The Rune Mage and the Celestial Dragon Slayer

Chapter 6

Trigger warning: This chapter may contain depictions of domestic abuse, please read at your own risk or skip the chapter entirely.
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Opening the door, Freed and I walked outside. The crisp autumn air nipped my cheeks, causing me to lift my hands and lightly press my fingertips against my cheeks, smiling. I looked over at Freed, who was staring at the sky. I felt a blush on my cheeks and turned away.

"Are you alright, Corrana?" he asked.

"I'm okay, just a little chilly."

"But you're wearing a coat."

"It's a light coat, I didn't think it would be this cold."

There was a silence you could hear Natsu whispering in. I took a breath and grabbed Freed's hand, I started walking in the direction of the park with Freed trailing behind trying to catch up.

"Hey, slow down!"

I turned to him, still walking, and smiled, "Sorry, I just really like going to the park when I'm sad and I really wanted to hurry."

His cheeks went pink and I giggled, "What?"

"N-Nothing, you're just...really pretty."

I gave him a half smile and looked down at the ground, how was I supposed to tell him?

"Corrana?"

"When we get to the park, I want to tell you everything, okay?"

"Yeah. Yeah, that's fine."

After walking in complete silence, we found a bench far away from the other people. We sat down, I was tapping the tips of my index fingers together.

"What did you want to talk about?"

"Look, I'm not supposed to talk about this cause he could be listening in but...I have a boyfriend, but I'm not happy with him."

"Why?"

"He hurts me, in more ways than physical. He's played with my emotions, left me in my depressed state over twenty times, he even...he..." I started crying.

I buried my face in my hands and completely broke down, there's no way I could talk about this. Not if he was around and listening to what I was saying. I quickly stopped crying and wiped my tears, sensing his presence nearby.

"He's near, Freed. I know it."

"What did he do to you, though?"

I shook my head, "I can't talk about it. I really can't. It's too horrible."

His eyebrows furrowed, "No matter what he has done, he doesn't deserve you, in fact he deserves to be six feet under."

"Freed, no! You can't fight him!"

"Why not?"

"He's an incubus! A demon!"

His presence was growing closer, I didn't know what to do, I didn't want to be with him. I really didn't, I hated him. I hated my boyfriend. I wanted to kill him, I didn't want to be near him.

"Corrana! It's been a while, dear. Who's this?" he said as he approached.

"B-Bradley. This is Freed Justine of Fairy Tail. I joined the guild the other day."

"Why? You don't have any magic."

"I joined as a part time job, just to make some money." I lied.

"I see. Well, it's nice to meet you Freed, my name is Drocomi, but call me Bradley."

Freed shook Bradley's hand, sending me a strange look. A look that asked if I was lying.

"Well, time goes fast! Corrana, we should go, I have something to ask of you."

"Why not now?"

He chuckled and wrapped an arm around my waist, causing me to flinch at his touch.

"It's a surprise your parents put together for us."

"I don't like surprises, not from you."

He released my waist and glared at me, I returned it with a glare of fiery anger. I was done, done with him, done with what my parents wanted, I wanted to live my life.

"You're coming with me, Corrana."

"Well I'm not going, you think I don't know that my parents arranged a marriage for us? I'm not marrying you! You're a disgusting demon who'll destroy the last of the sanity I managed to build back up on my own! So what the hell makes you think that I'm going anywhere with a lowlife like you? Cause I'd like to see your excuse this ti-"

I was cut off with a hard slap across the cheek, the impact was so big that it knocked me to the ground. My hand immediately flew to my cheek, I kept my glare and showed no emotion.

"Stop talking back. You know I hate it when you talk back."

"Like hell I would ever stop!"

"You reveal my true identity to a disgusting mage and now you refuse to do as I say?! What is wrong with you?"

"MY PROBLEM IS YOU!" I shouted.

He started screaming, "DON'T YOU GET IT CORRANA? ALL I EVER WANTED TO BE WAS LOVED, BUT YOU JUST COWARD IN THE CORNER OF A ROOM. YOU YELL AT ME TO STAY AWAY FROM YOU. WHY? I JUST WANT TO LOVE YOU."

"FIND THAT LOVE IN SOMEONE ELSE THEN! CAUSE I DON'T LOVE YOU! I DON'T KNOW WHY I EVEN STARTED DATING YOU IN THE FIRST PLACE! JUST LEAVE ME ALONE! I HATE YOU!"

"No! I love you!"

"I DON'T LOVE YOU! I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU WITH EVERYTHING I HAVE! SOMEONE AS WORTHLESS AND PATHETIC AS YOU! YOU'RE NOTHING! WE'RE DONE!"

"FINE! But I'll be back in 5 years to claim you as mine again, got me?"

"Have a good chance of finding me without this!" I exclaimed as I used my magic to remove his mark of dominance from me.

After what Brad-...no, Drocomi, did to me, he put a mark on me to claim me as his. It could never be taken off unless you had some very strong magic. Luckily, I now did. The curse made up for the strong magic I was missing, and now, his mark will be gone from my skin, forever. Drocomi growled and stormed off, I didn't know Freed was at my side until I felt something on my shoulder. Looking up, I saw him with tears in his eyes.

"Don't cry, Freed. I'm okay. It'll fade in a day."

"Why?"

"Huh?"

"Why did you let him do all those horrible things to you?"

I sighed, "I thought I could fix him. I was told that he was a broken soul and he was a lost cause. I thought I could help him by being with him. Every time he hit me, I thought it was a phase. Every time he'd throw abuse at me, I thought he was kidding. I lied to myself, thinking that this was all because he was a lost cause. I was wrong as it became more consistent."

"What was it, that he won't find you without?"

"Just a mark of his that claimed me as his own. It gave both of us the ability to know where the other would be."

He stood up and extended his hand to me, I took it and let him help me up. We stood like that, looking at each other. I was able to study all of his features, from his lightning bolt hair do-dads on his head to the shape of his lips.

"Corrana no! You can't be thinking about this now!" I thought to myself.

"How about we get you back home? Your aunt made dinner."

"Wanna stay for dinner?"

He smiled a kind smile, one that made me blush, "That would be lovely."