BROKEN AND BRUISED

CHAPTER 19

"The infinity clock?" the blonde tilts her head at his question.

"Yes." He nods his head. "It's made of six different parts that were scattered all around and sealed."

Silence stretches in the cave. Lucy looks at the man before her and almost drowns in his clouded eyes. She notices his hesitation to continue, understanding that something must be stopping him from doing so. He sighs and lets his head fall before he carries on. "Some people however were able to discover their location and before we knew it, every single part disappeared from right under our nose."

He gets up and moves to the opening of the cave. "The traitor was obviously apprehended and hanged but it was too late. The parts were distributed and mages started to decipher their use while others- who didn't know what these parts do or what they are- simply sold them."

He turns to look at the blonde who kept her eyes focused on his. "One of these people being your father."

The blonde widened her eyes, her mouth agape as she stared at the man not believing the words he just spilled.

He didn't look surprised at her reaction, it was expectable. "You feel it don't you? You feel the dread." He whispers.

"W-what does the device do?" the blonde already feared the answer that was to come.

"The clock is able to unleash a terrifying magic called "Real Nightmare". It distorts the perception of time to people, bringing them madness and causing chaos."

The blonde takes a sharp intake of air. "Who did he sell it to? And when?"

Byro looked at her then, trying to analyze her thoughts, looking for clues to if he should continue or not. He heaves a sigh before he plops down next to her. "A man named Julien. It was roughly around six years ago, after that he made a purchase back of the mansion."

Lucy closes her eyes and leans her head back on the stone wall. She couldn't believe that the successful deal he made back then that got him back the Heartfilia Konzern involved an old artifact, one that is part of a terrifying device such as the infinity clock.

"I can't believe it." She murmurs but he hears her.

"I'm afraid it gets worse Miss Heartfilia." He states as he watches her body tense up. She cracks one eye open and looks at him, a brief moment of horror pass her eyes before she asks.

"How can it get worse?"

"When I tell you that Julien is the leader of the dark guild called 'The Laughing Skeleton'."

He monitors the way her pupils dilate with terror as the name got spilled from his mouth. She moves the blanket off of her and starts to slowly stand up. He doesn't stop her and gets up to her level.

"You mean to tell me that the same guild that killed my father, that sent its goons to capture my kids, is also the one that got my father back his wealth?" her eyes are steely as she gazes at him.

Not gaze at him, she was piercing his soul with her eyes but he wasn't the least fazed though he does give her credit for the intensity of it.

"Yes I am Miss Heartfilia."

She takes a deep breath in. "This wasn't a chance meeting was it?"

He shakes his head. "No it wasn't. We have been following your family's activities since the transaction six years ago. And when we found out that you took their bait, we followed you."

"Their bait?" the blonde cocks her head to the side.

He exhales softly. "You do not mean to tell me that you still hadn't realized that this is a trap to lure you here."

The blonde widens her eyes before they revert back to normal. She furrows her brows as she contemplates all the past events leading to this moment, noting a lot of holes in the story. No one knew of this town, no one showed up to pick her up and a celestial key as a reward would guarantee that she would pick this job.

She groans at her stupidity then faces the man before her. "You obviously have business with me, so spill it and let's get this over with."

Byro gives her a small smile before he talks. "We hunted down each and every one who was responsible in this problem, from sellers to buyers, merchants to businessmen. We caught everyone but two."

"My father and Julian." The blonde cuts in.

He nods at her. "I am sorry for your loss, but the problem remains that he knew the deal was shady yet he continued with it."

She gets up to his face, her glare hardening. "Are you sure, or are you speculating?"

Byro remained unfazed. Even though she was shorter than him she still emitted a dangerous aura around her, one that would scare any normal person. He wasn't normal though.

"No." he admits. "But we have reason to believe so."

"And that would be?" the blonde grits out.

"That he wishes to get his daughter back." The blonde jolts back as if shocked. "He wishes to take care of her. He was given a chance at that and he wasn't going to waste it."

The blonde averts her eyes to the floor, her hair shadowing her expression.

"I am not saying that he knew what the artifact was, or who he was selling it to."

The blonde looks at him, her face stoic as she questions. "So your group prosecuted the people who acted with the artifacts after you lost it?"

"Not all people were. The innocent ones were let go but the ones who knew and continued with the procedure were apprehended." He replies honestly.

"Then what do you want from me-"at the look in his eyes she stops talking. She rolls her eyes. "I'm the fucking bait ain't I?"

He nods. "Spot on. Julian took an interest in you and has been keeping tabs on you. When he acted up and posted this mission we followed you since we know he has all the artifacts and he needs…"

"Needs…?" the blonde raises an eyebrow.

Byro takes a deep breath. "Needs a celestial spirit mage to power the device. A powerful one at that."

