Author's Note; I would just like to add that in this story Yukino does get kicked out of Sabertooth, however, Lucy doesn't know about it until this particular chapter. As in the part where Yukino met Lucy and Natsu and spoke to them about her situation during the Grand Magic Games is not included, I deviated from that part.

Chapter Four- Cruelty

I wake up with my back freezing.

The cold has settled in my right shoulder the most and it pains like someone is pushing a knife into my skin and kept it there.

My eyes feel sore as I examine my right shoulder, removing my arm from around Wendy. The ice shards are still there from my fight in the chasm and the cold on which I slept has added to the injury.

Funny. Doesn't ice numb?

When I sit up and fall to the ground unstably, I notice Gray sitting up as well. He leans against the rocks behind his ice bed. His dark blue eyes fix on my shoulder.

"Come here," he says at last.

I obey. His fingers cup around my shoulder and at first the pain increases. Then it drops to a dull pressure as I feel liquid streaming down my arm. I look to see water and blood.

The tiny ice dust left on my shoulder too melts and there is a deep bruise in its place. The blood trickled down from a corner where the ice was buried deeper than I realized. The water cleans the wound and I stare at it unhappily.

Then I reach down a tear a bit of the fabric of my top. The tear exposes the side of my torso, right above my hip. Then I wrap it around my shoulder, biting off the extras.

Gray had already looked away once he healed me. His left leg is bended up and he rests his right arm on his knee. His jaw is strained as he looks to his left.

I am about to say something, anything, to him. Then I shut my mouth and touch him lightly on the cheek before making my way to the makeshift door. It is strange, how I feel it is morning, yet the only light is the ice.

I am pretty sure we are not allowed to visit the other mages. There must be a reason we are all in the same rooms. But I need to talk to three people at the same time.

The first is Yukino Aguria.

The other two are Sting and Rogue. I have to find them, though I have an uneasy feeling that they are still a part of the Alliance and will not help me. How did Levy know anything about them?

Perhaps I should not leave Wendy with a heart-broken teenager and a grieving ice mage. I pause, my hand on the rocks. Wendy sighs and turns over in her sleep.

Then I push open the door and walk outside. Alone.

I am aware of the sunlight immediately.

I look up to see the high ceiling and dripping-with-what-looks-like-tar rocks to see an opening between them. It is the same western direction which allows sunlight in, and I suspect the rocks must be placed in a way that they allow the light.

It isn't much. Just a weak beam of white. It gives an eerie feeling to the grey-black stones of the huge floor. The doors on each side are identical.

"Perfect," I say to myself. "Find a half-dead girl in twenty identical rooms and find your way back."

Then I sigh and turn back, meaning to mark our door. But I am still drained of magic power; there is no way in which I can even summon Virgo to find me Yukino through a tunnel. I can't hold a spirit for even a second.

Feeling stupid, I bend down and pick up a loose stone. Then I wedge it in one of the many cracks near the gold and it stays there, looking like a 3D dent.

Then I try to remember.

Zeref had tried to kill Yukino when she was at the front of the line. Two other people had been ushered before her, and since it was four in each room, she must be in the first room. Every door is silent and unmoving, which must mean I am the only person up at this hour.

And the first room is…?

I am pretty sure it is the eastern most room. I walk for a good two minutes to cross the huge floor and then turn a corner. The sunlight is absent here and it is dark. The rock walls are wet in places and again, I feel claustrophobic despite the space. Then my hand touches the gilded door, as I ponder how to call her.

"You can't go in there."

I jump and stagger back at the voice. My breath comes out in a strangled mixture of shock and panic before I put a hand to my heart and calm down.

I had missed her. Yukino sits against the rocky ledges, curled up. Her knees are pushed up against her chest and she circled them with her arms. Her hair is messy, covering her face.

"I never thanked you, Fairy," she says, still not looking at me. "Thank you. For saving my life."

"I…um…" I stammer. Then I sigh and sit down on the dirt next to her. "Call me Lucy. And uh, why are you outside?"

"Eve doesn't like me. And the other two are…let's say hostile."

"Eve…?"

"From Blue Pegasus."

I don't question her about Eve any longer. I expect Hibiki had a fight with him and thus they were so far apart in the lines. I have never seen the Trimens as they call themselves apart when placed in the same grounds, much less in a place like this. I wonder vaguely about their third member, Ren.

