Author's Note: Guess who's back? Been a while, friends, but I've been sitting on this idea for probably about 7 years. I am honestly super behind in my writing schedule, but Fairy Tail's ended and I couldn't wait to post this. Mashima did us proud. I am thankful that I get to write about his characters.

So...behind schedule means updates aren't gonna be frequent, but those of you who have followed my writing in the past are probably already highly aware of this. Oops. That being said, you know I'll finish this fic eventually. Thanks to everyone who has supported my writing in the past.

About the Story: Most (if any...) people know me by my Possession Series. This fic is not like Possession/Limits/You Stole the Rain in any way wherein romance is the main plot. In this fic, Plot is the main plot. Natsu, Lucy, Gray, and Juvia all have huge parts in this story. Before anyone asks, yes, there will be NaLu and Gruvia. However, romance will only be at the forefront if it is important to the plot. Please remember that. This story can also get kinda dark, so if you have some sort of trigger, please be cautious going forward.

Feedback is always appreciated! Thank you.

Laughter. Wine. A little black dress.

All she knows is that she's having a good time in good company. The man sitting next to her on the couch is already handsome on his own, but he's more attractive telling her about his guild. It doesn't take long for her to like him—to fall for him. She thinks she might be in love with him and never thinks about how strange it is to fall in love with a man in just a couple short hours.

But...there's nothing else that can explain it. Her heart is beating so fast and she's filled with an overwhelming desire to just melt into his embrace. She has never felt like this before. All she can think about is him and wanting to be with him. In her mind, she's praying he feels the same for her. These emotions are so intense; she can't be the only one feeling them.

Beads of wine float into the air. He beckons her to take them in her mouth. Such a sexy thing to do. For him, of course she'll do it. She would do anything he asked her to do. She wants to show him that he chose the right girl this night, that she'll be the right girl for every night, so she plays it up, mouth opening slowly and tongue seductively rolling the droplet into her mouth. He grins at her and she returns a smirk. He liked it.

More beads come and she drinks them willingly. He looks so delighted when she does. Seeing him smile, her heart is full and she is happy. But the room begins to darken and her eyes start to flutter shut. She can't fight it. She doesn't need to fight it because he tells her it's okay. There's a sense of comfort in seeing that curve of his lips as his voice soothes her to sleep. Calmed, it's the last thing she sees.

Branded by HawkofNavarre

Chapter 1

Lucy Heartfilia

Lucy opened her eyes and rolled over onto her side with an absolute feeling of disgust. She rarely had dreams anymore; only dreadful recurring memories. This one, the reason she'd gotten into this mess, always led to a good day of self-loathing.

It was probably some ungodly hour in the morning. The girls she shared a room with were all still sleeping and the room was dark, although it was mostly like that all the time anyway. She remembered waking up in the exact same situation months ago and panicking when she couldn't find her keys. They'd been attached to a strap around her leg and had likely been stripped from her while she'd been unconscious. It'd been through pure luck only that she managed to locate them. Once, while she was serving her kidnapper in his office, she'd spotted them when he opened a drawer on his desk. Lucy had to hold herself back from launching herself straight at it. She had never felt so much rage before. He'd taken her, yes, but the idea that he had her spirits, the ones her mother had entrusted to her, and the ones that she had befriended herself, in his possession made her want to explode.

Her stomach growled as she thought of her spirits. It had been a good 18 hours since she'd last eaten. That was the way things ran around here. They kept the girls starved and fed them only enough to ensure they could function. A woman that felt strong was much more willing to fight back, and while Lucy's will to survive was still strong, her body was definitely lacking in nutrition. She had to be careful with what she did. Non-compliance was met naked humiliation amongst the crew and then minor sedation to mess with your cognition if you were still defiant after that. She had never been through either herself, but she had been forced to pour wine for the ship's master on a day where a fellow victim had been subjected to the former. Fumiko, Lucy thought. But she would never know for certain as the girl barely spoke again after that day. The punishment had broken her as it was intended to do.

Lucy closed her eyes and let herself drift off again. All she'd wanted to do was be a member of Fairy Tail. It was a dream she'd been chasing for a while. She'd wanted to be just like Mirajane, the mage she idolized the most. The woman had such a stunning face, curves in all the right places, and to top it off, she was a brilliant mage—not that the magazines had ever really featured Mirajane's magic, but Fairy Tail was known for having strong wizards. The fact that she was a member was a statement in itself. It was too bad that Lucy would never meet her. An unremarkable mage like herself had stupidly gotten stuck under a love spell and couldn't even keep enough of herself to realize it was happening.

