章 356: Hargeon

As they stepped out of the portal Alex took one look around, and frowned at what he saw. Of all the places he could have chosen to spawn at, he decided on top of a building in the port town of Hargeon, the same town where Natsu and Lucy had met for the first time. And had no one had been to this world before them, then they would have arrived shortly before Natsu and Lucy met, yet the scene that greeted them was nothing like what was depicted in the original series.

The majority of the buildings were boarded up, run down, or just flat out destroyed; while people were wrapped up in dirty rags and bandages as they slowly wandered up and down the streets, or simply collapsed where they were. Their eyes were hollow as they searched for meager scraps of food, and eagerly drank whatever water they could find, no matter how dirty.

This one look was all it took for Alex to know that his guess that other reincarnators had been here was correct.

"This place stinks~Nya, you really wanted to come here?" Kuroka asked incredulously, however one look at Alex's expression was enough for her to know that this wasn't supposed to be what the world was like. As everyone realized that it really would be a while before they could return home, there was a collective sigh before they put on their game faces.

"What now?" Sun asked Alex hesitantly, but, before he could answer, a loud set of voices echoed up to them from the street.

"Man this place really is a dump! I wonder when we can finally move on out of here?!" The group looked down from the edge of the building they were on, and saw a duo of guys wandering down the street as if they owned the place. They were dressed in dark colored clothing that appeared to kept in far better shape than anyone else's in town, and they carried matching black marks on their necks.

Alex frowned as he watched the duo march their way up the street while shoving anyone remotely close to them out of their way, even going so far as to kick a kid who had been digging through a trash can. He was about to make them pass out with his Conquer's Haki, when one of them suddenly said,

"Just think though, now we have that fairy bitch to put on a show for us back at the headquarters!" Two little words in that sentence made Alex stop, as both men showed lecherous faces before the other said,

"Yeah, just remembering those titties is making me excited! But it's too bad that we were told not to lay a hand on her..." As the man started feeling down, he suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder as a new voice said,

"Excuse me."

""Wha-!!""

The two men cried out as they jumped and spun to find Alex standing behind them, an amicable smile on his face as he continued, "Can I ask the two of you something?" The two men frowned when they saw him as one demanded,

"Are you fucking blind or just plain stupid?! We're members of the Black Collar guild and you think you can just walk up to and talk to us like we're equals or somethin?" Just as he had been about to go off on Alex though, the man and his companion caught sight of the group of incredibly beautiful girls behind him. With drool leaking from the corner of their mouths, one man said to the other,

"Say, hows about after we teach this little punk a lesson we have some fun with those girlies over there before taking them to Bora?" The other man nodded eagerly as he looked down at Yue with lecherous eyes, before saying,

"Dibs on the short-" Whatever else he had been saying never even got the chance to leave his lips, before everything from his waist up suddenly vanished, leaving a pair of disembodied legs attached at the remnants of his hips.

There was dead silence as everyone in the immediate surroundings looked at the legs in disbelief as they fell over, before their gazes slowly traveled up to the one responsible, a certain rabbit eared girl with a massive hammer slung over her shoulder while she hummed irritably. Yue looked up at her and simply said,

"...Shia, I could have handled it..." Shia nodded without any hesitation and stated,

"I know, but I still couldn't stand the things they were saying and implying about us, it was really annoying!" Though the rest of the girls around them nodded in agreement, Yue still said,

".....Indeed....but you still should have made him suffer more before killing him..." Kuroka, Moka, and even Kurumu all nodded in agreement as they looked at what remained of the man's body with disdain, while Alex sighed as he turned towards the only remaining person and said,

"Sorry, I was trying to be a bit diplomatic, buuuuuut," he then suddenly grabbed the man by the neck before he could react, and slammed him up against the nearest wall while everyone around them stared in shock at how someone was still willing to go against the Black Collar guild.

As the man struggled to breath through Alex's grip, he leaned in closer and said, "Now let's try this again, huh? What can you tell me about this so-called 'fairy bitch'?"

***

"No matter how much I see this sight, it never gets old miss Heartfilia." Smirked a man wearing a long dark blue coat with neatly trimmed hair and a short beard, as he looked down upon his newest prisoner, Lucy. The blond haired Mage glared back at him with teary eyes as she once again squirmed in her bindings, trying desperately to cover her naked body from his disgusting gaze, but her efforts were fruitless due to her arms and legs being spread out by chains to minimize her movements.

