Chapter 8

Pain

'Something isn't right…' Gajeel thought as he stopped walking, contemplating whether or not he should go back and make sure everything is ok. 'Hmmm, she had Lily there with her, I'm sure she'll be fine.' He continues down the road checking out the eateries, wanting to get something that would make Levy happy, but something kept eating at him. 'Fuck. I'll go back just to be safe.' Gajeel always trusted his gut.

He got back to the inn and noticed something strange. Levy and Lily's scent was there, but it was faint, as if they'd left. Worried, Gajeel darts over to their room and saw that the door was ajar. His blood was beginning to boil. The room was empty, and there was a little blood on the table where Levy was sitting. It was her blood.

Instantly enraged, he growls loudly, knocking things over before fleeing from the inn. Angry at himself for leaving when he should have sent Lily. They took the tablets, his best friend, and the love of his life. These thieves were NOT going to get away with this.

Levy woke up in a lot of pain. When she opened her eyes, she looked around, taking in her surroundings. She first realized that she was underground. The whole dungeon-type area looked like it was carved by man, most likely the kidnapper's hideout. Next, she scanned the room for Lily, who was nowhere to be found. She then noticed the tablets, which were on a dingy looking table. She was chained to the ceiling with her wrists cuffed together above her head and cuffs around her ankles, keeping them together. She was dangling there, maybe an inch or two off the ground.

"Well, well, well. Look who decided to wake up," One of the kidnappers said. "How nice of you to join us." He bent down and grabbed Levy's jaw forcefully. "Tell me what you know."

Levy was quiet. Mostly because she couldn't think straight. 'I must have been hit in the head,' she analyzes.

"I said TELL ME!" The kidnapper yelled as he slapped her.

Levy just wanted Gajeel. She wanted him to come and save her and get rid of this scum. She kept quiet.

"You're not gonna talk, huh?" The kidnapper says. "Well, I'll make you talk," he says in her ear.

Levy watches him as he goes to the very dirty looking table and grabs a metal rod. He then holds the rod over an open flame, heating it up until it was glowing orange. Levy immediately figured out what was about to happen.

"I don't know anything! Please! Let me go!"

"I find that hard to believe, seeing as you were translating the tablets," the man says, walking toward her with the hot metal.

"I was only able to get through half of one tablet!" She yelled.

"Shut your fucking mouth!" He backhanded Levy and held the rod close to her exposed torso. "Why are you lying to me? You've got such a pretty little body, would be such a shame to….ruin it," the man says with a dirty grin.

Levy's stomach turned at the thought of the man being near her, but she was stuck, unable to do anything. They had her in cuffs that made her unable to use her magic. The other kidnapper came bursting through the room. "The fucking cat is gone!"

"Well go find him then! I'll stay here, looking after Miss Pretty over here," he says, eying Levy's body.

The other man leaves in a hurry in hopes of finding the cat, unknowingly running toward certain death. Levy knew Lily was going to find Gajeel, and she also knew that once he caught the thief, there would be a chance of Gajeel killing him. 'Just a little bit longer…' Levy tried to convince herself. She was embarrassed. Levy was a brilliant mage so how these guys got the drop on her, she didn't know. She was ashamed that she was in the situation she was in. 'I shouldn't be here. I'm better than this! Now he has to come to my rescue, again.' He wouldn't admit it, but he loved coming to save her, and he would do it a million more times.

The man threw down the rod and walked toward Levy. "I've got a better idea on what to do with you," he says, circling her. "You know, we were gonna use you as bait first, to get that big brute to come down and try to rescue you, but why? We've got the tablets," he chuckled. "We don't need you, or him." He stops behind her and whispers in her ear. "That's why I'm gonna kill ya."

Levy was holding back tears. Why? Why was this happening? She felt so low, she almost welcomed death, but she was a strong woman. This is something she would overcome and use this as a learning experience.

"But first," he continues. "I wanna have a little fun with you."

"D-don't touch me," Levy says, her voice shaking.

"Oh, but where's the fun in that?"

It seemed the kidnappers were not too bright. Thinking Lily was a simple talking cat, they chained him up with regular chains and locked him in a small room, alone. When Lily came to, he immediately changed into his battle form, bursting out of the chains. He looked around the room and saw an opening that he could fit through in his smaller form. He wouldn't have been able to fight, as the kidnappers banged him up pretty bad while he was out of it, so he changed back into his smaller form and went to go find the slayer.

Gajeel was livid. He had never been so angry in his life. He tried to follow their scent, but it led to a dead end. The kidnappers had at least enough common sense to throw him off their trail, but all that did was anger him more. He punched a tree down, effortlessly, out of sheer frustration. He hated this. He felt helpless. He's now followed their scent more times than he could count, why was it stopping there? Maybe they're underground? There would be some sort of opening, right? He raged, his body glowing a dark blue aura, ready to kill. They took his cat and his woman. He had nothing else, so he would get them back, even if he had to die to do it.

He'd asked the workers at the inn, and nobody seemed to know anything. He'd asked people on the street if they've seen them and they knew nothing. Conducting his own investigation had gotten him nowhere. It's been a couple hours since they've gone missing and Gajeel was losing his mind.

