Author's Note: The absolute shock at the realization that I wrote this 5 years ago lol... Thanks for your comments.

Thank you for asking about me. Even just telling you something silly like how old I am or the colour of my hair makes it feel like I'm talking to a friend. Please keep talking to me. Are you really part of Fairy Tail?

L.

Yes. And you are a friend.

Hang on. We'll get you home soon.

N.

I appreciate everything you're doing for me, but… please don't make me go home. It's not a good place, and my father is not a kind man. Please. After everything, I can't even think about it.

I won't bring you anywhere that hurts you. I'll help you go wherever you wanna go. Promise.

We're on our way.

N.

Branded by HawkofNavarre

Chapter 9

Downfall

It had been a few days since Lucy had gotten that message. Her heart had swelled with hope, but then a day passed with no change in her daily schedule. Then another day passed without a hitch. The third day, they'd docked, but that had been uneventful as well. She had all but given up ever hearing from back from Natsu and Yukino when the next message finally came and broke her heart all over again.

There had been silence because they thought they'd found her, and then the silence resumed because they hadn't. Natsu's words seemed remorseful, but Lucy couldn't quite discern why in the short letter that had been penned. Whatever the reason, Natsu was beating herself up over this.

Next time, she'd written, I'm going to get it right.

Ever since then, the letters had mostly been focused on their personal questions. Of course Lucy was going to wonder why. Was Natsu giving up on finding her? Were these little messages the only contact she would ever have with the outside world again? It was impossible not to ask—albeit in the most delicate way she could. The answer had Lucy racking her brain for any way to help them help her.

It would forever be ironic to her that the very person who would fish that bottle out of the ocean was a member of Fairy Tail, especially after the one who'd kidnapped her had impersonated someone from that very guild. That was why when the words on the page told her there was a witch in Fairy Tail who could potentially track her, there was no helping the strange feeling that went through her body. She'd idolized Mirajane back when she actually had access to magazines, and then this happened to her. It was a guild she'd aspired to join for a long time. All these coincidences had her wondering if any of this was even real.

Unfortunately, another letter had told her that Natsu's guildmate needed something that had a strong enough magic signal that she could hone in on to get a location. The best Lucy had was her key, and the only time that would ever help emit a substantial signal was when she was using it. Obviously, that wasn't feasible in any way so she went to Kagura for help.

The fact that neither of them had had any ideas at the time made Kagura's current absence all the more concerning. There was no doubt all of them wanted off this ship, but Kagura seemed even more driven than herself. Their lack of ideas had driven the other mage into a silent rumination before she was whisked off on her shift to entertain Bora. While that was expected, she hadn't returned since then. The tiny window in their room was enough for Lucy to be sure that Kagura had been gone for at least a full day, and that was not good.

Any number of things could've gone wrong. Lucy blamed herself for asking about the message. It was entirely possible Kagura had done something stupid trying to secure whatever magical item was lying around and had gotten punished because of it. Maybe she had been locked in the Closet.

Worried, Lucy did the only thing she could do and began pounding on the door of their room. The idea that something bad had happened to Kagura was simply something she couldn't deal with. Even the fleeting hope she received from her distant companions was better than nothing. If she could just check to see if there was a new message—one that could change everything—things could turn around in a second.

It took two minutes of annoying the henchman guarding their door to convince him to bring her to the washroom. By the time the door to the toilet was closed behind her, she was practically fumbling for her key like a drunken monkey.

She held the key with an outstretched arm as she always did and was just about to recite the summoning incantation when the boat hit a rough patch of sea. Stumbling, Lucy steadied herself against the wall. A series of waves prevented her from even trying to stand upright again. She gritted her teeth. It was basically always smooth sailing on this hell hole. Why did the ship suddenly have to act up today?

As soon as the water seemed to calm, she took her chance to open the gate. She nearly faceplanted into the wall as Plue came tumbling out of the portal.

"P-pu-PUU-"

Lucy was bracing herself against the tank of the toilet as she watched the dog spirit very unfortunately bouncing off the walls and rolling across the floor with no way to stop. "Sorry, Plue! I don't know why it's so rough today. Do you have a new letter for me?"

