Chapter 1

It happened so fast. One moment, she was just falling asleep next to Natsu, and he was teasing her and carrying her back to the tent, and the next, she was rudely awakened and carried into the forest. Her attackers quickly carried her off into the darkness and she felt hands crawling all over her body. She was deposited on the cold ground and her hands were quickly bound behind her and around a young tree. Her legs were drawn apart and tied down, and cold fear, like ice in her veins, settled over her. "NATSUUU!" She screamed. The men laughed bitterly and coldly, then one stuffed a gag into her mouth. She watched the shadows as they talked among themselves for a few minutes.
One particularly large shadowy figure returned and towered over her, chuckling darkly and drunkenly. He tipped her head back and grinned. "The famed Celestial Beauty, huh? She's certainly a beaut, for sure." The others chuckled, and Lucy glared at them. She struggled and succeeded in freeing one leg. She swung it up with all her strength and kicked the man heavily in the groin. He went down like a rock and the others started snarling at her. She cowered back and her eyes widened. They advanced on her and she could hear several buckles clinking and the gleam of knives in the half-light. She whimpered.

When the first knife sliced a deep, narrow cut in her leg, she screamed out, the sound muffled by the gag. The first belt struck her across the chest and she flinched, screaming again and again. She spat the gag out and started to scream. "NATSU! HAPPY! GREY! ANYBODY! HELP MEE!" the men whipped her again and again and her screams bit through the night.

When they were through, her body was bruised and battered, her mind weakly processing movement beneath her. she was being carried. Through the slit of her eyes, she could see a huge, gaping void in the sky above. A castle loomed before her, its walls crumbling and its towers decrepit with age. The men carried her inside and deposited her on the cold floor. A new figure stood over her. "Hello, Lucy Heartfilia. Welcome to my new home."

She screamed through the night as she was whipped and beaten and violated, over and over again. Finally her voice gave out and she cried silently. Please, God, save me…send someone to help me. Put me out of my misery, please, just kill me now. She thought of Natsu, who never allowed himself to get captured by anyone, of Happy who wormed his way out of any situation, and of Grey, who, while he drove her crazy with his constant flirting, could easily hold his own in any fight and refused to give up. They were all easily able to take care of themselves, but as soon as she joined their team, all they did was get hurt protecting her and rescuing her. She hated herself for it.