When she next opened her eyes, there was light beaming in from the single round window in their room. Her eyelids were heavy and she let them drop close again, even as she heard the voices of the other girls around her. Waking up meant she had to face another miserable day on this boat. Things would be okay if she could stay curled up in her blankets on the floor, but she was never allowed to do that.

Still they continued to chatter. Ugh, what did they even have to talk about? One girl was drugged up, another was a snide bitch, and the third was much more pleasant than either of them. There was nothing to do, nothing to look at, and everything was completely shitty.

At the squeak of the metal door, Lucy buried her face deeper into the pillow, as if that would prevent the day from continuing on without her.

The door slammed against the wall and a familiar deep voice rang out. "Lucy."

The room was silent and she didn't move at the sound of her voice. No, she thought despondently. No, no, no, no, no.

A moment passed and she felt the only kind one in the room, Kagura, shake her by the shoulder. "Lucy," she spoke gently, trying to coax her roommate out of feigned slumber, "you've got to get up."

Why did she have to get up, though? So she could spend another day serving the asshole that trapped her in this place? She didn't want to. This wasn't fair.

"Lucy," the masculine voice repeated her name, this time more forcefully. Clutching her sheets, she knew it was time to get up.

The blonde sat up, brushing Kagura's hand aside and got to her feet. There was a touch of bleariness that remained in her eyes, but Lucy hardly thought that being called to slave away for some pig warranted being entirely awake. She would dress up in some skimpy outfit and pour him wine while he ogled her and other girls, just like always. Later she would be on cleaning duty, scrubbing floors or something similar, before heading back to this dark room she was starting to believe she would never escape.

Still, the consequences of misbehaving weren't worth it, and if Lucy were being honest, she was terrified of ending up like Fumiko. She hadn't been much of a rule breaker throughout her life until she ran away from home, so she wasn't accustomed to being punished. In fact, the prospect of being punished had always been something that scared her, but her circumstances were much worse this time around. She couldn't risk being defiant. She didn't want to get hurt. She didn't want to feel any worse than she already did. For now, surviving with the least possible difficulty was top priority.

Unfortunately, this ultimately meant obeying when she was called. Quietly, Lucy stood from her dusty white futon and trod after her handler. The other girls didn't bother looking at her. Everyone went through the exact same thing. Today was no different.

The door was shut behind her and she followed the man down the same hallway that she walked every day. White speckled floors lay throughout, her feet brushing against the smooth surface as she was led to the dressing room. The henchman waited outside and Lucy numbly let the attendant inside dress her. Elsie, a nasty woman who wore too much makeup and was puffing on a cigarette 80 percent of the time, dressed the girls on the ship in whatever skimpy outfit might please their master that day. It was evident that unlike the rest of them, Elsie was here by choice. She ate with the crew members and the man in charge barely regarded her unless there was some sort of costume he wanted his girls in that day. All that made her even worse in Lucy's eyes.

Ten minutes later, she was sent out with her hair in a decorated bun wearing a blue and gold bikini with glittering tassels hanging down from the waistband of bottom. It wasn't the least comfortable outfit she'd ever been in, but it left little to the imagination. Worst of all, she could see the brand placed upon her skin on the side of her left thigh. The lock burned into her skin always reminded her that she was trapped. Lucy could feel the walls around her. She didn't need a reminder.

Even less appealing was the way her handler was eying her. Touya had been assigned to fetch and watch her specific room of girls over the last few weeks. He had put his hands on places he shouldn't more than once. Right now his fingers were wandering suspiciously close to her bum and Lucy skillfully moved out of the way. She might not be able to physically retaliate, but she had tons of past experience with guys hitting on her. Besides that, the underlings never wanted to cause a scene; there was a strict policy on how to treat the girls, and there was a no trespass zone unless you were the boss himself.

Touya, however, was quickly taken out of the equation when they arrived at the boss's office. It was a change of scenery from her usual place serving alcohol in the lounge where the boss spent most of his time finding ways to entertain his sorry existence. That meant maybe the guy was doing something actually resembling work for a change.

