I do not own Fairy Tail.

A new Lucy

Chapter Three – The betrayal of a fire dragon slayer

Recap: "There´s nothing wrong with you left eye, I think it's beautiful." He told me, completely serious, earning him another true smile.

He then gently turned my head to show the others but as soon as I realized his intentions I closed my eye again, once more scared of their reactions.

"Open your eye Lucy, let them see it. It´s alright." Laxus said quietly in my ear. My left arm pulled Nim even closer, his vibrating purr a great source of comfort while my right hand wrapped around Laxus wrist before I took a deep breath and let my left eye open once again.

I held my breath as I waited for their reactions but once again I had been worried for nothing.

"Wow… That actually looks really awesome…" Bickslow said with wide eyed honesty.

"So beautiful…" Evergreen whispered without taking her own eyes off my wolfish one.

"That is really interesting… and pretty." Freed admitted with a slight blush adorning his cheeks.

"See? Nothing to be so worried about." Laxus told me and wrapped one massive arm around my shoulders for a hug. I couldn´t hold back the tears any longer so I allowed him to hug me and let the tears fall.

x-X-x

Later when my tears had dried and the excitement about my new eye had receded, Freed had examined it and told me that there was nothing wrong with it or me. The changes only meant that I got fangs, improved senses (especially my vision) and a new look on my left eye. He too promised me that I wouldn´t change to a wolf but he also warned me that it wasn´t impossible that my new wolf eye could hold more abilities than we knew of now. Since I had calmed down he decided to pick up the questions again.

"There is just one thing I do not understand Lucy and that is why team Natsu returned and told us all that you had died during the battle against the dark guild mages? Why would they not simply tell us that you had been captured so that we could go after you?" I lowered my eyes towards the floor and sighed as sadness swept through me, what had happened hurt so much but not all of team Natsu was to blame and I was going to make sure that everyone knew that.

"My guess is that Erza, Gray and Happy really thought I had died since they were not present when I was taken. Natsu must have told them that I died and they would have no reason not to believe him. Erza and Gray would never abandon me like that and neither would Happy. What happened was that we had split up to take on the dark guild mages, Happy was patrolling the outside, Erza and Gray were fighting on the first floor and Natsu, Lisanna and I went to the second one. We realized rather quickly that the information we had about the job was incorrect and that the dark guild mages were much more powerful than expected. We were overwhelmed, Gray was taken out and we were about to retreat when one of them managed to grab me and put a rope around my neck to keep me from escaping. But I wasn´t worried because I knew that Natsu wouldn´t just let them take me, he had Lisanna with him as well so they could have taken out the man holding me easily enough... But then Lisanna started screaming that they had to go, that she couldn´t die when she had just gotten her life and family back. And Natsu… Natsu listened to her. He told me that he was sorry but that he couldn´t lose Lisanna one more time, then he asked for my forgiveness before he turned his back to me and left with Lisanna clinging to him." Tears were streaming from my eyes by now and I looked up so that I could meet their eyes as I spoke the last few words.

"He just left me there… in the hands of our enemy…" Then I broke down sobbing and I didn´t stop for a very long time.

Laxus POV

Blondie had finally managed to cry herself to sleep; her heartbreaking sobs made my heart ache for the girl who was the light of our guild. I couldn´t believe that Natsu of all people had done this to her…

We were all shaken by her story and tried to come up with ideas to help her but since she was sleeping now, I had decided that we all try and get some rest. I had a feeling she was going to get nightmares so who knew for how long she would sleep peacefully…

Ever had laid down next to Blondie on the bed and was also sleeping, her eyes red and puffy from all the crying. Bickslows little Nim resting in between them; it seemed as if he really had taken a liking to the blonde girl. Bickslow himself was stretched out on the other bed, sleeping soundly with his other four babies.

