Hey guys!!! I have a very important announcement to make...Just so all of you may know, on February 14, Saturday, I will spoil all of you for your satisfaction and as compensation for the looooooooooonnnnnggggg wait for updates. And so, I will update my stories, both Joining Hands: allies and Foes and my new story: Travellers of Time by five chapter! That's right, five chapter!! All of you should look forward to it alright?!

PS. Please comment your reactions and anything you all want to say. Thanks!

♥LucyAshleyHeartfilia♥

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“How is it?”, a man’s voice is heard. In a dark lit room, there is a bed with a woman strapped in it.  A woman was standing in front of it with different machines surrounding her. There are eighteen others assisting her with what they’re doing.

“Master….”, the woman bowed.

“No need for too much formality, Helga”, the man said. He gestured his hands, indicating for the others to leave. The eighteen people bowed before him and started going out the door silently.

“I assume she’s settled in?”, he asked.

“I’m afraid not. She’s too stubborn to give in. She can’t be taken in if this keeps up”, Helga said.

“Can’t you knock her out?”, he asked.

“We can’t use the same method on her. We have to negate her powers bit by bit for this to work. If we rush things out, the base won’t be able to take it all”, she said.

“The woman can’t be that strong. As far as I know she’s weak and protected by her partner and her guild. Other than that she’s just an ordinary wizard”, he said.

“It’s confusing, yes. But the problem isn’t whether she’s strong or weak. Her abilities to summon Celestial Spirits is one thing but for those spirits to have consciousness and powers of their own, we can’t just recklessly let her do that”, she looked at a monitor that shows Lucy inside a room. Her hands were cuffed on either side of the wall.

“Even if we subdue her, her spirits won’t have the same effect”, she finished.

“So we have a tough one”, he said.

“She’s definitely trying to keep herself from using her magic. We tried different methods for her to use her keys to no avail. Apparently, she’s not just tough, she’s smart as well”

“Hahaha…..hahaha! This girl is interesting! Looks like I will have some quality time for a while. I haven’t met someone like her in a decade”, he laughed.

“This is no laughing matter Master Ardius”, Helga smacked his shoulder.

“You have to admit you’re having problems on how to subdue her. Either we do something soon or we’ll have to waste a couple of months waiting for her to give up”, Ardius said.

“We could try torturing her”, Helga flatly said.

“No, don’t do that. We don’t want our precious supply of great magic to be stained. We won’t get what we want if we try torturing her. You said her spirits have a mind of its own right?”, Ardius asked.

“That is right”, Helga said.

“Funny though, in truth we don’t need her for our plans, after we get Celtic Magic and all the spirits in our hands, we won’t need her anymore”

“You really think that’s too simple?”, Helga asked.

“Of course. We have two candidates, no? She’s merely one of them. We can use the other one if this one died”, Ardius tapped the monitor.

“I thought you don’t want to torture her or stain her with wounds? What kind of mind do you have that you always change it from time to time?”, Helga sighed.

“Well, torturing was never my forte, that was Shinji’s fetish. But, I enjoy seeing people die immediately. The surprise look on their faces are even more exciting to see than their screams!”, Ardius made a very disgusting look on his face.

“For being one of the masters of the Galion Alliance, you’re the creepiest of them all”, Helga said. “We won’t have much time to take the other candidate. Besides, the other one won’t be as effective as hers. She’s our perfect captive”, she finished.

“What are you saying? Celestial Wizards are all temporary masters to the spirits. Considering you are once a Celestial wizard, you know how the contract lasts right?”, Ardius circled around her with a grin. “Helga, you know that a Celestial Spirit can only be separated from servicing their masters, if the wizard freed them or…..”, he went closer to her ear. “If the wizard dies…right?”

“How did you know…of that?”, beads of sweat was forming on her petite face.

“Didn’t you know? I’m a Celestial Wizard sweeper. During the incident in Zentopia, before Oracion Seis aimed other Celestial Wizards to claim the Key of the Starry Night Sky, I killed many Celestial Spirit Mage before them”, Ardius grinned.

“What…..you….”

“You should be thankful that your powers vanished when your other ability was proclaimed. You could have been dead by now…by these cursed hand”, Ardius showed his red coloured hands when he took his gloves out.

“Definitely, I can see why you’ve hid yourself from the Council for thirteen years. You’ll be sentenced a horrible death if they caught you”, Helga said.

“That is, if they can lay a hand on me”, he smirked before leaving out the door. “Tell me if you’re going to kill that wizard. I would love to have the best seat”

“You’re an idiot. If you think that we’ll have another chance with this, you’re wrong”, Helga returned to monitor Lucy’s condition. “I know how this works for I too, am a Celestial Spirit Mage once. Opening gates is a tough job to do, more so with two. But for this woman to be able to grasp ten golden keys and opening three at the same time….she surpasses all the others I know, even myself”

“Whatever, once we succeed in thrashing the Council and killing the whole Ballam Alliance, I will have that woman’s flesh to myself”, Ardius said while licking his hand in a perverted way and completely closed the door.

“Lunatic”, Helga sighed and looked back to what she was doing. Looking at Lucy’s over-all evaluation in the monitor, she looked at her pitifully. “Such a waste”

Helga left Lucy in her bed when she’s finished reviewing her abilities. She told her assistants to leave the room as well. Thinking that Lucy won’t be able to do anything since her body is strapped down and her hands were linked together, she closed the door to tell her masters about her discovery.