Lucy then swore at herself as she recalled how she had gotten into this situation, when she had made contact with one of the only people the guild masters told her she could trust, only for them to spike her food and water with drugs. She had then woken up in this dungeon, stripped and disarmed of the magic keys she needed to summon her contracted spirits, and bound in shackles that specifically sealed the magic power of their prisoner. The worst part was the person who had captured her, the same man now leering at her naked body, Bora of Prominence.

Bora was a scumbag she had met before joining Fairy Tail, who had used Natsu's nickname of 'Salamander' along with the illegal 'Charm' magic to lure cute girls onto his private yacht, where he then drugged them and sold them into slavery. Lucy had almost been one of his victims back then due to his lie of being a part of Fairy Tail, but then Natsu literally 'crashed the party' and beat the snot out of Bora for trying to pass himself off as a member of their guild.

She had never found out what happened to Bora after that, mainly due to her and Natsu fleeing the authorities of Hargeon after he destroyed the port, but the guild masters had informed her beforehand that the city was ruled by a relatively new dark guild by the name of Black Collar. Though they were relatively new, they were already infamous due to their main purpose being the acquisition and selling of slaves, which were comprised of the majority of the healthy and capable people of Hargeon.

Despite her nakedness and the tears that threatened to fall from her eyes, Lucy's fierce glare never wavered as she demanded, "So what now? You haven't tried to torture me or get information from me, and you're obviously not gonna just kill me, so what is it you're after?"

Bora looked at Lucy weirdly for a moment at her question before realization dawned on his face, and he muttered, "You don't know...." He then proceeded to burst into laughter at Lucy and her ignorance, confusing the blonde even more until he breathlessly continued, "You really have no idea that everyone you know is about to die?!"

Lucy's heart fell when she heard that, but she didn't show it as she stated, "You're just bluffing to get me to talk or something, there's no way that's true!" Bora's expression turned gleeful at her refusal to accept the truth before he stated,

"But it is! The word has been put out that one of the generals is heading to Tenrou island to wipe you all out, and that the master of Grimoire Heart is the one leading the way! Soon not just the entirety of their guild, every one of the dozens of guilds under them will surround the island, and wipe you all out forever! The reason we haven't touched you is because one of my men is currently on his way to inform the Emperor that we caught ourselves a fairy bitch, and all of us were told not to lay hands on any of you that we find besides apprehending you!"

Lucy was stunned silent at his declaration, before she realized she needed to escape NOW to warn the others of the impending danger. Right as this thought crossed her mind though, she noticed Bora take a step closer with a nasty smirk on his face.

"You want to know what I would do if we hadn't been told not to lay a hand on you?" Lucy thought she was gonna be sick as Bora reached out towards her breast, making her try to move out of the way so that he couldn't grope her. All she succeeded in doing though was making her breasts jiggle enticingly as Bora eyed them greedily, before roughly seizing one and squeezing it as hard as possible.

As he reveled in the softness in his hand, Bora leaned forward and sneered, "I remember exactly who you and that bastard Salamander are! You not only destroyed my yacht, but also landed me in jail and cost me all of my clients and business! If it were up to me, I'd take you myself every night, at every chance I got until you submitted yourself entirely to me. And then when I tired of you, I'd give you to the guild mates as 'entertainment'; we're always getting pretty young things through here that none of us can lay out hands on, so they could really do with a 'stress reliever'. And when you were so used up and worn out that not even any of them would take you, we'd leave you tied up out in the street for any one of those dogs out there to use!"

At that point Bora released Lucy's breast and went to retrieve something that she couldn't see, leaving her to fight the bile rising from her stomach at the disgust she felt from being groped by him. When he reentered her view though, Lucy paled as she carefully watched the eerily glowing yellow poker that Bora had retrieved, making him smirk victoriously as he said,

"And whenever you misbehaved, I would add a tally with this. Leaving marks one by one on your beautifully flawless skin, as you begged me to stop hurting you, to stop the humiliation and pain. You'd beg for the mercy and pleasure that only I could give you!" With each word Bora moved the poker closer and closer to Lucy's skin, was becoming increasingly damp with sweat at the thought of what it was going to do to her.

'Natsu, help me!' She desperately cried out in her mind, willing him to somehow cross the ocean in an instant at be at her side to save her once again, except it didn't happen. Natsu didn't appear. Instead there was only Bora, who was laughing sadistically as he watched Lucy squirm to get further away from the poker.

