Surprisingly, it took Erza only about three or four minutes to pin Jellal down on the ground. Is that even possible? Jellal was supposed to have the power of a Wizard Saint. Did Jellal suffered from a loss in power? Or has Erza's growth exceeded my expectations?
Upon Erza's questioning, Jellal then began to talk about how his body was possessed by the ghost of Zeref and became nothing more than a doll to revive him, which sounded like a load of bullshit. Did this happen in canon? I remembered Jellal kicking Erza's and Natsu's ass until Natsu decided to consume the magic from Etherion and activated Dragon Force, giving Natsu the power to take Jellal down. Jellal definitely didn't go down this easily. I also know for a fact that Zeref is very much alive, and he is the catalyst for what happened in the Tenrou arc.
Zeref is alive, the R System wouldn't have worked.
Still, talking about possession magic...
"Erza." I interjected. "I really think that he is possessed, I can feel it."
Everyone's eyes widened at my words, especially Jellal's. Hah, wait till he found out that the "spirit" possessing him isn't Zeref. I wasn't lying when I said I felt something similar to Possession magic within him. It's very subtle and probably can only be noticed if you have the correct skillset. It was through sheer luck that I noticed it at all, Ultear did a wonderful job in concealing it. I wonder if this finding can help me change things for the better?
"Really?" Natsu questioned. "Isn't your magic Barrier magic? How did you sense it?"
"When I was still in the Thunder God Tribe, Laxus and I studied all sorts of magic we could get my hands on together. He focused more on offensive magics while I took an interest in the different types of defensive magics. Defensive magic comes in many forms. What I studied includes magic that defend you from invasions into your own mind. I am proficient in dealing with mental attacks to my mind thanks to the Mind Protection magic that I learnt. With it, I can sense a possession spell casted on Jellal. It's very carefully hidden, but it is there. I am not as good as Warren when it comes to anything to do with the mind, but I believe that I am good enough to sense and recognise Mind Possession magic when I see one. Like I said, the Possession magic within Jellal is subtle, but it's there."
I knew I have to study Mind Protection magic the moment I laid my eyes on the tome that teaches the reader how to learn it in the guild archives. There are individuals in Earthland that has the ability to read the minds of their opponents, like Cobra and Angel's Gemini, and I cannot afford anyone to learn what I knew from my previous life in case I really have to deal with the Oracion Seis. Mind Protection magic is a lot like occlumency from the Harry Potter series, in the sense that it prevents your mind from being invaded or your memories being stolen. Thanks to it, I also managed to learn a few things regarding possession, including how to spot and counter it.
Upon hearing my words, Erza's form trembled for a short while before she looked up at me from where she is pinning Jellal down on the ground.
"Can you remove it?"
"No promises. I can only say that I will try."
"Do it. Please, save Jellal."
What? Possessed? Him?
It has got to be a joke. It must be a joke. He was only joking when he said that he was possessed by the ghost of Zeref. His motive for saying so was to buy time for Etherion to fire down upon this location. Zeref's ghost constantly whispered to him, yes, but he was never possessed. He was sure of it. Jellal unconsciously tried to get away from the Aegis who is walking towards where he is pinned down by Erza, but the Salamander and the Aegis are watching him with a cautious eye, so he stopped before his actions became suspicious. Jellal could have got away from Erza with his magic, but he is also not at full power. His Thought Projection, Siegrain, is still at Era trying to make sure that Etherion fires at this location before the whole tower come crumbling down, and Jellal won't be at full power until Siegrain returns and merges with him. He isn't sure if he could take on three accomplished mages and win at his current level of power. To make things worse, Siegrain had informed him through telepathy that Makarov had somehow learnt about the Tower of Heaven and had raised hell to the council members at Era via communication lacrima due to the fact that his guild members were still here. Siegrain had managed to convince the council members to fire Etherion in the end, but doing so had wasted precious time. Etherion would have already been fired if it wasn't for Makarov's meddling.
Jellal spotted the Aegis preparing some sort of spell that would cancel the "Mind Possession" magic casted on him. He inwardly laughed. Never mind, let them try all they want to "release" him from Zeref's possession. They will soon find out how laughably wrong they are. The spell the Aegis was preparing seemed to take up quite a fair bit of power, maybe it will make taking the Aegis down easier later on when they found out that they were wrong. There's no way he was being possessed, to even think of such a possibility is laughable. Jellal brought his thoughts back to his grand plan. Everything is finally falling into place. The tower may be collapsing but it should still be in good enough condition to activate the R system for a short while. It is all the time he needs to bring Zeref back. Soon, the Etherion will fire and they will all be led by Zeref to enter the promised land of paradise.
True freedom can finally be achieved.
