Hello my lovely readers! Welcome back to another lovely chapter. Things are starting to pick up in this book and I really hope you guys like what I have in store.

Quick note when you read this chapter. Keep in mind everything that had happened to Lucy thus far. Remember who she was and what he situation was before she became a slave. Remember how she never truly mourned Gray or her father after being kidnapped. Please keep an open mind and remember these things when you read this. Anyway, Have a good day and i hope you enjoy!

Chapter 10: A Shift in Manner

I crumped the letter in my hand as I heard Natsu's footsteps get close to my door. I stuffed the letter into my pocket, feeling the determination bubble up within me. I was getting my answers even if I had to pry them out of his cold, dead lips. Gathering all the strength I had left, I pushed the door open.

Natsu turned to look at me and I felt my heart wrench at the look he was giving me. It was a look of pity and guilt and rolled into one that made me want to crawl into a hole. I hated being looked at the way he was looking at me. It made me feel weak and insignificant, like I couldn't stand up for myself. Like hell, I couldn't. I swallowed my pride and crossed my arms, pursing my lips.

"Okay, buttercup, I know you're probably waiting for an apology, so here it is. I'm really sorry for how I treated you. You were just trying to do something nice for the slave girl and I overreacted. I'm sorry about the way I discarded you, and I'm really really sorry about getting drunk. I don't know what I said to you, and I'm afraid to find out. Whatever I said, just know that I would have never said it if I was in the right state of mind. No one deserves to be treated the way I treated you." I felt strangely touched but I remained silent, giving him a harsh stare. He sighed, rubbing the back of his head.

"Come on, buttercup, say something? I really am sorry. I was having a really bad day and I couldn't control my temper." I remained silent and narrowed my eyes. He could apologize all he wanted. He was filthy liar and a son of a bitch and I would not give him the satisfaction of knowing he got to me. Natsu gave me a look as if he was wondering what else I wanted.

"Buttercup? Why are you looking at me like that? Are you really that upset? What do want me to do? I can make it up to you, just name your price." He cracked a smile, trying to force some emotion out of me. That wasn't going to work. I curled my lower lip and pulled the letter out from my pocket. His eyes widened in recognition as he stared at it. I put both hands on the top of the page as if I were about to rip it to shreds.

"I want answers. Why the hell was this on your desk? Why are you in contract with the Fullbusters?" I questioned. Natsu breathed out and held up his hand, his eyes firmly on the letter as if he were trying to tame a wild animal. He was scared. He was terrified that I could rip it to shreds. And I would. Oh, I so would.

"Okay, um, first off, calm down. That letter is way more important than you realize, and you can't just flay it around like it's a scrap piece of paper, alright?" he said calmly, his voice barely above a whisper. I let out a sadistic chuckle.

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't." I snarled. I feinted ripping it and Natsu let out a strangled yelp. When he realized it was a feint, he breathed a sigh of relief and rose his hands in surrender. I couldn't help but enjoy how he was at my mercy at this moment. I was going to savor this moment because I wasn't sure if I would ever have a moment like it again.

"Okay, I'll tell you everything, just please calm down." He sighed, lifting his eyes to meet my burning ones. He seemed taken aback about how angry I was. Not that he shouldn't have been surprised. I was literally at the end of my rope, keeping myself together. I wanted to go on a tirade of destruction, but I knew I had to keep it together. I pictured my father's face and summoned every inch of self-control I had left.

"That letter is an agreement sent by the Fullbusters to give us the okay to raid you family. It was us, okay? We raided your home and killed your father. We kidnapped you for our own pleasure. You weren't even part of the deal. In fact, the Fullbusters wanted us to kill you too." My eyes widened as I tried to tuck away this new information. Natsu had taken two subtle steps closer to me but u wasn't really paying attention. I knew the Fullbusters were behind this, but just hearing the words aloud made me cringe in realization.

"Why would you do it? What does the Dragon Slayer gang have to gain for raiding my family?" I asked harshly, spitting every word with icy venom. Natsu leaned forward and outstretched his hands like he was trying to calm a wild beast.

"Believe it or not, we needed the money. Lately, we've fallen into a financial hole. Our goal was to take over your company and not only take the Fullbuster's profits, but also the profits from your company. And we could have, if not for one small factor." His eyes flickered to my left hand and I could feel the ring pressed against my skin. I had heard their conversation. I just wanted him to confirm it. "If your darling fiancée had waited one more day, then we would have all the profits we needed and we wouldn't even be in this mess." Natsu's eyes darkened as his obvious anger towards the situation shown in his eyes.

"Why didn't you just kill me, then? Why did you even bother keeping me alive? I was obviously not a part of the plan, so why was I so important that you had to keep me as a slave?" I whispered harshly, my hands trembling. Natsu let out a long breath, as his eyes never left the page I was on the verge of tearing up.

