Lucy POV
Natsu looked up to check on me, making sure I wasn't crying hysterically or breaking down emotionally. I'm sure shock was plastered onto my face. "They were gonna... They were going to strip you of your magic?" My voice came out weaker than I had hoped it would.
"It was never officially stated by the boss man but the sidekick seemed pretty sure. It wouldn't shock me. They work for a special division of the Fiore military that's basically unheard of and invisible, making them dangerous." He stopped talking, closing his eyes and going back to that time. "I remember every second of that day... I was just a kid, handcuffed and being interrogated. Never had I thought my life would've come to that...
My mind wandered as he began explaining his story again...
A red mark appeared on his face and a loud crack was heard. The pink haired boy winced in pain, unable to fight back with his ankles chained the metal chair and his wrists chained to the table. Bruises were beginning to form on his arms and face from where he had been punched, slapped, kicked and destroyed. But he never gave them an inch. He just stared at the short old man in anger. Growling with every breath that exhaled from his chest.
"I'll ask you once more, Dragneel", the old man leaned over on the table and got in Natsu's face, "Why. Did. Igneel. Leave? And where did he go?"
Natsu chuckled darkly, his eyes narrowing with intensity, "I don't know why he left but apparently somehow he got in your ass."
The man shook in anger, "That's it you little twerp! I'm this close", he held up his fingers, showing a small gap between his thumb and index finger, "to taking you back to our base, strapping you to a wall and sucking you dry of all your stupid dragon slayer magic. Then, while you're weak, we'll tie you to a table, and dissect every inch of your stupid, ignorant, disgusting body while you scream in pain. No one will ever find you and no one will even remember you. You will cooperate. Do you understand me, Dragneel?"
Panic coursed through Natsu's eyes for just a second before returning to their normal brave self. He focused on the threat and I could see his mind working on a plan. His onyx eyes flashed with excitement for just a second before he began shivering and "forcing" back tears. "Okay... Okay, I'm sorry... Please don't hurt me... I just wanna complete my studies and help people..."
Byro smiled, thinking he had finally broken the dragon slayer sitting helpless in front of him. "We won't hurt you if you cooperate now. I'll give you one last chance? Why did Igneel leave and where did he go?"
Tears began to slip down below his pink bangs and onto his lap, "I don't know... He... He just disappeared one day without a trace... I couldn't find him anywhere and no one believed I was raised by a dragon... He always told me stories though... Stories about... About how he..." Natsu looked up through his bangs, realistic tears still staining his face. He gestured Byro to come closer to him. The white haired bastard moved closer in putting his ear close to Natsu's mouth to show he was prepared for the secret that was about to come. "He would save us from... Sick, pervy bastards like you." The pink mage slammed his head onto the head of Byro and didn't hesitate to push the chair back, only to have it yank him back. He was attached to the table by his wrists.
Adrenaline began to pump into the young dragon slayer as Byro slowly lifted his now bruised head off the table, turning to look at his assailant. He smiled, getting enjoyment from the discomfort of the young boy. "You got some nerve, Dragneel. Slamming an officer's head into a table. That's a serious offense. Not to mention living a lie with a fake name, fake identity, and someone who was not your legal guardian. You also ran from the police and actively tried to deceive the military. We could even technically say you killed your father, since we don't know what actually happened." Byro grabbed Natsu's chin, roughly and lifted it up to look at his own withering face. "I suggest you calm yourself down and don't do that again. You're already in deep kid. You're just digging yourself a deeper hole." He released Natsu and laughed.
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