Chapter Text
“Lucy, Lucy, wake up.”
The calm but stern voice shook Lucy out of the knockout powder induced sleep and brought her back to a groggy consciousness. The first thing she noticed was that her body hurt. It hurt bad, with sharp pricks of pins and needles running up and down her arms and legs with no mercy or show of slowing. She tried to stretch out her limbs, but found they were bound together tightly. Fear began to seep into the darkest parts of her mind as she desperately tried to twist and flail, but to no avail.
“Please, calm down,” The voice returned. “Panic will not get us anywhere.”
The voice was coming from her right. Lucy realized that she must’ve been chained up with the owner of this voice and did her best to look over her shoulder to see who it was. It took a moment for her brain still coming down from the drug nap to remember who this blue-haired woman was. When she recognized her, her heart only began to race more, before she remembered the war with Phantom Lord was over. This woman who had previously kidnapped her, was not her enemy anymore. At least, so she said.
“Your-” She started, trying to remember the woman’s name.
“Juvia,” Answered the bluenette.
“Right,” Lucy nodded. “What, what’s going on?”
Juvia raised an eyebrow at her, frankly stupid, question. “Does Lucy not recall the last day?”
The fact her voice wasn’t laced with smugness or superiority made Lucy a bit embarrassed. Was Juvia pitying her? Lucy gave her head a shake to try and clear away the last of the remaining fog of the sleeping powder.
That’s right. Lucy had gone on a vacation with Natsu, Gray Fullbuster, Erza Scarlet, and Happy the talking cat.
Lucy had invited Natsu and gave him the other two tickets to invite anyone else he wanted. She should’ve guessed he would invite his teammates, but the idea had somehow escaped her. She couldn’t help but find it a bit awkward to be on vacation with Loke’s ex-boyfriend. Especially after the breakup between them and Cana Alberona went extremely poorly.
Natsu and Erza seemed to be taking it upon themselves to make Gray feel better after the breakup, leaving Lucy mostly alone on the beach. She didn’t really mind this too much though. Even though this vacation was supposed to be a gift from Loke to Lucy, having invited Natsu and by extension his team, she felt she was intruding on their vacation instead.
“How mean!” Pouted the malibu blue cat as he padded over to lay down under the shade of Lucy’s umbrella. He was dressed in yellow swim trunks made for cats with a red cat paw print on the left hind leg and a matching hat that covered his ears. Lucy wondered if Natsu had bought the cat this outfit himself, or if someone else had.
“What’s wrong?” She asked, petting his back softly after he curled up by her thigh.
“The lifeguard got mad at me!” Mewled the cat. “Told me I couldn’t catch fish on the beach.”
“That is mean,” Lucy agreed. Though, she figured it was for the best. Other tourists and staff members probably didn’t want to watch a weird talking cat disembowel a fish in broad daylight on the soft golden sand. Lucy’s eyes flickered up from the book she had borrowed from Levy nearly a month ago to the volleyball game.
Natsu, Erza, and Gray were dominating the other team they were up against, even though they were down a player. Erza had invited Lucy to play with them, but it was clearly a pity offer as they had already played a couple rounds before the scarlet-haired woman remembered Lucy was there. Lucy was glad she had declined to play now. It was obvious the three of them were a perfect team that could easily work in sync with one another without the need of words. If she tried to play with them, she’d likely get in the way. Besides, she found herself enjoying the view of the game more than she would enjoy participating.
Natsu was wearing orange swim-trunks with a black flame pattern outlined in yellow on his right leg. He still wore the wristbands he usually did, and had his white and red scarf wrapped around his head like a bandana. Maybe it was because she hadn’t spent that much time with him before, but this was the first time Lucy saw the scales along Natsu’s back and shoulders. On his shoulder blades, his scales were an orange-red color. Down his spine, however, they were a dark grey, maybe black.
