Not many people had seen or even heard of the man Shilo, Nora and Gajeel showed to them. Most had no useful information. However Nora has a way of extorting information and before too long they'd found out where the bastard was hiding.
All signs pointed to somewhere on the outskirts of town. There had been some sightings of the kidnapped victims there, and that was the last place most were ever seen.
All the mages agreed that should be the place they check first. Shilo didn't see much when they first arrived, the suburbs were behind them, an endless road in front of them. Shilo put her hands on her hips. "You said this was where the kidnapped kids were seen but I don't see anything. What gives?"
Nora scowled as she began to search the area. Gajeel remained still, smelling the air for any signs. Suddenly his finger pointed to the treeline. "Try looking over there. It's faint but there's no doubt that the kidnappers scent."
"You sure?" Shilo questioned.
"Yeah, I could never forget that scent…" He trailed off and the misery came back to his face just as easily as it was to remember the traumatic incident.
Nora did what he said. She walked over to the treeline looking everywhere it seemed. Koda climbed his way to sit on Shilo's shoulder while they waited. "Hey, I think I found something!" Nora called out.
"Yeah! Great job Nora!" Shilo called to her sister.
"Hehehe, that's our girl!" Koda flashed her a thumbs up. Nora smiled but she didn't offer any other recognition as Gajeel inspected what she'd found.
"Looks pretty suspicious to me." She crossed her arms and waited for Gajeel's response as he pondered what she found.
"Ghihihi. I think this is it." He patted Nora on the shoulder and moved so that Shilo and Koda could see what they were looking at.
Uncovered of most of it's leaves and sunk into the earth was a large trap door, it's hinges rusted beyond repair. Just the sight of it made Shilo sick, but she swallowed the bile and followed Gajeel and Nora down the ladder into the hole. Koda was silently quivering the whole way.
The more they descended the more painful memories were brought to mind. At the bottom of the ladder was a long corridor that looked all too familiar. Shilo always tried to forget her experience here after Nora and her escaped. But memories had a way of resurfacing, one way or another.
Along the corridor was an unnavigable system of longer corridors. Gajeel kept his nose sharp, using the kidnappers smell to guide them through. Too soon did the walls become more familiar. Shilo could now remember the corridor they were in leading to a dead end where one door stood as the entrance to the kidnappers "house", if you could call it that.
"Ready?" Gajeel called as he placed a single hand on the handle of the door about to open it. Shilo and Nora nodded.
Nora felt a cold chill start in her stomach and move up her spine. She was shaking from...anticipation, excitement, fear? She didn't know but she kept her nerve, for Shilo. Nora knew Shilo was remembering the same things she was about their time with this creep. They weren't pleasant memories in the least. After so many years trying to forget them Nora found it odd she was actively seeking them out now. Odd but necessary.
Gajeel cracked the door open a bit, the light flooded the dim hallway and he put one foot in first. When Gajeel was fully in the door he waved his hand, a gesture for Nora and Shilo to follow. When she stepped into the room it was...different. She knew the hallways from days of trying to escape them with her sister but she didn't know this room, or at least the kidnapper had redecorated or something. The walls were blindingly white with bright pink trim and curtains. Children's toys littered the floor along with the occasional book here and there left to collect dust in no gentle manner. The furniture was somewhere between modern home and child's play house. Nora cringed at the thought of something so peaceful and childish belonging to a man who brought nothing but pain to innocent families.
"This guy is a psycho…" She said and not for the first time too.
"Let's just find him and get out of here." Shilo repeated the words from Nora's head.
The mages continued through the 'house', Koda exclaiming all the way how he was going to punch the lights out of the kidnapper.
Everything seemed eerily quiet and that set Nora's nerves on edge. Something evil lurked in this house but everywhere they went it was bright lovely colors combined with remnants of a child's supposed happiness. Finally they came to a room that had what they were looking for. The first thing Nora noticed was the cowering, chained children, five of them, looking up at a man with slimy green hair that had haunted Nora's dreams for years. She also noticed behind the man, looking like hired bodyguards, were two boys who looked to be Nora and Shilo's age.
