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Gladiator Fairy

Summary:

Marina had been locked in this cage and forced to fight for as long as she could remember. With no hope and no chance, what will she choose to do when someone finally extends a hand?

Chapter 1

Notes:

Updating...

Chapter Text

Lucy was out of money, and rent was almost due. She bounced a leg thoughtlessly, her brown eyes skimming through details of every mission on the job board. She needed quick cash, ideally in bulk so she could pay her rent and also have money for luxury items or keys. 

 

Lucy was so focused, that when a familiar “Whatcha doin’?” Came from behind her, she jumped, nearly a foot in the air. When landed back on the ground right on her butt, she stood up and turned to yell at Happy, but instead saw Natsu grinning ear to ear. 

 

“Don’t do that!” She shouted at him, before turning back around to look at the board with a noticeable huff. She spoke under her voice so they could hear her, but nobody else.“I’m broke and need to find something easy.” It was embarrassing to admit that out loud, after all. 

 

“Why’s it gotta be easy?” Came Natsu’s casual reply. Lucy didn’t hesitate to roll her eyes. It was easy for him because he was a powerful dragon-baby wizard with plenty of magic to spare. She, another incredibly powerful wizard, didn’t have the same endurance and seemingly endless well of power. She was working on it though. Whatever job they inevitably picked out, they would be able to handle just fine if they were together. That’s how it had always been, especially when Erza, Gray, and occasionally Juvia -- albeit only to be with Gray -- tagged along. They were a dream team, and she took pride in that. Still, pride didn’t pay the rent.

 

“It has to be if she wants to do it on her own,” Came Happy’s mocking voice from above. The little blue feline was still flying just out of her reach. That was smart on his part, otherwise she would have tried to grab him out of the sky by the scruff and give him a piece of her mind.

 

“Whatever!” She shouted, frustrated. She turned around, and without really looking, grabbed for a random posting on the higher paying jobs side of the board. She hadn’t looked at the job yet, but when she looked at the reward, it was - 

 

“Two million jewel?” Her cry was louder then she’d meant it, and the entire guild went silent.  She felt the stares on her back before she turned around. 

 

Her stomach dropped. Did I go overboard? Everyone is looking at me! She thought to herself, feeling horribly uncomfortable.

 

What broke the silence was Mira. “That’s not a job you want,” she said in honeyed tones from behind the bar. She didn’t look up from a glass she was cleaning with a washcloth. “At least, not just the two of you.” Happy started to protest he would also be going, but his cries were tuned out. 

 

“Why not?” Lucy asked in a weak voice, scanning the posting. She was regretting not grabbing closer to the bottom now. 

 

Before she could look further into the details written on the paper in her hand, another voice with no regard for tense silences. “Because that’s a job we’ve already claimed.” Lucy didn’t roll her eyes this time, because Laxus scared her, but it was a near thing. He, standing tall with electric blond hair, and a thunder crack scar on his eye, was a sight. A terrifying one when he was angry, and a comforting one when standing between you and an enemy. 

 

Natsu stood in front of her, not letting them take the job from her hands. “Yeah? Well if you already called it, why was it still up?”

 

Laxus scoffed, “Do you not see the ranking, you idiot?” Lucy hadn’t looked much beyond the reward, but when she did she saw it was an S - class mission. For two million jewel, that wasn’t too surprising. Still, they had Erza on their team, so they wouldn’t have any problems accepting the job. 

 

“Why don’t you all go?” Came Mira again. The room went silent again. Truly, they were a guild who loved the drama of it all. 

 

Natsu shot Mira a look, “No way, why would we share a job with these losers?” 

 

“Losers, huh?” Laxus had a smile on his face, equal parts amused and mocking “Remind me, how did your S-class trial go, Natsu?” 

 

Natsu hesitated for a moment, before becoming fired up again. “That was a technicality and you know it. I’m an S-Class in everything but the title.”

 

“Which is the only thing that matters,” Laxus replied. 

 

“I think a group mission would be a fabulous idea,” said Erza who had wandered from the other side of the room to join in the commotion. Lucy, Natsu, and Happy shot her an incredulous look, which she was either oblivious to, or just ignored. 

 

“What job is it everyone is so worked up over?” Gray had been sitting at the bar, Juvia by his side trying to keep grasp of his arm to her chest. 

 

-

 

“In this corner, weighing in at two hundred forty three pounds, known for crushing the skulls of his master’s enemies, the Hound!” Came the voice of the announcer. He used a lacrima to boom his voice into the open-air stadium. The night air bit cold on the skin, and the lacrima torches that lit up the arena in a ghostly glow did nothing to help that. 