"This is disgusting."

Both of them suddenly froze as a new voice echoed off of the dungeons stone walls, making them turn slowly towards the origin of the voice. Casually standing there off to the side was a single muscle bound man with wild hair, dressed in a red one piece combat outfit.

"Who the hell are you?!" Bora demanded threateningly as he turned the poker towards the stranger, making him flash a fearless smile in the low light before saying,

"You know, I don't think I'll ever get used to people not knowing who I am, and thinking I'm some kind of small fry whenever I go to a new world." Bora's face was painted with confusion at the stranger's words, while he turned towards the captive Lucy and continued, "I'll free you in a minute miss Heartfilia, I just need to take care of the trash first."

Bora's confusion shifted to anger when he was referred to as trash, and he used one hand to aim the poker directly above the stranger's heart, while his other conjured a large ball of flame as he demanded, and who exactly do you think you are?" The stranger smirked as he fearlessly stepped towards the poker and said,

"You can call me Alex, the Dragon Emperor." The moment he finished speaking the poker suddenly touched Alex's chest, yet he ignored it as if he was unable to feel the burning hot metal scorching his skin as he continued stepping forward.

Bora's eyes widened in shock as he desperately blasted the fire in his other hand towards Alex, only for it to suddenly veer off to the side as if it had a mind of its own. He didn't even have time to be surprised when Alex suddenly grabbed the poker with one hand, and seized Bora with the other. He then said with the glow of the poker reflecting in his eyes,

"Now what to do with you? I heard from your men that you specialize in selling beautiful women as slaves, so maybe you should experience the same pain they did?" Bora paled at Alex's implication, as he was well aware of what the people who bought his slaves did to them, but he was unable to fight back as Alex spun him around and pinned him to the wall in front of him.

"P-please, don't!" He pleaded desperately as Alex started fiddling with something behind him, making him chuckle lightly before saying,

"You know, I have to wonder how many of those girls said the same exact thing before they went through all kinds of suffering at the hands of their new 'masters'?" His words quieted Bora even as he still struggled to come up with a way to get out of this.

What he couldn't see happening behind him though was Alex using Creation magic to change the shape of the poker until it was shorter and thicker around, while he simultaneously stared heating it up even more until it started illuminating the entire dungeon. When Lucy saw this she turned a little green as realization of what Alex was about to do dawned on her, making her clench her own backside as he aimed it at Bora's.

What followed was the unholiest sound she had ever heard coming from Bora's throat as the burning hot metal was shoved inside him, making her feel a little sick, yet she also somewhat felt satisfied when she recalled him molesting her earlier.

***

When Lucy was finally free of the shackles Alex used his magic to immediately clothe her, making the blond feel relieved at wearing clothing for the first time since she was captured.

"Thank you." She said with her voice filled with gratitude, still scarcely daring to believe she had actually been rescued when she needed it the most, though Natsu hadn't been the one to save her.

Alex however nodded seriously and replied, "It's nothing much, but I do need something from you in return." Lucy looked at him curiously before she said equally seriously,

"I don't know what it is you need, but I have to get to the rest of my guild as quickly as possible, they're going to be attacked soon!" Alex nodded in agreement, but said as he held something out to her,

"I'll take you to your guild, but first I need you give me what I need." Lucy's eyes widened as she saw her celestial keys in Alex's hand, before she snatched them away fast enough that Alex was almost surprised she didn't start going 'my precious'.

Though she was terrified of what Aquarius was going to do to her since she had her keys taken away, again, Lucy turned back towards Alex and said, "Thank you for returning my keys, they mean more to me than you know. As for whatever it is you need from me, I can hear you out really quick but I do need to leave as soon as possible." Alex nodded and said,

"We'll leave tonight, I just need to confirm some things before then, let's go upstairs first." He then turned and started making his way upstairs to the main hall of the guild, leaving Lucy to follow along with her chaotic thoughts. Her mind was tossing and turning as she tried to put everything that had just happened to her in order.

First was that the person she had told she could trust betrayed her, and handed her over to Black Collar on a silver platter.

Second was that one of the four generals of the Dark Emperor Darius was either currently, or about to attack Tenrou island with an army of dark guilds and Grimoire Heart at their head.

And then there was the man who had saved her life, Alex, the so-called 'Dragon Emperor'.

