Chapter Three – Saphira
I awoke in a dark room. I could vaguely hear voices outside the door discussing what they planned to ask me. My hands were bound behind the chair I was placed in and my feet were tied to the legs. I struggled to break free but I wasn't strong enough and the ropes must have been magic proof so I couldn't burn through them.
"So should we just go in there and question her?" I heard the voice of the fire dragon slayer question.
"I doubt that she'll give us any actual answers, Natsu," I heard my own voice say. But it couldn't have been my voice; I didn't plan on uttering a single word during the inevitable interrogation they were about to put me through.
"That doesn't mean we shouldn't try," Natsu responded.
"We shouldn't just go in there blind," I heard an older voice say. It was probably the mastermind behind all of Fairy Tail's evil, Makarov. "We don't know what her magic is. We don't want to be caught off guard."
"Well how are we supposed to identify her powers?" the voice of Mirajane came back to haunt me.
"Those ropes that she's secured with aren't regular magic proof ropes," my voice explained. "They will identify any magic that she tries to use against them. Levy and I have perfected them over the past couple of weeks. We just need to give her time to try to escape."
"Approximately how long should we wait before we check on her?" Natsu asked.
"Wait," the annoying blue exceed interrupted, "if she just tried to stab Natsu, what if she has more weapons?"
"Did no one bother to search her?" Gray asked.
"Someone better go do it while she's still unconscious," Mirajane added.
Even without using my advanced dragon sense of hearing, I could hear the boys arguing over who would search me. "Let's have someone more, um, female search her, boys," I heard Mirajane say to calm to verbal war.
"I'll do it," my doppelganger's voice said. "I might as well be the one to search her since we look so alike. I'm practically searching myself. And wait a minute, why were you guys so okay with searching her?"
"Go on, Skye," Natsu responded with a nervous smile and rubbed the back of his neck with his hand. "She's not going to search herself," he paused and played back what he just said in his head. "Or are you searching yourself? I'm lost!"
"Aye, sir!" The cat squeaked.
I heard the doorknob rattle briefly and the door swung open slowly as if with hesitation. I closed my eyes quickly, drooped my head, and pretended to be asleep.
I heard her enter the room hesitantly. She examined me thoroughly, careful not to move my bindings. She had found numerous weapons from my various hiding places.
"Oh," the girl said as she reached into my thigh high.
'Shit,' I thought, 'she found my note to Feu.'
It was near impossible to hide my rage as she retrieved the note. She checked inside both of my gloves pausing on my right hand.
"Natsu! Gray! Makarov! Mirajane!" she yelled. "Come in here!"
I could hear them rambunctiously enter the room. Still lifting my right glove, she ambitiously showed the others. "Look at her birthmark!"
I don't understand what's so special about my birthmark.
"Hey, don't you have the same one, Skye?" Gray asked.
"Yeah, the exact same one, but on the other wrist," she responded.
"Can we check the ropes for indications of her powers yet?" Natsu asked seeming anxious.
"Well she is asleep, so we could untie her briefly," my doppelganger said.
'This is my chance to get away. The second they take off my bindings I'm going to book it,' I thought and braced myself to run.
She loosened the knot slowly at first and then paused. "Natsu, guard the door in case she is awake and tries to run," she said, ruining my only chance for escape.
'Screw you, why do you have to be smart?' I raged in my head.
I could feel the bindings loosen as they started to untie them. Though I knew the door was blocked, I still readied myself to take my chance at running. I subtly planted my feet in the best running stance I could manage and bolted as soon as the last rope was slack.
I ran straight to the door, ignoring the mess of firepower and pink hair that tried to block my path. I slammed my shoulder into him and we both flew into the wall. He crumpled to the ground, trying to recover from my body slam while I ran down the hall. Thankfully, I was running in the right direction.
I reached the giant entryway of the guild hall. The massive doors were wide open with only two little figures standing in the way. Even from a distance I recognized Kade and his idiotic bird.