Freed was sitting on the other couch and reading a book named 'Curses, Blessings and everything in between.' In the hopes of getting more information about what has been done to Lucy and how it might affect her. I sighed and cracked my neck to get rid of some of the tension in my neck and shoulders, it wasn´t like me to worry this much about someone else outside of the Raijinshuu but then Blondie had always been special… And I did care more about the people in the guild nowadays but I wasn´t going to change overnight either.

"I´m going to use the communications lacrima to try and get a hold of gramps, he needs to know about this…" I muttered in Freeds direction, causing him to tear himself from the book to look up at me and tell me.

"Be careful about how much you tell him, Lucy probably would not want anyone in the guild to know what happened until she has had time to process and accept what has happened to her. Make sure that you only tell Master and that he knows to not tell anyone else for now. Tell him that we will take care of her for now." I looked surprised at Freed and said.

"You think she´ll agree to stay with us for now? Wouldn´t she want to go home?" Freed only shook his head no and explained.

"No, I do not think so. We saved her from that hell, so she will feel safer with us than with anyone else for now, also, she was abandoned by Natsu who was supposed to be her best friend. If we leave her as well now then we will lose her forever, she will see that as we abandoning her as well and will probably leave the guild if she manages to get herself out of the depression. And I am sure that she will not wish to go home, she asked me to put up some runes in her apartment to keep others out of the bathroom while she was in there. Apparently her team does not know the meaning of the word privacy." When Freed stopped talking I was clenching my jaw so tightly it hurt, how had she managed to stay sane it that crazy team? I nodded to Freed that I understood and he returned to his book as I grabbed the communications lacrima from my bag and stepped outside our hotel room and headed to the roof to get some privacy while talking to gramps. I activated the lacrima and waited until I could see gramps on the smooth surface of the stone.

"Laxus, how are you my boy? How did the mission go? I had expected you guys to be back by now, I was starting to worry."

"I´m fine gramps, we all are and the mission was a success. Something´s happened though and we probably won´t be back for a few weeks at least." I told him while desperately trying to figure out a way to tell him everything without betraying Blondie.

"What happened?" He asked, a worried frown appearing on his forehead. I sighed but decided to just tell him, if I explained it he would understand the need for secrecy.

"Well I don´t really know how to explain this mess so I´m just going to come out and say it alright? We found Lucy; she had been captured by some dark guild that tried to use her to gain the lykans disease using a spell that would have killed her had it succeeded. She´s in bad shape both mentally and physically right now but she´ll be alright with enough time. The troubling thing is that Natsu and Lisanna abandoned her in the hands of the dark guild they were sent to annihilate when they could have easily gotten her free. She told us that Happy, Erza and Gray had nothing to do with that and that Natsu and Lisanna probably told them she had died and why wouldn´t they believe them? They were a team!" I had to stop and take a few deep breaths to keep my anger under control, me and Blondie weren´t particularly close but all of this would surely change that, no way I was letting her go back to her old team again!

"She… She´s alive?" Gramps asked with tear filled eyes and when I nodded my head yes they fell down his cheeks.

"Yeah she´s alive. She´s down in our hotel room, sleeping."

"Good, that´s good… I want to tell everyone that she´s alright but I´m guessing from your expression that it would be a bad idea…"

"Yeah, tell no one for now. I´m leaving Blondie in control of when she wants to tell the guild she´s alive, she has to have a chance to heal from this first before going back to them. And I think there´s something weird going on as well, sure Natsu and Lisanna have always been close but it´s really not like Natsu to abandon anyone, much less Lucy. I think something´s going on that we have yet to figure out…"

"Hmm… you´re probably right boy, I won´t tell anyone. And I´ll trust you when you say that Erza, Gray and Happy had nothing to do with this. I will leave it to you and your team to care for her and help her through this. I know a little about lykans disease and am I right to guess that she has had a few changes?"

"Yeah, she was really upset about it because she was afraid that we would think she was a freak and leave her as well. She has gotten heightened senses and fangs much like those of a dragon slayer and her left eye has changed to that of a wolf."

"I see… well there´s nothing wrong with that so make sure she knows that. I´ll leave her in your care for now Laxus, please inform me of any changes and then later when you´re coming home."

