WARNING: Rated MA for Explicit Graphic Depictions of Violence, Graphic Depiction of Rape/Non-Consensual Sex, Graphic Sex, Graphic Physical and Mental Abuse, and Mental Instability. Please read at your own discretion.

I do not own Fairy Tail; All major characters depicted in this fan-created fiction story belong to Hiro Mashima.

CHAPTER 31

Lisanna watched from her position above the tree lines while transformed in her magic's Harpy form as Natsu- with the help of a flying Happy, darted between the trees at a fast pace.

After Rogue took off on his own, the remaining mages put forth a plan to spread out in teams to search for their blonde fairy. Natsu and Lisanna had agreed to backtrack and go in the direction of Magnolia, while Erza and Grey went in the opposite direction of the two Sabertooth mates who decided to follow after Rogue.

There were two primary objectives to their 'new' mission currently. One was to locate and recover the blonde fairy. The second was to also locate and take down the rogue bandits that were somewhere lurking nearby.

They could only hope that these two tasks would not be merged into one.

The snowy-haired woman kept her pace with Happy's, taking extra precautions to scan the area for any other movement besides their own. She slowed down for descent when she noticed Happy was moving to set the dragon slayer down on his own two feet.

The take-over mage landed right next to the slayer that currently had his head up while taking long whiffs of air, scenting for some hint to where their blonde nakama could be.

A low grunt escaped the pinkette while his head snapped to the side, taking another long inhale through his nose. Lisanna noticed that his back immediately straightened when he finally released the breath he had been holding it.

"I think I found her, Lis!" The slayer grinned, though his expression immediately darkened after another moment.

"Why is she so close by? Rogue lost her scent and couldn't feel her anymore, so why are you able to smell her now?" Lisanna's curiosity and confusion were mirrored back at her when she looked into the slayer's eyes. She could tell that he was having a hard time understanding as well.

"Well, we won't get any answers just standing around here, let's go!" Happy picked up the pinkette before he had time to respond. Lisanna quickly took to the air to follow the blue and pink blur. Despite feeling hopeful, the white-haired mage couldn't help the gnawing sensation in her stomach that something wasn't right about this.

Black tendrils wrapped around her body scorching her flesh while holding her in place. The blonde let out a small whimper, realizing just where she was, and who had her trapped. The inky magic reached around her and slid against her skin, causing the sensation of burning to assault her nerves.

"You're such a foolish little woman. Sleeping while you're about to be raped and killed. How very like you." The blonde whipped her head around toward the sound of the voice that grated on every last nerve, even more so than the magic currently wrapped around her.

Dread seeped through her scorching body when his maleficent words sunk deep within her skull. Her body went ridged despite the magic licking against her skin. The pain from the black wisps almost forgotten while she tugged against the inky restraints.

"What are you talking about? Are you going to use me and kill me somehow?" The blonde tried not to let on to how nervous and afraid she was at that moment by narrowing her eyes at the dark-haired man

This man from the future had previously pinned her down, and made her live through some pretty sexual advances, but never had he ever actually penetrated her. Nor has he ever outright told her he was going to kill her, just that he wanted her to succumb to his darkness.

"Oh no, dear. I'll admit I am just as much your potential mate as my weaker counterpart and I won't deny that I have had thoughts of rightfully claiming you. However, you are not anything befitting a king, Lucy. Possibly a mistress, but never a queen." The dragon slayer smirked when he finally came into the blonde's view.

"You're awfully chatty… and rude. Every word out of your mouth makes me hate you even more." The blonde practically spit at the Dragon King.

"Ah, you hate me, but you love my former self. I will admit, I didn't foresee that happening when I forced my magic to linger within you. In my timeline, you never really came into contact with me. It's actually quite comical how much I have meddled with your timeline by just letting some of my magic latch on to you." Lucy watched as the long-haired mage stepped closer to her. In all of the times she was held within the confines of her mind, the blonde couldn't remember ever having a full conversation with the personified magic.

