THE LAST VALKYRIE
CHAPTER 2 – DAREDEVIL
"It is for your own good to love a dare-devil rather than a holy coward. A dare-devil is a unique devil, battling your fears, your pains, conquering your uncertainties, carrying you his arms, and flying out of the corrosive fire. The coward is a trickster serpent, which vanishes in your time of despair, and appears in time of equanimity."
― Michael Bassey Johnson
...Market place of Magnifica, capital city of Emporion...
During the day, at first glance, Magnifica looks as beautiful as its name lets on. The city is full of life with its colorful houses, cobblestone streets, fancy restaurants and typical shops. Not to mention the children running around, laughing and playing, the couples holding hands near the river, the cats purring and showering all citizens with affection, the dogs happily following anyone willing to feed them.
When you look at the pretty picture with a bit more attention, though, you start noticing things that make you understand that you're only seeing what the city is willing to let you see. Like some children discreetly exchanging money in hidden corners, women glancing behind them with worried eyes, men with black eyes or split lips.
At night, Magnifica becomes a paradise for murderers, thieves, rapists, conspirators and the worst kind of criminals you could think of. Locals are too scared to go out at night. The city wasn't always like that, though. Around fifteen years ago, you could go out at night with your lover to go to the restaurant or take a walk in the public park. Nobody really knew how things got so bad, they just heard things about some important politicians being involved. And when these people were involved in the city's dark business, not even the soldiers had the power to protect the citizens.
"Have you heard about what happened this morning?" the first man had a large blond beard and gold rings on each finger. He and his friends were sitting at a private table on the first floor of a red shop. "The thing with Igneel?"
"You mean the slave he bought?" his friend asked. "I heard he paid ten golds for her."
"I heard it was fifty golds!"
The two men sitting in front of Blond beard were twin brothers with dirty black hair and matching scars on their jaws. They never answered the people who asked them if they had scarred themselves on purpose. Blond beard snickered and took a sip from his beer.
"He's always been all sweet talk about freedom and the cruelty of slavery, but he's just a starving wolf when you show him a pair of nice, firm titties."
"His wife still looks hot, though," twin 1 noted.
Blond beard shrugged and smirked.
"Right, I'd bang her too." He laughed loudly. "What a lucky man he is, that Igneel! The old one has the experience and the young one has the body. I speak from experience when I tell you that this is the best combination!"
"I agree with you," twin 2 agreed. "Now, if the young ones could just stop fighting and crying... I know they only do it the first times, but it's still a pain in the ass."
"Can't agree with you on that, brother. I think it's much funnier when you have to break a few bones in the process."
"There was that one time when I bought a couple of slaves," Blond beard laughed darkly, "I forced the man to pin the woman to the mattress while I fucked her. It was so funny! But the girl climbed up the roof of the villa, the following morning, and jumped off. She died on the spot. 90 cobbers, gone just like that. What a bitch."
"We're drifting away from the main topic," twin 2 reminded him.
"Right," Blond beard agreed. "Igneel. Well, what more is there to say? He's losing a lot of supports because of what he did, so he'll never be able to talk in front of the president of the Congress. We've got nothing to worry about anymore. In the end, he's just a man."
...LUCY...
"Who said I'd go along with what you say?" Lucy asked, defying the master's authority.
Igneel frowned at her, tilting his head to the side.
"I bought you," he reminded her. "Aren't you supposed to obey me?"
Lucy crossed her arms on her chest.
"You saw me on the stage," she countered. "You knew what you were paying for. And I could just kill you all and run away."
Natsu sniggered and she glared at him. Igneel's large hand stroked his bearded chin as he hummed, visibly in deep thought.
"Lucy's right," the officer finally agreed. "There's nothing interesting for her in the deal."
"You mean aside from her freedom?" Natsu asked with a voice filled with irony.
"Let's say this," Igneel beamed, "Lucy, if you can defeat Natsu – without killing him, please – I'll set you free and give you ten golds."
Lucy had to use all her self control not to gape at him and keep a straight, bored face. Even if she spent the rest of life stealing from the nobles she found on her way, she'd probably never manage to get her hands on such a huge amount of money.
"I accept."