Gray wore a black swim-binder with light blue swim-trunks with a white waistband and a black stripe down the sides. He still wore the old cross necklace and made sure to wrap it around his neck twice before he got into the water.
However, Lucy found her eyes were mostly fixated on Erza. Her scarlet red hair that she normally wore in a high ponytail was down, showing that it was so long that it touched the back of her knees. Her bangs were still framed over the scared blue eye. She took out the earrings she normally wore, seeing that they were on the beach at the moment. Her body was just as muscular as Lucy had imagined, and despite only ever wearing armor when Lucy saw her, she was covered in scars. She wore a simple black bikini, but even that made her look beautiful and sexy.
Lucy averted her eyes and looked back at the book that her eyes and mind had abandoned for the past few minutes. She was disgusted with herself, eyeing up a tall, ball-busting beautiful woman after what she had done to Levy, Jet, and Droy. It was her fault, what happened to them by the hands of Phantom Lord’s Dragonslayer. It was her fault that all three of them would likely be disabled in some way for the rest of their lives. Lucy didn’t deserve having a shot at a love-life now. Not after what happened to her girlfriend. Not that they could be together nowadays.
After a few hours in the sun, Lucy excused herself back to the luxurious hotel room that she was sharing with Erza on this trip. She showered off the sand that had gotten all over her and got ready to go down to the hotel’s bar for a drink.
When she stepped back into the hotel room, she found Erza standing just outside the sliding door to the balcony that adjoined their room with Natsu and Gray’s. She was leaning in the doorway, watching the sunset and seemed lost in thought.
“Are you alright?” Lucy asked.
Her voice snapped Erza out of her thoughts and she spun around to face what had surprised her. Her body was tense for a moment before she relaxed. “Oh, I’m sorry, Lucy.” Erza apologized, seeing the frightened expression on the blonde’s face when Erza had taken a defensive stance.
“It’s okay,” Lucy waved it off, though her heart was pounding relentlessly in her throat. “I’m sorry for startling you.”
“Don’t be, it's my fault for getting distracted.”
Lucy shrugged, looking past the muscular woman to see the sunset. “Can’t blame you, the resort is beautiful right now.”
“Yes, of course,” Erza answered, her voice uncertain as if she hadn’t been looking at the sunset or the beach at all.
A pregnant pause filled their room as Erza went back to staring outside while Lucy quickly got dressed. Lucy had just finished with her hair when the scarlet-haired woman spoke again.
“Are you going down to the casino?” She asked.
“Yeah, I figured I’d check it out.” Lucy replied. It wasn’t a lie, the bar and casino were right next to each other after all.
“Why don’t the two of us head down there together?” Erza suggested, shutting the balcony door behind her. “The boys have already gone down and I’d like to get to know you more, especially since you invited us all on a wonderful vacation.”
“Oh! Uh, sure!” Lucy shrugged. She crossed to wait on one of the beds for Erza to shower and change. “Take your time getting ready.” She said, “No need to rush.”
Erza smiled softly at Lucy’s politeness. “There’s no need at all,” She agreed. Erza’s body flashed golden above a scarlet magic circle. When the light cleared, Erza’s beachwear had been replaced by a long purple dress with a red flower pattern on the left side as well as the bottom fourth of the skirt. She had white evening gloves and her hair had been tied up neatly in a half-bun ponytail, her bangs still down to frame her face.
Lucy’s mouth dropped at the sudden transformation. Gods, this woman looked incredible in everything!
Erza caught her eyeballing her and turned to look in the large mirror across from the two beds. “This isn’t too dressed up, is it?” She asked. “I never know what kind of dress is ‘too much’.” She admitted with a sigh. “I feel most comfortable in my armor.”
Her comment took Lucy off guard. Never in a million lifetimes would she think that a wizard as strong and confident as Erza Scarlet would ever feel out of place.“No, no, you look great!” Lucy assured her. “To be honest, I just forgot what kind of magic you use. Must be useful not having to change your clothes manually.”
