Lucy pov
If someone doesn't eventually show up through this door to explain what in the hell is going on, I am going to lose my shit! I've been here roughly four days? And NO ONE has bothered to come in to explain anything. I only know it's been four days because on the third day, I woke up. I'd been asleep for three days.
*flash back*
I start to feel myself waking up. I sit up and rub the sleep from my eyes and open them. Where am I? How did I get HERE?? I look around the dimly lit stone room not recognizing anything. A flood of panic then sets in. Wait, I remembered being thrown off the guilds roof with that guy. Ryder? Raven? I don't remember his name. All I can remember is being thrown off the building with him still gripping to me and then me screaming and then.. everything goes blank. I must have passed out. I hear a slot on the bottom of the door slide open. "Breakfast." I see the top slot at the top of the door slide open. "Oh you're awake. Good. You should eat." I fling myself from the bed in a hurry. "WAIT! PLEASE! Where am I? How did I get here? What is this place?" "I'm sorry Miss. I'm restricted from having any conversation with you as of the moment. The only thing I've been cleared to tell you is how long you've been here for if you ask." "Okay well how long have I been here??" "Three days Miss. You've been asleep this whole time. Hence why I said you should eat." And with that he closes the slot and I hear footsteps walk away from the door. Three days? I've been asleep for THREE WHOLE DAYS?? I blink myself out of my shock and try to see if the door will open. I jiggle the knob. Of course not.
*end flash back*
It's day four and still nothing. I'm tired, scared, angry, hungry but most of all sad. The guild must be so worried. And Natsu. I frown deeply at the thought of him. He must be so worried about me. Knowing him, he'll blame himself for my disappearance. I can only imagine the destruction he's causing looking for me. I softly grin at that thought. Then my stomach interrupts my thoughts. Ugh, I'm soo hungry. I'm not eating the food though. No way. I don't know if it's poisoned or laced with something. I look at the food and my stomach growls even louder. It does look good. I contemplate in my mind if it's really worth risking. Then I hear the door being unlocked and slowly open, revealing a tall, slim, older man. He wore a business like suit and tie and had dark purple hair with just as dark purple eyes. He genuinely smiles at me. "Afternoon." He begins to close the door and takes a step forward when he clips the tip of shoe against my food tray. He looks down at then looks at me and deeply sighs. "You know, you should eat. It's been quite some time since your last proper meal, has it not?" I just narrow my eyes to slits and stare at him. He sighs once more and leans down grabbing the roll from it and takes a bite of it. Then he proceeds to take one bite out of every item on the tray as well as a sip of the drink I was given. He swallows and then says, "See? Not poisoned. You may eat without fear of that. I have no use for you if you are dead." He gently lifts the tray up and sets it on the bedside table. Then grabs a chair from behind him and takes a seat.
"I imagine you have some questions for me? Involving you and your stay here?" I just nod my head. "Okay.." He then crosses his legs and laces his fingers together in his lap. "Ask away. But, please, I insist you eat." I glance at the try and cautiously take the roll. "Who are you?" "My name is Master Soren. I own and run this place." He pauses and looks at me, "I know what your next question is going to be. It's 'What IS this place?' Am I correct?" I just continue to stare him down slowly chewing on the roll but he answers as if I did answer him, "This is my dark guild's base, Dark Hakai." I swallow the little bit of food I did put in my mouth. "This is a dark guild?" "Indeed it is. And I am it's master. You may call me Master or boss. Boss seems to be the preferred term among those in my guild." "How did I get here? I know I didn't come here willingly!" He nods his head, "My most loyal and dependable disciple Lars is the one who brought you here. He's magnificent with his spacial magic. He brought you here through his portals. You fell unconscious in the process of getting here and I made it seen you stayed asleep just a little bit longer for precautionary reasons." "Precautionary reasons?" I ask him getting more and more angry. This man kidnapped me! Stole me away?! For what?? "You made the biggest mistake of your life." I set the roll down and shake my fists at my sides. "My guild mates will come looking for me. And I can guarantee they WILL find me." He just smiles at me as if I told some joke. "Oh deary, they won't be finding you, anytime soon." "That's what they all say! Then they do." I say confidently. He drops his smile and takes in a breath and sighs out loud. "I'm afraid you don't understand. They don't have a reason to go looking for you." No reason? What the hells that supposed to mean? "They have no reason because, you see deary, they believe you are dead. In fact, they're performing a funeral for you today, right now. Believing you are inside the coffin they are laying to rest."
