A/N: I decided to consolidate some of my CoLu Week stories from the past few years into their own separate stories for the readers who like to read them without searching through everything. Because several of the 2015 stories were continued in 2016, it makes more sense to have them separate, especially since I know a good number of you like re-reading them.

This story in particular is the original plot. I know there's an entry on my profile that says I'll be doing an alternate version of this particular story. This is not that alternate version.

I have, however, gone through this and edited it. Because when I first wrote this, it was only a few months after I'd started writing. Hopefully you enjoy the changes that were made. They're not major, but just revision things that I see now that should have been handled before.

Because of the length of this story in particular, I'm going to break it up into chapters for the 2015 and 2016 entries. For anyone who's already read this, you'll notice that as the story progresses some of the 2016 entries were combined with the 2015 entries to make it more cohesive. Now it's not one side of the story for 2015, and then another side for 2016. I think I like it much better this way.

I hope you enjoy the angst and tears.

2015 - Caged

Lock and Key, Part 1

Lucy's vision was swimming when her eyes opened. Her whole body ached. She couldn't remember the last time she'd eaten, let alone had more than a single glass of water in a twenty-four hour period.

Two months ago, she had been on an assignment for Sorcerer's Weekly, and had gotten herself captured. Part of her had thought that with Fairy Tail being disbanded, and with her having a job that was much more normal in comparison, she might be able to break that cycle of getting herself kidnapped and tortured.

She'd been wrong.

It was two months of hell with a disgusting, psychotic piece of shit that didn't know what personal space meant. She wasn't entirely sure how she hadn't already suffered from a mental breakdown, or fallen into that odd disconnection from reality that left her sympathizing with her captor. Maybe it was because she was still a Fairy, through and through, and that was why she'd never given up.

Her keys were always in her sight, but far out of reach. Just like her whip. And her clothes. The only thing she was allowed to wear was a sheer, baby pink robe that he could easily remove whenever he was inclined to use her. When he wasn't around, she was left on the cold, hard floor of her cage and stared at nothing.

There was no one to come save her this time. That was something she had accepted right away. Natsu and her old team had spread out all across Fiore last she knew, along with the rest of Fairy Tail, once the guild was disbanded. No one knew where she was, who could have possibly taken her to begin with, or how long she'd really been missing. She was sure there was an article about her disappearance, since she worked with Jason and he was a total sweetheart that promised to look out for her now that she was on her own again.

Lucy's stomach groaned loudly, but all she could do was lay there. She didn't even have the energy to move anymore, and already knew that it was only a matter of time before the bastard killed her, or let her die from dehydration and starvation. Her hands slowly slid over the floor until they were in her line of sight. The magic cancelling shackles constantly chafed her wrists and left deep purple bruises that never went away.

How many times in her life had she been shackled since running away from the Konzern? She'd lost count after the first ten. It didn't really matter now anyway. She was sure this would be the last time it ever happened.

Her flesh was raw, so raw that she'd started bleeding a month ago. He hadn't cared to help her. No, instead he made the shackles tighter and beat her until she couldn't stand any longer. The only form of assistance he'd given her was cleaning the gashes on her wrists once a week so she didn't get an infection. He took them off to clean them, but she was always too weak to do anything about it when he did.

She stopped fighting only when she couldn't move. Which explained why he didn't feed her often, and why she was allowed the scant glass of water to make sure she didn't outright die from dehydration.

Lucy winced when she tried to swallow and hopefully create the smallest bit of saliva to coat her tongue and wet her chapped lips. Instead, she only felt just how bruised she was from her captor's latest visit. How long had it been since he'd come to her cage?

There were no windows in the spacious room she was being kept in, just a vaulted ceiling with marble floors and pillars. It felt like an eternity had passed since he'd come to her, with that cruel red eye and pale tattooed face filled with loathing when he took her, but it probably hadn't been more than a day. She only knew he'd had her for two months because he made sure to tell her when another week had passed with no one coming to her rescue. She knew that he was trying to break her spirit, but that was something that could never be broken. No matter what he did to her, how he tortured or violated her, Lucy refused to succumb to that monster's whims.