“It can be quite useful,” Erza smiled. “Though it also has its problems.” She offered Lucy her arm, as if to escort her downstairs.
Lucy took her arm, watching how her biceps showed even under the gloves. “How so?” She asked.
“Having too many options to choose from,” Erza said with a small laugh.
Though they had initially met up with the boys, Gray ended up having to escort Natsu back to their hotel room when he came down without a shirt on. Natsu tried explaining that the tight dress shirt that Erza had bought for him specially to wear rubbed at the scales on his shoulders and was uncomfortable. Gray just rolled his eyes and dragged him back up the stairs, saying that they could just switch shirts so Natsu had one that was bigger on him and harping on him for trying to ruin their night.
“I’m sorry about him,” Erza apologized to Lucy as the two walked around the many games. “He’s not used to those scales quite yet.”
“Its no problem,” Lucy said. “He’s saved my ass twice, I have no right to complain about what he does.”
Erza laughed a bit. “So, is there a game you’d like to start with?”
Lucy looked around at the tables after handing Erza a glass of champagne. Not far from them, she spotted a Poker table clearing out of guests and smiled. This could be one of the only things Lucy could do that would impress Titania. “How about Poker?”
Erza motioned for her to lead the way.
Gray reached the bottom of the stairs just as he finished adjusting the tie over Natsu’s shirt. Now he was stuck wearing a shirt that was too small for him, but if he didn’t have to hear Natsu whine all night, he’d deal with it. He turned to look back at what was taking Natsu so long when he heard a commotion coming from the bar. Worried that Natsu had somehow snuck past him and was already causing problems, Gray walked as fast as he could over to see what was happening.
Instead of seeing the pastel pink hair of his fire breathing idiot of a teammate, he was greeted by the sight of two girls being detained. One he recognized instantly. With cascading blue hair that flowed like a waterfall and deep blue eyes, Gray was looking at the Rain Witch from the now disbanded Phantom Lord guild. The same woman he had been fighting on the rooftop of their guild less than two months ago. With her was a young girl it took a moment for him to place. She was the same little girl that had appeared from nowhere and left with the Rain Witch moments before their guild master had been killed.
“Just give Juvia a moment to explain,” Said the water wizard as the casino’s security closed around them. She pulled the young girl behind her protectively. “She was simply trying to buy some dinner.”
“Who the hell brings a kid into a place like this?” Asked the bartender.
“This is the only place in the hotel that serves actual food,” Juvia tried to explain.
“You need to follow the dress-code to be in here, lady.”Said one of the security guards. “And you can’t bring anyone under the age of 15 into the casino.”
“Relax, they’re with me,” Gray stepped in. When the security team turned on him, Gray showed them the emblem on his chest. Ever since they arrived at the resort, the Fairy Tail wizards had been swarmed with fans of their guild. They had even gotten bumped up to adjoining penthouse suits for their stay by an old man that worked as the hotel manager.
The security team eyed him with wonder for a moment before the woman holding Juvia’s arm let her go. “Of course, sir,” she said. “Just find them some proper attire and stay together.”
“Thank you,” Gray nodded. When they left, Gray looked at the blue-haired woman, who seemed just as shocked to see him as he was to see her. “What are you doing here?” He asked her with a suspicious glare.
The ex-Phantom Lord wizard’s eyes widened when she heard him speak. “Juvia was under the impression Fairy Tail’s ice mage did not speak.”
“Answer the question, lady,” Gray pushed. “I just saved you two from being tossed outta here.”
“Gray asks a very good question,” She answered after a moment. She turned to look at the girl behind her, wearing a similar expression. “What are Juvia and Wendy doing here?” She asked the girl.
This girl had dark blue hair that fell past her knees and brilliant golden yellow eyes. She was looking down at the ground, avoiding Juvia’s gaze like a child that had just been found trying to steal a cookie before supper.