Natsu squinted his eyes at her and shook his head in incredulity.
"You agree with this? He told you to be my slave, you know?"
The young woman shrugged.
"He also told me to beat you up," she reminded him. "And I'll even get paid for it."
The pink haired young man laughed and rolled his eyes, still shaking his head in incredulity.
"Alright," he said, "let's say that I agree to do this. Since there's no way this little girl will manage to last more than three seconds against me, I think it's safe to assume that I'll beat you before she beats me. But what's in for me?"
"Wow," Lucy laughed, "you're the most conceited brat I've ever met."
Natsu arched a brow and smirked at her.
"Did you just call your master a 'conceited brat'? I should punish you for that."
"I'd like to see you try," she smirked back.
Igneel burst out laughing and roughly patted their backs, looking pleased with himself.
"I'm glad to see that you're already getting along!" he exclaimed. "Natsu, about your reward, we'll talk about it a bit later, but I promise you will like it."
"Yeah, right..."
"Don't doubt my word," his father scolded him. "And aren't you supposed to meet with your friends for some weird kind of night training? I have a meeting too, so I won't be home tonight."
"I refuse to take her with me," Natsu immediately stated.
"Fine with me," Igneel laughed, walking out of the office, "try locking her in her room then."
Natsu glanced at Lucy and she smirked.
"You'd die trying," she warned him.
He rolled his eyes and scoffed.
"Right. I forbid you to speak without my permission."
"As if I'd want to talk to you and your idiotic friends," she retorted.
Natsu glared at her and walked toward the door. Lucy thought he was going to leave her here and go back to his room, slamming the door of the office behind him like a pouting five year old brat, but he didn't. He checked the corridor to make sure that his father was gone and closed the door, then walked back toward her. She stood firm and held his gaze.
"I don't know who you think you are," he started with a low voice, "and I don't care. Just because I'm against slavery doesn't mean I'll forgive a slave that shows disrespect to me. Start behaving yourself if you don't want to piss me off for good."
The young woman glared at him. He was impressive, she had to admit. He was tall, had firm muscles and a dark look that probably scared the shit out of a lot of people. Not to mention his name, the name of a royal officer. But Lucy would bet her head that he was nothing but a good little soldier that wouldn't stand a chance against a mercenary that wouldn't fight following the rules.
"You're lucky that your father is here to protect you," she reminded him. "Otherwise, I'd slice your throat at night."
"I could just smash your head against the wall, right now," he warned her. "Then, I'd be free from you and my father's idiotic bet."
"You wouldn't last three seconds against me, little boy."
He froze and his eyes widened. She had used his words against him. He sneered.
"Fine," he gave in. "Come with me. One night with my friends and you'll want to run away from this city right away."
Natsu apparently decided that if he was forced to keep her as a slave, he'd make her work like one. He made her cook for him and she tried to poison him, he ordered her to massage his shoulders and she tried to knock him out, he told her to put on a red, very tight and revealing dress, she burned it. In the end, he had her follow him everywhere he went and she even had to come inside his bedroom and wait in front of the baths while he washed. She had to listen to him as he sang a strange song about a guy named Gray, who apparently was a weak idiot and a pervert, if the lyrics of the song were anything to go by. He came out of the baths completely naked and still drenched in water.
"Oh, I forgot about you," he admitted when he saw her.
Lucy thought of the moment when Cana entered her room a bit earlier. She tried to remember her face when she saw Lucy lying naked on her bed. And copied it. Her ''master'' was a very attractive man when dressed, but he was positively appetizing when naked. Though, Lucy would be damned if she let it show on her face. He shrugged his clothes on and yawned. He picked up a shoulder bag in linen that had obviously been tossed in a corner of the room. He stopped when he saw Lucy and smirked before tossing his bag at her.
"If you're so happy to be my slave, you can hold my stuff too," he sneered. "Let's go."
"You're not taking your sword?"
Natsu arched a brow at her.
"Why would I take it?"
Lucy shrugged, not really interested in his reasons, now that she thought about it.
"Your father said you were going to train tonight," she reminded him, "but it's not like I really care what you do..."
The young man smirked and walked out of the room, motioning for her to follow him.
"I'm not really going to train," he explained, "but it would be too difficult to explain to my father."
