Author's Note:

A little late than usual, but meh... xD :P

Gajeel, Natsu, Erza and Loke's POVs for this chapter! Just a couple of fight scenes since I do have difficulties with them.. xD

Your reviews were really encouraging! Thank youuuu! 3

Hope you enjoy this one! ^_^

Disclaimer: I do not own the Fairy Tail characters, they all belong to the awesome Hiro Mashima. :)

Warning: This Fanfiction is Rated M for a reason. Violence and language not suitable for kids out there! xD

GAJEEL'S POV

"Fuck, fuck, fuck!" was all I could think as we neared the building of the damn dark guild. It was as the redhead said, as soon as we knew that Invisibility Magic was being used, we could see the guild building. It wasn't much in my opinion, nothing compared to Phantom Lord or Fairy Tail. But that wasn't the one running in my mind right now. Even before we saw the building, Bunny Girl's scent already hit my nostrils, and it wasn't just a scent of straw-fucking-berries. It was mixed with the scent of blood. I could only imagine how Sparky and Salamander were holding up. Don't get any damn ideas about me liking Bunny cause I've already got the Shrimp for myself but after the white-haired chick came back with us, the blonde grew on me. Who cares if I'm going soft? It was the truth. While I'm getting all edgy because of I was her friend, I couldn't well think on how those two idiots were controlling themselves. It was pretty fucking obvious that they had a certain degree of feelings for Bunny after all and I only know that if it was Shrimp's blood I had been smelling right now, I wouldn't give a damn on who's running the shots cause I'll be sending everyone who laid a finger on her straight to hell.

The plan was obviously simple so the flame idiot would be able to take care of things better. But it was damn obvious on who was taking whom. The redhead and barmaid were taking care of the Invisibility chick and the stripper and the white-haired guy was taking care of the Speed dude. Salamander was taking on the master as far as anyone could tell. But I won't be letting him have all the fun. And so, as soon as we entered the building, I headed straight to the second floor knocking everyone out of my way. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Sparky fighting no one in particular as he made his way through a flight of stairs, I grinned knowing where the hell he was going and I had my own fight that I want to win. After a couple of easy mages, I was finally in the second floor and as expected, Salamander was fighting off some old guy. Smirking as I knew that I was in for some challenge I turned my right hand into an iron pillar and attacked which hit the master. They both turned their eyes on me and Salamander grinned, "Don't get in my way, Metalhead," he said and I smirked in reply as I looked at the master obviously outraged that I managed to hit me, "As long as you don't get in mine, Salamander," I said and we began attacking simultaneously but damn this old man was good! He was managing both of us for goddamn's sake and that was not settling well with me. "Fire Dragon's Roar!" "Iron Dragon's Roar!" the both of us attacked but the old guy managed to evade it with minimal damage.

Then suddenly I felt magic touch me, it was foreign and I wasn't liking it and before I knew it the master spoke, "Happy nightmares, Dragon Slayers," with an evil smile. And from then on, everything seemed different.

I landed another hit on him and like all the rest, he managed to dodge it. I activated my Iron Dragon Sword and attacked and I noticed that Salamander had suddenly disappeared. For half a second, I had to think on where that idiot ran off to, he was never one to escape a fight after all, he was one much rather to take a huge beating than to back down. The guy wouldn't even die no matter how hard anyone tries! And so, him suddenly disappearing was somehow very unlikely, but that wasn't the problem at hand. Salamander can take care of his ass by himself and I just had to deal with this old man myself. The fight went on and both me and the old guy had received damage, but it was obvious that I was more worn out than he was. "Are you finished, Dragon Slayer?" the old man asked and I grinned, I'm nowhere near done with you. "Oh, is that so?" and I was about to attack until, "Gajeel!" I turned my head and saw Shrimp being held in place by a man with a knife held at her throat. "Do you know her, Dragon Slayer?" the old man retorted and I glared at him and the unknown man. "Let her go," I said my voice dangerously slow but the man was smiling evilly. By now, Shrimp was crying and it was bringing pain and rage to my very being. "Gajeel," Levy said and I tried to take a step towards her and the knife pressed harder to her throat, drawing a bit of blood. I noticed the master smirking at my expense. I tried to calm myself; I took a deep breath and noticed that something was wrong. I wanted to breath in her scent to calm myself, her scent of paper, ink and books. That calming scent. But there was none, even the smell of blood. I looked at her and I could see that the man holding her was getting impatient as she whispered to her, "Say goodbye," and tears spilled freely from her face, "I love you, Gajeel," "NO!" I yelled as the man slit her throat open and I could only watch as the blood spilled. It should have made me nauseous, but it didn't. No scent attacked my nostrils and now I knew and understood why. I turned my hand into a sword and without hesitation, extended it and drove it straight to the master's chest. "This is just some fucking illusion and I'm waking up now," I growled and drove my iron sword into my chest as well.