The blonde clicks her tongue. "Of course he does."

Byro takes a step closer to the blonde. "Miss Heartfilia." He calls out to her gaining her attention. "You alone will not be able to defeat Julian. And us alone won't be able to without your help, I know how powerful you are and I have seen you in action through the years-"

"Years of stalking me you mean." The blonde cuts him off.

He clears his throat at her retort. "It may not be the best measure to take in following up with this situation but what's done is done and we cannot change that. What I was trying to propose Miss Heartfilia, was that we work together to bring this evil down and then your father's actions will be excused."

The blonde closes her eyes and inhales deeply. "I accept, but not because I want to excuse my father's actions. I know for a fact that he wasn't guilty." She looks at Byro and he notices something flickering in her eyes.

Rage.

"I'll accept it because I want to see this fucker down." she turns to leave but stumbles on her steps. Byro was quickly next to her helping her stand up. She cursed herself for her luck and tried to will the blush of embarrassment down.

"Maybe you need to rest for a bit." He suggests to her and Lucy wanted to refuse and keep on going. But she knew that in her state she wouldn't be of much help, if anything she would only hinder them. So she obliged and he left her be after he told her that he would send someone to her with food.

A couple of minutes later a man walked into the cave with a tray of food. He looks at the blonde and blushes. He smiles at the blonde and Lucy smiles back.

She immediately regrets it when his smile turns pervy. He hands her the tray and kneels next to her. "I suppose you need help with eating since you must be in pain."

He brings his hand up to her cheek to caress it but she brushes it off. "No I'm good. Thanks for the food you can leave now."

"But why~?" he whines. "Everyone enjoys the company of Dan, and I bet you would too."

"Then you must suck at betting because do I look like I enjoy your company?" she glares at him but he still won't relent.

"Oh please you are just playing hard to get. I know for a fact that all the women love Dan the most."

"Then they must be blind." Lucy retorts back as she takes a sip of the soup from the tray. She grimaces at its cold taste but continues to eat.

"Oh you wound me my lady." He sits next to her and turns towards her. "Let me entertain you, I can be your comfort buddy after the news that you just heard of your fathe-"

He went quiet. The temperature in the cave dropped. Lucy' bangs shadowed her eyes as she continued on eating her food. But he noticed it.

That fluctuating shimmer of black. It was swirling behind the blonde daring him to continue with his words, daring him to speak his mind.

"Dan." Came her chilling voice as it rang alarm bells in his head.

She looks up at him and he sucks in a breath. Her void like orbs were staring at him, almost engulfing him in the shadows as she grits out. "Get out."

"Y-yes." He scrambles to his feet and leaves her be.

The shadow swirling around her does not vanish as she continues to eat while her eyes slowly regain their normal life and color.

Dan kept going to Byro before he stopped in front of him. Byro looked at him and saw the horrifying expression on his face.

"By the looks on your face, I assume you had a showdown with our fierce momentary ally." Byro comments.

Dan shakes off his tingling nerves as he looks at Byro. "Ally? You want us to work with her?"

Byro nods his head. "Will that be a problem?"

Dan wanted to say no, that it wouldn't be. But the words rushed out of his mouth before he could stop it. "I don't think it's safe."

"For you?" Byro asks before he dismisses Dan. He almost snorted at the look on Dan' face as he said what he did to him, the man looked completely helpless. But that also made Byro wonder what the blonde did to him. He knew for a fact that it was Dan' fault, he knew the man for a while now to know what he is truly like so Byro didn't really blame the girl for whatever she did.

XXX

"What the fuck happened here?" asked Sawyer as he gazed on the destruction that laid ahead of him. The buildings were on fire, blood was smeared everywhere on the walls, floors, lights. And the worst of all would have been the bodies that were strewn about, limbless, headless and expressionless. It all sent a chill down every member there was with some having flashbacks of their past.

"Was this how people felt when they saw the mess we used to leave behind?" guilt clouded her mind as Sorano voiced out her thoughts.

"We are not like this anymore Sorano." Macbeth answered. "But that's probably how it felt."

"We never stuck around to see the finishing touches anyway." Richard grimaces at his wording, but it was true. They never stuck around after the deed was done, so they never really saw the amount of destruction they caused. They never really understood that they ruined lives, families, homes. All was clouded by their desire to rule, but it's all crystal clear now.

"We were a bunch of idiots weren't we?" Sorano chocked back sobs.

"A bunch of idiots following a madman to what we thought was our salvation." Macbeth whispered.

"Guys." Meredy calls out to them and they all face her. She blushes a bit since she isn't used to having all the attention on her so she clears her throat to ease up herself and continues. "Whatever happened in the past is and always will be in the past. You have changed so much and I know you will never be what you were before- no scratch that, I know you will never be like what you were forced to be. So- so…" she stutters and starts to fidget. "D-don't cry or f-feel bad." She murmurs the last bit.

