Note: Thanks for all your comments for the previous chapter! Hope everyone gets some rest before the end of the year.

Laughter. Wine. Glasses on the floor.

In the moment, she feels nothing but satisfaction in the way he's looking at her. Bewildered? No, that isn't right. Nonplussed? Probably a bit of an understatement. It's likely more of a mixture irrepressible rage and utter disbelief.

It's only been a few seconds since the words left her mouth and she can see the gears in his mind turning. He knows what it meant, but he doesn't really understand the implications of all of it yet. When he does, she wonders what his reaction will be. He's always been short-tempered and he's already at the end of his wits. Maybe he'll lock her back into the Closet with no food for days. Maybe he'll drug her and pass her around his crew members. Or maybe he'll finally break and put her out of her misery.

She gains no further insight into what it will be as he approaches her in silence. The girls around her are trembling, she thinks, but she is immovable. His eyes are ablaze. He's trying to intimidate her, but she will not be scared. Not anymore.

"You..." he starts in a low growl.

He lifts his hand, flames still dancing on his fingertips. This is it. This is meant to be her end. She has fought for so long and now she'll go out on her own terms. So many times she has closed her eyes on this ship, waiting for her fate to befall her. One last time...

It doesn't come. Instead, her eyes shoot open when the ship rocks violently. A girl crashes into her and she falls into another. They're all a pile on the floor, including him and all his henchmen. The rocking doesn't stop after a minute, or two, or even ten and she loses track of the time when she's addled with dizziness and the vague feeling of nausea.

She closes her eyes. Maybe the fates have something else in store for her.

Branded by HawkofNavarre

Chapter 15

Dragons

Wind and salt. And rain. Lots and lots of rain. A storm was brewing and it was of her own doing.

Juvia stood at the edge of the dock, staring across the horizon at the tiny speck that carried the man she'd been infatuated with. The rest of the harbour had been cleared out as a result of the violent weather. Instead, several members of Phantom Lord took over the area. Element 4 had been assembled and her teammates would be mobilizing along with all the other guild members to deliver their target back to her father. This was a mission that could absolutely not fail. Jose would not stand for it.

But the person standing next to her? The one who would be primarily responsible for Lucy's transfer? It was Gajeel. She knew it had more to do with his duty to their guild than anything, but Juvia still felt grateful to have him right there beside her. He was her support before the battle.

"You ready?" he asked her over the howling wind. The man was drenched, but he scarcely looked as though he even felt it on his skin.

She nodded. "Yes."

Needing no further prompting, Juvia focused on the ship she could barely see. As she internally apologized to the women on board, she raised her arms before sweeping them behind her. The speck began growing at an alarming rate and Juvia felt Gajeel tense beside her. She forced the ship to stop right in front of the dock. With another touch of her magic, the engines were destroyed. Gajeel jumped aboard the ship, dismantling all the crew members on the deck with Juvia following closely behind with the assistance of the ocean water.

Her heart beat wildly as the door to the interior of the ship swung open in the chaos. Bora was not the first one to exit, nor the second, third, or fourth. She knocked them all aside until the person she wanted appeared in front of her. His eyes were wide with recognition, his cloak wrinkled and hair disheveled, presumably from being tossed around the interior during her seizure of the ship.

"Juvia, you..." Bora growled, his expression darkening.

"Gajeel-kun, retrieve the target," she said, voice stone cold.

Bora's eyes left her for a moment to settle on her teammate, a flame starting to develop in the palm of his hand. She would not allow it. If there was one thing Juvia was confident in, it was her magic. Rain curled around the appendage to douse the fire and it had the desired response. Gajeel shoved him aside with no further issue as Juvia took a deep breath.

Wind and salt and rain. Confidence, Juvia.

"You're the one that did all this?" he asked. "You never had any intention of honouring our agreement, did you? How far you've fallen."

"You would try to turn this on to Juvia?" she shot back incredulously. "You've been kidnapping women for the last six months using illegal magic! There is nothing lower!"

Her words seemed to bounce off him as easily as the rain did. "To think after everything I did for you, you'd betray me like this."

"No," she said as she shook her head, "I'm just now seeing who you really are, and what our relationship really meant to you. There was no betrayal, and Juvia is done listening to you."

It took little to no effort to blast him off his feet. He slammed into the wall of the deckhouse, slumping to the ground. Bora lifted his head to glare at her through the rain.

"How dare you... Nobody else wanted you and I stayed with you."

