Dauntless Chapter 21: Inferno, a fairy tail fanfic

PART I – Resolution

Chapter XXI – Inferno

"And then there was you. You changed everything I believed in. You know that line from Dante that I quoted to you in the park? 'L'amor che move il sole e l'altre stelle'?"

Her lips curled a little at the sides as she looked up at him. "I still don't speak Italian."

"It's a bit of the very last verse from Paradiso - Dante's Paradise. 'My will and my desire were turned by love, the love that moves the sun and the other stars.' Dante was trying to explain faith, I think, as an overpowering love, and maybe it's blasphemous, but that's how I think of the way I love you. You came into my life and suddenly I had one truth to hold on to - that I loved you, and you loved me."
― Cassandra Clare, City of Fallen Angels

Manhunt – Day 4

Lucy groaned in pain when the bag was roughly removed, allowing her to see the place she had been brought to.

"Welcome to your new castle," the man snorted.

It was a small, dark space with brick walls that stunk of humidity and had several brown or black spots of decay here and there. Metallic racks had been arranged against the walls, which only reduced the size of the already small basement. Lucy frowned when she realized that a lot of jars of all sizes had been placed in the racks. She squinted her eyes at them to try and distinguish what was inside, almost throwing up when she succeeded. In the jar closest to her, she saw a foot and two hands floating in a weird yellow-green liquid. Swallowing a whine, she averted her eyes and noticed the dark lump in the corner of the basement. Sheer terror filled her whole being when she recognized the commander. The man caught her gaze and turned around to snort at the beaten young man.

"Oh yeah," he chuckled, "he tried to save you when he understood what was happening. I killed him."

Manhunt – Day 3

When the commander was done teasing Lucy and calling her a pervert, he finally decided to bring up the real subject of interest. They talked almost all night long and the young woman literally spilled her guts to him. She told him about Jude being accused of being a traitor, about the attack of the mansion, Michelle, the ranch, the attack of the ranch and the life she lived with her adoptive mother afterwards.

"I had to run away when I heard that a weird woman was looking for me," she explained. "I knew it was Kyoka, she had been tracking me for a while and I didn't want to risk my adoptive mother's life. She wasn't pleased with my decision, but I still left."

Natsu sat beside her on the bed, listened to her and asked all the right questions. When Lucy had answered most of them, he smiled and nodded.

"I thought so," he admitted.

Lucy frowned and listened attentively when Natsu told her that the general was actually the nice old man that owned the ranch back then and he and the officers he trusted the most already knew about her and her father. They easily guessed that she was here trying to save him and decided they'd cover her. To say that the young woman was shocked would be the understatement of the year, really. She couldn't imagine that her secret had been discovered right from the start. Lucy didn't expect any answer, but she had so many questions. She started by asking him who they were exactly, and the commander did answer her. He told her that they were part of an organisation opposing the Octagon.

"Erza and Mira didn't know, though. Gramps only told them recently and made them promise they'd keep quiet about it. Gray's telling Loke and Gajeel as we speak. You really can't remember Gramps' face?" he asked. "You remembered Gray's, right?"

Lucy nodded.

"Only Gray's," she explained. "I'm starting to remember Gramps as well now that you told me, but I still can't remember the face of the boy with the shotgun at all."

Her heart hammered in her chest when he leaned forward and grabbed her hands, his eyes locking on hers.

"Really? You really don't remember the other boy?"

Of course she did. She remembered the strange color of his hair, the scar on his neck, his appeasing smell and his bright smile. She remembered him so vividly it actually hurt. She was just too scared to say it out loud. What if he told her that she was wrong? She had come to love that boy so strongly when she was a child, of course she'd still have a lot of affection for him. Sure, it wouldn't really hurt her or anyone even if she was wrong, but she didn't want to be wrong. His hand reached up slowly and gently caressed the spot on her head where a pale scar testified of the accident that caused her memory loss, all those years ago.

"After everything I just told you," he breathed, "you want me to believe that you still can't remember?"

His voice was weaker than usual and Lucy could swear he sounded like he wanted to cry, even if no one could tell just by looking at his face.

"I still have nightmares about that night," he went on, "I see Michelle dropping the grenade, I hear your scream before the explosion and I wake up to find you missing."

Lucy didn't even notice the stray tear that ran down her cheek until the commander chuckled and wiped it with his thumb. She put her hand on his wrist and squeezed it, leaning her cheek in the palm of his hand.

"Why didn't you tell me all that sooner?" she sobbed.

The commander gritted his teeth when he heard the pain in her voice, his heart sinking. He moved closer and wrapped his hands around her shoulders so she could lean her head on his shoulder. Her hands grasped his shirt, but she refused to cry for good and kept fighting her tears.

