Escape from Hell

A/N : This is my first story, and I'm also a beginner in the writing field so please forgive me if my story isn't well built or something like that. The story that I write is only for my personal's and other people's enjoyment. The story will contain romance, action and adventure ( I think I'll need training for the fighting scenes as I really don't know how to write one ).

Enjoy the story and please leave a review ! :)

Chapter 1 – Broken heart

All she think of is to run away from this horrifying place, where she was being enslaved and tortured. So she ran as fast as she could, never once looking behind her, despite that her body was bruised, dust recovering her from face to toe and cuts were more than noticeable. She was tired, exhausted and she wanted to sleep, hoping that tomorrow she'd wake up and realise that was just a real bad dream. But this wasn't. And she knew that this would be her only chance of escaping this hellish place, so she kept on running, trying her best to ignore all the screams echoing inside the building. All that mattered now was to escape, even though she felt bad for her friends for leaving them, but eventually they'd understand her feelings.

She saw a ray of light going through a door ajar, and her hopes suddenly perked up to the idea of being free. She pushed the door open, and what she saw left her wide-eyed with an open mouth : burnt bodies littered the beach, probably from the dead former slaves who were just gotten rid of, like if they were nothing. All Erza felt now was that she was completely disguted by these people's actions, wondering how people can be that mean toward other people... Her fist clenched in anger trying to contain the anger an rage she was now feeling for the tyrans that took away her parents, along with the inhabitants of the towns they destroyed. She wanted revenge. She quickly snapped out of it though, as she heard someone shout :

-"Come on guys, go get her ! We can't allow someone to leave that place !"

Her eyes went wide. She never wanted to go in that tower again. So she began to run again at full speed, searching for a way to get out of here. She marched on sharp stones, making her feet began to bleed from the aggressive materials that littered the beach along with the bodies she so desperately wanted to ignore.

Indeed the smell coming from the bodies was unbearable, which is why she covered her nose with her palm. However that didn't stop her from running, trying to find a boat. Eventually, she found one, making her want to scream in joy but knowing it'd reveal her position to the tyrants if she did so, she restrained from doing that. She ran to the boat, and when she reached it, she saw it was in a pretty bad shape.

'If I wanna get out of that place, better not complain of what I have now', she thought to herself quickly.

She climbed on it, and heard the wood squeak supporting her light weight which sent a shiver down her spine, but shrugged it off and summoned 2 swords from the earlier fight, knowing now that she had magic capabilities. She rowed the boat as fast as she could, ignoring her body screaming at her to just rest, the magical energy just a few seconds ago increasing the sensation of tiredness. But she has a will a few people have and just kept on going, no matter the consequences afterwards. All she focused on at the moment was getting away as far as possible from this place. As she rowed more and more, she slowly but surely see the island fading away from eyesight which made her smile in contentment, yet she felt sadness beginning to overwhelm her as she thought about the persons she has befriended there.

'Milianna, Sho, Simon, and... Jellal, I-I'm s-sorry...' and soon her body began to shake violently, tears forming in her eyes (A/N : Let's say she's still has her two eyes, she's suffered enough already. ). Thoughts of them cheering her up kept haunting her mind as she remembered their confidence that one day they'll be free and go on. That was persons who'd always put some hope in your heart when you don't have any anymore. That was thank to them that she was able to smile somehow. And now she felt like she left them. Not like she had a choice, but still she left them behind.

At these thoughts, she couldn't help but let the tears fall down her face, hugging herself to both comfort and protect her from the cold wind, making goosebumps appear on her skin as she continued to cry, the thought of betrayal and loneliness finally got the better of her. Eventually she fell in a pitiful sleep, tears still streaming her face as she faced herself for another bad night.

In Erza's dream

She was back in her early ages, before she was enslaved, before everything goes insanely wrong. Erza was in her bed, giggling at the sight of his father, whose name was Christian, making odd gestures to her, like sticking his tongue out, or tickling her to the point that she was pleading him to stop which made her father smile even more at the sight of the scarlet haired little girl, he and her mother gave birth to. And then a shout came from downstairs :

" Hey the dinner's ready, come you two while it's still warm ! ", they heard Erza's wife.

"Come on, let's go downstairs meet your mom, I'm sure she wanna see that lovely face of yours", he said to Erza with a smile and a peck on her cheek.