Just when I thought things couldn't get any worse, Kade closed the doors with a wave of his hand and a simple gust of wind. His maniacal smile and his cynical goodbye wave was all I could see as the doors, and my freedom, slammed in my face.
Gray and Skye were running close behind me and managed to recapture their prisoner. Natsu and Mirajane were slowly making their way towards us, ready to assist their friends. They dragged me back to my makeshift prison cell and retied me to the chair, this time making sure to secure me as tightly as possible.
"While you guys were off on a wild goose chase, I was busy analyzing the results of the ropes," Makarov said. "Though the ropes don't give a specific type of magic, I was able to conclude that she uses some form of fire magic. You are extremely lucky that she didn't try to use her magic against you, or you would all be barbequed."
"Except for me!" Natsu exclaimed. "Perks of being a fire dragon slayer. Wait; I could've just melted the ice!"
"Not everyone is fireproof, lava brain," Gray muttered. "There was no guarantee you wouldn't singe her. Besides, her clothes would've still caught on fire. Oh, and by the way, did you just get body slammed by a skinny blonde girl?"
"Hey!" Natsu yelled. "She may not look like it, but she's more powerful than you think!"
"Aye, sir!" Happy exclaimed.
"Shut it, Happy!" Natsu yelled even louder.
While they continued bickering, I attempted to file away at the ropes with my dragon claws. Though I couldn't tell if the clawing was working, it was very easily my best shot at breaking free of these murderous lunatics. I looked up at the small, dusty window and saw a familiar sight. Cadence was in the window staring down at me mockingly. I hated that stupid bird and his stupid owner.
Just the sight of the bird started to make my hair glow. Though annoyance alone can't quite set the red tips ablaze, it is enough to take notice. The faint glimmering managed to catch the attention of the Fairy Tail wizards.
"What's wrong with her hair?" Skye asked.
"It looks even more like fire!" Natsu exclaimed. "I wanna touch it!"
"What's going on with her hands?" Gray yelled. "It's like she has claws or something."
I quickly retracted the claws and tried to calm myself down before my hair actually went aflame. I looked at each of the wizards in turn to judge their reactions to my abilities. Most looked completely appalled. Natsu and Skye both just looked intrigued.
"I think she was trying to claw her way to freedom," Gray announced. "Shall I freeze her hands?"
"Go for it, frosty," I challenged.
I could feel my hands being encased in an icy cold barrier. As soon as Gray had backed away to admire his handy work, I deployed my claws like a missile, causing the ice to crack in half.
Even in his shock, Natsu exclaimed, "Ice make, FAILURE!" at Gray.
"Shut it, Natsu!" Gray screeched.
I could feel the smirk stretch across my lips as their attempts to restrain me were foiled.
"We'll need to restrain her claws in another way," Makarov explained.
"Good luck," I said mockingly.
"Natsu can just hold her hands," Happy said suggestively.
"Natsu can what?" Natsu and I both exclaimed at the same time.
"Did you guys forget about the part where she tried to stab me and then later body slammed me into a wall?" Natsu continued.
"No, but you're the only one who can handle fire magic if she does manage to break free. And besides, she has no more weapons," Skye responded giving him a pleading look.
"As far as you know," I mumbled.
"What was that?" Gray asked. "Do we need to search you again?" he said sounding cocky and a little too enthusiastic.
I turned my head away from him.
"You just got denied by the prisoner," Natsu laughed.
"Like you weren't thinking the same thing," Gray responded. "Now are you going to restrain her or not?"
"Fine. But if she hurts me, it's on you," he said and enveloped my hands in his.
Warmth flooded over my entire body the very second his skin came in contact with mine. I didn't actually know I could get any physically warmer than I already was, my being a fire dragon slayer and all. The red in my hair was set ablaze instantly, and it was brighter than I had ever seen before. I didn't know how to explain that feeling or why my hair lit up like that but I had never felt more powerful in all of my life. I was trying so hard to keep a poker face but I could tell that my being shocked was present all over my face. My changing facial expression was completely involuntary, however, by the time I had realized it had changed everyone had already seen it.