"The others didn't know if we could trust you," he explained. "You disappeared for several years, we had no way to be sure that you weren't working for them. You saw what happened with Lyon, right?"

Lucy nodded and sniffed, another tear running down her cheek. She understood where they were coming from, but she wished they had managed to trust her earlier because it sure had been hard for her to be alone. Even when she started to make friends, she was always scared of what would happen to them if she was to be unmasked by the Octagon. She had been so afraid of putting them all in danger. But it turned out that they were already fighting.

The commander wiped another tear and shifted again to look at her in the eye, lowering his voice.

"Gray told you that we kept looking for you after that, right? He also told you that we were still trying to get your father out of there and about how his friend tried to get into the Pandemonium to free Jude, didn't he?"

Lucy opened wide eyes as her mind played memories of her conversation with Gray. The boy with the shotgun went to the Pandemonium. Her stomach contracted painfully as she grabbed the commander's hands with a bit too much strength.

"It was you!" she realized. "You went there to get him out! What happened? Gray said that you failed and came back with severe injuries..."

Natsu's jaw contracted and his eyes darkened just a bit as he sighed.

"Gray needs to think more before he speaks," he grumbled. "But it's the truth. I'm sorry I couldn't bring him back at that time."

The young woman energetically shook her head, looking like a slave who'd just found the key to open the door of her cage.

"You have absolutely nothing to apologize for," she countered. "Thank you so much for going there. Now, you can just tell me where exactly it is and I'll..."

"Lucy," he interrupted her. "They caught me trying to open your father's cell when I went there. Don't worry, I was wearing a mask, but believe me it's too dangerous to break into the Pandemonium after what I've done there."

Despite her very strong feeling of inner restlessness and agitation, the young woman understood that she'd have to find another way to free her father. It would be fine, though. She would have the help of the general and the members of his organisation! Wait a minute... the commander had been caught? She frowned at him and he averted his eyes when he guessed what her next question would be.

"How did you escape? You even managed to keep your identity a secret and come to the Academy, that's impressive."

A moment of silence followed her question and the commander looked so tense Lucy was surprised his veins weren't popping under the pressure.

"I was shot four times," he finally said, eyes stuck to the floor. "I should have died there, but someone dragged me out and I woke up in a bed in a room I had never seen before. Long story short: the one that got me out took me to Erza and disappeared. She managed to save my life thanks to an old surgeon she knew, but some of my organs were irrevocably damaged. I'm not joking when I say it's too dangerous to go there alone."

As he spoke, images of her peeping session in the wardrobe came back to her: images of his powerful chest and contracted abs. She hadn't paid any attention to the small scars on his skin back then. Her eyes involuntarily fell to the hem of his shirt and she swore she could see the pale dots through the fabric. She hadn't noticed them back then, but they were all she could think about now.

"Don't look at me like that," he chuckled, "I'm fine. Anyway, we're preparing something big now. We're trying to change things, but it's gonna be dangerous. I think Gramps will want to explain things to you properly. I assume you're tired of fighting alone, no?"

Euphemism of the year.

The commander told her that they'd meet with some of the Rose's tear's leaders during the weekend and invited her to come.

"The Rose's tear? Isn't that a terrorist organization?"

Natsu grimaced at that.

"That's only what the brass want the people to think," he answered. "We're obviously not terrorists, but we raid some suspicious places owned by the Octagon and generally anonymously get in their way, so..."

Lucy nodded. Now that she had most of the pieces, everything was starting to make sense. Natsu and the others would be labelled as traitors for opposing the Octagon and associating with a terrorist organization. They were putting their lives on the line. She'd gladly join them for this fight, though, and not only because it was her best chance of saving her father.

"I'll come," she assured.

The commander nodded, his face serious again.

"Good. Another thing. If you try to disappear on me again," he warned her, "I'll track you down and drag you back by the skin of your neck."

She gulped and nodded, feeling grateful and worn out at the same time. Things would have been so much easier for her if she had told him the truth from the very beginning. Then again, she trusted him as much as he trusted her then.

Manhunt – Day 4

With their classes ending in just a few hours, all the recruits were starting to run low on patience. Lucy was no exception, but the young woman wasn't excited at the thought of the loud parties she would attend or anything like that. She would spend the weekend at the commander's place and accompany him to the meeting with the leaders of the Rose's tear. Earlier that day, she had been taken to the general's office, where she had a long and completely honest talk with the old man. Makarov backed everything the commander had said up. He hugged her and cried, promising he'd never let her go through so much pain again. Jellal, Laxus, Gildarts, Bob and Juvia turned out to be part of the Rose's tear as well, which partly explained why the latter had been allowed to fight in the Tournament.