I woke up with a start. And I already saw Salamander on full rage battling with the old man who was barely keeping up. They both saw me get up and I saw the shock on the master's face. "H-how did you-?" he tried to ask and the idiot merely grinned and boasted, "I woke up first!" "Yeah, yeah, let's just finish this," I said as I also used my full power to start attacking. That man just threatened Shrimp's life and that was not settling well with me. It was obvious that his magic was not going to work on me or the Salamander now and he was obviously exhausted while the two of us were powered up by the rage we had. Teamwork between the two of us was existent at the very moment. "Iron Dragon's Roar!" and with that attack and the Salamander's very own, the fight was finished.

The master was barely conscious though he did manage to stutter out, "H-how did you escape the i-illusion?" and I grinned. "A dragon's nose never lies. There was no scent," I said proudly and crossed my arms in front of my chest and began to walk away to help the other's in their fights. "And also, I would never let anyone kill her. I'll always protect her."

NATSU'S POV

As soon as we neared the guild building, Lucy's strawberry scent hit me, though there was a mix of something else. Blood. Someone had dared to hurt my Lucy and I couldn't stand the thought of that. It took all of my self-control to not dash to the guild building and kill every fucking person that had dared to touch even a single strand of hair on Lucy's head. But it was as Erza said during our train ride, I wasn't sure on what I would see when we enter the guild. The mage they had talked to had told them that they specialized in torture and their guild just loved to watch people suffering. And so, earlier on, Erza said that I should not barge in without thought as I couldn't be sure on what I could see. We all worried that. But as soon as Happy flew me up to the roof, I already sneaked inside and managed to find the master quickly. Then everybody barged in and started attacking and I did the same.

"Fire Dragon's Crushing Fang!" I attacked without second thought and the master was obviously surprised. He barely managed to dodge it though I didn't give him the luxury of recovery. Punches and kicks were what I was trying to land but it seemed that this guys was not a master just for the image of it. He was good. And that only challenged me more. Though, I didn't expect Metalhead to join in on the fight. The both of us weren't perfect with our teamwork, but it was as synchronized as we could possibly get at the moment, but the old man was managing to keep up with both of us. "Fire Dragon's Roar!" "Iron Dragon's Roar!" was what be tried but that still didn't have the effect we wanted. Instead, it made the old man smile and weird feeling enveloped me before he said, "Happy nightmares, Dragon Slayers," in a tone that could send shivers down anyone's spine.

I had no fucking idea on what nightmare he was talking about and I wasn't really one who would find out. I wasn't much of the thinker. Everybody knows that and I already learned the hard way that I should not think during a battle, just use my instincts. So, I began attacking again. "Fire Dragon's Brilliant Flame!" and it managed to get him, but it wasn't good enough. He was still standing and I wanted him on the ground dead. But, Fairy Tail mages never took lives but having him unconscious on the ground wasn't enough for all the pain he may have caused Lucy. "You're worried about the blondie yet you ignored her for another girl," the master spoke with a smirk as he wiped off some blood from his face. "That's not true!" I yelled at him in fury and confusion. How could he know something like that? It was impossible. And I didn't ignore Lucy, right? I always looked her way; I always had her on my mind though she never knew, though she never noticed. "Oh really? Then, why don't you choose?" the old man said with an evil grin as he pointed behind me, and I turned my gaze only for a moment to see Lucy and Lisanna. They were held each by a guy twice their size that I knew could easily break them if so they wished. "N-Natsu, save Lucy," Lisanna said weakly as the man held her tighter and she coughed out. "Damn you, let them go!" I yelled and the master replied, "Choose one, Dragon Slayer. You've got 10 seconds. 10." Lisanna merely closed her eyes and whispered just enough for me to hear, "Choose Lucy, Natsu," and for the first time in my life I was at a loss for what to do.

9

I looked between the two of them. Could I really choose?

8

Time was ticking and I could see that both girls had tears in their eyes as I couldn't decide who.

7

I thought I knew for sure I'd choose Lucy, but I didn't want to risk my nakama too.

6

How could I face Mira after this?! But I couldn't stand to lose Lucy too.

5

"Natsu, just choose her! Aaah!" Lisanna yelled and the man held her more tightly and it was obvious she could barely breathe.

4

"Tick, tock, Dragon Slayer," the master said and I glared at him, "You'll pay for this asshole,"

3

"Natsu, choose me, please," Lucy croaked out and I looked at her in surprise.

2

Who should I choose? I can't stand to lose any of them. "Natsu, please," Lucy said.

1

And I still couldn't decide. I was about to speak to let them both go when I heard two nasty cracks resound in the air.

