It was dark. So dark in fact, that Lucy was unable to see anything even if something was thrust in front of her face. Which something was. The only way she could tell that there was something there was the smell. The smell of whatever was in front of her. What a smell it was, so ghastly that Lucy wretched a few times before she could stand it. Her eyes watered, she knew this smell. Death. Lucy cried out, pushing herself as far back against the rough stone wall that she was chained to as she could. But there was nowhere for her to go.

"Stupid girl. Take the damn thing!" a sharp yet feminine voiced barked out. Lucy frantically shook her head, hoping that the person would leave her alone. The woman who had spoken groaned and stepped even closer to Lucy.

"Take. It." she said, louder than the first time she spoke. "If you don't, I'll shove it down your throat."

Lucy's hands shook in fear as she timidly held them out for whatever it was she was supposed to take. Something soft dropped into her open palms, making Lucy flinch so badly that she almost dropped the thing. Once she had settled her panic, Lucy sat completely still. A few minutes ticked by in silence when the woman growled in irritation.

"What's the matter with you. Feel it. Find out what it is." she spat.

"H-how am I supposed to k-know what it is if I c-cant see it" Lucy muttered, trying not to sound afraid although she knew that she had failed in that. The woman stayed silent. Lucy knew what she had to do for her captor to leave her alone. She used her finger tips to stroke the object in her hand. Still not knowing what she was holding, Lucy shifted the thing into one hand and used her other to feel the object. When she felt cat ears, she stopped abruptly.

"No. No please. Please don't be... Please don't be Happy" with that Lucy sobbed and held the poor little exceed to her voluminous chest. Slowly, she began rocking the body, just like she knew Happy secretly loved. A sight echoed around the room before Lucy's blindfold was torn off. Before looking down at her hands at the deceased exceed, Lucy's eyes wondered to the make shift blindfold once her vision had become more focused. Laying strewn across the floor was Natsu's scarf.

A cry caught in Lucy's throat. Her eyes flickered to the body in her arms and relief shot through her. Immediately she felt guilty for being relieved when an exceed was dead but she was so thankful that it was clearly not Happy. It wasn't even Charle or Pantherlily. In fact, she didn't recognise the exceed at all. It was a light brown colour with a white face and white paws. The woman chuckled at first before clutching her stomach and descending into uncontrolled laughter. Lucy shot her a look of disgust, gently placing the exceed down on the floor to the side of her. Gripping the wall, Lucy forced herself to stand. She stared at her captor for a moment until the woman's laugher began to die down.

"You're despicable. What did they ever do to you?" Lucy hissed, pointing at the deceased exceed. All the woman did was smirk at Lucy's horrified expression.

"He was snooping around headquarters." she stated "I thought it might scare you a bit if you thought it was your little pet." Lucy recoils and stares at the woman in front of her in pure disgust.

"Happy's not a pet! Who are you? Why are you doing this?" Lucy said, trying to piece together what she could've possibly done this time to be kidnapped again.

"I'm Terra and if I told you why you were here I'd be ruining all of the fun." she said, pride shining through her words. With that she spun on her heel and left the room, slamming the door behind her. The room was once again silent and Lucy was alone with the exceeds body and Natsu's scarf. Fear struck Lucy as realised that something must have happened to Natsu for the dark guild to have possession of his scarf. With a growl, Lucy yanked on her chains as hard as she could, even going as far as putting her feet on the wall to help give her some momentum. The only thing this succeeded in doing was make the angry ret cuts on her wrists deeper, allowing blood to dribble down her arms. Lucy cried out as she strained her body past it's limits to attempt to free herself from her shackles. For a moment, however stupid it may sound, Lucy thought it was working until one of her feet slipped and she slid down the wall as far as the chains allowed. Cursing her luck, Lucy stood, fully prepared to try again. She'd try all day and slice her hands off if she had to, as long as she'd be able to get out of that place.

Just as she was readying herself to try again, she saw Natsu's scarf laying on the filthy floor. Lucy closed her eyes and took a second to breathe. Natsu. The last she saw of him he was fighting a group of mages from the dark guild, Medusas Wrath. Team Natsu had been ambushed on their way home from a somewhat taxing job, meaning they were all tired and low on magic. When they were attack they gave there all but it didn't seem to be enough. Just before Lucy's vision had gone black she had seen Natsu go down. If Medusas Wrath had obtained Natsu's precious scarf that he was either severely injured or dead. Neither option seemed positive to Lucy and her breath began to come out shorter and faster. Sweat formed at Lucy's brow and ran down her face, her palms became clammy. Her vision became blurred and her ears began to ring. Her legs started to shake along with her hands and seemingly her whole body.

'Great. A panic attack. Just what she needed.' Lucy thought bitterly. She got them now and then, when she was alone that is. She usually managed to keep calm in front of the others at the guild but sometimes she couldn't help the anxiety settling into her bones. Whenever that happened she would rush off to calm herself down. No one knew about them, not even Natsu and Happy. It was always something that Lucy was embarrassed about, I mean how could you be a mage and go into battle all of the time when you have panic attacks. Deep down, Lucy knew that it wasn't as big of a deal as she was making it and that everyone would accept her and try to help but that was part of the problem. She didn't want their help, she didn't want to feel weak. A spark of magic energy shot through the entirety of Lucy's body. Her breath stuttered before coming out again at a rapid pace. Then, another spark shot through her. This continued for a few minutes until Lucy realised that this could help her. She could use her magic energy to get out of the chains.

Waiting for the next spark to shoot through her body, Lucy still failed to calm herself which seemed to be a good thing as it was the reason her magic energy started flaring. When she felt her magic start to race through her body once again, Lucy imagined herself grabbing hold of it and pushing it through her veins. Spreading it through her body until every inch of her buzzed with the feeling of her raw magic energy, she pushed even more of it to her hands and wrists. Then she let go. Her magic pulsed out of her in a rhythm, bathing the room around her in a soft golden light.

Crack.

Lucy's eyes shot down to her shackles and there in the middle of them, was a crack. A slight break in the metal, but it was enough. Enough for Lucy to feel invigorated and pour more of her magic into her hands. More cracks formed until the shackles snapped and hit the floor with a clang. In one swift move, she gently picked up Natsu's scarf and wrapped it around her neck. She was free from her binds, and she was going to make Medusas Wrath pay for hurting her nakama. For hurting Natsu.