3rd POV

"JELLAL!!!!!!" A blood churning screech resounded through out the building. Jellal's eyes widened because he knew the voice. He knew it well. It was the main reason he was able to climb up their large staircase so quickly. Why he was able to reach Erza before the tall figure holding a knife did. A broad, sharpened kitchen knife rusting with blood. The person covered with a similar shawl to the one they had captured was grinning wildly, lips pulled taught up to his cheeks. The one thing he could think to do in this situation was rap his fist against the unsuspecting man's jaw. And that's just what he did. Over and over until both of them were bleeding at the points of collision. This continued until the man grunted in frustration and with much of his strength, shoved Jellal off of him for a brief moment. If he didn't leave, Jellal wouldn't hesitate to kill him. He knew this well. That's the type of assassin he was. So the man hopped to his feet, turned on his heel and jumped out of the window. Jellal was, to say the least, shocked when he didn't see him on the grass with to broken legs from a fall at this height. Only one other person he knew could survive that. Not including Natsu or himself. It took Jellal a moment to remember his pregnant... partner? was sitting in the hospital bed still. He tureen sharply and slid over to her, dropping to his knees in front of her. she was trembling, arms wrapped protectively around her stomach. "Jellal, there was.. I swear to god, just now there was a man..." she shyly pointed out the window, the dark haired man seized her hand and rubbed it between his fingers, placing another hand onto her stomach.

"I know. I know."

"And h,I don't know how he got in, I could've sworn the door was locked. I, I thought it was you coming in... does he know? Does he know I'm pregnant? He had a knife. Was he trying to kill the baby?" She mumbled out in a hurry, not giving him time to respond. But with those words, Jellal felt a rush of rage— hot fury at the person who dared come into this room with a weapon. Jellal squeezed her hands in his and shook his head.

"No." He said, ignoring the searing heat enveloping his heart. "No he wasn't." He lied. He lied and she knew he lied by the way his eyes glazed with rage. It was the same rage that had killed so many people and she knew if he ever found the man, he would be tortured and murdered. How sad. But, oh, the irony was too good.

The strident bang of a door slamming open echoed throughout the room Romeo sat in, arms tied behind his chair and hair a mess. The walls were coated in chipped grey paint and the floor was stained with blood. Weapons of all sorts hung from the walls surrounding him, a staircase adjacent to him and a shelf holding an array of different objects in front of him. It smelled of dust, blood and metal; overall a gag inducing scent that he had already gotten used to a long time ago. He remembered the room and it's weapons well; he'd contributed to the collection at one point. Scattered across the floor were vile objects such as one or two missing teeth ripped from people's mouths, hair strands of different colors, finger nails, bloody tools such as nails and screws. Needles still layered with blood and attached to their strings. His hood had not been taken off, much to his surprise but he doubted it would be kept on for much longer. Light heels sounded as they came down the stairs, staggering for a few moments here and there before landing on the concrete below. Wendy walked over to him and he glared with indignation. "What are you doing here?" He hissed. Wendy placed a small retractable table in front of him and then a tray on top. It had a piece of bread, shredded chicken, some pasta and a glass of water sitting atop it. Wendy stood silent in front of him for an extra few seconds.

"Jellal told me to come here and feed you."

"No he didn't."

"Wanna ask him?"

"No."

"Alright. You'll just have to believe me I guess." She bent down her knees and picked up the fork adorned with small morsels of food. "Say ah." Romeo glared harder and clicked his tongue.

"No."

"If you don't eat, I'll have to force feed you."

"No." Wendy rolled her eyes, unamused.

"Please?"

"No." She brought the fork closer to his mouth and cupped a hand underneath the fork so it wouldn't drop on him. A noodle fell into her palm. At this, Romeo rammed the side of his head against the silverware and her hand, the fork fell and food flew across the floor, Wendy's hand stung from the metal of both the fork and his earring clashing with her skin awkwardly. "I said no!!!" He screamed, voice deep and laced with venom. She scowled at the small cut across her knuckles. Yeah, she was mad but she refused to let herself yell at him. She didn't have the will. She picked the fork back up and wiped it between a napkin, making sure there was no dirt on it. Forking another piece of food, she brought it back up to his lips.