"So, I…wanted to ask you something," I begin.

Yukino finally looks up at me. Her eyes are wet and her shoulders shake. Her ice blue hair is matted against her forehead and her expression is subconsciously scared. I try to ignore that and say; "Is Sabertooth a part of the…Alliance?"

Her voice trembles. "Yes."

"But then, why are you—"

"I am no longer part of the guild. I was kicked out."

My eyes widen. So she was without a guild, a mage without a home. No wonder she was singled out as an easy target, her being strong and all. But Zeref probably took her for weak when she acted so last night.

"Anything else?"

"Um," It hurts me to question her like this when she is obviously dealing with a lot, but I fire anyway. "Do you know where Sting and Rogue might be?"

Her eyes harden in cold anger. "No. They agreed to help Jiemma."

"Jiemma is here?" The infamous ruthless guild master of Sabertooth. I still shudder when I think of him.

"Why else do you think the others agreed? We are strong enough to beat the Alliance if we want to, unlike Fairy Tail—oh," she looks at me apologetically and then slides her eyes away. "But anyway. Minerva and her father's blood thirsty need for power…of course everyone agreed. They are scared."

My mind spins at the complications of Sabertooth. One part tells me they are capable of being good, the other says otherwise. I touch my temples.

"So, they are going to win over the guilds then?"

Yukino gives me a sad smile. "No. They train with us, not beside, but with. And then they use us to win. Since when do you think dark guild do their own dirty work?"

I try to understand this never-ending thirst for power.

I lean my head back against the walls. The rocks jutting out send a stab of annoying pain through my head. I am about to ask one last thing to Yukino, when I feel myself get lifted above the ground by my neck.

My bare legs, courtesy of the stupid shorts I wore, scrape against the narrow passage to the first room as fingers tighten around my throat. I choke a bit, trying to shout. My eyes squeeze shut.

Before I kick back, sure it is Zeref, the fingers release me. They leave a strange pressure on my throat.

I breathe out once and then turn. Yukino stands up behind me. Then I raise an eyebrow as I look at the boy who had told me to jump, Nicky.

"What was that for?" I ask him. He is good-looking, in a ruggedly handsome way. He has dirty-blonde hair which is tousled and falls over his grey eyes and is thin but taller than me. His cheekbones are high and stand out a bit.

He mimics my expression, cocking an eyebrow. "Well, Mr. Cheerful did try and strangle me last night because I was the gentleman and told you what to do, so I figured I should repay you for the honour."

His words would sound cruel, if I was not drawn by his mischievous eyes. He stretches a hand as he finishes speaking, his lips pulling up at the corners. "Nicky. Phoenix Grave."

I stare at his hand. "My throat hurts."

"You'll get over it."

We look at each other for a minute, assessing the other. Then I sigh and take his hand. "Lucy Heartfilia, Fairy Tail. Pleased to be strangled."

"Pleasure's all mine."

I grin as Yukino interrupts us with a soft gasp. She grabs my shoulder and pulls me back into the shadows—not very hard, really, considering the little light—and Nicky follows.

I peer around his shoulder to see Zeref walk at a slow pace to the centre of the grey stoned floor. He wears the same gold-lined and black coat and the same hood covers his eyes.

It's too late to find Sting and Rogue now. And too late to get back into my room. My fingers unconsciously tighten around the scrap of paper I stole from Wendy, and I wedge it in the lining of my shorts.

Zeref raises his hand and another jet of black shoots from his palm towards the western door. There is mild dust and the crumbling of rocks, and there is a large hole in the door.

I gape.

He repeats the gesture several times. I hold in my yelp when someone who must have been sleeping against the door lolls onto the floor and clutches his head. It looks like Hibiki.

Mages appear the broken doorways drilled through by nothing but Zeref's magic. What is this man?

Panic builds in me as Zeref turns to this door as well. I press myself against the rocks and flatten myself at the walls as much as possible. The three of us are thin, but together, not so much.

My breath catches in my throat as the magic travels at lightning speed and collides into the door. My ears pop and suddenly I can heard nothing but a strange ringing. This always happens whenever Natsu gets into too heated a fight and blows up things.

