A/N: Sorry for my long absence. I was honestly stuck with a lot of things. Busy, not feeling well, lot of overtime at work. and not in the right mindset to write. But I'm back, introducing one of my favorite characters. go find out who ;)
Ch 6 : An Unexpexted Ally
"He wants me to wear this!?"
Levy silently nodded as Lucy looked at the dress in disgust. That was, what had to pass for a dress. It was made of some shining fabric Lucy had never seen, showed a lot of clevage, it was almost uncomfortably tight, like a second skin, and it seemed like it was missing a lot of fabric on the skirt. It didn't even reach her knees, and the back was entirely see trough.
"I might as well be naked."
Levy sighed, and looked at her own reflection.
"With all due respect Princess Lucy, mine is worse."
Lucy looked at Levy, and wether she liked it or not, she had to admit levy was right. She was only wearing a small piece of fabric around her bust, that Levy called a bra, some weird piece of undergarments that only covered her ladyparts, and exposed her behind, and some see trough cloth, that could hardly pass for a skirt. It was basically just two long pieces of fabric, one on Levy's frontside, and one on her backside. Seeing how exposed Levy's body was made Lucy blush. Poor Levy looked like a woman of pleasure as her guards sometimes called them. She had only seen one of those women once, and when nana had explaind her profession, she had been shocked.
Lucy felt emberassed remembering how she had played with her guards from time to time, not that much more covered. But now that she realised what that outfit meant to Levy, what her own dress would mean for her, she was ashamed of herself.
Gajeels guards would see her and Levy. Gajeel might even touch Levy. From what Levy had told her the other day, he had used her body for his own pleasure more than once.
"Levy? Do you think he will touch me?"
Levy looked at her with a sad look, but didn't answer. And that was all the answer Lucy needed.
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...
Upon leaving the room, they were greeted by Cobra. His pet snake was absent at the moment, but his annoying grin definitely wasn't.
"Well, well Princess. Don't you look lovely. The lord has ordered me to escort you two to the dining hall."
Levy snorted.
"The main cave you mean. Like there's such thing as a dining hall."
Cobra laughed and leaned towards her.
"You're lucky Gajeel favors you, little bitch. Otherwise I would have punished you for your audacity. It took a lot of work to make something out of that cave. And I would gladly rip that fabric off of you to teach you a lesson in manners. You should be thankfull for the luxury you have."
A growling voice echoed trough the cave corridor.
"I said escort, not threathen."
"The little bluehaired witch is getting arrogant."
Cobra protested as he backed away from Levy, as Gajeel came closer. There was only so much room to back up though, and before he realised it, Cobra had his back against the wall, Gajeel towering over him.
"I don't care what she says. You don't touch them. Either of them. I don't want your stench on my toys. Besides, she loves to provoke you. You know very well she can take you on if she wants to. Her loyalty lies with me, that doesn't mean she won't kill you if she gets the chance."
Lucy looked to her side to see Levy's response, but to her shock and disbelief, Levy didn't look surprised at all. She seemed...confident. She smiled a wicked smile as she looked at Cobra, making Lucy think Gajeel had actually been telling the truth. She softly whispered at her.
"You can do such things?"
"Silence!"
Gajeel turned around to face them. He took Lucy's arm and turned her around roughly, looking at her top to bottom. He gave Levy a quick glance.
"You go on ahead with Cobra. You know your job. I need to fix something about this dress."
He looked at Lucy while he said those last words, smirking mischievously, causing a shiver to roll down Lucy's spine. Levy gave her a worried glance, but nodded obediently and left with Cobra. As their footsteps faded in the distance, Gajeel grabbed a knife from his pocket.
"No sense in using my strength for futile things like this."
He quickly cut the sides of her skirt upwards, so her skirt was less tight around her legs, but also exposing her thighs. Putting the knife away again, he scanned her again and nodded with sattisfaction.
"Better."
Pushing her back against the wall he grabbed her chin, and forced her to look at him.