Something about the two boys beside the kidnapper seemed familiar and it wasn't until they turned around did she realize. Those boys…
"...Gavin?" Shilo breathed beside her. The two boys, one blonde the other dark haired stirred up memories from the past. Nora remembered them as the two boys who were trapped with them when they were kidnapped. They escaped without them and Nora had always regretted not being able to care for them too. As it was she barely got Shilo out with her.
"Rhett?" Nora called to the dark haired boy. "You're…"
The slimy kidnapper had realized we were there and now his smile grew so wide Nora wanted to throw up. "My little girls!" His voice came, raspy from old age but filled with a kind of ecstasy only druggies can experience.
"Shilo! Nora! We knew you'd come back! We knew you'd realize our real home is here with dad!" Rhett claimed a disgustingly excited expression on his face.
"By god…" Nora heard Shilo say under her breath as she realized the two boys they'd planned an escape with had developed stockholm syndrome for that bastard.
Before another word could be thought a large iron beam flew from Gajeel and hit the kidnapper straight in his chest. He slammed into the wall, cracking the concrete and making the frightened children cry out. Nora looked over at her father to see a kind of hatred she'd never seen on anybody. His eyes radiated murder and the way his jaw was set made Nora shiver. None the less she readied herself for a fight when Rhett and Gavin claimed they would kill anybody who hurt 'daddy'.
The kidnapper stopped them before they attacked and when Gajeel withdrew his arm for another attack he spoke.
"But, Luscious-san?" Gavin protested.
"Silence." Luscious held up a hand and both boys cringed as if afraid to be hit. Nora didn't blame them, that man was bad news, she was just glad her and Shilo had gotten away even if they couldn't save Gavin and Rhett. "I think I remember you." He said as blood dripped down his nose, he didn't seem to care about it though. Luscious paced a bit then, "Ah yes. You're the one who gave me this." He scowled and lifted up his shirt to show them a large burn wound on the side of his stomach. Nora suddenly remembered the fire that had signified the day she was taken away from her father.
"Yeah." Gajeel taunted him. "I'm about to give you another one just like it! I might be persuaded to go easy on you if you let those kids go now." Gajeel's arm was still an iron beam that he held menacingly in front of him like a sword. Nora readied her script magic and Shilo got ready with her ice make magic.
Luscious cackled so loudly he choked on his own spit. When he recovered from his coughing fit his stance was anything but normal. His arms flopped down like they were controlled by slacked strings. His head lolled from side to side and his smile told Nora that he'd gotten crazier every year until he was able to reach this point...of total madness. "What do you mean, let those kids go? They are mine after all. I saved them from the streets...I saved them from people who would hurt them. As long as they are here they are safe from meddlers like you!" Luscious stood up straight and brought his arms to a battle stance so that when the last words was emphasized he shot out a snowstorm of white paper.
Gajeel jumped to the side, noting how the old man had gotten slower since he'd last seen him, stealing his daughters twelve years ago. Or perhaps Gajeel had gotten stronger. Either way this would play out in his favor in the end. Gajeel was determined to bring this guy down. His fingers itched and curled into a fist he longed to pound into that man's smile. Gajeel saw an opening and struck, hitting the crazed bastard where it counted, and knocked a few teeth out to boot.
Gajeel allowed himself a glance at the chaos the room had erupted into. Gavin was fighting Shilo, his fire magic taking it's toll on her ice magic. Rhett had taken on Nora, any script magic she used would be nullified by his defense magic, and any attack he tried was dodged by Nora's skillful footwork. All around the fight was balanced, that ticked Gajeel off. He wanted this guy dead and he wanted him dead now.
"No one kidnaps my little girls!" He shouted before landing another iron blow on Luscious.
"Kidnaps?" The old man called loud and surprised. "You are the one who has done the kidnapping!" He screamed back and Gajeel was cut by his white paper magic.
The fight continued longer than Gajeel would have wanted. Blow after blow he aimed at the old man seemed to do nothing. Luscious would just get up and keep fighting. At long last Nora had gained some ground and left Rhett unconscious, she came to Gajeel's side ready to battle Luscious along side him. With his dragon slayer magic and her script magic he was sure they could take him down. Suddenly Gajeel got a flashback of jobs he'd taken with the Shrimp. He shook his head, Now's not the time to think of Levy! I gotta kill this guy!
"Iron dragons wing!"
"Solid script! Thousand swords dance!"
