Chapter 36

"The Captured Beast"

Song: The Unforgiven, Metallica "Never free, never me."

Kidd's golden eyes were fixed on the back of Kashi's head as she led him silently through the forest. Kidd had tripped on quite the number of sticks and jutting rocks that clumsy Kashi herself had managed to skip over without incident while traversing the path, but if he looked down to watch where he was going, he would lose her in a flash. It had been about a half hour now, and he could tell she was getting tired for she had almost tripped a few times herself in the last ten minutes. Kidd glanced at his surroundings briefly before whispering to his girlfriend. "Hey, Kashi, why don't we take a break? We won't be any good to them if we're too tired to fight."

Kashi inhaled deeply and exhaled slowly, slowing her speed walk to an amble. "I know… but we have to at least know where they are first, or we might lose them…" She turned her head so that her worried green eyes could meet Kidd's, and he nodded, seeing the determination in her face overpowering the exhaustion for now. He followed in close proximity to her, keeping his ears strained for any signs of human activity. Suddenly Kashi stopped, and Kidd barely stopped himself from walking right into her. She crouched down behind the nearest bush and Kidd replicated the movement. He heard a distant conversation. Kashi glanced at him and he nodded to her… they were close to the enemy's location.

The two crept closer under the cover of the bushes. Kashi peeked over a small rock, and saw the tower through some branches. Through the gap between two trees ahead of them, Kashi could identify two of the men that were at the burnt village an hour earlier. This was the place. Kashi sat down in her location, and sighed. Kidd took a seat in the grass next to her. Keeping his voice low, he leaned his mouth close to Kashi's ear. "Do you have any ideas?"

She shook her head, lips pursed as multiple thoughts ran through her head. "We need to sneak in, but I don't know how to do that without alerting those guys." Kidd nodded, turning his body to peek around the bush and observe the guards. After a silent minute, he turned back to Kashi. "It looks like there is only three. Maybe we can make a distraction out here in the woods, and when they go to check it out we sneak past them."

Kashi bit her lip, working out the situation in her head. "That might work." She patted the ground around her and found a small rock. "Could we use this at all?"

Kidd ran his fingers through his hair. "I don't know… can we climb up anywhere out of their sight?"

Kashi took a closer look at the tower. "There is a far side that SHOULD have a window if my memory serves me correctly… let's sneak over there and see what we can do."

The two snuck their way around to the opposite side of the building. Not only was there a window, but nobody was guarding this side of the tower, either. Getting in would be easier than they anticipated.

~In the Tower~

Natsu opened his eyes and saw metal bars in front of him. He took a breath and pain shot through his back and shoulders. Moving his arms, he realized he was chained to the wall. Looking around in confusion he saw Naomi was next to him; her arms also chained above her head, her hair hanging in front of her face. "Naomi? Are you okay?" Her head stayed in its hanging position. A familiar voice whispered beside him. "She's still unconscious."

His muscles burned as he turned his head to see Erza also in chains. Taking a moment to scan the cell they were in, he saw everyone else from the group chained as well… all except Kashi and Kidd. "What happened?" Natsu pulled hard against his chains, bruising his wrists. Erza closed her eyes, relaxing against her bonds. "We were captured by followers of Achnologia, it seems."

Natsu's eyes widened in surprise. "Achnologia…"

Lucy grunted from a few chains down. "Wait, where are we?"

Levy was next to join the conversation. "Since I wasn't awake for the trip here I can't guarantee our location, but by the size of these cells and the architecture of the building, it's safe to assume we are in a dragon watchtower." She looked over to Gajeel, who was still out cold. "And that's not a good thing…"

Lucy's eyes revealed her panic. "What on earth is a dragon watchtower and why are we in it?"

Levy raised her COLOR eyes to meet Lucy's brown ones. "Dragon watchtowers were built to lure dragons out of their nearby caves with the hundreds of prisoners the cities would keep in these cells. They must be trying to lure the dragon everyone's been talking about…"

Erza clenched her fists. "And a dragon, in turn, would lure Achnologia."

Levy nodded. "Exactly."

Natsu held his tongue regarding the identity of the dragon. If all went well, they could escape before anybody had to find out. But he was terribly wrong… footsteps sounded against the hard-stone floors and echoed off the walls. Appearing from the other side of a doorway across from them was the leader of the group from earlier. Master Dunbar. His dark brown eyes pierced through Natsu's tough exterior and sent a shiver down his spine. Running a rough hand through his jet black hair, Dunbar looked over his prisoners one by one, eventually stopping on Natsu. "You say he's the one with intel on the dragon?" A man standing beside him wearing a cloak nodded, bringing a crooked smile to Dunbar's face. "Good. Bring him out first."

"Wait!" Natsu looked around. "Tell me where Happy is!" Guards wearing metal armor walked out from behind Dunbar and opened the cage the group was in and injected Natsu with something. "What the hell did you do to me?!" They unlocked the cuffs on Natsu's wrists, but as he tried throwing a punch with his freed hand he found his magic wouldn't come. "It's a special serum. It neutralizes a mage's magic powers for a while. Don't worry, you'll get your magic back. If you live." Naomi stirred as the men grabbed Natsu. Her blue eyes filled with worry. "Natsu? What's going on?"