"Listen up, blondie, here's how it's going to be. You do whatever I say, whenever I say. No protests. Disobey, and you'll get hurt. Follow Levy's lead, and you'll be fine. Be a good girl, and I'll be fair to you. I'm not a complete monster. But I swear. If you cross me, disobey me, or piss me off, there will be consequences. And since I know girls like you need a little motivation, I'll give you some. If you ever try anything stupid, I'll punish both you AND Levy, got it?"
Lucy nodded as much as his firm grip allowed, and he let go of her.
"Good. And I warn you, don't try to escape. If you do, I'll make you suffer."
He grabbed her upper arm and pulled her with him, marching trough the corridors untill they entered a huge cave, that was brightly lit with torches and chandeliers. There were resting beds and couches. Large soft pillows on the floor. Hides that served as rugs. The skin of a bear for decoration. And lots of treasures. Loot. All kind of stuff these robbers could have taken, wherever they chose to plunder and pillage. There were low tables, where men lied next to on hides or pillows, accompanied by women that were obviously not prisoners like her and Levy. Some of these women were half naked, the men next to them pouring wine over their exposed mounds.
Lucy blushed and looked away. What kind of place was this? These people were heathens. And she and Levy were in the middle of it. She carefully looked at the robbers present in the cave. Most were dressed in hides or leather. Some were wearing old pants, made of woven linnen. But one man stood out. Lucy looked at him.
His hair was almost orange. His clothes were made of leather too, but a better quality than Lucy had ever seen. His hair was kept backwards with a leather headband with a strange emblem on it. She never saw that before. His eyes were fixed on her as well. He smiled and winked at her, and Gajeel saw it.
"Seems like you have a costumer. Levy is over there. Tell her to show you where the wine and the glasses are, and serve him. Keep him company. He's one of my loyal costumers."
He started to walk away, but turned back towards her.
"He's a loyal costumer, but you don't have to allow him to touch you."
once again, Lucy was surprised at how worried he sounded, but he pushed Lucy towards Levy, who already noticed her and gestured her to come. Hesitantly, Lucy walked over to her, uncomfortable with all the eyes staring at both of them. Levy noticed her discomfort.
"Ignore it. You'll get used to it. Gajeel told you to serve the ginger, didn't he?"
Lucy nodded, and Levy quickly handed her a serving tray, a bottle of fine wine and two glasses. When Lucy raised her eyebrows at the second glass, Levy smiled.
"He wants you to have a drink with him. Just have one, Gajeel doesn't mind, as long as the costumers are happy."
"He's not one of Gajeel's men?"
Levy shook her head.
" A lot of the men here are, but the biggest part is a loyal costumer to Gajeel's brothel, or a client when it comes to murder for hire. The ginger however, is a tradesman. He trades rare items with Gajeel. Usually for information, sometimes for something he wants. But in fact..."
Levy lowered her voice to a whisper
"...he's on the good side. He's a friend of mine."
Lucy opened her eyes wide in surprise, but Levy couldn't explain more, since Gajeel called for her.
"Wench! Less talking, more working. I'm getting lonely over here. Come keep me company."
With one last sad look, Levy left Lucy in the middle of a group of robbers. One of the women got up and stood next to her.
"Well, well. Gajeel has a new toy. I'm almost jealous. Guess he prefers pathetic types. Maybe I'm just too overpowering for him."
"Face it Minerva, you're scary. A real dragonlady."
One of the robbers teased her, and the men started to laugh. The woman named Minerva smiled cruelly.
"You only say that, because I didn't allow you to fuck me last night. You're pretty pathetic yourself. "
She looked at Lucy again and then suddenly gave her a push.
"Go to work you little slave."
As the robbers laughed behind her back, Lucy bit her lip and swallowed her tears as she walked over to the ginger haired man. He patted on the pillow next to him, and in a bit of a panic, Lucy helplessly looked at Levy, who nodded at her encouragingly. Gajeel kept a close eye at her as well, at the same time pulling Levy on his lap with a grin.
Nervously, Lucy sat down next to the man, setting the serving tray down on the table. The glasses almost fell over because of her shaking hands, but the man quickly grabbed them and prevented them from falling. He turned toards her.
"Don't be afraid of me, Princess Heartfillia."
