Her temper and patience were worn to the point many believed it was beyond the line that could be considered even remotely thin.

After having to deal with 2 different rush hour traffic patches, each lasting as long as an hour to two and being pulled over for reckless speeding, going double the speed limit in a 50 mph zone and driving on the shoulder of the road, putting the lives of motorists who were pulled over to the side for probably the fourth time before committing another traffic violation and as a result, was towed to local courthouse for the fifth one that had nearly every traffic law on it. Erza had then finally snapped at both the poor officer that wrote the ticket and towed her originally and judge assigned to her case got quite the earful himself. Jellal was pretty much a nervous wreck at that point.

She pretty much blasted the two men a few feet away from her with just the sound of her voice and almost into oncoming traffic as she yelled her head off and demanded to know if they knew who she was and what was going on. When the officer and the judge didn't answer fast enough, Erza jumped out from behind the table she sat at, scaring the officer, the judge and Jellal into submission and practically berated the two terrified men, showed them her status and badge and then made her way out of the courtroom and back into her car, slamming the door so hard it was a surprise that the windows and the door itself didn't shatter from the force. It also had poor Jellal cowering under the shadows of the building of court to the point he even found it very difficult to explain the situation. Both the judge and the officer agreed that to give them a special permission and a stamp of clearance that was needed, mostly to avoid Erza's wrath and save the many poor souls of the traffic partols that still remained on the interstate.

"To all patrolling traffic officers- Be on the look out for a dark red Mercedes 2006 four-door car with the license plate number XXX-XXXX! Do not halt this vehicle! I repeat- DO NOT HALT THIS VEHICLE! Under orders of Council member Jellal Fernandes!"

As soon as she was released, she slammed her foot hard onto the gas pedal, it amazed Jellal that she didn't jam it right though the very heart of the car itself, and immediately sped down the road and away from the courthouse, leaving it, various buildings and all the other cars in the dust as she accelerated to 90 mph within almost 10 seconds.

Poor Jellal was beginning to metally prepare his will and final testament.

He had never been so grateful for cheap motels before in his entire life when they finally stopped in for the night just as Erza stormed into the bathroom and turned on the shower. After all those confrontations, Erza lost what had to be a total of 6 hours. Six precious hours plus the six they would use to sleep before dawn and to the scarlet beauty they were hours that could have been used to help her and the rest of her team locate Natsu and bring him home before he sustained any more injury, whether it be physical or mental. She clenched her hand against the shower wall in anger and frustration as she hung her head in shame allowing water to cascade through her hair and down her body, weakly pounding the wall.

She was close to tears.

She felt- If she was dared to ever be caught saying this out loud- helpless.

She felt vulnerable.

She couldn't begin to fathom what Natsu must be going through or what he must be feeling at this exact and precise moment. All she could think about or even imagine was how much pain Natsu was probably in and how scared he must be. The shower wall began to crack under the increasing pressure her fist applied as her face harden and her eyes turned steely. She could just imagine it now;

She could see a room.

It was a fairly large room. A room that just screamed 'sex chamber' with a large plush bed and walls that were covered in a dark purple shade with faceless portraits that were lined along its face. From the windows, hung heavy velvet curtains that blocked out any and all light from entering the room as it pooled at the bottom of the floor. The carpet was a light purple to match the theme of a predator's desires. The only light source in the room were from the low glimmering candles that sat on all and visible wall shelves. All lined in a neat little row.

There was no other furniture; at least none that she could imagine being there, save for the large bed and maybe a couple of side tables here and there. The bed in question was massive, massive enough to fit almost ten people on it, with shinning crisp silk sheets of midnight black, littered with small little plump pillows of matching black satin that were piled to one side, and sitting on the bed was Natsu. He was sitting there in a most tempting 'W' position in chains- like a slave.

That got Erza's blood boiling.

They were around his neck, ankles and wrists clinking alongside his terrified trembling, his arms wrapped around his body; trying to keep himself to himself and his large child-like golden-hazel eyes were wide and full to the brim with unshed tears. He wore what had to be the world's largest button up shirt, one that clearly was made for the world's tallest man in mind, that made him more small and more vulnerable while it was large enough to reach mid-thigh, the sleeves had to be rolled up several times to allow the pinkette the use of his hands and fingers as it hung off of one shoulder and exposed a good chunk of his shoulder and a rather large amount of his collarbone and back.

'Please...' He'd whimpered as he held himself a little tighter and hung his head to hide his fear. 'Don't do this.'

He let out a sharp cry when a chain, that was attached to the collar around his neck, was yanked, causing the poor pinkette to fall forward onto the bed before he was pulled toward the end of the bed roughly, like a animal on a leash. A large beefy hand shot out and grabbed a fistful of pink hair and yanked the struggling boy onto his knees and come face to face with the most disgusting man Erza could ever begin to imagine.

