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Catch the Thunder	By : Rhov Category: +. to F > Fairy Tail Views: 17789 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 2
Disclaimer: Fairy Tail is the property of Hiro Mashima. I make no money, I just do this for my own pleasure.

Chapter List
- 48
- 49
- 50
TRIGGER WARNING: Mentions of child and spousal abuse. Be warned.
Chapter 49
Shelter From the Storm
After the meal, Freed drove them to what looked like some small apartments. He pulled into a visitor parking spot, and almost immediately there was a heavy-set woman with bushy black hair and a crocodile-tooth necklace standing by the car with a glare that could kill. However, Freed stepped out of the car and gave her a polite nod.
"We're here to see the Matron about a donation."
"And who are you?" she demanded.
"Freed Justine, son of Liberty Justine of the Free Women Now organization. We've supported this facility since its founding."
She glared as she looked at him up and down. "I know Liberty Justine. All right, I guess it's okay."
Freed again tipped his head. "Your diligence against male visitors is understandable."
"And who's he?" She leered at the blond stepping out of the car.
"My partner, Laxus Dreyar. It'll be him making the donation today."
"Gotcha! The name's Risley Law," she said, now smiling, her tough demeanor instantly jovial. "Welcome to the Mermaid Heel Shelter."
The pudgy woman led them inside. Laxus glanced around silently. It really did look like normal apartments, shielded on the outside with brick walls and rose bushes, a single secured door leading to a corridor, which led to a central courtyard. All of the apartments opened inward to this court, where there was a swimming pool, a small playground, and a shaded spot with a barbecue and benches for picnics. The apartments went up two floors, and women stood on porches watching children run around the courtyard. Children stopped to watch them, mothers whispered together, and the court fell quieter at the arrival of the newcomers.
"The Matron is through here to the next building," Risley informed them.
They followed a brick path through the miniature park and through another corridor on the other side. This one opened to an annexed building, five stories tall, more clinical in appearance. They entered, and Laxus realized this was not a place to live, but a business building. He even saw a sign pointing people to a medical clinic.
Risley brought them to an elevator that took them to the top floor. They continued to follow her to an office at the end of the corridor. She knocked and pushed the door open.
"Miss Kagura, the son of the Justine family is here to make a personal donation."
A stern-faced woman stepped forward, Japanese with long black hair tied with a white ribbon, a crisp white suit with a red necktie, and a perpetual glare to her dark eyes. She walked up to Freed, but instead of shaking his hand, she bowed formally. Freed bowed back, obviously trained to greet someone this way.
"Kagura Mikazuchi. I was not informed of your intentions."
"It was a spur-of-the-moment decision. My partner here has come into some funds and wishes to donate to your charity."
Kagura looked from Freed to Laxus, then back again. She eyed Freed up and down with harshness in her gaze.
"Shall I show you around?" she offered.
"If you are too busy—"
"I want to show what your donation will support," she insisted. "I feel that's important to our patrons. The issue of domestic violence is too often hidden from society. It shouldn't be! It has visible consequences, so it should be visible and treated with utmost seriousness."
Laxus took a step forward. "I wanna see it for myself. I want to know what you guys do to help."
Kagura stared at him for a long time, her eyes flicking, noticing details about this behemoth man in a suit and tie with wild hair and a scar on his face. Finally, she nodded and led them out.
"We are one of three shelters in the city, and I hate to say it, but we're constantly overcrowded. Here, an abused partner can seek help and escape to somewhere kept confidential. Average people do not know what we are. Most of the safe houses are publicly portrayed as merely apartments and businesses. That's why Risley was so on guard. We don't get personal visitors that often."
"My apologies, then," Freed said humble. "I knew of this place from when I accompanied my mother to its opening."
"Missus Justine. She was a vocal advocate for us, and we're eternally grateful."
Laxus leaned over to Freed's ear. "You never told me your mother supported stuff like this."
"Well, Mother does lots of charity work. She helped to start Free Women Now, which gives free legal support to women facing domestic abuse, child support problems, gives financial options to former prostitutes, and works with authorities to stop human trafficking."
"Damn! I respect your mom a lot more now."
Kagura led them to the fourth floor. There were rooms with people busy on computers, shouting over the phone, and some of the offices showed name plaques with names suffixed with JD, LL.M, and Esq. Lawyers! Lots of them.
