Chapter 21

Lucy gasped for air as consciousness returned to her. Her eyes shot open as she recalled all the images that went through her head. Her eyes darted around the room, and seeing none, she let her body relax as a fresh set of tears threatened to fall. So, that man from before, Jude, is her father; and that girl from before is her sister, Vivian. Why would her sister let this happen? What did she do that made her father so angry at her? She jumped when the door opened, and the two men stepped towards her. Her heart dropped as she remembered, this man killed her mother.

"You're finally awake." Jude's deep voice rumbled against the walls. Lucy tried to say something, but her face instantly morphed into confusion when she still couldn't speak. "Ah, yes. Rez, we almost forgot to take off her muzzle." Jude chuckled, while Rez let out a cackle that grated on her bones.

Rez crouched down next to her and caressed her cheek with the back of his hand. He grinned when she tried to pull away, and put his mouth right next to her ear. "I bet you wish you could scream right now, don't you?" She shivered as her tears fell. "I bet you have someone you want to scream for." she gasped, but her body was frozen with fear. "I want to hear you call out for him." He grinned as he ran his hands lightly down her arms. She shut her eyes tight, and clenched her jaw. He used his middle finger to lightly drag over her collarbone, up her neck, and to settle on her temple. "I can't wait to hear your pleas for him to save you." He chuckled as he pressed his finger to her other temple. "No one's going to save you, girlie." Her body trembled as her tears kept flowing, and she could feel a slight pressure inside her head. His fingertips glowed as they pressed against her head, and they abruptly stopped and her head slammed back into stone wall. She opened her mouth in a silent scream and tried to put her knees up to her chest.

"What happened?" Jude calmly asked.

"Ah." Rez stood up and licked his fingers. "Remember when I told you that sealing her voice receptors was risky business?"

"I do."

"Well she got the bad end of a risky scenario." He chuckled.

Jude sighed, "the point."

He turned to Jude with a sadistic grin. "Seems I permanently destroyed them."

Jude rolled his eyes. "Of course you did." He ran a hand down his face and looked at the trembling girl. "Oh well, it's just a minor setback for us. Too bad for he-" A rumbling shook the room, and a distant roar echoed along the walls. "Rez, whatever the hell that is, take care of it."

Rez cracked his knuckles as he walked out of the room. "With pleasure."

When the door clicked shut behind him, Jude crouched down next to the blonde still cringing in pain. "I would have given you a choice, but seeing as you can't answer me, I'll be making the choice for you." She cracked an eye open look at the man, trying to convey her question in her eye. "Would you like to hear the choices you were going to receive?" She nodded her head to the best of her ability. "You would have three choices. The first, would be to try again. To erase all of your memories and send you somewhere new, and hopefully you won't draw attention to yourself this time."

Her eyes widened. 'Forget everything again? I could forget my mother's death. I could forget this sickening man in front of me. I could forget...no..I would forget...Freed...Evergreen...Bickslow...Fairy Tail...I would forget...Laxus.' A tear slipped out as her eyes focused on the man in front of her, the man who held her fate in his hands.

"Is that something you would want?" She shook her head as her lower lip trembled. He smirked slightly, "well, it's up to me to decide, little girl." She tried to shrink away from him as he chuckled. "The second choice, would be for me to keep you here, indefinitely." His grin sent shivers through her body. "And, the last choice would be for me to just kill you." Her eyes went wide and she stared at him incredulously. She had no doubt that he would kill her, since he killed his own wife. He grabbed her chin in his hand and forced her to look at him. "I hope you know how disgusted you make me feel every time I look at you. And you look so much like your whore mother, it makes me sick." She flinched when some spit landed on her face. "Oh, how I would love to just kill you, but that would be too messy to cover up. I'm going to give you one more chance, and if you fail again, I will kill you." Her bottom lip trembled as he let her go. He stood up and made his way out of the room. "I'm going to see what's taking Rez so long."

Jude made his way up the stairs of the basement, and went into the main hall of the mansigasjHe froze when he saw Rez fly past him and crash into a wall, falling on the ground unconscious, with sparks of lightning licking his body.

