OKAY NEW STORY!

I really shouldn't be doing this but the idea wouldn't leave me alone.

Like the last two;

A. This story will not be continued without positive response, If nobody reviews/follows/favorites then it will remain like this until there is a response. As I am also writing two other stories, this will be left alone until at least one of the others is finished (access to my brother's Guild Wars 2 account is also detrimental to my posting time). So it may be stagnant for a while. I am however close to finishing one of the two and will work until it is done.

B. I am not from America and I speak UK English not US (Well Aus English really, UK spelling.) If something is unfamiliar or different let it go, or tell me, depends on how pedantic you feel.

C. This is my first Fairy Tail fic as such if I get something wrong I would appreciate a warning, Flames based on a difference of opinion will be ignored or deleted. If a character seems OOC then it is part of the plot and should be ignored.

I don't own Fairy Tail and can't be bothered repeating this so this stands for the entire story posted under this name and on this account.

OC's are mine, so is any plot deviating from cannon.

And that is all for now. Enjoy!

Tara lay in the dark, there was very little sound now, before there had been crying, then shouts and thuds, then nothing. Something must have happened because nobody had come into her cell for a while. She curled up tighter. The darkness was cold. Tara let herself fade again. Voices made Tara stiffen. They were the bad ones. The ones who brought pain. And darkness. Tara whimpered slightly. The voices moved away from her cell and Tara heard more thumps. Then cracks, like the long rope the men had hit her with before there was darkness. Tara sobbed. A new voice said something Tara didn't make out. The other voices got louder. Then they left. Tara kept sobbing. The new voice called out. Tara couldn't quite hear what the voice was saying. She let herself sit up and lean towards the door. "Hello? Can you hear me? Are you okay? Who are you?" The sounds become words.

"Tara." Tara croaked as load as she could.

"Tora?"

"Tara."

"Hello Tara, my name is Jellal." Tara leaned on the cell door.

"Hello Jellal." There was the sound of shuffling.

"Are you okay Tara?"

"What do you mean?" Tara frowned at the darkness.

"Are you in pain? Are you hurt?"

"Not anymore." Tara shifted against the door, remembering the pain that had come with the darkness, but the pain had faded, though the darkness hadn't gone away.

"How old are you Tara?" This made Tara blink.

"The old woman said I was six."

"The old woman?"

"Yeah, she told all the smaller people stories."

"The children?"

"Are children smaller people?"

"Yeah, though children grow to become big people or Adults."

"Oh, are you a child?"

"Yes, I'm eleven."

"What does that mean?"

"That…" Jellal stopped talking and Tara retreated from the door as the voices returned.

"So are we going to play with the boy or the girl?"

"The girl, the boy could be useful again, the girl is useless now."

"You shouldn't have taken both, really, even taking one is a risk."

"It doesn't really matter now."

"True." The voices stopped at Tara's cell and she curled up again. The door squeaked and the voices came closer. "Don't think she would be much fun now."

"She hasn't broken yet."

"But we left her here last time. She's been here at least a four days."

"And we made sure some food was sent down." The other voice grunted. Tara felt something pull on her hair. The pull became worse and her head was lifted, then her neck and torso. She was pulled from the cell. Tara wiggled. The ground was rough and her hair hurt. The darkness came with her out of the cell.

The new voice, Jellal Tara remembered, gasped. "What do you think boy?" One of the voices called.

"Think we can get him to respond if we hurt her?"

"Maybe." The voice dropped Tara's hair and she sat on the ground. Tara knew that if Jellal could see her it must not be dark, but all she could see was the darkness. Tara felt something connect with her side and she was thrown to the ground. Her hands and arms were scraped and the side of head hit the ground. Tara cried out, she was confused. Why was the darkness not going away? Why couldn't she see the voices? Or Jellal?

"Stop it!" Jellal called. "Tara!"

"Well they talked." One of the voices laughed. "This works so much better." Tara's arm was grabbed and lifted. This time her leg was hit. Tara cried out again. This time from pain.

"Stop it! Don't hurt her!" The voices laughed and Tara felt various parts of her body being hit. She stopped crying out when it didn't help and the voices sighed.

"Well that isn't any good." Tara was dropped again. This time she fell on her back.

"Tara!" Jellal sounded upset, he also seemed to be trying to be quite.

"Yes?" Tara answered also trying to be quite. Her voice sounded funny and her lip hurt.

"Tara are you okay?"

"Not sure." Tara frowned, that hurt too. "Okay how?" The voices were muttering.

"Are you in pain?"

"Yes." Tara decided nodding was a bad idea.

"Well then, why don't we play with the boy as well?" The voices were back.

"Fine." The voices moved away slightly and then one came back. There was the cracking sound. Tara flinched away. It came again, and again.

"This guy… doesn't even utter a sound. No fun at all."

"Remember the girl from a few days ago, wasn't she scared and crying constantly?"

"Yeah, that was one fine piece of work, better even than the other one."

"Yeah, Oi, little squirt don't you know what a sacred task it would be to complete the R-system? On the dawning of the day the tower is completed, you will all be taken to paradise. The R-system can revive our god. The last Dark Magician." The voice had stepped closer and Tara had flinched away again.

"Shut up pig." Jellal sounded odd. Tara shifted closer.