He sent iron dragon slayer magic rushing at Luscious, she summoned an armory of swords and sent them flying at the target, they moved with fierce severity combined with his iron attack.
The room exploded into dust and debris. Gajeel feared he'd gone to far but the sound of small running feet and terrified screams told him the kidnapped children were okay, scared to death but okay. Nora gasped when she saw through the dust.
Shilo had finished off Gavin at the same time Gajeel and Nora set their attacks towards Luscious. As it turned out Gavin had cushioned Luscious before he hit the wall.
Gajeel scoffed as Luscious once again got up from the hit. "You've been naughty girls haven't you." He said addressing Shilo and Nora. "That bad man must have filled your head with bad thoughts...I'll have to teach you all a lesson then."
Gajeel readied himself for a trump card counter attack. He wanted to strike before Luscious had a chance to, so he did.
"IRON DRAGONS ROAR!"
"FLAMING WHITE PAPER DAGGERS!"
Both attacks hit at the same time, causing confusion and fatal wounds.
Nora watched both men go at each other with everything they had. If she wasn't already ducking from her father's furious attack she ducked from Luscious's flaming paper daggers. Gajeel seemed to block most of it for them. One dagger stuck out from his shin but he held his stance. The smoke cleared once more and Nora saw Luscious, piled over Gavin's motionless body. They lay there unmoving. Nora allowed herself a sigh of relief. Until she heard a body hit the floor. She turned to see her sister holding her stomach.
In the end Gajeel hadn't stopped all the daggers, only some. Three pierced Shilo's chest and she spat out blood.
"SHILO!" Nora shouted running over to her. Nora caught Shilo before she could hit the floor. Not only were the daggers penetrating her chest but they were still on fire. Hot enough to cauterize the wound but dangerous enough to cause possible burns and internal bleeding on Shilo.
Nora turned Shilo's limp form over in her arms. Shilo had passed out, and she was so pale Nora feared she died. Instinctively Shilo grabbed her pen and wrote her strongest healing script around her sister. Nora's tears fell on the scripted runes and washed away the effect. Nora cursed tried to dry her tears and tried again. She kept trying, even the times the script did it's best healing job Shilo didn't look any better.
"Shilo!" Koda screamed for her, putting his tiny paws on her side and pushing as if he expected her to get up. Nora noticed his ear had been pierced as well, then she noticed the tears falling down Koda's red cheeks. Nora didn't know what to do, her script magic wasn't strong enough. Shilo was dying in her arms and she couldn't do anything…
In the midst of all her pain and hopelessness Gajeel swooped in to pick Shilo up without another word. He walked out the door, limping from his wound, and carried Shilo away. Nora slowly came to her senses and followed her father. The tears streamed down hotter and more plentiful. Instead of taking his place on Shilo's shoulder like always Koda perched himself on Nora's. He buried his head in her hair, wetting it with his tears. All Nora offered him was a reassuring, and shaking, hand.
Gajeel and co. exited the kidnappers domain as fast as they could.
In the end it was a good thing they had gotten Shilo out of there as fast as they did or the physicians might not have been able to save her. Nora's script magic helped keep her alive too. In three weeks Shilo was back on her feet. Unfortunately she'd always have a scar but the pain was over. Nora and Shilo could finally forget the pain Luscious had caused them, the only reminder the scar that he left on Shilo.
Gajeel went to see the client after the deed was done. He told him Luscious had been taken behind bars but after a thorough search they didn't find the man's sister...only her remains.
Nora looked over at Shilo, at the life she'd almost lost and thought about the despair their client must be feeling. Even if he had assured them it'd been twenty years and it just felt detached. Still Gajeel claimed they had failed to bring back the man's sister and refused to accept any money.
Finally Nora, Shilo, Koda, and Gajeel could return home as a family, the pain of the past placed behind them in a small drawer in the back of their minds. They no longer had to touch upon those memories...now all they had and all they needed, was their family. Their family in Fairy Tail.
AN: THE END! I hope you guys enjoyed reading this. Also extremely sorry about the vast periods of time I didn't update! Anyway I'm back now and have posted the last on this story, one I would like to add I wrote with a good friend of mine. We both collaborated on it, and it was fun to think of ideas as well as the characters. If you liked it check out some of my other fanfics too! Thanks so much for reading! :)