Indeed, sitting at a dark wooden desk in the middle of the only carpeted room on this entire ship was the boss himself, Bora. The sharp line of his jaw was such a distinct characteristic of his that it haunted her in her dreams. Combined with the sneer that was forever ingrained in her memory as the last thing she saw before succumbing to the drugs, and you had the full image of the dark wizard Bora. He was smart, using Fairy Tail's name like that to draw in a crowd and influence girls with a spell. Lucy hadn't even realized that there was magic being used on her until she woke up the next day, thigh throbbing from the mark that would forever label her a slave.

She hated him, but she served him nonetheless. She had no other choice but to survive.

Bora looked irritated as he sat there, looking like he was in the middle of writing some sort of letter. Sighing, he scratched the X-shaped tattoo over his right eyebrow. "He wants the terms on paper. I can't believe it," the man grumbled as he looked at the two standing at the door. "Touya, get in here and open up a bottle. My pretty little mage Lucy...you know what to do."

She cringed at the nickname he'd given her, but followed after her handler in silence. Although the concept of time was not a luxury Lucy was allowed, it couldn't be later than ten in the morning judging by the light coming through the window. This man really couldn't stop himself from drinking before noon. A wine glass was shoved into her hands and she went to go stand by her captor as he continued to gripe over whatever he was writing. Touya was walked over to the dark, wooden cabinet where the wine could be seen behind the glass. The chain of work had been long established between the girls and the workers. He got the wine, she did the pouring. Once that was done, Touya went to go guard the door outside.

"I don't need this extra work. As if I'm not doing enough already, ordering around these oafs and getting new blood on the ship," Bora continued to mutter to himself. "I'd almost rather just throw them overboard once I'm done with them than deal with all this damn paperwork."

Unmoving, Lucy's eyes strained to see what was on the paper. There was a short list of girls names and it seemed to be some sort of contract he was drawing up. Then it occurred to her that he was talking about them. He was trying to get rid of a few of the girls by selling them off to the highest bidder, and if there was nobody buying, he was perfectly content to throw them off the ship to drown at sea! She felt sick. He was the one that had taken them—all of them, and now he didn't even want to take responsibility for them. He wanted to toss them away like garbage.

Suddenly, the lacrima sitting on Bora's desk sprang to life. "B-boss! You need to get over here! There's a situation!" a frantic voice yelled from the other side.

Bora growled in annoyance. "Idiot! I told you not to bother me!"

"But boss! We—" There was a loud yelp. "There's too many of them! We don't know where the hell they all came from!"

"For fuck's sake, you're all useless!" Bora cursed into the crystal. He stood up abruptly, chugging the remainder of the wine in his glass before he stomped out the door, ordering Touya to go inside and watch her. Lucy stared, alone at the desk, still holding the open bottle of wine in her hands.

"Lucky me. In here with a pretty girl with nobody watching," the guard said with a nauseating grin. Lucy winced at the sight of his crooked teeth and long black hair. He wasn't even close to the biggest goon on Bora's payroll. In fact, he was a bit short and scrawny, but he was still a male and one that could probably hurt her.

"You're not allowed to touch me," she replied, her voice shaking as she trembled in her spot. It felt like rocks had made their way into her ankles. They felt impossible to move.

"Oh?" Touya scoffed, advancing on her slowly. "And who's going to stop me?"

Since her legs were refusing to move, Lucy placed the bottle down onto the table. It was still three-quarters full and would only slow her down. Grasping the edge of the table, she moved sideways, dragging her uncooperative feet with her. This stupid piece of furniture was the only thing separating him from getting to her and she was going to use it for as long as she could.

"You're...you're going to get in trouble," Lucy again tried to dissuade him.

He was undeterred. "Ain't no trouble when nobody knows a thing." He reached the other side of the table, creeping around it as Lucy matched his pace with as much courage as she could muster. Her feet still didn't want to do what they were supposed to, but she had to keep the distance between them. "Don't you worry. I'll put you right back the way you were and nobody'll know a damn thing."

Her throat was tight and the fear had thrown her into flight mode. The sweat of her hands stained the surface of the table as she moved past. Her heart was pounding in her ears. Only once in her life had she ever thought "this can't be happening"; Lucy had never thought she would encounter a second, especially so soon after the first. She had to run. She had to get somewhere safe.

Even though she had been expecting it, when Touya chose a side and lunged at her, she hesitated just for a second. Like a child caught in a hypnotic spell, she forgot what she was supposed to do. He was coming towards her in what seemed like slow motion. Why was she just standing here...? What was she doing...?