"What the fuck am I supposed to do now?!" Gajeel yelled, to no one in particular. All he could do was worry about Levy. He was just as surprised as she was to find out she'd been taken, but he realized this shit happens. He couldn't expect to be on her guard 24/7, especially when she had protection there. 'Some protection.' He knew he couldn't really be mad at Lily, but he had nowhere else to direct his anger.

He suddenly smelled something familiar.

"Gajeel!"

It was Lily's voice. Gajeel spun around so fast, hoping to see Levy with him, but she wasn't there.

"OI! Cat!" Gajeel said. "What the fuck happened?!"

"I'm fine, thank you for asking," Lily said. "But enough with this! Just come with me!"

Lily picked Gajeel up and flew off toward Levy.

Levy whimpered as the man got closer to her. He ran his hand up her thigh. She shuddered with disgust, regretting not changing out of her blue silk night attire. The man groaned and rubbed his crotch as he touched her. His hand was now making its way up her camisole, stopping at her breast. Levy couldn't take it. She spat on him causing the man to step back, bewildered.

"You're gonna wish you never did that," he growled. He ripped her clothing off, exposing her naked body. Yanking her down from the ceiling, still leaving her cuffed, he drops her to the floor and stands over her, undoing his pants.

This wasn't supposed to be how it happened, Levy thought. She was supposed to be with Gajeel. It looked like fate had other plans…..

Levy screamed loudly, hoping anyone would hear her, only to be stopped by a fist to the face.

"Scream all ya want, no one's comin' for ya!" The creep laughed.

Levy was squirming and flailing, just doing anything she could to keep the man away from her.

"Quit fuckin' movin'!" He says, trying to hold her down.

He realized he was going to have to struggle to get what he wanted out of her, so he straddled her and wrapped his hands around her neck, slowly beginning to squeeze.

"You're gonna give me trouble aren't ya? I should have just killed you from the start. You and that stupid cat."

Levy started seeing spots, praying Gajeel would come save her.

"That's ok, though. You ain't gettin' outta this one alive," the man says, squeezing harder.

Suddenly, the man went flying across the room, crashing into the wall creating quite an impact.

"Go check on Levy! I'll take care of this asshole," Gajeel says to Lily.

Gajeel had turned his arm into an iron rod, smashing the guy against the wall, getting him off of Levy.

"She's alive, but unconscious," Lily says.

"Here," Gajeel takes off his shirt and tosses it to the cat. "Put this on her." He turned to the man, eyes blazing with rage. He lifted him up by his collar.

"What the FUCK did you do to my woman?" He asks, seething.

The man is absolutely terrified. He shakes his head aggressively.

"Did you touch her?"

He shook his head again. Gajeel threw him to the ground and hovered over him.

"Well, it sure looks like you fucking did!" He looks over at his family. "Get her somewhere safe," He glanced over at the tablets.

Lily got the hint and packed the tablets up quickly, carrying Levy to the exit. "We'll be at the inn."

Gajeel was very angry, and he needed to get that anger out of him. And this guy was his target.

"You give me one good reason why I should let you live," Gajeel demanded, about to bash this guy's face in.

"I didn't do anything! I swear!"

Gajeel turned his arm into a giant hammer and aimed it at his knees. "You wanna try again?"

"Ok! Ok! Please! I was just doing a job!" The guy starts blubbering. "Please don't break my legs!"

"Oh, I'm gonna do more than just break your legs," He said with a sadistic grin.

Back at the inn, Lily let Levy rest, while he packed things away to get moving. It would be dangerous to stay in the area.

Gajeel came into the room, covered in blood. Lily stared at him.

"Relax, I didn't kill 'em," Gajeel says. "But I hurt them enough to let them know not to fuck with what's mine."

Lily knew saying anything wasn't going to change things so he kept quiet and continued packing.

"Geesh, you're not gonna start judging me are you?" Gajeel says, rubbing the back of his neck.

"No, you did what needed to be done. Everyone is safe, for now. I'm just trying to gather our things."

Gajeel picked up on the cat's motives. "I guess it would be a good idea to move elsewhere. I'm sure those weren't the only guys after these tablets. I'm gonna get cleaned up first," he says, walking toward the bathroom. "Has she woken up yet?"

Lily shook his head. "She will be alright in a few hours. We can just carry her until we find the next place to stop and rest."

Gajeel nodded and disappeared into the bathroom.

The gang was pretty tired, given the events that just occurred. Gajeel had to carry the luggage and Lily carried Levy. They walked in the direction they needed to go, looking for another place to call home for the night. They walked at least 5 miles before finding a small, abandoned cottage that looked comfortable enough to rest in for the night. It was a long and brutal walk, as Levy still hadn't awaken, which worried Gajeel. Lily assured him that she would be ok, so he tried to relax a little.

When they got to the cottage, Gajeel took Levy from Lily and headed toward the bathroom. "I'm going to get her cleaned up."

Lily nodded as he curled up on the couch, exhausted.

Gajeel ran her a bath and stepped in, still holding her and sat down, positioning her in between his legs with her back against his torso. He gently cleaned the dried blood from her face, angering himself by thinking of what happened to her. He moved up to wash her hair which was matted down from blood. As he examined her, he noticed she was hit over the head, and it looked like it was pretty hard, too. After he washed her hair, he started on her neck and shoulders, her neck bruised from that asshole choking her, and her shoulders bruised from being beaten. He felt himself getting angry again until he felt a small hand on his leg.

"Thank you," Levy said softly.