So time seemed to fly when it came to me writing this one. One moment it was February, next it was in the middle of March. I apologise for that. Anyways, primary reason here was I was quite stuck at how to get this chapter started and to get over it, I just did other things. I warn you now that the quality towards the beginning is a little 'meh'. I do hope you still like it none the less and I do hope you like my little 'idea' for the end.

Talking – "Quotations"

Thoughts – 'Italics with contractions'

Important words, people, etc. – Bold

Spells – Underlined and bold

The Life of a Dragon and Knight

Chapter 7: 'Til Death Doesn't Do Us Part

"S-S-Sho!?" Erza squeaked out in a mixture of surprise and confusion.

"It's been a long time big sister." The dark skinned blonde greeted with a sinister grin; continuing to hold the casino's customers captive in his cards.

Erza still stood completely taken aback by the sudden appearance of her childhood friend and former fellow slave. Natsu on the other hand, quickly regain his composure. "So, you're one of Erza's old friends."

The blonde lost his grin, now sporting a glare of anger. "No. She betrayed us. Jellal however, is giving her a chance to redeem herself: Come with us to the tower. Come 'home' Erza." The man offered, losing some of his angry glare in place of an almost 'true' smile.

Natsu stood silent, opting to let Erza handle it on her own; instead, looking around, noticing that Lucy was knocked out, her unconscious body being sat on by a young woman with cat-like features, and Gray was bound by a large man with a metal jaw. He tuned back into the situation just in time to hear Erza.

"And if I refuse?" Erza questioned, with a look of anger written on her face.

"Then, we will have to take care of…" the blonde began, turning to Natsu, "dispose, of your…boyfriend here, as well as your other friends, and we'll take you to the tower by force." His glare returning full force with a smile tugging at his face.

"Come on Sho, Jellal expects us to be back soon." A tall man with a metal jaw come up behind the couple, causing Erza to turn back.

"Simon. Is that you?" Erza asked, with tears brimming at her eyes.

Despite the cold emotionless stare he had, his face soften for a moment when he looked down at the red head's near distressed faced. "We've missed you Erza." He said before the turned to the blonde haired man again. "Sho, there's something you should know."

This just irritated the blonde, what could Simon have to tell him in the middle of something important. "What now Simon?"

"It's about the truth of what happened on that day." Simon said plainly, earning an intrigued look from Natsu, and a look of realization from Erza. "That day, Erza did not betray us, Jellal lied to us."

"What!?" Sho yelled in outrage, "Are you saying that Jellal has been lying to us about Erza for the last eight years?"

Simon nodded calmly. "Think about it Sho. Jellal, along with the rest of us, Erza included tried to escape the tower. Do you not think it strange how Jellal immediately changes his plans to building the tower and declaring Erza a traitor, saying she abandoned us?"

Sho lost his anger, seemingly accepted his words. It did seem strange to him that Erza lost her eye for him, was suddenly a traitor, but had accepted it as it came from their fellow slave. "I….I'm sorry Erza." Sho apologized with tear brimming at his eyes.

Erza simply walked around the table and embraced the blonde in a warm hug. "It's alright. However, we must stop Jellal."

"R-right!" Sho choked, as he wiped the tears away with his arm. He then turned to Millianna who was still sitting on Lucy's body. "Millianna, wake her up and untie the ice mage. After that, go get Wally. There has been a change of plans."

Despite the questioning look on her face, the cat like lady simply got up and nudged the celestial mage awake before proceeding to untie Gray who simply grumbled as he got up.

Minutes later, the group was assembled. Gray, Lucy, Erza, Natsu, Sho, Simon, Millianna, Wally, were ready to go to the Tower of Heaven. "How long will it take to get there?" Erza asked as calmly as she could, despite being quite nervous, and somewhat scared at returning to the place that made her childhood a living hell.

Simon was the first to respond. "Not too long, though, we must hurry, I'd wager Jellal will know of our treachery soon enough."

Natsu simply smirked, "Doesn't matter! We'll go in there and kick Jellal's ass and destroy this Tower of Heaven!" Natsu roared to the open sky above him, before he strode to the ocean, unaware that the mode of transportation being a small boat. "Oh hell no!"