Kagura narrated throughout the whole tour. "Mothers bring their children here, and the shelter provides them with free legal help as they bring their abuser to justice. Some of these women, now without a husband to support them, simply can no longer afford their rent. Here, they are not only given a roof, bed, and meals, but job training, computer skills, and assistance in finding employment, usually a work-at-home online job so they can care for their children but still be able to afford living on their own."
The third floor had various vocational classrooms, filled with computers to train the women how to use the internet to their financial advantage. Another had flower arrangements—apparently they just had a class on that skill—and another had various crafts and sewing projects, teaching some women to use their artistic creativity to sell items on Etsy and Ebay. Kagura explained that single mothers often had to have some sort of secondary income just to afford an apartment big enough for children.
The second floor had psychological counseling rooms, which they were not allowed to visit since they were all full.
"Both spouses and children get counseling, group help … these people were broken badly enough to seek us out. The person they loved betrayed them in the worst way. They have a long road ahead to piece together their emotions."
"This was one of my mother's main focuses," Freed told her, looking sadly at all the closed doors, realizing that inside each was a person recovering from shattered trust. "My grandmother suffered silently from my grandfather's alcoholism for years. She tried to escape once when my mother was twelve, but he found them, dragged them back, and hired guards to make sure they did not escape again. He practically imprisoned her and my mother. It culminated with their deaths. My mother was in college, a real activist, got arrested for protesting against the patriarchy. When she was released from jail, Grandfather was furious. I wonder what he hated more: that she was arrested, or that she felt women deserved equality. According to my mother, though … it got bad. He was drunk, there was a fight, Grandfather began to hit my mother, Grandmother fought him off to defend her. She was a tiny woman, but she stood in his way with a frying pan, defending her child. He knocked her aside, screamed that both she and my mother should learn their place. Then he said he was going to bring her to the police for hitting him, said he could get her institutionalized for insanity. The sad thing is, with his money and influence, he probably could have done precisely that. He dragged her to the car, forced her inside, used the seatbelt to practically tie her up, drove off … and crashed into a semi-truck. Both died. Mother always felt that if Grandmother had escaped that toxic environment—if she had a safe place, somewhere my grandfather could not track her down—maybe they'd both be alive. That abuse affected her, still does at times, I can see it. No one in my family is allowed to get drunk. At any family parties, if someone shows obvious signs of inebriation, they are escorted out before Mother can see it. It triggers flashbacks."
"How does she deal with your brother?" asked Laxus.
Freed laughed bitterly. "She doesn't. She avoided even seeing him through his alcohol phase. Apparently Bickslow looks a lot like my grandfather. It really terrifies her, seeing him turn out this way. Those scars … they're in your soul! You never fully heal, but you can learn to keep on going day by day. She wants these victims to have that chance, to learn to live with the scars and continue advancing."
Laxus clasped Freed on the shoulder and smiled down at him. "I really do have a new respect for your mother."
He smiled gladly. His mother might be skittish and opportunistic, but she was also a strong woman who struggled through many trials in the past.
At the end of this hall was a room under construction. Freed glanced inside and saw the skeletal beginning of a massive classroom.
"We had a few incidences with the abusive partner attempting to kidnap the children from school. The mothers pulled the children out of school, we got them tutors, but we decided we could do a lot of good for these kids by simply building a classroom where they can feel safe and learn at their own pace. Since some of these children exhibit signs of PTSD, normal schooling simply is not recommended. Once this is finished, we can provide a multi-grade schoolhouse, like in times long ago. Each child will get homework based on their grade, and students can work with tutors as well as psychologists if they have troubles with keeping in the moment long enough to focus on the assignment."
"Those kids definitely need that," Laxus said, his brow tensed. If he had time to adjust, time to get over the flashbacks of horror, and counseling to integrate back to a normal life, perhaps he would have done well enough in school to attend college. Perhaps he would have gotten a normal job. Perhaps his entire life would have been different.
"These children are often moved to different schools anyway, but the abusive parents somehow find them. Some survivors of abuse have to vanish just to escape their partner, and police have to get involved. We keep these safe houses off the radar so the people here can live without fear. However, children attending public school are more exposed than a parent who stays in here receiving vocational training. Even if they've come here from another city, if the abusive parent is on the loose, the children are often the first ones found, and attempted kidnapping is far more common than anyone wants to admit. It's happened five times to our guests in just this past year."
Laxus made a grunt. That was pretty much what happened to him. He could not remember if he went with his father willingly, trusting "daddy" to pick him up from school, but he found out later on that his mother had no clue why he vanished for months. She had panicked and organized searches for him, while Laxus was kept caged away like a lab rat by his father.