"Despite what you think, my dear. I have grown quite fond of you as of late. I'm almost certain it has something to do with my younger self shoving more of his own shadow magic within this perky little body of yours." The Dragon King, despite his earlier words, reached out the tuck a stray strand of her hair back behind her ear. The sensation of his hand touching her caused the blonde to recoil, despite the magic holding her still.

In all her time being tortured and ridiculed by the man standing before her, she had never once ever felt anything other than hate and malice coming from him. So, why was now so much different than before? Was it really due to her slayer's influence? If so, she would have to share her finding with her love later.

"Well, enough of this. I've decided that I am the only one allowed to torture you, and standing back and seeing anyone else do it is unacceptable and an insult to the Dragon King." Lucy looked at the still grinning male. Confusion and for some reason relief flittered through her. She wasn't exactly sure what he meant, but since he was feeling talkative today, maybe she could find out?

"Don't misunderstand, Lucy. After today, I plan on things going back to business as usual. I just don't want to share your pain with anyone other than myself. So, I will help you out of the situation you are currently in." The slayer waved his hand, causing the black tendrils that were holding her body to dissipate into thin air, along with the pseudo pain they created.

"What do you mean?" The blonde staggered a little while trying to find her footing again. The taller male turned his gaze fully on her once more.

"You, my sweet Lucy, are going to utilize all of my magic." The blonde stuttered, fear gripping her heart at the thought of being overtaken by the inky blank tendrils that seemed to burn her from the inside out when they would appear from within her body. She was aware that she had once used at least some of this Rogue's power when she had beat Natsu, but she wasn't even conscious during all of that. The Dragon King had mostly taken the rains during that debacle.

"Don't look so worried. The king of dragons and the shadows is here to help you, but you're going to be conscious through it all this time." The slayer puffed out his chest like his words would reassure her. She wasn't sure if they actually did or not.

The blonde was about to ask something but was cut off before she could even start.

"No time to talk, my dear. The fun has already begun." With that, the crimson-eyed mage pressed both of his hands to her temples. A blinding white light filtered behind the lids of her closed eyes and she registered the feeling of falling.

Three occurrences.

There were three immediate occurrences that Lucy instantly realized when she was pushed from inside the confines of her own mind and jolted back to her waking conscious.

The first was the very present and dreadfully agonizing pain on her torso. This, she easily wrote off since they were no doubt from her earlier descent from the sky thanks to a wyvern and its razor talons.

The second was the shadow magic that hummed and pulsed throughout her body. The magic was undeniable there and it was threatening to spill over at any moment when she decided to use it. It didn't attack her, nor did it feel completely foreign and uncomfortable like it usually would. That was another thing to be expected given the mostly one-sided conversation with the future dragon slayer.

The third, and doubtlessly the most concerning occurrence was that she had awoken in a position with her body shoved face down into what felt like a very hard and rocky surface. While that alone was indisputably uncomfortable, the most unsettling part of this revelation was that her body was being moved to where she was on her knees with her ass in the air.

The blonde instantaneously struggled against the restraints that held her down, ignoring the throbbing protest of the wounds on her side. Anxiety immediately permeated her being causing her to experimentally will the shadows to flare up and around her body, effectively resulting in a gruff yelp from her assailant as he flew back to hit the ground with a resounding thud.

"What in the hell?" A dark gravelly voice winced out.

Lucy quickly moved to stand, ignoring the constant nagging of the tender flesh on her torso. Shadows licked at her body while her hair started to dance around her as it faded into black wisps. The magic was controllable and didn't fight back against her.

There was no searing pain or fear of the future Rogue taunting her from the recesses of her mind.

So this is what it's like to wield dragon slayer shadow magic.

Lucy, in her fascination completely ignored the grunts of her downed assailant in favor of marveling at just how compliant the magic had become. The celestial-turned-shadow mage took note of how the stark black markings on her arms were now paired with even more that covered the rest of her body.

