"The tower is gone."

Erza had abruptly approached Shikako at the guild asking to go somewhere private, but she hadn't expected this. Shock flooded her system "gone... What? Tell me." The red-haired teen nodded as they sat down. They had taken their conversation to the Beast Tamer's office, where Erza explained everything. After the older teens had been taken away, Jellal became distant, and soon after Erza escaped. The swordswoman was devastated to learn Jellal had been the one to continue the construction of the tower with the other slaves' help in keeping order.

They came to Akane and took Erza back... there. She found out that they had been told she had abandoned them and sabotaged their chance at escaping. Team Natsu followed them to the tower where Simon helped the Fairy's. Shikako took a shuddering breath when the young woman told her Simon and Jellal had both died in the blast.

Erza left telling Shikako that Natsu ate pure etherion and was at Lucy's sick.

'Gone... That place is gone.' The Beast Tamer thought in shock, she really didn't know what to think. It had been ten years since she 'left' that place.

FlashBack

Shikako had been sent to Fiore to learn more about how to control her magic, both of them. She squirmed and groaned dramatically, at the moment she was slightly uncomfortable in her body, her pops had a gender spell tattooed on to her right shoulder, which was indefinitely activated since it was tattooed instead of it being a charm.

At first, she was against it, she liked being a girl. But her pops said women and girls had been going missing lately and he didn't want anything to happen. Just an extra precaution. So she let it go and thought of all the places she could nap in, without a problem as a guy.

Shikako rolled her eyes as one of her guards picked on the driver of the caravan, something about a lady back in Bosco. It was as sudden as thunder, one man dropped, then slowly one by one all the men were dead before she could take a second breath. She felt, before she saw, someone appear behind her as they pushed a needle into her neck, injecting her with some kind of fast-acting tranquilizer.

The next thing she could remember is waking up in a rotten smelling cell. She was scared but she couldn't let that control her 'an Atarangi thinks before they act. 'She could hear her pop's voice remind her as she took deep calming breaths.

For the next couple of days, they kept her separate from the other slaves, trying to break her. They kept cuffs on her that sealed her magic, which was starting to chaff her wrist and ankles. She sighed then winced as the large breath agitated the whip wounds on her back. The next day they moved her to a larger cell, where she fervently ignored the others whimpering. Shikako took the time to sleep and build a little strength back, even just a little. Every morning the guards would beat on the cell bars waking the girl only furthering her darkened mood.

A growl sounded throughout the cell scaring the jumpy guards and inhabitants alike. Weeks on end it was like this, and but 'he' was valuable merchandise and they could punish her for talking because growling isn't technically talking.

Glancing around she calmed down as she saw a group of kids a little younger than herself, carefully and quietly as not to alert the guards, the young teen made her way over.

"Sup." Shikako huffed in pain as she crouched down next to the tan boy about a year or two younger than her. He gave her an unreadable look but nodded his head anyway. Warily looking at the others he introduced each kid.

"I'm Erik, the pale kid is Macbeth, the girl is Sorano, and the other guy is Sawyer." He pointed to each as he stated their names. Macbeth was the one with duel black and dirty white colored hair and dark red eyes, like the wine her aunt used to drink.

Sorano's white hair slightly dulled to a gray as her blue eyes darkened with mistrust, she was the only girl of the group. And Sawyer's blonde hair and brown eyes were pretty common although his nose was slightly more pointed then average.

Erik, she could tell, was definitely a boscan with his darker tan skin, brown almost maroon hair, and violet-colored eyes. He talked with a hint of an accent, but no one else seemed to question it.

"I'm Shika." And with that, the boscan girl was integrated into their group. On cold nights they would huddle in the back of the cell piled on Erik and Shika seeing as they had a higher body temperature. When Macbeth had nightmares she would run her hands through his hair, unconsciously braiding some strands. She kept them strong, rationing their given food, comforting them when they needed, and they kept her going. Erik especially, in return he would let her unwind when she needed and kept her company when she had nightmares, and vice versa.

A year into their imprisonment, Shikako heard some whispering behind some of the boxes in the center or 'working' part of the tower. The voices were young, just kids, definitely younger than her. Calmly walking over she stood behind the blue-haired boy. The boy noticed quickly as he scrambled away from her as the rest of the group began to pale, holding her hands up in a placating way, she tried calming them "maa, maa, it's okay, I'm not here to cause trouble. I was just curious."