" Okay! Let's go then! But I'm not gonna walk by myself, you'll carry me on the way to the living-room!", she replied, climbing on her father's shoulders who pouted :

"Hey, aren't you able to walk by yourself, Erza ?!"

"I am, but if you don't want mom to know about you know-what, you have no choice but to carry", she replied with a mischievous glint in her eyes and a smirk plastered on her face.

Oh he knew too well that look, being the husband of Erza's mother, Angelica.

"You look like too much your mother", he grumbled his breath, only to be pinched on the shoulder by her so-sweet daughter.

"Come on, slave, I won't ask twice!", she shouted at him, her voice laced with false authority and humor.

That made Christian laughed good heartedly, but then remembered to play being the hurt person so he continued :

" O-Okay, Majesty, s-sorry to have m-make you wait so long..", he stuttered with false submission, his smile betraying the sincerity of his words.

And then here he goes, carrying little-Erza downstairs, who was on her part doing everything possible to disturb him, partially because she wanted to tease him but mostly because she wanted to get payback from the previous tickles she suffered from him.

Angelica was finishing putting the plates and the cutlery at their places when she heard her husband coming down the stairs, with Erza laughing happilly on his shoulders. She smiled at the sight of the two, seeing them that happy made Angelica happy too. She and her husband always cared for Erza like she was a treasure, and now she was glad that Erza has become such a smart girl. She didn't realise she was holding her breath, until the need for air became overwhelming. She let oxygen fill her lungs as she breathed again, looking lovingly at the two in front of her.

"Ah, I see you've finally come to eat the meal with me", she said, a sarcastic smirk never leaving her face.

"It was her fault!", the husband began but soon was interrupted as he looked into Erza's eyes, her gaze telling him to not push it any further if he didn't want his little secret being known by Angelica.

"What were you saying, darling?" , Angelica urged him, enjoying to put him in a difficult position.

"Err... N-Nothing, Angy, nothing really.", he stuttered to her, blushing madly and muttering something incoherent for the two female in the room. He put Erza down as she went for her seat, ready to eat.

Angelica just loved seeing him like that, blushing madly in embarrassment, the incoherents mumblings and the scratching of his head. She smiled at him, walked over to him and whispered in his ear:

"You know, I think I loved that little pout of yours, we should try, Erza and me, to embarrass you even more, so I will enjoy the sight very often..", she winked at him, making him blush even more as she knew it'd embarrass him more and went next to seat next to Erza who was giggling, her hand on her mouth, mocking her father. She smiled at her and dropped a kiss on her forehead, which made Erza smile, pleased to the feeling of her warm and soft lips on her forehead.

Angelica smiled softly at her daughter before turning at Christian, who was standing still, his eyes never leaving hers. That was until she decided to speak once again :

"Darling? What about eating our meal ? And once we're finished, I'd like you to sweep the carpet because of the drool you left on it". To say that Christian was embarrassed was an understatement. He was blushing a deep shade of red, who was matching perfectly with her daughter's scarlet hair.

Erza now was laughing out loud, and nodded at Angelica's comment :

"We are wicked, aren't we, Erza ?"

" Oh yes, you are Angy, but her daughter is like her mother I guess.. So I shouldn't blame her", Christian responded while grinning.

Christian's reply made everyone grinning again, and with that they started to eat.

The meal was much quieter than before, but Erza's father really can't help but make some ramdom jokes which will always lighten the mood and made everyone laugh.

The meal ended without much trouble, except for the jokes Christian made and everyone laughed, whether to mock or just because it was funny, he didn't know and didn't care.

What he cared about for the moment was that he and his family was happy and that's all that mattered.

'Time for Erza to go to sleep', Angelica thought as she looked at the clock above the door entrance.

"Come on Erza, let's go to bed", Angelica said softly but with enough authority to make her daughter comply about her requests.

"Okay..", Erza sighed and walked alongside her mother to her room but not before making a goodnight kiss on her father's cheek.

Erza, with her mother, walked up the stairs, brushed her teeth in the bathroom, made a shower and finally got to bed, feeling slightly exhausted. She entered her room, still with her mother. She changed in her pink pijamas by herself and then take her clothes to give them to her mom, who was surprised to see her daughter grow up so quickly. Needless to say, she is very proud of her.