Juvia was about to reply when a whip of fire came lashing at her. Typical. Bora was underestimating her because he thought she was weak. In his eyes, she was just the doormat she'd allowed herself to be for so long. Unfortunately for him, she was no longer a doormat to be stepped on. When the blast of fire went right through her face, there was only steam where he'd expected pain. His obvious astonishment said it all.

"You didn't know Juvia could do that, did you?" As the water mage took a step forward, the horror on Bora's face grew. "Because Bora-san doesn't know anything real about Juvia."

Pride quickly outweighed his fear. "I know that nobody will ever love such a troublesome woman," he spat in the face of his inevitable demise. "You're a walking raincloud. A personification of misery."

It was the worst thing anyone could've ever said to Juvia, clawing at her deepest insecurities and a reminder of everything she hated about herself. Yet, to her surprise, the words didn't hurt like she thought they would. Maybe because for once, she knew they weren't true.

"I am not misery," she said with conviction as she lifted her hand. "I control the rain; it does not control me." Her hand closed into a fist and the rain stopped, forming beads around them. "And I know the person who will find love for this troublesome woman."

He wasn't even scared anymore; there was only awe at the complete power she held over the surrounding elements. Juvia folded an arm across her body, ready to put his comments to rest once and for all. "Me!"

Water was sucked from the air and a furious attack was unleashed upon Bora, launching him straight through the deckhouse and out the other side. A splash was audible and Juvia was satisfied that he had joined the rest of his despicable crew members floating around in a world of pain. Turning around, Gajeel had torn a hole in the side of the ship and bent one of the metal sheets into a ramp for the hostages to exit from. Wonderful. Even if Jose didn't care about any of those girls besides their target, at least Juvia had been able to rectify a horrible situation caused by a man she'd supported for months.

There was a female with blonde hair—probably Heartfilia—being dragged off the boat by Gajeel when he turned and looked her way. As their eyes met, he nodded toward the sky. Puzzled, Juvia glanced skyward, expecting an enemy approach or something of the sort, but it was clear.

It was...clear?

She was speechless when she looked back at Gajeel, who only offered a smirk before he continued down the ramp. Lifting her head again, Juvia checked for signs that this wasn't real. Instead, she got the opposite.

There wasn't a cloud in the sky.

Natsu spilled the contents of his lunch out of the window for the second time that afternoon. He hated it, but for once he didn't complain. A shard of lacrima barely a quarter of the size of his pinky finger had somehow made all the difference in the world and now they were on the train to Hargeon to rescue Lucy.

He wiped his mouth on his sleeve before situating himself in the normal position of a person that wasn't dying. Yukino was sitting beside him and Happy, silently fiddling with Lucy's keys as she stared at the floor. As quiet and well-behaved as she was, even she could barely hide her restlessness. Across from her was Erza, whose eyes had closed about two minutes after she'd finished lecturing all of them about acting sensibly due to the importance of their mission. There had been an emotional reunion between her and Kagura the day prior as it had turned out they'd known each other during their childhoods. Erza had entered her current quiet, pensive state ever since Kagura had inquired rather viciously about Jellal. Nobody had offered up any information about that sensitive subject. Fortunately, Kagura had remained behind to recover further and that awkward situation could at least be avoided for a little longer.

Meanwhile, the most visibly anxious of them all had to be Gray. The guy had wiggled out of his jacket before the train had even left the station. Since then, both his shoes had somehow disappeared and his shirt was halfway off his body. If that wasn't a strong enough sign of his anxiety, then the incessant bouncing of his knee definitely did. It certainly wasn't doing Natsu any favours.

Still, the fact that Gray was going so absolutely out of his mind in this situation offered him a sense of comfort. Lucy was in good hands. They were going to give her back her freedom.

Time seemed to drag on until they finally pulled into the train station in Hargeon. Max, Cana, Elfman, Makarov, and Laxus, along with his entire team, disembarked from another car and Fairy Tail gathered to head for the docks. For once, their guild didn't make a ruckus as they were passing through. It was too early in the morning and everyone was focused—either on saving Lucy or getting even with Phantom Lord.

They were a menacing group as they walked through the town, civilians quietly eying them while they passed through. Natsu was confident they could confront whatever came their way from that ship. But it wasn't a ship that was waiting for them at the dock; instead, there were four members of Phantom Lord waiting for them there.

"Ah, so ze Fairies have arrived," the man in the brown suit said, adjusting his monocle. "Bien, bien, I zink it iz time to pluck zeir wings."

"I know you will fight, and I know it will be futile," said the samurai with black and white hair.

"Your fall will be such a tragedy, but it must be done," added the towering male next to him in a somber voice.

