Erza and Jellal stood up slowly, Levy tried to help up Gajeel, who seemed to have taken the fall quite badly. Gray and Juvia kneeled against the wall. No one really had any idea which hallway they were in… they all looked the same.

The sound of running feet echoed around the corner behind them.

"They're coming." Gray coughed, his head pressed against the wall.

"Luce…" Natsu whispered, suddenly coming into view and trying to lift her up of the stone, but before he could even touch her his head was yanked backwards.

He cursed loudly.

The group was swarmed with guards. Lucy watched as Natsu was pushed to the ground, his arm was held behind his back and his head was being slammed into the floor. She squinted in the dim light, rolling over so she could get up. She heard Natsu's grunts as he tried to push them off.

"Lucy, get going!" Erza said sweeping a guards legs out from under him. Though the blonde wasn't paying any attention to her… she had to help.

She cursed, standing up shakily. She stared at the guards completely covering him and took a deep breath before pushing herself straight through the middle of them. "Get off him!" she screamed, at the clawing hands that grabbed and scratched her as she punched and kicked, hoping she'd hit them. She manged to block a right hook to her stomach but was surprised when she saw another fist heading straight for her face. She took the hit well but cursed again when she saw the pink tufts of hair under a grey boot, she tried pushing on it with all her might but she was being dragged away by at least three people by now.

Natsu coughed as his head flew up from the floor, he saw a blurry Lucy fighting the guards desperately. Everyone was struggling. His friends were being hurt, he heard Lucy screaming his name.

For the first time in Natsu's life there wasn't a single thing he could do… and he hated it.

The blonde was being dragged away screaming, he tried to follow them but he couldn't even see anymore and his chest was heavy and his breaths were broken and short. At least three of his ribs were broken and he could feel hot blood running down his forehead.

Jellal and Gajeel had disappeared and Juvia was being pulled away from Gray, who was thrashing his arms around angrily. Levy had already collapsed against the wall completely beat… the only person left was Erza.

She stood backed against the wall, her chest heaved as she tried to hold her ground. A guard drew his sword realising she wasn't going to give in. Natsu turned to look at them, he saw her eyes widen a moment of fear flashed across her face as the sword was held high in the air. It came down fast. Cutting straight across the top of her legs. That's when she fell… straight to her knees, then on her front, down on the floor with her friends.

*A few minutes later*

"Just let us go!" Lucy spluttered, trying to catch her breath as she was slammed onto a metal table. There were four leather straps in each corner which were strapped to her arms and legs tightly. The room was blank and a blindingly bright white colour. The only thing in it was a large mirror in front of her on the wall. Lucy looked at her bruised complexion, her eye was swollen and her lip was busted. She couldn't even see the wounds on the rest of her body, her skin was mostly mix of dull deep purple and light green bruises that completely covered her.

Midnight strolled in from behind her.

"Lucy!" he grinned lazily as if she was his best friend, "Trying to escape, huh?" he shook his head tutting.

"Let us go! You sick f*ck!" She screamed at him, before having a coughing fit. He seemed taken aback by her sudden outburst. His eyes widened in disbelief but then a twisted smile formed on his lips and he started laughing loudly.

"Hahaha, oh that's a good one!" he laughed, wiping his eyes and letting out a small sigh, "Anyway, try and keep still… I need to get this out of you." He said turning towards the mirror and putting his thumb up.

It was then Lucy realised the mirror was actually a screen… there were people watching them?!

She tried to start shouting again but her voice seemed to disappear completely as her back jolted against the metal. Her whole body buzzed and jolted again and again into the metal table. This was unlike any other pain she'd ever felt. It hurt… everything hurt… every inch of her body burned and buzzed. She bit her tongue to keep from crying, her eyes were tightly shut and her body had already tried to go numb and fight the electric currents that had begun to zap through her limbs.

It went on for an hour or so. By the time it ended Lucy was completely out of it.

When she woke, she found herself in a smaller room, it was well lit with a wooden floor and cream walls. Across from her on the floor sat Juvia, who looked a complete mess as she rocked herself, crying and repeating Gray's name.

Lucy felt a pair of hands cup her face from behind.

"Hey, Lu…"

The blonde sat up and turned to find Levy sat crossed legged behind her. She looked so different from the tiny blue haired girl she'd known from so long ago. Her hair had grown longer and had got much messier compared to the neat blue bob she used to have.

The bluenette grinned at her old friend.

"I missed you." She said throwing her arms around Lucy, who'd already started crying.

"Levy, I'm sorry…" she said hugging her back… this wasn't exactly how she had pictured their reunion but it would have to do.

"Lu… its ok… I-"

They were interrupted by a sobbing Juvia in the corner.

"GRAYYYYYYY!" she cried.

The two girls stared at her for a moment.

"Where are they?" Lucy said quietly.

"They went back to the white rooms for trying to escape…" Levy whispered sadly, "Juvia and I weren't able to do it."

"D-Do what?" Lucy asked.

"They took them to extract their magic… even though they already did it once. They did it to you too… do you not remember?"

Lucy felt the dull buzz still in the back of her head, "Yeah," she grimaced, "I remember."

The group fell silent for a few moments…

"They can't do this!" Lucy spat, "All of them?"

"All of them went… so we didn't have to." Juvia said, wiping her eyes.

"Natsu… he was…" Lucy's voice trailed off.

"It's alright, Lu." Levy said draping and arm round her shoulders, "They're stronger than you think."