Her eyes fluttered closed and opened only a moment later, and her vision cleared slightly. Just enough for her to make out the solid gold bars that kept her locked away. When she had first woken up in this place, she'd marveled at the extravagance of it all, how lavish everything was in comparison to what she'd grown accustomed to in the years since she'd abandoned the finer things in life. While the architecture of the room was magnificent—and something she would have otherwise been in awe of while she looked at the small alcoves here and there to take in every detail she possibly could—Lucy always focused on those bars.

She had thought this monster of a man would never become a reality, not with all of the effort they had put into stopping him all those years ago.

As it turned out, Rogue still succumbed to the darkness within himself after Frosch was killed in front of his eyes. He still murdered Sting and took his best friend's power for himself. He still hated Lucy, because he blamed her for Frosch's death. And that was why he'd been so intent on keeping her prisoner now. Why that future version she had encountered had been even more hellbent on killing the Lucy of X791.

"I wouldn't have lost Frosch if you weren't alive," he said when she first woke up in the cage.

What he couldn't seem to grasp was that she had tried to save Frosch, and almost got killed in the process. Her magic had been almost completely depleted by that point, but Lucy had still given it everything she had to save the little Exceed. None of that mattered now though.

With the knowledge of what his future self had tried to do, Rogue's transformation into the monster warped into something far worse. He didn't try to stop the past from happening, already knowing that it was pointless because Natsu and the other mages at the games—and even Rogue himself—would stop him. Instead, he focused his attention on bringing pain to the one he thought responsible for his own anguish.

The large doors at the other end of the room silently opened, and Lucy's gaze rose until she was met with the monster again. That sadistic smirk pulled at one corner of his lips as he took long strides toward the cage. Closer and closer, yet she didn't move. She didn't have enough strength or energy to do it, even though she tried. He climbed the massive staircase that led to her cage's platform, and Lucy wondered if he would open it and come in, or just sit down on the plush throne that was right next to her golden prison. It didn't take long to figure out he was coming to her, but for what she couldn't even begin to decipher.

"Looking lovely as always, Lucy," Rogue sneered as he stepped into the cage, leaving the door propped open while he made his way further in. "Is there anything I can get for you?"

Lucy's eyes narrowed into slits while she glared at him. It was the most defiance she could muster with just how weakened her body had become, but she knew the fire hadn't left her eyes when he snarled at her. She didn't flinch when he closed the distance between them in an instant, roughly tangling one hand in her dulled golden hair and wrenching her up to kneel, limp, before him.

Rogue bowed down until his lips were mere inches from hers, and hummed when all Lucy did was continue glaring at him. He couldn't understand how her spirit hadn't broken yet, but he was about to change that. "I was going to change the current conditions you're living in, you know," he whispered. His other hand slowly reached up to brush away the recently washed blonde strands from her face. Oh, how he loved to make sure she was cleaned while she was unconscious, all in the hopes that she would wake up and realize just how long he'd been doing this. It wouldn't do if he didn't keep his little slave clean, after all. "You could have gotten out of this cage, been fed normally, all of it. With the only stipulation of staying here and doing as I see fit."

"Go…" she rasped, her voice only a wisp of what it once was from misuse. "Fuck… yourself… psycho…" Lucy's natural reaction to wince in pain when his hand tightened in her hair before she was thrown to the ground, never came. She just laid there, with her hair covering her eyes and hanging in her mouth. The short fall was bone-jarring, letting her know just how much weight she'd lost since being locked up.

"Well, while you might not appreciate the effort I put into keeping you comfortable," Rogue growled as he towered over her, "I'll be sure to bring you to my way of thinking." He turned and walked across the cage, then picked up the pitcher of water and filled a glass. The shackles bolting Lucy to the floor only reached halfway across her cage, so he made sure to keep a pitcher of water right where she could see it—that way she would always know just how close she was to getting what she needed, while still having to rely on him to provide it for her.

Lucy Heartfilia's spirit needed to be shattered. He wanted her to be just a shell of the vibrant woman he'd met at the Grand Magic Games all those years ago. 'Five years since that day,' he thought, 'How time flies…'

Lucy couldn't suppress the whimper she let out when Rogue grabbed one shackled wrist and dragged her across the ground to the center of the cage. He knelt down next to her, confusing her instantly when he very carefully pulled her into his arms. Normally he would just hold her head up by her hair when he wanted her upright, so what could have possibly made him so gentle? Her head fell against his chest, rising and falling with each steady breath he took, and he hooked a finger under her chin.