She snorted.
"Right. You wouldn't happen to be making up excuses so that your dad won't forbid you to go out at night, would you?"
He glared at her above his shoulder and continued to walk toward the large set of marble stairs.
"What did I tell you about disrespecting me?" he growled. "And I don't need my father's permission to go out. I'm a big boy, mind you."
"Exactly," Lucy thought, "you're just a big boy, a tall brat that's still far from being a real man."
"If you say so," she shrugged.
He squinted his eyes at her and stopped walking so he could turn around and face her properly.
"Stop doing that," he ordered.
She arched a brow.
"Doing what?"
"Shrugging," he specified, "stop shrugging all the time. It makes people think that you're not interested in what they're saying. It's rude."
"But I really don't give a damn about what people say," she argued.
Natsu sighed and shook his head in defeat.
"I don't care," he countered, "just don't do it. It's an order."
She shrugged.
"As you wish."
He glared at her.
"You just did it again."
"No, I didn't," she retorted, starting to feel amused by this master-slave thing.
"Yes, you did," he groaned. "Whatever, let's go already."
She shrugged.
"As you wish."
oOo
Lucy half expected her master to ask for a carriage to be prepared for him, but he didn't. He didn't tell anyone about where he was going either, just walked out of the mansion, Lucy on his heels.
"Might as well warn you, I'm a quick walker," he distractedly told her over his shoulder. "If you're too slow, I'll just leave you where you are and go on."
The weather was really good that night, Lucy noticed. The wind was nicely refreshing and a silky veil of shining stars illuminated the clear sky. Lucy smiled, taking advantage of the peacefulness of the moment to take a deep breath in. All the while, following Natsu's pace without any difficulty. It all felt familiar to Lucy: the smell of the night, the coolness of the weather, the gentle wind in her hair, it felt like she was back on her ship. Those small, golden lights she could see from the capital city, farther away? The warning lights of a port where they would berth for the night. The voices of the people that were growing louder as they approached from the city? Only the background burble of the locals the crew usually ignored as they explored an unknown place.
Now, if she could make a wish, she'd do anything to feel the gentle swaying of the ship under her feet, hear the soft song of the seabirds, or climb up the tallest mast to the crow's nest. Or better yet, listen to the crew's crude jokes. Listen to the women of the crew teach her about how men were simple-minded creatures and could be easily manipulated if you knew how to use both your head and your body – she was six or seven years old when she got her first lesson on the matter, but was forbidden to practice before she turned fifteen years old. She would listen to the authoritarian, powerful and joyful voice of her mother.
Lucy closed her eyes and tried to focus on her portrait of the woman that would never stop haunting her. She was a strict woman, but her heart was the purest of all. She never kissed Lucy's forehead to wish her a goodnight, never read her stories to help her sleep, never told her that she was a cute little princess. But she killed men to protect her, she ran into an ablaze cabin to save her, she dyed her hair a funny color to make her laugh. She died to save her life.
The awake dreamer bumped into something hard and big. She jumped back, her eyes wide open and her thoughts entirely back to the present. Her hand instinctively went to get the handle of her dagger, at the back of her belt, only to find it empty of any weapon. She sighed when she realized the thing she had bumped into was only Natsu's back. The young man was looking at her with a curious expression on his face, arching a brow at her.
"Watch where you're going, airhead."
They were standing in front of a slightly less practicable path leading down a slope covered with tall grasses.
"Don't stop walking without any warning," she retorted. "Why did you even stop?"
Natsu was squinting his eyes at the darkness down the slope. It took him a while to answer her and it did annoy her a little bit.
"I can't see them," he explained. "We were supposed to meet near this little tree, right there."
"So what? Maybe they're just late. Are you afraid of the dark? Don't worry, I'll protect you if any bad guy comes to kidnap you."
He glared at her over his shoulder and walked down the path, not bothering to answer her. Lucy followed him, smirking.
"Oh, but wait!" she suddenly exclaimed with a voice filled with mock fear. "Maybe they were attacked by bad guys before we got here! I'm so sorry, Pinky, your friends were horribly slaughtered. Do you want to go back home and eat something?"
