Chapter 8

"Who are you sssearching for, woman?" Lucy spun around, her eyes searching the darkness for the voice, but none of the convicts she could see were looking directly at her, the voice had been so quiet she doubted anyone without heightened hearing would've heard it. Even if they strained their eyes in the darkness they would only see a pair dimly glowing blue eyes floating in the darkness. "I am above you, celessstial mage." Her glowing eyes snapped upward where they were met with snake like ones looking straight into hers.

The eyes belonged to a skinny crouching man with scaly skin, if it was light inside the room Lucy was sure it would have a greenish tint to it. "Whoa," she automatically recoiled, "who are you?" she asked quietly, assuming he could hear what she said based on his earlier whisperings. He chuckled quietly not bothering to cover his sharp canines as his forked tongue slipped in and out between them.

"Dissgusted by me are you? How disssappointing..." Though he'd laughed he looked kind of...dejected. Lucy felt bad for how she reacted, so she began searching for a way to reach him.

"Ummm...Is there a way I can...? With gestures she acted out reaching his eye level, not even sure he could see her.

"Yes, the wardens use those." pointing towards a podium he explained that they were used to float around amongst the cells.

Once Lucy reached his floating cell with the podium she asked him his name.

"I am Uroko, might I know your name as well?" She didn't know if she could trust this criminal yet, but she needed to tell him something! She finally settled on on her fight club alias.

"I'm Violet, it's nice to meet you, but how can you see me?"

"I don't ssee the same way as other humans in the dark, I am really just seeing your heat ssignature with my infrared vision, and from the shape of you I'd guesss that you're quite attractive." Other humans? He thinks he's a man? "Now, Violet, who are you sssearching for?"

Lucy figured it couldn't hurt since she hadn't given him her real name, so she explained the situation with Solomon, withholding any info that she felt was too sensitive. At the mention of his name Uroko shivered. "That man was full of a very ancient darkness. He came to prison purposely, saying that he was searching for recruits... However I don't believe that to be true, whomever he decided to recruit became vegetables within days. Their heat signatures used to be bright with power, but after he spoke with them they changed significantly."

What could Solomon have done to the inmates? "Are any of his recruits still here?" Lucy inquired, maybe if she saw one she'd understand what he'd done to them.

"Unfortunately only one remainsss, but he's bound to die any day. None of the recruitsss he chose made it very long after his visit, the longest to survive only lived 3 weeksss."

"Did you ever see what he did to them?" Lucy asked, scared of the answer.

"Yesss, but I loathe the memory." She understood, Solomon's actions had made him deserve his solitary cell.

"What did you do to be put in prison?" Her question rang too loudly in the large room and she cringed at the ringing her ears picked up. Thank goodness the guard had yet to take up his post inside, though she doubted she had much longer, she'd need to make this quick. Uroko cringed as well, but Lucy didn't think it was at the volume of her voice.

"Alpha," Lupus's gravelly voice reached her ears on her floating platform and she peaked over the edge to find her wolfy friend waiting below, "the guard will be inside soon, what are you doing?" at his words Lucy made a decision.

"Why are you in prison, Uroko? I may be willing to make a deal with you if I think you're deserving of it." The wolfish celestial mage crossed her arms and glared at the prisoner.

"Deal?" Uroko chuckled harshly " What can you possssibly offer?"

"Freedom, but not escape. I would have your case reopened to declare your possible innocence." He swiftly sprang up and banged his fists against his cell wall, his eyes glowing savagely.

"What cassse!?" he spat "I never saw a court, never even sssaw the king! I was thrown into thisss cell without knowing my crime until after I became a rotting jailbird!" Lupus was growling below as his Alpha was threatened. "So, pray tell, how would you do thiss, and what would I do in return for this kindnessss that was already denied me once!?" Even through his rage this snake-man's speech remained eloquent, but Lucy wouldn't allow herself to be intimidated.

"I happen to be good friends with the royal family, and I'm sure that it was a mistake putting you in here without any kind of hearing. What did they accuse you of? Tell me quickly before my time's up." She waited for his response.

"Something despicable...I was once a language tutor for children," that explains the fancy words. "and they accused me of eating the children I tutored...all based on my grotesque appearance.." His voice had dropped significantly and Lucy had to sigh gratefully for this.

"The children sstarted disappearing in our village and the parents were in an outrage, without anyone to blame there wass widessspread panic and accusationss. Without any evidence the town sheriff had me arresssted jusst to calm the people down, and being charged with such a heinous act on my record I was thrown in here without a sssecond thought. I could never do that to my pupilss, they meant the world to me, and I vow to find the true culprit if I ever get out of here, and he will rue the day he set eyes on them."