"Erza and Mirajane only joined us a few weeks ago," the general explained, "when they understood that we were on your side. Jude and Silver were also part of our group. Your father discovered that some of the big shots of the brass were actually spies conspiring against the army and the country. He said it was too dangerous to send a message with their names, so he asked us to come to the estate. But when we got there..."

Lucy swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat and nodded. They had been too late, but it couldn't have been helped.

"We're going to get him out," the commander solemnly declared. Makarov cleared his throat and nodded.

"Exactly," he agreed. "We're almost ready to strike them, but we first need to talk with our allies to plan the attack of the Pandemonium."

They were going to meet them on Saturday night and Lucy would officially be introduced as the Rose's tear newest member. Just one more day to go. The young woman sighed as she stared out the window, frowning in worry when she saw Mira push Laxus out of her way and stomp away. The poor man had probably been trying to cheer her up, which only made her feel even angrier at herself. The night before, her team had found the butcher and chased after him, but the criminal had managed to escape. Mira felt furious and humiliated that the man who hurt her brother had managed to run from her. Laxus promised her he'd manage to catch him thanks to her team's job, but it didn't seem to make her feel any better.

"I just have a very bad feeling about this," she told Lucy. "I should have caught him. Something bad will happen because I failed..."

Lucy told her not to worry, she said that she wasn't alone and they'd eventually find and arrest that murderer, but the truth was that she had a feeling similar to Mira's. Something bad would happen now that the butcher knew they were drawing closer.

When lunch time came, Lucy was so distracted she would have kept walking forward if Loke hadn't been here to pull on her elbow and point to the door of the refectory. He laughed at her and she lightly punched his ribs. He coughed, but didn't stop laughing. She was starving, but Loke didn't take much to eat and even gave her his chocolate bar. It was pretty rare for him to give his dessert away, so she ate it before he came back to his senses. The commander was late, but he did come to eat with them. He pushed Gray away from Lucy and sat next to her, ignoring the loud protests and threats from the former.

"Hello, dumbasses," he greeted. "You aren't going to eat this, right? Then, I'm taking it."

He tried to take Lucy's chocolate bar, which actually originally belonged to Loke, but she didn't let him.

"Hands off," she growled, "that's mine."

"Liar," he countered, "you never have chocolate with you."

She shrugged and smirked when the chocolate bar was out of his reach.

"Today, I do."

"Loke gave it to her," Gray explained.

Natsu turned surprised eyes to the young man in question. He was making fun of Gajeel for some reason, looking like he was having a lot of fun. The commander tried his best to keep a neutral face, but Lucy caught the flash of worry in his eyes. She was about to interrogate him about this when the door burst open and in came the lieutenant. He quickly made his way to their group and slammed something on the table, right in front of the commander. Lucy frowned when she saw the newspaper.

"Change of plan. We need to see Gramps," Laxus declared. "The bastard's evolving."

Everyone had obviously gone quiet and Lucy sent a worried glance at the commander as the latter read the titles on the first page:

Hurricane season

Son of an army officer died in a car accident

Situation out of hand in Joya: 3 more soldiers killed in the last 24 hours

Castle under attack from pigeons

Ghost apparition in Bosco

What immediately caught her attention was the main headline, though:

Horrific murder perpetrated by John the Butcher: the victim was raped, killed and dismembered in front of a witness.

The commander cursed and dropped the newspaper, letting the others read it as he stood up to follow Laxus. Lucy couldn't believe what she was reading: this psychopath had tortured and killed his victim in front of a young girl whom he had allowed to leave afterwards. None of the recruits were allowed to go to the meeting with the officers and they had to go to all of their classes of the afternoon. Lucy kept checking her watch every minute, only to groan in annoyance at how slowly time passed when you needed it to fly. They shouldn't be wasting any time sitting around and waiting like incompetent morons when they could just go and talk to the witness. Lucy gritted her teeth. The newspaper said that the witness was thirteen years old and that had been forced to watch everything. Why in the world did he let her go?

When their classes finally ended, Lucy and her friends rushed to the commander's room and barged in. Well, it was Lucy's room as well, so she had every right to be here. Natsu was putting some clothes in a suitcase when they came in, but he didn't even look at them.

"You guys are so noisy that I heard you enter the dorm," he sighed.

Loke jumped on Lucy's bed and so did Gray and Gajeel. Lucy stood right beside the commander.

"Tell us what happened," she commanded.

The officer shook his head and released a half sigh, half laugh.

"Since when do you go ordering your commander around?"

"Fess up, man," Gray backed her up. "Something must have happened with the old bastards of the Octagon after what happened last night."

"Mira's team was out," Loke frowned in worry. "Did they put the blame on her?"

Natsu sighed once more and kept putting things in the suitcase.

