*Disclaimer: I am not a med student. I spent a grand total of 45 minutes on healthline.com researching for this chapter. If you think something is unrealistic... Sorry, but I'm not a med student.

Also, I'm sorry this is a few days late.

My surroundings were dark and hazy. Like I was trapped in a cloud of smoke with nothing else in sight. I tried to take a breath, but there was hardly any air for my lungs to take in. My lungs contracted and retracted, but the air was practically non-existent.

My body was hyperventilating, but my lungs were still in a state of torture. It was a pain I had never experienced before and I wasn't sure how much longer I could take it. I tried calling out for help, but my voice barely came out as a whisper.

It was like my lungs were in a constant state of half-capacity. No matter how much I forced my diaphragm up, my lungs would only stay at half-empty. It was torturous. I was too distracted by my inability to breathe to notice anything else.

My muscles were too weak to move and my vision was blurry. It was like my body was paralyzed except for my lungs that refused to fill with oxygen. More than anything, I wanted to pass out and be relieved from the pain of being awake. But the sweet release of sleep never came.

I was alone in my torture for what seemed like an eternity before my eyes saw a bright light. Suddenly my surroundings changed and my side hit the hardwood floor with a thud. 

My lungs heaved, finally filling themselves with the oxygen they craved. My head rushed with blood, making my vision blurry with vertigo as I coughed violently.

"Nashi!" 

I heard my name, but I was too dizzy and my head was hurting too bad to process what was happening. My lungs continued to heave with loud raspy gasps, making my heart race.

"I understand that this one is your own daughter," Said a thick cockney accent. "Well, she's been on her last breath for the past hour... It's a torturous experience really. Your lungs are never quite able to take a full breath. So they just heave for hours, never getting their fill. The spell even prevents the victim from passing out or dying, so there's no relief from the pain," 

As I gasped for air on the floor, I was able to make out Jacob Lessio's Cockney accent looming above me. I quickly realized I was a hostage, but the lack of oxygen had made my muscles too weak to do anything. I was helpless.

"Should I return her to that state?" He asked. "Or should I just stop her breathing all together?"

My lungs continued to gasp for air as Lessio kneeled down next to me and clamped his massive hand over the lower half of my face. I tried to inhale, but his gloves were blocking any air coming in and out. I squirmed against the assasssin's hold, but my muscles were still too weak to do anything to help me. 

"Don't touch her!" I recognized that voice to be Lucy as she cried out for my safety.

I felt tears sting my eyes as I squirmed to break free of Lessio's hold. The assassin had a tight hold on my face that didn't budge. My lungs were burning with the inability to breathe and I quickly realized that this was much worse than what I had previously experienced.

"Maybe you'd like a better look," He taunted. 

I felt him grab my shoulder and pull me onto my knees so everyone could see my torture. I continued to weakly fight his hold, but he was three times my size with an iron grip. I looked up and saw Lucy in her Leo dress and Natsu standing next to her defensively. I guess he finally woke up. They both looked fearful and angry.

"I've got 114 of your mates tucked away in a spot I made for 'em." Lessio bragged. "I think it's about time they started dying. Starting with this one," 

I whimpered against his hand as my vision started to go blurry. My head was pounding like crazy. It felt like someone was hitting my skull over and over.

"No, stop!" Natsu shouted. Lucy had wide eyes as she covered her mouth fearfully.

That was when my muscles felt too heavy to carry. I slowly stopped fighting against the assassin's hold as my eyelids fought to stay open. The pain was intense, but my mind was starting to go dark and numb. It was a relief I wanted to follow, but I knew I shouldn't.

"Let her go!" Natsu roared.

"Give me Fairy Heart or your friends all disappear," Lessio ordered.

"Wait," Lucy realized. "Your friends! You've accidentally sent one of your own away with ours! Brandish was here too,"

"Was she?" 

Just when I thought I was going to either explode or pass out, Lessio let go of my face. My lungs were too tired to gasp for air and vertigo rushed back to my head, making my eyes even more blurry and dizzy. As I shakily breathed in the air, I wanted to fall over from weakness, but Lessio was still holding me in front of him as his hostage.