Finally, a woman with blue hair, probably Juvia Lockser, stepped forward with a steely look on her face. "We will not allow you to pass, Fairy Tail."

Natsu ignored them, his eyes fixed on the twisted heap of metal behind the group. It certainly resembled a ship, probably the one he'd once been so close to finding, but there was a gaping hole in the deck house which was now falling in on itself, and the left side of the ship had practically been ripped bare of its metal sheathe. The damage had resulted in the lopsided mess that was barely floating behind Phantom Lord. "Where's Lucy?"

"Safe, and on her way home where she belongs," Juvia answered, leaving no room for questions. "This is what's best for her. Do you not want that?"

"It's not-"

"It's not what's best for her." Natsu's head swung around to see Gray moving ahead of their own guild. "That's what I've been trying to tell you. I don't know what her father's paying you, but he's not where it's safe for her."

"You would tear a family apart instead of reuniting them?" she asked somewhat incredulously. "Even knowing the truth, Juvia did not think Gray-sama this cruel."

His voice was weaker than Natsu had ever heard it. "Just this last time… I'm asking you to trust me."

There was a long silence. "You know I can't do that."

Natsu effectively stopped listening, glancing urgently at Erza. "We need to go after them," he said, his hands curling into fists.

"Gray, Laxus, Cana, and I will stay back to hold them off. You go after them with everyone else. We don't know how much firepower Phantom Lord has brought with them," she replied, eyes still trained on their opponents.

"Come on." Max placed a hand on his shoulder and nudged his head back the way they'd come. "They're guaranteed to be on one of the Konzern trains. I can't take everyone, but a few of us can slow them down long enough to catch up."

Nodding, the majority of the group turned to head away from the dock when a looming shadow appeared over them. Natsu looked up to see a massive wave building above them, threatening to wash them away.

"Don't underestimate us, Fairy Tail! We are Phantom Lord's most powerful team, the Element 4, and our Master has entrusted us with the duty to keep you from interfering with our mission!" the samurai announced as he drew his sword, but he wasn't nearly as menacing as Juvia's very imminent magic.

The Element 4 definitely weren't messing around. Whatever Juvia and Gray's relationship was, the glare on her face very clearly showed that it wouldn't be a factor in her attack. Natsu knew he was not the smartest person, but he'd always been good at thinking on his feet when it came to situations in combat. This time? Using fire in any way, shape, or form would result in a lot of steam and nothing more.

The wave grew steadily closer. Well shit, he would punch through this stupid thing if it meant getting his closer to Lucy!

Fortunately, it didn't come to that as Makarov moved in front of all of them, glancing over his shoulder with a meaningful look. "Get moving!"

For a second, Natsu stopped to wonder how the heck their Master was going to face down that wave, but then he realized it didn't really matter. While he might have developed a silly level of mistrust for Gray at some point due to their rivalry, he had nothing but respect for their Master. His eyes locked with Max's in silent understanding and they both broke into a sprint away from the harbour, Happy flying alongside them. Max was gathering sand at his fingertips as he ran until it began to swirl beneath him like a storm. Natsu stumbled as the sediment lifted him off the ground as well, carrying him forward with Yukino not far behind. No longer needing to run, he looked back to see everyone else following on foot, and, back at the harbour, a giant figure rising before Erza's group.

Sinewy muscle covered Makarov's body as it grew taller and taller until his head towered above the wave. Then the water finally descended, the devastating effects it would have had crashing upon their guild master's back as if someone was giving him a nice bath.

As they got further away, the view in the distance shrank along with their Master's body. Natsu turned his gaze forward, eyes settling on the train tracks coming into view. Phantom Lord had started out with the upper hand, but they wouldn't have it for much longer. His friends had done their part and he would do his.

A new leash. That was all this was.

Lucy eyed her keeper warily, wondering when the train would stop and she would have to face down the very person she'd been trying to escape from in the first place. There were multiple times when she wondered if she could reason with this man despite his unruly appearance, but he hardly seemed like the talkative type. He'd barely looked at her twice since they'd gotten on the train and a bunch more of his comrades were scattered amongst the train cars behind them.

Then again, he hadn't just taken her from the ship; he'd led all of them from it after ripping a massive hole in the haul. After that, some of his comrades were instructed to take the girls to the nearest medical center. They left no one behind, even the girls that couldn't walk from all they sedatives they'd been given and the girls brainwashed enough to not want to leave (Arisa). So… he couldn't be completely terrible. He seemed to be doing more than anyone had for them in months.

What was she even doing here? One moment Lucy had been facing down her captor, certain that her last breath had been drawn, and the next she was falling off her feet as the ship rocked violently. Now she was... rescued?

