Lucy opened Loke's gate, knowing that he would want to help.
"What's wro-" he started, then noticed Natsu. Shock covered his face for a moment, then rage. "What have they done to him?" he growled, living up to his title of 'the Lion'. "How long have they had him?"
"Seven years," Lucy responded. Loke's nose wrinkled.
"He stinks."
"Loke!" Lisanna scolded.
"No, that's not what I meant. They probably haven't given him any where to… you know… do his business."
"Oh." She hadn't thought about that.
Loke looked over Natsu's injuries with a professional eye. "Judging by the bruising on his neck…" He stopped and adjusted his glasses. "But that doesn't explain the bruising on the back of his neck. We can figure that out later."
"Loke," Lucy snapped. "I summoned you to help us get him out of here." He froze for a moment at her tone, then nodded. Shattering his chains with magic, he caught Natsu and shifted him onto his back. It worried him how light the fire mage was. But the important thing was to get him out.
"What do you mean, 'Fairy Tail attacked'?" the man snapped. His underling cowered at his tone.
"They attacked in force, just a few minutes ago," he whimpered. His master sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.
"Has the Animal broken yet?" he asked. His minion shook his head. "Retreat."
"Sir?" the underling said, not sure that he had heard correctly.
"Retreat!" he roared. "We need every mage possible at the full capacity to fight, and we can't do that unless we retreat." He stared at the screen showing the reports flooding in. To himself, he whispered, "I will lure you into a false sense of security. Then I will take the Animal back and finish its breaking. Then, I will begin the ritual and become the most powerful man to ever exist, more powerful than Zeref. Soon, we will meet again. And you will die."
It watched the humans. They had rescued it from the Room, showing it that there was so much more outside of its Room. Well, it had suspected that there was something outside of the Room. Where else had the humans it had seen before go? Its eyes closed as it gave into the pain assaulting it in waves.
They watched Natsu carefully. He had woken up for a few minutes, and watched them with fear in his eyes. He had carefully curled up into a ball, watching them to see if anything he was doing was wrong. His guild was furious on the inside that he had been driven to this kind of fear. Lisanna gently stroked his cheek. He whimpered in his sleep. How long had they tortured him before he became like this? She tried not to look at his right shoulder. It had evidently been done early on. His guild mark was still intact, but they had mutilated his shoulder until it was barely recognizable. Oh, Natsu. The worst part was that he didn't recognize anyone. Not even Happy. The cat was heartbroken over that.
"Natsu," she said softly, shaking him gently. She hated having to wake him up so soon. "Hey, Natsu." His eyes flew open. "Hey, it's ok." Natsu watched her carefully, his eyes darting to the bowl that she had in her hand. It was some simple broth that she had made herself. The hunger in his eyes, followed quickly by suspicion, broke her heart. How long had they starved him between meals? How often had they fed him? "This is for you." She offered the bowl to him. His nose twitched a little. It was obvious that he wanted the broth badly, but wouldn't take it. Wondering if this was something else that the dark guild had done to him, Lisanna spooned up a bit of the broth and pressed it against his mouth. Erza watched. They could both see the desire in his eyes, but the fear made him pull his face away from the broth. Erza sighed.
"He's not going to eat," she told Lisanna after a few more attempts to get him to eat. "Just leave him alone." Lisanna slowly agreed, but left him the bowl. When she had retreated a few feet, she heard a scuffle behind her. She spun, fearing that a member of the dark guild had decided to go after Natsu. A sad smile tugged at her mouth. Natsu had dove after the bowl, spilling most of it in the process, and was eating. After a bite or two, though, he stopped and stared at the bowl regretfully. With more violence and strength then she would have thought, he threw the bowl at a tree. After that, he curled into a ball again.
"What do you think he's thinking?" she asked her older sister softly. Mira shook her head.
"You saw where he was being kept, what they were doing to him. It hurts to say this, but I'd be surprised if he was still sane."
It waited for the punishment that was sure to come after it threw the bowl. But the punishment didn't come. Why aren't they hurting me? it wondered. The humans were just watching it sorrowfully. What kind of people are they? Everything was hurting. Its back in particular. Surely they would hurt it soon. But they had given it food. And it was good. Why were they being so kind to it?
So this is the end of what I've written so far, so don't expect an update within the next couple of days.