She then got in her bed still under her mother's gaze, admired how well she handled herself on her own. Eventually, she snapped out of it and came to her daughter bedside to look at her lovingly, she reached out and caress her face and earned a loving smile from her daughter in return. She speaked to her in a soft motherly way :

"I am so proud of you, Erza and I know that Daddy is very proud too. We've always wanted to have a daughter but it simply never came. Now I know why, you may not be born very early since the beginning of my relationship with Christian but you are definetely worth the wait, Erza. You'll become a great person, I am sure of that.", she said confidently to her, tears glistening in the corner of her eyes.

Erza's smile only widened when she heard that and reached out to hug her mother tightly.

She only found one answer to say : " I love you, mom and daddy too. You are great parents, even though you never had a child before. I could never have wished better", her eyes sparkling with love and contentment.

Angelica could only smile softly at what she said. But now was the time to sleep, so she leaned in, dropped a long motherly kiss on her forehead before leaving and tell her :

" Goodnight, Erza, have sweet dreams"

" Goodnight, mom, have sweet dreams too", she answered with closed eyes as sleep was quickly taking over her.

Angelica cast one final glance toward Erza before closing the door and went to her room to sleep as well.

Erza was sleeping peacefully, like nothing can disturb her from her sleep. She had that happy smile, when you know you have people who loves you and you love them back in return.

Though, something happened, loud screams were hearable outside of the house, people screaming in fear of being killed by a certain someone. Outside the house were people running away for their lives as a group of about 200 people were burning the houses in their path, and it looked they... were emprisoning kids for who knows why. The people running were whether burned from the inferno going on in the town about killed by the group who were none other than mages with a mission : collect all the children to build the Tower of Heaven so they can resurrect Zeref, the dark wizard of all times.

Erza was beginning to stir as she felt that her room was getting warmer, until she woke up and rubbed the sleep off her eyes, only to see that her room was lighting with flames almost everywhere. She began to panick as she looked frantically for an exit without being harmed. She looked everywhere and saw that there was no exists so she tried to think of a way to come out and reach her parents and eventually found one, she used an automatic ventilator to blow away the flames from the door which worked and then come out to go in her parents' room. As the corridor wasn't engulfed in flames, she easily went to her parents' room entrance but once opened the sight in front of her left her dumbfounded : the room was lit by fire, the curtains were turned to shreds and the carpet was nothing but burnt material but what caught her eyes was her parents' bed lit by the same fire as well. Realisation hit her as she screamed, tears falling down her face :

"MOMMY, DADDY !"

-Back in the present

Erza jolted awake, her body sweating and panting heavily. It was the first time, the dream was enjoyable first, and then becoming the worst of her nightmares. She felt like they were next to her, smiling to her and telling her how much they loved her. But after, she lost them again. She asked herself if escaping the tower was really a good idea, as now she was lost in the middle of the sea, alone. Her body began to tremble again, as sadness and grief took over again. She cuddled herself for warm but to no avail, the wind was really freezing.

'What's the point to escape if now I'll die in the middle of the sea?', she thought to herself desperately as she began to sob, the cold making it even harder to steady herself, wearing only a cloth to cover her private areas.

Eventually she regained her composure, telling herself that if she reahes the coast, she may be able to find help. So she summoned again the same 2 swords she'd summoned a few hours ago and began to row again, ignoring the aggressive feeling of the cold on her skin as goosebumps appeared again. She rowed as quickly as she could, but then realised that she was hungry and thirsty. She looked around her, looking on the boat if there was anything edible or drinkable. After, 10 minutes of searching, she found nothing to eat, as she expected, but that didn't keep her from rowing, and she used the sea water to try to appease her thirst, ignoring the salty taste of the water as the liquid ran down her throat. That did appease her somehow, if only a little.

And during 2 hours, there she was, rowing the boat and drinking sea water when she felt that the need to drink was unbearable. She was sweating profusely and she felt that her muscles were numb from the constant effort she makes to make the boat go on, but she quickly went desperate as all she as seeing was the sea everywhere. Erza felt hopeless, like if the sea will become her grave. Her parents were gone, so were her friends. She was all alone, on her own and right now she needed someone to support her, to tell her that everything's going to be okay but no one was here. She was on her own. Tears began to well up in her eyes again, and she screamed in desperation, hoping deep in her heart that someone would hear her but not expecting someone to come as in the sea the chances were very thin.

