Chapter 1

Freed grunted as he stood back upright, pressing a hand to what he knew would be bruised ribs in the near future. He looked over at the mage who had knocked him back, to see Laxus dealing a final blow to the man. He breathed a sigh of relief, thankful that this fight was over. The dark guild they had come to eradicate was definitely stronger than they had assumed.

"Oh thank fucking god!" Bickslow groaned as he pulled his head away from the broken wall, where it had previously been thrown against. He let out another groan as he pulled his bent metal visor off his head, a small trickle of blood running down the side of his face. "Fucking hell."

Evergreen clutched her bleeding arm as she too stood back up from the vicious impact. "I can't believe those imbeciles were that strong."

"Is everyone alright?" Freed asked, he knew of course that they were all injured, but he felt the need to make sure there were no worrying injuries.

"Spiffy as dog shit." Bickslow grumbled as he rubbed his leg.

"I suppose." Evergreen muttered.

Freed accepted their answers, and turned his attention to their leader, who was now crouched down next to the man he had just defeated. "Laxus?" When he got no response, he walked over to him and put a hand on his shoulder. "Are you alright?"

Laxus grunted and picked something up from the ground, the clinking of metal together echoing off the walls of the now silent building. He turned to face Freed and held up the object, watching as Freed's eyes widened. "Aren't these Blondie's keys?"

Freed only knew of two celestial mages still in existence. He didn't know exactly which keys Fairy Tail's own celestial mage had, but he knew that Sabertooth's celestial mage only had two of the golden zodiac keys. Since the ring in Laxus' hands had nine of them, that could only mean that they were in fact Lucy's keys. "Yes. But why are they here? Can you smell her nearby?"

It was common knowledge that she hadn't been in the guild for the last three months. After Natsu had practically gone frantic in the guild hall, even they had learned that she had gone to visit her parents' graves. It took the master enlarging his fist on the boy, and telling him that she should have all the time she wants to spent with her parents, for the fire Dragonslayer to finally relent and calm down. If Freed remembered correctly, her parents' graves were in Acalypha, which was quite a distance from where they currently were. "No." Laxus grunted as he stood up, still studying the keys. "I can smell a lot of things, but not her."

Freed's eyebrows furrowed as he looked closer at the keys. On the tops, where the symbols for each constellation were, a black swirl danced across them, looking like smoke built into the keys. "There is something wrong with them."

"It looks like a trapping spell." Evergreen chimed as her and Bickslow joined the two. "A pretty powerful one, by the looks of it."

"So, they're trapped in the spirit world?" Bickslow frowned, looking at Loke's key in particular.

"Indeed, and it greatly concerns me." Freed frowned. "It would mean that Lucy would be utterly defenseless against mages of this caliber."

"You don't think she's…" Evergreen's statement died out, the implication not needing to be spoken aloud.

"No." Freed said firmly. "If that were the case, her keys would not be trapped. If I recall correctly, only keys with contracts can be affected in such a way."

Laxus growled and put the keys in his pocket. "Let's search this place. There's a good chance she's here if they had her keys."

They all murmured their agreement, and set off in search of their blonde guild mate. It wasn't a particularly big building, so it wasn't long until they came across a bolted door in the basement. They cast each other wary looks, before Laxus stepped up to the door and sent lightning across his body. He reeled back his fist and sent it into the door, making it practically shatter into pieces. They all stepped into the room, only to freeze on the spot. None of them were prepared for the sight that laid before them. Evergreen's hand shot to her mouth, as tears immediately fell from her wide, shocked eyes. Bickslow's face drained of all its color as it morphed into one of complete shock. Freed's entire body stood frozen, as if Evergreen had turned him to stone. Laxus was faring no better, the usually emotionless man donned a completely shocked and appalled expression.

"P-please tell me that's not her." Evergreen shakily whispered from behind her hand, and Freed swallowed thickly, his stomach contents wanting to expel while contemplating the answer to her question.

Laxus' answer came out as a mere whisper, "That's Blondie." Even he was having a hard time believing that what they were seeing was real. It took him breathing in her faint and familiar scent again, for him to actually come to terms with it.

She was hanging against the wall in chains, blood trickling down each arm, one for more reasons than the other. Her hair was gone, only slight patches of blonde tufts peeking through a bloodied and bruised head. Her stomach had clearly been cut open, and roughly patched back together, where thick metal staples were keeping the wound closed. But even at a mere glance, one could tell that the wound was infected. Her left leg was bent at an odd angle, and she was naked. Blood was caked on the insides of her thighs, but that wasn't the most concerning part. Her right arm was being held up in the chain by the crook of her elbow, and her right hand, the hand that bared her guild mark, was gone. A blood stained cloth was wrapped around where her hand once was, and her head was cast downwards.

