Chapter 9

As the building continuously shook over and over again, Lucy was limping throughout the halls, trying find at least one of her friends. If she ran into any grunts, she used her daggers or her whip. Lucy now had a few more open wounds then she did before. Her mind was still stuck on Brass releasing her.

"Why...why did that guy help me?" Lucy kept wondering.

She was breathing heavily and was on the verge on collapsing multiple times, she had even fallen at least three times already. After coming upon a stair case and walking down a few steps, she tripped over her own feet and tumbled down the steps until she landed on her stomach and face at the bottom.

"D-dammit..." Lucy cursed under her breath. She had to use all her strength to push herself onto her feet. Lucy had to stay against the wall to avid falling again, but now she was moving even slower than before. Suddenly, two grunts came around the corner.

"The prisoner has escaped! Grab her!" they said.

"No! I'm too weak to fight any more! What do I do?!" Lucy mentally yelled. She closed her eyes, waiting to be stabbed or whipped, but all she heard was two loud thuds. She opened her eye up just slightly, but they soon widened after seeing the two grunts unconscious on the ground. And the person who was standing above them was Zander.

"Lucy!" exclaimed Zander, running to Lucy.

"Z-Zander..." Lucy quietly called out. She limped towards him, but was about fall once again. Luckily, Zander caught her before that happened. He kneeled down while cradling Lucy in his arms.

"Thank god you're ok!" Zander said while holding her close to himself.

Lucy let out a small and weak laugh while he hugged her. Zander pulled Lucy away to see if she was hurt, that's when he saw all of her burn marks that were, gashes and cut that were bleeding all over and how she and her clothes were stained in blood. His grip unconsciously tightened around Lucy.

"This was ordered by Jakkuna wasn't it?" Zander said with venom in his voice. Lucy nodded her head. Zander pulled her close again.

"I'm so sorry. I never should've left you alone." whispered Zander into her ear. Lucy shakily put on hand on his chest.

"Don't be...It was my choice to stay...remember..?" said Lucy hoarsely. Zander didn't say anything. He just picked Lucy up bridal style and began to carefully run back the way he had been coming from.

*With the others*

While Zander had found Lucy, Natsu and others were all going on their usual rampage.

"Tell me! Where is our friend!?" Erza shouted as she began attacking grunt after grunt.

"Where's Lucy!?" roared Natsu. They were all taking any person that came their way without hesitation. Soon, all of the grunts were lying on the ground unconscious.

"You guys!" Zander called out, finding the other Fairy Tail mages. They looked in Zander's direction and all immediately saw Lucy in his arms.

"LUCY!" most of them exclaimed. They all came close to Lucy, but she buried most of her face into Zander's chest and gripped his shirt. They all stopped getting closer to her.

"Lucy! You're ok!" said Lisanna, pushing her way past her friends. Lucy slowly pulled her face out of Zander's chest to look at her white haired friend. Lucy shakily raised one her hands out.

"Lisanna..." said Lucy with a small smile. Lisanna tightly gripped Lucy's hand in her own as she used her other arm to half way hug Lucy who was still being held by Zander. Lisanna silently sobbed over her friend. Lisanna soon pulled away.

"Thank goodness. I thought the worst would've happened after what Zander told us." Lisanna said. Lucy's expression didn't change, but when she looked over Lisanna's shoulder to see the others, her expression became one of hatred and slight sadness.

"Why?...Why did they come?" Lucy asked, her voice getting just a little better. Lisanna slightly jumped at that question, but she looked away without answering since she knew why Lucy asked that question. The others looked both hurt and guilty.

"I...I went back to Fairy Tail and brought them. I thought they could help us get you back!" Lisanna explained. Lucy let out a low sigh.

"Of course they'd do what you asked of them..." Lucy mumbled without looking at Lisanna. Lisanna didn't say anything since she understood what Lucy was talking about.

"Lucy, you should at least let Wendy heal you." said Zander. Lucy hesitantly nodded. Zander carefully set Lucy down. Wendy quickly came to Lucy's side.

"Oh Lucy, what happened to you!?" cried Wendy.

Lucy didn't answer, she didn't even look at Wendy. Wendy didn't bother pestering her, so she got to healing Lucy's wounds. All of her open wounds closed and she regained most of her energy. The only thing left was all of the burn marks that were a light pink color on her skin all over her arms, legs, body, and face.

"I'm sorry Lucy. I couldn't heal your burn marks." Wendy apologized. Lucy still didn't speak to her.

"Lucy, you should at least thank her." said Erza. Lucy quickly glanced at Erza, but she then turned away from her again.

"It was Zander who said for her to do it. I never asked." Lucy said loud enough for them to hear.

"Look Lucy, we know what we did was wrong, but-" Gray began to say, but was cut off.

"Don't act like we're all friends again! I still haven't changed my mind about quitting the guild when I get back." Lucy said. After she said that, no one dared to speak. The silence lasted for a few moment, but there was suddenly a loud explosion that happened to a wall that was next to them. Rocks and rubble flew all over the room.

"What the hell!?" Natsu said.

"Well, well. This is certainly a turn of events." said a familiar voice. Lucy's and Zander's face paled.

"Oh god." Lucy said softly. The person who caused the explosion soon stepped through the hole in the wall and came into view.

"It's Jakkuna!" Zander exclaimed.