Slave Ship
Wendy was still holding Lucy's hand, when she felt Lucy begin to move. Slowly, Lucy moved to a sitting position and looked around.
"Wendy, we were looking for you! Where are we? Do you know what is going on here?" she asked the younger girl.
Wendy looked at her, "I am so glad you are able to move, I was so worried! How did they get you? They pretended they needed our help and then attacked us with the same binding spell they used on you."
"Erza and I went to the village where you did the job to look for you. When we realised something had happened, Erza went to get Gray and Natsu and once she had left, these people grabbed me. It was like they knew she had gone," Lucy said. "But Erza and the others will be back there by now, they will find us, we just need to stick together until they get here."
Carla looked through the bars, "Do you have your keys?"
Lucy patted at her belt, "No, I don't know where they are, if they were taken I need to get them back! But I could not use them with this stupid collar on anyway."
"I know, I can't do anything either and Carla is stuck in her human form." Wendy said.
Lucy leant back against the side of the ship, "We are moving, so it is going to be harder for them to find us," she glanced at Wendy, "Why are you not suffering with your motion sickness?"
"I don't know, maybe it is because they are suppressing my magic but I feel ok. Well as ok as I can feel after being kidnapped," Wendy said.
They pair fell silent as the door down the corridor opened and the red-haired women appeared.
"Good to see you are awake blondie," she said to Lucy. "Right, this is what is going to happen. You will follow all instructions to the letter, if you don't you will be punished. I need you unmarked but we have ways of making you hurt that won't leave marks, am I clear?"
There was no answer from the cells and so she yelled,
"I said, AM I CLEAR?"
Lucy and Wendy nodded, realising as one that their best bet was to play along until they found a way to get out of this mess.
"Better, my name is Marielle and you belong to me, until we reach the slave markets, then you will be sold to the person who offers me the most money! What they do with you after that, is entirely up to them. You two," Marielle pointed at Lucy and Wendy, "Are going to make me a great deal of money. So, this is what is going to happen now, you will be bathed and you will wear the clothes that I give you. When we reach the slave market, you will do as you are told and you will not try anything stupid. You follow the rules, life will be easier for you … well for now. You disobey me, your friend will suffer," Marielle pointed at Carla, "She is not worth as much to me so for every time you break a rule, I will take it out on her."
Marielle looked at the three of them to make sure what she had just said had sunk in, "Good, someone will be here soon to take you for a bath."
With a last look at the three of them, Marielle turned on her heel and walked back the way she came.
Wendy moved closer to Carla, wrapping her arms around her friend, "I won't let her hurt you. I will do whatever she says."
Lucy nodded in agreement, "We will do as she says for now, we are not going to risk her hurting you."
Carla smiled slightly, "Thank you but if the chance comes for one of you to escape, you should take it. Don't worry about me, I will be fine."
Wendy pulled Carla closer, "No, you are my best friend. If we can't all escape, we stay together."
The door down the corridor opened again and one of the men who brought them to the ship opened the doors to the cells,
"Right, lets get you to the bath, don't try anything or your friend will regret it," he smirked.
With that he pushed them down the corridor, towards the bathing area and the next part of their nightmare.
Erza, Gray and Natsu
The three wizards stood outside the inn, talking about the information that they had just gotten from the innkeeper.
"In some ways, it is not really their fault, I mean they are protecting their families," Erza said.
"Like hell," Natsu growled, "They could have come to a guild for help, they did not have to send other people to the slavers. Because of them, Lucy, Wendy and Carla could be anywhere by now."
"Getting angry with them is a waste of time now, hothead," Gray said to Natsu, "We need to concentrate our efforts on finding the girls."
"Gray is right," Erza said, "The innkeeper gave us a rough idea where the slavers have their ship, we need to head over there and, with luck, they will still be there."
"And if they are not?" Natsu said.
"Then we keep looking until we find them," Erza said "This is bigger than just Wendy, Lucy and Carla. How many other women have they sold? We need to get our friends back but we also need to make sure no one else ever has to go through what they are going through. We need to destroy them and anyone who works with them!"
With a final look back at the inn, Erza led the way out of the village and towards the coast line she believed the ship would be docked at, Happy flying ahead to make sure they did not come across any surprise problems on the way.
