"Ah! Uwaah!" Jellal's tormented screams echoed loudly around the cavernous dungeon. The children in the cell all clustered even closer to each other, looking terrified, as if they were the ones in the chamber, not the bluenette. Natsu wanted to scream at them for being so idiotic and blind - there was no time to be scared! They had to break out and save Jellal!

He'd been quiet for the first hour - until there were a series of popping noises. Jellal had sounded like he'd lost it after that, and Natsu was pounding desperately on the iron bars, but he felt himself grow weaker and weaker - the mages had not bothered to patch up his leg.

Most of the captured slaves had escaped to the ships - Erza was with them, so there wasn't much of a chance of the mages going after them. She'd shown her magical abilities when the old man Rob was killed. Many had died, but there were still a pair of beat up mages and a handful of soldiers.

Letting out a roar of frustration, Natsu lit his fists aflame. The fire burned brightly for a few seconds, and the other dirty and ragged children dried their tears and looked up - but it sputtered out after a while. The pink-haired boy slid onto the floor on the cell, panting. He simply did not have enough power to melt through the bars.

Just as he was getting up to try and break out again, thundering footsteps flew their way, and the cell door opened. Natsu let out a cry of surprise as something heavy and wet was tossed onto him. When the cell door clanked back shut, he peered closely at what seemed to be a bloody pile of rags, and recoiled in shock when he saw Jellal's face - it was so peaceful and calm, as if he were -

"Jellal! Wake up, wake up!" Natsu shook him frantically. "You can't die here! We have so much more to live for! We'll get out of this, I promise! Jellal!"

The footsteps returned, and Natsu glared up at the entrance, baring his teeth angrily at the fat man who stood there. The disgusting bastard was smirking, wincing slightly when his hand flew up to tenderly touch his swollen eye.

"You're next, Pinky," he snarled. "You're just another one of those rebel leaders...it's time for your punishment!" With surprising speed, he swooped down and snatched Natsu, dragging him off and pulling on what remained of his shirt. Even though he was very, very angry, Natsu couldn't help but clench his fists in terror.

He didn't want to go.

Natsu woke from yet another nightmare.

This time, the fear felt too real. Too real to be just a dream. It was as if he were reliving the past over and over again in the night. It terrified him.

Zeref will protect me, he reminded himself for what felt like the millionth time - it still brought comfort to him. Zeref will come next. He'll help me.

"Graaaaaay-sama!"

The ice make mage nearly jumped out of his skin, eyes widening as he turned around. Juvia, the blue-haired girl from Phantom Lord, was dashing across the beach, waving her hands wildly above her head. And was that a silver Fairy Tail mark fastening by her neck?

"Wh-what're you doing here?" Gray took a step back, as the girl was awfully close to him, hearts practically popping into her eyes.

"Juvia heard that Gray-sama was going to go search for Lucy-san ("Love rival," she added dangerously under her breath, causing Gray to take yet another nervous step back) and Juvia was concerned about Gray-sama's safety!" She warbled, snuggling up even closer to the other mage. Laughing awkwardly, Gray pushed her away a bit and turned back to Erza and Jellal. "Hey, you two…"

But they were still staring, rooted to the spot, at the dark, tall tower. Something was burning alight in both of their eyes - was that fear?

"Oi...Oi, Jellal! Erza!" Gray barked, waving his hand in front of their faces, waiting for a reaction. Finally, Erza's armoured fingers clanked quietly as she dropped her hand down to her side. With a burst of magic energy, a steel hilted, silver bladed sword appeared into her hand, and she began to march forward. "Let's go," was all she said.

Confused, Gray began to walk after her to the large tower, Jellal walking zombie-like in front of him, occasionally stopping and then walking again.

"Oh, boy." Gray sighed and trudged on, feeling very much the intense stare of Juvia burning on his neck.

So sorry for being a very bad updater. School is as busy as hell. I swear that homework and projects are doubling with every week.

I also just read the latest chapter of Fairy Tail, and all I can say is...how could you, Mashima-san? How could you?

Quick thanks to:

BitterMondays

Doraguniru

ElieGlory 16

FairyTailADDICT

MisturRainbow

jwadd2

miki cherries

pentatonix5

CruxisRemnants

Fuuga GF

KanaeHitomi

StellarofEXO

koryandrs

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