Erza simply palmed her face. "This is the only way to the Tower, Natsu."

Natsu's face simply turned a shade of green, before regaining its color as he turned back to argue with the scarlet haired woman. "No thank you! I'd rather fl-" He could say no more as Erza promptly landed a solid punch to his stomach, effectively knocking him out, much to the shock/amusement to the onlookers.

"Sorry, but you'd be burnt out of magic power by the time we got there," She said, before turning to the ocean and the tower hidden beyond the horizon, "and I'm betting we'll need every bit of it."


A Couple Hours Later At the Top of the Tower of Heaven

"My tower! How dare you?! I spent eight years building this thing and you just go and blow it up!" Jellal roared, beyond enraged at the rampaging rose haired mage.

"I'd do it over and over for an eternity for all the suffering it's caused Erza and her friends!" Natsu roared and he blurred in and out of view with his ethernano induced Dragon Force enhanced abilities; his speeds exceeding that of Jellal's Heavenly Body Magic.

Meanwhile, Erza was still clutching Simon's lifeless body as she tearfully watched the equally enraged Natsu battle the Wizard Saint, her eyes wide when she saw the power he currently harnessed. "I-is this really Natsu?" She questioned quietly to herself; confused as to how Natsu was able to eat the etherion infused lacrima, which held all types of magic power, and absorb it to increase his own to outmatch that of Jellal's.

Natsu flew forward, landing a hard flame covered punch on the unaware Jellal, unable to keep up with Natsu's speed, therefore sending him through a support beam in the tower, further ruining the remaining stability of the tower. Jellal proceeded to tumble away, unable to stop his momentum from the attack until he activated his Meteor spell to both stop his momentum, and project himself straight back at the dragon slayer; arching a magic imbued fist.

Natsu simply moved his head out of the way as he retaliated with a flaming knee to the blue haired man's stomach; stopping him dead in his tracks as he fell to the ground in absolute agony. The man in question took a few moments to regain air and recover from the agony before rage blinded him completely

"THAT'S IT! I'LL KILL YOU ALL!" The enraged blue haired man roared, as he charged his magic power into something dark… a familiar spell to both Natsu and Erza.

'Abyss Break! Is he really that far gone?' Erza thought in horror, as she noticed Natsu impassively standing there watching the Wizard Saint gather magic power. "Stop this now Jellal! Are you really going to destroy the tower as well!?"

"AHAHAHA! I'll simply just rebuild it in another eight years! No! I'll do it in less than four! Zeref's resurrection will come none the less!" The now clearly insane mage yelled in response.

Natsu, now deciding to act, simply started to focus on gathering air in his lungs as he arched his back. "Fire Dragon's…"he mumbled slightly to himself in difficulty, trying to not lose any of the air he inhaled, he let his remaining magic power loose. "ROAR!" he roared as he brought his hands together in a fist in front of his mouth as a large stream of dragon fire erupted from his mouth/fist towards to blue haired man.

"W-What is this po-" No more was said as Jellal was covered in fire, his spell dissipating instantly and was flown back from the force, crashing into the last of the Tower's support, and off into the ocean.

Natsu was panting heavily from the use of all his magic power, the stress of using the lacrima to induce his dragon force was of no help as well. Erza on the other hand was staring in awe at what she saw take place. Natsu beat Jellal, effectively ending a nightmare that has haunted her for eight years. She was about to thank him when she notice his already erratic breathing worsen as he started his inevitable collapse to the Tower's floor.

"Natsu!" Erza yelled as she weakly ran over to him to stop his fall, in the process embracing him with all her might. "T-t-thank you! For everything!" She tearfully thanked, as she held the barely conscious dragon slayer against her.