Natsu thrashed as two guards grabbed the pink haired dragon slayer by him arms, dragging him away from his friends. He strained his head back and glanced at Naomi. "We'll get out of this, I promise!" They locked him back up in another set of chains, this time on the wall opposite of his friends so they could see each painful move he made as Dunbar had his friends "coax" the information out of him.

They started with a whip.

~ Back to Kidd and Kashi~

The two pressed their backs against the rocky wall. They had managed to climb up the short wall and get in through the window. Luckily for them, the room they were breaking into was empty, and no guards were to be seen anywhere. Kidd peeked his head around the corner, looking down the hall for any signs of their friends or their enemies. "Nothing here… should we try and move up a story?"

Kashi nodded, and followed her friend as he stepped lightly through the halls, peeking through the bars in every door for their friends. As they started moving up the stairs toward the third floor they heard a loud crack, and Naomi screamed. They looked at each other with worry, and moved faster up the flight. They were met with a long hallway, and they started moving down it. When Kidd peeked through the first door to the left, he ducked down and gestured for Kashi to look. Glancing through the hole she saw all their friends in chains, and Natsu isolated, and being whipped by one of the Master's men. Blood dripped down Natsu's chest as he was lashed repeatedly. Kashi gasped, and Kidd covered her mouth to prevent anyone from hearing. The two watched in silence as the whipping soon stopped and questions were thrown Natsu's direction.

"Where is your friend, the dragon?"

Natsu glared at the man. "I have no idea who you're talking about."

Dunbar snickered. "Oh, but you do. She has silvery hair, and red bangs. Does that ring a bell?"

Gajeel scoffed from the cage. "Kashi? A dragon? How many crazy pills are you on, man?"

The whip cracked again, and Natsu didn't even flinch. He made no movement to indicate that he was going to speak anytime soon; he wasn't the type to throw a friend under the bus. Dunbar glared down at Natsu, nose pointed up. "If you won't talk, maybe SHE will!"

Guards headed back to the cage, this time they were after Naomi. Her blue eyes locked with Natsu's onyx ones as she silently pleaded for help. Natsu lunged forward, trying to break his bonds, but to no avail. "DON'T EVEN TOUCH HER, I SWEAR I'LL BURN YOU ALL TO HELL!"

The men pushed Naomi to the floor in a kneeling position. In front of Natsu, they tightly pressed a blade to her throat to the point where swallowing might break the skin. Sweat beaded down his face as he held his breath, unable to protect her when she was mere inches away from him. His pupils shrunk, and he flashed a glare of pure hatred to Dunbar. He leaned in close to Naomi's ear. "Where is, Kashi?"

Kashi shook her head from behind the door. "I have to go in there. This is all my fault. I have to…"

Kidd grabbed Kashi tightly by the shoulders and locked eyes with her. "They'll kill you, Kashi! You can't go in there!"

Kashi moved Kidd's hands around her own. "And if I don't, they'll die."

Kidd opened his mouth to argue, but all he could do was tighten his grip on her hand. "Please don't go…"

Kashi pulled him in for a quick kiss, and just looked down at her feet. "I'm sorry."

Kidd clung to her hand for dear life, and he pulled her back when her hand was an inch away from opening the door. She pried his hand away from hers. "Promise you'll always be here for me?"

Kidd was taken aback, and it took him a moment to process the words she had spoken. "Of course. Forever and Always."

Kashi's eyes filled with tears threatening to roll down her cheeks. "Promise?"

Kidd pushed away his fear and forced himself to believe that Kashi would be okay. "Promise."

~Everyone~

In the background, with everyone focused on the scene ahead of them, Levy's magic had come back and she was working on a key to unchain herself, and consequentially everyone else for a surprise attack and getaway.

However, back in the scene, Naomi would have shaken her head, but was afraid to move with the dagger ready to slice her open at the slightest flick of the wrist. "I don't know where she is. None of us have seen her since this morning." Tears filled in her eyes as the ungodly cold blade teased her with thoughts of death. Dunbar shrugged. "Oh well. I guess we can kill you then."

The guard holding Naomi lifted the blade just enough to position it farther to the left in preparation to slit her throat. Natsu opened his mouth to object, but someone screamed "NO!" before he was able. The guard paused as Dunbar raised a hand, and everyone's gaze followed Dunbar's. In the doorway stood Kashi, hands clenched into tight fists. Kidd was still hiding out of sight, hoping they wouldn't need any help, but there if they needed him.

She pushed her red bangs out of her face and glared at the man. He was uncannily familiar, and she remembered why. "I knew I should have killed you when I had the chance."

He laughed. "Such a beautiful woman. Too bad I need you back in your ugly dragon form to be of any use to me." He walked over to Kashi, now standing with his face inches away from hers. "Maybe I should have some fun with her first… after all I never did get to when you were younger." She spit in his face, and he just chuckled. "Boys!" Naomi was thrown into Natsu's arms, and the guards had Kashi surrounded and captured in seconds.

What they hadn't noticed was that Levy's magic had come back and she has unchained herself, Gajeel, and Erza, and was working on everyone else's bonds. All they had to do was wait until the rest of their magic came back.

But the magic might come a little too late.