Later that night

Lucy was exhausted as she arrived back into her room. She had danced for hours, her only break when one of the other girls took a turn. Her feet hurt and all she wanted to do was collapse into bed. Dana had escorted her back to her room and told her to rest, before leaving, locking the door behind her. Lucy sat on her bed and waited. A few minutes later, Loki appeared, casually leaning against the wall.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Lucy said

Loki shrugged, "I was checking up on you and how could I resist coming to watch you dance in that outfit?"

"You perv! I am in trouble here! They kidnapped me and now I am having to dance and I don't know what they did with Wendy and Carla and no-one knows where I am!" the words flowing out of Lucy like water.

Loki looked at Lucy, "Relax, I can get you out of here, it is not a problem."

Lucy frowned, "I can't just leave, Dana and the others need our help. They are being held here as slaves, we can't leave them here and this guy needs to pay for what he is doing to these women!"

"Well, what do you want me to do?" Loki said

"Go to the Guild, tell them where I am. I will be ok until you get back with the others and then we can take stop this old perv once and for all. Then we can go get Wendy and Carla, we can't leave them!" Lucy said

Loki frowned, " I could just take them all out myself. We don't need the others but if that is what you want, your wish is my command!"

"I know you could but if the other's are here we can get information about where the slavers are and they will know who bought Wendy and Carla. Once we get that, we can all go rescue them! And I want them to bring me some damn clothes!" Lucy said.

Loki pushed himself away from the wall, straightening his suit sleeves.

"I dunno, you look amazing in those clothes but if you insist, we will bring clothes," he chuckled and winked once more before disappearing to go back to Fairy Tail, leaving Lucy alone once again.

Fairy Tail

After Happy had returned to the cove to say that he had not been able to find the ship carrying Lucy, Wendy and Carla, Erza and the rest had decided that they needed to return to the Guild Hall to regroup and see if anyone had any information about where the slave markets may be. It was possible someone in the guild had worked a job that had dealt with slavers in the past and would be able to give them somewhere to look. Also, they wanted to let Makarov know what had happened.

There was a sense of anger and frustration laying over the guild as everyone tried to process what had happened. So far, no one had been able to pin point anywhere that may have a slave market but Levi was currently looking through books for any mention of a town with a history of dealing with the buying and selling of slaves. Makarov was pacing backwards and forwards, muttering under his breath and people were giving him space to calm down.

Ezra was sat with Gray and Natsu, trying to work out what to do next. They felt that they had run up against a dead end and until they had a clue where to look, they didn't know what to do. After they had left the cove, they had quickly returned to the inn to find out whether the innkeeper knew where the market was, but even the threat of Natsu burning him to death had not made him change his answer and they had reluctantly concluded that he did not know where the market was.

Natsu slammed his hands on the table, "We need to be doing something, we can't just sit here whilst Lucy, Wendy and Carla are missing!"

"Natsu, we all feel the same but until we have more information there is nothing we can do," Erza said gently.

Natsu growled and hit the table again. As he did, the door to the guild opened and Loki strolled in, heading over to the table where Erza, Gray and Natsu were sitting.

"I know where Lucy is, we need to go get her ... Oh and she said to bring her some clothes!" Loki said as the others looked at him stunned.

"Back up a bit," Erza said, "How did you find Lucy and how did you know she was missing in the first place?"

Loki shrugged, "I check up on her now and then and she was wearing very little clothing and dancing so obviously, I had to find out what she was doing. You know, get a closer look at the situation."

Erza raised an eyebrow, "Of course! Anyway, where do we find her? Are Wendy and Carla with her?"

Loki shook his head and filled the others in with the things that Lucy had told him. "I can take you to Lucy but from there, we will need more information to find Carla and Wendy. Lucy did not see who bought them and does not even know if they were sold together or seperately like she was."

Natsu stood up, "Well what are we waiting for? Let's go get Lucy!"

Wendy and Carla's Nightmare

Wendy watched in horror as Lucy was led off the stage and delivered to the person who had bought her. She looked at Carla and edged closer to her, trying to find some comfort in this situation. Marielle walked over towards her.