Slaver Ship
Lucy, Carla and Wendy arrived back in their cells, shivering from their bath. It had not really been a bath, so much as cold water being poured over their heads. They had been given towels to wrap themselves in and were then led back to their cells. They had all been put back into one cell this time, which was a comfort. A few minutes after they arrived back, Marielle had appeared and thrown a pile of clothes into the cell.
"Get dressed, we arrive in an hour or so and you better be ready."
With a final glare at the three of them, Marielle walked back to the main deck. She stood looking out across the water. She really hoped she made as much money as she thought she would this trip. She was tired and sick of sailing and kidnapping people. She wanted a break. A chance to do something less stressful. She looked back at her crew, they were a bunch on imbeciles but they were good at what they did. Marielle was not a sensitive woman and she had absolutely no qualms about selling people into slavery but sometimes, she wondered what it would be like to have a normal life. Then she realised she liked the money too much, and went straight back to the slave trade. 'Hell, who am I kidding,' she thought to herself, no matter how much she made this trip, she would be back out on the hunt as soon as the tide was in her favour. This was her life work and she was good at it!
Back down in the cells, Lucy was picking through the pile of clothes that Marielle had thrown onto the floor. She looked over at Wendy and said,
"These are not so much clothes as bits of fabric!"
Wendy picked up one of the outfits and her face turned bright red.
"I can't wear this Lucy! It is awful!"
Lucy walked over and out her arm around the younger girl, trying to comfort her.
"We will work something out. Don't worry, I am sure we can get it on you in a way that does not look as revealing as it could," Lucy said, although holding the fabric in her hand she did not look convinced!
Wendy had stood quietly throughout the conversation, but now she spoke,
"Why are there chains?" she asked.
"I assume we are supposed to wear them," Lucy said, "I mean we are slaves after all. Come on we better get dressed or that woman will take it out on Carla and we don't want that."
Wendy nodded and picked up an outfit, which was basically a bikini. She put on the bottoms and the looked at the top, trying to work out how it went on. She looked over at Lucy who had put the piece of fabric round her neck, crossed it over her chest and tied it behind her back. Lucy glanced down at the chest,
"Jeez, it barely covers anything, this is trashy as hell!" she muttered.
Wendy was wrapping her own top round her body, trying to make sure as much of her upper body was covered as possible, Carla helping her to move fabric into place whilst putting on her own outfit. One they, were dressed, Lucy picked up the pile of chains, trying to work out where they went. She walked over and stood in front of Wendy,
"I think we will have to help each other with these!" she said.
Lucy fastened a cuff around Wendy's neck, just below her magic restriction collar and wound the chains around her arms, fastening a further cuff around her wrist. When she had finished with Wendy she did the same for Carla and Carla helped her with hers. Wendy was standing with her arms crossed over her body, looking like she was about to cry. Lucy hugged her to her,
"I will be ok, I am here with you and the others will be looking for us. Just be strong, we can get through this together, ok?" Lucy smiled reassuringly.
Wendy smiled slightly and nodded. Just then the door opened and Marielle appeared, looking them up and down.
"Looking good ladies, let's go, your audience awaits!"
With that she nodded at Jax and Heath who were standing behind her. The connected chains to the neck cuffs worn, and led Lucy, Wendy and Carla off the ship and into the chaos that was the slave market.
Erza, Gray and Natsu
The three Fairy Tail wizards arrived at the cove they had been directed to and looked around. There was no sign of a ship but looking around, there were signs that people had been there recently. On the beach, there was the remains of a fire and bit of rubbish were strewn around all over. Erza walked over to the fire and held her hand over it, feeling a slight warmth.
"This has not been out all that long. We cannot have missed them by much." She said.
Natsu kicked at the sand in frustration, "Now what?" he asked
Gray stood looking out at the water, "Happy could you go for a look? See if you can see a ship? If they have not been gone that long, we might be able to get an idea of what direction they are heading in at least."
Erza nodded, "Yes, that is our best plan at the moment. Of course, we cannot know for sure it is the right ship but there should not be too many big ships in this area."
Happy nodded his head and with a cry of "Aye Sir," launched into the air and went looking for ships. Erza, Gray and Natsu sat down on the sand, there was nothing they could do now but wait.