Nicky rolls his eyes at me and I notice the side of his head bleeding. I don't have time to tell him that before everyone crowds onto the floor and Yukino's mates do too. The three of us follow them, trying to blend in as we join the crowd.

Zeref doesn't move from his position—under the faint light—as everyone titters and grumbles and groans. I stand at the back of the crowd with Nicky and Yukino and notice Gray searching once for me before turning back to Zeref.

"The doors?" someone asks sarcastically.

I am completely sure there is no reason for fear of Zeref killing the girl who questioned him. I have finally learnt, from his killing of the other Lucy and attempt to kill Yukino, that he only eliminates the weak.

"You will recreate them, with magic."

"That's not possible," Sherry says loudly. "Everyone doesn't have Healing Magic or Earth Magic."

Zeref turns to her, inclining his head to the right. Then he says again; "Today you will be branded with the new guild mark. One guild at a time."

I bite my lip and look down. My blonde bands fall down loosely from the braid I had tied.

"First," Zeref said, a menacing edge to his composed voice. "Is you," his left hand rises to point at Sherry. "And your other guild mate, of course."

It's not a genuine slip. I hear the half-amused and half-bored tone of his voice and I know he says this about Lyon. He knows Lyon is dead. I want to attack him right now, with all the power I can muster.

Gray's head is cast down. I recognize it as a sign of anger, instead of pain.

Sherry walks forward stolidly. She raises her right arm and points to her shoulder. "Here."

Zeref doesn't move. "You don't get to decide where, lady," he says, with mock respect. "Turn around."

Sherry is taken aback and she turns around as Zeref said. I don't see the usual magic stamp in his hand but he simply thrusts his index, middle and thumb forwards. His fingers touch the skin right beneath Sherry's neck.

Sherry screams. Her hands, which had been at her side, twist up and coil into tight fists as her scream increase in volume. Her knees buckled but Zeref steadies her shoulders. "Stand."

Nicky has to nudge me to get me to close my mouth.

After another minute, Sherry pants out in gasps of tearless sobs and relief. Zeref moves away from her and beckons; "Blue Pegasus."

It's as of nothing happened. Sherry walks unsteadily towards Gray again and he puts an arm around her shoulders. She starts to cry and I look away.

Eve was wearing a button down shirt and is forced to open it. Zeref marks him on the same place, below the neck and above the line in our backs. I can't see the insignia.

"This is horrid," Yukino whispers to me.

"You think?" I mumble back.

Hibiki lets out a cry of pain and then steadies himself. Eve clenches his hands into fists like Sherry. Finally Phoenix Grave is called and Nicky steps forwards along with an unknown girl.

The girl screams like Sherry did—they were the two females who bore it without silence—and Nicky lets out a sharp gasp as the insignia burns into him. My eyes widen in shock as the girl has to undress herself of her top to provide access to the skin. Tears stream down her olive cheeks and I suspect it has nothing to do with the symbol this time.

Then at last; "Fairy Tail."

I lick my dry lips. How long have I not had water?

Gray put a hand on Wendy's head as a warning and then I follow after him to the lit stones on which Zeref stands. My mouth automatically turns into a grimace at the sight of him—or whatever I can see.

Gray's blue eyes don't question me about my whereabouts in the last ten minutes, but he quickly strips himself of his shirt and lets Zeref mark him. He winces a bit but doesn't cry out. His jaw is set in determination.

As he walks past me, I see the insignia. The symbols of Tartarus and Oracein Seis rise towards the tip of Sabertooth and the three signs are enclosed by a coiled snake which rises from the middle of the three and drops to the right.

I take a deep breath and walk closer to Zeref. Then I realize with shock that my top is not exposing the necessary skin. Embarrassment and fear shakes my hands as I reach up and pull it over my head. I stand there, cheeks flaring, as I feel his fingers on my skin.

To say it burns is an understatement. The insignia send jolts of fire right into my blood and then dances with more flames. It's like the tip of a knife encased in fire is pushed deep inside and now it spreads like frost across the skin. The place below my neck tightens as the emblem burns onto it and the fire gets stronger and stronger until I clench my lower lip between my teeth to keep from crying out.

Then all of a sudden the knife is gone. The flames are extinguished.