"Keeping you alive was not our plan. We got paid extra by an external source to keep you alive. The source paid a large amount of money that we simply could not refuse. To put words kindly, you were sold to us. We bought you. You are now legally our property, whether you like it, or not." I took in a sharp intake of breath and stepped back, banging my back against the door as Natsu took three steps forward. I threw my left hand behind me and steadied myself on the door, now only holding the paper with one hand. Natsu subtly took another step closer.

"Why is this happening to me?" I whispered, letting vulnerability slip into my voice for the first time. Natsu paused, taken aback. I felt the hysterical tears well up in my eyes and I put my hand to my face, trying to shield my eyes from him. I was embarrassed that I could ever even let him see me like this. Natsu's eyes narrowed and his vision sharpened on my face.

"I don't know who paid you off, but I could take a guess. Who do you know that wants your company, but also cares enough about you that they would keep you alive? It would have to be someone you trusted. Someone you would never doubt. Someone you would say yes to if they asked you to marry them, even if it was for some greater plot." Natsu took two long strides and ended up right in front of me as the news started to sink in. His hands closed around my right hand and I could barely understand what was happening. He was so close to me.

"Don't you think it's a bit convenient that your boyfriend asked you to get engaged, the moment before your company was stripped from you? Now he is in full control of both your companies. Now, he not only owns his vast community, but yours also. He stole his way to the top. And yet, you still wear his ring." I shook my head as Natsu's hand left my own hand, for some reason, my fingers feeling freer and looser than before. Hadn't I been holding something? I couldn't remember.

It's not Gray. It can't be Gray. It was his parents. You said it was his parents. They're the ones who are behind it. Not him. They want power. Not him." I whispered, beginning to ramble. There was no way any of this was true. There was absolutely no way. Natsu bent his head close to my ear.

"Gray's parents are dead." I gasped and stumbled backwards as Natsu opened the door. I fell over and landed on my butt. I covered my hand with my mouth and struggled to breathe properly as all the pieces fell into place. Everything from the day of the grand ball to right now finally made sense. This was all Gray's doing. He killed my father. He paid for me to be taken away. He put me in this hell.

My breaths became short and uneven as my hands trembled, my lips opening and saliva smearing over my face from my hand. I felt weak and broken, like every piece of my body was breaking down. I curled up into a ball and hugged my knees to my chest, rocking back and forth. I started blubbering and panting and I didn't even notice what was going on around me. I couldn't take in a full breath and my heart was palpitating so hard, it hurt.

What was happening to me? Was I dying? It felt like it. It felt like I had been crushed under an imaginary building.

A face appeared in front of me and strong arms wrapped around my body, preventing me from rocking back and forth. That's when the ringing started. It felt like I was having an asthma attack while a shrill ringing in my ears prevented me from hearing anything but my own uneven breaths. Pools of yellow and green swam in front of me. He was talking to me, shouting at me. I couldn't hear anything he was saying and I didn't care. I didn't care, I didn't care, I didn't care…

The last time anyone had comforted me like this was when my mother died. Gray had come over and comforted me then. He had wrapped his strong arms around me and had held me while I cried. He had the same compassion, the same worry on his face. Was it all a lie? How could it have been all a lie? Did our friendship mean nothing to him?

I shook my head over and over again until my neck started to feel sore. He had betrayed me. He had betrayed my trust. This was all his fault. Everything leading up to now had been nothing but a plot to gain power and money. I couldn't even figure out of I was scared, angry or terrified. Nothing was making sense to me as thoughts bustled through my head, not giving me any time to sort them out. I could feel the lump in my throat, constricting it and making it harder and harder to breathe.

That's when I started bawling. The last of my sanity and self-control flew out of the window and I started to wail and sob, without thinking about the consequences. I realized that this may have been an overreaction on my part, but I couldn't seem to get my body to stop. I kept trying to force myself to calm down, but that just made me more hysterical. Finally finding out that the cause of my father's death and my suffering was for nothing but money was not going over well for me.

I don't even remember what happened. All I knew that I was hurting all over, inside and out, until I finally allowed the darkness to take me into blissful unconsciousness.

I woke up with a pounding headache. I groaned and squeezed my eyes closed as the pain felt like it was splitting my head. At first, I couldn't remember anything about what had happened. I couldn't remember why I had a headache or if it was caused by something. The pain was too much for me to handle. It was the only thing I could focus on. I let out a shrill cry as I tried to sit up and my head's already excruciating pain shot up from a five to a ten.

Suddenly, I felt a cool material on my lips. I recognized it as a glass of water. My hands shot out from under what felt like sheets and I grasped the glass, lifting it to my lips and downing the water. The pain in my head subsided slightly and my vision started to clear. I could see two familiar faces staring down at me in apprehension and worry. I coughed and pushed myself to a seated position as the two figures reached over to help me get comfortable.

"Milliana? Juvia? What are you doing here?" I whispered, groaning slightly as I placed my cold hand to my burning forehead. Milliana's cat-like eyes hovered in front of my face as she placed a damp towel to my head. Juvia took the glass of water away and placed it on the bedside table.