"Knowing her, she already feels guilty for this," Gajeel mumbled.

"You guys..." the commander sighed.

"That's right," Lucy agreed. "This makes it all the more important to catch the butcher as quickly as we can. Let's go talk with that girl."

"Guys..."

"Right," Gray added, "and I'll go check the area where we found the body. Gajeel, you go talk with Mira, maybe she could give us some useful informa..."

"Guys," Natsu called louder. "It's useless."

The recruits stared at him with confused looks and he couldn't look at them in the eye, so he went back to closing his suitcase.

"The cops are taking care of things for now," he explained. "Laxus will patrol tonight with his team for the last time."

"The cops aren't taking care of any..."

"What do you mean 'for the last time'?"

Gajeel didn't get mad at Lucy for interrupting him since he realized that her question was more important than his useless remark. The commander contracted his jaw and kept silent for a moment. He ended up sitting on his bed and sighed before meeting their eyes.

"The Octagon thinks the Butcher's become too dangerous for us to handle alone," he declared. "They also think that we're responsible for this turn of events. Laxus will be allowed to patrol tonight, but we're not allowed to send another team to help him find the Butcher since it would be, and I quote them: 'a waste of military resources'. To put it simply, if we can't catch the Butcher tonight I'll be sent to Joya and the head of the Academy will change to be replaced by a member of the Octagon."

A deeply stunned silence ensued and none of them needed to ask if this was some kind of sick joke. They weren't even allowed to go all out for this last night of hunting. This decision was beyond ridiculous!

"They're kicking you out of their way and aren't even trying to be subtle about it," Gajeel groaned.

The commander nodded.

"I know. You should pack your things too, Lucy, we're leaving soon."

The young woman frowned at him. How could he even think about going back home to enjoy the weekend with what was happening? She gritted her teeth and sat on the suitcase, arms crossed over her chest.

"What the hell are you..."

"You're not going to Joya," she declared. "I refuse."

The commander arched a brow, but couldn't help the amused smile that eventually appeared on his face.

"That's good," he chuckled. "I'll just say this to the Octagon, then: I'm not leaving because one of my recruits, who's also a girl and a fugitive, doesn't want me to."

"They're obviously being unfair," she argued, "they only want you to die there. They're preparing something and we can't let them have their way!"

"Well said, blondie," Gajeel approved.

The commander stretched his back as he stood back up and smirked at the recruits.

"Of course they are," he said, "I'm dangerous and they know that. Gramps knows it's impossible to catch the Butcher in time, but he won't let me go to Joya. Which is why we have to leave quickly and get ready for tomorrow's meeting. We have to warn them that shit is going down."

While Lucy had to swallow the lump that had formed in her throat thinking of the merciless fights that were to come, Loke arched an amused brow at Gajeel.

"Why are you smiling, you creep?" he asked.

"I'll finally get to break a few bones," the punk grinned.

"That's all?" Natsu asked as he dropped Lucy's bag in the trunk of his car.

She nodded and yawned.

"Yes, that's all."

The commander arched a brow and made fun of her when he saw how tired she looked.

"Nights are for sleeping, you know."

"Yeah, but the naughty girl spends her nights fantasizing about your naked body," her inner voice scoffed. "Makes it kinda hard to sleep when you're lying half naked right beside her..."

"You snore," Lucy countered.

"I don't."

"You do," she lied.

The commander sat behind the wheel and Lucy opened the door to sit beside him when she heard a familiar voice call her name. She turned around and stepped away from the car when she recognized Erza. The doctor seemed to hesitate, staring at her expectantly. Lucy understood that her friend was worried about their argument from the other day, she wasn't sure if they were reconciled with each other or not. The young woman smiled at the redhead and the latter smiled back, walking forward to pull her friend in a tight hug.

"I still have work, so I can't go home now," the doctor explained, "but I'll definitely come to see you tomorrow."

Lucy chuckled and nodded.

"You don't have to," she tried to reassure her friend, "I'll be fine with the commander."

Erza glanced at the man in question over Lucy's shoulder and grabbed her friend's hand to lead her farther away from him. She frowned and lowered her voice to make sure Lucy would be the only one to hear her, ignoring Natsu's suspicious look.

"I'm not only worried about the butcher," the redhead whispered. "I know that Natsu will do whatever it takes to protect you, but no one's going to protect him."

Lucy frowned even more at this.

"Protect him from who? The Octagon? They gave us until tomorrow to find the butcher, they won't come for him toni..."

"Lucy," Erza interrupted, "you heard about this car accident that killed the son of an officer, right? This young man was supposed to integrate the Octagon in place of one of their eldest members."

The recruit understood immediately what the redhead was warning her about, but it wasn't like it was a secret for any of them that the members of the Octagon were willing to use any possible way to get what they want. The attack of the estate was still fresh in her memories.