"Don't call me Pinky," he growled. "And I told you not to speak without my permission."
She rolled her eyes and followed him in silence as they finally reached the bottom of the slope and walked toward the tree. Lucy instantly felt it. She slowed down and closed her eyes for seven seconds to adjust her view to the darkness. She sniffed the air and focused on her hearing to get a general idea about who and where the enemies were. Heavy footsteps and breathing of excited individuals. Men, Lucy could have sworn, probably two or three.
"What are you doing?" Natsu called from the tree. "I told you not to walk so slowly!"
"Yes, yes," Lucy answered. "Coming, coming. I just need a minute, something got stuck in my shoe..."
She bent down to make it look like she was indeed trying to get a stone out of her shoe. In the dark, it was almost impossible to see that she was actually picking up a large, heavy stone. She heard Natsu sigh in impatience and something moved in the bushes to her left. She abruptly turned around and threw the stone in the bushes with all her strength.
A cry of pain was heard right away and a large silhouette jumped out of the bushes and pounced on her. The young woman stepped to the side to dodge the man and pulled on his shoulders as she swept his legs out from underneath him. The large man fell to the ground, face burying itself in the muddy ground. The one that had been hit by the stone was walking out of the bushes, a hand on his left eye, the other raised in a sign of surrender. A third man was here, smiling despite his precarious situation.
"Wow, the daughter of the Valkyrie, indeed," the latter laughed. "I'm impressed."
Lucy glanced at Natsu. He hadn't moved an inch. She frowned when she noticed that he was smirking.
"This was pathetic," he sniggered, "you guys are too predictable."
"I think she pierced my eye," the other man whined.
The large guy that was thrown head first in the mud stood back up, coughing and wiping his face with his dirty hands.
"You look charming like that, Gajeel," the laid back man smiled.
"Fuck you."
So the big guy with the mud on his face was named Gajeel, the others's names were still unknown, and the three of them were friends with her idiot master. Lucy glared at him.
"What?" he asked. "They only wanted to prank you and you attacked them first. Guys, this is Lucy, my servant. Lucy, this is..."
The laid back man who seemed to have a smile nailed to his face suddenly jumped in between them and extended a hand toward Lucy. She didn't move at all.
"I'm charmed," he drawled, taking her hand in his own.
Lucy snatched her hand back before he could kiss her hand. She violently grabbed him by the collar and glared at him.
"What the hell were you trying to do?" she growled.
Natsu watched this little scene with a small, satisfied smile on his face.
"Lucy, this is Loke. I see that you already appreciate him. And the guy whose eye you almost punctured just now is Gray. Say hello, Gray."
"Yeah..."
"So," Natsu went on, his face still sporting his smug smile, "how about you let go of Loke's collar, Lucy? I think you're choking him."
Lucy didn't like the way he was talking to her, as if she was some kind of unintelligent barbarian, but still let go of the pervert's clothes. Chills ran down said pervert's spine and he laughed.
"Man, strong women always agitate me," he smiled. "If I'm not careful, I might fall in love with you."
"I'd appreciate it if you could refrain yourself from doing so," she retorted.
Natsu smirked and the injured man, Gray, whistled.
"I could feel that burn," he laughed. "I heard things about her, but I thought people were making a big deal out of nothing."
"She's not that tough," Natsu countered. "I had her obeying each of my orders all day long without complaining."
Lucy sneered, but didn't contradict him.
"Seriously?" Loke eagerly asked. "How lucky... Can you order her to become my personal servant for one day?"
"No."
"Wait," Gajeel groaned, "don't tell me she's tagging along tonight?"
Lucy smirked when Natsu growled in annoyance and rolled his eyes.
"It's not like I want her to come either," he retorted, "dad just told me to bear with her or try to lock her up. If she's strong enough to kick your ass, it would have been a waste of time to try and lock her up."
"She didn't kick my ass," Gajeel angrily retorted. "She caught me by surprise, that's all."
"That's all," Lucy sneered.
The tall young man glared at her.
"You've got a problem?"
"No, no," Lucy scoffed, "please, don't pay attention to the lowly servant."
"Making fun of me, now?"
Gajeel's behavior became slightly more menacing, which only amused Lucy even more.