"Romeo," his eye widened for a moment at his name. It wasn't used often. If not at all. "If you don't eat, he'll kill both of us. If I help you and he finds out, he'll kill both of us. If I let you go, hell kill both of us. If I do anything that goes against him anymore he'll kill both of us." He was silent because he knew it was true. Wendy stared at him hopefully. And with that small innocent gleam in her eye, he knew he would feel too bad if he cut her hand again. He bit the food off the fork and promptly chewed to swallow. When he finished, he glanced back up at her.

"Why are you being so patient with me?"

"Well isn't it obvious?"

"No."

"Because you saved my life and I owe you mine. So not that saving you wouldn't be a good idea, but it wouldn't. Because he would kill you and all this would be meaningless. I'll find a way though, I promise."

"I don't want your help."

"Yeah yeah, just eat."

"I'm being serious."

"Well that's too bad because you're all tied up and I can do whatever I want."

"Are you making a sexual implication?" Wendy rolled her eyes and sighed, standing up and slowly walking to stand behind him. The light click of her heels sent chills down his spine due to his own statement.

"Take it how you want, I'm not here to fool around with you." She pulled his hood off of his head and reached across the broad of his shoulders to land her hands flat across his chest, searching for the clasp for his shawl.

"Y'know, if you do things like that, I'm going to assume you are. What will you do if I lash out?" He thrusted his chin upwards and looked back at the woman pulling his shawl off.

"That'll cost you both of our lives and your buddies lives. But to answer the question directly, I'd point a gun to your head until you sat your dumbass back down and then I'd tie you right back up."

"Ok, mommy."

"Call me that again, I swear to god, Romeo I am not in the mood."

"I will, do you want me to?"

"You're literally older than me, grow up."

"How would you know?"

"It's an assumption." Romeo smirked, arrogance was written all over his face and it was the thing Wendy hated the most. She left his side and sat down in a chair far across from him, crossing her legs just a bit too provocatively. He did a quick double take but his eyes landed on hers soon after. Her eyes followed.

"If you leave me down here, that guy's gonna do bad things to me." He suggested, tugging at his shackles that rattled against the concrete floor. He lifted a bare foot and stomped on the floor a few times. "Besides, the floor is cold, these restraints are lousy and they hurt and the food is mediocre." Wendy sent him a quick glare and contemplated standing up to mess with the things he found annoying. But no, she was not a slave.

"I made that food, dickhead." Romeo muffled a laugh and sent her a questioning look.

"You made that shit? It's inedible."

"No it's not, dickhead!!"

"The pasta is dark brown and the chicken is pink. Man you're really bad at cooking, huh?" Wendy rolled her eyes and looked away from him.

"Anyways. I know very well what you mean." She replied, not saying anything more before he spoke up again. "Trust me." He quirked an eyebrow. Why would they torture her?

"And knowing that, you would leave a poor man on his own down here?"

"Unlike you, I'm not willing to sacrifice both of our lives for you to not make it out of here."

"Why not?" He joked and the girl glared at him, not liking the humor. "What if I gave you a kiss?" Don't tempt me. Her thoughts were much different from her answer.

"No. I thought you didn't want my help?" She rolled her eyes and continued to stare him down as he did to her.

"I changed my mind. Better you than anyone else in this damn building. What if I give you two kisses?" Wendy shook her head. "Three?" No. "Four?" No. "For fucks sake we might as well make out." Romeo noted the shakes of her head every time he suggested a number until he mentioned making out. Wendy paused for just a millisecond too long before denying and he knew everything. "You wanna make out?" He wiggled his eyebrows, sending her a shit eating grin.

"No." She answered immediately and closed her eyes. "Absolutely not."