Lucy exploded from her spot as instinct took over, but it was already too late. She screamed as she felt the tassels of her bottom jerked back and she fell to the floor. His hands were grabbing at her and Lucy flailed her legs at his face. She felt her heel hit the table as his grip tightened around her ankle.

"Let go of me!" she shrieked, desperately clawing at the ground. She felt the first tear falling down her cheek as she took hold of the side edge of the table, knuckles turning white. "Let go! Someone help me!"

Then Lucy heard laughter. He was laughing at her. Because even with the adrenaline coursing through her veins, she was still weak. Because even though she was a mage who could fight, she had frozen up in fear. Because she was calling for help when they both knew there would be none. Even if people weren't wrapped up in whatever issue was happening on the other side of the ship, Lucy was still surrounded by the demons who had turned her into a slave. If she ran and got away, it would change nothing. There was nobody here to help her. Nobody. The only person she had was herself.

Give up...or fight.

It wasn't a decision. Lucy was not going to let him lay a finger on her ever again. She would not succumb to some repulsive scumbag who thought he could have his way with her just because he wanted to. She would show him how dead wrong he was.

Looking ahead of her, the wine bottle lay nearby like a saving grace, the carpet stained red from the spillage—it must have rolled off the table and onto the floor from the impact of her foot. Without a second thought, Lucy roared and lunged forward to grab the bottle's neck. In one fluid motion, she whirled and smashed it against her assailant's head with all her momentum. Glass shattered everywhere and the laughter stopped. The hold on her ankle had loosened and Lucy scurried back on her heels and haunches until her back hit the wall. Seeing his body motionless across the floor, everything started to sink in.

He'd tried to—he'd almost... If she hadn't gotten to that bottle, he would've—

Lucy curled up into herself, crying hysterically into her hands. All of this was too much. Why was this happening to her? It wasn't fair. Maybe all of this was her punishment for running away from home. Maybe someone somewhere thought she deserved this, but she didn't. She didn't deserve the daily objectification, the sexual harassment, the imprisonment. She didn't deserve any of this. Most of all, she didn't deserve the brand laying upon her skin that would curse her for the rest of her life. Lucy wailed as she remembered how absolutely violated she'd been and how close she'd gotten to being violated all over again in an entirely different way. It wasn't fair.

She fell over onto her side, quieter sobs wracking her body. Salty tears melded into the carpet as she stared at her handiwork over by the desk. A combination of desperation and will had somehow freed her from that mess. It was the first time she had truly fought someone despite strutting around and calling herself a mage after leaving home. Glass littered his body and a small pool of blood had formed around his head where Lucy had struck him. It was almost surreal that she was the one who had done that. If it had been one of the other girls, would they have been able to do the same thing?

...Of course it wasn't fair. Of course she didn't deserve any of this, but none of that mattered. She was here and she had to face the situation she was in. There was no choice. Lucy wanted to survive. As a mage with at least some self-defence training, she had to make that happen. There was nobody here to help, she reminded herself.

Pushing herself to her feet, Lucy wiped her face on the back of her wrist. She had little hope, but she had to try anyway.

Despite her scattered thoughts, she remembered exactly where she was. Bora's office. It was a place she never thought she'd have to herself. Her legs were like jelly as she walked back over to the desk, avoiding the body on the floor by staying as far away from it as she could. Lucy pulled open the top drawer of the desk to find an absolute mess. There were abandoned sticky notes, old bottle caps, and even condoms strewn about the drawer. She frowned in disgust. She'd had enough of thinking about men and their genitals.

The second and third drawer she'd looked through turned out to be a bust, but in the fourth, she spotted the gold of Aquarius' key shining from below a couple sheets of crumpled paper. Her heart practically burst through her chest when she felt the metal of her keys in her hands again. The tears returned. She couldn't believe how long it had taken her to be reunited with her beloved spirits. Hope welled up inside of her. She could use Aquarius to bring the ship to shore from wherever they were. Freedom was just one gate opening away.

Lucy held the key forward, concentrating her magic. "Open the Gate of the Water Bearer, Aquarius!"

...Nothing happened.

"No," she breathed, determined to try again. "Open the Gate of the Water Bearer, Aquarius!"

Still, there was no response.

"No. No, no, no, no, no." The celestial spirit mage touched on her magic again. "Open! Open!"