He waved his arm a little as his face actually did smack into the wall, making a tiny dent where his nose had impacted. "Puun!"

She saw the pen in his hand and waited until Plue rolled within her reach to grab him. "I'm sorry! I'll be quick! I promise!"

It was ridiculously difficult to try and balance on the ship while holding her spirit and trying to open the message. She unfurled the sheet while balanced one on foot, but it was enough time to see what was in the letter. Then the room turned sideways and everything in her grasp came flying out of her hands.

When the rocking stopped, she was on her hands and knees with Plue dizzy in the corner. She barely had enough sense to grab her key which had fallen out of her hands in the chaos. The pen and letter were both scattered on the floor as well, the words which were weighing heavily on her mind.

Banging on the door snapped Lucy out of her daze. "Hurry it up! I will open this door in the next ten seconds if you don't get out here!"

Panic was the accurate word to describe her emotional state. Her mind briefly wandered to the fact that she hadn't even read the new letter yet. Another second passed while she was contemplating how in the world she could write back. And then, of course, she spent another useless moment considering how neither of those were helpful to her right now.

There was a sudden clicking at the door as the guard clearly began to follow through on his words. Though still a little shaky, Plue had recovered enough to get up on his own and had made his way over to pick up the pen. With so little time, Lucy would not take the chance of him being discovered. She hurriedly dismissed her spirit without saying goodbye and practically flung herself at the small piece of parchment that was on the floor when she realized it was still there. The crumpled message was barely been tucked into her waistband when the door swung open, her aggravated escort storming in.

His gaze lowered onto her disheveled form on the ground. Lucy shrunk into herself nervously. Rolling his eyes, the man hefted her to her feet roughly and shoved her out the door.

However, after several seconds, it became clear that they weren't returning to her room and anxiety began to weigh heavily on her. Instead, they were headed in the opposite direction, toward Bora's lounge and Elsie's dressing room.

"W-where—it's..." Lucy stuttered out, trying to ask a dozen questions.

"Quiet. Don't make a fuss," Bora's henchman said as he shoved her forward again. They continued in silence until they stood in front of the dressing room where a few other girls were already exiting in sensual dresses. "Elsie, got your next one."

"Ooh, good!" Elsie exclaimed, head popping into view. As usual, her face was more coated than a clown's. She had gone with a green theme to the point where she looked sickly. Lucy cringed as the woman scurried over to drag her into the room. "Lucy, Lucy, Lucy... Bora-sama hasn't held one of these in quite a while, but I think you're going to be a best seller. I just have to, hm..."

Elsie left her and her thoughts in the middle of the room to go examine the dresses she had hung up by the wall. What did she mean by "best seller?" While her mind was in a whirlwind from everything that had happened in the last 24 hours, Lucy was drawing a complete blank on this.

Before she could contemplate her situation any further, Elsie was basically tearing the clothes off Lucy's body and stuffing her into a dress that clearly didn't fit her bust. Lucy had to discreetly pull Nikora into her enclosed fist before the woman took off her shorts, but the message she also had stored there was much less substantive and it was only when the parchment fell to the floor that she noticed it. Fortunately, her stylist, busy tugging at Lucy's hair, did not. Though her mind stayed firmly on retrieving it, Lucy avoided looking in that direction to keep Elsie's eyes from following. She only needed a second, an opportune moment, to pick it up. Maybe she could knock something over and use that as an excuse to get down there. Or she could—

"There! You're all done!" The woman stepped back and took a drag from the cigarette she'd set aside a minute ago, looking her handiwork up and down. "Hm, but it's missing something..."

Her eyes landed on the gleam of gold that was within Lucy's hand. Lucy willed herself not to pull away, lest she look suspicious, and allowed Elsie to guide her hand forward.

The putrid-looking woman picked the key up, examining it carefully. "You really like this one, hm? I'm not even sure when I got it, but it'll look good with the red, so we can use it." And much to Lucy's relief, Elsie got to work and pulled Lucy's hair into a high ponytail. The key was placed by the tie along with another golden accessory, though this one was a pin with a strand of crystals which hung down.