With goosebumps prickling him, Laxus reached behind his shoulder and traced over the etching in his skin. 4-6-2.
A soft hand touched his arm. "Laxus?" Freed whispered in worry.
He jolted out of dark memories and looked down into those turquoise eyes. They calmed him and chased away the darkness. He took his hand away from the branded numbers and patted Freed's shoulder.
"Yeah," he muttered. "I'm fine."
Gradually, they made their way to the ground floor. Kagura showed them through the medical clinic, and although she avoided showing any current patients, she showed some of the X-rays of the broken bones and concussions the battered victims suffered, pictures of lacerations and swollen faces, deep bruises, all graphic realities of domestic abuse.
After that, Freed asked if he could get some fresh air. They strolled out to the courtyard, but Kagura warned them not to interact.
Laxus watched the children running around. Many had been there for a while, long enough to smile again as they chased each other and played on the slide and swings. A few still had bruises from the abuse they had suffered until finally arriving at this shelter. Many of the children sat in the shade watching the others with hollow eyes that Laxus recognized too well. He had looked that way in the mirror for years after his father did those horrific experiments on him.
One of the helpers slipped up to Kagura. Although she whispered, Laxus overheard. There were a few women feeling too nervous about having these men around.
Kagura tried to be as courteous as possible as she led them back through the business building and out a side door. There was another building, just a regular house from the appearance, no different from the other houses along the street. However, as they entered, Laxus saw that this was yet another safe house, this time for men.
"They are kept away from the women due to psychological reasons on both sides," explained Kagura. "It often takes a man or woman time to trust the other gender again, so we purchased this house, thanks to generous donations. We've found it best for the men to stay together here, although the children usually mingle in the courtyard."
"Even the dudes have to leave like this?" asked Laxus, honestly shocked as he saw men with children, one healing from a head wound, another with a scab across his face from a knife wound.
"Generally, women are perceived as the main victims of domestic abuse. However, 57% of domestic violence is against men. Most men do not report it, fearing humiliation or, worse, that the wife may twist the situation into being his fault and claim to be the victim. Still, we are getting more and more homosexual men seeking shelter from abusive partners."
"It takes a brave man to admit they need help," Freed said in awe.
Kagura looked at him closely. "Yes. A brave man. Society frowns upon men who admit they need help. Boys are taught from an early age never to hit girls. Therefore, men feel they can't even fight back when a woman become violent against them.
"Abuse is a serious issue that affects all people, not just women. Women don't realize how emotionally and mentally abusive they can be, acting in a manipulative or controlling manner, calling into question a man's masculinity, and believing it's okay to hit a man, but not okay for a man to hit a woman, even in self-defense. Some women falsely believe they are justified because they are acting out against the patriarchy. That's disgusting and a shame to all women! Being a social justice warrior does not make domestic abuse okay.
"A woman who acts controlling or aggressive toward her partner, stalks him in real life or online, acts jealous of women who are platonic friends, accuses him of cheating with no justification, demands he stop seeing friends or family, prevents her partner from going to work, dictates how he may spend money, slaps or kicks her partner in anger, forces him into sexual acts against his will—which includes belittling his masculinity in pursuit of physical pleasure when he has stated he does not want sex—and threatens him by claiming she will accuse him of abuse or rape: these are all acts categorized as domestic abuse."
Laxus grunted. "I see that shit on TV all the time: jealous women, accusing all other women of hitting on their guy, seeing anyone with boobs as rivals. TV makes it seem like it's normal, feminine, even cute."
"It's not!" Kagura insisted, looking affronted. "It's a sick double standard in society that needs to be banished. They are a disgrace to the very cause of feminism. Abusive bitches, nothing more!" She suddenly caught herself. "Ah. Sorry. I … I really do apologize."
Freed and Laxus glanced at one another. There was something a little too personal with that small rant.
"Ahem … Three in ten women and one in ten men in the U.S. have experienced rape, physical violence, or stalking by a partner. However, men have much higher rates of being victims of domestic terrorism."
"Domestic … terrorism?" Freed asked, shocked by such a volatile term.
"That's precisely what it is. Toxic aggressiveness and controlling behavior, psychological manipulation bordering on brainwashing, unfounded jealousy, evoking fear through stalking behavior, asserting terror through emotional tyranny. Post-breakup violence, which is often not an option on surveys about abuse, leans heavily toward women being extremely violent, from destruction of property to even attacking their ex or the person who replaced her. Worse, women are more likely than men to murder their own children. 70% more likely than men."
