AN: A little late and small, but here's the new chapter! I hope you like it!
Chapter Seven – Two steps back
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"Can you hear me calling? Calling for you.
Can you hear me screaming? Screaming for you
It is like I'm naked out in the rain
Alone and dealing with the pain"
Dead By April – Calling
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Hestire was a big town, and having a port, meant that people from all over Fiore and neighbors countries were there, making things even harder for the Fairy Tail mages to get a lead on anyone that could take them to their lost comrade.
They arrived in town half an hour later after three hours in a train and the teams were easily formed. The strangest part was that Gray insisted that Natsu went with him. No one was more confused than the pink haired boy, but he was too weak with motion sickness to care.
"It's difficult to get a real sniff out of all of these people." Natsu groaned but continued to do his job around the open marker. "There are too many smells."
"Aye sir!" Happy said, flying around the boys.
Gray was also trying to look at everything he could, so he could see find something that could lead to Juvia. "Keep going, Natsu." The Ice Mage said, trying his best not to flip and so something crazy, like start a fight and gain attention.
After walking around for forty-five minutes, Natsu stopped and sniffed the air around him harder; frowning slightly.
"I smell her." Gray stopped and turned around to see his guild mate. "It's faint, so it's not coming from her directly. It's like… like when you hug someone and your smell sticks on the person for a while." The pink haired boy started to follow the smell and Gray was right behind him. "It's that guy!" Natsu pointed to a man. Gray didn't want to know how he got Juvia's smell all over him. "Let's get him!"
Gray stopped Natsu by grabbing his scarf and grabbing Happy's tail. Oh, how he wanted to just jump the guy and make him talk, but he had to keep his head leveled, keep his cool like Master said, otherwise he could lose the best lead they had on getting Juvia back and he couldn't have it.
"No." Gray made Natsu turn around when the man started to walk again to not raise suspicions, but kept his dark eyes on him the whole time, hatred emanating from the Fairy Tail Mage. "We have to follow him to find Juvia. If we get him and he doesn't talk, his friends might get suspicious and the selling is today. We follow him, but if the doesn't go anywhere that might be where they are holding Juvia, we're getting him."
"But…"
"Natsu." Gray said forcibly and angry, holding Natsu by the shoulders a little too strongly, while staring at the man who had Juvia's smell. "We. Are. Following. Him."
The Dragon Slayer stared at Gray and saw a man close to breaking and fighting as hard as he could not to. "Fine." Natsu nodded. "We're following him." The Salamander shrugged Gray's hands from him, freed his blue friend and both started to follow the man.
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During two more hours, Natsu and Gray followed the man, seeing him ask for enormous quantities of food to be delivered in the same address, and in other stores he just confirmed a few deliveries and then finally started to walk away from the open market.
Natsu still wanted to grab the guy, Gray could see, but understood that for now following was the best way to get what they wanted. The Ice Mage wanted to grab the guy too and 'talk' to him, but wouldn't. Not until he saw that Juvia was safe.
The good thing about having a Dragon Slayer by your side while you followed someone was the fact that it was possible to be in a safe distance and still not lose your target, since the sense of smell of a Dragon Slayer was the best.
But when the guy took a road that looked abandoned, they couldn't just walk behind; they needed to wait a few minutes before following. Thankfully, the guy seemed not to have noticed either and continued on his merry way.
"What the hell…?" Natsu whispered when after a turn on a rock, the guy was gone. "Where…?"
Gray frowned for a moment and walked in the direction the guy supposedly went, Natsu following him, and found himself facing an invisible wall.
"Juvia said that there were runes around where she was." Gray looked up and saw some inscriptions. "It says that only the ones who had the invitation can enter." The Ice Mage informed Natsu. "And I think this road leads to where they have her." Gray breathed in deeply. "We found it. We found where they are keeping her."
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Juvia barely slept, nightmares about the selling tormenting her during the whole night. The girls were looking paler than usual, of course.
It was the day of the Auction.
"Where are your friends, Juvia?" One of the girls asked and Juvia's head hurt even more; it had been pounding since the day before with the Boss. "I thought you said…"
"They are coming." Juvia whispered; a hand on her temple. "Juvia knows it and feels it. They will come here."
"But…"
"No buts. There are no buts." The Water Mage said strongly. "They will come and they will come today."
The girl stopped talking and nodded, not entirely believing the blunette, but not daring to say.
"Juvia." Laura sat close to the blue haired girl, also not looking so good. "The buyers will be here in six hours. Rissa told me that they will put handcuffs with runes on us, tend our wounds then we will take a bath and put some clothes so we can be… presentable."
The Water Mage touched her lip, where it was cut. "Of course. We can't just look like we've been through hell if they are trying to sell us."
"They stopped giving us food for the past two days too so we are weaker." Laura said. "They deserve to go through hell."
"They will." Juvia assured the Harpia Wing Mage. "Fairy Tail is coming and they will suffer for what they did."