When she didn’t answer the question, Juvia pushed further for an answer. “Why did Wendy drag Juvia out here?” She asked, her voice much more stern this time.
The girl lifted her head in a way that reminded Gray of Natsu catching the scent of someone familiar, and turned to look back towards the entrance of the casino. “Natsu’s coming,” She said in a soft voice.
Before Gray could ask who the girl was, Natsu had appeared next to him. “If one more person tells me to take Happy back upstairs, I’m gonna burn this-” Natsu looked at the girl with a curious look on his face. “I remember you,” he said.
Wendy’s face lit up in a bright, wide smile that revealed sharp teeth towards the back of her mouth. “You do?” She asked, hopefully.
“Yeah, you’re that girl that healed me during the Phantom Lord fight. Thanks for that!” Natsu smiled.
Wendy’s face fell and she went back to looking at the floor. “Oh, yeah… You’re welcome.”
Natsu and Gray exchanged a confused look while Juvia let out an exasperated sigh. “Juvia should’ve known something like this was happening. Why else would Wendy drag her to a resort and beach while they’re barely surviving?”
“I’m sorry, Miss Juvia,” Wendy said. “But if I told you I followed Natsu’s scent, you wouldn’t have brought me here.”
“Because Wendy and Juvia are supposed to be laying low,” Juvia rubbed at her forehead just above her right eyebrow. Her tone was extremely telling of her trying her best not to yell at the child. “And Wendy led them face-first into several Fairy Tail wizards.”
“We ain’t gonna turn ya in,” Natsu said, still not following the conversation.
Juvia turned her attention from Wendy to the two men, her deep eyes showing she was mistrustful of their words. “Why not?” She asked.
“Because she helped me,” Natsu pointed at Wendy, who was trying to pull away from Juvia’s strong grip that kept her separate from Natsu.
“And you surrendered before Phantom fell,” Gray shrugged. “I don’t have a problem with you if you don’t have a problem with us.”
Juvia relaxed a little, but still kept herself firmly between the Fairy Tail wizards and Wendy. “A truce then?” She asked.
Gray nodded and held out a hand for her. Juvia hesitated, but with a nudge from Wendy returned the gesture and shook his hand.
“So, who are you two?” Happy asked from Natsu’s shoulder, having gauged the situation wasn’t as serious anymore.
Wendy’s eyes sparkled as she acknowledged the cat. “You have a talking cat too?” She asked, excitedly. She pulled off the backpack she was wearing and flipped open the cover that revealed the white cat Gray had seen briefly during his last meeting with Juvia.
“Keep me hidden, Wendy,” The cat with heterochromia said, shrinking further into the bag. “They’ll never serve you dinner if they find a cat in here.”
“You’re like me!” Happy exclaimed. He jumped from Natsu’s shoulders to Wendy’s so he could peer inside at the female cat.
“Perhaps we should’ve let Millianna get them instead,” Said a voice not coming from the group. “She would’ve loved having two cats to play with!”
Natsu moved, pushing Wendy out of the way as projectile magical blocks were shot at the group. They grabbed Natsu and pinned him against the screen above the bar, shattering the glass beneath Natsu’s weight and making him exclaim in pain and surprise.
“Natsu!” Wendy cried.
A man with blocky body form that was in no way natural was standing near the main entrance of the casino. He was dressed in a purple suit with a brown fedora and long cream colored scarf, making him look like a wannabe pimp.
Gray moved to attack the man, but froze when the attacker’s hand changed into the barrel of a block-shaped gun aimed at Natsu.
“Now, now,” He said in a bored voice. “There’s no need to cause a further scene. Come with us quietly, or else I'll put him down right here and ruin that lovely mahogany.”
“We were supposed to grab the teammates and Erza,” said the man’s companion. This man was extremely tall and muscular, with an eyepatch covering his left eye and a turban-like wrap over his head. His lower jaw was replaced by a metal prosthetic with skeletal designed teeth. “There is no point dragging the two girls into it.”