After a few minutes when the room is quiet, Lucy opened her eyes.

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“What should we do now?”, Erza asked.

“We can’t act if we don’t know where to look for them”, Rogue said.

“He’s right. We can’t even smell Bunny Girl’s scent anymore”, Gajeel crossed his arms over his chest. “It’s like she disappeared leaving us hanging in the open like this”

“Why don’t we go back to Magnolia for now? Maybe we can create a plan once we meet up with the masters”, Kagura suggested.

“Well....try telling that to him”, Sting pointed towards Natsu who hasn’t shown any sign of giving up in sniffing the air.

“He looks like a dog”, Jenny taunted.

“He’s trying to look for even the slightest chance of whiffing Lucy-san’s scent or anyone who smells like an enemy to know where they could be”, Wendy replied timidly.

“Seems like a pretty hard task”, Ren said.

“Still I can’t believe after all of this, the Council would do that to Lucy”, Hibiki said.

“She’s brave to do that, but, quite stupid too”, Beth from Mermaid Heel said.

“We should probably take a rest until we know where Lucy might be. Everyone, get ready to sleep”, Jura ordered. They will be resting for the night.

“We’ll do our best to look for Lucy tomorrow. Get all the energy you need”, Laxus told them.

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The next morning....

Everyone woke up early as they readied for a new battle.

“Ummmmm......”, Natsu turned around when he heard Reina’s voice behind him. Reina awkwardly walked towards him together with Tetsuya. “Natsu-san.....”

“What is it?”, Natsu asked, letting himself relax a little.

“About Lucy-san volunteering.....well, and me telling you about it....I know you must feel betrayed right now especially by Makarov-dono but....ummm”, Reina was fidgeting and stuttering.

“I was surprised when I heard that the Master was the one who talked it out with Lucy. I mean....well....I was just angry at myself for not knowing anything”, Natsu looked down when he remembers hearing those words from Laxus himself.

Flashback

“Is it true?”, Natsu asked when they’re alone in a corner.

“Yes, Grandpa told Lucy himself. He asked Lucy’s cooperation and she accepted after two days of thinking about it”, Laxus replied with his hands crossed over his chest. “I still remember how she said it”

“Why did he agreed to the Council? After all what he said about bringing Laki back, he’s willing to sacrifice Lucy for that?”, Natsu angrily snapped.

“He is not willing to sacrifice anyone. He agreed with the Council because he trusted Lucy. He knows how dangerous this is. Do you think if there’s another choice, he would still go with what the Council asked him to?”, Laxus asked.

“Wasn’t Yukino the other choice?”, Natsu doesn’t want to involve anyone else but thinking about his friend makes him angry to everyone right now.

“Surely you haven’t heard how many times Grandpa asked the Council not to involve Lucy in this and how he asked that girl from another guild to do this instead of her”, Laxus mumbled softly.

“He did what?”, Natsu was surprised.

“Come on, Natsu. You know Grandpa as well as I do. He is willing to set his pride aside for all of us. But, the Council knows how many keys they both have, considering both of them took part in the Grand Magic Games. Grandpa was almost held into custody by the Council, that’s when Lucy arrived and said she would do it. Grandpa tried to stop her but Lucy herself declared her consent”, Laxus admitted.

It was silent for three whole minutes before any of them speak.

“Was she scared? Is there a hint of fear in her voice?”, Natsu wanted to know. He felt oblige to know how it resulted to this.

“Everyone would be scared if they know they’ll be used as bait that might cost them their life”, Laxus replied instantly. Natsu gritted his teeth just thinking how scared Lucy must have felt.

“But you know....Lucy....she showed no emotion of fear. She just smiled and announced that she will do it. She has no hesitation in her eyes at all”, Laxus said.

“I see”, Natsu turned around and started to walk away.

“Natsu!”, Laxus called. Natsu stopped and saw Laxus seriously staring back at him. “She also said she trusts you and she knows you’ll save her for sure. You’re her partner aren’t you?”, Laxus smirked.

Natsu turned around and just waved his hand.

End of Flashback

“But you know Natsu-sama, when I saw Makarov-dono in the Council, he looks, really guilty and I can feel how worried he was with Lucy. He was arguing with the Council before I left. He looked at me like he wants me to tell you about what happened to Lucy that’s why I went after you guys. I think....he’s just doing what Lucy asked him to”, Reina sadly stated.

Natsu suddenly remembered Lucy smiling at him.

“Thank you, Reina. I’ll definitely bring her back”

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Lucy looked at her hands that were linked together, one hand overlapping the other. She saw the strap in her right hand and smiled weakly, thankful that they didn’t managed to remove it from her.

“I have to.....”, her fingers struggled to reach the necessary button she needed to activate. She heard footsteps nearing to where she is. She tried hard to reach her other hand. Sweat is building on her forehead. “I have to hurry”, she thought.

“Hey, were you able to obtain the Zodiac Keys?”, Lucy heard someone’s voice out the door.

“Not yet. I would look for it right away”, another replied. She can hear the door being pried open.

A bead of sweat dropped from her forehead as she struggled to hurry. “Please....reach them....”, she thought. Her nails reached the small button in the strap and she heard a quiet “click” sound on it. The door opened as a dark silhouette was formed and walking closer to where she is lying.

“I leave everything to you.....”, Lucy closed her eyes with exhaustion. With all the tranquilizer they injected on her, it was a miracle she was able to stay this long.

“Natsu”