It was Freed who took the first tentative step towards her. His blood had run cold, and his chest felt like it was anchored to the ground. He approached her cautiously, almost afraid. He crouched in front of her, and whispered her name in a shaky and gentle voice. "Lucy. Can you hear me?" When he got no response, he instinctively pressed two fingers against the pulse point on her neck. Honestly, he was shocked to find a pulse at all, however, it was faint, and she was no doubt in critical condition. He had to breathe in deeply, vaguely noticing Laxus' presence as he crouched next to him. He would have to get over his shock if he was going to get her out of here in time. "Can you break the chains without hurting her?"

Laxus hummed as he touched the chain. "I should be able to, but I'm gonna need you to stop her arms from falling. If she's been hanging here for long, it could rip her muscles from such a sudden change."

Freed only nodded as he placed one hand carefully under her upper arm, and the other over her shoulder. He could feel how tight and tense her muscles were under his hand, and he knew she had been here for a long time. Laxus sent a small spark of lightning into the lock of the chain, and carefully pulled hard against the metal until a loud clunk signified that he had succeeded. Freed massaged the muscles of her shoulder, loosening them as he, very slowly, lowered her arm down. As he lowered it completely, he felt her muscles start to shake, and he pulled back when a croaking whisper reached his ears.

"Please. Please. Please." A mantra of a whisper came from the blonde girl, and Freed gently put his fingers under her chin to tilt her head up. His voice clogged in his throat when he caught sight of her unfocused and dazed eyes.

"Lucy?" He whispered. "Can you hear me?"

"Kill me. Please kill me. Please. Kill me." Any warmth that had remained in his body, froze cold at her mantratic plea. He could faintly hear Evergreen's sob as his own tears slipped out of his eyes. Never in his life had he seen someone so broken, so utterly ready to be rid of life, and it haunted him to his core. Her voice was bland, like she had pleaded this a hundred times before, and he sucked in a shaky breath as his eyes drifted to an equally shaken Laxus.

"We have to hurry." Freed whispered to his leader, and the man nodded. They did the same to her other arm, as quickly as they could, and when both arms were lowered, her pleas turned into moans that would chill a demon's spine. As Laxus was taking off his coat to put over the girl, Freed turned to Bickslow, who was clutching Evergreen to his chest. "Bickslow." The said man slowly turned his gaze from the blonde girl to meet his eyes. "Call the rune knights." When Bickslow mutely nodded, Freed turned his attention back to the girl. Her moans had turned monotone, and barely above a whisper. As gently as he could, and with the help of Laxus, he pushed her shoulders away from the stone wall. As he held her shoulders, Laxus wrapped his coat fully around her fragile and bleeding body.

Laxus was shocked at how light she was as he carefully lifted her in his arms. His mouth turned into a grim line as he looked to his teammates, Bickslow just having ended the call to the rune knights. "Someone needs to stay here for when the rune knights arrive. There's no way she can stay here any longer."

"I'll stay." Bickslow voiced in a husky whisper. The despair that everyone was feeling was plain as day on the man's face.

Laxus nodded, he had a feeling Evergreen would be staying behind as well. "We'll be at the nearest hospital. Come whenever you're ready." He wasted no more time and strode out of the god forbidden room. He kept his footsteps as light as he could, not wanting to jostle her more than needed. He clenched his teeth and sent the man who was their leader a death glare as they passed him. Even though he was unconscious, Laxus wanted nothing more than to rip everyone in the building limb from limb, that particular man especially. He looked down at the girl in his arms as her nauseated moans started back up again. His eyebrows furrowed as he noticed that her eyes still seemed unfocused and completely lifeless. "How far is the hospital?" He gruffly asked his friend beside him.

"About an hour away." Freed blandly replied. "Do you think we'll make it?"

Laxus listened to her heartbeat, it was faint, but still beating firmly. "Yeah." He grunted. He wished more than anything that he could teleport them to the hospital, but he doubted that she would make it if he did. He took a deep breath as his strides quickened as much as they could without further harming her. He could only hope she would be okay. He knew how much she meant to the guild, and he knew he wouldn't be able to break the news to his grandfather if she didn't make it through this.

Thanks for reading. This is kind of a preview I guess. I wasn't going to post it because I'm not sure if I can handle writing another story right now, but I did it anyways. I'm gonna warn you now that the updates will be slow. But, I hope you'll sit through it with me :} I love you guys! Muah!