Lucy looked at him in shock, surprised that he regonised her.
"Who are you?"
"My name is Leo, but my friends call me Loki. I'm Levy's friend. Her only contact with the outside world, her family."
"Her family?"
Leo poured two glasses of wine and handed her one, raising his glass at Gajeel, who answered with an equal gesture. He gently touched Lucy's blonde locks.
"You have to forgive me. I have to keep up appearances so Gajeel will not notice who I really am. You asked about Levy's family. They're the reason she never tries to escape. When Gajeel plundered her village, he intended to take Levy's younger sister, Wendy. She is a witch, like Levy. A mage as we call it. Levy offered herself in her sisters place, and promised to do whatever Gajeel asked of her, if he would leave her sister and her brothers alone. As long as she keeps her word, he doesn't harm them, and I have taken precautions, to make sure that he can't."
"How do you know who I am?"
"The entire kingdom is looking for you. And I promise you, Princess, I will get you out of here. You just need to have patience and be strong. I can't do anything rash. But I have powerfull friends, allies, who will help me get you out. "
Leo looked at her in silence for a moment.
"You look so much like her."
"Like who?"
"Your mother."
Lucy moved a little closer, and with a quick glance at Gajeel , Leo put an arm around her and pulled her to his side. Lucy flinched, but on the other side of the cave Levy slightly smiled at her, and she decided to trust her only friend in this mad hole.
"How do you know my mother?"
"I served her untill she died. It's a long story, that will have to wait till another time and place. I'll tell you all about it when I get you out. There's one thing I need to get first. As soon as I do, Levy can get you out, and I'll make sure you will be picked up."
"Picked up? I need to go back to the castle."
"We'll discuss that later. For now. Excuse me."
Before Lucy could ask what he meant, he wiped the wine from his lips, and burried his face in her cleavage. Lucy tried to move away, shocked, but he kept her in place, and suddenly she felt a small ballshaped object slide down between her breasts, and Loki sat back upright.
"Sorry about that. I need to be cautious, and even though Gajeel won't like this, it will not give me away."
He hardly finished his sentence before Gajeel reached them, and sat down next to Leo, pulling Levy along with him.
"I see you like my new girl. But I must really request that you do not lay a finger on my girls."
Leo bowed, touching his head to the floor.
"My apologies, mylord. Her bossom got the best of me."
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...
Back in their room that night, Levy quickly closed the door, after checking there was nobody outside the door, and rushed over to Lucy. Grabbing her arms she pulled her towards the bed, sitting down on it. Lucy followed her example and sat next to her, still holding Levy's hands.
"Loki. He gave you something when he hid his face in your chest, didn't he?"
Lucy reached between her breasts, and took out the small ball. It didn't mean anyting to her, but Levy looked almost extatic.
"A message!"
"Message? From who?"
Levy took the ball from her, and mumbled something with her eyes closed. Suddenly a face appeared above the little ball, an tears welled up in Levy's eyes.
"Wendy."
"Your sister?"
"Loki told you?"
Lucy nodded in silence as she looked at the little girl. Like Levy, she had blue hair, but hers was longer and tied up in two tails on each side of her head. She looked much younger than Levy, but when she started to talk, she sounded more mature than her looks would have you believe.
"Levy. If you see this, Loki has managed to succesfully deliver the message. I wanted you to know that I am save. So are Jet and Droy. Loki brought us to the hide out. If you have any means to escape, please try as quickly as possible. Gajeel will not be able to harm us. Loki says he wants to free the princess first, because the Dark mage is out there too, and freeing two girls at once, might be too much for Natsu. He needs to be able to focus, and that's not his strongest virtue. But I'm confident you can escape without Natsu or Loki. We will get you as soon as we can, but try to get out if you can."
The girl was obviously struggling to hold back tears.
"We love you, big sis."
The face dissapeared, an Levy clenched her fist around the little ball, tears rolling down her face. Lucy tried to process all that she heard, but it all came down to one question.
"Who is Natsu?"
Levy looked up with a sad smile.
"One of the last dragons."
A/n: Let me know what you think! it helps me improve!