"Time's up," and right before my eyes, Lucy and Lisanna lay on the ground, lifeless, their necks broken painfully and I just kneeled on the floor, tears in my eyes. There would be hell to pay. Why didn't I choose Lucy like she told me to? She told me to choose her! Then my eyes widened at the thought. Lucy wasn't selfish. Lucy would rather tell me to save Lisanna that tell me to save herself. Or the most likely she would say was, "I believe in you, Natsu,"and not something as petty as choose her. That was the Lucy I loved. That was the Lucy that mattered most to me. And I realized that it was all an illusion. With fire in my fist, I punched myself the hardest I could muster, I had to wake up. I had to save Lucy.

I woke up and the first that I saw was the master, his eyes wide with shock. "Y-you were only knocked out f-for a minute. H-how did y-you know it wasn't real?" the old man asked as I stood up and looked at Gajeel whom was still struggling with the illusion. "You showed me the wrong Lucy. And I will always protect all my nakama," I replied, my eyes blazing in rage and I attacked, launching different attack combinations so he can barely keep up with me. I hated the absolute idea of seeing Lucy and Lisanna died, but it bothered me greatly that I couldn't choose between them. And that made my frustration grow, which I was taking out on the old man. Then Gajeel woke up, and apparently, he was just as mad as I was that resulted to both of us being in perfect sync in attacking. As soon as he released his roar, I was relentless about this. "Fire Dragon Slayer's Secret Art: Exploding Flame Blade!" and as usual, I didn't care about destruction as it took out almost half of the guild. But at least the enemy was down. The fight was done so I quickly left in search of a certain blondie, but her scent led out of the guild building, which meant she was safe and I sighed in relief.

ERZA'S POV

Seeing the dragon slayers tense up as we went deeper into the forest already led me to believe that something was wrong. Well, ever since we came back from Edolas, everything had gone wrong, and part of it was my fault. We had ignored Lucy whom was not only a teammate of ours, but also a friend and to me, a sister. But as soon as Lisanna came back, I just couldn't contain my excitement. I used to be friends with the white-haired mage too after all and seeing her alive and well and back with us just made me too happy and made me want to dote on her for as long as I could and I didn't notice that I had completely ignored Lucy in the process. It took me two weeks to notice that I haven't spent any time with the blonde mage and I can only imagine how painful it had been for Lucy to be ignored by us. And to think that I knew how she hated feeling lonely. I hated her father for raising her as a lonely child, and I grew mad at myself when I found out that I had acted like the man I hated. And because of that, it led us to this situation. Lucy was in grave danger and we are not even sure if we would get there in time, we only had to hope that we would.

I kept the plan fairly simple. I just wanted to save Lucy as soon as possible, and if it required defeating the whole guild within a matter of minutes, then so be it. And the way to do it would be to attack full force from above, behind and front. I equipped myself with my Flight Armour as I wanted to get this done as fast as possible. On my signal, we barged in and every single one of us had charged in. Sixteen Fairy Tail mages against the whole Fear Pythios guild and its master. But, we didn't care because they had Lucy. I instantly took down every one that crossed my path. Each one of them came easy cause I didn't even give them the chance to use magic on me and suddenly, I felt a blow on my right side which broke a rib. I groaned in pain and said, "I know you're there. Show yourself," I said to the woman who held the power of Invisibility. She showed herself with a smirk on her face while she watch me clutch my side. I changed my armour at that moment to my Purgatory Armour cause I am dead serious about this match. "So, you're friends with the blonde girl?" the black-haired woman asked as she held up Lucy's keys and I glared at her furiously. "I had so much fun making her scream," the woman smirked and that was all it took for me to launch myself at her. The woman just kept on dodging gracefully and suddenly a sword was in her hand. "Thanks Rick," and a man appeared not far from us whom appeared to be fighting Gray. "Don't look away," I growled as I launched attacks. But the woman was also a good fighter and she seemed to be able to keep up with my pace. It made me sick to admit that Fear Pythios was keeping up with us Fairy Tail mages but that was not important cause we always have each other's backs and a proof was that in the midst of my battle with the woman, Mira had come to my aid. Both of us were managing to back the woman down together though our opponent was some sick lady. Our fight had me thinking, was the woman too strong? Or was I too distracted to not even be able to take her on myself? We glared at her as she seemed to be enjoying the fight though I wanted nothing more but to end it.

Fortunately for me and Mira, prayers were answered as lightning unexpectedly hit the woman. All three of us were caught by surprise as the lightning ceased to stop until the victim was completely unconscious and barely breathing. I turned my head and my eyes widened at the sight. It was Lucy and Laxus, though the girl was unconscious in the man's arms. I could see it, the blood on her clothing that had been Laxus' shirt earlier. Tears sprang from my eyes as he left to bring Lucy to safety. I had to finish everything here now. Lucy needed all of us to be there for her. And so, I took her keys from the woman and took off to help the others deal with the rest of the guild members.