"Open up and drink," Rogue whispered. He brought the glass to her lips, slowly tipping it back to let a small amount of water into her mouth. It took some time, but once Lucy had finished the glass he set it down on the floor next to him, then slowly brushed her hair from her eyes again. "Better?"

Lucy's brow furrowed in utter confusion when she looked up at him. That crazed gleam in his eye had disappeared, leaving her with the sight of the Rogue she once knew and considered a friend. Sure, his hair had changed, and there was the tattoo on his face now, but there was a certain softness to his gaze that she hadn't seen in all the time he'd had her held captive. As quickly as it appeared, that gentle gaze shattered and left only the cold and unforgiving gaze she'd come to know.

"I asked you a question," Rogue said slowly, pushing that small part of his consciousness that reared its head every once in awhile further into the darkness that had consumed him when Frosch died. That little piss-ant of a being he once was—the man that had viewed this pathetic twit as a friend and ally—gave himself up to this darkness, and he wouldn't delude himself into thinking that she was remorseful for what had happened.

When Lucy still didn't answer him, Rogue sneered and roughly grabbed her chin, digging his fingers into her hollowed cheeks until he smelled the faintest scent of her blood once he broke the skin. "Worthless bitch. You should know better than to ignore me."

Lucy knew what was coming, but it didn't make it any easier. She'd been frozen in place when she saw that glimmer of who Rogue used to be, and she wondered if maybe this wouldn't happen if she'd been able to respond.

Now though, it was too late. Even if she tried to say something, he wouldn't hear her. There was no getting through to him when he was like this.

That had been her first plan of attack concerning getting herself free—trying to talk things out and make Rogue see that she wasn't his enemy. Diplomacy had always been a great skill that she'd learned before running away, but it didn't work when talking to a psychopath. His lips descended on hers, and she felt bile rising in her throat when a predatory growl rumbled through him as his tongue plunged into her mouth.

She didn't move a muscle, not even a small twitch of her lips as he teased them with rough nips from his sharpened canines. She tasted her own blood in her mouth when he bit down harder in an effort to make her respond, but all Lucy could do was lie in his arms and think about all the ways she would love to make him stop.

In all of her life, she had never wanted to kill someone. But, the things he'd done to her. What he had made her do while she was his prisoner… Rogue was the only person that landed on the list of people she wanted to kill. While she knew it was wrong, and that he should be brought to justice for what he'd done, Lucy couldn't find it in herself to care about Fiore's version of justice any longer. He didn't seem to mind that she never actively responded, that even her body rebelled against him by staying completely unaffected by his touch. Rogue was here for one thing, and he would get it whether or not she complied. He'd weakened her to the point of immobility, and she knew that even just trying to bite him would only result in being beaten into near—sometimes full—unconsciousness before he took what he wanted anyway.

Lucy tried not to focus on the fact that he was laying her down on the floor while he kept their lips connected. She tried to block out how his hand moved from her face down to her chest, roughly pushing the top of her robe open to bare her breasts for him.

Every time this happened, Lucy disconnected from herself. She had to just so she didn't lose her mind with what was happening to her. She put up walls around herself, hummed silly little tunes in her head, or thought about the fun times she'd had back in Fairy Tail.

She thought about what it would have been like to have a man actually love her instead of just using her.

She had been in love once before, and there was a part of her that wanted to pretend what Rogue was doing was actually that man she loved so long ago. She couldn't though. Because Rogue was nothing like the man she had loved back when she was whole.

'Whole,' Lucy thought sadly, 'I'll never be whole again… Not after what he's done to me…'

"You have no idea," Rogue chuckled darkly in Lucy's ear as his thumb brushed over her nipple, "Just how glad I am that I've ruined you for anyone else. Who would have thought someone like you would have been a virgin when I took you the first time…" He'd been thoroughly surprised by it, but the fact that she'd been crying and screaming had only made it even better. He loved how she'd begged him to stop, the way she screamed in agony when he slammed into her right away. Lucy had been talking back to him that whole day, and he'd finally had enough of her mouthy bullshit. He'd always had a thing for blondes, and with one bound up at his disposal, he would have been stupid not to satiate his lust.