Rogue's Dragon Force.

Finally, the blonde turned her gaze to the pained noise of her would-be attacker, only for some of the fire within her to die down at the sight before her.

It was him.

Paralyzing fear overtook the blonde, her fight or flight kicking in and in a moment of weakness, she was debating on choosing to go for flight.

Despite her mind telling her to flee, her body stayed rooted in its spot, even when the lightning mage had turned his gaze full of hatred back to her.

"Don't let me down, Luce." She could hear the words of an amused and slightly agitated slayer within the confines of her mind.

Lucky took notice of the malice and pure evil look within the brunette's eyes. She had seen those types of looks so many times before and recognized that this man truly did despise her.

It was at that moment that the Future Rogue's words from earlier when she was unconscious finally made sense. The Dragon King had sent her back right before she was most likely going to be raped by this brute of a man again.

"You little whore. I'm going to kill you for that, but not before I get the chance to fuck you one more time." The lightning mage cackled, a sickening gruff noise that filled what looked to be the interior of a cave around them. He moved to stand, finally recovered from the surprise shadow attack she had dealt him.

He reached within the confines of his pocket and revealed a brown pack that Lucy indisputably knew. She looked from the key pouch within the lightning mage's grasp down to her hips, noticing that it was indeed gone.

The fact that something else had fallen to the ground from the brown-haired man's pocket from the man's hasty actions had been easily overlooked by the two standoffish mages.

The object rolled and cracked, causing its early function to mask his and her presence to become void.

He must have taken my keys when I was unconscious.

The blonde frowned, multiple emotions hitting her at once.

She was angry.

She was angry that she had got herself put in this type of position once again, and she was angry that she was basically relying on the power of a madman to take out yet another madman that was selfish and wanted to keep all of her torture for himself.

And she was furious.

She was absolutely furious, that this vile and disgusting man was holding her precious spirits within his grubby hands as if they weren't some of the most important treasures in her life.

Despite all of the things she was currently mad at, she was mad at herself the most.

All of this happened because of her.

Her choices and her decisions had brought her once again to this very point in her life.

However, this time, she refused to be a damsel. She refused to be put in the position for any of her loved ones to find her on the brink of death again. It was not going to happen.

At that moment, a montage of images of all of her loved ones filtered through her mind.

I will not make them worry about me, not again. I will not be put in a position where I am the damsel. I will save myself.

Lucy chanted this in her mind over and over again. Faintly she registered an approving growl, but ignored it to focus on the task at hand.

She would put her shame aside and worry about it later.

She would put her fear, pain, and regrets away until she had time to reflect on how she could have avoided this situation.

She would hate herself later.

Right now, she would use this borrowed power that the Dragon King had lent her. She would use it to finally rid herself of one of her demons, by pitting another one against it.

The dragon king wanted her to torture all for himself?

Fine.

As long as she got something out of it too.

And right now, she wanted his power.

Lucy let out all of the emotions she felt toward the man standing in front of her. She used it as fuel to power up the shadow magic that danced around her.

She used all of the anguish, the fear, pain, and hatred to will the magic to grow stronger and stronger still.

The blonde closed her eyes and steeled her heart.

Inhaling a long deep breath within her nose, she finally allowed the words of encouragement bounce off the recesses of her mind and into the forefront as the Dragon King sat back to enjoy the masterpiece his magic had created of the blonde.

"You're not going to kill me." Lucy's sickly sweet words danced from her tongue when she opened her eyes to reveal deep crimson red instead of honey brown. The blonde used the shadows the practically transport where the lightning mage still held up her celestial keys.

It took one second for her to rip her keys from the male, and they landed a few feet away from them both onto the cold stone earth.

Shadow-coated hands moved faster than his lightning when the blonde situated her lithe fingers around the lightning mage's throat while sending tendrils of inky wisps to dance around the brute's neck in tandem.

"Because I'm going to kill you."