FAIRY TAIL: What If Natsu Never Rescued Lucy from Phantom Lord?
What If Natsu Never Rescued Lucy from Phantom Lord?
Lucy Heartfilia ran away from home to join Fairy Tail, chasing freedom and a place to belong. But when the dark guild Phantom Lord sets its sights on her—and on Fairy Tail itself—the boy who was supposed to come for her is already gone, training far beyond Magnolia.
In a world where Natsu never returns in time, Lucy must face the shadow of her past alone. With the guild she loves under siege and her own secrets dragged into the light, she'll
FAIRY TAIL: What If Natsu Never Rescued Lucy from Phantom Lord? - The Unreachable Voice of the Celestial Spirits — Father's Illness and the Second Trap of Captivity
Damp air. The smell of mold and rusted iron. Cold seeping from the stone walls of the cell crept slowly into Lucy Heartfilia's back.
The underground dungeon of Gran Noir. Headquarters of the dark guild Phantom Lord. Two days had nearly passed since that night in the guild's storehouse, when she'd been swallowed by a violet magic circle.
(Two days...)
Lucy sat hugging her knees, staring vaguely up at the ceiling. A faint draft of outside air slipped in through a small light window set high in the wall. She couldn't even tell if it was day or night. She simply waited quietly as the guard's footsteps receded.
Shift change.
The click, click of boots on stone faded down the corridor. Just a tiny gap of emptiness before the new guard arrived.
Lucy's hand darted to the pouch at her hip.
The feel of leather. And the weight of cold metal.
(It's there. It's still there.)
A Celestial Spirit key. A single key gleaming gold, engraved with the Aquarius crest. Her fingertips drew it out gently.
Thick iron shackles around her wrists. Vile restraints that siphoned away her magic. But the key was still in her hands. Over these two days, the guards hadn't tried to take her pouch. No—more precisely, they knew taking it would be pointless. Celestial Spirit keys respond only to the will of their wielder. In anyone else's hands, they were nothing but scraps of metal.
(So I'm the only one who can use it.)
Lucy gripped the key in both hands and closed her eyes.
"Aquarius..."
She didn't speak aloud—she called out in her heart.
(Please. Hear my voice.)
She consciously channeled the mana inside her body into the key. Absorb the energy in the atmosphere, output it as magic power. The most basic of basics, something any wizard could do.
But.
The shackles on her wrists instantly grew hot.
(Ah...)
The magic that should have flowed in was ripped away root and stem before it could reach her fingertips. The mana inside her drained into the shackles like water running downhill.
The key flickered, faintly, for just an instant.
That was all.
"...Why?"
Her voice trembled.
(Failed again. I've tried so many times over these two days.)
Her grip on the key tightened. Her fingertips went white. She bit her lip in frustration. The taste of iron spread through her mouth.
(My magic... gets sucked into the shackles before it reaches the key.)
Celestial Spirit magic is an ancient art that summons spirits from the Celestial Spirit World, using the caster's magic and the key as a medium. Seal away the magic, and the key means nothing.
She knew that. She knew it, and yet.
(I don't want to give up.)
Lucy stared hard at the shackles.
Black metal. A weight that bit into the skin of her wrists. Over these two days, she had observed these shackles relentlessly.
(These shackles absorb my magic.)
She consciously felt out the flow of magic. The mana inside her was being drawn, slowly but surely, into the shackles at her wrists.
(If it absorbs... there has to be somewhere it collects.)
She traced the surface of the shackles with her fingertips. No seams. A completely seamless ring of metal. But looking closely, on the inside of the shackle—the part touching her wrist—there was a groove, hair-thin and tiny.
(This groove is the circuit that draws in the magic...)
And that groove continued to the outside of the shackle.
"...It's venting the absorbed magic outside."
In other words, these shackles worked by releasing the magic they absorbed into the atmosphere, draining the wearer's magic dry.