"You want me to tell you that I'll protect him if they show up?"

The doctor sighed and shook her head in defeat.

"I'm sure you'd try even if I didn't ask you," she said. "That's not what I'm asking you. Natsu can protect himself from the others, but..."

Erza hesitated and glanced at the commander one more time, he was starting to look a bit worried. Lucy had made some pretty dumb decisions in the past, so it might be hard to believe, but she was no idiot. She had quickly put the pieces of the commander's past together and was pretty sure that the thing he often injected himself with was some kind of derivative of adrenaline that forced his body to function at full capacity despite the wounds he got when he went to the Pandemonium. Such a thing would eventually kill him someday, she knew. Did Erza want her to stop him from getting these injections? She gulped.

"I'll do my best," she said.

Erza smiled sadly and hugged her friend a second time.

"I hope you'll do better than me," she laughed humorlessly before raising her voice to talk to Natsu. "I'll come by tomorrow. You better behave like a gentleman in the meantime."

"Obviously," the commander mumbled.

The doctor waved at them with a bright smile and walked away. Lucy sat in the passenger seat and fastened her seatbelt while the commander sent wary glances her way.

"Come on," he pushed, "I know she said something about me. What did she say?"

"She didn't say anything about you," the blonde retorted.

"Bullshit, you both kept lancing at me while talking."

"We were looking at the car," Lucy countered. "Erza was telling me to be careful because you're a dangerous driver. I'm hungry, can we make a quick stop to eat somewhere?"

The commander started the engine and drove out of the Academy, smirking.

"Only if you tell me what you really were talking about."

Despite what he said, the commander still drove to a shopping mall where they found a snack bar that sold inexpensive hamburgers and french fries. He paid for her meal and she even managed to drag him to the mall's music store after they were done eating. She stayed there for one whole hour while the commander waited outside and the sellers had to ask her to leave so they could close the store. Before she exited the store, her eyes were drawn to something shining weakly at her feet. Someone had dropped a silver lighter. The young woman picked it up and put it in her pocket, she'd give it at someone at the reception or something.

"I couldn't choose only one, so I didn't take any," she explained when she joined the commander.

"You made me wait all this time for nothing?"

"Yup."

They were walking toward the exit, Lucy ignoring Natsu's complaints, when the young woman saw the wooden sign indicating the entrance to the toilets.

"I won't be long," she promised.

The commander sighed as he watched her go. He should be home already, watching TV and eating crisps. While he was daydreaming about his couch and food, someone bumped into his shoulder and fell. He helped the man up, waving his apologies off with a distracted: ''sure, no problem.''. He yawned when twenty minutes passed and Lucy still wasn't back. What was she expecting? They were in a pretty large shopping mall, of course she'd have to wait for ages to go to the toilets. As the young man was on the verge of falling asleep while standing, something suddenly detonated outside. This efficiently woke the commander up. He ran to the glass doors leading to the underground parking lot and ran outside. It took him a second to locate the source of the noise and he frowned when he did. A garbage dumpster had fallen on a car. Natsu looked up and saw that the upper level was reachable via a circular ramp. The dumpster had probably slipped between two pillars and fallen down. Fortunately, no one had been hurt and the firefighters quickly got here, so Natsu went back inside to wait for Lucy as soon as they arrived.

Lucy heard the detonation, but didn't manage to locate it as the commander did. She gave up on the toilets and backtracked. She didn't find the commander and a lot of people were running around in confusion and worry. The young woman decided that she should try to go out and remembered that the underground parking lot was pretty close by. A small hand grabbed hers as she started to walk and she turned surprised eyes to the small girl that was holding her back.

"Sorry," the little girl said. "Your friend with the weird pink hair asked me to wait for you here. He said he's waiting for you in his car in the alley behind the mall, near the delivery zone."

Lucy's eyes widened in surprise. It wasn't really like the commander to leave her like that and have a little girl wait for her.

"Oh," Lucy smiled sweetly at the girl. "Thank you, miss. Are you alone? Where are your parents?"

The little girl smiled back, though, it looked forced to Lucy.

"They're with your friend," she answered. "They wanted to make sure that he wasn't trying to kidnap me."

"I see," the young woman chuckled. "Well, let's go find them, then."

The little girl never let go of Lucy's hand and even gripped it a bit tighter when they reached the other side of the mall. The delivery zone was a few feet on the right side of the exit door, delimited by high wooden palisades.

"Your friend's in his car," the little girl explained, "behind the zone."