I cannot believe it, but the skin is cold now. Zeref's fingers were unnaturally gentle when he touched my back unlike the burning of the insignia but of course, seeing his magical capabilities, I believe it shouldn't take much for him.

My eyes brim with pathetic, angry tears as I slip my top back on. In front of all these people…

"It's pathetic, really," Zeref says, as I start to walk back into the crowd. "If this is the way you mages respond to a mere insignia, what use are you to the army? How is elimination of the weak going to help us when none of you bear strength?"

About half of the people standing on the stones clench their fists and stare with hatred at Zeref. I have stopped in my tracks, my hands crossed against my shoulders.

"Let's say for instance, you really need to learn how to be brave," I tilt my head back as I see Zeref point at the glaring Yukino. "Kicked out of a guild. Unable to even face a test. This is not camp, you know. You have to conquer your fears."

Yukino's cheeks flame brighter than mine or Erza's hair for that matter. People stare at her, at the mention of being kicked out, and hushed murmurs of Sabertooth ripples through the crowd.

I can't help it. I lunge at Zeref.

He didn't expect an attack. My magic power is absent, but I have my body. My fists collide with his jaw and he staggers back.

"Stop. Insulting. My. Friends." I hiss.

Zeref gets back on his feet and his hood falls off. My anger dissipates and so does my adrenaline.

He is handsome. Not the dark, cold creature I expected to see when he uncovered his face. His perfectly angular face looks soft, like a boy of my age, and he has dark black hair which falls over his forehead and the dark locks cover most of his left eye. His eyes are black, like his hair, and his face is so angelic and sad…

"Stay away," I warn, as he comes closer. His eyes have no emotion in them, none.

He is still looking at me as he orders the people; "You will all go up. Follow the west door and ascend."

Nobody moves. Zeref closes his eyes and then turns to them, his jaw set. "Now."

Everybody starts to march past the west door and then into the shadows of the rocks again. The heavy sound of people walking becomes a distant echo as they disappear and in a minute or so I can hear nothing but my heart beat and my ragged breath.

Zeref stares at me. I notice, in the light, he wears a silver string attached to an oval locket across his neck.

"What's your name?" he asks. I can't figure out whether danger is coming or not, his voice tone is akin to that of a person conversing with me.

"Lucy Heartfilia," I say. I meant to fill my voice with anger, the way I usually do when I speak to him. But there is an uncomfortable heat in my stomach and my voice comes out nervous.

"What magic do you use?"

"Celestial Spirit Magic."

His lips are set in a slightly south-curved line, turned down at the corners. His eyes pierce into mine and I can't look away though I want to. I am locked in his gaze like I am the prey and he is my predator. Deer and lion.

"You're making a mistake," he says to me softly. "Lucy."

I cannot explain the strange feeling.

Up till now he has always spoken in that commanding, bored monotone of his. His voice has instilled fury and intense dislike in me and his smirks have reminded me of his cruelty.

The way he speaks now, it is as if he let his guard down. As if that person was all an act and is honestly that boy-of-my-age theory in the flesh.

I would have believed it. But I have seen Zeref in action.

"What mistake?" I say harshly.

"You can't win by force," he says. "And you will be the first to train today as penalty."

"What do you mean?"

His black eyes harden. "You will pay for your rashness. I hope you remember what I said about foolish acts here."

"You think I give a damn?"

The next minute I am thrown back with such force, the breath is knocked out of my lungs. I literally see the wind rush past me as I collide into the broken doorways behind me and searing pain shoots up my head. I gasp out in pain and then find myself on the hard ground as I drop to the floor. My head throbs and my vision blurs.

I cough and blood splatters on to the rocks. My finger gentle probe the back of my head, but there is no warm liquid, only a bump which screams when I touch it.

My knees and palms are scraped and bleeding by now, counting the numerous times I have fallen and been attacked since I arrived in Clover.

Zeref's finger reach up and the next second the hood is over him again. Then he walks past me and turns back to say, "You have to give a damn, Heartfilia. Now get up."

"You filthy—"

He is next to me in a flash, hauling me up and pinning my shoulders against the rocks. "You will shut up," he says dangerously, pushing my head further against the rocks until it hurts too much. "And do as I say."

I fall to the floor again as he releases me. Then he walks forward and I stumble after him.

Thank you, once again, to those following and reviewing for the story :) I hope you liked this chapter :)