The Dragon Princess

Chapter 17

x--17--x

"Th-this is a message--" She stopped because her voice cracked horribly and died out. She tossed a powerful glare the man in front of her, who was currently dangling a cup of water back and forth across her nose, to which she yearned for desperately. She continued, running her dry tongue across her even drier lips and croaking out once more.

"A message to the idiots. Your strongest mage is currently held captive, starving, thirsty, and powerless. Unless you don't want to end up worse than her, turn the cat over now. Once you do that, you can her back and an all-expense paid trip back to your pathetic guild."

Zero's rough, calloused hands pressed on the gem at the top of the black box as he helped her drink water in front of her. He pulled out a small piece of stale bread and placed in the cup, stroking her dirty scarlet hair as he stared her straight in the eye.

"That was harsh, you know. Rude words in exchange for a crappy meal. They may not come and get you, the way you said it. They might think you're possessed, or that the message is fake. Either way, you won't be rescued."

His loud cackles resonated through the hallways, escaping through the obsidian door the scraggly prisoner.

x-----x

The message, addressed to the so-called idiots was not received for more than a while, for the people who had delivered the message had delayed the delivery found it amusing to observe the sheer chaos of the side of the idiots.

What they had observed was quite odd, because the people who wanted to help her the most, and had the most capability to do so were the people who had to stay the farthest away in order to help. Those who could stay close were either apathetic or unhelpful.

But then, the spectacle had changed, because the more the day had progressed, the more the speculation focused on the possibility of one of their own missing rather than how to fix [Name].

"It starting to get dark, and she's still not here," said Loke, "We should be worried.

"No," replied Misty, "She's still probably out somewhere. Besides, [Name] should be our top priority."

"She has been. She has been our top priority for a while now. And as much I hate to say this, maybe we should focus on something else and wait until Porlyusica-san fixes her."

"No!" Misty exclaimed. Everyone jumped, at sound of her voice raised so suddenly. "If this were you, trapped in your mind, wouldn't you want to be fixed? For those around you to find a solution? We should keep looking!"

"Look, if she was this messed up before," Said Juvia, "Then Juvia believes that there is nothing Juvia can do now. Erza is a powerful mage who is could be anywhere at this rate. At least Juvia knows where (love rival) [Name] is now."

"She's right," said Lucy, "we should--"

"A message to the idiots. Your strongest mage is currently held captive, starving, thirsty, and powerless. Unless you don't want to end up worse than her, turn the cat--"

Everyone shot a look at Misty.

"Over now. Once you do that, you can Erza and [Name] back to normal and an all-expense paid trip back to your pathetic guild."

Chills ran down Misty's spine. What did they want with her?

Gray, who had been eerily quiet the whole time, finally spoke up:

"Let's trade them."