"What the hell?" Erza growled, one hand holding the hilt of her sword in a firm grip, the other balled up tightly. "Are you kidding me?" Lucy cried. "We're in the middle of nowhere; why are we being attacked?!" She held her ring of keys in both hands, ready to whip one out in a blink of an eye.

Natsu was in a crouch, both fists encased in flames while his teeth were bared in a feral snarl. Happy drifted above their heads, wings flapping every so often to keep him airborne.

Surrounding them were dozens and dozens of strange, needle-like thorns. Or something similar. They were floating in mid-air, and at any moment they could strike.

Lucy was correct when she said they were in the middle of nowhere. The three of them were forced to work a job together in order to investigate several disappearances of mages travelling through the forest. But before any of the guild members could even begin to sniff around, the strange objects made their appearance.

Another wave darted forward and Lucy ducked while Erza blocked them and Natsu let out a roar, fire blazing hot and bright as it disintegrated most of hem.

Suddenly, Lucy let out a yelp. Erza and Natsu turned to see Lucy grimacing as she held her shoulder, long dark green thorn embedded in the skin and sticking out through her fingers.

"Lucy!" Natsu and Erza yelled in unison. Lucy's vision blurred and she blinked groggily, only to realize she was now on the ground and a pink haired mage was running towards her. That was the last thing she remembered before everything went black.

When she woke up, the first thing she noticed was that she vaguely felt like throwing up. A groan escaped from between her lips and she used her shaky limbs to sit up. To her left, Erza was on her back, hair splayed out around her head and out cold.

To her right, Natsu was sprawled on his stomach, arms curled almost protectively around his thick head of hair. One of his ankles was sticking out through the bars of the cell. The cell itself was covered in mud, dirt, and rust. the floor, walls, and ceiling were made of metal. The metal itself was rusted, but still strong, proven by the endless array of bloodied scratches adorning it's surface.

A sudden movement in the shadows in the corner of the cell caught her eyes and she breathed a sigh of relief when Happy walked out of the small corner, rubbing his eyes tiredly.

"Happy!" Lucy said. "You okay?" He nodded. "Yeah." Happy saw Natsu's unmoving form. "What happened?" Lucy frowned, eyebrows creased in worry. "I'm not sure. I think we were drugged."

"So we're kidnapped?" a weary voiced asked. Both Happy and Lucy twisted around to see Erza pushing herself upright. "Are you okay?" Happy inquired. Erza waved it off. "I'm fine."

"Where the hell are we?" Natsu rasped, golden eyes peeking through strands of pink as he struggled to rize. "We don't know," Happy told him. Natsu growled and got up onto all fours.

"Screw this, I'm getting out of here," he hissed, a fist rearing back. He slammed it into the bars, and everyone paused. Suddenly Natsu grabbed his hand and let out a pained groan. Erza narrowed her eyes at Natsu. In seconds she strode across the cell and grabbed Natsu's wrist.

Natsu's angry protest died as he laid eyes on the silver band encasing it. The design was very simple with no visible markings of any kind on the outside, and it was so tightly encased on his wrist that there was no way to look inside, let alone get it off.

"What is that?" Happy questioned as Natsu reclaimed his wrist and set to the task of trying to wrench it off. Erza frowned. "When Natsu punched the bars just now, they should have caved. I can only assume that they are blocking the magic."

She gazed at her own wrist. Holding it up, the light gleamed off the bracelet. "We've all got one. Except Happy, anyway." Lucy checked, and sure enough, the stark gray stared back up at her.

"We don't have any choice but to wait. Without our magic, we're defenseless for right now."

Hours had passed, and not a sound was heard. Suddenly, a door slammed open down the hall and shouting voices reverberated off the stone. "Come on! Come on! Get into yer cells, ya bunch of vermin!" a voiced roared.