The only real downside to his method for weakening Lucy by denying her food was that she was missing those delicious curves he'd enjoyed holding onto while he pounded into her. Her breasts were smaller, and those had actually been his favorite part. Sure, she didn't have much in the way of muscle to fight back any longer, but the definition in her muscles had been utterly mouthwatering. With another growl, Rogue caved just a little—only so he could enjoy himself more in the future—and said, "Looks like I'll need to start feeding you again. You're too skinny now."

Lucy's eyes closed while she blocked out what was happening. She hadn't necessarily been saving herself for marriage, but she had wanted to at least care about the person she gave herself to for the first time. That had been ripped away from her only two days into her captivity.

Rogue pinched and rolled her nipple between his fingers, then his hand slid down over her protruding ribs, across her much narrower waist and the skin that was stretched tightly over her hip. He only wanted her to gain weight so he could enjoy himself, not for her benefit. She already knew that he wanted to bruise her with his hands from groping her supple and plump flesh, not because she was so emaciated that he nearly shattered her bones from how he held onto her.

Rogue's hand splayed across her stomach, his fingers brushing over the tie to her robe, and all Lucy could think about was how she wished it was already over.

"You're sure," Angel whispered, turning to look at the rest of her guildmates. Her brows furrowed when she saw just how tense everyone had become.

"Yeah," Cobra whispered back. "I can hear him in there. Sounds like there's someone with him." He turned and narrowed his eye while he tried to hear the putrid soul that was inside. There was only a vague echo along with one other, both of them screaming in anguish and rage, but with the thickness of the walls in this place he couldn't get a clear read on them. The only thing that let him know Rogue was currently there, was his scent. It was fresh, and leading down the hallway they'd been following for the past few minutes. "His soul sounds fucking twisted though…"

Jellal sighed and turned to look at Meredy. "Be ready to link the two of them, Meredy," he whispered. "We don't know anything about who this might be, and if he miraculously has an accomplice, then we'll need—"

"No," Cobra said softly. "It sounds like a prisoner. He's got someone held hostage in there… And…" He frowned and took another few steps forward, rounding the corner and glaring at the double doors that led to the room holding the Slayer they were searching for at Titania's request. He focused as much as he possibly could on the occupants of the other room, and his eye widened when he heard what Rogue was saying.

"You're not fighting back… Does that mean you want this now?" A dark chuckle. A loud thud. A pained, feminine whimper. "You're mine to do with as I please… Filthy slut."

Cobra turned back to see everyone watching him. He still couldn't tell who the other person was, but Rogue's intentions were very clear. Of all the shitty things he and his guild mates had done in the past, there were lines even they didn't cross. "It's a woman. We need to go now." He gave Angel a pointed look, knowing that she of all people would understand exactly what was going on behind that door. When her face hardened, quick flashes of her memories assaulted him while she thought about what had happened to her in the Tower. Cobra simply nodded.

That small exchange between the two was enough for the other four members that had been in the Tower together to know what was happening. Even Midnight looked ready to tear Rogue to pieces. The only ones in the dark were Jellal and Meredy, but before they could ask what they'd missed, Angel spoke up. "Sick fucker. I bet he chained her up just to rape her, too."

"Jellal," Midnight said, turning his hardened crimson gaze toward their leader, "You won't be able to stop us on this one. He's not making it out of that room alive."

"But—"

"No one fucking cares what your girlfriend wants," Cobra hissed. "Not now. That's one thing we've never let go unpunished, so you'd better hope he's willing to answer your questions before we slaughter him."

The sound of metal chains sliding across stone caught everyone's attention. There was a roar of pain before a loud crack sounded through the closed doors, and everyone rushed forward. Racer was the first to reach the doors, and he dashed inside only to come to a screeching halt when he saw what lay beyond.

The entire room was white marble, with a grand staircase that led up to an opulent throne. Just off to one side stood an enormous golden birdcage that was bare aside from a small table next to the open door, and the mass of cloth over two bodies on the floor.

Cobra took in the sight of Rogue pinning a woman to the ground, the chains that held her to the cage stretched to their limit and pulling her arms taut. The small slip of fabric that he could only assume was a robe was pulled open to reveal her naked, emaciated body, and Rogue roughly pushed her legs apart to kneel between them. If that wasn't enough of a reason to want to kill the bastard, the sound of her soul gave him that push. He'd know that song anywhere, especially what it sounded like when she was being held against her will. Her thoughts filtered in, and it made his stomach churn.