"Why should I bother?" she countered. "You're doing that very well on your own."
"Hey, Gajeel," Natsu called sternly, "stop bickering, will you? We'll be late if you keep it on."
Reluctantly, Gajeel turned away from her.
"What are we going to say about Gray's eye?" he mumbled. "He'll never be allowed to enter if we tell them how he got the black eye..."
"We'll just lie," Natsu distractedly answered, "say he fell down some stairs or fought with a drunkard somewhere."
"As if people would believe that!"
Loke laughed and patted his friend on the shoulder.
"Face it, Gray, you have a bad reputation. Ladykiller."
"Violent," Natsu agreed.
"With a mean look in his eyes," Gajeel added.
"That's rich coming from you guys!"
They entered the city making way too much noise, but no one bothered trying to stop them. Lucy got very insisting, suggestive looks from most men they met on their way, but ignored them all. Women weren't allowed to go out at night and she was the only woman in a group of men, of course people would want to believe that she was of little virtue. And there was her collar too. They needed this kind of pathetic scandals to find distraction in their boring lives.
Lucy smirked. Most of them would have had a heart attack had they been on the ship during a particularly wild party.
"Are all men of this country fragile little boys or what?"
Loke immediately jumped on the occasion.
"Most of them are," he agreed, "but I'll gladly show you that I'm not a little boy at all, if you want."
Natsu glanced at her over his shoulder, then at the nearest group of men that had been ogling her.
"Ignore them," he told her, "ignore this idiot too. They're all a bunch of dogs in heat."
Gajeel smirked at him and Gray sniggered.
"Here again," he sang, "that's rich coming from you."
Lucy quietly observed the boys as they exchanged knowing looks. Natsu only looked a bit lost.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Oh please," Gray laughed, "you've rejected every marriage proposal, no matter who they come from. Not to mention that the dowry was very high for each of them."
"How do you even know about that?"
"The stripper's right," Gajeel agreed, "it's suspicious that mister perfect refuses to get married. Do you have a secret lover or something?"
"You guys aren't married either," Natsu retorted.
"Gajeel's a bastard and I'm engaged," Gray countered. "Our situations are normal, yours not so."
"Don't listen to them, Natsu," Loke smiled, "being free is awesome! You're young, it's your duty to fully enjoy life before you settle down!"
"What are you even..."
Lucy frowned, starting to feel a bit lost.
"What's a bastard?" she asked.
The boys eyed her with surprised looks, but ended up giving her explanations.
"A bastard's someone who was born of unmarried parents," Natsu explained, "an illegitimate child."
Which meant she herself most probably was a bastard as well.
"And bastards aren't allowed to get married in this country?"
"Well, they are allowed to," Gray hesitated, "but..."
"But you'll never find a woman willing to stain her name by marrying a lowly bastard," Gajeel ended for him. "That's what a bastard is."
Lucy stared at him. Gajeel was a tall young man with muscular arms and legs, wide shoulders, a large chest, long, unruly black hair, red eyes, and a lot of scars. He had a menacing attitude and a hard look in his eyes. Lucy smiled, her mother would have loved him.
"Well," she said, "this is stupid. Where I come from, we choose our partners after they proved their value. We don't give a shit about their name."
"Yeah, well," Natsu coughed, "this is a civilised country. We don't try to kill each other to find a partner."
Lucy rolled her eyes.
"I'm not even surprised that you think that way," she sighed.
"I actually find this very interesting," Loke smiled. "Can you tell us more about this? How are we supposed to prove our value to women?"
Lucy hesitated, not sure if the pervert was genuinely interested or if he was only making fun of her. She shrugged, it wouldn't hurt to tell him even if he was only playing around.
"Men aren't the only ones who have to prove their value," she corrected, "women do too. We have to show our partner that we're strong enough to protect them, to stand by their side no matter what. We have to be loyal to them, show them our devotion and love. My adoptive mother stood by her husband's side when he was struck by a very dangerous and highly contagious illness until he was healed. In return, he attacked a ship of the royal navy that was transporting prisoners. Het set the prisoners free, evacuated the royal ship and burned it. He asked her to be his as they watch the ship sink. Words don't do the trick for us, we have to make sure our feelings are strong enough to reach the other. Though, I'm sure this kind of things would be considered barbaric by the men and women of the capital. You're all too refined to do such things, right?"