 

The fans howled in delight. The fans who weren’t able to get seats stood within walking sections or on layered marble stairs leading down to an area that took up the entire ground floor. Even most of the fans who did get seats were standing. It was just that exciting.  

 

Down on the battlefield, a massive man with a steel helmet with two pointed pikes on either side walked out from a covered enclosure. Cheers erupted from the audience to see the man acclaimed for being a warrior for the king in the North to go up against the champion of the Pits. 

 

“And in this corner,” The announcer continued. The gate opened, and out came a person of average stature. They were covered head to toe in material that blocked out any features, and swaggered in as if they were on the verge of losing their balance. This was always a shock to newcomers, who expected the champion to be as big as the Hound, holding weapons covered in the day's carnage. 

 

“The reigning champion, the Leviathan!” Cheers and boos alike erupted from the audience, and the sponsor, and the owner of the Pits, and the Leviathan, leaned forward in his seat. He grinned ear to ear, knowing the outcome of this battle. 

 

Fight !” 

 

The Leviathan continued to wobble in place, but otherwise made no movements to attack. The Hound smiled to himself under his helmet, thinking they looked like a scarecrow blowing in the wind, or even a punching bag. He gripped a mighty ax, personalized with a howling dog on the pommel he’d used to behead and slaughter many people, and charged like the Leviathan would be no different. He was faster then he looked like he would be, but that didn’t matter. The Leviathan still didn’t waiver, just silently moved around in place. 

 

They didn’t even flinch when the Hound swung his axe down on the perfect point to split the Leviathan’s head right open like a melon. When his axe hit the ground instead, was surprised, and to his credit recovered remarkably. 

 

He heard the rattle of metal clanging against itself. They were behind him. He swung his ax with both hands, ready to cleave torso from legs, and spraying organs all over the ground. He gave a loud, anticipatory battle cry that echoed in his helmet. 

 

When he met the eyes of his attacker, he only had enough time to form impressions. Green, slit pupils, predatory focus. He’d only ever seen those eyes in beasts. No, more than beasts, apex creatures who knew they were taking on someone clearly weaker than them. 

 
They smacked the ax out of his hands. His eyes went wild, his thoughts even worse. How did they break my grip? He looked down. His wrist bones popped out through the skin. The answer came to him then, they hadn’t broken his  grip, they’d broken his hands. 

 

He had been so confident in his skills that when he walked into the Pits, he never expected his last day alive would be so cloudy. 

 

The Leviathan wasted no time with fanfare, flair or talk, and decisively clapped their hands around the neck of the Hound, headless of the armor he had on. The metal gave way in their hands, and molded to their fingers. 

 

The Hound made the gurgling noises of being strangled from under his helmet that only the Leviathan could hear. They let him stare into their eyes while ripping the head from the body. It was a bloody thing. Resistance from where skin, then muscle, then ligaments, blood vessels, and spine came apart was barely a thought anymore. 

 

When he fell, the audience erupted into screams of disbelief that it was over so quickly, awe of the Champions’s strength, and excitement that could truly only be called bloodlust. 

 

Longtime fans of the Pits knew what the Leviathan was capable of, and most knew that the Hound’s master was a fool to have entered him and expected to leave with him. 

 

“And the winner is, the Leviathan!” Called the announcer over the cheers and jeers. The Leviathan’s master left his seat, going to greet his fighter. This was the last fight of the day, the sun already having set over the horizon. When the Leviathan came out, it signaled the end: not only for any who faced them, but for the challengers of the day. Tomorrow would come more blood, just like every day before, and every day that would come after. 

 

“I told you to drag it out longer,” Crawford, the Leviathan’s master sneered. He stared at his champion, clutching the bars of their cage as they sat silently on the mattress with a plain white sheet covering it. The Leviathan didn’t answer. They didn’t even look up.

 

Crawford waved his hand, and the cage swung open with a creaking groan. Slowly, he peeled his clothes off, standing before them bare from the waist down.

 

“Then why don’t I remind you just what happens when you don’t listen to me,” Crawford yanked the mask from the Leviathan's face. The chains that covered her body from under the costume rattled. Long blue hair fell down her shoulders, her face was gaunt, cheeks sunken in. There was no light in her eyes, and she refused to look up to her captor. 

 

-

 

“It says,” Lucy said, squinting at the letters on the page. “It’s to rescue a girl.”