Lucy's heart squeezed at the thought of his unfair treatment and the children that were lost, but she wiped away her feelings, she still needed more information from Uroko. "Tell me what Solomon did and I will talk to the king, he will listen to a wizard that helped save his kingdom."

Uroko looked surprised at her statement, but he knew this wasn't the time. "He took ssomething from each of them, I don't know what it wasss but afterwards none of them would glow, the prisoner's magic seemed to just disappear into thin air and Solomon would grow dimmer. I have never met a human that wasssss still alive when they were that dark." Lucy had her suspicions but she'd need to be sure.

"When he did that how did it make you feel? How many prisoners did he do this to? I know they're odd questions, but humor me." Uroko trembled at her question.

"Three times he did this over the years, but no prisoners ever spoke of what happened fearing he would seek them out. It was as if the very flesh of my body wanted to crawl away and leave my bones, I've never felt sssuch fear; like every light in the world had been sssnuffed out and with no hope of illuminating the earth again." So that's why he came here, Lucy thought as Uroko shook.

"HEY!" Lucy swiveled towards the voice "Who are you!?" The guard had finally been ordered inside.

"Thank you, Uroko. I hope you hear from me soon." with those final words she leaped to the ground, leaving the the podium floating in front of Uroko's cell. The guard was blocking the door, they'd have to go through him. "Lupus, let's go." They ran directly at the guard, Lupus in front and Lucy following, "I don't want to hurt him." Lupus nodded at her words. He reached his hands behind him for his Alpha, and once she deemed them close enough to the guard she grabbed his hands.

Lupus sent her flying over head, as she soared through several tucked flips she transformed to Chamaeleon and Lupus star dress, and landing lithely behind the guard she swiftly swept his legs out from under him but using Lupus's strength she caught him before his head could hit the ground. Looking at them it seemed like the blonde had simply dipped him during a dance, one of the guard's feet had even popped up into an accidental point. Before the guard could react Lucy swiftly karate chopped a pressure point between his neck and shoulder sending him into a forced slumber, and gently lowered him to the floor.

"Brutus? Did you see something? We heard you yelling..." Another two guards appeared in the doorway and were now staring at her! Lucy reacted instinctively, quickly snatching hold of both their heads and bashing them against one another with enough force to knock them each out.

"I thought you didn't want to hurt anyone Alpha." Lupus chided her from behind, "It's difficult to keep up with your orders." Lucy glared back at him.

"Shut up and run." Turning on her heel she dashed from the solitary holding room into the flashing red hallway, sprinting down the hallway and ignoring her instinct to turn invisible. She'd focus on strength until she was somewhere she could be easily identified then she'd change. They were fast approaching a crowd of guards, but they dashed directly through them. Upon reaching the other side they found Loki fighting more of them off with ease.

"Loki, it's time to go!" He ignored her, in a fighting flow that was hard to interrupt. Lupus swiftly stepped forward dodging flying bodies until he finally reached close enough to put a hand on Loki's shoulder.

"Beta, we must protect her." At his words Loki shook his head, clearing his mind. Looking at Lucy he nodded for her to lead on. They continued their mad dash to the exit ducking in side hallways from time to time to avoid a sprinting guard. On one such occasion Lupus questioned her about her earlier conversation.

"Do you know what Solomon was doing?" He asked, Lucy swallowed at the thought of her theory, but nodded.

"Yes, I think so...You both know that he uses sins to gain his power, well when I last saw him he only had Wrath, I believe he came here to find the other sins. If someone is strongly enough aligned with a sin it will naturally start to materialize within their soul. Solomon took a sin from each of them, but with that he took parts of each of their souls. In a sense they're still alive, just without any physical form."

"So they've somehow...transformed?" Lupus asked

"In a manner of speaking." Lucy explained. "They can never change back though, and it's their number one motivator." The only response she received was silent confused expressions. Lucy sighed "I'll explain it later."

"Okay...now we're really lost, Natsu!" Happy whined overhead, "Can't you just sniff our way out of here?"

Natsu smacked his own forehead "Oh yeah! I can totally do that!" His little blue friend sighed and shook his head, how could Natsu forget his amazing sense of smell? The dragon slayer sniffed the air a few times, turning this way and that way until he gave one final deep dsniff, and smiled. "Don't worry little buddy, we'll be out of here in no time!" and with his ragged cape flowing started running down the hallway, "just follow me!"

"Aye sir!"

As the trio ran past the cells several groups of guards tried to stop them, but failed. Each time they came across a new cluster, Loki and Lupus would bulldoze through with Lucy following close behind. As they grew closer to the exit she could feel her magic getting critically low.

"Alright boys, it's time for you to go. I can't keep you much longer anyways." Sending them back mid stride Lucy turned her focus to just turning and remaining invisible. She could see the curving staircase leading to the floors above.