LOKE'S POV

It hasn't even been a week when Lucy and I were prisoners of Fear Pythios yet for me, it seemed like years. First, seeing Aries getting stabbed had an impact on me. How could it not? She is my girlfriend and any sane boyfriend would be mad as hell when their girl had been stabbed. I was thankful though that Aries was a spirit and wouldn't die from such attacks, but still, she felt the pain and that was something I just couldn't forgive. But that wasn't all that had been running in my mind. In the time that we were trapped, I had been nothing but utterly useless. I couldn't do anything but yell for them to stop hurting her. I couldn't do anything but watch her getting beaten to a pulp. I couldn't do anything but watch her being tortured half to death. I could do a thing but to listen to her ear-piercing and agonizing screams. Screams that I knew would haunt him until I was sure that I would be able to forgive myself which was far from happening.

I am a Celestial Spirit and she is a human. I am the man. Yet it was her who took most of the pain for my sake. She knew I my stay in the human world had been straining me, but it was fine because I was managing. I could handle anything at the time. While, she was the one who had a knife at her throat. She was the one who had been made to scream every time. She had the choice of not experiencing the pain, but she chose to suffer instead. It could have been me getting beaten to a pulp. It could have been me bleeding. It could have been me suffering. Yet again, she chose to be a friend instead of being a master. When she got beaten to a pulp and those guys had the nerve to try and rape her, I was so in rage but with the chain at my foot preventing me from using my magic, I was useless to stop them. And even worse was when they called Fairy Tail. Lucy being part of the guild made her suffer and though I tried to take her place, she merely screamed and the others laughed at her suffering. When she screamed and pleaded for everything to stop and they let me take her place in getting pain, I couldn't have been more happier to experience pain, cause that meant she was safe. I don't know how I could face the other Zodiacs or Fairy Tail if I let Lucy die from this. But then again, she wanted to take my place. I tried to beg her. But she didn't yield, instead she let herself suffer half to death while I was in the dungeon cell not even free from her screams. Then when they returned her, I couldn't even bear to look at her, knowing that it was my fault that she was like this. Then I heard her sob. My heart clenched in pain seeing her like that. When she was returned to the cell, she wasn't the Lucy I know.

I didn't want to look at her naked form, knowing that it was covered in wounds and from her endless sobs, I didn't even want to know if those bastards did anything else to her. I was losing all hope though I knew that I had to give Lucy the encouragement that we'll make it through this, but seeing her in that state, I couldn't even encourage myself. Then Laxus came. I was going to rejoice that they came to save us, but, knowing what happened to Lucy, I couldn't bring myself to be happy even though we were saved now. I merely followed them in silence, watching as Laxus was being gentle to my master with gentleness I did not know he possessed. Frankly, when Laxus attacked Rena with his lightning, I was glad. I wanted her dead but Fairy Tail mages never take lives and I was sure that among Erza and Mira, both could handle the woman's punishment well. Though I didn't like being ordered around by anyone other than Lucy, I followed Laxus' order to find Wendy. It was crucial that Lucy was treated immediately after all. And so, I set off to find the young dragon slayer.

It wasn't so hard since most of Fear Pythion's mages were already down for the count and Fairy Tail mages were just too conspicuous with their attacks that I found Wendy within a matter of minutes. "Wendy!" I called out and instantly gathered her attention. "Lucy needs help. Laxus took her back to camp," I rasped out and she nodded, sprinting towards the exit and I followed her. "Loke!" a voice called out and I turned my head to the source. "Where's Lucy?" Gray asked me and I could easily see the worry etched on his face and though I was mad at him for being one of the persons to ignore her, he was also one of the people who saved us. "She's back at camp with Laxus. Prepare yourself for what you're going to see Gray. It's not going to be pretty," I said, my face grave as I remembered Lucy's battered body. This was going to be hell for some people to see.

Replies to Some Reviews:

AkariDreyar: Thank you for the compliments and honestly, I can't wait to see what's going to happen with Lucy during recovery since I always write on impulse.. xD .. Anyways, thank you for looking forward to my works! ^_^

Raiza-chan: Well, we'll just have to wait and see on how Team Natsu and Laxus will settle all of this... xD

I am just so happy about all the supporters this story has been getting.. xD (Especially Laxus' supporters.. xD ;) )

This chapter really got me thinking so how about giving me a little review, ne?

What did you think about Gajeel and Natsu? Particular thoughts on Erza? What did you feel about Loke? :(

A little bit of Gray in the next chapter! Oh, and Laxus and Lucy too! ;)

See you in the next update people and thanks for the continuous support!