Chapter 3: Chapter 3
Once again, Lucien was jostled into consciousness. God, passing out was going to become a habit for him at this rate.
His feet were being dragged roughly against the floor, hitting random rocks here and there. From the weight on his shoulders, he could tell that he was being carried, probably one person on each side of him.
Pretending to still be asleep, he decided to take a moment to clear up his fuzzy head and think about everything that happened.
The pulsing pain wasn't helping, neither was the feeling of being completely drained of energy like he hadn't eaten for days, but he managed to work his way through the mental fog that was his memories. And he wished he hadn't.
He remembered being kidnapped, sold, and tortured. All of his memories flashed through his head.
Thinking about the last thing he heard, Lucien could barely contain his fear. Bile burned its way up the back of his throat, and he had to fight to keep it down. 'The Tower of Heaven'. Great.
Why here of all places?
Lucien decided not to think about the morbid parts right now - which was difficult since he was just sold into slavery - and focus on two things.
First, his conquerors haki. That feeling of power was incredible, for the second it lasted anyway. But, his haki worked off of his magic power, just like his devil fruit, so how did he use it with the inhibitor on?
Thinking hard, the only reason Lucien could come up with was that the sudden explosion of power temporarily overloaded the limit of the inhibitor. This would explain why his conquerors haki didn't affect the people there - even if he was a kid, conquerors haki should have at least done something to them - as the power was drained away by the inhibitor, leaving barely any of it left to affect them.
Which would be helpful, if he knew how to control it. But it was an 'in the moment' kind of thing, and he doubted he would be able to repeat it any time soon.
Focusing on the positives, he had conquerors haki. Lucien was worried he wouldn't have it since Marco only ever showcased armament and observation haki. 'So, either Marco did have it and never used it - which would make sense since all his opponents were people who could resist his will - or he didn't have it, but when I was given haki, I was given the potential to unlock all three types of haki. Well, I mean it doesn't really matter either way, all that matters now is that I have unlocked my conquerors haki, and hopefully armament and observation will be that much easier to unlock because of it.'
And second, Lucien knew he wouldn't be here forever. Well, he hoped not anyway. The last time he checked, it was the year X775. Erza joins Fairy Tail in X776, meaning he has to stay there for a year at most, and then he will be free, if he survives, that is. Great, the morbid thoughts were back.
Hopping on a new train of thought - one which didn't involve his potential death at the hands of slavers - Lucien heard the sounds of doors opening and decided to focus on the present. He wondered whose cell he would be in, with Erza and Jellal and the others, or with the future Oracion Seis, or maybe an entirely different cell.
He would find out soon enough, as after hearing a creaky old gate open, he was rudely thrown onto the floor, among other people if the hushed whispers were any indicator. Just brilliant. He hated to look weak in front of others.
"Enjoy your new accommodations, slave," one of the guards, the one who had thrown Lucien, spat out spitefully, putting extra emphasis on the last word.
After hearing the gates slammed shut, and a pair of footsteps walking away, Lucien decided that it was finally time to open his eyes and 'wake up'.
Things were a little blurry at first, until his vision was adjusted properly and he was greeted by a head of red hair.
Looking down at himself - and ignoring the redhead for now - he realised why his clothes felt so strange, he wasn't wearing them. Not that he was naked, no, but he was now wearing the same old rags as the rest of the slaves in the cell. They changed his clothes, great, that wasn't creepy at all.
Trying to distract himself from fanboying at meeting The Titania, The Fairy Queen - even if she was still her younger self - he examined where he was. The cell he was in was fairly large, with 3 stone walls, one with a window where he could hear the sounds of waves, and one wall of metal bars with a door in the centre. There were a couple of other people in the cell with him, all of whom were staring at him. There were a couple of adults, but most were children, all of whom Lucien recognised: Sho, Milliana, Simon, Wally, Jellal, and Erza.
Speaking of the redhead, she decided to interrupt Lucien's thoughts by asking him, "Hey, are you alright?" In response, Lucien gave her a look that clearly displayed what he thought of her intelligence. "Right, of course you're not," she replied with an embarrassed blush. "Um, I'm Erza Scarlet, this is Jellal, Simon, Wally, Sho, Milliana, and that's Uncle Rob," she introduced, pointing to each of them in turn. The 'Uncle Rob' she was talking about was one of the adults. His name seemed familiar to Lucien, but he just ingored it for now.
'I guess Jellal already gave her a last name then, huh,' Lucien thought to himself. From what he remembered of the story, he was pretty sure that's when she started to develop feelings for him.
Then, sarcastically, he added 'if only I was kidnapped and sold into slavery earlier, maybe I would've had a shot with her.' He chuckled at that thought. It's not like he planned to make a move on Erza anyway. First, he was pretty sure she was way out of his league, second, things didn't exactly go well with his last girlfriend, and third, the most important of all, he was a slave. His thoughts were focused on surviving right now, not relationships. Maybe he would try to get a girlfriend if he escaped.
Realising he had paused for quite a bit while thinking, he responded by sticking his hand out, and, trying to hide the pain he felt by moving, replied with a smile, "Lucien Michaels, nice to meet you." Erza took her hand out of Jellal's grasp - huh, guess they're already quite close - and shook Lucien's with a small smile on her lips.
Afterwards, Lucien attempted to stand, only to almost immediately feel his legs give way underneath him.
He would have collapsed to the ground if two sets of arms hadn't immediately caught him. Jellal and Simon helped Lucien move so that he was leaned against the cold stone wall, before gently setting him down.
"Thanks for that."
"Of course," was Jellal's reply, while Simon merely nodded.
The other kids gathered around where Lucien was sat, in a circle of sorts. They seemed to want to ask him questions. Lucien definitely didn't have the energy to even think about what happened, much less talk about it. Right now, Lucien was ignoring all of the thoughts about what would be happening in the immediate future.
"Are you alright, child?" Asked the older man Erza called Uncle Rob. Lucien smiled and only nodded his head in response, since he didn't trust himself not to groan in pain right now if he opened his mouth. His body ached all over, plus, he didn't really have enough energy to talk. "You should get some rest," Rob kindly told him.
Deciding to agree with the older, wiser man - and because his body practically demanded it of him - Lucien fell into the waiting arms of Morpheus.
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LonelyTurkey
LonelyTurkey Back again. Hope you enjoy this chapter.
:)
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