Never would she have thought that someone heard her, though.

-In the forest, near the coast of a city.

Loud snores can be heard in the forest, they were so loud in fact that no one dared to approach that noise, thinking that the people was haunted. Everyone but one person. That person was walking in the forest, running toward the source of the noise. He had pink hair, with brown eyes, and a triumphant grin was plastered on his face, as if he accomplished something. He's wearing white pants that stopped at his knees, a black jacket that left most of his chest uncovered, revealing his muscular body despite his young age. He also has a white scarf wrapped around his neck.

When finally he reached the source of the noise, he yelled :

" Dad, I'm already done", with still his triumphant smile on his face.

The snores immediately stopped when the creature heard Natsu's voice, and opened its eyes. They were in a deep green color, with dark pupils. The creature in front of Natsu was none other than the the fire dragon, Igneel, who's teaching Natsu the fire dragon slayer magic. Igneel was a splendid creature, about 3 meters high, his skin was covered by red scales on his back, and white skin on his chest, and upper legs. He has two marvelous wings, and a long dark red tail. His mouth opened to reveal sharp teeth, which would be able to tear Natsu's body apart if he wanted to. But being Natsu's teacher and foster, he didn't. Instead, he talked in a deep voice :

"Good, Natsu. Now come here, I'm sure you want to eat something", Natsu nodded with a smile on his face.

Igneel hunted some deers, and burnt them with his fire breath, without overburning them. So here it was, ready to be eaten which made Natsu lick his lips in hunger. He tore open the meat with his teeth, swallowed at a rate even Igneel was surprised of. No normal human beings would be able to eat at this rate without choking himself. Somehow Natsu was immune to that, and he just kept on tearing open the fresh burnt flesh of the deer and swallowing it like if he hasn't eaten for months.

Natsu ate during what seems like hours to him, when in fact it was only during a quarter of an hour. He laid on the ground, his stomach satisfied of the amount of food it received.

Igneel gave the equivalent of a smile to Natsu, who ignored it as he was too exhausted to answer him. That is when they both heard a scream, which sounded far away but yet their enhanced hearings allowed them to pick that sound of total despair, which Natsu's head rise, his eyes full of questioning :

"Igneel, what was that ?", he asked.

"Haven't you heard ? It was someone's scream, what I can tell you is that it was a girl, probably a child." , Igneel answered him.

"Well then, let's save her!", he shouted at Igneel who was startled by his sudden outburst.

Eventually, he regained his compusure and asked :" Why do you care, Natsu ?", yet Igneel was a caring foster father but he didn't understand the value of other people's life except Natsu's of course.

This made Natsu even more angrier:

"Haven't you heart ? That voice was desperate! That person whoever she is, needs to be saved! Why have we such capabilities if we're not using them to save other people's life! Please, Igneel fly us to her", he almost pleaded as if this girl was the thing he cared for the most.

Igneel, caring for Natsu like a real father, understood his point. That's why he nodded his head, and Natsu happily climbed on his back and soon they were flying at a rather low altitude.

"I think that what we heard came from the sea, Igneel!", Natsu shouted at him, as the wind blew his face.

"I know Natsu, don't worry.", Igneel responded rather calmly, as he already spotted the girl on a boat, sad and alone, in the middle of the sea thanks to his very enhanced vision. He flew in that direction, startling at the sudden change of speed. He asked him:

"Have you spotted her ?", sensing his hopes perk up at the idea of being able to save someone.

"Yes.", came the simple reply but it was enough for Natsu to smile broadly.

With Igneel's speed, they reached the boat in a matter of minutes. To say the girl was sad was an understatement. No, she was truly desperate, crying with all her might. She didn't even seem to notice them come closer to her as all she focused about was herself and her pointless attempt to escape the Tower that took everything from her.

'She is not only desperate, but very sad and hurt too', Natsu thought sadly. He was puzzled as to why a girl as beautiful as her can be in the middle of the sea, crying out the sadness in her heart, without anyone to take care of her.

'Doesn't matter right now, what I see is that she needs help', Natsu thought with determination. She didn't know the girl, but he felt like he never wanted her to cry again, he wanted to protect her.

