Natsu pov
It's been a little over a month since Lucy died and a week since Erza comforted me at Lucy's grave to be better but, I've gotten no better. Every day. I go to the board at the guild to pick up a small job if I find one that offers enough but doesn't take long, if I find one I go get it done, then head straight to Lucy's grave. If there isn't one, I just go to her grave and I stay there all day. I have no motivation to do anything else. "I went on a job today. Erza and Gray insisted they come with me. Pretty simple. Go in, beat up the bad guys, collect the jewel, come back to Fairy Tail. I know they're worried about me but they don't need to be." I pause and take a breath. "I just can't get passed you being really gone. I know I should try to move on, I know I should try to get back to being my old happy self.. I know you'd tell me that's what I need to do too." I glance up to the sky, close my eyes and breathe in and out, "I know my last promise, I couldn't keep it, but I promise Lucy.. I'm gonna try to move on.. And live my life the best I can. I will always miss you." I kiss the tip of my fingers and place them on her grave stone and turn to head back to the guild. "Natsu.."
I stop in place and get goosebumps on my skin. I swivel my head back and forth. Was that.. Lucy? I look back at her grave.. Great now I'm officially losing it. Now I think I hear.. "Natsu.. please, please hear me!" "Lucy?" "Is that you?" "Natsu!! Please! Hear me!" "I I I do, Lucy I hear you! But how?" "I don't think he can hear me.. this isn't working.. what am I going to do??" How is this happening?? Lucy died. I saw her body. HOW am I hearing her?? Am I imagining this?? "Natsu.. I don't know if you can hear me.. but I'll speak in case you can.." She pauses for what felt like forever, "Lucy??" "I'm not dead." I freeze. She's alive?? How? "I can't remember anything, except you. My memories are being wiped away from me by a dark guild master. All I can remember is that for some reason, you think I'm dead and that you're important to me as I am to you. I can't even remember what we were to each other, just that we mean a great deal to each other." Someone has her?? And they're ripping away her memories? Why? "Lucy tell me where you are! I'll come find you!!" "The dark guild is called Dark Hakai.. not much is known about them outside of their base. I think by this time tomorrow, the last of my memories will be gone and I won't remember you or anything about you. And new memories, false ones, will be in their place. I don't know if or how you can, but please help me."
"Lucy? LUCY! Wait come back! Don't leave me please! Tell me where this guild is! I'll come for you right now!!" Nothing but silence in return, "Lucy?" "Natsu?" I turn around so fast my feet could have drilled through the ground. Erza, Gray, Happy, Wendy and Gajeel all stood behind me with concerned looks on their faces. "Are you okay?" Wendy asks nervously. "Lucy is alive!" They all widen their eyes at what I'd said. "He's completely lost it." Gajeel mutters buut I heard him. "I heard that!" "Look man, we all miss her, and we all wish more than anything that she was still with us but," I interrupt Gray "She's alive! I'll prove it!" I start digging up Lucy's grave. "Natsu! STOP!" Erza shouts. Gray and Gajeel grab each of my arms to pull me back. But they're not stopping me, if she's alive, NO ONE is stopping me from getting to her. I explode in a giant fire ball that propels Gray and Gajeel clean off me. I dig and dig and dig till I reach the coffins lid. I punch through the wood and can't believe what I'm seeing. "Natsu knock it off! All you're doing now is desecrating Lucy's grave and destroying her resti.." Gajeel stops talking when he sees what I see. Gray, Erza, Wendy and Happy do the same and look at what we see. "I told you! Lucy is alive!" They look at me horrified and confused and look back down at the grave and to the empty coffin that laid before us.
"Natsu tell me right now how you somehow knew her body wasn't in there! You were THERE they day she was killed AND when we laid her body to rest! Start explaining!" Erza screams at me. "She spoke to me. I could hear her reaching out to me.. some kind of mind link." "Since when has Lucy been capable of doing something like that? Happy asks me. "What did she say?" Wendy asks. "Just that she's alive. And that she's lost her memories!" "What?!" Gray exclaims. "She said all she remembers is me. Not what happened to her, where she is, why I believed she was dead.. that a dark guild is doing this to her. Some guild called Dark Hakai. She also said that by tomorrow night the last of her memories will be gone, and false ones will be put in their place." "Oh no! Poor Lucy!" Wendy says. "We've gotta do something." Gray adds. "Like what? How? Are you guys forgetting NONE of us have even heard of them before?? Or a guess as to where they could be? She could be anywhere!" Gajeel shouts. "We need to take this information to master. It's possible he's heard of them. Let's start there." Erza tells the rest of us. We race back to the guild.