Silence fell between them before Sorano pushed the others and hugged the blushing pinkette. "You are just the cutest thing aren't you?" she says to her before releasing her from her hug. "Arigato Meredy-chan." A small smile finds its way to Meredy' face when she turns and sees everyone looking at her kindly, lovingly, appreciatively.

"I- it- it was nothing." She says hurriedly before jumping behind Ultear for coverage.

They all laugh at her antics before turning to the mess in front of them.

"What are we going to do?" Richard inquires.

Just then, a glimmer of some sort catches their eyes. As they advance towards it, they realize what it is or who it is.

"Linda…" Ultear gasps at the sight in front her.

Linda' veins were glimmering, giving off a small red hue from beneath the skin. Jellal crouches next to her to inspect the body.

"She has been crystallized from the inside." Jellal remarks. "A repercussion of a spell gone wrong I presume."

"But if she's here, and she's dead-"Sawyer notes.

"Yeah, Lucy fought her and won." Macbeth interjects.

Jellal gets up from his position and faces his family. "We need to find her and fast, god knows in what condition she may be."

They all nod their heads and continue on with their destination.

XXX

It's been five days since Lucy was rescued by these people, and five days of complete torment for the blonde.

Lucy thought after the first try that Dan would get the idea, that was to stay the fuck away from her, but clearly he lost his mind somewhere along the line of his work or this is something from birth because he didn't stop bothering her whatsoever. She was sure that this man is either fearless or dumb, and she wasn't going to play nice and stand his actions towards her after what this whole group have done. Keeping track of her every move without even her consent or anything, they were just watching her from afar every day for the past six years.

Lucy lets out a breath of frustration which is noticed by Byro.

"Something on your mind?" he watches her as she huffs her hair away from her face.

"I wish it wasn't." he sighs at her response.

"He's quite persistent." The blonde looks at him with a raised eyebrow. "But he does come through on missions."

"Lucy-san, your food." Coco gives her the bowl, looks her up and down then leaves.

"Why do I have the feeling that I'm unwelcomed here?" Lucy lets out another breath.

"Nonsense, sit with Dan a bit and that feeling will go away." Lucy almost chocked on her soup when she heard Byro' response.

She glares at him and he stares back at her. He doesn't smirk but his eyes show a bit of mirth in them.

"Byro-sama." Dan arrives with haste. "We found the location of their base."

Byro quickly gets up, his relaxed demeanor quickly changed. "Get the rest ready. We're leaving." He turns to the blonde. "Prepare yourself."

Lucy watches him leave the cave as she gets her things. In all the days that she was with them, he never smiled. The only thing that she got from him was right now the mirth that laced his eyes but nothing else.

He talked to her about the church and through their conversation she noticed just how much devoted he was it. Not only he but his other companions as well.

She wondered if he ever smiled or laughed, teased and joked, but all thought was shut down when she heard them prepare for the battle.

"He's carrying a lot on his shoulders hmm…" the blonde thought before picking up her stuff and setting out of the cave.

XXX

Jellal and the members were resting. It was another long day of fruitless search. For the past five days all they did was search for Lucy but not once were they close to finding her. To them it appears as if she just vanished and that let the worst possible scenario to play in their minds.

They all huddled next to the fire and watched the yellowish color of the sun fade into blue as the moon rises.

"Another fail." Sighs Sorano.

"Don't give up guys we'll find her." Meredy tries to cheer up the damp mood.

Jellal ruffles her hair before he turns to the group. "Meredy is right, we'll continue looking tomorrow."

Silence fell between the group as each member contemplated something. It was broken when Ultear spoke. "When we find her, when we are done with everything… I want to return to the village and burry the bodies."

"Ultear?" Jellal turns to the woman confused.

The time mage takes a deep breath before she continues. "What Meredy said before was right, what's in the past stays in the past. But that doesn't mean to forget everything I've done and start a new life. No. I want to learn from my past actions, I want to become better. I don't want to forget the mistakes I've done, I want to atone for them."

Silence once again stretched between them. Each in their own mind trying to find ways to atone for their mistakes, wondering if they started to do so even for a little bit, but each one came out without answers.

"What have we been doing all this time? Sure we rescued the royals, we do missions for them but is that enough? We were given a second chance and I want to take advantage of that. That's all I'm saying." Ultear adds before she gets up. "I'll take the first watch, you guys rest."

Before she could turn away to the head of their camp she hears Macbeth calling after her. "I'll go with you, to bury the bodies."

"Me too." Sorano chips in.

"I want to as well." Sawyer says.

And one by one they all voice their wish of going with her when this all ends. Ultear looks at them with wide eyes before she smiles softly at them. "Thank you everyone. Truth be told it was going to be hard doing this alone."

