Chapter 11: Life or Death

With the Guild

It's been 5 days since the guild was able to contact Lucy. Natsu began to wonder, how much longer she'll be away. The guild began to worry about him, as he rarely came to the guild these days. Today was one of those rare days that he actually came. Even though he was in the guild, he was always in a depressed state.

Mavis and Makarov were talking to each other in his office, thinking of ways to create a portal to the other world.

"There's no spells recorded in any of the books in the library that could help us." Mavis looked down as she was worried for the blonde.

"Don't fret about it too much, First. This situation seems to be beyond our capabilities and knowledge." Makarov began walking to the main hall of the guild.

Suddenly, a golden light appeared in the middle of the hall. It formed a large magic circle on the ground. Everyone walked up to the circle, curious as to what caused it.

"I've never seen these runes before. Could this spell be something that no one's discovered before?" Levy wondered as she scanned and studied the circle. A hologram appeared, startling everyone.

A figure appeared in the hologram, a young blonde, laying on the ground, beaten and bruised.

"LUCY!" Natsu recognized the figure immediately. Everyone studied her form, their blood boiling with each look.

"It seems a portal has opened up, even without our magic." Mavis walked up to the group.

"I WANT TO SEE YOU AGAIN! MINNA!" The hologram of Lucy yelled. She fell down to her knees and cried.

"You must go, bring Lucy home." Makarov noted, pointing to Natsu's Team. They all nodded and jumped through the portal, finding themselves in the midst of a battle.

With Luffy a few hours before

Luffy and Ace rushed towards Lucy's position. Strangely enough, the closer they got to Lucy, the amount of Marines lessened. This made Ace cautious on moving forward. As they reached the top of the wall, Luffy stopped and stared at Lucy's condition.

Blood dripped from her head, forming a dark, red pool underneath her dangling feet. Her limbs, dangled with no strength left in the muscles. Lifeless eyes, with no hope left, looked down with death in near sight. Purple bruises covered her arms. Large gashes formed on her legs and chest.

"Lucy…" Luffy stood as he watched her body, dangle from side to side. A shadow crept over his face. Ace ran up and saw the situation.

"Damn! If only I had stayed there. Maybe I could've stopped all this from happening." Ace punched the ground.

"Ace…" A small, weak voice pierced through the brother's ears. Their attention went towards the blonde, who made small movements. Ace ran behind her, trying to melt the handcuffs that bound her.

"Hold on. We'll get you out of here." Ace struggled to get the handcuffs off of her. Lucy tilted her head up and saw Luffy standing in front her, punching the guards that went near her.

"Luffy…"

"Oi, Ace! Have you gotten those chains off yet!" Luffy punched another guard.

"Not yet, they must be made of seastone! Damn the Marines!" more soldiers came up and chased them off, unfortunately, away from Lucy. "They're separating us!"

"We have to get back to her!" Luffy fought every Marine that came up, when suddenly, they decided to retreat back to Lucy. The brother's followed them in order to get back to their wizard friend.

Something is off. Why would they suddenly retreat? Unless… OH NO! "LUFFY! RUN! IT'S A TRAP!"

"Huh?" The brother's had no time to react when a cage made of seastone crashed down, trapping them inside. "What happened. What do we do now!"

"They used Lucy as bait to get to us. How did I not see this coming!" Lucy heard Ace and Luffy's struggle and turned her attention towards them.

"Luffy… Ace… No more…" I have to escape! I can't let them get into danger because of me! Lucy froze as she heard footsteps nearing her position. "Aka…inu…" The name barely made it out of her mouth.

"You! What happened to my crew!" Luffy yelled as he grabbed the bars and tried to push himself through.

"Those weaklings! Hah! They never stood a chance against me!"

"What did you do to them!"

Akainu grinned. "They're on the battlefield. DYING!" Luffy went into a rage and banged his fists against every bar in the cage. Ace had calmed him down after a while.

"Now let's get down to business shall we, Straw Hat?" Akainu walked behind Lucy and uncuffed her. He grabbed Lucy by the hair, causing a small 'Kya' to escape Lucy's lips. He threw her to the ground, making her cough up blood.

"Why you!" Ace growled at the sight. "What do you plan to do to her!"

"Hold her down." Akainu pointed to two of the guards that were with him. They grabbed her by the arms and held them back. Lucy's head hung down from her scarred neck. The blonde shivered, as a long steel blade brushed up against her neck. Her eyes widened, breath quickened, sweat dripping.

Akainu tilted his head towards the brother's. "It's time for a public execution. HAHAHAHA!" Luffy and Ace attempted to burst through the cage, but to no avail. Akainu held his sword up high, making it shimmer in the light. Lucy closed her eyes, tears streaming non-stop from her eyes.

Is this the end? Am I never gonna see my guildmates again? No, I don't want to die. I want to see them!

"I WANT TO SEE YOU AGAIN! MINNA!"

Akainu swung the sword, but was thrown back by a bright, golden light. FLames burst through and punched Akainu in the face. Lucy eyes widened by the bright red flame that appeared in front of her. Could it be? Natsu…

Lucy turned her head next to her and saw the guards being encased in ice. Gray? Screams were heard all around her, as swords came crashing down. Erza? A strong gust of wind surrounded Lucy and blew away the guards surrounding her. Wendy? Lucy struggled to look up, wincing at the pain from the wounds.

The blonde was finally able to look up and noticed 5 figures shadows standing in the sun. Lucy teared up as she recognized the 5 figures.

"Yo, Lucy! Ready to come home?"