blonde's back.

Lucy felt her shoulders start to shake as she heaved.

"Lucy," Master sighed with a tired smile, "happiness and sadness, we can't share all of it, but we can to some extent. One person's happiness is everyone's happiness. One person's anger is everyone's anger, and one person's tears is everyone's tears. You don't have to suffer with guilt, you should already know how much everyone loves and cares for you." Loving. Caring. She found herself having whiplash, and it dawned on her. She found a family.

"Lift your head high, my dear, you are a proud member of the Fairy Tail guild."

And so she did.

With tears running down her face, ugly crying as she tried to stifle the sobs wanting to pass through her lips while she lifted her head. She was home. She sunk to her knees, head held high, as she relived all the suffering she had been through. She thought of her father, her mother, the maids who'd raised her, and the one meeting that turned her life upside down. It wasn't for nothing. The pain and suffering was worth it. It was worth this feeling. The feeling of being loved and cared for so deeply, it made her hurt. The thought only made her cry harder as arms circled her, a group hug, to stabilize her as she let go of her past.

This was her new beginning.

To be continued...