"What?! What did you say? You think that's something you can say to a High Priest like me?!"

"Don't mind what little brats say." The other voice moved closer as well. "Let's go, we still have to put down those uppity slaves this afternoon." The voice grabbed Tara's hair again and she was dragged away from Jellal.

"Until you learn to respect our god you won't set a foot outside this place!" The second voice was louder. Tara was put back in another cell. She thought it was hers. Yes, the depressing near the door. Tara pulled herself out of the dip.

"God, huh. There is no such thing." Tara pulled herself to the door.

"Jellal?"

"I don't need a god that can't even save a child like me, like Tara, if he is real. I hate them. I hate them all. Those guys, their god. I hate this entire world." There was a whispering. Tara strained but couldn't hear it, it was a new voice. "Who's there, who are you? Come out!" Jellal was getting loader like the voice had.

There was more whispering and then silence. "Jellal?...Jellal?" Tara called when there had been silence for a time.

"Tara?"

"Are you okay?"

"What do you mean by okay?"

"Are you sad?"

"Is it a bad thing to be sad? Aren't you going to ask if I'm in pain?" Jellal sounded different.

"You can be happy and in pain and that is better than being sad and in pain."

"Are you sad?"

"Not as sad as I was."

"Why?"

"Because I'm not alone."

"I make you happy?"

"If you're happy, you make me less sad."

"Then yes I am happy."

"Why?"

"Because I know what I have to do?"

"What?"

"Construct the tower."

"But… Isn't that what the voices want?"

"Yes, but I will do more than them, I will do something better."

"You will?"

"Yes."

"So you're happy?"

"I will be."

"Oh, then are you in pain?"

"Not as much as before."

"Good." Tara smiles, even though it hurts. "Thank you for talking to me."

"Thank you for talking to me. Tara?"

"Yes?"

"Your eyes."

"What about them?"

"Can you see?"

"Nothing but darkness."

"Oh." Jellal didn't say anything for a while. "I think you could learn Magic to fix that."

"Magic?"

"Yeah, magic that lets you see, what do you want to see most?"

"People."

"Why?"

"Because if people are happy it makes me happy." There was silence again.

"Tara will you help me build the tower?"

"Will it make you happy?"

"Yes."

"Then yes, I will."

"Thank you Tara." Tara let herself fade again.

Voices woke her up again. This time Tara moved to the door. The last time there was shouts Jellal had come, maybe a new person would come this time too. "Jellal!" This was a new voice. "It's over now! It's all over!" There was a thump. "We fought back just like you said!" The voice became quite. "…badly…Protected…sacrifices but…" Tara strained to hear more. "We beat them! Now we can all be free!" Tara blinked at the darkness. "Come on! Wally and the others have stolen their ship! We can leave this island forever!"

"Erza" Tara decided this must be the new voice. Jellal was being quiet and Tara couldn't hear. "True freedom lies right here."

"Jellal? What are you saying? We have to run away together!" Tara heard shuffling outside her cell.

"Erza, freedom is not a thing that exists in this world. I came to realize this, what we should strive for is no mere fleeting 'freedom'. I seek true freedom…Zeref's world!" Jellal moved past Tara's cell and down the hall. Tara couldn't hear him anymore.

"Stop this! Jellal!" Erza was past Tara's cell now too.

Jellal laughed and it made Tara smile. People laughed when they were happy.

"Stop talking such nonsense were leaving this island forever." Erza was being load again. Tara wondered if Jellal was leaving with Erza, leaving her behind.

"This is your precious freedom! Live on with the lives of your Nakama resting on your back!" Jellal was shouting now. Tara could just hear him laughing again. If he was telling Erza to leave maybe he wasn't leaving her.

There was silence for a while and then footsteps. "Jellal?" Tara tried calling out.

"Tara." Jellal called back. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah." Tara smiled again as the door squeaked and Jellal came over to her. Jellal touched her leg. It hurt but Tara knew it was Jellal, he wouldn't hurt her.

"Come here." Jellal lifted Tara into his arms and helped her stand. Tara found that her leg didn't work right. "Hold on." Jellal lifter her again, this time pulling her up against him and her arms around his neck, she could feel his hair. Tara let him wrap her legs around him and held on. "We need to tell the others Erza betrayed us."

"She did?"

"Yes, she is going to blow up the boats and we need to get the others off it."

"Why is she doing that?" Jellal was silent for a while.

"Her magic made her mad."

"Magic makes you mad?"

"Not all magic, not when you train properly."

"So she had a bad type of magic?"

"Yeah, her magic made her mad." Tara clung to Jellal tighter.

"Will the magic you were going to teach me do that?"

"Not if you use it properly."

"Okay." Jellal kept moving. They came to a different space and the sound of his footsteps changed. They kept moving and Tara's skin felt warm. "Are we outside?"

"Yes Tara."

"Then why is it still dark? It's sunny I can feel it, but it's still dark." Jellal shifted.

"They hurt your eyes Tara, you can't see any more." Tara flinched.

"I can only ever see the darkness?"

"No, I said I would teach you to see with Magic."

"Really?"

"Yeah, stay here." Jellal set Tara down. "I need to warn the others."

"Okay, hurry."

"I will." Jellal left and Tara sat in the sun, staring at Darkness.

Thanks for reading, reviews = love and desire to write faster.

Min.