(Any mechanism that absorbs magic has to have a flaw.)
A single idea began to take shape in her mind.
(If there's a force pulling magic in, then conversely...)
"What would happen if I forced all my magic through at once?"
There had to be a limit to how fast the shackles could absorb magic. So—pour in more magic than that limit, all at once. If she did, the shackles might not withstand it and break.
(But right now, I don't have the power to produce that much magic.)
Drained continuously by the shackles, the mana in her body was nearly empty.
(But...)
Lucy regripped the key.
(Aquarius's power is water. Water controls flow. So if I could reverse the flow of magic the shackles are drawing in...)
She got that far, then shook her head.
(No. There's no way I can manage magic control that precise right now.)
But.
(It's still too early to give up.)
That was when it happened.
"Oi, what're you up to?"
Lucy's shoulders jumped at the sudden voice.
Beyond the iron bars stood a guard. The new one, come for the shift change. Thin, wrapped in a grimy coat, a sword at his hip. He bared yellow teeth in a leering grin.
"Grippin' a key, tryin' to call a spirit or somethin'? Still ain't figured out it's useless?"
Lucy tried to tuck the key back into her pouch. But the man kicked the iron bars with a clang.
"Don't you hide it! Show me that key!"
The man's voice echoed through the cell. Biting her lip, Lucy slowly extended the hand holding the key toward him.
"Heh, obedient, ain'tcha."
The man peered at Lucy's hand through the gap in the bars. The golden key caught the light faintly.
"Pretty key. But without your magic, it's just scrap iron. That shackle sucks it all dry, y'see. Kukuku..."
The man's mockery echoed off the cell walls.
"...What are you people after? What do you intend to do with me?"
Her voice shook, but Lucy glared at the man.
"After? None of your business. I just follow the Master's orders."
The man said it and kicked the bars again.
"You just sit tight in here and behave. Try anything funny, and you'll regret it."
Leaving those words behind, the man headed off down the corridor.
Lucy waited until his footsteps faded, then let out a small breath.
(That was scary...)
Her heart was still pounding hard. Her palms were slick with sweat.
(But I won't lose.)
Lucy gripped the key tight.
(I will get out of here. No matter what.)
That was when it happened.
Footsteps approached again. Different from the man before. More than one. And they stopped in front of Lucy's cell.
"Well now, young lady. Are you awake?"
A low voice that carried well.
Lucy's whole body went rigid.
Standing beyond the iron bars was a tall, gaunt man. His long red-violet hair was tied back, and he wore a white suit. A mustache framed his mouth. Cold gray eyes looked down at Lucy in her cell.
Jose Porla. Guild master of Phantom Lord. One of the Ten Wizard Saints.
"You've gotten a bit thinner, haven't you? Is the food not to your liking?"
Jose wore a gentlemanly smile as he slowly came to stand before the cell. What lay behind that smile, Lucy couldn't read.
"...So you're Jose Porla."
Lucy spoke in a trembling voice.
"Oh, you know my name? I'm honored, young lady."
"What do you want? What are you going to do with me?"
At Lucy's question, Jose's smile only deepened.
"What do I want? Surely you've heard that from your father."
"...You're saying my father hired you?"
"Indeed. He asked me to bring his darling daughter home. Hiring a dark guild over a family quarrel—your father must be quite desperate."
At Jose's words, Lucy bit her lip.
(Father... did all this to drag me back.)
Her father, Jude Heartfilia. A great merchant of the Kingdom of Serendia who ran the Heartfilia trading company. When he learned Lucy had run away from home, he'd used his money to hire a dark guild.
(Father wants to drag me home and marry me off for political advantage.)
Lucy pictured her father's face. A man consumed by his work, who never looked at his daughter. After her mother died, he'd buried himself in business all the more.
(I won't do as Father says. I choose my own path.)
With that resolve, she'd run from home. She'd leapt into Fairy Tail.
