Just a simple one shot that I felt like writing after reading chapter 97. Enjoy!

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'Man is free at the moment he wishes to be'

Shimon didn't know the quote's origins, but understood the meaning well.

Kidnapped and forced into slavery at the age of five, he'd spent almost his entire life working on completing the Tower of Paradise, first for a cult of Zeref worshippers, then for Jeral. Truth be told, he didn't know which one was worse; sure, Jeral didn't beat people like the cultists had, but his manipulative, dark ways… they could drive fear into a grown man. And at least when the cultists had been in control, he'd had Erza to look up to.

"Erza," he whispered to himself. Even just the sound of her name made hope well up within him. When she'd started the revolt for freedom, she had seemed the quintessence of that quote. For years everyone had suffered under the lash of the cultists, watching as their bodies were robbed of their spirits and the will to fight; but Erza had changed all of that. In one split second, she'd decided that she no longer wanted to be a slave, and was thus willing to fight for her freedom. She'd proven herself to be a natural born leader, and they had all come so close to escaping, if only something hadn't gone wrong…

He didn't know exactly what had transpired the night that everything changed, since he was still out cold from the damage the magicians had done to him with their magic. When he finally regained conscious, he found that he and everyone else were still in the tower. Erza had harnessed the magic deep down inside of her, everyone told him, and she had used it to help them win their final battle against those who held them captive. But then, according to the same people who had praised her as a hero, she'd gone mad with her power, and tried to kill everyone by planting bombs on the ship that they'd planned to leave the tower using.

For some reason, he didn't believe them. Maybe it was because he was stubborn and felt like he'd known the real Erza better than any of them ever had; or maybe it was because he'd noticed the change in Jeral. No one else had said a word about it, but Jeral's personality had clearly changed; since when did he have an interest in completing the tower? Where had these ideas of true freedom through power come from?

No one was willing to answer his questions, and after awhile, he stopped asking them.

For eight years, he'd pretended to believe Jeral, doing all that was asked of him. Many died during the course of the tower's construction, but no one protested their work, instead choosing to declare their faith in the twisted mage, as if he was a god to them. 'This is no different from the cult,' he'd realized one day, 'except that Jeral's slaves think that they are his followers rather than his slaves.' Much to Shimon's frustration, no one understood how he questioned the way in which Jeral gained his powers; to everyone else, it was simply a miracle. And when he'd once mentioned to Shou that he didn't believe what everyone said about Erza... he didn't even want to think of the look that the boy had given him.

So many times he'd believed that he'd be caught not behaving like everyone else did, and that Jeral would kill him. There was no way that the man didn't know what really went on in his head; those eyes of his seemed to have the power to pierce right through a person's skull. Yet Jeral never said anything about it, simply choosing to give him that all knowing look. 'Yes,' he thought to himself 'Jeral knows that I'm a potential subversive, he simply hasn't felt like getting rid of me quite yet.'

Now, after all this time, the tower was finally complete. But were they free yet? No, at least not according to Jeral. To resurrect Zeref, the god that would lead them to paradise, a sacrifice would be needed.

"Who do you suggest?" he'd asked, wondering what his former friend had planned for them.

"How about you, Shimon? Would you do us the honor of being the sacrifice?"

Jeral's words sent chills down his spine, and Shimon quickly prepared himself for what he knew would be an intense brawl. There was no way in hell that he was going down without a fight!

"Just kidding," Jeral continued a second later. "I was testing you to see how loyal you really are. You didn't refuse, so I'll still let you into paradise once Zeref is resurrected."

Yet another one of his mind games, he should have known. It wasn't the first time that the twisted mage had done something like that, but never before had he fallen for it so easily.

'Jeral has to know that I'm not 100 with him. So why doesn't he just kill me?'

"So, then who's going to be the sacrifice?" Miriana asked, looking confused.

Smirking, Jeral looked at Shimon once more. "Erza," he said. "I want the four of you to go and retrieve Erza, so that we can use her in the ritual. She took away our first chance at freedom, so it's only fair that we be allowed to sacrifice her in order to earn it this time."

'No,' Shimon thought to himself. 'Erza doesn't deserve what you have in store for her. I'd rather it if you took me….'

He wanted so badly to speak up right then, offer himself in Erza's place, but he knew that Jeral would never accept the idea. Rather, he'd probably just kill him on the spot and then sacrifice Erza anyway. And besides, this was his chance to see Erza again. After eight years…

His decision had been made. He would go with the others to capture Erza, but then he'd free her instead, and convince her to help him defeat Jeral. There was probably no need for him to do any convincing, but it had been so long, she could've changed into a completely different person for all that he knew. That didn't matter to him, though. He'd always loved her, and would gladly risk his life to save hers, if ever given the chance.

Jeral watched as his minions--'no,' he corrected himself, 'his pawns'-- sailed away on the ship that he'd provided for them.

The look on Shimon's face when he'd announced who he intended to use as a sacrifice had been classic; Shock, horror, and somewhere in the mix, yearning.

"The lovesick fool," he sneered.

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I personally love Shimon's character, and was compelled to write this after reading chapter 97. Not my best, I know, but it was kinda one of those sudden strokes of inspiration, rather than something carefully planned out. Shimon's little crush on Erza is just so cute, and you can't help feeling bad for him, considering the way fate treats him whenever he tries to voice his feelings to her.