**Fairy Tail and the characters aren't mine. They belong to Mashima.
Ok everyone. First, Lucy was overwhelmingly voted off the island, so she will die – but not in this chapter :P. This chapter is somebody that nobody voted for but I planned to do whether that person was voted on or not… hehehehehe I'm such an evil person**
Lucy sat in front of a table near the front, her arms folded over her knees, which were drawn to her chest. In her time at Fairy Tail, the blonde mage faced all kinds of villains. But none of them were like this. Jet was gone. Not just injured. Not disappeared for 7 years. Gone. Dead. Even after running back to her apartment to change, she could still feel the blood stains on her. She could still smell the sickening stench of the metallic blood mixing with the acidic odor of the stomach organs.
She heard the guild door open, but she didn't look up. She'd stopped looking up 10 minutes ago when the third group returned with no news. Part of her wished she'd joined the search team. She thought it would be safer in the guild, but after watching pieces of Droy be delivered in a platter for 23 hours she didn't feel anywhere close to safe. Now the 24th hour was almost over.
"Did you find anything?" Mira's voice expressed little hope, and Lucy could understand why. They were never going to find this creep. He was going to finish them off, one by one, till everyone in Fairy Tail was dead. Gone. Just like Jet.
"Nothing." Even Natsu sounded dejected. The fire dragon slayer whose hope burned like a fire all the time, keeping the guild alive when nothing else could pick their heads up. Even he had lost hope. He knew they couldn't find the creep that was doing this. Perhaps he'd even resigned himself to death just as Lucy had.
Around the guild she heard people echoing her sentiments. "We're all dead. We'll never find him!"
"We should run. Fuck the notes!" Another voice, referencing a note that arrived with Droy's second eye, called out. The note gleefully encouraged them to run, assuring them that running was the fastest way to become the next victim. While many had expressed doubts at the villain's ability to carry through on his threats, nobody actually had the courage to test it. Of course, Lucy thought, a bit of irony coming to her thoughts, deciding to run and leave their guild mates to their fate wasn't exactly a mark of courage. So it wasn't too surprising.
"Stop this!" Natsu's voice roared over everyone. "We'll never survive with this attitude! Look at all of you! You've already given up! We have to think, damn it! There's something we're all missing here, and we've got to figure out what it is! I'll be damned if I'm just going to sit around waiting to be the next to get picked off! I'll tear Magnolia apart looking for this guy!"
Lucy felt a faint flicker of hope, like a bright candle in the darkness of her soul, at the dragon slayer's words. But it was quickly snuffed out when the room went dark again, in sync with the ominous chime of the clock.
She didn't look up. She knew the platter would be there, but she didn't want to look for it. She already knew what was coming. A gooey ball of flesh, just like last time, that would explode in a gory mess. At least here on the floor she should be relatively safe—
"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!" The scream ripped from her throat before she even realized it was there as Droy's severed head, bloody holes where his eyes once were, descended. The pits that once had been his eyes were staring right at her, as though targeting her. She didn't even have time to get to her feet. She fell back, clawing at the floor to pull herself away from the hideous spectacle. But before she could turn her head it happened. Blood spurted from the eyes onto her hair and forehead, dripping down over her eyes and tainting her world with a red mist. Screams continued to rip from her throat as though they were coming from someone else. Distant and far away. Everything seemed unreal as she ripped, clawed at the floor, trying to pull away from the horror she knew was in front of her. The blood stung her eyes as it blotted out her vision, and a sudden metallic taste on her tongue reminded her that her mouth remained open. Somewhere in the depths of her consciousness she registered that her throat was raw and aching from screaming. Her fingers were beginning to ache from clawing at the wooden floor. Wait, she wasn't clawing at the floor anymore. She'd come up against something hard. The bar.
"LUCY! SNAP OUT OF IT!" Who was calling her? Her mind struggled to find the name that went with the voice. But all she could see was red. Red, scarlet blood filling her eyes. Suddenly there was a warm sensation against her eyes. No – more blood! But this somehow felt more wholesome than blood. Fingers pushed her eyelids apart, and as the warm, damp sensation touched her eyes the red veil was slowly lifted.
"E-Erza…" She breathed out, she only realized she'd been hyperventilating when her breathing began to slow. She was suddenly aware again that there were other people around her.
Erza had just finished cleaning her other eye with a warm towel when the darkness flashed again. When it was gone, Lucy was relieved to find herself still in the guild. She'd been almost certain that she'd been chosen as the next target.
She sat against the bar, breathing hard, not even tempted to look. The only thing she wanted was for someone to find this creep before he got around to killing her. That was the one thing she prayed for above all else. She heard the metallic clink of a lid being removed, then several gasps.