Lucy thought she was done after that, but no sooner than the thought entered her head, she was sat down in a chair near the dresser that held the accessories. There was a clattering of plastic as Elsie sifted through the compacts on the surface, and then she was hunched over Lucy's face with a (probably unsanitary) brush in hand. Makeup was a step further than the usual dolling up. What in the world was going on?

"Okay, good. Very pretty. Now go go go," Elsie said dismissively, shooing her subject with one hand. "Hurry up. I've got quite a few more girls to work on."

As Lucy exited the room into the care of the same guard from earlier, Fumiko and Arisa were on their way in. The whole thing was bewildering. They never put more than two girls from the same room on shift to entertain Bora, and that was the only time they ever got dressed up. Today's "dressing up" was closer to the actual definition of the term as well. Why wasn't Elsie putting them all in scraps of fabric like she normally did?

The theme of the day continued as she was led to a part of the ship she couldn't recall ever being in before. The floors were creaky and wooden like the rest of Bora's ship, but the colours were far more faded and scratched from frequent wear beneath the boots of his henchmen. At the end of the hall was a door with a thick latch, like there was something important on the other side. Outside was her first assumption, but she simply couldn't believe that would be the case for any reason whatsoever. It was only when she was down the hall, through the locked door, and feeling fresh air on her face for the first time in months that she let herself believe it.

A gentle breeze tickled her face and the night was warm and clear, but there was no time to enjoy either of these things. The henchman led her by the arm down the ramp in front of them, guiding her into a lineup of women standing shoulder to shoulder. Lucy's eyes drifted to the other side of the line where she saw Kagura for the first time since at least a full day ago. She wanted desperately to say something, but she was just too far away and too closely watched. Kagura's eyes flicked over briefly as well; however, she directed her attention forward again before any sort of message could be conveyed.

Lucy could do little more than wait as more girls were lined up next to her, all made up as she was. They were heavily guarded, making it all the more obvious that something big was about to go down. The boat was docked. She was on solid land. If there were ever a time to escape, now would be it, but it would be nigh impossible given the amount of security present.

The sound of tires squealing caught her attention as she looked up to see half a dozen identical magic-powered vehicles approaching. They came to a stop a few meters away and men in suits exited the vehicles. The driver of the third vehicle went to open the door for someone else and in that moment, it became abundantly clear to Lucy that whatever was happening right now would not bode well for her or any of the other girls. This other man who seemed to be in charge of the group was definitely no better of a man than Bora was.

He was something of a high roller for sure. In addition to the multiple bodyguards and cars, Lucy recognized his suit to be from the same line of cashmere ones her father was so fond of wearing. He stroked the side of his well-maintained mustache as he approached their group, his guards surrounding him.

At the same time, Bora came down the ramp looking as confident as ever. The two men converged in front of the line of young women and shook hands.

"Glad you could make it out today, Utahiroba." Bora stepped back and gestured grandly at the girls. "As discussed, I have only my best out here. You're sure to find what you want."

"Of that I have no doubt," Utahiroba replied as he sauntered over to the left side of the line where Kagura was standing, his hands clasped behind his back. "But what will you do when I take one of these beauties off your hands?"

It hit her like a ton of bricks. Suddenly, despite being used to the scraps of clothing Elsie put them in, Lucy felt far too exposed. They were a display, standing in line like a row of dolls in a toy store, waiting for the next customer to take one from the group. Except...that was far too innocent of an image compared to what was really going on. They were objects to be sold. They were Bora's next payday.

"Replace her, of course. Keeping them to myself is nice, but it's business. My brand won't disappoint."

Utahiroba's eyes swept over her and she felt like she was going to be sick. If he took her, would it really matter? She would be part of the brand forever. Bora would follow her wherever she went. He was burned into her flesh, skin, and mind. There was nothing she could do about any of this, and a life with Utahiroba...what would that really change? Lucy had run from a prison and walked right into the next one. One more couldn't possibly make much of a difference.

She watched from her periphery as the customer stroked Kagura's chin with a hand. A nauseating smile crawled up his lips and somehow, Kagura didn't even flinch. Utahiroba pulled away to examine the next girl, but only after a lingering glance at his previous object.