"You weren't even considering it? Man what a disappointment."

"What?"

"Because I was."

"What?" She opened her eyes in shock. "Are you out of your damn mind? It's barely been an day since I learned your name, dickhead."

"I've considered it. You're really pretty so I wouldn't mind. We should give it a go. I want to know how pretty your face would be if that makeup was just a bit smudged and your lips were swollen."

"Oh it's pretty, trust me, but not a sight you will ever see." She rolled her eyes and looked away from him, remembering previous horrendous make out sessions with different men and women. All of which had been terrible. She'd found out she had bad taste for choosing people to lend her lips.

"Yeah? Is that so? You wanna bet? How about this, once I get out of here, we'll play Russian roulette, pointing at each other." Wendy glanced at him and scoffed. He was cocky. "If I get you to kiss me, I'll start with the first bullet. If I don't, you'll start with the first bullet." Wendy continued staring at him, considering it. He smirked. "Come on! I wanna see that lip gloss smudged across my shirt. Don't you?"

"That's not fair. Besides we need a time limit."

"What?? How??" He inquired. She was silent. "Oooh, is it because you think I'll win?" He smirked. "Alright then, princess-"

"Don't fucking call me that."

"Fine, fine." He said. "Time limit? As soon as I walk out of here, whoever wins, wins. I'll make the deal even sweeter! We only use four of the six chambers. Leaving a... 66.6(?) percent chance of landing on the bullet." Wendy looked away after a minute or two, rolling her eyes. He simply stared at her, eyes not shying away from her. "What do you say, sweet heart?" Wendy turned to him, irritated at the use of her new nickname.

"Fine. What do I get out of it?"

"I mean aren't you up for just a fun little game of gambling your life?" She shook her head. "Alright fine, have it your way. Hmmmm... if both of us survive, I'll do whatever you want for a day." She grimaced at the thought.

"What are you, twelve? We aren't fucking children playing around why would I want a fucking servant?" He tilted his head, shrugging.

"You got any better ideas?" He inquired, voice deep and laced with interest. Wendy turned her head up in thought.

"If we both survive, I'll give you that kiss." Romeo raised his eyebrows, lips tilting into a smirk.

"Deal." He agreed. She sighed finally and the man chuckled, amusement evident in his voice.

"If the boss found out I was messing around with one of his old colleagues, I don't want to know what the consequences would be. Death?" She wondered, taping her chin in thought. "No. Maybe torture." Romeo froze stiffer than a corpse, his eyes trained on her nonchalant expression.

"How.. do you know about me?" He asked. She tilted her head.

"But I don't?"

"Yes you do, you just said it." Wendy shrugged in confusion.

"Don't act like you didn't notice our matching tattoos. You're from Quator and I'm from Phoenix." Romeo had forgotten all about their dynamic and the fact that they shared similar experiences and relationships. What a thought. Not like it mattered much. His chances of survival after today would bed exponentially low. Wendy glanced at his arms bulging around his chair as they stretched behind him, the stickered tattoos only adding to his attractiveness. She sighed audibly. The man, however, was trying to convince himself with every fiber of his being that this woman was not breaking him down. Practically undressing him with her eyes. Their relations didn't matter when she looked at him like this. He didn't care about Quator, Phoenix, his former superiors, the torture chamber they were in or the messy hair adorning his head. He suddenly could only think about how he had to make himself understand that, no, this woman is not attractive. No, she wouldn't look pretty with his fingers in her mouth. No, he was not entranced by her beyond belief.

"How did you-" he's cut off by the loud slam of the inadequate wooden door, that had likely not been replaced in decades, from the staircase above. It was shut behind the person entering the basement, Wendy flipped her watch in front of her eyes and gaped at the time.

"How've,how've i been here for two hours? It was supposed to take ten minutes, I-.. am not supposed to be here." She rose to her feet, quietly looking around for something unknown to Romeo. "I have to hide." The footsteps continued closer to the pair, Romeo furrowed his eyebrows, hair still ruffled as he stared at Wendy pacing about, shoes clacking against the floor. "You can't say anything." She whispered, hiding in between two metal shelf cases just as the footsteps landed on the floor.