The sky was completely dark and the weather seemed even colder than usual. Lucy shivered and frowned when she realized that they were completely alone on this side of the mall. The sound of a purring engine reached her ears and she followed the little girl toward the palisades that were hiding the delivery zone. Lucy almost sighed in relief when she saw that the car was indeed Natsu's and the girl's parents were here. The woman gasped when she saw them approach and the man opened one of the car doors to help another little girl out of the vehicle. They both hugged her and Lucy thought the woman seemed to be crying. The girl that was holding her hand let go of it and ran to her family, hugging the other little girl and crying loudly. Lucy frowned, confused.

"How touching," a deep voice sang from behind her.

The young woman spun around and instinctively sent a roundhouse kick that should have broken a few ribs if it hadn't been blocked. The man laughed when he saw her glare at him, but didn't let go of her leg.

"Now, that's one freaking feisty reaction!" he exclaimed before punching her in the face. "I love it! Alright, guys, thanks for your help. You can leave now."

The girls' parents didn't need to be told twice. They picked the children up and ran away, crying apologies to Lucy. The young woman was standing back up, hand going to the back of her belt.

"They're abandoning you without even a second of hesitation," the man laughed. "How mean, and they say I'm the monster. Maybe I should have killed them too."

He grabbed Lucy's hair and forced her up, blocking her hand when she tried to stab him.

"What can I say?" he chuckled. "I'm too nice. See? You attacked me twice and I still haven't killed you, that's how nice I am."

Lucy noticed only then the gun he had in his left hand and gritted her teeth when he told her to get in the car.

"How did you get the key?"

The man chuckled and pushed her toward the car, his gun pointed at her head.

"He gave it to me," he snorted. "Now, hurry up. I'm a busy man."

Hand on the handle of the car door, Lucy hesitated and looked back at him.

"You're the serial killer we've been chasing, right?" she asked. "John the Butcher."

"My real name's Dominik," he smirked. "Pleasure meeting you. Now, get in the car if you don't want me to..."

Dominik never finished his sentence. He froze for a second and smirked once more. He forced Lucy to sit in the car and handcuffed her to the inner handle.

"We've got company," he laughed. "I'm going to go say hello."

The butcher opened the trunk of Natsu's car and took out a spider wrench. Lucy frowned and watched in confusion as Dominik went to hide behind a palisade, wrench at the ready.

"Look at that," the butcher snickered, "the spider's gonna catch the fly."

Less than ten seconds later, Lucy watched in horror as the commander came running into view. The butcher swung the wrench with all his strength and the device hit the young man right in the head. The shock opened a large gash on his eyebrow and would without a doubt leave a nasty bruise for weeks. He lost consciousness on the spot and the butcher continued to swing his new weapon while whistling and laughing sadistically.

"Damn, I was sure that hit would have beheaded him! He's one sturdy bastard!"

It took everything Lucy had not to scream and thrash around to get rid of the handcuffs. The young woman stared at the injured man with wide, teary eyes. He had blood all over his face and the butcher was dragging his body by the feet toward the back of the car. Dominik dropped him in the trunk of the car and slammed it shut. When he came to sit next to Lucy, the young woman grabbed her headrest to support her weight and kicked him in the head. He fell out of the vehicle and groaned in pain. Lucy heard insults and whining as she opened the door and desperately tried to break the inner handle.

"You shouldn't have done that," Dominik growled in her ear.

She turned around and was hit in the head with a hard object that instantly knocked her out.

Lucy groaned in pain when the bag was roughly removed, allowing her to see the place she had been brought to.

"Welcome to your new castle," the man snorted.

"Oh yeah," he chuckled, "he tried to save you when he understood what was happening. I killed him."

Lucy ignored him and focused on the commander instead. He was lying on an outstretched tarpaulin, facing the wall. He wasn't dead, she could see his chest rise and fall with each breath, but he still needed to be treated. She mentally cursed when she noticed that one of her hands had been handcuffed to one of the racks. Dominik cocked his head to the side and arched a brow at her.

"What? No crying or begging? Come on, I didn't bring you here to be bored out of my mind. Do something. You guys have been hunting me for days and you finally found me, you should be happy. Oh, and I know you're not a guy. I felt you up while you were sleeping."

Lucy ignored him and closed her eyes. She didn't want to beg for him to let Natsu see a doctor, it would most probably have the opposite effect. But she'd put her injured friend in danger if she angered the butcher. What to do? Think, Lucy, think!

"You already know what to do," her inner voice declared.

She slowly opened her eyes and stared at the unconscious man in the corner of the basement. She knew what to do. The butcher followed her gaze and smirked in victory.

"You know I didn't really kill him," he said, walking toward the commander, "but he's in a pretty bad condition right now. It wouldn't take much to finish him." He turned around and playfully swung the spider wrench around. "You'll have to be very nice to me if you want me to spare him."

Lucy gulped and raised her chin. She nodded and the butcher's smirk widened.