"Don't worry Ultear, together I'm sure we'll work it out." Jellal gives her a comforting smile before he gets up. "Alright, I am off to bed. Goodnight guys."

They all murmur their goodnights and go to sleep.

The next morning they gather their things and head off to another search.

While they were on their way they heard a feminine scream. Jellal turns to his teammates. "No doubt about it."

"It's Lucy." Ultear finalizes.

They all start running in the direction they heard the scream from and skid to a halt when they hear her scream 'NO!' Jellal looks back at his group and he sees Ultear nudge him. "Go. You and Sawyer. We'll catch up."

He nods her way and activates his meteor. Together with Sawyer they dash forward, evading trees and branches as they go in hopes of catching her. What they arrived to though was an angry looking man standing over Lucy' key pouch. The man crouches and gently picks up her keys before he turns to the both of them.

They get into a fighting stance and glare the man down.

"Where is she?" Jellal questions, his voice low and threatening.

The man's eyes darken at the mention of the blonde's. "This isn't how I pictured we'd meet Jellal-san."

Jellal takes a step back. "What do you mean?"

Byro takes a deep breath. "It doesn't matter now. What matters is getting Lucy-san back."

"Why? What happened to her? Where is she?" Sawyer quickly asks.

The man glares distantly as he answers. "I'm sorry to tell you this, but Lucy-san has been…"

Ten minutes earlier…

Lucy was walking down the stony pathway. The plan was simple, for her to act as bait and draw them out and when the time is right her companions would initiate their attacks to take them down. Although it sounded easy, Lucy still felt that something was amiss. The forest was quiet, too quiet for her liking.

Suddenly a flock of birds erupted from the tree besides her causing her to jump. She looked at the birds then inhaled. 'This isn't going well' she thought

The minute she reached the end of the path though, she realized it wasn't going to be simple. Five figures were standing in front of her, as if already waiting for her. She didn't feel any magical power coming from them whatsoever but it was the aura they emitted that made Lucy' hair stand up. They examined her whole, as if trying to analyze something. Lucy' stomach churned from the intense atmosphere that these men formed.

She gulps before letting out her whip and going into a fighting stance. The blonde knows that she is nowhere near her destination. That she still had a way to go according to Dan' report… so why were these man here?

"Who are you?" she asks them, her voice sturdy although her emotions are not. A voice in her mind telling her to make a run for it while she still can yet she somehow knew that it wouldn't make a difference. That whatever is going to happen is will still happen even if she tried to escape.

They don't answer. In fact they simply let out knives from their pockets and hold them to their hearts. The blonde raises an eyebrow at their odd behavior. She watches as their dull eyes light up with comfort before they dim with realization.

"For our savior." They all murmur at the same time before they raise their hands to their neck and slit their throats.

All five men start to gurgle as they clutch their throats before their eyes roll to the back of their heads and their hands go limb. Slowly they fall on their knees before falling face forward to the ground causing some dust to rise. Their blood seeps from their bodies and begins to form a puddle around their corpses.

The blonde stumbles back in horror before she lands on her bottom. "W-what the fuck?!"

"LUCY GET OUT OF THERE!"

The blonde hears Byro calling to her from behind, but before she could whip her head to his direction something stops her.

The blood that spilled from those five men starts to collect itself, forming several ribbons that seem to be fighting each other. In one swift movement, the ribbons lash out and latch onto Lucy who screams out in surprise. They start dragging her away while she tries to cut them and break free. But they were made of fluid, so she couldn't break them.

They kept dragging her till they reached the pond of blood. They were restricting her every movement so she couldn't summon any spirit. Three were latched on each arm and three on each leg. One on the crown of her head, one on her stomach and one on her neck. Worst of all, the one on the neck released its hold on the blonde to remove her key pouch and throw it away.

"NO!" the blonde yelled as she tried to reach her pouch.

She manages to catch a glimpse of Byro who was running towards her. The way his eyes were lit in rage showed Lucy how much this meant to him- how much protecting the church meant to him. Sure he mentioned it a couple of times but it was now that she truly understood. She may not see eye to eye with him on a lot of things but one thing was sure. They can't let Julian use this device.

So as she was being sucked into a pool of blood, as Byro was jumping in the air with his hand extended trying to reach her, she calls out to him. "Byro-san, I'm not going down without a fight. I trust you and I will keep fighting, so please… don't fail me!" these were her last words before she completely disappeared in a pool of blood. The blood started retracting till it completely vanishes along with the corpses.

Byro stood there looking at his empty hand that was supposed to be holding hers and grips it. He grits his teeth as he tries to reign in his anger. "Ah, don't worry Lucy-san. I won't stop fighting as well. I'll find you and stop this madness once and for all. And after that, I'll get back to you what I owe."