The Tragic Hum Of A Fairy (NaLu Fanfic)

Chapter 8 ~ Backstory (pt.2)

     A knock on the steel door caused Byro to turn and have Natsu a chance to recover his face. Bruises were appearing on his wrists from how hard he had pulled back and now he could feel bumps and aches on his head and chin. He longed to just end this torture session but if he made it obvious he wasn't going to say anything, they would release his friends and focus just on him.

     A soldier was behind the door with a squirming cloth sack, "Sir, what do I do with the blue... Cat thing?"
     

     Forgetting his pains, Natsu screamed, "Happy! Happy get out of here and save yourself!" He fought desperately against the restraints, trying everything to get to the bag which held his little blue friend.

     "Natsu! Where are you?" he cried out, his voice shivering. 

     Byro turned slowly, grinning at Natsu, and picked the bag up from the soldier. Natsu fought harder, his wrists and ankles now running with a slow leak of  a crimson liquid. "Let go of him! He has nothing to do with this. It's me you want so let him and everybody else go. They don't know anything more than I do. All I know is Igneel told me a story about another dragon named... Shit." I bit my tongue, forcing the words to stop. I almost told them about... that. 

      The maniac grinned wider, "Go fetch Dr. Faust, will you, soldier? Tell him I've found our guest's weakness." 

     He stopped talking, pain dragging him down almost into the fetal position. I knew he could still feel those bruises and burns. I knew he could still hear the cries of Happy and his friends. I know he could still feel the blood dripping down his extremities as he fought to free his little buddy. I knew because I could still feel my father's hand, beating me and the lingering bruises afterwards. 

     "They let Lisanna and Gray go later that night, finally realizing they didn't know anything. Gildarts was released the next day, after they beat how I met him out of me..." his sentence trailed off and I realized he wasn't going into detail about that one, but I couldn't help myself.

     "How did they torture you...?" His eyes popped up and met my gaze, then he looked back down, resting his elbows on his knees. "I'm sorry. That was too much. Forget I ever-"

    "Don't be embarrassed. It's a natural question." Silence filled the small bedroom. Did I hurt him again? 

     "They did it in several ways... Punching, hitting, kicking, threatening and even," he lifted up his shirt, revealing a large scar on his side, "Cutting. I resisted for a week, never speaking at all, but that was just when Byro was the one doing the torturing. Soon they got people stronger than him. That's when things got bad. I still didn't talk, but now, they got the pleasure of hearing me scream and wince. I was weak then. I didn't last more than five days."

     He grunted, blood flowing in a steady stream from his nose. "Cut him again! I'm tired of standing here all day just to get a small sentence after a full day." 

     A man approached the teenager with a knife. His chest rose and fell in shattered breaths as the blade slowly crossed over his arm. Crimson began to cover his arms and drip down onto the concrete floors. But he didn't dare scream. "Use the other knife!" 

     Another man approached with a smaller knife. Relief ran through Natsu's veins until the knife pierced his skin. A blood curdling scream pierced the air as a burning sensation filled his arm. The man continued to slowly rake the knife across his skin. 

     After what seemed like a lifetime, the pain subsided and the pink haired dragon slayer gasped for air. "Ready to talk, Dragneel? I'll let the torture stop now if you fess up at this exact moment."

     Silence. "I'm tired of your games, you useless brat! Cut him again! This time in the back." Natsu finally looked up and met Byro's sadistic smile. Screams rang into the stale air as the soldier ran the knife along Natsu's back. "Just keep doing that until he begs for mercy!" Byro laughed and laughed, mixing with the sounds of pain and blooding streaming onto the floor. 

     The soldier slashed at his back and again and again until his once pale skin was stained red. At that point, he began to move to the side. One slashed near his appendix was all it took before Natsu finally spoke up, "Please stop! I'll tell you what little I know just don't hurt Happy and me anymore..." 

     "Smart choice. That knife is dipped into lemon juice in the process of making it, causing a burning of impact. Not to mention the different kinds of magic laced through it."  The guards were dismissed. Byro sat in front of Natsu, waiting for the almost fifteen year old to speak first. But he just sat, staring down at his feet. 

     "I just needed a minute to rest. I'm all fired up now! Give me all you've got you bastard!"  Natsu met the old man's gaze and grinned wildly, still breathing heavily. 

     Natsu was staring intently at the wall in front of him. Looking at a picture of me and my parents when I was younger. "They beat me. Over and over. Bringing in whips and knives, and doing everything they could to break me. It was only an hour after that I snapped. I was basically bleeding out at that point, and they were threatening to hurt Happy. They didn't even have me chained up anymore. I couldn't move. Several of my bones were broken and it took a week before I wasn't light headed anymore. Even longer before I recovered all my magic power. But I did finally go back to school. Lisanna and Gray were both worried sick,  but I didn't want to talk ever again. I knew the less I talked, the less pain I would feel. 

     "About two weeks later we went on winter break. Fully recovered at this point, I left and went to find those sick people. The smell was faint, but there and I followed it all the way to the outside of town where they had a temporary base set up. I lost it. I went bezerk, little did I know some of the magic council members were there at the time. They determined I was too strong to be free and I got this," he lifted his shirt and I saw the little metal band wrapped around his perfect chest. "It restricts my magic to wear I basically can't do anything. They said I couldn't live with Gildarts anymore either. Don't ask me why. But Gramps found me a little apartment and the council appointed Mirajane as my "legal guardian" but Makarov usually doesn't care about that unless it's  a holiday or I'm getting really behind in my studies.

     "But after I got back from my little ambush, I didn't feel like living anymore. I felt dead. I had just lost both of my fathers and was beaten to the point of being bandaged up for  a week. I had ratted out Igneel and gotten myself into a heap of trouble. So I started being the bad boy, no one remembered me beforehand so I was just like a new student. But you, Lisanna, Gray, Mira and a few others are the only ones that remember my magic. I'm not supposed to tell anyone. It's "forbidden"." He looked at me. I felt a tear roll down my face. 

     "Natsu... I'm so sorry!" Drops fell rapidly from my eyes, betraying my outer facade. 

     He pulled me into his chest, one hand resting on my head, the other wrapped around my waist. "It's okay, Luce... It'll be okay." But I could hear his voice quivering as well. 

     Why is the world so cruel?

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Thanks for reading! 

~MelodyElaine