"Sweet."

The butcher dragged his heavy body toward her and dropped the wrench a few feet away from her. She saw he still had at least three knives at his belt, but he unfastened it as well and let it fall to the floor.

"If you try anything funny," the butcher warned as he unbuttoned his pants, "or try to resist even a little, I'll cut all of his fingers one at a time. Then, I'll do the same with his toes, ears and so on."

Lucy nodded. She didn't intend to let him reach the commander ever again.

"Good girl," he purred. "Much weaker than I expected, but I'm horny, so you'll have to do."

He leaned forward and Lucy gritted her teeth and closed her eyes when she felt his tongue on the skin of her neck. It felt disgusting, it was just like having a giant snail sliding on her skin. She clenched her hands into tight fists when he forced the giant snail into her mouth and she had to use all of her self control not to bite it off. When the butcher felt confident enough to drop his guard and start exploring the rest of her body, her free hand reached out to grab one of the largest jars. This one contained what she thought were a liver, a stomach and other things she didn't want to recognize. It was so heavy she almost accidently dropped it right away. The young woman did manage to smash the jar on the butcher's head, though. He stumbled backwards like a drunk person and whined in pain and confusion. Lucy didn't waste any second, she grabbed him by the collar of his dirty shirt and pushed him down.

"You should have handcuffed my right hand," she growled.

She punched his nose hard enough to break it and kept punching him to knock him out. She gave a little whimper of pain when one of her punches hurt her hand and the man took this opportunity to push her off and stumbled toward his belt. He spat blood and lost his balance a few times before grabbing one of the large knives.

"Bitch," he growled, blood still pouring down from his nose and lips. "I'm gonna kill you for this. Slowly, piece after piece."

Lucy got ready to fight him off, but the man froze and smirked widely. He took a step back and laughed.

"You aren't scared of me one bit, huh? Well, you're gonna be scared shitless in a second."

Lucy's eyes widened in horror when the butcher turned around to stumble toward the commander.

"I'm gonna start with his fingers, as promised..."

"Wait!" Lucy exclaimed. "Are you that scared of a tied up little girl? Get back here, bastard, I'm the one who punched you!"

"Hehe, starting to shit yourself, now?" the butcher knelt by the commander and took his left wrist. "Look closely. I want you to see everything and remember that it happened entirely because of you."

Dominik placed the blade of the knife against the commander's index finger, but stopped and smirked at her as he dropped his hand.

"I've got a better idea," he explained as he shifted around Natsu.

He pushed the commander so that the latter was lying on his back and unbuttoned his pants.

"I can't wait to see the face he'll make when he wakes to find his cock's gone," the butcher guffawed.

Lucy freaked out, things weren't going according to her plan at all. Then, she noticed the strong smell of chemicals. It took her about five seconds to identify the solution: formalin. There was formalin on the floor and on the butcher's clothes. Without thinking, the young woman took the lighter she had found earlier out of her pocket and lit it.

"Hey," she called.

Her voice was firm, but calm and it surprised Dominik enough to make him turn around and glance at her. He immediately saw the lighter in her hand and understood what she had in mind.

"You're gonna kill the three of us if you do this," he warned.

The young woman shrugged.

"Maybe," she conceded. "We'll have to see."

"Wait a minute," the serial killer countered, slowly standing back up. "We can talk about this, right?"

Lucy noticed the subtle steps he took to approach her as discreetly as possible. She mentally congratulated herself for this brilliant new idea. Now, the commander wouldn't be hurt by the fire. Dominik told her that he was ready to surrender and that she could put the lighter away.

"Don't be foolish," he said, "you're gonna burn too if you drop that. There's no need to go that far, I surrender."

It was only a diversion, Lucy knew. She was pretty sure the butcher was trying to get close enough to stab her with his knife, or at least throw it her way hoping to get her head or heart. She didn't care. She took a deep breath in, steeling her mind. Anybody can imagine that being burnt alive felt like you were walking through hell, but she'd spend the rest of her life walking through the nine circles of hell if it meant that the commander would live on.

A millisecond before she dropped the lighter, the door of the basement burst open and a dozen of men dressed in military uniforms entered, guns pointed at the butcher.

"Drop that, fucker," someone ordered from behind the group.

Taking a closer look at their uniforms, Lucy realized that they weren't real military uniforms. The men guarding the door moved to the side to make way for a woman. She was tall, her body had harmonious curves and her long dark hair was pulled up in a loose ponytail. She was wearing black combat boots, cargo trousers and a skin tight black tank top that disappeared under a long black coat. Beside her stood Gray, hands in the pockets and looking completely relaxed despite the situation. He smiled at her when he saw her.

"You can put that thing away now," he said.