People shuffled past and the four occupants quickly shuffled over to the bars. Dozens of people poured into cells. Their skin and tattered clothes were covered in a sheen of sweat and dirt. Every single on of them looked tired and weary.

And all of them sported a silver bracelet.

A guard of some kind, dressed in black clothes that hung loose on his muscled frame, unlocked the door while he gave them a cold glare, as if daring them to try and make an attempt at escape.

Someone approached the cell, and when he padded in, the mages froze in shock.

Gray?

Gray Fullbuster had been missing for four years, classified dead.

Every Fairy Tail member remembered that day.

"Gray? Gray, where are you?" Natsu yelled, hands cupping around his mouth. "Gray!" Lucy cried. Suddenly she crashed into Natsu's back. Hard. "Natsu, what-?" her words died when she saw the dumbstruck look on Natsu's face.

Her eyes swiveled to where he was looking and her inquisitive gaze fell on a broken necklace in a pool of blood. Her eyes widened and a harsh and horrified gasp escaped her throat.

Erza came through the brush behind them, twigs snapping under the weight of her steel boots. "Did you find him?" A choked sound came from her when she saw the necklace.

Juvia was hot on her heels and when the blood crusted cross came into view, it seemed like the world came to an end.

"No." Lucy turned scared eyes onto the trembling girl whose tear-filled eyes matched the strands of hairs surrounding her face. Juvia shook her head. "No. No. No! NO! NONONONO!" she shrieked, and her knees buckled.

Erza caught her before she hit the ground and Juvia promptly burst into tears, folding in on herself while one hand unconsiously reached out to Gray's necklace. Lucy's eyes filled with tears, her soul filling with anguish at the sound of Juvia's despair.

Erza herself looked in pain, while at the same time, a little lost and a little angry. Natsu just stood rigid as a board, shaking with fury. Soon it was just too much, and he let out a scream before tearing off into the forest.

The wizards stumbled into the guild hall hours laters, solemn and silent. Juvia had even gone quiet by then, pale and vacant while tears continued to fall down her cheeks.

Search parties were sent out, but no body was found. Natsu set off on his own, unable to deal with that kind of answer.

With the amount of blood left and as time went on and on, the guild was forced to list Gray Fullbuster as deceased.

And the strongest team in Fairy Tail was shattered.

"Gray?" Natsu asked with large eyes. He stared up at the shirtless man standing less than twenty feet away. The sound of the cell closing was brushed to the back of his mind.

Gray seemed surprised as well.

While Natsu and the other hadn't changed much in appearance, Gray certainly had. He had a tiny bit of stubble and his dark blue hair had grown so long that it was kept in a ponytail.

His skin was unhealthily pale and there were dark circles under his eyes. He was beaten and battered like the others.

"Natsu." The name was spoken in something akin to reverence. Gray's eyes that were usually dark blue, almost black on regular days and in times of calmness, were now a ocean blue.

Gray eventually got some semblance of emotional control back and his eyes darkened once more, but he was still visibly shaken. "What...What are you guys doing here?" he asked.

Erza was the only one who had a solid lid on things. She rose to her feet, swallowing down every emotion that could cloud her head. "We were drugged and captured. We woke up here a few hours ago, and we discovered these." She held up her arm to show off the bracelet.

Gray nodded mutely, face shrouding over and he seemed to grow weary just from the look of it. "Yes. I assume you figured out it binds your magic?" She nodded. "What is this place?" Lucy asked. Gray looked down, a long strand of hair falling over his eyes.

"This place," he said in a low voice, "is a creation of a dark guild, whose identity I still do not know. It is a...camp, or sorts, for wizards. During the day, the wizards are worked as slave labor, and at night, our magic is drained for their use."

Footsteps stopped Gray from explaining more. He sat down with his back against the wall, on guard and alert and then a guard walked by, giving them a huff of annoyance as if their mere existence irritated him.

After the guard past the cell became enveloped in silence, leaving each wizard to dwell in the chaos of their own thoughts.