He looked almost like Jose Porla, Gajeel's ex-boss for the Phantom Lord guild- but far uglier then that could be considered human; looking more goblin/pig-like hybrid to the point that she actually prefered Jose's real face over everything else. He had dark graying hair that was wrapped around his head leaving the top of his head bald, a large matching bushy mustache that was nothing like Jose's clean, almost, pencil drawn one and nearly covered with hair but what got the redhead was- well, to put bluntly- Holy Twin Dragons above was he fat! He had to rival the height and weight of a baby whale alone with little to no neck visible and his own flesh seemed to be sagging and jiggling from its own weight.

A truly disgusting sight that almost made Erza throw up right there in the shower stall. ALMOST. That was saying something since Erza had seen far more disgusting, cringworthy things that would have made any harden individual sick to their stomachs- But never Erza. Erza was known to have an iron stomach and nerves of steel... Well, until now that was.

'STOP! STOP! YOU'RE HURTING ME!'

Natsu's eyes were wide and in a flood of tears as he clawed weakly at the hand that held a firm, very rough grip on his scalp. He weakly kicked his legs, trying anything and everything to break the bastard's grip.

SMACK

Natsu's whole body was thrown from the impact of a large hand backhanding him, causing him to land on his back and bouncing a couple of times against the plush bed before curling up into a small ball and placed a hand over his now reddening cheek, tear-filled eyes peeking up from behind them. Erza had to cover her mouth. She was so close to tears.

'Have I taught you anything?' The fat bastard growled, both his tone and voice filled with promised pain and suffering. It had Natsu in a trembling mess. 'Clearly not. Guess we're going to have to re-educate you- Won't we, boy?'

Natsu froze, eyes as wide as Erza's, as the man pulled a rather large bull whip, seemingly out of nowhere, and proceeded to bend and flex it in his hands as if to emphasize a point. Natsu let out a terrified cry as he attempted to crawl away and escape the pain that he knew would be dished his way only to have his shackled clad ankle snatched up and was yanked straight back before being thrown right off the bed and against a strange metal bar at waist-length that was supported by a thick wooden frame that seemed to crop up out of nowhere in the darkness.

'NO! NO! I'LL BE GOOD! I'LL BE GOOD!' Natsu cried in absolute terror. 'I PROMISE! PLEASE! I'LL BE A GOOD BOY!'

The man just laughed as Natsu attempted to push himself away from the torment only to be shoved into a strange framework by his tormentor who proceeded to chain his shackled wrists to the wooden beam held high above his head before his ankle met the same fate below, slightly spread apart one from the other and chained to the wooden posts while his stomach pressed firmly into the metal bar. He shrieked when the fabric on his back was ripped off, exposing his tanned, smooth back to his tormentor. He shook violently against the framework, tears flowing freely down his face as he heard the whip crack against the floor.

'Please... Please... Don't-'

CRACK

Erza gasped, clasping her hands tightly over her mouth, tears in her eyes as Natsu's mouth opened in a silent scream as the whip cut through the air before a loud crack resounded and bounced off the walls and left a rather deep and bloody gash on his back stretched from his hip to his shoulder. Erza could feel hot tears just screaming at her to allow them to fall.

Poor Natsu-

Her poor poor baby brother.

'I think 25 lashes should do it.'

Natsu whimpered.

Erza watched the scene unfold before her as each lash was administered forcing herself to shrink smaller and smaller into a tight little ball on the floor of the shower stall, causing the redhead to shudder and quake, covering her ears with her hands and snapping her eyes tightly with every slash that was ripped into Natsu's flesh. Natsu bit back the pain as best as he could, but seemed to be quite difficult with every crack against his back for after the 8th whip, he finally broke into tears and sobs that just simply broke Erza's heart. After what felt like an eternity, the sick bastard stopped his assault and stepped back to admire his handiwork;

Natsu's back was a complete mess of bloody gashes and cuts, his legs trembled violently and slumped out from under him causing the rest of his body to slump over the metal bar with the chains tying his wrists to the beam being the only thing holding his weight up at this point. He sobbed and whimpered weakly as a large sweaty hand plastered itself onto his stinging back causing the pain to worsen. Erza had never seen such brutality or wounds of such caliber- Sure she and Jellal faced them when they were made into slaves as small children and okay sure, she and Jellal were on the receiving end of such torture as Natsu was- But never to this extent.

Their tormentors were never this cruel-

Worse they did was 10.

'I think we learned our lesson, didn't we you little whore?'

'Yes... Yes, I did Master,' Erza gasped. No. He didn't- He would never-! 'I'm sorry for disobeying you... I'll never do it again...'

'Good boy- Master's very pleased to hear.'