"But – nobody's missing?" Erza's voice. She could imagine the knight doing a head count, making sure every member was accounted for. "Who could it be?"
"Let me smell it," Natsu's voice. He was approaching the bar, the heat radiating from his body.
Suddenly another voice. A voice desperate and terrified, broke the silence in almost a wail. A female. Not just any female. A mother, crying out in anguish and terror. "Has anybody seen Asuka?!"
Lucy felt her gut wrench as Natsu froze by the bar. She couldn't see his face, but she could imagine it. She could feel the heat from his magic becoming overwhelming. His voice echoing through the guild like the roar of a dragon. "YOU MONSTER! WHEN I FIND YOU I'M GONNA' KILL YOU, YOU HEAR?! I'LL KILL YOU!"
It's no use Natsu! Even you should be able to see you're just screaming empty threats. Lucy thought as she huddled against the bar. She knew she should be feeling sorrow and pity for Bisca. That she should be horrified that Asuka was currently being cut apart by some freak. But right now all she could think about was that it wasn't her. She was still alive. And maybe if she was alive she still had a chance. Maybe the strongest team in Fairy Tail would start thinking of a way to escape instead of trying to hunt down a killer they would never catch.
"We must redouble our efforts!" Erza's voice put an end to any hope she had of that. "All teams, expand our searches. Knock on doors. Go into cellars. Sub-basements. If there's a place to look, look there! If they won't open up, open it for them! We're no longer concerned about the privacy of the citizens. We need to find whoever's doing this and stop them at any cost!"
It's no use Erza? Can't you see that?! We should focus our efforts on trying to keep the rest of us alive! Lucy realized she was rocking back and forth on the floor, but she didn't really care at this point. Maybe the rest of team Natsu couldn't accept how hopeless their situation was, but she could feel it. The fairies were dropping, one at a time. Not even first master could save them this time.
~~~~~~Natsu~~~~~~
He couldn't believe it. How could someone do something like that to a sweet little girl like Asuka?! His anger boiled up inside him, spilling out into the night air in his magic.
"Natsu, I think the temperature just rose 20 degrees in Magnolia," Erza's quiet voice cut into his thoughts.
Natsu was in no mood for banter. "What the fuck do you expect? This sick creep has Asuka. She's a child. Who knows what that fucker's doing to her right now?"
"I agree," Erza's voice was cold and hard, like the steel she wielded. "But anger isn't our ally here. Anger can be good if it's put to good use, but if you let it take control it'll blind you to important clues. Clues that we need to rescue Asuka before he does anything more."
Natsu growled, punching the floor of the basement they were currently searching. "We've combed this whole fucking town twice already! Not even the dragon slayers can find anything," he said with a glare. "Now we're breaking into homes and searching basements and attics. But so far the result is the same."
"But we have to keep looking," Erza said. "The killer's somewhere in Magnolia."
"How do we know that?" Natsu said, wanting something, anything, to pound into the ground and release some of his pent-up range. "For all we know the jerk could've been lying. What if we're looking for someone who isn't even here just to give him more time to pick more of us off?"
"I don't think so," Erza said. "He's too cocky. Too sure of himself to do something like this. He enjoys taunting us. And this is just one of the ways he's doing it. He's taunting us by telling us we won't be able to find him in our own city…"
"Well, we'll prove him wrong then!" Natsu said. "I don't care what it takes, I will find whoever's doing this, and when I find him I'll kill him with my own hands."
"Fairy Tail doesn't kill Natsu," Erza reminded him.
"After what this guy's done to us, I won't be able to hold back." Natsu said vehemently. He didn't know how Erza didn't feel the same way. He might've been able to hold back from killing this jerk after Jet. Maybe even after Droy. But Asuka? They were dealing with a fucked up piece of shit, and his death could only make Earthland a better place.
He stood up as he finished the inspection of the basement. Once again turning up nothing. He wanted to roar in frustration. Hell, he would rather just tear the whole town apart with a couple hits from his fire dragon king form! But he knew he couldn't do that. There were civilians in Magnolia, and they couldn't bring them into this.
Where are you hiding bastard? He barely noticed Erza's presence as he headed out, ignoring the disgruntled stares from the owners of the house they'd just inspected. Another bloody sunset bathed magnolia. A thin haze of cloud hung over the city, and the fading rays of the sun ensured everything was dyed a deep scarlet. It was as though the gods themselves were mocking him. Taunting him with what was right in front of him but he was still unable to find.
When nobody answered several knocks on the next door, he put his shoulder to it. Hard. The door blew off its hinges inward, causing an alarmed cry from an adjacent room. "Maybe you should answer your door next time," he growled as he escaped the crimson outside and began sniffing around the house.