"I will gramps, I´ll talk to you soon." I told him before the image of him faded away and the communications lacrima turned itself off. I turned to go back to our room when my sensitive dragon hearing picked up a terrified scream coming from downstairs. Without a second thought I burst into a sprint and headed back down the stairs, instinctively knowing that it was Lucy who was screaming.

Lucy POV

I was back in the damp and dark basement that had become my own personal hell on earth. The shackles were back around my wrists and I was once again chained to the wall, completely defenseless. I hated feeling defenseless…

The only thing I could see was an empty chair that stood in front of me and a small table next to it that held a burning candle and a few metal instruments that were covered in dark, dried blood. The burning candle was the only light in the room and while the flame flickered wildly it never went out.

Suddenly I heard footsteps approaching and a person I knew very well stepped inside the circle of light and took a seat on the chair. He looked at me with eyes filled with disgust and hatred and while I wanted to look away from those black orbs, I was unable to do so.

"You are so weak Lucy… I can´t believe I never saw that before." He told me and I felt my heart crack a little more. He told me that in a voice that was completely serious, something that almost never happened.

"You don´t mean that Natsu…" I whispered, holding back tears as I watched my pink haired best friend look at me with his lip curled in distaste of me.

"Oh but I do Lucy, why else would I leave you here? If you were strong you would be able to get out of here yourself but you don´t. You had to have Laxus and the rest of the Raijinshuu to come and rescue you."

He stood up from his seat and I could hear more people move around the edges of the room, hidden in shadows. He walked up to me and leaned in to whisper in my ear.

"Well they won´t be able to save you this time."

And with that he lit his hands on fire and touched my clothes, setting them and me on fire. I screamed as the fire burned away my clothes, burned my skin and set fire to my flesh. I watched Natsu turn his back on me and walk back into the shadows, leaving me to burn to death while still being chained to the wall in the dark, damp basement…

I woke up screaming, slapping at myself to put out the fire that had been burning me in my nightmare. Suddenly my arms were restrained and I panicked. I knew I was awake but the memories of the nightmare lingered and when I could no longer move freely, I freaked.

Since my arms were being restrained I used my feet to try and kick my attackers, hoping that they would let go of me so that I could fight properly. I felt I rush of power go through me and somewhere in the back of my mind I realized that my body must have healed enough for it to accept the changes I went through during my training in the spirit world.

I smiled in a way that spoke of close I was to the edge of insanity, my eyes wide open and unseeing as I fought with renewed strength and when my foot connected with something hard, most likely someone´s jaw, the hold on my right arm loosened enough for me to break free. I used my right hand to form a fist and struck at my left side but before my fist could connect with something another person wrapped himself around my body, making it impossible for me to move a single inch.

"Let me go!" I growled at the person holding me but I was ignored as he spoke with the other people in the room, telling them to leave. I assume that they obeyed him because next he turned his full attention on me, speaking words of comfort in my ear.

And slowly the remains of the nightmare were washed away, and reality took its place. And when I realized what I had done, that I had fought against Bickslow and Evergreen as they tried to help me, I once again broke down crying and Laxus allowed me to cry into his chest as he stroked my back comfortingly.

x-X-x

I must have fallen asleep again for a little while because the next time I opened my eyes my head was resting on Laxus broad chest and one of his arms were slung over my waist, keeping me close to him. I could tell that the others were back because they were talking quietly amongst themselves. Then I remembered what had happened and feelings of shame and self-hate washed over me. How could I ever look at them again? Knowing that I had hurt at least one of them when they were only trying to help me.

I let out a small whimper and the hand that were resting on my hip moved to stroke my back again before a deep rumbling in the chest I was using as a pillow indicated that Laxus was about to speak.

"How are you feeling Blondie?" His words caught the attention of the others and they all looked in my direction. I felt their eyes on me and looked up at them for a moment before hiding myself in Laxus chest again. Normally I would have been mortally embarrassed by being so close to Laxus since we didn´t really know each other that well but thankfully the embarrassment never came.