"Ok sweetheart, it's your turn," Marielle got hold of Wendy's arm and walked her to the front of the stage. Wendy froze, her fear making her unable to move and so Marielle forcibly walked her back and forwards across the front of the stage as the bids were shouted. After what seemed like an eternity, Wendy heard Marielle shout "sold" and she was pushed towards the steps and down towards the person who had bought her, tears streaming down her face.

Wendy tried to look back as she was pushed through the crowd, desperately trying to make eye contact with Carla but they crowd was too thick and before she knew it, she was pushed into the back of a wagon and the door slammed shut behind her.

Wendy sat alone in the wagon, wrapping her arms around herself. She flinched and pushed herself back against the wall as the door opened again. However, she relaxed and started to cry in relief as Carla was pushed into the wagon.

"I thought I would never see you again," Wendy sobbed throwing herself into Carla's arms.

"Did you really think I would leave you child?" Carla said, gently stroking Wendy's hair.

The wagon started to move and, in the back, the two friends clung to each other, taking solace from the fact that, for now, they were together.

The Rescue

Following the surprise appearance of Loki, Erza and the rest had begun to make plans for the rescue of Lucy. They had hoped that Carla and Wendy would be with her but rescuing Lucy would be a start. Loki had shown them on a map where the estate of the man holding Lucy was located and plans were being made about how to get there and the best way to deal with things once they were there. Natsu was determined on a go in and destroy everything approach but Erza was hoping to be more subtle so that they could get the information they needed without alerting any slavers in the area that there was a problem before they got a chance to talk to them!

It was quite a distance to the area where Lucy was being held but Loki assured them that he was capable of getting them there using his powers. It would save three days of hard travel over rough terrain and Natsu had not been looking forward to three days on a train or in a wagon! Once they had the basics of a plan in place, Erza stood up.

"Right, let's get going. Loki, get us to the area but not too close. We need to regroup once we get there and assess our plan." Erza said

Loki nodded and got ready to move them. Half of the guild had volunteered to come with them as everyone took it personally that members of the guild had been kidnapped but it has been decided that only Erza, Natsu, Gray and Happy would accompany Erza and Loki. Too many people would just draw attention to the rescue effort and could lead to Lucy being harmed by the man who bought her. Two hours after Loki had arrived at the Guild, the rescue party stood at the edge of a small area of woodland, looking at the grand estate of the man who thought he had the right to make women his slaves. Erza stood looking at the house, she would make him pay. As a woman, she was horrified that other women were being forced to satisfy the whims and perversions of a man. As a friend, she wanted to destroy the man who were forcing Lucy to degrade herself for his pleasure.

"We need to find a way in where we will not draw too much attention to ourselves," Erza said, "Loki can you go inside and let Lucy know we are here if possible?"

Loki nodded and prepared to leave. As he did, Natsu grabbed his arm.

"And give her these," he said, handing Loki the belt holding Lucy's spirit keys. "She will probably need them at some point."

Loki looked at the keys, "She has a magic restriction collar on but I will keep hold of them until we can take that off. It would alert them that something was up if I took it off before you get there."

Erza nodded, "That is true. Right, go tell her we are coming and then find us a door where we can get in without being noticed."

Levi gave a final nod and disappeared, leaving the others standing, staring at the house and waiting for their sign to move.

Lucy

Lucy was still sitting on her bed when Loki reappeared. She jumped slightly, lost in her own thoughts. Loki smiled at her,

"Sorry I didn't mean to startle you. Erza, Gray and Natsu are outside. They asked me to come let you know they are here. Oh, and to give you these," he handed over her keys.

Lucy looked at the keys in her hand and started to cry, "I thought they were lost!"

"Natsu had them, he must have found them somewhere. You can't use them until we get that collar off but at least you have them. You need to leave the collar on for a while until we are ready to spring you!" Loki said.

Lucy nodded and handed them back to Loki, "Look after them for me, until I can use them."

Loki took back the keys as they heard someone approaching the door to Lucy's room, "I am going to go let the others in, hold tight Lucy, we are coming for you."

Loki disappeared again as Dana opened the door, "Time to go again Lucy, Klaus can't sleep so he wants entertaining."

Lucy stood up and left the room with Dana, she smiled to herself as she walked back to the hall. Klaus might not be able to sleep for a long time once Erza and the others had finished with him. For the first time since this nightmare had began, Lucy felt like there was light at the end of the tunnel. Her friends were here, everything would be ok!