'Just pretend it's not happening. This isn't real, it's just a really fucked up nightmare. You're somewhere far, far away. No one can touch you. Just keep thinking about something else, and it'll be over soon. And then he'll leave, just like every other time... Please let it be over soon... I wish I could fight back... I wish someone would help me… I'm going to die in this place... Sing a song, Lucy. Just ignore it all.'

Recognition hit everyone a moment later when the woman's hand shifted. A bright pink Fairy Tail emblem proudly showed on the bony appendage. Lucy Heartfilia. They all stood in place, utterly horrified by the sight of her rail-thin body being pinned beneath the Dragon Slayer that held her down.

Lucy gathered up what little strength she had, and spit in Rogue's face just when his fingers pushed into her. There wasn't much she could do in the way of fighting him off, but she was done with being used like some cheap whore against her will. If anything, it would finally push him over the edge, and he'd kill her. With a sneer of her own, she poured every ounce of her hatred into the only two words that came to mind. "Fuck… You…"

"You're going to regret that, you little cunt," Rogue growled, lifting a hand to wipe away her saliva. "I'll make sure this hurts." He bared his teeth in a snarl when she spit on him again, tasting the blood in his mouth from when she'd bitten his tongue. A low growl that wasn't his own reverberated through the room, and Rogue slowly turned his head to see seven mages standing in the doorway, each of them glaring at him and tensed for a fight. With a wicked grin, Rogue leaned down and whispered, "Looks like you'll have to wait for your punishment, Lucy. It seems we have company."

He chuckled as he pulled his hand from her sex and licked his fingers, then stood to his feet and straightened his clothes. With a raised brow over their sudden unwelcome company's state of shock, Rogue calmly walked forward and locked the door to the cage once he was outside.

Jellal grabbed Cobra's arm when he tensed to rush into the room, and once the Slayer's eye turned to glare at him, he slowly shook his head. "Use your poison to get her out of that cage, Cobra. We have to make sure she's alright."

He just couldn't believe what they had stumbled on. Two months of searching for Lucy, and here she was. She looked like she was on the verge of dying, her skin pale and ashen, and the curves that she had been so well-known for giving way to the hard angles of her bones that her skin clung to. She looked like the countless slaves he remembered from the Tower, only ten times worse. It was absolutely sickening to see a form of depravity far worse than what he'd forced on innocent people back when he was possessed.

Cobra sneered and turned back to watch Rogue, stretching his magic out to keep tabs on the piece of shit that was walking toward them and the blonde in the cage. While he wanted nothing more than to tear the little two-toned fuckface to shreds, Jellal was right. Their priority had been finding Lucy to begin with.

It seemed that, even though her guild had been disbanded years ago, Erza had been keeping tabs on the whereabouts of every member. Lucy's disappearance two months prior had people searching for her high and low, and Titania had even asked Crime Sorciere to find out if Rogue was still around to request his assistance in locating the missing Celestial mage. As it turned out, searching for Rogue was the right fucking thing to do.

No one had seen Rogue or Sting since they had defeated those demons. Sting had resigned as the guild master for Sabertooth, and they had gone off to fuck only knows where. From what Cobra could tell, it seemed that the Shadow Slayer still went down the same path that led to him time traveling. No one had actually told Cobra just what had happened back when Doranbolt let him out of prison to help fight the dragons, but he heard enough to put the pieces together. Future Rogue lost his shit over something, turned evil, and decided he needed to be a king.

It was a pretty basic understanding of the events that had transpired that night, but he was fine with that.

"Rogue," Jellal said, taking a step forward and watching closely once the Slayer stopped halfway across the room. "What exactly do you think you're doing?"

Rogue's lips quirked in a suppressed smirk while he looked at the group of mages in front of him. "Why, I'm just spending some quality time with Lucy," he chuckled. "What does it look like I'm doing?"

"And she's been here this whole time?" Jellal asked, clenching his jaw when Rogue's mouth spread into a devious grin.

"That's a strong possibility. You'd have to ask her…" He paused and growled low in his throat, his magic swelling around him as he prepared to kill each and every one of the mages that he could tell were trying to save the little blonde bitch. "Too bad you won't be able to get through me."