I was so ashamed over myself that I was feeling nauseous, during my quick glance up I had seen a dark purple bruise on Bickslows jaw and I felt so bad about it that I didn´t know what to do with myself.

"Blondie?" Laxus inquired again and I tried to draw my knees up against my chest to make myself smaller but he wouldn´t let me. Instead he sat up and pulled me with him, my back against his chest.

Evergreen came up and sat in front of me on the bed but I didn´t look at her, I could only see the bruise on Bickslows jaw. It had to hurt… Evergreen snapped her fingers in front of my face and I flinched before focusing on her. She looked at me worriedly but then smiled gently at me and pulled me from Laxus warmth into her own embrace and her arms came around me to hold me close.

The simple, kind gesture broke my resolve to not cry anymore and as I sobbed into her shoulder I felt myself get a little lighter, the burden of being betrayed wasn´t quite so heavy to bear.

I felt another hand land on my shoulder and looked up to see Freed smiling gently at me, my gaze then moved to Bickslow who stood a few feet away as if he was afraid that his mere presence would make things worse. When I saw the uncertainty in his eyes I pulled away from Evergreen to stand up and abandon the comfort of the bed. I took one step and then another in Bickslows direction before launching myself at him.

My arms wrapped around his middle and my face was buried in his chest, he clearly wasn´t used to hugging but I refused to let go and eventually his arms came around me to hold me. I looked up at his face and said.

"I´m sorry! I´m so, so sorry…" Then I hid myself against his chest again and another few tears left my eyes. I was feeling lousy, both for hurting him and for crying all the time but I knew from experience that I would feel better faster if I didn´t lock my feelings away.

A heavy hand landed on top of my head and I looked up to see that Laxus was standing next to me; it was his hand resting on my head.

"Come on Blondie, we need to have a talk." He told me and I simply nodded and went to sit down in one of the couches. He said a few words to the Raijinshuu before joining me and with my new, improved hearing I could hear that he had asked them to go out and buy whatever I might need for the next few days at least as well as some dinner for us all since it was starting to get rather late.

"What did you want to talk about?" I asked him while rubbing at my red and puffy eyes when the rest of the Raijinshuu had left the room.

"I talked with gramps, I told him we found you and that you were alive. I also told him not to tell anyone else and that I would stay in touch." He told me matter-of-factly and while one part of me got scared now that yet another person knew what had happened to me, I also understood the need for the Master to know. I looked at Laxus and saw that he was keeping a close watch of me, clearly expecting me to have another freak out.

"I only told him what he needed to know Lucy, and he understands why he can´t tell anyone else yet. I also told him that we wouldn´t be back for a few weeks so you´ll have time to recover." I nodded and said.

"Thank you… But that´s not the only thing you wanted to talk to me about is it?" He shook his head and gave me a small smile.

"You´re right, there´s more we need to talk about but first I have a very serious question that I need you to answer truthfully, that´s partly why I had the others leave us. Did they rape you?" He looked at me dead serious and I could see both fear that they had and hope that they hadn´t in his eyes and in the tenseness of his shoulders.

"No they didn´t. A few of them tried but the leader always made them stop, telling them that the spell might fail if they did that… so they let me be." I could see how some of the tension left Laxus shoulders at my answer and he released a breath I hadn´t known he was holding in one long exhale.

"Thank god for small favors…" He muttered under his breath before focusing on me again. "Then let´s move to another subject, what do you want to do now?" I simply looked at him blinking every once in a while but found no voice to even try and answer his question with. He noticed my struggle and rephrased his question.

"Do you want to go back to the guild, to your own apartment?" I immediately shook my head no, I couldn´t do that, I had no privacy even in my own home…

"Then do you want to stay with us for a while? We can take a few missions so the others at the guild doesn´t question why we haven´t come home, only Master needs to know what we´re doing." He offered and I looked at him with wonder in my eyes.