Loke smiled softly as he listened to her and turned toward Natsu when she was done talking.
"And you called them uncivilised?" he mocked. "True, they're a bit passionate, but they're much more authentic than we'll ever be."
Natsu rolled his eyes and stared at some bushes that he suddenly found unusually interesting.
"Where do you even come from?" Gajeel asked.
Lucy shrugged again, eyes falling to the ground.
"I don't remember," she admitted. "But my adoptive mother came from the same country. She taught me everything I know."
"We're here," Gray suddenly said.
Lucy lifted her eyes. They were standing in front of a worn out door trapped in between dirty, old brick walls, in the back of a narrow alley. She glanced at Natsu and noticed that he was dressed like a commoner. He turned toward her and took a woolen brown cloak out of the linen bag she had been carrying.
"Put that on and wear the hood," he said. "We don't want anyone to recognize you."
He knocked at the door: five quick, sharp blows. Muffled noises were heard from inside and the door opened to reveal a small, thin, little girl with blue hair. Her sad eyes brightened the moment she saw Natsu and his friends. She smiled happily and jumped at the pink haired brat, her arms lacing themselves around his neck.
He laughed and hugged her back.
"I'm happy to see you too," he said. "How are things inside, tonight?"
"Not too good," she admitted with a small, shy voice. "Maybe you should come back tomorrow. They're pretty strong this time..."
Natsu laughed and ruffled her hair.
"Don't worry," he smiled, "we're still better."
The little girl didn't look convinced, but didn't try to argue either. She finally noted Lucy's presence and politely smiled at her. When they entered, Lucy noticed that she wasn't the only woman inside. Small groups of people, mostly men, were sitting around a ring made of chains. Some of them had women draped around them, sitting on their laps or at their feet, they all had lifeless eyes and looked heavily drugged. One of the oldest men of the largest group was even using one of his women as a footrest. Lucy turned around and glared at Natsu.
"Why the hell did we come here?" she growled.
Natsu immediately received insisting looks from the men around him and he clenched his fists. He grabbed her arm and dragged her away from the crowd.
"Listen," he growled menacingly, "I know this is very difficult for you, but I want you to keep quiet while we're here. It's a fucking serious order. Don't talk if I don't tell you to do so, don't sit if I don't tell you to do so, don't do anything without my permission."
Lucy's eyes darkened even more and she felt her blood pulse in her veins.
"You disgust me," she growled, "trying to look like a good boy in front of your father and hanging out with these people at night? You're trash, exactly like they are."
The young man contracted his jaw and glared back at her. He didn't say anything for a few seconds and shook his head, as if giving up on something.
"Listen," he said, "it's not what it looks like, ok..."
Lucy laughed humorlessly.
"What a creative excuse," she countered.
"Be quiet and listen to me," he growled. "I'm serious, we'll be in big trouble if you attract too much attention. He sighed again, looking very tense. I'll explain everything to you when we leave this place, but meanwhile you'll have to act as if you were scared of me. I have two fights tonight, but the others only have one, so we won't be long, ok?"
"I don't understand a thing you're saying."
"I know, and I understand how you feel, believe me. Please, stay still for now. You have no idea how important it is for us to be here tonight."
Lucy gritted her teeth and shook her head in utter disbelief. She couldn't believe she was going to play along.
"Be quick," she spat.
Clandestine fights. The ring made by the chains served as a limit: if a fighter exited the area delimited by the chains, he lost. Lucy observed as the third fight was quickly coming to an end. A tall, bulky man was giving hell to a smaller dude with a burn mark on his face. It ended pretty quickly. Natsu ordered her to sit at his feet and she did, inwardly swearing to get back at him for that later. Gray got up from his seat when the next fight was announced.
"Don't forget what we told you last time," Natsu reminded him, "you were in a tough spot."
"Yeah, yeah."
Lucy watched the black haired young man walk to the ring and enter it.
"What happened last time?" she asked as he watched him stretch his muscles. "Was he beaten up?"
His opponent, a huge man with arms as wide as Lucy's thighs entered the ring. He had dark skin, tattoos and a long scar on his bald head.