He shouted at her to get her attention :

"Hey miss!", he shouted like that several times without succeeding in getting her attention. Her tears just won't stop. However when Igneel growled in annoyance, Erza looked up slowly with teary eyes and yet the sadness in her heart was still overwhelming but what she saw left her wide-eyed. A giganti creature was there, right next to her, flapping his wings with force to allow it to fly. But what caught her attention was the little boy with the pink hair, who was shouting at her to come, and stretching out his hand for her to grab it. She was puzzled. Who were they ? She can tell by only looking at them tells her that the creature was a dragon and that the boy on its back wasn't a normal person either, as they seem to have heard her, despite being in the middle of the sea. She didn't care, she was grateful for them, they are the persons who saved her from her nightmare, who offered a chance to live, to start over again. A tear rolled down her cheet, but this time out of joy and gratitude. She grabbed his hand, with a smile on her cheek, a sincere one that she hasn't been showing for a long time. He smiled back at her and pulled her on Igneel's back. She was amazed by the little boy's strenght, he just pulled her up like she was nothing. She didn't care though, they saved her, that's what mattered to her. She was so lost in thought that she didn't hear Natsu ask her what was her name. So he bumped her gently in the shoulder which made her turn to look at him, raising an eyebrow.

Smiling, he asked again :" What. Is. Your. Name?", he urged her.

Looking away in the horizon, she answered absentmindedly with a sad look on her face :"My name's Erza. And yours?"

"My name is Natsu Dragneel.", he replied, wondering why she was looking away from him. But then, realized :"But don't you have a family name ?"

She shook her head in a negative gesture to show him she doesn't have any. At least that's what she wanted him to know. Of course she had a family name, but mentioning that will only bring more pain in her heart, so she decided against it.

On the other hand, Natsu was surprised. How can someone not have a family name ? It was an unanswered question and he wanted to find an answer, but seeing Erza's sad look, he figured that ask her that will trouble her even more. So instead he told her :

"If you don't have any family name, then I'll find you one.", he seemed deep in thought as he searched for a family name that would fit her well. At first, he had no idea but after several minutes of searching, he eventually found one, which he thought was cute. He smiled triumphantly, happy for his achievement.

"I think I have one that will suit you perfectly", he smiled at her. Erza looked at him questioningly, and asked him in a voice laced with curiousity:

"And what would that be ?"

"Scarlet. I think it matches really good your scarlet hair and I find it rather cute", he replied grinning like a Cheschire cat, making Erza chuckle at his stupidity, but after hearing Natsu's suggestion about a family name, she found that she liked it. She smiled at him and came closer to him, to sit next to him as she responded still smiling :

"I like it, Natsu. Thank you.

Natsu returned the smile as he replied : " You're welcome, Erza Scarlet."

They looked at each other, enjoying each other's companies, when Erza's eyes began to well up with tears and in matter of seconds she was hugging him, crying fresh tears of joy, and telling him through her tears:

"T-Thank you, for saving my life..", she couldn't help but stutter as she gripped on him tightly, as if she never wanted him to let go. She was so grateful for that boy and the dragon even though he seemed scary. She owed them her life.

Natsu was startled but smiled anyway, enjoying the closeness between him and that beautiful they succeeded in saving, and replied glancing at her with soft eyes:

"Anytime, Erza. By the way, you should thank Igneel, the dragon you're sitting on, he was the one who confirmed that I heard a scream far away from the forest. And I must add something : you're a beautiful girl, Erza, even with a bruised body. Also a question went unanswered, what happened to you, Erza?", he asked her, puzzled, wanting to know the truth.

Erza knew there was no malice in his words, she just only met him and by an unknown feeling, she knew that she could trust him with anything, so she told him what happened : the Tower, how the people who kidnapped her killed her parents, and how she was enslaved, tortured and battered when she complained about being tired and finally she told him how she escaped that Tower, the boat, the sea water being her only mean to drink something, everything. When Erza was finished, she let the information sink in Natsu's head. Natsu was puzzled, so puzzled that he can't put a word on how sad he's feeling for her right now. He couldn't believe that a child, had to go through that much to get freedom back, in fact he just thought that no one had to go through that, and most of all he couldn't believe that people can hurt other people so much. He just doesn't understand, and don't even try to, as he knew that never he'd want to be mean with other people. Okay, he lived with a dragon mostly during his childhood, learning dragon slayer magic, but yet he understood that humans were kind toward each other, not the other way around. He was sad for her, and he didn't try to hide it as he hugged her again, feeling this was the right thing to do to her, and also because he just didn't know how to express his feelings. Hugging seemed the right decision though, as he felt her hugging him back, pleased by the closeness and the warmth coming from Natsu's body. But her enjoyment only lasted a few minutes when Natsu stated with determination in his voice and eyes :

"Never would I let someone hurt you again, Erza.". Erza was startled by how determined he sounded, that look and determination just told her that he wasn't kidding with her, she concluded he was being sincere in his words so she smiled widely at him.