"It's been a long time, Romeo." Jellal spoke, approaching the man tied up and staring him down in a battle of balls. "You're different, when'd you get the tattoos? They suit you."

"Thanks, I appreciate it. The artist was some tall guy named Mard-" Jellal slammed his boot into Romeo's jaw, forcing his head to the side as he lowered his leg and rolled his ankle.

"It was rhetorical, cunt." Jellal spat. "That felt good though, I haven't kicked anyone in a few weeks." Romeo smirked, moving his jaw around to notice it was more than likely dislocated. He licked the blood from his cut lip and pulled it into his mouth, loving the metallic taste of his pain.

"I'm sure you know I could break out of here and barely lift a finger. Keeping me in a place I'm familiar with isn't smart, boss." He offered a crazed grin, sparing his boss a few glances.

"And I'm sure you know that I guarantee you won't risk that."

"What makes you so sure?" His smile slightly fell. What the hell could he have to hold against him?

"Because if you were to try anything while you're in this building, I promise you that you won't be alone in death. The cute little shebean you picked up at random during your stay seems to have a past of suicide attempts. I am more than willing to fulfill those wishes for her." Jellal whispered, forcing a twitch out of Romeo's eye.

"Do what you want with her. She doesn't affect me. The only who would be hurt by her absence is you and your new crew." Jellal smiled in return.

"Shall I fetch her for you? You can do the honors, then. She needs to be reprimanded anyways." Wendy was glad Romeo couldn't see the horror in her eyes as she held her hands over her mouth. Knowing damn well that Jellal meant every word he spoke. He was an honest man and he would keep to his statement of cutting her head off of her shoulders in front of Romeo. If he didn't make him do it himself. She shut her eyes. She was going to die. There was a silence that only further allowed the thought that, she would either die by Romeo's hands than Jellal's hands, invade her brain even more. Romeo clenched his fists and teeth together, trying his best to not rip away from the restraints that were obviously tightened pathetically on purpose. The thought that Jellal wouldn't find her upstairs did nothing to calm his nerves.

"Wait." He mumbled, just barely catching Jellal's attention before he retreated upstairs.

"Change your mind? That's shocking."

"I have another idea."

"I don't want to hear it. You lost my trust a looong time ago, Romeo. That respect won't come back for a long time. If it ever does."

"I didn't ask for your respect and I don't desire your trust. It hasn't affected me in the slightest in the past and it still doesn't."

"Aw how unfortunate."

"How'd you figure?"

"If we trusted and respected each other, you wouldn't be here and I wouldn't be feeling the same insatiable desire to see your blood stain the floor." Romeo stared, the way he always did. "What happened to us? What happened to you?"

"I should be asking you that. What have you people become and furthermore, what the hell have you done to this place?" Romeo turned his head and leaned back in his chair. Jellal stared for a moment but decided to ignore him.

"I'll have Wendy come back down to give you some bread to hold you up later tonight or tomorrow." Romeo hummed at Jellal's voice fading as he walked away, not listening nor caring for what the man had to say. Whether it benefitted him or not.

"The floor is cold." He commented randomly once the older man left the vicinity.

"Why did you save me the other day?" Wendy asked calmly, pulling Romeos shirt off of him. It was nasty. Covered in dried blood, dust and filth— it hadn't been changed in a while. He looked up at her, not showing any signs of resistance as he sat in his chair with a blank expression and freed arms. "You could leave. Why are you saving me right now as well?" He sighed.

"Don't look too much into it, I'm motivated entirely by self interest. It's not about you much." He helped her as she pulled out a new shirt and slipped it over his head, letting the loose material fall on his shoulders.

"But it is, isn't it?"

"No." He groaned.