"Horrible!" Freed physically shuddered at the idea, yet he realized there had been many news reports of women who killed their children, sometimes due to anger against the father.
"Whereas acts of physical violence are more common against women, acts of mental and emotional abuse are higher against men. However, since many women have to compensate for being smaller and weaker, women are more likely to turn to physical instruments: knives, bats, chairs, and guns. From smacking a man in the head with a frying pan, purposely burning him by pouring hot coffee in his lap, throwing a chair or dishware at him, to worse acts like cutting off his genitals or shooting him, women who act out in physical violence are more likely to turn to a weapon rather than fists."
Laxus looked again at the man with his head wrapped, and the other healing from a knife wound to the face. "Women are scary things," he mumbled. "Oh … sorry. I mean…"
"No, you're justified," Kagura said, looking down sadly. "Domestic violence in lesbian relationships is actually higher than in straight relationships, with 44% of lesbians having been physically assaulted by a partner, and 26% of gay men."
"That high?" Freed exclaimed.
Kagura bit her lip and nodded. "Because it's a woman slapping another woman, people are more prone to call it simply a cat fight rather than domestic abuse. Because a man may pressure another man that if he's truly gay, he should have sex, it's seen as just establishing male dominance, not coercing someone into unwanted sex. Society is so quick to leap to the aid of women abused by men, but not women abused by other women, or men abused by women, or transgender people, and others who may suffer mentally, emotionally, and physically at the actions of their partner. From threatening to out a person if they don't obey, to accusing them of betrayal if the person is bisexual and leaves a partner for someone of another gender, the abuse is real, and it can be mentally damaging. When it turns dangerous, that's why places like Mermaid Heel exist. In fact, we're getting so many men and non-binary individuals seeking shelter here, we may need a second house."
That was definitely a push for a donation, and Laxus almost laughed at how obvious she was.
Kagura went on about the abuse statistics in homosexual men a bit longer than Laxus figured she normally would have done for a normal person. He knew she was eying him and Freed a little too closely, and it was making him uncomfortable."
"We should get going. Who do I write the check out to?"
She led them back to the office building and to someone who dealt with the finances of the facility. Laxus pulled out a checkbook, wrote an amount Freed could not see, but definitely there were a few zeros at the end of the number.
"Use that for the kids, or a gay shelter, or whatever you want. Just make sure it goes to the victims and nothing else."
Kagura looked affronted. "All donations go toward the people here, and we are mostly a volunteer staff."
"Yeah, good." He looked around again. "Ya got a restroom?"
"Please, use the one in our office. There's a lavatory past the last door on the left."
He walked off, feeling the effects of the large meal and five lattes. While he was gone, Kagura slipped up closer to Freed. He had drifted away to give Laxus privacy while making his donation, and now he stood by a window watching the children on the playground. He looked over as the matron approached.
"Is he done?" he asked.
"He made his donation, and we're printing up the receipt for a tax deduction. Um, I know this isn't my place, but … you said he's your partner. You didn't mean business partner, did you?"
Freed laughed bashfully. "It's that obvious, huh?"
"So are the bruises on your arms."
Freed's smile froze and cracked. Kagura's eyes never wavered.
"I saw them from the start, the moment you walked into my office. I almost thought I was about to deal with another male guest seeking asylum, not the son of one of our most generous benefactors trying to make a donation. That's why I delayed for so long. I was hoping something would slip."
Freed bristled. "Nothing slipped because there's nothing wrong."
"Did he put those bruises on you?"
Freed's mouth pinched tightly.
"I've been working here long enough. I know what to look for. Now, I don't know why he would make a donation here if—"
"He's not … like that," Freed said defensively, yet he unconsciously grabbed his arm where Laxus had gripped him so tightly last night, he left bruises behind. "Look, he's here because he was hurt as a child and he wants to make a difference in these children's lives."
Contritely, she pointed out, "Many people abused as children grow to be abusive as adults. He may be trying to reconcile for his past without realizing that he's just as—"
"I said he's not like that!" Freed shouted, and a few startled workers looked over.
Kagura gave Freed a moment to cool off, but her gaze never faltered. "I'm sorry. Like I said, it's not my place, but I noticed the size and shape of those bruises, and I see them a lot here."
"He isn't … look, this … it's not—"
"Defensiveness and denial are often signs."