There were many things she didn't understand about him, such as where did he come from? What was the magic he had used? What did he want from her? How did he know where she was and that she needed his help? These and other such questions floated through her mind as they made their way up the cold stone stairs, before her mind suddenly blanked at the view that greeted them when they arrived at the main guild hall.

Like all guilds the main hall was set up like a bar/restaurant, though this one had a more sinister design, but that wasn't what had surprised Lucy. It was the group of inordinately beautiful women that were seated there as they waited for them, all of which looked as if they could give even their poster girl, Mirajane, a run for her money in regards to looks. Meanwhile there was a pile of bodies sitting off to the side that they all pointedly ignored, while a couple of the girls rummaged behind the guild's counter for refreshments.

"They only have this nasty smelling liquor~Nya!" Kuroka cried out as she took a whiff of one uncorked bottle, only to almost throw it away based on the smell alone while the other girls around her also wrinkled their noses in displeasure. Shia then turned to face him and Lucy as they approached, and the blond suddenly felt several pairs of eyes focus onto her, as if they were scrutinizing everything about her.

Though the rest of the girls were just looking her over curiously, Rias, Yue, Moka, and Lala were all looking at Lucy curiously due to her giving off the same feeling that each of them gave each other, the influence of 'fate'. Meanwhile Kuroka was the one that was looking at Lucy the most intensely due to her heightened perception of things such as 'fate', a result of her tireless efforts to be the first of Alex's peerage to obtain divinity.

While she had long gotten used to the feeling given off by the other four, Kuroka couldn't help but think that the 'fate' surrounding Lucy was exceptionally powerful compared to them. This was due to the fact that in comparison to Rias, Yue, Moka, and Lala, who were all simply the main 'heroines' of their respective 'stories' while Issei, Hajime, Tskune, and Rito were the actual main protagonists respectfully; Lucy herself was the main 'protagonist' of the Fairy Tail 'story', regardless of how much the series seemed to follow Natsu during the actual conflict.

Squirming under the series of scrutinizing gazes, Lucy however looked at Alex and asked, "Is there something on my face or something?" Alex however shrugged and only said,

"Everyone this is Lucy, Lucy this is Anne, Kuroka, Rias, Yue, Moka, Shia, Shizuku, Grayfia, Kurumu, Sun, Lala, and Yami." Each of the girls casually waved as Alex pointed and introduced them, making her laugh somewhat awkwardly at all of the new faces. She then asked as Alex began making his way to a stool at the bar,

"Um, so how exactly do you all know each other?" No matter how you looked at it, one man traveling with so many beautiful women was certainly unusual, but of all the answers Lucy was expecting, she never expected Alex to casually say,

"They're all my wives of course."

"Eh?"

All that escaped Lucy's mouth was a weird sound as her eyes went as wide as dinner plates, which, a quick glance around her was enough for her to see all of the girls nodding in confirmation of Alex's claim.

"Earth to Lucy!" Alex said as he tried to get her to boot back up while also waving his hand in front of her face, startling her slightly before she said awkwardly,

"I'm sorry, did you say wives?!" Alex nodded slowly as he conjured a bottle of good alcohol out of nowhere, something else that would have greatly stunned her if she still wasn't focused on the 'wives' thing.

Alex then poured her a drink and said with all amusement fading from his voice,

"Lucy, I need you at attention. The sooner we get through what I want to talk about, the sooner we can go to your friends." With Alex referring to the impending attack on Tenrou island, Lucy's eyes came back into focus as she sat down next to him, the rest of the girls around them becoming more intent on what she was going to say.

"What do you need from me?" She asked seriously while gingerly accepting the drink Alex offered her, the fact that she had been drugged previously still fresh in her mind. Alex however didn't mind and said,

"I need you to recount every single experience you've had since joining Fairy Tail, no matter how small, from the very beginning." Lucy paused when she heard that, and asked somewhat suspiciously,

"Why do you want me to tell you that?" Alex's expression however was dead serious as he said,

"Because I need to know what's happening before I can properly make my move, I need to know what you've done yourself and what you haven't." This only confused Lucy even more as, while she could understand current events so to speak, she didn't understand why Alex wanted to know about her own personal history in the guild.

The reason for this was that, as this 'story's' main 'protagonist', Lucy's own experiences would tell Alex more about what had happened and what was different with this world compared to the one he was expecting. Seeing how serious Alex was though, Lucy decided to go along with him if meant getting to and helping her friends faster. And so she threw caution to the wind and downed a gulp of the surprisingly tasty alcohol, and began her tale.