To Kill A Dragon

The Red Dragon Pt. 2

It didn't matter how he'd gotten here, he needed to figure a way out and fast. Had to help Erza get away from whoever had made her act so strangely! If she'd been behaving that way with him, he thought with concern, she might also do so with others.

Natsu examined the small room he found himself in, desperately searching for his friend in every corner, but he soon admitted defeat. He was alone.

It wasn't until he tried to move that he realized the position he was in. Not only was he completely naked, but he was immobilized by magic sealing cuffs. He looked in the room, desperately trying to locate his scarf but, like Erza, it was nowhere to be found. The immediate sense of loss was tremendous.

The room itself was empty except for some torches on the wall, a clip hanging from the ceiling and two built into the floor. Natsu examined his cuffs and noticed there were chains attached to them.

He heard someone approaching. He tensed up but then relaxed as a familiar scent reached his nose. It smelled like Erza! She strode into the room, stopping to look at Natsu appraisingly.

"Erza! Don't just stand there, get me out of these!" Natsu implored urgently.

Erza approached him, slowly running her hands over his bare chest, feeling the powerful muscles underneath. Natsu tried to move away, uncomfortable with the way Erza was touching him, but there was something about the cuffs that seemed to prevent him from moving.

"Why would I want to do that?" Erza peered at him, "I'm the one who put them on you."

Natsu gaped at her, he couldn't understand what was happening, all he knew was the way Erza was behaving was making him feel very uncomfortable. She'd seen him naked plenty of times, why was she acting like this?

Erza used the chains from his handcuffs to pull him up to a standing position, snapping them into the ceiling clip. She then attached his ankle cuffs to the clips on the floor. Natsu tried to struggle but couldn't move his body well enough.

Erza pulled on the chains making sure they held in place and stood back to admire her handiwork. Natsu stood on display, arms pulled taut above his head, legs spread apart.

"Erza, you need to snap out of this," Natsu pleaded, "We need to get outta here."

"You're not going anywhere," Erza replied, her eyes devoid of her usual warmth, making them appear dull and Natsu finally had to accept the Erza he knew wasn't home.

Natsu was unable to fight, something he was definitely not used to. For the first time in his life, he actually felt frightened by Erza. She wasn't acting like herself, whatever drug she'd been given had taken control of her, and that was a problem. Natsu knew what Erza was capable of and how many weapons she had at her disposal. If he couldn't get through to her, he was in serious trouble.

"I want you to answer something for me before we get started," Erza scowled, her eyes piercing into him, demanding an answer. "I'm the strongest one on our team, you should have been trying to take me. Why didn't you?"

She seemed puzzled by his actions, and Natsu had no idea what she meant. Take her? Take her where? He decided to ignore the question and stall for time. "What do you mean by get started?"

"I asked you a question," Erza snapped, her voice shrill as she pulled a long double-edged dagger out from her belt and trailed its flat blade on his chest. "You have one last chance to answer me."

"You're not Erza, are you?" Natsu cursed himself for believing this could ever be her. Of course it wasn't, Erza would never act like this, drug or no drug.