Squishing herself as much as she could against the cold stone wall she began to inch past the guards in front of the door with a pause...and slide, pause...and slide, pause...and slide. She was doing so well, the guards didn't suspect a thing! Until with her next slide she realized she had caught a small (like miniscule) rock on the bottom of her shoe turning her pause and slide into a pause and scraaaaaapppee. Awkward... the guards immediately sprang into action!

"Who goes there!?" Lucy allowed her staff to materialize and answered each guard with a quick thwack with just enough force to smack them to the ground, allowing her enough time to dash by and up the stairs while they were still recovering. After that it was easy work exiting the castle, most servants had been sent away to ensure their safety while the remaining guards were all the newbies, left upstairs to stay out of the way. They were currently running around like chickens with their heads cut off, unsure of their duties and unsure who to take orders from.

Lucy slipped by with no problem, reaching a servant's exit through the kitchens after which she began to scale the castle wall. With the assistance of Camille's powers and with a final vault she flew over and dived straight into the waiting courtyard. Landing in a crouch she surveyed the courtyard looking for any sign Gemini or Natsu, she quickly spotted her disguised spirits and walked right up to them.

"Alright twins, time for you to head back now." Gemini followed Lucy back to the wall where they could be out of sight.

"Did you say hello for us?" The spirit asked with such a sweet expression on their borrowed face that Lucy had to chuckle as she let her invisibility drop and with it her Chamaeleon star dress.

"I didn't, I'm sorry guys, but hey that just means you get to say it to him yourselves!" Even though she knew the person standing before her was in fact Gemini it still felt odd consoling someone with her own face. "You two did great today, I'll talk to you soon!" They disappeared in a flash of golden light and Lucy was left alone. Now that all her spirits were returned and all her star dress forms gone the celestial wizard realized how tired everything had actually made her.

Lucy relaxed outside the door of the castle grounds entrance and waited for her friends to emerge, but she didn't wait long.

"AND DON'T COME BACK!" sounds like they made it out, Lucy smiled.

Both Natsu and Happy took the news about Fairy Tail pretty hard and Lucy couldn't blame them, watching their reaction was like watching herself in a memory. The same questions, the same denial, anger, and the hurt. It all came rushing back as the boys yelled about what should've happened instead and their exclamations of their friends' behaviors. Lucy almost lost her temper but in the end managed to calm them both down, at least temporarily.

That night they were just as messy, oblivious, idiotic, and absolutely completely lovable as before. They acted as if they'd only been gone a week instead of an entire year, and Lucy felt herself fall into the same routine. She'd much rather reconnect with her friends than talk about things that could tear them away from her again. They would likely be leaving soon and Lucy wanted to keep their relationship good in case something unthinkable happened...

That night as she rested she slept easier than she had in months, the knowledge of Natsu and Happy being in the other room completely alive and unharmed easing her stressed mind into a deep and well deserved slumber. She'd need to wake up early if she wanted to collaborate with her spirits the next day without the boys noticing. For the first time in a year she didn't worry about Solomon finding her, she knew if he did Natsu would have her back through it all.

Early the next morning Lucy called Virgo to her room.

"Good morning, Princess." Virgo greeted with her blank face, "It's a little early for punishment, but I can't think of a better way to start the day." Lucy sighed and her shoulders sagged at the spirit's persistence on being punished.

"No Virgo, I had something else in mind this morning. Do you think I could be allowed into the spirit world this morning. There's something I need to discuss with all of you and I'd rather not do it here where we might wake up Natsu and Happy.

"I'll ask the Spirit King, but Princess," Virgo tilted her head "why not bring the dragon slayer and exceed with you?" Lucy immediately shook her head.

"No, at least not yet. I just got them back, how could I ask them to help me with something so big so soon? If they got hurt..." Flashes of Lucy's nightmares brushed her thoughts. "I can't let that happen. Please go ask the Spirit King and come back quickly with his response." Virgo disappeared and while the spirit mage waited she washed up and brushed her teeth as quietly as possible, looking at the clock she saw the time, 5:00 AM. They should be asleep for a while Lucy thought, of course when she returned she'd need to ask the king to return her to correct time so as to avoid another 3 month absence into the spirit world.

Virgo reappeared just as she finished a quiet breakfast of bread of cheese.

"Princess the king has accepted your request, here are some clothes for the spirit world." After Lucy finished changing she reemerged from her bedroom wearing a flowing emerald and sapphire dress that flowed around her ankles as she walked. She felt very elegant in the slim dress with it's empire waist and sweet-heart neckline.

"Thank you for the dress Virgo, it's beautiful!" Lucy exclaimed "Though a tad impractical." she mumbled when she turned away to grab her whip which she proceeded to wrap around her thigh hidden under the dress. "Okay, I'm ready."

Hey guys...sorry for such a long absence...anyway..what do you think? Please forgive me!