“Erza? What do you want with Erza?” Natsu thrashed against the binds holding him.
“They’re already in it, Si,” The first man replied with a scoff, ignoring Natsu’s shouting. “The little one looks ready to tear my nose off.”
The man with the eyepatch looked back at the trio. The girl was indeed shaking, whether in anger or fear he couldn’t tell. The woman had assumed a fighting stance and their target, Gray Fullbuster, was already coating his fists in ice ready to pounce at any moment. He sighed, not wanting to add collateral damage to their assignment but activated his magic.
The casino went into complete darkness, causing chaos and screams to erupt on all sides.
“Gray, behind you!” Natsu tried to warn his teammate, able to see in the darkness.
“Miss Juvia, look out!” Wendy shouted out in a similar warning.
The sound of an impact and a cry of pain spilled from the Water Witch’s lips. “Wendy, run!”
“Stop hiding and fight!” Gray yelled in the dark.
The sound of a gunshot going off.
Erza’s eye twitched as she slid another fifty Jewel towards Lucy. She had begun their Poker match confident enough in her abilities after learning how to play from Cana and Bisca. But now, the blonde Celestial mage was starting to clear Erza out of the spending cash she had brought with her.
Lucy took the money and chips into the pile she had been collecting, a smug smile on her lips as the other players folded and stormed off from the table. “You want to play again?” She asked Erza, clearly enjoying showing off her skills. “I have a feeling this hot streak is just getting started.”
Erza couldn’t help but smile at Lucy’s lucky hands. “Is that right? You’re pretty vicious it seems.”
“In that case, may I suggest a special game for you ladies tonight?” Spoke the dealer, who had been mostly silent since the two sat down. He performed a rifle shuffle in the air before he passed out the cards to Lucy and Erza.
Both girls gasped as they read their cards. Erza’s cards spelled out TRAITOR, Lucy’s spelled out DEATH.
“And while we’re at it, why don’t we raise the stakes a little bit higher, ehh, sister?”
Erza looked back up at the dealer and nearly fell back in her chair. The man had looked so similar, but she couldn’t place him until now. He was much older than the last time she had seen him, and the chin tattoo had thrown her off, but she finally noticed who he was. Even though he had stayed a little boy in her mind, here he was in front of her, a handsome young man wearing a malicious expression. “It… Sho? Is that you?” She asked.
“Who’s this guy?” Lucy looked at Erza, still shaken by the cards he had put in front of her.
“So you do remember me after all.” Sho scoffed, ignoring Lucy.
“You’re… You’re alive?” Erza whispered, still unable to believe her eyes. Her mind flashed back to the last time she had seen Sho. He was two years younger than her, laying in a puddle of blood, bleeding from the wound that now had a tattoo covering it.
“What’s the matter, sister? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.” Sho taunted her.
She opened her mouth to try and form a sentence, but the lights went out. The sound of a gunshot in the distance shook Erza from the fear plaguing her mind. She instantly got to her feet, now only concerned with protecting her teammates. She grabbed where Lucy had been sitting, but found nothing in reach.
“Hey, let go!” Lucy was further away from her. “Erza, is that you?” She asked.
“No,” Erza answered quickly. “Lucy, whoever that is, get away from them!”
“Hands off, creep!” Lucy let out a scream that quickly turned muffled, only further worrying Erza.
The next few hours were a blur in Lucy’s memory. She had been hit by some kind of knockout powder that kept her coming in and out of consciousness. She remembered Erza being captured by that Sho guy, and a woman with cat ears and a tail. She remembered Gray, Natsu, and some little girl unconscious on the beach while the woman from Phantom Lord that had kidnapped Lucy was surrendering in exchange for them not killing the girl. She remembered Erza pleading with the group that had ambushed and captured them to let Lucy and the others go.