Originally she was going to wait a few minute before trying to leave the tower, as both of them were severely exhausted, Natsu more than her, now unconscious, from the strenuous fight, however, 'fate' had other plans. The etherion infused lacrima Tower was becoming unstable, courtesy of both Natsu's fight, and the lack of a vessel to merge with the lacrima. 'We've got to get out of her, and fast!' Erza thought hastily as she sluggishly tried to lift Natsu's unconscious form before eying Simon's corpse. She silently lamented that she would be unable to properly bury the man, as she tried to find the fastest way out of the tower, but hoped that the man would understand should he have been able to see the situation she was placed in.

Short minutes passed as Erza unsuccessfully tried to move both herself and Natsu towards the…'exit' of the tower. Only when the tower started to shake violently and rays of pure light started to shine through the lacrima did Erza come to a realization. 'We won't make it like this! There must be a way!' Erza thought in a panic as she tried to think back to what Jellal said at the beginning of the fight.

"Only a mage with the magic power of a Wizard Saint can fuse with the lacrima" he had said at the time, except, the point of 'fusing' with the lacrima was to use their body as a vessel in which Zeref could be revived.

"Hmm, let's see." Erza thought out loud as she set Natsu down not far from a wall of Lacrima. "Will it still accept me?" she then proceeded to press her hand against the 'wall', and for a brief second, nothing happened which worried her. Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on who looked at the situation, the lacrima wall started to pulse as Erza's arm started to be pulled in, causing her to wince in pain. "Good. It still accepts me."

Unknown to Erza, Natsu was just waking up in time to see Erza testing out the wall. "E-Erza? What are you doing?" He asked groggily as he shakily tried to get up from the floor.

Erza was shocked at this, she had hope he would not wake up to see what she was about to do. She felt tear brim at her eyes as she turned to the almost scared looking dragon slayer. "I-I'm going to fuse with the lacrima, to save our guild. You. I'm going to direct the blast upwards."


Outside the Tower, on the Shore

"Is everyone here?" Lucy asked as she along with a group of mages walked to the shore line.

"Yeah, I'm here." Millianna stated as she fell straight to the ground, exhausted.

"I'm here, but Simon is not." Sho said with worry, as he looked around. "Don't tell me he's still in the tower."

Gray came up, as he was at the back of the group. "I wouldn't worry too much, Natsu and Erza are with him. I'm sure everything will be fine." He said with confidence. On the inside however, he was just as worried if not more so than the blonde card-mage. 'Those two better hurry up. It's gonna blow any second now!'


Back at the Tower with Natsu & Erza

"W-what? You're going to fuse with the lacrima? After all I did to prevent you from doing so in the first place!?" Natsu asked in a rage.

Erza at this point, couldn't hold her tears, knowing how much she was hurting him at this point. "I-it's the only way, or else we, along with everyone else, will die." Her entire right arm engulfed at this point.

"NO!" Natsu roared as he pulled Erza's arm out of the lacrima. "I-I can't let you do this. If you die…It…it would kill me!" he stated, his own tears falling now; as he held Erza close, refusing to let her go, much to her happiness/surprise.

Erza simply sighed, effectively ending her tears. "What do we do then?" She asked as she looked around and saw they had only a minute or two left until detonation.

"Together."

She blinked. 'Together?' she thought, completely thrown off by the 'vague' answer. "What do you mean?"

Despite the grim situation, Natsu smiled. "I mean, we could use this together." He explained, pointing to the lacrima wall besides the two.

"But then you as well as I, will die! I want you to at least to live!" Erza exclaimed.

"And I told you, I can't live without you." Natsu responded, his face taking an expression of sadness. "I'd rather die with you."

Erza had no words to say in response to his conviction to rather die with her than live without her. After a few seconds, which felt like an eternity to the couple, she smiled. "Together it is then." Earning a toothy grin from the rose haired mage as the two, together pushed their hands to the lacrima wall, as surprisingly to the duo, the lacrima started to pull both of them in. Seconds later, the two of them were largely enveloped, the last thing each other saw from one another was the loving look, on both of their faces as soon enough, the entirety of their bodies disappeared.


At the Shoreline

Gray's patience wore away to nothingness as he couldn't contain himself anymore. "NATSU! ERZA! GET OUT OF TH-" He was cut off by the tower finally detonating. The tower being entirely covered in light as the blast, surprisingly did not take them out, instead it seemed…controlled, as it was completely directed into the sky.