"Hey," an old man called to Natsu from their left, "your female is talking. I'll shut her up for you if you can't do it."
The young man growled at him.
"Fuck off, old bastard," he spat. "I'll rip your arms off if you try."
Strangely enough, Natsu's threat didn't seem to make the old man angry. It was apparently normal to insult the others or pick a fight or two among the spectators.
"Didn't you say we mustn't attract attention?"
He shrugged.
"I would have attracted unwanted attention if I hadn't said a thing," he explained. "Territory stuff."
Lucy was waiting for a bell to ring to indicate the start of the fight, but it never came and the huge guy just suddenly pounced on Gray, yelling like a possessed bear.
"So, about Gray?" she asked again.
"Yeah, well," Natsu smirked. "No, he wasn't beaten up. The thing with Gray is that he's usually a pretty quiet guy. It takes a lot of effort to piss him off."
"Doesn't sound like he's fit to fight in this ring," Lucy thought out loud.
"Your female's still talking," the old man said again.
"I told you to shut the fuck up and mind your own fucking business," Natsu growled.
The enormous beastlike man roared in fury as Gray dodged another blow and smirked.
"So, Gray," Natsu went on. "Being this quiet, he tends to bottle his feelings up. And, when he's given an opportunity to relieve a bit of the pressure..."
Inside the ring, Gray kicked the back of his opponent's knees. The colossus fell and roared in anger. Lucy was starting to think that this person wasn't able to communicate with words.
"Easy, Gray," Gajeel called, smirking, "your face is scary."
Indeed, Gray looked like he was having the time of his life. The moment his opponent's knees hit the ground, he pounced on him and punched his jaw, nose, temples... Lucy stared at him, dumbfounded.
"He has difficulties holding back," Natsu concluded.
It took two more minutes before the colossus was declared unable to keep fighting. After he won, Gray came back to sit quietly beside his friends, not even panting.
"Awesome," Loke cheered, "three fights left and you're good."
Unsurprisingly, Gajeel obliterated his own opponent and Loke's gave up without a fight after the pervert whispered something in his ear. Natsu's first fight ended quickly, the young man knew how to pack a punch and he never missed his target. When he came back to sit down, Lucy was starting to get really bored.
"Are we done, now? Can we leave?"
"Not yet," he answered, "I have one more fight tonight."
"Why do you have two fights when the others only had one?"
Natsu smiled sadly and the softness in his eyes surprised her.
"It's part of the deal," he explained. "I'm lucky those guys are allowed to help me. Don't ask, I told you I'll explain everything later."
A handful of men entered the ring after that, they fought like beasts. Lucy saw a lot of broken bones, bleeding wounds and dirty money. Natsu drank a lot of water and had her massage his shoulders to prepare for the next fight. She was annoyed at her master's whims, but still complied, willing to do about anything to get out of this place as soon as possible.
"Your turn," Gray said as the ongoing fight came to an end. "Will you be ok?"
Natsu snorted as he stood up.
"Do you even need to ask?"
Lucy arched a brow, he really was confident. She watched him intently as he stepped over the large chain and entered the ring. He wasn't that tall when compared to the other men in that room, and his muscles were well defined and tense, but not huge like some of the fighters'.
"Oh," Gajeel's voice suddenly sounded nervous, "his next opponent's Jackal."
"Seriously?"
"That's pretty bad..."
Lucy frowned. Natsu's opponent was small. Small and chubby. She didn't understand how he could be a problem to Natsu. The chubby shrimp entered the ring and yawned, hands in his pockets. Lucy glanced at the spectators' faces, they all looked fascinated by this little bag of fat.
"This is ridiculous," she mumbled.
Natsu attacked first and Lucy saw that he was going all out right from the start. For an incomprehensible reason, Fatty managed to dodge him. Natsu tried to give a circular kick to take advantage of his previous impulse, but Fatty dodged it as well. That was when his opponent gave his first punch. Lucy couldn't believe her eyes. The blow almost dislocated Natsu's jaw and the bruise that would soon appear would mark him for weeks. The pink haired young man coughed blood and staggered like a drunk man.