Yet there was nothing out of the ordinary. The only scent of blood was the familiar smell of meat that had been slaughtered long ago and was waiting in a refrigerated area to be cooked. Human sweat, saliva, and other odors existed in trace amounts everywhere. Faint remnants of discarded vegetables, and the odor of potatoes, onions, and other root vegetables from their cellar.
With a growl he headed to the basement as Erza checked the bedrooms and bathrooms. Just like the last basement, it was a typical, boring basement. A storeroom for potatoes. Random boxes and junk piled in the corners. He searched everything for a sign of a secret door. Or of a psychopath murderer frequenting the space. But neither his nose, his eyes, or his ears could pick up anything out of the ordinary. It was just another boring citizen and another boring house.
Growing more frustrated and angry by the moment, Natsu continued to the next house.
~~~~~~Lucy~~~~~~
The telltale clang of a platter being opened reached her, still huddled in her corner. A stifled sob from Bisca. A telepathic message from Warren to the search teams that she did her best to block out. Lucy Heartphilia knew Fairy Tail was fighting a losing battle. She just needed to figure out a way out.
She barely even noticed the blood caked in her hair. She hadn't changed. Hadn't even moved from that spot since her last horrifying shower of crimson. Even when Natsu tried to pull her out on the streets, insisting the hunt would help clear her head and get her courage back, she resisted. She firmly refused to let him take her out there. At least here with everyone else, she had a better chance, right?
But Asuka was taken when everyone was here, and none of us noticed… Whoever was doing this could take someone in a heartbeat. He could move so fast even the person being taken probably wouldn't know what was happening.
Lucy felt tears come to her eyes again as she rocked back and forth, her arms wrapped tightly around her knees. If only she could just disappear like a celestial spirit. Then she could escape this whole horrible mess…
Wait! There was an idea. For the first time since Lucy's bloody shower, she opened her eyes and looked up from her arms. A day in the celestial spirit world was 3 months in Earthland! She could call a celestial spirit and just disappear! In 3 months it would all be over. After all, there weren't 90 people in the guild to go through. When she got back, she could find a new guild. New friends. It would be hard, leaving behind all the people she'd fought beside, laughed beside. But at least she would be alive!
Well, maybe she would be able to take a couple with her… She could just quietly tell them her plan and they could all be gone before anyone realized what was happening.
No. Too risky. What if the creep had some way of listening in on their conversations? He would find out she was planning to leave, and it would be over. No. She hated to do it this way, but the only way she could safely escape was by saving herself and herself only. Her friends would understand. They would want her to do this!
Scurrying quickly away from the group, to the wine cellar, she pulled out Horoglium's key. She wasted no time in summoning the spirit.
"Horoglium, I need to spend a day in the spirit world, quickly!"
"But Lucy, you know this isn't done except for very rare occasions."
"I know, but my life's in danger right now. If I can go I have a chance to live!"
Horoglium looked for a moment before nodding. "Alright, I'm sure the king will understand…"
His voice seemed to trail off as Lucy suddenly realized she was very sleepy. The fear and adrenaline from the past couple days must finally be getting to her But just as her eyes closed she noticed how dark it suddenly was, and an unfamiliar pair of hands caught her. The last thing she remembered was a putrid odor and cold, clammy fingers against her. Then consciousness left her, and she faded into crimson dreams…
When Lucy awoke, her eyes took a moment to adjust to the pale green light around her. The first thing she noticed was cold stone against the skin of her back. The next thing she noticed as her eyes adjusted was that she was angled upward just enough to see a young child chained to a stone slab across from her, with gaping holes where her eyes once were. Blood oozed down the girl's cheeks and face into the already dried blood on her chin and flat, naked chest. The blood looked otherworldly in the eerie green light, almost giving the whole vision a surreal feeling to it. Finally, she saw a tall man dressed entirely in dark clothing, standing a little to the right of the girl with some kind of small hacksaw in his hand.
The final thing she realized was that she was naked, just like the child across from her. Her body felt weak and unresponsive when she tried to move it, and the feel of cold metal uncomfortably squeezed her wrists. Her ankles were likewise shackled, pulling her legs to the side and leaving her completely and utterly exposed.
"Welcome to the party," the man's voice was low and raspy, like the hiss of a viper. "We'll get to you in about 2 hours. Until then, sit back and enjoy the show."
Lucy whimpered as he turned back to the girl who she now knew was Asuka. A tear ran down her cheek at the screams that tore from the girl's throat as he began using the hacksaw to remove her ear...
And that's a wrap for chapter 2. I think Lucy and a couple others will die after this, before we start to get to the finale... But keep up with the votes. So far I think the second most votes is either Wendy or Gray.
Don't forget to drop a review!