"Lucy, thank God, you're okay." Juvia whispered, grasping my hand. She sighed, pressing her lips to my palm. "You had a severe panic attack. Master Natsu asked the gang doctor to come take a look at you. He gave you some sedatives and managed to stabilize your heart and your brain activity. You've been out for two days. Master Natsu asked us to look after you." She explained softly.

"Two days?" I whispered, trying to wrap my head around the news. I groaned as my head started throbbing again. Milliana pressed some white pills to my lips and I swallowed them, not even waiting for a glass of water. I was still trying to muddle through all my thoughts. Why had I passed out? Why had I had a panic attack? What had been so emotionally taxing that my sanity had disappeared?

"I-I've had panic attacks before." I whispered quietly. "They've never felt like that. They are scary and it feels like you're dying, but this? This was something else entirely."

I gasped as my eyes flew open. Memories came rushing back and everything that had happened before I blacked out became clear in my mind. I had found out the truth of why I was here. I had found out the truth of why I was suffering. I knew who killed my father and I also knew their motive. It had crushed me. Everything I thought I knew was a lie. Everyone I thought I trusted turned out to be traitors. My hands started to shake as I felt the cold metal still wrapped around my left hand's finger.

"I'm going to go tell Master Natsu that you've woken up. He ordered me to let him know the moment you did. I'll be back soon." Milliana said, standing up. I was barely paying attention to her as I pulled the ring off my finger and stared at it. She exited the room as Juvia stared at the ring in my hand.

"That's a beautiful ring." She whispered. My eyes flickered to her face as she stared at the ring in longing. "You are very lucky to have someone who loves you enough to give you something like that." I closed my fist around the ring as anger began to bubble up within me.

"No, I'm really not." I croaked hoarsely. "I thought I was. I thought I could trust the man who gave me this with my life. I was wrong." I gritted my teeth and squeezed my fist around the metal, feeling it dig into my skin. Juvia looked at me in confusion.

In a fit of anger, I cocked my arm back and launched the ring across the room where it smacked against the wall and clattered to the ground.

Natsu

I ran alongside the brown-haired slave through the halls. When she had told me that my buttercup had finally woken up, I didn't hesitate. I left my meeting without any explanation. I didn't think about the consequences such an act could bring but I really didn't care. I still couldn't banish the memory of her curled up on the floor, her face as white as sheet and her big brown eyes a frenzy of every negative emotion possible.

When I had told her all I did, I only meant to stun her a little bit so I could get the letter back from her. I did get the letter back while she was frozen, trying to wrap her head around the news I had given her. But I soon realized that I couldn't use it anyway. The coffee stains on it had damaged it too much. You could barely see any ink at all on it let alone anything that would resemble an agreement.

I had never meant for it to take such a toll on her. I had crouched down next to her and enveloped her in my arms yelling at her, hoping that she'd hear me. She couldn't hear me and I wasn't even sure if she could see me. Her wails and sobs still sent chills down my spine and when she finally passed out, I had no idea what to do. I couldn't even tell if she was dying.

I pushed the door to my chambers open and came face to face with the blue-haired slave who had become Lucy's friend. She looked at me with stricken eyes, glancing behind her at Lucy's door. I frowned at her expression.

"How is she?" I asked quietly, taking a step towards the door. Juvia gulped and looked away. She was nervous about something, that much was certain. Was something wrong with my buttercup? Did something happen?

"S-she's healthy, sir." The slave breathed, ducking her head down and backing away from me. I glanced at the two slaves. The blue-haired girl exchanged a look with her friend. Something was not right.

I placed my hand on the doorknob and turned it. I opened the door slowly and took a step inside. I was greeted with Lucy standing at the foot of her bed, her head ducked down in submission. She was wearing different clothes from her wardrobe and her hands were clasped in front of her. My eyes darted to the side of her room where I saw her engagement ring, discarded on the floor. I glanced back at her and stepped further inside, shutting the door behind me.

"It's good to see you're alive, buttercup." I said, smiling slightly. I was expecting a snarky response. Instead, I got the exact opposite. She curtsied slightly, bowing her head and continued to stare at the floor, her hands together, palms facing out. That was her response. Nothing more. She didn't say anything. Something was very wrong.

"How are you feeling?" I asked slowly, narrowing my eyes at her new body language. She took a breath and opened her mouth to speak. Nothing could have prepared me for what she said next.

"It does not matter, Master. I am well again. I am sorry for the way I've been behaving as of late. I can assure you, you will see no more outbursts from me. You are the master, and I am the slave. And I know now that there is nothing I can do to change it. Your word is my command."

Then she curtsied again, all the fire that was once in her voice extinguished and instead replaced with absolute submission.

Dun dun dun... Okay! This was one of the last what I've been calling 'intro' chapters. Nothing has really happened as of late except you know finding out about who killed her father and adjusting to her new life as a slave.

Get ready, because next chapters will have new characters and new action that's going to take this book up up and away! (I hope)...

Please leave a review if you enjoyed and tell me what you think will happen next! (Or what you want to happen next!)

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