Igneel saw the two of them chatting together as if nothing happened several minutes ago. And then, he saw Natsu's eyes, glistening from happiness, his broading smile at Erza and the slight blush of his cheeks when he talked to her. He could also tell that his heart was beating faster than usual, his enhanced senses allowing to do so. Igneel smiled at the sight, the look plastered on his face was looking like the one he himself had when he found Natsu in a lost place.

'He may not realize it yet, but he likes her. But there's something else than that... Could it be he's falling for her', he thought in confusion, Natsu being in love at such a young age is quite unusual, let alone that he only met her like several minutes ago. He quickly shrugged it off though, the best course of action being that he'll have to question him later about that. He had this feeling that Natsu will ask that Erza stay with them. Though that may not be a good idea, because he can sense a lot of magical power in her. She'd had a tough time these past years and he guessed that she needed people to love to allow her to get over her sadness and her past memories. And he has the feeling that Natsu will take care of that. Igneel then realized that having two people to teach magic to wasn't really a bother to him, as he always thought that Natsu was a little lonely, he admitted to himself that he wasn't really the conversational type, and he felt that Natsu needed that, or most of all he needed to be loved, a feeling that dragons don't fully understand. But he'll try to understand, for Natsu.

He continued to fly toward the coast, when suddenly he felt something, or rather he smelt something like a dark aura of a great amount of magic power empesting the air. His wide went wide, as he recognised the owner of that awful magic power, fear gripping him to the core.

He'd recognise this smell among one billion : this was the Dragon of Apocalypse : Acnologia.

He heard his roar, making the earth tremble, sending a shiver of fear run down his spine. The fire dragon, one of the strongest dragons in Earthland was scared and Natsu sensed it :

"What's happening, Father ?" he asked worriedly. He knew that Igneel being scared only meant that there was a real threat on their whereabouts, and that made shiver in fear.

Igneel's voice was barely above a whisper :"Acnologia is here, Natsu. I-I can sense him coming.." , he stuttered.

Natsu went wide-eyed, fear beginning to take over as his body began to shake. He felt a warm hand on his shoulder, which mae his head look up, only to see a very confused Erza :

" Natsu, who is Acnologia ?", she asked confusedly, yet with a bit of worry in her voice.

When he answered her, his voice was all shaky from the fear that overwhelmed him :

"H-He i-is the Dra-a-gon of Apocalypse...", he stuttered with fear.

Erza gasped in shock and fear, a dragon even more dangerous ? That sent shivers throughout her whole body, her breath raged as her moment of peace was already finished.

Igneel saw the coast and flew up toward it at full speed, the cold wind hitting his face. He arrived, landed on the sand and shouted at the two on his back :

"Natsu, Erza, get off me, now !", Natsu stared back at him in shock, trying to understand what Igneel was up to.

"What are you gonna try to do, Igneel ?!", he shouted in fear.

"I'm going to save you both, now get off me!", he roared angrily in an attempt to scare Natsu and make him go away without second thought but he only gripped his scales tighter, and responded with tears in his eyes :

"I'm not letting you go, I don't wanna lose you", he cried out, trying to reason him which made Igneel escape a breath of frustration. Seeing that Natsu nor Erza aren't going to get off him, he shook them both off of him and they landed on the sand harmlessly. Without second thought, he pushed himself up in the air with inner legs and flew away from them, trying to get the dragon's attention as far as possible from them.

Natsu could only watch him go away, unable to do one thing to help him as he didn't have the ability to fly. Tears ran freely down his face, and he shouted in pure sadness and despair :

"FATHER !"

A/N : And here is the first chapter, hope you guys enjoyed it, and please tell me what you think about it through a review or a PM ! :)