Relief fell over their faces, except, for the blue-haired boy "What do you want? You gonna tell on us?" Shikako grinned at his protectiveness "Nah kid. Tell you what I'll give you my support if you need it. But I wouldn't count on getting it though. A lot of the teen slaves are being sold to other owners."

She paused sighing feeling years older but the boscan plastered a smirk back on her face "but hey if I can help you kids get out that's all I need."

Shikako felt something slither up her leg but she didn't freak out cause knew it was just Erik sending Cubellios to check on her. She turned to leave with a wave over her shoulder pausing only a little when the blue-haired boy introduced himself and the little red-haired girl "I'm Jellal and this is Erza."

"Shika."

Three more years passed and Shikako was honestly close to her breaking point, last year they took her group and sold them to a guy named Brain. Trying to keep her head above the water, she's been trying to help the younger group but it's getting harder not getting caught.

Clanging on cell bars signaled work time as she sighed, not even wincing as she had become numb to the pain as she got up. Shikako walked in the direction of the center but is yanked to a stop "not this time, slave. You are going in a different way." The Boscan's silver eyes widen as she is dragged behind the guard, he tosses her into a bathroom as she thanks her father mentally for the spell again, as she is stripped and scrubbed at. She's dressed in slightly nicer rags as she is taken to another room where a lady is waiting.

The lady is pretty with curled auburn hair and hazel eyes hidden behind eyeglasses, her gaze though is cold and calculating. "This the boy? He sure is a looker." Being around the age of 17 by now she was certain it was not meant innocently.

"Yes this is 2045, he is a challenge though. Are you sure you want him?" The woman's face turned sour with a sneer on her painted lips. "Are you questioning me?! I could have you killed!"

Pale-faced the guard bowed apologizing, she handed him the money before dismissing him. The man scurried out of the room not once glancing back.

It had been a month since she had been bought by the women, thankfully she hadn't made a move to try anything. But Shikako wasn't going to take any chances, the boscan made a plan with the other slaves.

In two days' time, the woman was going to a party at another residence, luckily she wasn't taking any of the slaves since it's still illegal to own other humans. While she's gone they would attack, the next two days they would carefully take random knives or sharp items to use as weapons.

The day had finally come, Shikako was getting ready in the slaves quarters when a young boy came sliding around the corner. "Shika the mistress changed her mind! She's not going!"

The boscan's silver eyes widened but before she could say anything, a large explosion rocked the mansion. Screams echoed the halls accompanied by the sound of metal clashing, running out with the boy following. Bodies of comrades and guards alike fell to the floor joining the ones already there, Shikako's breath caught in her throat. Her heartbeat sped up, sweat collected on her forehead, and her eyes began to blur.

Shadows spiked and flared around the boscan creeping up the length of her body. The slaves stared in awe as the guards quivered. A low terrifying growl came from the mass of shadows.

The shadows had completely covered the girl as she no longer looked human, but instead a large gnarly beast.

It's body thin and upright with its rib cage visible the creature was hunched over on deer-like back legs, as it dug its claws into the tiled floor. An open wolf-like maw showed a row of monstrous sharp teeth, atop it's head a pair of antlers stood ridged with incredibly deadly points.

The breath of every being in its vicinity shuddered as the creature's hollow eye sockets lit with red glowing pupils.

Flashback

Not long after that incident Shikako met back up with her pack and reestablished her ties with them, before heading to Fairy Tail.

The S-class mage breathed out a shaky sigh collapsing back into her office sofa. Recounting her past was never an easy task, she still looked for her cell-mates, but she was never able to find anything on them even as influential as she is.

Shikako dryly chuckled 'that's if they're not already dead and 6 feet in the ground." Her bitter thoughts came to a stop when a knock on the door echoed in the room. "Shika? If you're in there... I- we heard about the tower... and if you ever need to talk-." Mira's sweet voice, muffled behind the door, wavered in a rush of emotions.

The brunette wasted no time in quickly opening the wooden door and dragging her in for a tight embrace. The whited haired girl sighed as she rubbed the trembling back of the taller 'male', 'he' wasn't crying but Mira could tell that 'he' was taking this pretty hard.

Pulling back but keeping her hands on the bartender's arms, Shikako smiled softly "I don't know what I did to get such a troublesome and loving family."

Mira chuckled as she wiped at her teary eyes "and I don't know what we did to get such a lazy and reliable master."