Erza seethed in anger before her face grew wide with horror and shock as Natsu's tormentor ripped the chains from the beam and proceeded to bend pinkette over the metal rod, exposing his entire backside to the monster's viewing pleasure. He smirked as he patted Natsu's firm, tanned ass before he ground that slab of flesh that was his crotch into the pinkette's ass.

'Now to reward you,' He sneered. 'Shall we use you as Nature intended?'

'Yes Master...' Natsu was truly broken. 'As you wish-'

No.

"NO!"

Erza suddenly shot straight up in the shower stall, anger and determination evident in her eyes, as she shut off the water and made a beeline for the bedroom, not caring that she was about as naked as the day she was born and covered in a light spray of soap suds. She dashed past Jellal, who resting on one of the twin beds, reading a book only to freeze in place, staring into the space where Erza's nude form once was in his line of sight. His face a bright red as Erza reached forward and snatched the motel's phone up and placing the plastic contraption to her ear as she frantically dialed a bunch of numbers on the surface.

"Pick up. Pick up. Pick up you stupid bastards!" She roared. She couldn't allow such horrors to continued. "PICK UP!"

"Erza. Darling-" Jellal said, still bright red as he covered his eyes with his hand and turned to look in her general direction. "W-W-What are you doing? And without any clothes on of all things?"

"Not now, Jellal." Erza snapped causing Jellal to jump under the tone. She turned her attention back to the phone. "'Bout damn time-"

'The peron you are trying to reach- Gray Fullbuster- Is unavailable. Please leave a message after the beep.'

BEEP

"DAMN IT!"

"Erza! What's wrong?!"

"Gray isn't picking up!" Erza answered angerly. "I'm beating him for that! Another one-"

"Wha-"

"NOT. NOW!"

She begin trying various different other numbers she knew off.

'The person you are trying to reach-

- Lucy Heartfilia-

- Laxus Dreyar-

- Gajeel Redfox-

- Rogue Cheney-Eucliffe-

- Sting Eucliffe-

- Is unavaialbe. Please leave a message after the beep.'

BEEP

"DAMMIT! ARE THEY ALL BUSY?!" Erza yelled, slamming the phone down hard onto the receiver it was amazing it didn't break under such force. "What the hell are they all doing that is so important that they must ignoring me?!"

"Erza! What's this all about?" Jellal asked, eyes still snapped shut and reached out blindly for the seething redhead. "What's got you all enraged?"

"He's in pain..."

"Who's in pain?"

"Natsu." Erza whispered, hanging her soggy head allowing her red hair to shield her face from Jellal. "He's in so much pain- So much pain. He was beating him- whipping him... Like they would do to us when we were slaves- But it was worse. Much much worse."

"Oh," Jellal nodded, understanding but eyes still covered. "That poor boy. He doesn't deserve that! Nobody!"

Erza's shoulders shook as she slumped onto the bed next to the blunette. "It's all my fault... It's all my fault, Jellal."

"No. No, it isn't," Jellal reasoned gently. "These things happen and there's nothing we can do to control them or even stop them."

"I know but-"

"But nothing love." Jellal smiled. "The best we can do, is end it and punish the people responsible terribly. Now, Natsu's a strong lad, I know, I've seen him under the darkness of cruelty and soul-shattering events and every time he pulls through them with such determination and will that I know he'll hold out even under such darkness of humanity. What you need is a little shut eye and you're gonna need especially since we plan to leave as soon as the sun peaks over in the horizon."

"Yeah. Yeah, you're right." Erza smiled, brushing her tears away. "I shou-" She blinked. "Jellal, why are you covering your eyes? And why are you so red? Do you have a fever?"

"Erza- Darling- Don't you remember that discussion we had about a week ago about your- uh- 'modesty' and about the 'before and after marriage' talk?"

"Modesty?" Erza blinked. Completely lost. "Before? After? What are you talking about?"

"Erza- Dear. You're naked," Jellal replied. "And I told you it is not appropriate for a man who has yet to be married to her, to see the woman naked- Period."

"Oh," Erza looked down at herself and chuckled at Jellal's dilemma. "I'm sorry, Jellal."

"Nevermind that," Jellal claimed, waving his hand while placing the other over his eyes. His face still burning. "Just go and get dressed and let's be off to bed okay? Please?"

Erza smiled warmly. "Sure Love."

"I love you."

A pause before Erza leaned forward and pressed a soft kiss to Jellal's lips.

"I love you too."

Dawn seemed to have snuck up on them a lot faster then Jellal would have previously liked.