The second punch took his left eye. This time, Natsu didn't manage to get back to his feet. He crawled away from Fatty on all fours and it took him long seconds to finally stand up.
"Shit," Gray growled, "he can't lose here. We're too close..."
"Close?"
Gray glanced at her, hesitated, but decided to speak anyway, seems like he felt the need to confide in someone.
"Apparently, Natsu didn't tell you why we come here," he sighed. "You remember the girl at the door? The small one with blue hair?"
Lucy nodded.
"Well, she's an orphan, her name's Wendy. And this guy, sitting there, is her owner."
"Owner?"
"Child slavery is forbidden in the capital city," Gray groaned, "but if you buy the kid somewhere else and enter the city with the child, then you can keep him. Or her, in this case."
Lucy glared at the man Gray had pointed to her. In the ring, Fatty grabbed Natsu by his hair and kicked his stomach.
"I still don't understand what this has to do with you guys."
Gray hesitated. Gajeel glared at him and shook his head.
"You already said too much," he scolded him, "Natsu will be mad at you."
"Well," Loke smiled, "if that's the case, we might as well tell her the whole truth. Then he'll have a valid reason to be mad at us." He turned to Lucy and his smile brightened. "Natsu met Wendy a few months ago, he was badly injured and she healed him. Afterwards, they kept meeting each other, Natsu got attached and went to speak with her owner. He wanted to buy her, but the man's already crazy rich, he wasn't interested in money. But he was a sucker for violence, and he told Natsu about the underground fight club."
"Natsu agreed to fight, he took the bet," Gray continued, "but there are conditions. He has to win one hundred fights in a row. If he loses even one of them, he has to restart from the beginning. If he wins, Wendy's free."
"Wendy's owner agreed to let us take part in the fights," Gajeel explained. "We were allowed to take part in twenty fights each, Natsu had to fight forty."
"Gray, Gajeel and I each have three fights left now," Loke smiled. "Natsu's four fights away from his goal."
"Only four?"
This time, Loke's smile lost some of its brightness.
"Yeah... he's been fighting a lot."
Lucy focused back on the fight. Natsu was coughing blood, he was bruised all over and panting. But Fatty had taken some blows as well, and Lucy noticed that he was being careful of some parts of his body. She stood from her chair and pushed an old man away from her.
"Hey," Gajeel called, "what are you doing?"
She ignored him and walked straight to the edge of the ring. When he was close enough, she grabbed Natsu's collar and forced him to look at her.
"Luce..."
"Listen to me," she ordered. "He had his left arm broken not too long ago, he's trying to protect it from your blows. His left knee is weak, hit it from inside. His eyesight is poor, try moving laterally as much as you can. And hit his lower back, hit it as often as you can, it's his weakest point of all."
"How do you..."
"Did you understand everything I said?"
He nodded and she let him go.
"Good. Now, go kick his ass."
Natsu walked back to the center of the ring, still staggering, but already trying to think of ways to use Lucy's advices.
"You done saying goodbye to your girl?" Fatty mocked. "Good. She looks hot even with that cloak. I'll take her when I'm done with you. Do you want me to tell you what I'll do to her when I take her home?"
Lucy sat back beside Gray and watched as Natsu focused on his balance. He ignored Fatty's provocation and squared off. For once, probably feeling too confident, Fatty attacked first. Natsu dodged laterally and everything happened really quickly after that. He grabbed Fatty's left arm and punched the elbow out. He kicked the inside of his left knee with all his strength and his opponent fell to the dusty floor. A second later, Natsu kicked his lower back with monstrous strength.
Fatty cried out, fell to the floor, Natsu hovering over him. The young man punched his opponent in the face several times, kicked his back and twisted his injured arm brutally.
When Fatty was declared unable to keep fighting. Natsu stood back up, smirking.
"You wouldn't have been able to do anything to her," he told his defeated opponent, "she would have killed you in seconds."
End of chapter 2
I took my sweet time, but here's chapter 2! Chapter 1 got really enthusiastic reviews and a lot of you favorited and followed the story. I'm really grateful to all of you!
I have two other stories ongoing, so it's possible that I didn't answer some reviews, I'm really sorry about that, I'll try to answer everyone later!
Until next time!