She sank to the ground, knowing it was useless. Her hunger and lack of sleep had drained her of magic and the only reason she'd been able to fend off Touya was because of adrenaline. All of her gold keys required more magic than she could possibly have when she had been practically starving for months and none of her silver keys would be useful for getting her off this ship. She might be able to float through the seas in Horologium, but his contract wouldn't allow her to keep him here for days, which wouldn't matter when she didn't even have enough magic to keep his gate open. Lucy wanted to be that strong girl in the book that saved herself, but she couldn't. There just wasn't a way.

There was only one thing she was sure of: she could never let Bora get his filthy hands on her keys ever again. If she couldn't save herself, she could at least save her spirits.

Lucy got down to work, knowing she had to buy herself as much time as she could. She grabbed the chair at the desk and dragged it over to the door, shoving it under the knob to jam it. Eying the glass on the floor, an idea came to her. She hurried over to the cabinet at the back to get another wine bottle and uncorked it with as much effort as she could muster. Sliding open the room's window, Lucy took a moment to breathe in the outside, something she hadn't smelled in what felt like a lifetime. She hated the saltiness of sea water, but in this moment, the taste in the air was the most magnificent thing she'd ever experienced. The wind on her face was a reminder of exactly what she was fighting for.

Not one for wasting time, Lucy poured the wine out the window until the bottle was empty. She took a piece of parchment from inside one of the drawers she had searched earlier and began penning an S.O.S letter. She'd only written about three sentences when she heard pounding on the door. Faster, Lucy, she told herself. You have to work faster.

She ignored the sound of people trying to break in and continued writing as coherently as she could under pressure. Quickly, she rolled up the parchment and stuffed it into the bottle. Her keys came next. Lucy took a second to hold her keys close to her chest. She had no idea where they would end up, but anywhere was better than here.

"I'm sorry I ever let him take all of you," she whispered to her spirits, "and I'm sorry that I have to do this. I hope whoever finds you all will cherish each of you as much as I do."

Aquarius, Cancer, Taurus, Crux, Horologium, Lyra, and...Nikora. She couldn't bring herself to let go of all of them; it was like letting go of a part of who she was. Pulling Nikora's key off the ring, she slid the rest of her keys into the bottle. All of them were her friends. She could only hope they would forgive her.

It took all of her strength to put a cork back in the bottle, but she did it. It felt like a piece of heart had been torn from her as she threw the bottle out the window and into the ocean. Considering all that had happened in the last half hour, it didn't take much for the tears to start flowing again. This was probably the last time she would see those keys ever again, but she knew it was for the best. Bora would never lay his hands on them again.

With one last look at the bottle, she closed the window and fell to the ground sobbing. Her keys. The only part of her mother she had left and she'd thrown them into the ocean. She was a terrible celestial spirit mage and a terrible daughter. She was the biggest idiot for getting herself into this situation in the first place. Nikora, the only spirit she knew she'd have enough magic to summon, was clutched tightly in her hand.

Lucy pressed the key into her bun, making it look like one of the hair ornaments Elsie had decorated her with. Somehow, they would make it out of this. She would survive.

Staring at the door, she waited for them to come.

In the harbour of Hargeon, a young man and his companion sat with fishing rods in hand. The male with pink hair was sulking even as he cast his line in the water.

"What a bust," the man complained loudly. "I knew we shouldn't have believed Krov! Last time he sent us to Malba City and nothing was there! I'm gonna punch him so hard the next time I see him!"

"Aye, but we don't know where else to look for Igneel," his companion, a talking blue cat, replied cheerfully. He was operating a rod of his own. "At least there are lots of fish here!"

The bucket next to them was indeed filling up quite quickly. If anything, they certainly wouldn't go hungry tonight. Still, he would much rather have found what he was looking for than just scaly things he could eat. The disappointment was palpable.

Just then, he spotted something glint in the water. It looked much too well-kept just to be garbage of some sort. Curiosity piqued, he hopped into the water without hesitation to fish it out himself. A minute later, he was back on the dock next to his cat friend, examining the object. It was a bottle, still sealed, but the cork was a little crooked and there wasn't any liquid inside. Shaking off his wet hands, the young man uncorked the bottle and let a damp piece of parchment slide into his hands.

"What is it?" the cat asked, coming to stand beside him.

"It's a letter," the pink-haired man replied as he examined the unraveled piece of paper, "from a girl named Lucy."