Laura tilted her head to the side. "No one is coming, Juvia. Maybe it's time to face that." The blonde girl was surprised when she saw a smile on Juvia's lips, right before she said:
"Never."
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"Natsu, you go get the others." Gray turned to look to the pink haired boy, who frowned. "I will stay here and you go find them."
"I am not letting you here so you can go in there like some crazy bastard." Natsu crossed his arms above his chest. "I want it in too."
"Listen, okay? Every second we argue…" Gray passed a hand through his hair, getting impatient. "You can smell and find them quicker than I would. And if it's needed, I can follow someone who comes out of there" He pointed to the invisible wall behind him. "and you can smell me if it comes to that. It's logic, I am not going inside because I can't; it's physically impossible for me to enter." The Ice Mage sighed. "We need Freed and Levy to lift the runes so we can rescue Juvia and whoever else is trapped inside." Gray said. "Go. I'll hide behind those trees and keep a look out."
"He's right, Natsu." Happy agreed.
Natsu hesitated, but nodded. "You better be here when I get back, you Ice bastard."
"Just go, Fire breath." Gray saw Happy grab Natsu and fly away. When he couldn't see his friend anymore, he turned to the direction his current goal was and whispered. "Don't you dare give up, Juvia. Just wait a little more."
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"All of you." A man yelled and the girls gasped in frighten horror. "The doctors will see you now." Juvia got up with difficulty; her leg was still hurting. She could see that there were about seven big guys that looked very mean and strong. "We will open the cages and you will make a line. And don't try anything stupid; we are mages and we will hurt you if you try to escape."
When the two cells were open and the girls started to line up; Juvia could finally see their faces with clarity. They were nothing more than children, scared and hopeless. Most of them looked young, not much older than Wendy, and they were facing such horror.
Juvia needed Fairy Tail to save them.
With Laura's help, Juvia was about to get in line when the man who spoke earlier, grabbed her by the arm with much more force than it was necessary; putting her body collide with his. He chuckled evilly. "Not you, little Fairy. The Boss wants to have one more go with you."
The Water Mage saw Laura's eyes widen, the horror clearly in her face. Even Juvia feared for herself, seeing that the Boss had been containing himself. She knew that he wanted to have her and this time he might do it.
"Juvia will be fine." The blunette got free of the man's grip and wrapped her arms around the blonde girl, and whispered. "Don't worry. Help's on the way."
"Let go!" The man pulled Juvia by her hair and pushed her roughly to the ground, just to pull her back up again. "The Boss is waiting for ya!"
Juvia looked over her shoulder, staring at the girls one more time before she was in route to see the Boss. And her gut was telling her that this 'visit' was going to be the worst of them all.
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The man took the handcuffs off of her wrists before shoving her inside The Room, where the Boss had touched and beaten her. But this time, there was little light and there was a chair on a dark corner where she could see the Boss eyeing, waiting for her.
The door closed behind her and Juvia's heart began to beat faster. Something wasn't right.
"I understand you send a distress sign, my little Fairy." The Boss was sitting on a chair, his chin resting on his hands and Juvia froze. The light was limited, but the Water Mage could see that he had his feet on something but didn't think much of it. "I am not worried, since you don't know where we are."
Juvia was feeling a chill on her spine. He was calm. He was too calm. Something was wrong. Very, very wrong.
"You see… I saw that someone messed with my office; I leave the handle in a way every time I leave the room and yesterday, when I returned, it changed" His voice was calm. "My men know not to enter my office, they know the consequences for it, but Rissa? She had no idea. And she would never thought of it on her own and you… you my dear… You are the only one here that still has fire inside." The Boss smiled evilly. "I knew it was you. You have the guts to face me."
"Where's Rissa?" Juvia asked, her stomach dropping when his smile widened. The Boss moved his feet and the movement caught Juvia's attention and the blunette could finally see on what he had his feet on; her eyes were used to the lack of light at that point.
"We had fun all night long, but… She couldn't keep up with me." The brown hair, the too white skin, the open eyes now blue and opaque and open, forever in horror. "I think you'll have to take her job. She was a naughty, naughty girl."
"Rissa?" Juvia whispered, looking wide eyes to the body of the girl who helped her the day before, and then raised her voice. "Rissa…? No... NO!"
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AN: *dodging the rocks being thrown at me*
Thanks to: Medaka-chan, superduperizee, Yumeko nee, CapriciousKrego, clara, DoomedToBeACrazyFanGirlForever, animegirl115, Darkhope, otaku03, MrsGooglyBear, Sarapyon, little kitty, Chibi Waru-chan, Summer Éclair, Yukistar, YamixTeaLover, Richellysaurus, Juvelia, Gray23Dragon, KittyP, kimberlouxxx, Hanamoto Aika, AngelRuby235, PandaGirl, Holly, LilTimy, Guest and Pandi! You are the best!
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07/14/2013 ~ BonneyQ