"But you see, young lady—"
Jose's voice cut through Lucy's thoughts.
"Unfortunately, your father is in no position to concern himself with that right now."
"...What do you mean?"
Lucy's voice dropped low.
Jose slowly placed a hand on the iron bars.
"Your father has fallen gravely ill. According to his physicians, he has little time left."
Lucy's mind went blank.
"...No."
Her voice cracked.
"It's no lie. Just moments ago, a physician in our pocket in the capital reported it over a communication crystal. Your father is so weakened he can't even search for your whereabouts."
"Father... that can't be."
Strength drained from Lucy's legs. She fought desperately not to collapse on the spot.
(Father is sick...)
She had hated her father. The man who'd buried himself in work after her mother died and never looked at her. The man who'd decided her political marriage without asking.
But.
(To die... that's just...)
Heat pricked behind her eyes.
"But rest easy, young lady."
Jose spoke in a gentle voice.
"If you comply obediently, I'll let you see your father in his final moments. All you have to do is sign the inheritance paperwork. Simple enough, isn't it?"
Lucy raised her head.
"...Sign? Sign what?"
"Documents placing the Heartfilia fortune under our management. Nothing to worry about. Even after your father passes, your livelihood will be guaranteed."
At Jose's words, Lucy's whole body trembled.
(The fortune... this man is after Father's wealth.)
At last, Jose's true aim came into view.
(He's using Father's request as a foothold to strip the Heartfilia fortune down to the bone.)
"...Don't mock me! I would never sign something like that!"
Lucy raised her voice.
"Oh, what a shame."
Jose's smile vanished.
"Then your father will die alone, never knowing where you are. Is that acceptable to you?"
"...!"
Lucy's throat seized up.
(Using my father as a hostage...)
Anger, grief, and fear churned in her chest.
"Think it over carefully, young lady. Your answer decides your father's final moments."
Leaving those words, Jose slowly vanished down the corridor.
Lucy crumpled where she stood.
"Father..."
Tears spilled over, unstoppable.
(Why. Why did it come to this?)
Her father's illness. Jose's coercion. A double shackle clamped around Lucy's heart.
(If I'd just gone home obediently, maybe Father wouldn't have worried himself like this.)
Regret stabbed through her chest.
(But...)
Lucy wiped her tears.
(But even so, I can't just do as Jose says.)
(I will never hand Father's fortune to a man like that.)
(And besides...)
Lucy recalled Jose's smile.
(I feel like there's something else behind that smile. Something deeper.)
Jose wasn't after the fortune alone. There was another aim, deeper still. She couldn't shake the feeling.
(But what it is, I can't tell. Not now.)
Lucy took the Celestial Spirit key from her pouch.
(Aquarius...)
She gripped the key tight.
(Please. Lend me your strength.)
That was when it happened.
The floor of the cell began to glow faintly.
"...What?"
Looking down, a violet crest was rising to the surface of the floor. An old pattern, like a magic circle. It spread from beneath Lucy's feet across the entire cell.
"Heh, noticed, did ya?"
At some point, the guard had appeared before the cell. In his hand was a small magic tool.
"Master's orders. We're sealin' the power of that key of yours, completely."
The man operated the tool, and the crest on the floor blazed brighter.
"What... is this?"
Lucy stared at the crest on the floor.
(A spirit-sealing crest...)
A type of ancient magic. A special crest for sealing the power of Celestial Spirits. It had been carved into the floor of the cell.
(No...)
Lucy poured strength into the hand gripping the key.
(But I haven't tried yet.)
She tried to channel magic into the key. But this time, it wasn't just the shackles at her wrists—the crest on the floor was drawing her magic away too.
(Ah...)
The mana inside her drained away rapidly.
"...Stop it!"
Lucy let go of the key.
It fell to the cold floor.
"How's that? Now your spirits are completely sealed. Just sit quiet and do what the Master tells ya."
The man's mockery echoed through
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