Lucy felt her knees go weak as the light produced by the tower dimmed and vanished. They were gone. Natsu. Erza. The very reason she joined Fairy Tail. Dead. In a flash of white light.

Sho, Millianna, and Wally faired just as bad, both not taking news of Erza and Simon's presumed death well; Sho visibly crying while Millianna and Wally had very sorrowful expressions.

Minutes passed. Then an hour. It became apparent to them that Natsu, Erza, Simon, and Jellal were most likely dead. Incinerated by the tower's explosion. Despite their grief, the mages knew they must move on.

Lucy watched as the former slaves leave, before she too was about to leave, but not before she walked to Gray who's head was down. "Gray." She said, although she failed to get a response. "Gray" This time she nudged the ice make mage. "Gray, I know this is hard on you, but we've got to move on, they saved our lives. The least we can do is not take their deaths so hard."

The raven haired man, said nothing, but nodded slightly. It wouldn't have been how he would have said it, but he knew what she was trying to convey. Following her lead, the duo started their trek to their hotel to rest up before relaying the news to the rest of the guild.


An Hour Later, Miles from the Tower of Heaven

An old man was simply sitting on the swing, located on the front porch of his house which faced the ocean. He did this every night, especially on a beautiful night like tonight. One thing that set this night apart from the rest was the quite noticeable ray of light that shot into the sky just an hour ago. He had wondered if it was those mages he always heard about, using their magic to make a light show for some passerby who requested it, but he didn't think on it longer as he let it slip from his mind. For now he was just enjoying the nice breeze the ocean gave me. That is, until he heard a large…wave…hit his shore.

'Odd, tide doesn't hit the shore until midday; even then it hasn't receded either.' The old man thought. He decided to check it out. He went inside his humble home to grab an old styled lantern and lit it before trudging down to the salty waters to investigate the noise he heard. He walked to the spot where he heard the noise and much to his shock/surprise, he saw two figures. Two humanoid figures.

The old man promptly ran as fast as his old body would allow to the figures. Upon getting close he used his lantern to illuminate their bodies to see who they were. One had rose hair? 'That's not a very common hair color around here.' He thought, he notice the man lacked any form of shirt or shoes and what used to be his baggy pants were now shredded and could pass as ragged shorts. He turned to his…companion and was stunned. She had scarlet red hair. She too like her fellow 'wash-up' lacked much of her original clothing, which between the Tower blowing up and washing ashore, unconsciously requip back to her white blouse and blue skirt. The blouse itself was in tatters revealing a black bra, her skirt was torn in various places but was in better shape than the blouse, and was missing one of her black boots she usually wore with the outfit.

'These two, they look like they've been through hell and back more than 100 times.' The old man mused, not yet having checked if the two were alive. He did notice however, that the two's hands were interlocked. 'Cute.' He thought, before he decided to finally check if the duo were alive.

He set the lantern down, and brought both of his hands to their necks to check for a pulse. For a moment he was sure he felt nothing, until he further concentrated on finding a pulse and he felt it. 'There! They're alive. Barely.' He thought, quite surprised that two people, who look banged up beyond belief, possibly floating adrift for possibly hours at sea unconscious, were still alive.

"Heh, you two sure are tough." The old man chuckled to himself, as he got up and ran into his house again, to clear his tables into makeshift operating tables. "And here I thought, I retired from being a doctor years ago."

I do hope you like my little...twist(?) for this chapter as it was the funner things to write, once the fight started, the writing came more smoothly to me. If you expected a slightly longer chapter given the time since the last updated, I apologise. Anyways, next up is the Funeral and Recovery and more non canon stuff. After that, I'm skipping the Battle of Fairy Tail Arc as I don't have any ideas to make interesting, so it will be skipped to partially into the Oracion Seis Arc (mostly towards beginning then skipped to the end). Anyways, like always, if you liked this story, leave a review/comment with your thoughts. If you have a question or suggestion, feel free to shoot me a message and I'll give you an answer. I'll see you next time (hopefully within a month if not earlier).