Rescued, but not rescued, because she was the only one who'd been taken to this train. She had never been the strongest or most athletic person, but she was smart enough to know what this meant.

"My father must have put you up to this," Lucy said as she picked at the peeling brown leather of her seat. The material had cracked from years of wear, webbing out across the bench like shattering glass. If he had so much money, why couldn't her father keep the seats intact? "Even if you're only here because he was paying you, I'm grateful that you helped the others to."

The man with wild hair and studs on his face was staring out the window, but he lazily threw his head back to look at her. Half a year ago, that face might have terrified her; now Lucy understood that regardless of the exterior, he was as capable of hurting her as any other person.

"...I'm just here to take you home," he replied after a few moments, his tone carefully neutral.

She spotted the guild mark on this shoulder, a symbol that almost appeared to her like a devil with a tail.

"You're from a guild, right?" Lucy asked. "Is it a good one?"

"Of course it's good," the man answered a bit defensively, this time sounding annoyed.

Lucy smiled at his insistence. "I wanted to be part of a guild once." The bitterness of the time and freedom that had been stolen from her was all gone. She could get dragged home kicking and screaming, but that was pointless when it didn't change the endgame. She was tired and weak and had a single key tucked into her bra with a spirit who she loved, but was helpless to do much at the moment. "You get a mark to show which guild you're a part of and that's what I wanted more than anything, but I got a one I didn't want, and I can never erase it."

Her captor (rescuer?) eyed her, seemingly a little puzzled by her dour mood. "You're pretty glum for someone who's headed home."

Of course her father would never tell the people he hired what their relationship was actually like. To him, Lucy was nothing more than another piece of property. "That place hasn't been home to me in a long time."

His lip twitched in displeasure, but if he had anything to say, he kept it to himself. Lucy didn't blame him. He was only here to do a job, and if anything, it was already kind of nice that his face turned out so much scarier than his actual personality.

An alarming shriek of metal from the train abruptly brought their attention away from the despondent conversation. The studded man nearly tore the adjacent window off the car as he whipped it open, cursing under his breath as he stuck his head out the window. Lucy leaned as far as she could against the wall of the train, trying to peek past his head to get a look of her own. The sound was getting worse as the seconds ticked by and now she understood why.

Tendrils of sand were running up the sides of the train cars, wrapping them like a snake around its prey. More importantly, it was getting between the wheels and the track, causing the horrible shrieking noise to worsen the more the train was overtaken. If they hadn't started slowing down yet, they would as soon as it reached their car.

"W-what's going on?" Lucy asked, not quite making sense of the situation.

"There's another guild after you," he said as he slammed the window shut, looking none too happy. "The others were supposed to hold them off if they showed up, but I guess even Fairies can put up a fight."

Fairies? She froze. There was no way...after all this time… Natsu…?

Before Lucy could decide whether or not she believed the person responsible for this was the one she'd been writing to in her letters, the man with the scary face had travelled to the back of the car and was opening the door. Her mouth was part way open to ask what he planned to do when his right forearm suddenly morphed into a metal mallet of some sort. The words on her tongue died completely when he viciously brought it down on the car coupling and sent her careening forward onto the seat he'd previously occupied.

It was impossible to tell what was happening. Outside, the wheels continued to wail while sand began to cover the window next to her. The man with the scary face hammered at the coupling again and this time, Lucy fell onto the floor as the structure shook. She was wondering if there was a limit to her bad luck as she grasped around for a vice of any sort. It was for naught because the third time his hammer-arm came down, it broke the coupling and the car screeched to freedom.

Scary-faced man shut the door behind him, re-entering the car and heading for the one on the opposite side. They were already picking up speed again, but Lucy assumed he was going to find the conductor to get things moving further. He didn't even get halfway there.

Lucy screamed, covering her head from her spot on the floor between the seats as something crashed through the roof. Her eyes were squeezed shut, but the scent of charred wood filled her nostrils. It was suddenly so hot. Heat curled over her shoulders and legs with such ferocity that she thought her eyeballs would literally melt out of her head.

When the worst of it was over, she chanced a look at the anomaly that had overtaken their train car. Through cracked lids, she was confronted by a scene she could only have only imagined in storybooks.

Among the flames, she saw white scales and glowing red eyes. She could have sworn she heard a growl, deep and rumbling like one could only expect from a beast. A quick blink and shake of her head didn't change anything; the awesome sight before her was every bit as real as the heat on her skin, but she still didn't believe it.

Because standing in front of her, enclosed in flames, was a dragon.