"Then what?" He sighed again, this time heavier. And the girl looked up to see him furrowing his eyebrows in irritation. She was too curious for his liking.

"Well for one, you saved me so I have to save you now." Wendy closed her fingers against her palm.

"But you already saved me before that. We could have been even." She bit her lip between her teeth. Romeo watched intently.

"Second of all, I really want to see you naked." He said promptly, not a hint of hesitation in his voice as he looked up at her through his eyebrows. Wendy rolled her eyes; this wasn't the first time he tried to pull some flirty bullshit.

"Blunt, are we?" She responded. "You already have, genius." Romeo shook his head

"I'd prefer not to lie. It isn't like me. Besides, that doesn't count. It wasn't true, it wasn't worth what I want it to be worth and it didn't mean anything. It isn't the same.. Third of all, I don't have anything better to do." Wendy finished by cuffing his hands together again and sat opposite him. "Fourth, this makes the bet we have a lot more interesting. Easier on my part." He ate at her with a charming smile that was clearly practiced for use of deception. She knew it too well, however, and saw through it without so much as blinking.

"Listen, only a few have had me and you won't be added to that list. I don't kiss people for fun or money or whatever benefit some could make from it. I sold pictures, not my actual body." She closed her eyes.

"I get that. But that's just my point, as well as not what I meant. Wendy, I'm afraid you should be least concerned with your body count or your value or whatever it is your insecure about. I don't care, it doesn't matter to me. What you should be concerned about is how I'm going to ruin every single other man for you after and before me. Fuck that. I'm going to ruin everyone for you— man and woman alike." She looked up at him and through his lashes, noticed a type of confidence she'd rarely found on anyone. "I bet my body count is higher than yours."

"Really? You??? I doubt that."

"Some confidence you got."

"Says the one who just said he'd ruin everyone for me."

"Again, I wasn't lying." He wasn't. "Shall I go first? Tell me, if it's any higher than 31, I'll be impressed."

"You've slept with 31 different, individual women?" She asked, shocked.

"Please. Sometimes they're more than one at a time, two or three of which included another guy. I've heard way worse." Wendy scowled, a bit shaken from his small hints at threesomes, maybe foursomes or even more.

"Alright fine. I've done 10."

"That's cute."

"No, it's not, actually."

"Wait we're talking about sex, right?" He looked a bit afraid for a moment until she nodded. He sighed in relief and at that, she didn't want to know about the other category. "How many can you remember?" Romeo looked up in thought. "I know I can't remember any in particular. Maybe bits and pieces of different ones but none stood out."

"A few, I guess..." she looked away, not having the composure to keep her eyes on him. "I don't really know." She avoided the question and she knew it was bold to assume he hadn't picked up on this, which he had, but she just wanted to change the subject. She was lucky he dropped her words.

"Most women these days are bland, they're all the same. High pitched forced moans, talking dirty, excessive makeup..."

"Yeah? Well the same can be said about men. All of you act the same. All of you are scumbags." He stared at her for a moment.

"That's reasonable." He nodded. "But tell me. Which ones do you remember? Why-"

"That's none of your business, is it?" She snapped, interrupting his question as he tilted his head in confusion. "Don't get nosy."

"Who was it?" He asked quietly, narrowing his eyes. She quickly looked over at him and knitted the corners of her eyebrows together. He did the same, just lighter. But boy, did he look mad. She didn't quite know why but maybe he always looked like that.

"Wh-.." she swallowed the knot in her throat. "Who was what...?" He gritted his teeth. She was avoiding answering again. How irritating.

"Since you don't understand the question let me clear it up." Her lips parted to say something but he took her chance for her. "Who hurt you?" Wendy gripped the hem of her leggings, leaving indent marks against her skin.

"Leave it be. No one hurt me, Romeo." It was the simple use of his name in a tone just barely light enough for him to realize it was her way of asking for help. Romeo didn't think twice when he ripped himself out of his chains and sat besides the girl, pulling her against his chest. She was crying.