"WHAT!?!" The entire guild says all at once. "Lucy is alive?? How? We all saw her body! It can't be possible!" Levy shouts. "How do we know Natsu hasn't just finally snapped and he's just hearing her voice because it's what he wants to hear?" Laxus says while leaned against the wall. "Laxus!" Mira shouts at him. "It's a legitimate question. The dude's not been himself for the last month, depressed out of his mind. I mean no offense but would it really be so surprising?" "We saw the coffin ourselves. It's empty. Lucy is not inside it." Erza says in my defense. "I believe Natsu." Everyone turns to see Wendy. "Guys think about it. Sure when a loved one passes away, we hope that we'll hear from them one last time. Sometimes we do, because we conjure it in our minds. It's a coping mechanism. But why would Natsu imagine something so awful happening to her and specific? That a dark guild has her? That her memories are being erased and replaced??" Gramps rubs his chin thinking. "What do you think gramps? Does that guild name sound familiar to you?" "Hmm." We all stare at him anticipating his response. "I'm afraid the name is unfamiliar to me. But that group that had barged into the guild that day.. didn't he say that we were responsible for taking down some of their men?" "Yes, they did." Erza says remembering. "Mira, please go and grab all the old job sheets. A month from the day we discovered Lucy." He instructs to Mira. "Okay."
"Actually master? I think I remember hearing of this guild years ago.." Everyone looks to see who spoke. "Juvia? You think you're familiar with the name?" Gramps asks her. "Well, I could be wrong. Like I said this was years ago. But when I first started in Phantom Lord, I vaguely remember master Porla discussing to another member of the guild about an up and coming guild that was trying to move in on territory he owned at the time. If I'm remembering correctly, it was Dark Hakai." "Do you remember if there was mention of there whereabouts??" I ask her. "I'm sorry no. I didn't stay around long enough to listen in. But if I were to guess a place to start, I'd start in the land they tried to move in on." "Okay, we have our starting point!" I say determined. "We also have all these places to check if they return to any of these locations. Or if they already have." Mira says as she comes back with a few old job requests. "Alright my children, it would appear we have a lot of ground to cover. Groups of you will go to these locations and wait and see if you can see the faces of any of the men that were here that day. Natsu, you'll be going with Erza, Gray, Wendy, Gajeel and Juvia to the location Juvia remembers. You were not here when they attacked. You'll need to be with those that will recognize their faces. We have no time to waste. Get moving you brats!" "RIGHT!" We say in response.
Lucy pov
".. please, help me." I hear my door opening. I have to cut the link or they'll suspect I'm up to something. "Ohh sweet thiiing?" Oh great. "Go. Away." "Well you're no fun." "That's the idea. Now leave!" "I'll think about that.... nah think I'll stay." He closes the door behind him."Where's Lars? Why would he allow you in here?" "Lars had to run to the little boys room. I'm in the mood for some fun." "Well I'm not. Now, LEAVE ME ALONE." I don't like this. He has been harassing me in every which way possible and I feel like now he's about to try and cross a major line. "No can do sweet thing, I told you. I get to do whatever I want to you, whenever I want to. And whenever, is now." He jumps on to me knocking me back onto my bed. "GET OFF ME!" He ignores my demand and continues trying to pin me down. He's pinned my hips down with sitting full weight over top of me, and has my hands grappled over my head with one hand while snaking the other up my shirt.. he reaches my breast and squeezes my nipple painfully. "STOP!" "Oh this is happening here and now. You know how badly I've wanted to do this? Ever since I laid my eyes on you, I've wanted nothing more than to see you lay bare beneath me and take everything I have to give." "NO! I SAID GET OFF ME!!" I wiggle my wrists around and manage to slip a hand out of his grasp. I take the palm of my hand and slam it up into his nose, hearing it break. "DAMN IT!" I get out from underneath him and run for the door but he's grabbed me by the hair and throws me back to the bed against the wall.. He stands back up blocking the door and holding his broken nose. "Now, I really like you Lucy, but even I have my limits. You're getting punished for what you've done to my face." "No.. No.. NO I SAID NO!!!" I extend my hand out forward and a burst of energy shot through my hand at him. Knocking him into the door and the door clean off its hinges. I'm so lost in rage that I don't even notice what I really just did. I walk over to the entrance of the doorway and stare him down.