Once 5 o' clock in morning came with the accompaniment of the first lights of morning that barley filtered through the curtains that covered the motel windows and that was the moment Jellal knew he should have written and signed his death warrant. Erza woke him up, having not slept real well due to the constant nightmares of Natsu's pain and peril, one of which had in a scene of extreme BDSM around 4:45 and as a result Erza stopped sleeping, got ready and practically threw Jellal, who was still half-naked and their luggage into her car with such ferocious nature that Jellal could've sworn that he gained a concussion from the multiple bangings his head against the many surfaces the car seemed to possessed.

So much for the talk last night-

Once Erza placed herself into the driver's side, Jellal began returning to the inner recess of his mind to prepare his last will and statement just as Erza slammed her foot hard onto the gas pedal, accelerating to 80 miles an hour within the next 10 seconds they were in the parking lot before she sped down the road and away from the motel leaving nothing more then dust in her steam. They drove and drove what must've been hours and by then Jellal's mental state of mind was slowly deteriorating. He tried reasoning and it ended with poor results and threat of being beaten to death; Erza was beyond reason at this point and it seemed to steadily get worse with every moment she suddenly spaced for a fraction of a minute. They eventually came to a fork in a road a few hours past that actually had them pull over, much to Jellal's relief, allowing the bluenette to finish pulling on the rest of his clothes and ease his nauseous stomach.

One path went around the mountains and Sky Towers, through Capital Crocus which would be 6 hours of driving or they could shave all of that with the second path that went straight through the dreaded Dark Woods that would not only cut 2 hours off their travel time, but the highway that cut through the dark forest was not only dark because of the lack of street lights but it was also very dangerous.

And with all of Jellal's rotten luck, she had to pick the latter.

"Erza! Please! I beg you! Slow down!"

"No!"

"Erza. Please!" He whined as they hit a pothole that had the poor man jump in his seat and passed the pain right to his stomach. "Please! I beg you! Don't do this!"

"Jellal, we can't afford to waste anymore precious time!" She shot back, sparing him a brief glance. "Natsu's in trouble! What part of that are you not grasping? He's probably being tortured and forced into humiliating clothes and positions- Doing Twin Gods knows what-"

"Sweetie, I don't want to sound insensitive but-" Jellal gasped as another pothole went straight to his gut. "But how do you know that you aren't just over-imagining this- Geh!"

Another pothole.

"HOW CAN I IMAGINE THIS?!" Erza roared. "There is no way in any form of hell Natsu would be sitting in a kidnapper's hideout and doing nothing! I sure the kidnapper is just treating him like one would with a guest! I'm soooo sure- NO FUCKING WAY!"

"I don't doubt that but-"

"Don't argue with me!" Erza retorted. "We both know Natsu's being beaten, stabbed and probably at the brink of death as we speak. He's probably-"

"Erza! Please slow down!"

"NO!"

"But Erza, if you keep speeding the way you are now, you'll get us both into an accident! And we can't help Natsu if we're seriously injured or dead!" Jellal tried reasoning, peeking through his fingers. "You're gonna hit something! Trees! Shrubs! Moose! Caribou! Deer!"

His eyes were shot wide open and he removed his hands from his face as was drained of all color.

"NATSU!"

"Natsu?" Erza turned to look at Jellal in utter disbelief, not focusing on the road at all. "How can I possibly hit Natsu? He's not even-"

It was then Erza realized that Jellal wasn't looking at her or even acknowledge that she was actually talking to him. He was looking at the road with fear and shock, stamping his feet as if hoping it would somehow stop the car. Erza followed his gaze and found herself looking to the front of the road herself and her eyes grew wide and she gasped.

It was Natsu.

He looked as beaten as Erza somehow predicted he would be; face and any exposed skin showing was covered in bruises and cuts, wearing a low-cut white blouse that was wrinkled and covered with dirt and what looked to be blood, with sleeves that were ripped and torn, starting at the upper part of his arms with a dark orange, corset-like, article of clothing that hung loosely around his waist tightly. What completed the image was the long, midnight black colored skirt that had a two long slits that reached up to and underneath the corset to his hips, allowing his long legs and bare feet to be exposed at any given angle, like they currently were but a part of the skirt was ripped; torn and barely covering Natsu's legs. His golden eyes stared into Erza's direction, wide and full of fear as Erza slammed her foot on the brake as hard as she could, pitching both herself and Jellal forward in their seats slightly.

For Natsu was standing right in the middle of the road.

SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEECH

She turned the steering wheel hard to the left, trying to avoid hitting the pinkette, who in turn, tried to move out of the way to avoid being hit but it seemed that it wasn't enough as she hit Natsu head on, causing the poor pinkette to be lifted and ride on top the hood of the car as his head smashed itself against the windshield. All that Erza could remember was the sound of screaming tires, busting glass and a painful scream that escaped Natsu's mouth before he was thrown off the car from the force of it stop and he fell onto the road with a sickening crack.

"NATSU!"

And now for more feels!

The feels! ;A;