"You." A malicious voice growled, and he turned to see and enraged Laxus Dreyar looking at him with murder in his eyes. "Where is she?!"

He cleared his throat, "this is trespassing, Mr. Dreyar. Surely you have the decency to knock?"

Laxus moved in front of him in the blink of an eye and grabbed the collar of his suit in his hand. "I asked. Where. Is. She?"

"And who, may I ask, are you talking about?"

Laxus growled his fist clenching at his side. "Where's Lucy?! Lily? Your fucking daughter! Where the fuck is she?! This is the last time I'm asking!"

"Oh, but my daughter is dead, Mr. Dreyar. I don't appreciate you bringing up painful memories."

Laxus growled and punched him in the face, making him fly into the wall next to Rez. He stepped up to him to look into his wide eyes. "This a lesson to never take something precious from me." He stepped back and squared his shoulders. "Thunder dragon's heavenly halberd!" The mansion shook with the force of the attack. Laxus let out a breath, a little sad that he didn't kill the bastard, when something blonde caught his eye. He looked towards the top of the balcony on the stairs and saw a girl looking back at him with terrified eyes. "Who are you?"

"Uuhm.." The girl shook with fear. "Are you here for Lily?"

Laxus' posture immediately straightened. "Where is she?!"

The girl ran down the stairs and down a hallway. "Follow me!" She shouted over her shoulder. Laxus only had to jog to keep up with her, since he was so much taller than the girl. She stopped at a door and looked back at him. "She's down there. Will you...will you take care of her?"

His gaze softened when he looked at her. "What's your name?"

"Vivian."

"Thank you, Vivian. And yes, I will always look after her."

She smiled up at him as a tear escapes her eye. "Thank you."

He nodded and opened the door. He took a deep breath and he practically jumped down the stairs when he caught her scent. He opened the door at the end of the hallway and froze when he saw her with her head down, her arms chained to the wall, and small trickles of blood leaking down her arms. "Lucy!" Her head snapped up at the sound of his voice and she smiled so big as he knelt down next to her and took her face in his hands. "Oh, god. Lucy, I'm so sorry." Tears fell down her cheeks as he looked her over for injuries. She giggled airily as he kissed her forehead, each cheek, and her nose. Running his hand through her hair, he whispered, "let's get you out of here." She nodded and watched as he examined her wrist. He didn't want to hurt her so he grabbed the top of the chain and broke it off of the wall with a grunt. He did the same with the other and bent down, wrapping his arm under her knees, lifting her up as she wrapped her arms around his neck, the chains on her wrists rattling as she did so. He bent his head down to give her a long, sweet kiss. "Sorry about the chains, I'll have Gajeel eat them later." He smirked when she giggled. God he missed her so much, he felt like he could collapse from exhaustion knowing that she's safe, in his arms, where she belongs. When he walked back upstairs, he stopped at the unconscious form of Jude and set Lucy down to rummage through the man's pockets. He took a key out and turned back to Lucy. "Let's see if this works." She nodded and held up her wrists to him. He grinned in triumph when the shackled fell open, but he frowned when he saw the gash on her wrist. He took the sleeve of his shirt and wiped the trail of blood from her arm. He held her wrist lightly and he swept his tongue across the injury, blowing on it lightly before giving it a small kiss. He did the same to the other wrist, and he trailed his kisses up her arm, over her shoulder, up her neck, to finally settle on her trembling lips. He kissed her hard, wrapping his arms tight around her, he could feel her squeezing his neck, and he almost couldn't breath, but he didn't care. He had her back, and he sure as hell would never let her go. After what seemed like hours, he pulled back to look in her eyes. "I love you so much." She smiled and put her hand over her heart and then over his. He smiled and kissed her forehead, "I know you do." He pulled them both up, and laces their fingers together, they started to walk out of the house, but froze when they crossed the threshold. Neither could move, and they looked down to see blue magic runes under them. Laxus rolled his eyes and muttered under his breath, "fucking bastards."

A man in a white robe approached the pair. "Laxus Dreyar. You are under arrest for the trespassing and assault of Jude Heartfilia."