He for once has a look of fear in his face looking at me rather than something to dominate. I extend my hand out to him again, but this time he begins to choke. I raise my hand up and his body lifts off the ground and levitates. "I told you to stop." I say eerily calm. "I told you no, and you didn't listen." I stop and look him up and down. "Fear looks good on you." His eyes are tearing up and beginning to bulge out of his skull. *Clap, clap, clap, clap* I turn to face the source of the noise. "Well done. I've been waiting for this power to finally awaken." I untense myself and I hear Raiden hit the floor gasping for breath. "You know, I should use it on you too." I say to him without missing a beat. "Come again?" "You sent this sick bastard after me to sexually assault me and then attempt to rape me?? I'm not putting up with this anymore!" "Hang on. Back up. I've allowed him and sent him to do what?" "DONT PLAY ME FOR STUPID!!" The whole building begins to shake. "Okay, Lucy, calm down. Just explain to me what you mean. This is news to me." "Don't, LIE TO ME!" The building shakes once again. "YOU ENCOURAGED HIM TO SEXUALLY ASSAULT ME AND ATTEMPT TO RAPE ME!" The building again shakes so violently the stone in the walls has begun to shift and fall to the floor. "Okay, okay. You're right.. but only half right. I told him he could harass you. As in bully you around to shake your will. Never once did I say "sexually" or to rape you. That was never something discussed."
I hear his words but hear something else being said entirely, and I'm LIVID. "So what you're telling me is although it wasn't discussed, had it been, you'd have been fine with it." He sighs and admits, "If it was something that could have broken your will much faster, making my job easier, yes I would have." I see red and am about to raise my hand at him, shaking the building again around us from my energy, when I feel a thunk against the back of my head and I hit the ground. I've not passed out yet but I'm fading fast. "Good going Lars. That was too close." "Sir, you need to complete her mind wipe now. And erase the memories of what this idiot has done to her. You can't risk her losing control like this again." "Quite right Lars. There's a risk to doing it so soon since her last one. But I'm afraid I have no choice now. Take her to the room and strap her down. I'll be there after I deal with him." Then everything fades to black.
Soren pov
Lars picks up Lucy off the ground and takes her to the room to complete her memory wipe. I straighten my blazer and dust my pants. "You're lucky, I heard the noise and came to see what was going on." Raiden, still shook from what almost happened to him, just sat there staring back. "Nephew, I told you to harrass her. Although you had the right idea, we never discussed this. You pushed her too far too soon. Now I have to rush forward her memory wipe. I've discussed with you why, in her case, I wasn't doing it all in one sitting. So if anything happens to her because you've forced my hand, it'll be your head. Family or not." I turn my back to him. "I strongly advise you stay away from her until the memory process is complete. And me for that matter." I then head to the room where Lucy awaited to work my magic.
*time skip a few hours*
Lucy pov
Oh my head. My head feels like it's trying to split in two.. I open my eyes and find I'm sitting in a dimly lit room. Where am I? "Well good morning." I gasp and turn my head to see a man sitting beside my bed, seemingly waiting patiently for me to wake up. "Who are you?" He sighs heavily. "Just what I feared. You don't remember me do you?" "No? Should I?" "Lucy, it's me Master Soren. I'm your master. You joined my guild quite some time ago. I was so afraid of this. I was afraid they would get to you." "Wait, ugh slow down. I have a splitting headache and feel dizzy. This is way too much at once. Is that my name? Lucy?" "I was afraid of that too." "What now?" "The headache. Here, lets start this way and slower. Where does it hurt?" "Uh, deep inside towards the middle of my head. Both sides." "And the dizziness? How bad is it on a scale of one to ten?" "I don't know, a four or five." He nods his head, and furrows his brow in thought. He has a look of deep concern. "I should have waited.." "..waited for what?" "Are you sure you're up to hearing everything right now?" "I think I should know?" "Okay. Let me first get you some water and an ice pack and I'll explain everything." He gets up to leave the room and stops as he opens the door. "For the time being lay back down. I'll be right back." ".. okay."
Soren pov
I close the door behind me and lean against it and try like hell to not go find Raiden to kill him. I walk down the hall with Lars behind me. "Well?" "The memory wipe worked. She doesn't even remember who I am, or who she herself is. Her mind has become a clean slate. But it wasn't without complications. She has a headache and dizziness. I knew it wasn't a good idea to do a mind wipe so close to the last one." "It could also be because I had to hit her on the head to avoid her attacking you, sir." "It's possible, but we won't know for sure until I can speak with her some more and give her mind time to rest."