"Hm? Brandish! And that bloody wanker? Damn it! If I took her out with 'em, Dimaria would never let me hear the end of it," He sounded frustrated.

I watched deliriously as Lucy pulled out one of her keys while Lessio wasn't looking. She and Natsu both gave me a fearful look, wondering if their next move would be too risky. To reassure to them that I was all right, I offered a weak smile. 

I had expected one of them to smile back and put my own mind at ease, but they both still looked worried. 

Suddenly, Brandish and Marin appeared and fell onto the floor in front of me. Lucy took this moment to summon Gemini, who turned into Marin while the assassin wasn't looking. 

"Consider yourselves lucky," Lessio told his comrades. 

"Thanks man, that place was so not chill," Marin sighed.

"Thanks man, that place was so not chill," Gemini Marin mocked gleefully. 

Everyone looked super confused as they stared at the two Marins. They paused for a brief moment before they finally realized what was happening, but it was too late.

"Law of Space! Activate!" Gemini happily cast the spell that canceled all spacial magic and Lessio quickly realized what was happening. With a bright light, guild members started materializing around the room.

"Oh Bollocks," Lessio started to sweat as suddenly the entire guild was filled with Fairy Tail members ready to kick butt. 

It was at that moment that I summoned all of the strength I had in me to throw myself out of Lessio's hold. He looked surprised as I hit the floor with a determined grin. 

Before he could even react, Kali let out a roar and pounced with enough force to pin the man to the ground. She growled at the assassin, baring her six-inch teeth inches away from his face. 

My lungs were still struggling to breathe as I closed my eyes for just a second, hoping that I could finally get the sleep my body was begging for. Then I heard a skid on the floor as somebody slid next to me. I felt a hand lift my shoulders as the other supported my head.

"Nashi stay awake, tell me you're all right," It was my father's voice urging me to stay awake.

"Come on stay with us," Lucy exclaimed from my other side. I felt her hands pull me onto her lap and I shakily opened my eyes. My sight landed on Natsu's messy pink hair and his concerned expression.

"I was wondering when you were gonna wake up," I whispered. He gave a relieved smile that he shared with Lucy who smiled gratefully right back at him. 

Was that blush on their faces?

"You dare waltz in here and hurt our first master and my children?!" Makarov boomed. He had a terrifying look on his face as he grew into his giant form. "Out of anyone here, you should respect our first master more than anyone else!"

Makarov made his fist grow even larger and punched the trembling assassin straight through the wall. His fist left a massive hole in the wall that reached from the floor to the ceiling, revealing the lake behind the guildhall.

"Hey don't wreck our new guildhall!" Natsu yelled, storming up to the master angrily.

Makarov glared at Natsu and scooped the foul-mouthed dragon slayer up into his giant hand. Natsu squirmed and started yelling as Gramps prepared to throw him.

"I don't wanna hear that from you!" Makarov roared as he threw the screaming Salamander out the same hole. 

I couldn't help but feel sorry for Natsu as I heard his alarmed shouts from so far away. I watched as he spiraled toward Lessio with fiery attacks. Suddenly, his flames got so hot that the entire lake evaporated right before my very eyes. 

If my body weren't so weak, my jaw would have fallen open with shock.

"Don't ever touch my girls again!" He roared.

Natsu slammed his fist into the cockney one last time before the assassin was knocked into the ground, finally defeated by the Salamander. Everyone cheered as Natsu turned around and pumped his fist proudly. 

"That's our Natsu," Lucy smiled.

"Aye," Happy added.

I couldn't help but smile as I closed my eyes once again. The sweet release of sleep was right around the corner. 

"Nashi stay awake," Lucy shook my shoulders, but I refused to open my eyes. She shook me harder, eventually resorting to pulling me into a sitting position. "Nashi, you're barely breathing!"

Now that she mentioned it, I realized my lungs were barely taking in any air. Only this time, my brain was numb to the pain and everything was going dark. I wanted to follow the darkness once more and fall into a deep slumber, but Lucy wasn't having it. 

"Somebody help!" She cried out. 

"What happened?" I think it was Porlyusica's voice that knelt down beside me.

