The end of Lucy's Nightmare

Lucy was dancing, swirling in time with the music when the curtains behind her burst open and the fire storm that was Natsu burst in. For a few seconds, no one reacted as everyone tried to process exactly what had just happened but then realisation kicked in and the guards moved to protect Klaus, who was cowering on his cushions. Erza, Gray and Loki followed in close behind Natsu, forming a line front of Lucy. Lucy stood still, tears of relief flowing down her face.

"I knew you guys would come for me," she sobbed.

Erza pulled her into a hug and said

"We are family, we would never have left you here with this old pervert! Stand still for a minute, lets get this collar off you!"

Erza, very carefully, used her sword to pry open the collar around Lucy's neck and with a clank it fell to the floor. Lucy rubbed at her neck, relieved to be rid of the collar that had stopped her using her magic. As she did, she became aware that Natsu, Gray and Loki were looking at her and she became conscious of her clothing, or rather her lack of clothing!

"That the hell are you pervs looking at?" Lucy yelled hiding behind Erza, her face red. She glared over at Loki, "I thought I told you to make them bring me some clothes!"

Loki held up his hands, "I told them! We have clothes for you if you want to strip off and change ..."

"Like hell!" Lucy said

Lucy stomped off to the side of the room and grabbed a blanket from the back of a sofa, wrapping it around her body and glaring at Natsu, Loki and Gray.

"You can't release her, she is my property," Klaus screeched from his cushion.

"Shut your mouth," Natsu snarled, "You have no idea how much trouble you are in right now. You made Lucy cry and that makes me angry!"

Klaus moved further back, yelling at his guards, "Why are you not attacking them? They are here to hurt me! That is your job, to protect me!"

The guards shuffled nervously, they knew when they were outclassed and it was obvious that the wizards standing in front of them were massively more powerful than they were. Finally one of the guards decided to do something and made a charge in the direction of Lucy and the others. Gray sighed and covered the ground in front of the guard with ice, causing him to slide off across the room.

"We are not going to hurt anyone who co-operates, although I may make an exception for the old pervert" Erza said, "We are here to get our friend and to ask some questions and then we will be leaving."

Lucy added from behind Erza, "And we will be taking the rest of the girls and Dana with us when we leave!"

Klaus yelled again, "You are not taking my property! I paid for them; they belong to me!"

"People do not belong to you! You can't buy and sell human beings," Erza said, looking scarily calm.

Lucy watched Erza realising that she knew what it was to be held captive and she looked at Klaus thinking he had no idea who he was dealing with. Natsu had moved to stand next to Lucy, his arm almost touching hers as he handed Lucy her keys that he had taken from Loki. For some reason, it was important to him that he was the one to return them to her. Lucy smiled and fastened them back around her waist.

Erza was still glaring at Klaus and his remaining guards. She looked over at Gray and Loki,

"Please would you get the girls away from these people and get their chains off. Natsu and I will deal with this pervert," she said

Gray and Loki looked slightly disappointed to not get a chance to hurt Klaus but they did as they were told as Erza did not look in the mood for arguments. Gray led the other slaves and Dana to the back of the room and started to remove the chains, one eye on what was happening with the others in case they needed help.

Erza walked closer to the raised platform, speaking to the guards as she did.

"I think we all know that you have no chance against me. I am giving you a chance to walk away in one piece." Erza said.

The guards looked at each other and as one started to move away from Klaus, who yelled in protest. When the guards got half way across the room, Erza said one word.

"Gray…"

Gray smiled to himself and encased the guards in ice, ensuring that they could not go and raise the alarm before Erza was finished with her questions.

Erza looked over at Klaus, "Right now I am going to ask you some questions and you are going to answer, or I am going to let him" she pointed at Natsu, "loose on you,"

Natsu cracked his fingers and smiled, still standing close to Lucy who was staying quiet letting Erza deal with this. She was tired and relieved to be with her friends and happy to let them deal with things.

Klaus looked at Erza and seemed to realise the position he was in.

"What do you want to know," he asked, "If I tell you, will you leave?"

Erza smiled, "We will but if I think you are lying to me or not telling me everything you know, things will not end well for you. Where are the slavers who sold you Lucy?"

"How the hell would I know?" Klaus said "They move about, that's the whole point of slaving!"

"Where is the slave market then?" Erza asked

Klaus paused, considering the consequences of revealing the location of the market. "If I tell you that they will kill me," he whined.

"And if you don't tell us, I will so you need to decide which is the most pressing risk to your health," Natsu growled.

Klaus hesitated and Natsu sent a blast of flame to hit the wall just behind Klaus' head.

"Answer the question," Natsu said quietly.

"It is on the coast, about 5 hours ride from here." Klaus blurted. "Please don't tell them it was me that told you where they were, they will destroy me!"

Erza put her head on one side, "And you think we won't?"

Klaus stared at her, his face getting red with anger "You said you would not hurt me if I answered your questions! If anything you should be paying me, I am losing a lot of money on those slaves you are stealing!"

Erza's face did not change, she continued to stare at the old man on his silk cushions. She glanced back over her shoulder.

"Lucy, would you please go with Gray and Loki and take the girls outside please. We will meet you by the woods," she said calmly.

Lucy looked at Erza, her calmness was scarier than if she had been yelling. Lucy nodded and ran over to Gray and Loki, helping to shepherd the frightened girls out of the building. Once they had gone,

Erza glanced at Natsu.

"How do you feel about tearing this damn building to the ground?" she asked.

Natsu grinned, "I am definitely ready for that."

Klaus looked at them in horror, "This is my home, you cannot destroy it! Where will I live?"

"Not our problem, you old pervert," Erza said with a smile, "Requip…."

Natsu grinned, melting the ice around the guards, "You might want to run …"

Outside the building Lucy was stood with Gray and Loki, as the guards ran from the building. She looked at Gray who shrugged slightly. As he did, explosions started within the house, windows exploding and walls collapsing. Lucy heard a gasp behind her and turned around to see Dana staring at the house.

"They are destroying it," Dana said, face white.

Lucy chuckled, "Yeah we are Fairy Tail, it is kinda what we do! Especially Natsu!"

With a last explosion and groaned, the roof of the building collapsed just as Erza and Natsu walked out of the burning mansion. Natsu had Klaus slung over his shoulder and he roughly dumped him on the floor by Lucy's feet.

"He has something to say to you Lucy," Natsu said prodding Klaus with his foot.

Klaus looked up, "I'm sorry!" was all he managed before he passed out at her feet.

Erza looked down at the broken old man, "Right, we need to get to the slave market. Let's go find Wendy!"

The others nodded and whilst Loki took Dana and the girls back to Fairy Tail so they could be helped to rebuild their lives, Erza led Lucy and the others in the direction of the slave market and one step closer to finding Wendy.