"This isn't denial, ma'am."
She still stared at him without backing down. "He placed those bruises on you. He hurt you. Maybe he apologized, maybe he was drunk or didn't realize his own strength, but it's still domestic abuse."
Freed turned away, struggling with how to defend himself without outing them both out as BDSM kinksters. This woman knew his mother, after all. She could shame the Justine family if word slipped out.
Kagura sighed and shook her head. "I hate the idea of letting you walk out of here only to return to a toxic, abusive environment, but I can't stop you. You know our number, or if not here since he knows the location, there are other shelters, some exclusively for men."
Just then, Laxus stepped out and looked around for them. "Freed," he called out, waving a receipt to show they were done.
Kagura lightly touched Freed's shoulder and whispered, "Remember: you're not alone!"
He had seen the You're Not Alone posters all through this place. Still glaring, he moved quickly past her and stomped on ahead of Laxus, leaving the shelter behind.
As he marched through the courtyard, he shook his head. He should not be angry. She definitely meant well. It was logical to see bruises like those and assume manhandling was involved. In all honesty, one of the only things that separated BDSM from domestic abuse was the issue of intent and consent. Blurting out that he liked when his partner left him bruised was not an option for a man in his position.
Although it was purely confusion and honest altruism, Freed still felt like he had been insulted, his lifestyle called abusive, and his boyfriend accused of domestic violence.
Laxus approached the car to see Freed already seated with his hands clenching the wheel. "Hey, are you okay?"
"Just fine," he grumbled. He was mad, but he was not sure where this anger was surging from. He knew his relationship with Laxus was not abusive; there was no need to feel mad.
So why were his hands shaking?
As soon as Laxus buckled in, Freed peeled out of the driveway. He normally drove slowly for Laxus' carsickness, but just then he put that Corvette to the test.
Laxus glanced over, but he said nothing. What happened? What had that woman said while he was in the restroom? He wanted to ask, but as the car merged into traffic, he honestly felt like if he opened his mouth, he might throw up.
Next Chapter: "Storm From the Shelter"
Audio drama: http://chirb.it/vAPKKh
I'm proud that I managed to include people from Mermaid Heel into this universe. They would make the best women's shelter matrons.
JD, LL.B, and Esq. – lawyer titles; "J.D." stands for "juris doctor," the degree received when the attorney graduates law school. "LL.M" - secondary degree of Master of Laws. "Esq." = "Esquire," the American term for a person permitted to practice law.
I'm a survivor of an abusive relationship. It got mentally, emotionally, and finally physically abusive, culminating with a sexual assault. This subject is therefore sensitive to me. I wasn't sure if I could write about it without burying myself in depression and flashbacks. I hope it did not come across as too "preachy."
I know some readers will shout that I took a few jabs at a certain anime stalker. If you said to yourself "Hey, stop picking on Juvia" then you subconsciously realize she is a perpetrator of domestic abuse. Her in-canon personality is a classic case of erotomania, mentally and emotionally eroding Gray's emotional strength by oscillating between aggressively obsessive behavior (she has physically attacked Lucy for being a love rival) and her "cutesy" bipolar flip. Let's face it, if Lucy or Wendy had a stalker, we'd hate the guy and hope one of the Dragon Slayers beats the crap out of the perv, but when it's a female doing the stalking, it's "cute." A sick and dangerous double standard. Being fiction doesn't excuse promoting very real issues of harassment. That's precisely why I passively pointed out that Juvia's actions are categorized as domestic abuse. They are not something to tolerate. Ever! I've written about the issue in the past.
http://wildrhov.tumblr.com/post/136676172659/arent-you-a-little-harsh-on-juvia
"You're not alone." Those words are on many posters against domestic abuse. Three in ten women and one in ten men in the U.S. have experienced rape, physical violence, and/or stalking by a partner. 44% of lesbians report domestic abuse. That means there are many people out there, regardless of gender and orientation, who have gone through it. You really are NOT alone. So don't think you have to suffer in silence. If a partner acts in any sort of abusive, harassing, or manipulative ways, it's NOT love.
If you are a victim of abuse—physical, emotional, or mental—escape that toxic relationship before it turns violent.
http://www.thehotline.org/
http://abuseintervention.org/
http://www.kars4kids.org/blog/domestic-violence-and-abuse-youre-not-alone/
http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/adult-health/in-depth/domestic-violence-against-men/art-20045149
http://www.breakingthescience.org/SimplifiedDataFromDHHS.php
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