“Is Lucy alright?” Juvia asked.
“Fine, you?” Lucy replied.
“Yes, Juvia is more concerned about Wendy.”
Wendy? “Is that that little girl?” Lucy asked. She strained to look to her left, on the other side of where she and Juvia were tied together. The same little girl was still knocked out, laying as limp as the ropes binding them would allow.
“Wendy, please wake up,” Juvia whispered to the girl. “Please be alright.”
“She’s breathing,” Lucy said, not knowing how else to console her. “Did they use the powder on her too?”
“Juvia doesn’t know,” The goth woman replied, her voice thick with despair. “When the lights went out, Juvia couldn’t see to protect her.”
Gray wasn’t sure when he had fully woken up. Even with his eyes open, he still felt like he was unconscious. His head was fuzzy from the knockout drug, and he felt his magic source being sucked out of him. He couldn’t move or fight whatever it was, even if he wanted to. And he really should’ve wanted too.
Across from the cell Gray was being kept in, he could see Natsu. Natsu was chained down on a makeshift table with a wide range of surgical tools and torture devices lined up on the wall. Natsu was facing away from him, but the puddle of blood already on the floor by his head and the fact he wasn’t moving would’ve caused Gray to cry out in rage.
If he wasn’t so cold, tired, and drained. He wanted to care about what was happening to him and Natsu. Or Erza, Juvia, and Wendy. But more than anything else, he just wanted to fall asleep again. To let the calming feeling of the Ethernano he was currently stuck halfway inside to cease all his fears, wants, worries.
Erza’s eyes fluttered open, panic instantly overtaking her every sense. Despite her head still spinning from the heavy blow to her left temple, she tried to struggle to her feet. All that did was reward her with the sound of chains clattering against the crystallized floor. Erza looked up, seeing that she was shackled to the wall. She then looked down and saw she was similarly bound to the floor. She tried to use her Requip so she could use a weapon to potentially free herself, but quickly realized they had her in Magic Blocking cuffs.
That only further confirmed what Erza had been fearing. They had brought her back to the Tower. She knew that they had Magic Blocking cuffs, as they had several wizards enslaved the last time she had been here. Even though she was still wearing the dress she had changed into before she and Lucy went down to the casino, she felt naked without her armor.
Knowing now that no matter how much she struggled against her restraints that she wouldn’t be able to break them, she dared to look around at her surroundings. The floor she was on was unlike any she had seen during her captivity here in her childhood, but that wasn’t too surprising. Erza had only ever been held in the mines and dungeons that went miles underground. The highest up she had ever made it was to ground level when she escaped. She couldn’t hear crashing waves, which led her to believe she was closer to the top of the tower. She knew somewhere to the east, the resort that Lucy had invited her team too was moving along their night as if nothing had happened. She had known the Tower was near the resort, but she didn’t realize just how close they had been.
Erza looked all around the wide room she was in, but found no sign of Natsu, Gray, Lucy, or those two blue-haired girls she had never seen before. Instead, she saw a man, leaning against the far wall across from her. The metal jaw and eyepatch gave her pause, but his remaining eye looked at her the same way it did a decade ago. “Simon?” She asked. “Is that you?”
“Erza,” He nodded softly, dropping his gaze from her.
“Simon! Simon, please! Are my friends okay? Did they let them go?”
“Oh, Erza.” Replied a voice that didn’t belong to Simon. The owner came up the stairs off to the far left of the room and walked between the two. “Don’t spoil the celebration by concerning yourself with them. This is your homecoming!”
Erza wished with all her power that she could blink this man away. She wished with everything in her that she didn’t recognize him. Out of all her old friends, Jellal had changed the least. Though the branding mark over his eye had long since healed and left a horrid scar, his expression was the same vindictive, twisted grin that had haunted Erza’s dreams.
“Welcome home, Erza.” Jellal greeted her.