"I can stay with you guys? Really? I´m not going to be a bother because I´m weak?" The last sentence really showed how much insecurities I carried with me despite (or maybe thanks to) my time with team Natsu.

"Of course you can stay with us, you were the first one to forgive us after the fantasia incident and for that we are really grateful, besides, you are nakama and I know that all of us would like to get to know you better." He moved to sit next to me on the couch instead of on the other one, facing me and said. "Who´s the idiot who told you that you were weak? Had you been weak you never would have survived through the chaos we´ve been through the last few years. Just because you´re not as destructive as the others in team Natsu doesn´t it mean that you´re weak. You fight smart and with strategy instead of pure, physical power, you can even have three zodiac spirits out at the same time and from the little I know about celestial magic that requires quite a bit of magical strength and deep reserves." He told me and I was more surprised that he knew about how celestial magic worked than that he didn´t think I was weak.

"No one has actually said to my face that I´m weak but everyone implies it… Like when I tried to go on a solo mission to get enough money for my rent and wasn´t allowed because they didn´t think I could handle it without my team…"

"Idiots… All of them are idiots…" I heard him mumble under his breath before he spoke up again. "Well you aren't weak, I wouldn´t have let you stay with us if you were, it would be too dangerous. But there´s another thing I`m wondering about… and that is how did your body change so much? You were only sleeping for god´s sake!" I looked down at my body and realized that he was right, the pulse I felt before had been the changes from my time in the spirit world to appear. I was more toned than before; I had more strength, more agility, more speed and more magical power.

"Ah yeah about that… When Loke and the others pulled my spirit from my body and into their world I couldn´t go back into my body until it had healed enough, which would be seven days in this world. But in their world, those seven days was one year and three months because it was only my spirit that was pulled there. I used the time there to train so that I wouldn´t be weak anymore, so… so that I could show Natsu that I would be fine on my own… And when I returned to my body I needed a little more time to heal before the changes to my body could happen. I still have all the knowledge from my time in the spirit world but other than that it mostly seems like a dream…" I trailed off, remembering the good times I had had with my spirit friends.

"Wow that´s awesome… I wish I could go away and train like that…" Laxus said absent-mindedly and I giggled at him. Suddenly the door opened and the others returned from their shopping. Evergreen held up a few bags of clothes and gestured towards the bathroom. I followed her happily, glad to have clothes that were my own again and I was pleasantly surprised to see that everything was in the correct size. I wondered how she had done that but figured that she had checked the clothes I was wearing before.

She had gotten me several new outfits and while they wasn´t the same style that I wore before, neither was I the same and I liked my new look very much. I put on a pair of black skinny jeans and topped it off with a dark red tank top with a plunging neckline. A pair of brown, low-heeled boots encased my feet and reached to right below my knees and I transferred my black belt holding my whip and keys from my old outfit to my new one. There was even a red ribbon to go in my hair and a black leather jacket to top off the ensemble.

"Thank you Evergreen, these clothes are lovely."

"Call me Ever Lucy, we´re friends now, right?" She said a little hesitantly, as if she was afraid I was going to reject her friendship.

"Of course we´re friends Ever! Don´t doubt that anymore, please? I consider all of you friends and I hope that we can get to know each other better now." I told her and the wicked smile she sent my way let me know that she felt the same and that she had a plan to let me get to know them better.

"How do you feel about a little drinking game tonight then? We could play 'I have never'… But only if you feel up to it of course, otherwise we can do it another night." She reassured me and I smiled at her and told her honestly.

"Perhaps not tonight… But in a few days I should be able to drink without a mental breakdown and we can play 'I have never' then. Tonight I would just rather relax and take it easy, perhaps visit the baths…" Ever nodded encouragingly and agreed with me.

"Yeah, a good soak might not be a bad idea. Let´s grab some dinner and see if the guys want to join us in the baths later." I nodded and after putting all my new things away, we joined the guys on the two couches and dug into our food.

Please let me know what you think! Love C