"That Spriggan 12 member nearly suffocated her, but she's still not breathing properly,"

"You're right," Porlyusica held her hand under my nose to feel my breathing. "Nashi if you can hear me, I need you to try to take a deep breath,"

I didn't open my eyes, but I tried my best to take a deep breath in through my nose. Only it wasn't very deep at all. It was small and raspy, making me choke on my own air. I gasped for air, only this time, there wasn't any air entering my lungs. 

"Get her to the infirmary!" Porlyusica shouted. 

I felt two pairs of hands lift me out of Lucy's lap as they started to carry me up the stairs. 

"Stay awake Nashi!" I heard Happy call after me as he and Lucy followed us up the stairs. 

I felt them set my fragile body on one of the infirmary beds as my lungs continued to shakily take in smaller breaths. Suddenly everything went bright as Porlyusica pried open one of my eyes and shined a light.

"Nashi you've got to stay awake for now. You can sleep in a little while, but for now, I need you to stay awake and try to breathe," The healer explained.

My body felt so exhausted and my head was so dark and dizzy. I wanted to fall asleep, but I fought the urge and tried to focus on what she was saying. I was so confused as to what was happening around me, I just wanted to sleep.

"What's going on?" I heard two voices say at the same time. I recognized one to be Natsu's and the other was Kali's human voice. I heard them rush to my side as several more footsteps gathered in the infirmary.

"She's not breathing properly," Porlyusica stated simply. "We need to intubate her,"

I felt someone grab my head and open my mouth as they shoved something down my throat. I choked and tried to cough as a tube went down my windpipe and into my trachea. It hurt immensely as it shoved itself inside my chest. I heard several rhythmic clicks on a machine and my chest began to rise and fall with steady breathing.

The dizziness returned and I felt a little less weak when I heard a sigh of relief from the old healer.

"She'll need to stay on the ventilator lacrima for a few hours to get the oxygen back to her brain," Porlyusica explained. 

I pulled my eyelids half-open and found a small crowd had gathered in the infirmary. 

"Is she gonna be all right?" Cana asked. 

"Her breathing should return to normal in a few hours," Porlyusica added. "Right now she just needs oxygen and rest,"

At the sound of the word "rest", I immediately closed my eyes and followed the darkness that ushered me into sleep. Before I could drift off, I felt someone grab my hand and squeeze it reassuringly as another hand ran their fingers through my hair tenderly. 

- - - - - -

Several Hours Later:

I tugged on the blanket to pull it closer to my chest. I could hear arguing coming from downstairs, but I was too tired to care. The infirmary beds were so much more comfortable than the cot I slept on last night, I wanted to relish in the comfort. I grabbed the pillow and slammed it on top of my head to block out the commotion. 

A few hours ago, they woke me up to test my breathing to see if I could go without the intubation. Luckily I passed the test while I was half-asleep and they removed the tubes. But then they replaced them with another tube that ran under my nose and blew air into my nostrils. This one was much less invasive, but a little bit of a nuisance when it came to rolling over in bed.

Apparently, during the first few hours that I was passed out, my parents and Kali had refused to leave my bedside. I guess I couldn't blame them for being worried. After all, I had a whole machine doing the breathing for me for a few hours. I'd be worried too.

Thankfully, Porlyusica said I recovered much quicker than she had anticipated, so I was all set to make a full recovery. 

I took a deep breath and my lungs were finally content to breathe easily. It was bliss just being able to inhale and exhale normally. 

I smiled with a satisfied sigh and finally opened my eyes. The room was empty and dark except for the moonlight pouring in the window.

It's already nighttime? How long was I asleep?

I pulled off the oxygen tube and slid the blanket away. I stretched my limbs and tested my strength by standing up. To be honest I felt completely normal. As if nothing bad had happened at all. I couldn't help but smile to myself. I truly felt as good as new, except for the itching coming from my shoulder.

I went to scratch the itch when I realized it was covered by the bandage I had been given yesterday. I pulled off the bandage and what I saw nearly stopped my breathing all together again. 

The wound hadn't scarred, nor was it still bleeding. Instead, the wound was covered... by golden scales.