My blood goes cold. They.. they think I'm dead. Dead?? "How could they think they're burring me when I'm right here!" He smiles at me once again, "Ah, you see. My other, less dependable, disciple is responsible for that. Raiden. You've me him. He was the one who grabbed you from the roof. Tall and thin, dark green hair? Comes across as a persistent pest?" He sees the recognition on my face and continues, "Well, he is a transformation mage. We just refer to him as a shifter but it's all one and the same. He's quite convincing when he shifts his body into the form of someone else. He even has managed to nail down personal scent and vocals." He states matter of factly. Am I supposed to be impressed by this?! Far from it! "Your guild mates believe that you are dead and that they are laying you to rest because Raiden has shifted into your body fooling them into believing that when you fell from the roof, that you did not survive the fall. I have to give credit, where credit is due. He may be a hopeless degenerate but when it comes to performance, he knows what he's doing. He also knows how to slow his own heart rate down to the point that it appears he has no pulse. Which, on top of shifting into you, is how he fooled them." He finishes and waits for me to respond but, I can believe what I'm hearing. Everyone thinks I'm really dead? And they're laying to rest what they think is me and my body?? Hot tears begin to prick at my eyes at the thought of imagining everyone so sad and hurt. "Do you see now deary? They won't be looking for you. They are unaware of the truth of the matter." "Why me? Why? Why are you doing this? And at such lengths! What do you have to gain in doing this to me and my guild!?"
"Truth be told deary, I didn't have the intention of singling you out personally to begin with. Let me explain. Your guild has been quite the nuisance for mine. I'm working towards something and they're responsible for disrupting that and taking out my men in the process. Just to add on to my already existing long standing issue I've had with your guild." He pauses to look at me for a response but I have no words. I'm still trying to process everything I'm hearing. He takes a breath, "I originally, was going to have one of you kidnapped so that I could use them as a hostage and use their life as leverage to disband immediately. With your guild having taken out all of the dark guilds around them, even the likes of the Alvarez empire, with my plans in mind, I just simply couldn't allow your guild to continue to remain active. "Even knowing all that you STILL decide to kidnap one of our own? ME? You are insane!" He ignores my comment and continues, "But once I realized who you were. I swiftly changed course. You are Lucy Heartfilia. The daughter of Jude and Layla Heartfilia. The hard working and successful business man and the exceptionally skilled celstial wizard. It is my understanding you inherited your mothers great skill, and that you have even surpassed her. I also worked beneath your father. We'll just say he wasn't the nicest of men to work for." He smirks at me, "Call it lucky that you were the one that managed to be taken and brought to me. For me anyway."
He stands up from his chair and straightens out his blazer, "I've decided that I will instead use you to destroy Fairy Tail and it's members as well as it's master." I widen my eyes and look at him, "Are you serious?! I would never EVER do that! I don't care what you say or do to me! I will NEVER harm Fairy Tail!" He gently smiles, "Deary, you have no say whatsoever. I am someone who specializes in memory magic. I can erase memories as well as replace them with new ones. Which is what I intend to do with you. Remove all your good and fond memories with Fairy Tail, and place in new ones that will make you believe you in fact hate them all. That you'd never been apart of them. That you want nothing more than to take them down no more or less than I. Making you plenty willing to do, EXACTLY that. But, even my magic has limits." I perk up at this hoping it's something I can use to stop his plans with me. "If the person I intend to memory wipe has a strong will or resolve, or have a magic charm, It makes it quite difficult if not impossible to perform my magic on them. If you are anything like your parents, you have both strong will and resolve. And that will need broken down before hand. With the knowledge that your guild believes you to be dead and will in fact have no reason to go looking for you, I don't imagine that will be too long before I can begin." I slump my shoulders in defeat and have allowed silent tears to fall. "You will remain here till I deem you okay to 'freely' walk about the base. I say freely very loosely as you will have someone shadowing you no matter where you go, aside from this room, at all times." He turns his back to me and begins to open the door then stops, "I advise, that you do not attempt to escape. I have armed guards at every point of entry and exit within this base. If you try, you will be met with swift and appropriate consequences. I will begin attempting memory wiping in a few days time. Have a good rest of your day." He finishes as he walks through and closes the door. Locking it behind him. Leaving me to cry alone into my hands.
Erza pov
It's been three weeks since we laid Lucy to rest. Everyone is taking her loss so hard. Even after all this time, we've found it difficult to return to our normal nature and routine. Though we do our best to try. Natsu seems to be taking it hardest of all. Ever since her funeral he goes to and stays at Lucy's grave all day, every day. The only time he isn't there, is when night falls and he goes home. I'm worried about him. "Hey Erza?" A very sorrowful and concerned voice interrupts my thoughts, "Yes, Happy?" "Where's Natsu?" I frown at him, "I think we both know where he is." He nods and sits beside me resting his head on my arm. "How about we go check on him and visit Lucy? We can grab some flowers on the way there." With little enthusiasm he replies, "Aye, sir." We walk out of the guild together and make our way to the nearest florist and go straight to the graveyard. As expected, we see Natsu sat silently across from Lucy's grave stone. "Hi, Natsu.." We greet him, "hey guys.." He doesn't even attempt to look up at us. Happy jumps from my shoulder and sits beside Natsu, resting his head on his leg. "We, brought some flowers for Lucy." No response. I lay the flowers down and stand back to stare at Lucy's grave. A light breeze blows through, rustling the trees and grass around us. "She'd have liked those." I look down at him, "Liked what?" "The flowers. She'd have love to get these." I lower myself down and sit beside him, "You know, she'd also like if you weren't so sad. Sitting here every day." I look at him, mentally preparing for him to snap but, "How can I do that? How am I supposed to keep going without her? How am I supposed to just carry on with my life when that very things was robbed from her!?"
