Athena Scarlet [Fairytail Fanfiction]

Chapter 1

"Onee-san..." Athena hiccuped, "My eyes, I can't see—it hurts!"

The two girls were stranded on a beach in the middle of the night, both of them huddled up against one another. The cold wind hitting their skin, making it unbearable to just sit there as it seethes into their wounds.

Athena's older sister Erza was quietly sobbing against her. Muttering incoherent words under he breath.

In a place called 'Tower of Heaven', The two spent a whole seven years getting mercilessly beaten, worked, starved, and all other rights you could take from a human being—all while they couldn't fight back at all or they would be punished, which is exactly what happened.

The two and their friends were in the middle of trying to escape, but were caught very quickly. The group was questioned on who came up with the idea, it was their friend named Shô—but in an attempt to protect him, their 'friend' Jellal offered himself up and so did their friend Simon as well. None of that mattered though, the twins were accused of coming up with the idea and were sent to be punished.

Erza's right eye was damaged very badly, and she was whipped repeatedly.

Athena had both of her eyes and hands greatly damaged, and she whipped repeatedly as well.

It was absolute hell.

Jellal managed to free them and take their place, Erza found courage to fight back and led the entire tower of slaves into a revolution. Unfortunately, most of that would be for nothing.

Jellal was corrupted and convinced everyone that the two girls betrayed them, destroyed all their boats, and escaped.

And that's how they ended up on the beach in the middle of the night with wounds no child or person should have to bare. Their shackles still on their wrists and ankles, the broken pieces of the metal constantly stabbing them every time they moved.

But what was new?

"We need to go." Erza softly muttered. "We need to find the pla-ace Granpa R-Rob told us to go." Her voice quivered at the mention of the deceased man.

The girl slowly got up bringing her sister with her, wincing with every step she took as the metal scraped against her ankles.

'I want to go back...I don't wish to be here anymore!' Athena thought to herself, struggling to keep up with Erza's pace—waiting for a moment where all the pain would disappear, a moment for her to relax. But that wouldn't come for a very long time.

The two girls would slowly trudge through the forest, trying to find something—food, fresh water, civilization. And eventually they came across a bird's nest. No mother was in sight, and as much as Erza hated to take something that wasn't hers—she desperately needed something for them to eat since they were barely fed in the tower. There was a total of four eggs and Erza picked two and quickly ran away with them, dragging Athena with her.

"C-Come on, we need t-to eat..." Erza said as she started to tear up, her right eye stinging at the salty tears.

Erza grabbed a small stick that was sharp and a rock, poking a hole at the top of one of the eggs. She stared at the now open egg and slowly drinking the yolk with the white—it was disgusting to her, but it was better than nothing.

After she gulped the horrendous meal down, she did the same thing to the other egg and went over to Athena.

"It won't taste very good, but you need to...okay?" Erza said, Athena was shaking from the cold and didn't say anything. She slowly tipped the egg into Athena's mouth, the minute it touched her tongue—she gagged. How truly disgusting that raw egg tasted. Athena silently wish she was back home with her parent's eating a simple meal, anything other than this thing.

Erza was debating whether or not it was safe to eat the shells, the egg itself already tasted and smelled horrible. I mean, she already took the risk of eating something wild and raw—what's the worst that can happen?

A lot actually.

The minute Erza munched on the eggshells of her egg, it stabbed the inside of her cheek and made it bleed. She yelped and immediately spit out the eggshells and threw them on the ground.

"Onee-san? W-What's wrong?! Where are yo-you?" Athena croaked out trying to make herself stand up, but ultimately failing.

"I-It's awripe..." The girl mumbled speaking weirdly because she was trying to use her tongue to stop the bleeding. "Come on, ret's find a place to rest!" She girl exclaimed, trying to stay up beat for her little sister.

Helping Athena up, Erza looked everywhere for a cave or a big tree they could sit under—she knew it would be impossible to sleep with all the pain they're in, so a little break would be very beneficial for the two—to give their sore bodies a little break. And fortunately, it didn't take long until they found this huge tree.

Erza sat Athena down and then sat down herself leaning against the rough, yet comforting bark.

"Tomorrow will be a better day..." Erza muttered to herself, still being kept awake by the pain coursing through her body.

Athena was silently seething—eyes sting badly, cuts all over her body, the cold, headache, soreness, you name it. She wanted it to stop right then and there, not wanting to bear through it anymore.

Erza kept muttering those words over and over until it went silent for the two of them, their little bodies not being able to withstand their exhaustion.

In the morning, when the sun started shining through the leaves, blinding Erza—for the first time in forever, did they see and feel the sun rising with it's orange and blue hues. For a moment, the warmness of the sun slowly hitting their skin—it felt like there was no pain at all.

But of course, not everything is forever.

"Onee-san...I-I can't feel my arms." Athena muttered, moving her shoulder in an attempt to wake up her arm.

Erza looked down at her sister, unsure what to do. "Stay here, I'm going to go find some water."

And with that, Athena's older sister left.

Athena sat there, shivering in the cold morning air. She listened to birds chirping, wind blowing through one ear and out the other, and just distant noises of the earth. It was calming to her, it reminded Athena of her past life—in the early mornings at her elementary, being alone and hearing all of the things she's hearing right now. Those were simpler times.

Athena tried to mutter something, but her throat was very dry—nothing but broken air came from her mouth.

She lost track of time, but eventually she heard Erza walking back.

"Ena...! I found—" Erza huffed for air, "I found a river!" She exclaimed. Athena wanted to perk up, but she knew she'd be hurting. "Come on, come on! I know it hurts, but it'll be worth it!"

Slowly but surely, Athena got up with the help of her sister. Erza helped guide Athena in the direction she went earlier. It took a while until they arrived, but Erza helped Athena drink some of the water.

For the first time in forever, Athena started to gain hope.

"Follow the river..." Athena said out loud. Erza made a hum of confusion, urging the girl to continue. "People, the river will lead us to people." She said.

"That...That makes sense!" Erza said, hoisting up Athena and taking her in the opposite direction they came from—she was wishing that there were actually people somewhere along the river that could help them get to Fairy Tail.

The two trudged their way up stream, Erza looked and looked but to no avail. Maybe there wasn't anyone here after all.

Or so she thought.