Lucy did.

"How did you find us?"

Gray snorted.

"That idiot had taken a girl hostage to trap you," he explained. "Before leaving, she called the cops and left the phone in the car so that they could locate you. We intercepted the signal and hurried here to get to you before the cops could. Anyway, why's that idiot unconscious?"

She heard her friend make fun of the unconscious commander, but didn't really pay him any attention anymore. She was focused on the woman that was undoubtedly the leader of the group. Gray kneeled beside her and easily opened the cuffs.

"Are you deaf?" the woman sounded irritated. "I hate to repeat myself, so drop your toothpick already."

Dominik glared at her, visibly not used to being talked to in such a way. He glanced at the men around him and gritted his teeth. Less than a second later, the cornered criminal pounced at the woman. Before any of her men could react, she parried the knife, knocked him on the chin with a striking uppercut and broke his left knee with a furious kick.

"So yeah," Gray casually said, "this is my sister, Ultear. She's our boss."

"Nice to meet you," Ultear nodded at the blonde recruit. "We called Makarov on our way here, he should be here with a team soon enough."

Lucy gaped at her and Ultear pointed out that she looked like an adorable, but stupid fish.

"Well, let's go," the leader of the Rose's tear ordered. "We don't want to meet the cops today and I'm starving. Lucy, tell the incompetent moron that I said hi when he wakes up. See you guys tomorrow."

With that, she left as quickly as she had come. Makarov arrived a bit before the cops, which meant that the Academy was officially responsible for the capture of John the Butcher. Erza slapped the commander awake and hugged him when she saw the wound on his eyebrow. Natsu refused to go to the hospital, so the redhead drove him and Lucy to the commander's home. She helped him get settled in his room, but he protested.

"The room's for Lucy," he yawned. "I'm taking the couch."

The blonde woman had no difficulty forcing him to lie on his bed and threatened to call Loke over to help her nurse him if he resisted. Erza didn't leave before giving Lucy specific instructions to take care of the commander's injury and a bag of medical supplies.

"Don't hesitate to call me if anything happens," she said for the hundredth time.

"I will," Lucy promised. "Thanks."

The redhead hesitated on the doorstep and sent a curious look to the blonde.

"I know this might be a bit much to ask," she started, "but I think it would be best if you slept with him tonight."

Lucy froze, but didn't interrupt Erza when she went on.

"The injury in itself isn't that serious, it's the location that's a problem. Head injuries are dangerous for many reasons and I definitely think he should have stayed at the hospital for the night."

When Erza finally left, Lucy locked the door behind her and walked to the bathroom. She brushed her teeth and put her pajama on before walking back to the living room. His place was pretty comfy from what she had seen so far, but she wouldn't get to explore more of it until the next day. Because she'd be spending the night with the commander.

Natsu's bedroom was even simpler than she had expected: a large bed, a wardrobe and a chest of drawers.

"Well, well, well," her inner voice sang, "seems like you'll have to share the bed, huh?"

Lucy gulped. It wasn't like she would do anything inappropriate to him, she was just nursing him... She hesitatingly lifted the covers and slipped into the bed for the night.

End of chapter 21

Hello everybody! I'm sorry for being so late, I really did my best to write this as quickly as I could! Hopefully, the upcoming chapter will be posted much sooner!

I received a lot of messages from readers telling me that they love the story and that they'll keep supporting me and I wanted to thank all of you for your kind words! You guys are seriously adorable, your reviews always make my day and bring a smile to my lips when I'm down!

Popularity Contest Result:

1st: Natsu

2nd: Lucy

3rd: Loke

4th: Gray

Questions/Answers

Q (fromMsMJ): I don't really get how Lucy expected to lay low and still make it to the elite squad, though. Isn't it obvious you need to impress to reach that kind of level?

A: It could have worked for her if she had only impressed her instructors. Of course, things couldn't have been that easy, haha!

Q (fromshrinemaiden05): Will there be a reveal that she is the girl that he was dancing with at the party?

A: Something like that. Maybe.

Q (from4evrDorkly17): why was Natsu staring at Luc's collarbone at the time when he pulled her aside during the party? Was it jut his tipsy mind being slightly dazed or was it something more… personal?

A: Both actually. He was tipsy, but he had a more personal reason as well. I think I have a collar bone fetish.

Q (from Rachel Maddison): do you have an updating schedule that I missed or you just haven't posted one or set one up?

A: Sorry, I don't have a schedule because I know perfectly well that I wouldn't be able to respect it!

Q (from JinxedPanda4Life): Is the Butcher and Kyuoka the same person?

A: You got your answer earlier!

That's it for today! Once again, I'm really sorry for the much too long wait! I'll do my best so this doesn't happen again!

Much love to you all!