He made his way down the line as Lucy struggled to suppress her emotions. How silly of her to ever confuse comprehension with acceptance. Somewhere along the way, part of her had really thought that things couldn't get any worse. And maybe it wouldn't. Maybe this rich criminal would decide that a girl other than her would suit his tastes, but then it would be that girl suffering and the cycle would go on once Bora decided he needed another sale.

When Utahiroba finally reached her, he looked her up and down like every strange man she'd ever met. She tried not to look disgusted when he tucked a stray piece of hair behind her ear. He didn't leave it there, however, and his thumb dragged down the edge of her ear. Everything inside of her was screaming that she should bolt for anywhere, but she held still. Discovering that things could get worse meant that she was going to try as hard as possible to keep things from getting there. If she and Kagura could just get through this, maybe they would truly find a way to be free.

"This one's very pretty," Utahiroba commented as he stepped back and crossed his arms, nodding his head, "but with such a selection, it's hard to choose."

Lucy let out a quiet sigh of relief and tried to calm the anxiety bubbling up inside her. She watched him go from girl to girl, evaluating each one carefully. A couple of them shied away and were promptly shoved back in place by Bora's henchmen while others, like Fumiko, stood like stones through the process. Something inside those girls had just shut off so that they could go on living and knowing that only made Lucy selfishly fear more for herself.

One of the younger girls, probably only fifteen, let out a shriek when Utahiroba laid a hand on her bare shoulder. She stumbled backwards until she hit one of the guards and crumpled to the ground, holding herself like his touch was poison. Annoyed, Utahiroba disregarded the remaining two females standing at Lucy's far right. Instead, he stalked back to where Lucy was standing and shot Bora a glare.

"You'd best remember to keep them in line or you won't be getting many sales," he said, his mustache twitching in displeasure. As Bora went to go reprimand his product, Utahiroba moved back towards the right end until he was face to face with Lucy once more. His eyes raked down her body, making her skin crawl. "But you... You make it very hard for a man to decide."

She was nudged forward by one of Bora's henchmen and she took a hesitant step, singling herself out. Utahiroba clasped his hands behind his back, his shoes thumping against the boards of the dock as he circled her. The nausea in her belly could not be quelled, but she carried herself with strength anyway. Pretending at home had been all the preparation she needed for this.

"Curves in all the right places, such soft features and pretty blonde hair." The man paused in his examination and locked eyes with her. "And those big brown eyes? Beautiful."

He backed away from her, nodding his head toward Bora. One of his men went to the car and retrieved a black briefcase, the contents of which were displayed to her kidnapper moments later. There was money, no doubt, and she was the price.

What would it change? Lucy asked herself again to stop her hands from shaking. It was just...a new prison...

"Beautiful, but full of fear. I can't have that."

Her head jerked in Utahiroba's direction as he perused the line again. This time, however, he knew exactly what he was looking for.

"You're not blonde, but you're just as beautiful," he told Kagura as he grabbed her by the arm and pulled her out of the line. "The difference is those unyielding eyes of yours, so unafraid and so determined. You won't let anything stop you, will you?"

Lucy looked on in shock. "No..."

"Congratulations, Bora. You've just made your first sale."

"No!"

And then she was screaming. She screamed as they ushered her stoic friend into one of the cars, Kagura shooting her one last meaningful glance. She screamed as Bora's henchmen held her flailing arms in her attempt to follow. She screamed as the cars drove away into the distance and they wrenched her back aboard the ship. She screamed as they threw her in the closet, the darkness and solitude swallowing the sound of her voice. She screamed until her throat was raw and her voice was gone. She screamed out in silence until they turned into sobs.

Her only ally on this ship was gone, maybe to an even worse place. The words from Natsu she'd almost forgotten about, but they were gone too, somewhere on the floor of Elsie's dressing room. And Plue... Plue could not help her. After that episode, she wouldn't have enough energy to summon him for days. Every pillar she was holding onto had collapsed within a few hours. She should've known. She shouldn't have hoped.

She couldn't change what fate had taught her: Lucy Heartfilia always ends up alone.