Fire Heart

Chapter Six

Lucy woke up in the morning, but didn't get out of bed. Natsu had brought her back here to this horrible guild. She guessed she should be grateful that she wasn't dead. What was she going to do now? If she tried to run again, then Natsu would probably just come after her and bring her back, or kill her. Lucy liked being alive.

​ Lucy instinctively reached for her keys on the night stand, but they weren't there. Lucy sat up quickly panicked and looked around on the ground for them. They weren't there either. Had Natsu taken them? Or maybe they fell off of her back at her apartment? Oh no, what if they fell off of her when Natsu was carrying her back here? The only thing left to do was to ask Natsu himself, which Lucy really did not want to do. Maybe the old lady knew something, which meant she had to go downstairs.

​ Lucy huffed and stood up. There was no way she was going to stand for her keys being missing, she wanted to find them as soon as possible. If that meant facing the animals downstairs, then so be it.

​ The guild hall was loud today. Lucy heard the guys laughing as soon as she opened the door to her room. She walked quickly down the hall and to the stairs. She was halfway to the bar to talk to the old lady when Deafening called out to her.

​ "Hey, Blondie! Are you missing something?"

​ Deafening held up Lucy's celestial keys and Lucy's heart dropped. "Give those back!" Lucy yelled.

​ Deafening laughed. "Are you gonna make me? I'd like to see how you're going to do that."

​ Lucy balled her hands into fists. What could she do? She grabbed her whip that she had attached to her hip and took a battle stance. "I'll make you give my keys back!"

​ The room only got louder after that. Deafening was still laughing and everyone was shouting things at her.

​ "You go girl!"

​ "Yeah, show us what you can do!"

​ "What's a pretty little thing like you doing with a whip?"

​ Lucy's cheeks flushed with embarrassment and anger. If only she had her keys she'd summon Taurus and have him beat all of these guys to a pulp. But they had her keys, and she was going to do everything in her power to get them back.

​ Deafening stood and started to approach her. Lucy snapped her whip at him and it hit his arm. He recoiled in pain, clutching his arm. "You, bitch," Deafening hissed.

​ He still had ahold of Lucy's keys, so she raised her arm to strike him with her whip. But before she could someone behind her grabbed her arm and ripped her whip out of her hand. He then threw her down onto the ground.

​ "Blondie, meet Burly, the strongest man in the guild," Deafening said.

​ Yeah, no kidding. Lucy was looking up at probably the biggest man she has ever seen. Burly stood at probably about six foot and was as wide as a refrigerator.

​ Deafening handed Lucy's keys to Burly so that he now had her keys and her whip. Lucy whimpered in defeat. There was no way she could beat Burly and get her things back. Lucy started to stand up, but was kicked back down by Deafening.

​ "You see, Blondie, you ran away from the guild." Lucy looked up to see Deafening glaring down at her. "And no one gets to leave this guild without being punished for it."

​ "Being here is punishment enough," Lucy spat at him.

​ "Pick her up," Deafening commanded and two other guys grabbed her by the arms and pulled her to her feet. Lucy struggled uselessly trying to break free from their grips. She looked to the bar to see if the old lady would come to her aid, but the old lady wasn't there. Of course she was gone when Lucy really needed her.

​ Deafening placed two fingers under Lucy's chin and raised her face towards his. "So, what should we make you do for punishment?" His eyes drifted over Lucy's body making her skin crawl. "Nice skin you got. Maybe you should show more of it off. What do you guys think?!"

​ Cheers of agreement rang throughout the hall. Oh, this was bad. This was very bad. Lucy started to struggle to break free again even though she knew it was hopeless. Deafening was reaching for Lucy when the doors to the guild hall burst open silencing everyone in the hall. Deafening looked up in shock, his arm still outstretched towards Lucy.
​Natsu stood in the doorway wearing a long coat with only one sleeve. He removed the hood that was covering his face and took in the scene that was in front of him. The old lady waddled up next to him and looked around as well.
       "It looks like you boys aren't behaving yourselves, again," She said.

​ "What the hell is going on?" Natsu asked glaring around at all of his members. He saw that Lucy was still being held onto and his expression darkened. "So, Deafening, what exactly do you have against my celestial mage?"

​ His celestial mage? Surly Lucy had heard him wrong, because she wasn't his anything. Did Salamander think he owned her? Well, Lucy supposed she was technically one of his slaves now.

​ "Salamander, Sir, Blondie here ran away from the guild. So, I thought we should punish her for her bad behavior."

​ Natsu slowly walked forward towards Deafening. He looked over at Lucy who was still being held. "Drop her," He said.

​ The two men obeyed and let go of Lucy. She fell to the floor with a thud. She flinched and stood back up.

​ Natsu turned back to Deafening. "What makes you think you can decide who to punish and how?"

"You hadn't done it yet, Sir, I just wanted to help you out."

​ "I don't need your damn help," Natsu hissed. He turned to face the rest of the hall. "I know you guys don't see a lot of women, but don't take it out on the celestial mage. She's not your play toy."

​ "I don't understand why she's so special," Deafening muttered under his breath.

​ Natsu must have heard him because his fist lit up in flames and he punched Deafening in the face. Natsu stood over top of him and continued to hit him over and over. Lucy watched completely stunned, her stomach started to churn with sickness as blood started to pour from Deafening's nose and mouth.

​ "Salamander!" The old lady yelled and Natsu finally stopped hitting him. Both of Natsu's hands were covered with Deafening's blood. Deafening wasn't moving, but he seemed to still be breathing.

​ Natsu looked at Lucy to see her shaking with fear. He held out his hand to Burly who wasn't standing very far away. Burly silently handed Lucy's whip and keys over. Natsu took them then held them out to Lucy. She took her keys and whip back with trembling hands, not looking at Natsu's face. She wiped off Deafening's blood Natsu had got on them when he took them from Burly.

​ "I'm the leader of this guild!" Natsu called out. "I'm the only one who gets to make decisions regarding other guild members. If anyone tries to do my job again, I will turn you to ash." He looked over at Lucy. "Be more careful."

​Natsu stormed off towards the stairs and up to his room. The members of the guild were silent as they watched him leave. Lucy heard a door slam then turned to the old lady as the men started talking again.

​ "What just happened?" She asked.

​ "Well," The old lady said sighing. "Salamander just saved your ass. Again."