"Whoa, her hair!" they all exclaimed in unison.
"Wow, now it looks ever more like fire!" Natsu said fascinated by my amber tipped hair.
"Her hair doesn't matter right now guys!" Skye yelled over the low murmurs of theories as to why my hair did what it did when he touched my hands. "We still need to figure out where she's from and why she attacked Natsu."
"Oh, yeah that's right!" they all once again said in unison.
"Who are you?" Skye asked.
I could tell my interrogation was beginning now, so I pressed my lips together tightly and prepared for hours of questioning. Everyone left the room except for Skye and Natsu, who was still serving as my makeshift restraint.
"Not gonna talk?" Skye questioned.
I had to admit I was curious about this girl. We were mirror images of each other, right down to our identical birthmarks on opposite wrists, and yet I was positive there was no relationship whatsoever. After all, why would my parents give me away and keep her?
She grumbled and exited the room. Using my dragon sense of hearing, I could still make out what she was saying to the others.
"I knew she'd stay silent," Skye said. "We have no leverage Makarov! There's no reason for her to tell us anything!"
"Give Natsu a chance. I have a theory," he responded and they walked, away leaving me with him.
"What's your name, blondie?" he asked still holding my hands.
"Not blondie!" I responded without thinking.
I couldn't figure out what was wrong with me. I was supposed to stay quiet but I couldn't help but respond to him.
"Oh, fiery," he said sounding intrigued.
I remained silent, refusing to meet his eyes which were fixed intently upon me. I had to keep my cool; I didn't earn my title of strongest in the guild by letting my emotions get the better of me.
"Saphira," I blurted out once again without thought. I was mentally kicking myself for my inability to remain silent.
"Well, Saphira," he said loosening his grip a little bit, "what have I done to warrant your wrath?"
"I'm just here to take back what's mine," I spat venomously, refusing to meet his gaze still.
"What did I take from you?" he questioned sounding confused.
"You're all evil, and your guild must be eliminated," I stated sounding almost robotic.
"Who fed you that nonsense?" he asked sounding semi offended.
I remained silent and just shook my head, refusing to give anything else away. Then Skye burst through the door holding my letter to Feu.
"Natsu, you might want to read this," she said handing him the letter.
"Don't you dare!" I exclaimed, my eyes turning red, and my hair burning brightly.
"Oh, now I have to read it," he said smirking as he read it.
I struggled to get my hands free but even only with one hand he was still stronger than me. I couldn't use my powers against him because it would be virtually useless and the magic ropes binding my hands and feet blocked all of my magical abilities substantially. I just sat there and raged silently in my head. Skye backed out of the room while Natsu read.
"So, you're a dragon slayer too?" he asked seeming amused by the situational irony. "How do you explain the claws and the hair? And what happened to your dragon, Fweeh?"
"I was genetically changed so that I could kill you," I responded without thinking. I can't believe that I keep giving all of my secrets. "And her name is Fay," I said insulted. "And you should know exactly what happened to her.
"You were trying to kill me?" he asked with a hurt look in his eyes.
"I did try to stab you, you know. Why are you asking me questions you already know the answer to?" I asked, metaphorically spitting fire.
"Well, get comfortable because we're both gonna be here awhile," he said sounding almost happy about what he just stated.
"Why don't you just kill me and get it over with?" I asked surprised by my still being alive.
"This is Fairy Tail; we don't roll that way," he said with a proud smile. "Also I don't think you deserve it. It's not your fault you've been lied to," he finished.
"You're lying," I responded sounding more like I was begging him to say he was, rather than telling him.
"You'll see. You just need to see the guild for what it really is," he stated confidently smiling at me.
I had no idea what had come over me but I was starting to believe him. I was starting to trust him. It didn't make any sense because I was supposed to hate him, but I couldn't do it. I had gone completely insane. I didn't know what I was feeling, but it definitely wasn't what I was supposed to be feeling. I was scared because I knew whatever I was feeling would only grow over time, and I couldn't get away. But the scariest part of all was that I didn't think I wanted to get away.