I notice his tears have begun to fall and hit his lap beneath him and I place my hand on his shoulder. "I was too late Erza! I was too late to tell her how I felt about her! I was too late getting back here to prevent what happened! I could have saved her! I.. I promised her! I promised her, I'd never let anyone steal her future and I couldn't keep it! I failed her!" I reach around his shoulders and fiercely bring him into a tight hug. Trying to hold him together, from falling apart. I've never heard Natsu so broken. So hurt. Even when he lost Igneel. It breaks my heart to see him like this. I gently stoke his hair and let him cry it out. He begins to quiet down and I sit him up and grab beneath his chin, "Natsu look at me." He looks up at me with tear stained cheeks and red eyes, "Stop doing this to yourself. You did NOT fail her." I see fresh tears well up in his eyes, ".. but Erza I di.." "Stop. No you didn't. We all know that had you been here, you would not have allowed to happen what took place. I know she wouldn't want you to feel this way. To hurt for her so much. She'd want you to be happy. To keep going with your life in the care free manner you always have. Grief has no, time limit or any rule set," I say as I wipe away some tears from his face, "It may take you weeks, months, maybe even years to move passed her loss, and that's okay. But you have to try. Try for her to live your life as happily as you can." He sniffles and sits in front of me with his head low. "I miss her.. Erza." I bring him back to my embrace, "I know." I look up to the sky and close my eyes wishing things were different. "I do too."
Lucy pov
Come on.. almost there. I'm so close! I feel him. So sad and hurt. My heart breaks. Natsu.. It's been almost four weeks since I had that conversation with Soren about why I'm here. He's begun some of his memory wiping and I'm ashamed to say, it's been working. I can't remember much before being brought here. I remember being in a guild. I remember loving the people in it. Growing very close and doing amazing things with them. But.. I draw blanks on faces and names. The only one that rings in clearly, is Natsu's. I know he's my best friend, and I have a strong connection and feeling for him, he thinks I've died and I don't know why.. but that's the extent of it. Ever since these memory wipes began, I've noticed I can reach into another's mind. Don't ask how or why cause I can't make sense of it either. I don't think Soren even knows. That's another thing. I know I don't like Soren and don't trust him, and that the wants to replace my memories with false ones but I can't remember why. I know I have good reasons but again, it's a blank. I hear my door unlock and creak open. "Time for another session with Soren." I get up and head for the door, "Where's Lars? He's supposed to be my shadow not you." He smirks at me in a disgusting grin, "Oh he had something that Soren asked him to personally take care of and sent me, sweet thing.." I scoff at him. "Please, after you." He says to me as he extends his hand out towards the hallway.
I walk out of the doorway and just as I'm a few steps ahead of him I feel the sting of his slap on my ass. I stop where I am and on instinct reaction I make contact with his cheek, slapping it. Now HIM, I remember exactly why I don't like him. For things like this. He's grown more and more bold with each thing he says or does to me. "Say what you want to me, but do NOT touch me, again." He slowly stands up and turns to face me, rubbing his cheek. "Remember what I said the day we met? I said I like my women feisty. Don't touch you?" He rushes into me knocking me down. He grabs my my hair from behind me and hoists me up, slamming me into the wall. I feel him press himself hard against me as I feel his hand leave my hair and grip my hands and place them painfully behind my back. "I will touch you, all I damn well like and believe me," He pauses for a moment to snake his way under my shirt and squeeze my breast painfully, "I like it." I feel his tongue graze it's way up my neck. He replaces his hand pinning mine down with his body and reaches it around to my other breast and fondles it aggressively. "I'll tell Soren about this.. ggg get off me!" "Go ahead sweet thing. This was his idea. And I'm all for it. I can do whatever I want to you, whenever I want to." Just as I feel like I'm going to burst into tears he removes his body and grabs my hands to forcefully shove me in the direction of where Soren is waiting for me. "Now, get moving. Give me something to look at as you walk away." I hear him laugh. With a couple tears that manage to escape my eyes I make my way to Soren.
*time skip an hour later*
Thankfully Lars was back as the one to watch and shadow me by the time I was done with Soren. He escorted me to my room. Although Soren gave me "permission" to freely go about the base. I had no desire to. I wanted to be alone. I make it to my room and sit on my bed. I HAVE to try Natsu again.. before these last of my memories of him fade away. I already feel like they're slipping away from me.. I have to get through to him before they do. I sit on my bed, cross my legs and relax my arms into my lap. Come on.. please work. "Natsu.."