The Aegis pointed a finger at Jellal as a huge magic circle appeared beneath Jellal.
"Release!"
"El! The Etherion is firing soon!"
"Crap, those old farts really decided to fire the Etherion no matter what?!"
Jellal is currently squirming painfully and clutching his head in pain from the release of the Possession magic casted on him. Personally, I feel that another reason for his reaction may also be the fact that he is trying very hard to get over the reality that he really was possessed, and that I had released him from the possession. Erza is trying to ease his pain, but she has no way in doing so.
Have fun, Jellal. Have fun in trying to come to terms with the fact that the past eight years of your life was lived in a lie. I pity your plight, I really do. But I cannot bring myself to care about you right now.
There is a satellite cannon that we have to take care of.
"Elden! Natsu! Get out of here! Leave without me!" Erza said as she carried a struggling Jellal on her shoulders, who is still writhing in pain from the release of the possession on him and the realisation that comes with it. It is a lot to take in at once, I don't blame him for squirming around like that. It has to be taxing and painful on your mind. Carrying a struggling Jellal had slowed Erza's speed by quite a fair bit, which delayed our escape.
"It's too late, Erza." I replied as I shrugged my shoulders. "It's too late to run and get out of here. However, there's a chance that we can survive if we go on the offensive instead."
"Really?" My words immediately caught Natsu's attention, who seemed delighted at the idea of breaking something. Even now, when it is possible that we can be reduced to nothing from Etherion at any minute, he still wants to break something. Glad to see where his priorities lie. The tower is now trembling and starting to fall to pieces due to all the damage our little group had done to it earlier and we were forced to evacuate. I had also sped up the process by destroying any other pillars or similar infrastructures we came across while we ran and tried to make our great escape. I wanted to create some semblance of chance for the council to rethink on their actions of firing Etherion if they saw the tower collapsing rapidly, but I don't think it is working. I can see the magic arrays in the sky, Etherion will be firing soon.
We still hadn't made it out, I don't think there is time for us to make it out.
"Erza, grab Jellal and go. Natsu and I will take down Etherion. It's worth a shot." It is the only thing we can do now. The current state of the Tower of Heaven will probably not absorb the blast as it did in canon. It is staring to fracture into many pieces and is still crumbling. I cannot rely on what I knew happened in canon anymore. I had gambled on the fact that the sight of a destroyed Tower of Heaven will dissuade the old farts at Era from firing Etherion and I lost. I guessed that I had underestimated their stupidity and Zeref's reputation.
"Yosh! Let's go destroy something!"
I rolled my eyes. Natsu and his destructive tendencies. This is probably the only time that I will welcome it.
"Elden! Natsu! It's-"
"See you later, Erza. We will be back."
I didn't allow Erza to reply as I grabbed Natsu and flew up high in to the air with Susanoo Stage III towards the direction where I see the huge magic arrays displayed in the sky, showing us that Etherion was preparing to fire soon. I cannot see the physical cannon anywhere, it must be too high up for us to spot it.
"Hey, Natsu. Want to try and do a Unison Raid?"
This is one of the best thing that had happened in his life!
"WOOHOOO! I can fly without getting motion sickness!"
"Stop yelling in my ear, Natsu. I think your motion sickness problem is a matter of perspective for you. You don't get sick from flying with Happy because in your mind, you treat him as a nakama, not a vehicle. So if you treated my technique as how you treat Happy's, like those from a nakama, you probably won't get sick. Glad to see that I was right."
"This is so cooool!"
Natsu said as he jumped up and down within the otherworldly warrior thing that is currently flying high up in the sky with the wings on its back at breakneck speed. It is almost the same size as the Tower of Heaven! He didn't know El could do things like these! He will need to fight one of these huge warriors in the future!
"Hey El! Use this guy to fight me later when we returned to the guild!"
"The whole of Magnolia will be destroyed, stupid."
"Then how about immediately after this? Come on! Just one time!"
"No. I probably will run out of powers to use Stage III properly after this attack. You will have to make do with Stage I or II."
"Elllllllll." Natsu whined.
"Focus, Natsu. I will launch my most powerful arrow, you try and combine your attack with it. Erza's and Jellal's life depends on this one shot, as well as ours."
Natsu eyes burned with determination. There's no way that he will let that stupid cannon harm Erza or any of his nakama!
"Destroying the magic arrays in the sky should be sufficient in preventing Etherion from firing for a short while. Your fire should be potent enough to burn through it and I believe you are strong enough to do so. I doubt our attacks can reach the cannon itself, it's too high up and we don't have the time to fly there. We don't need to stop Etherion completely, just make sure that we buy enough time for Erza and the rest of our nakama to get out of here. We will get out of here too once we finished the job. Don't argue with me for this one."
"I got it."
The both of them had flown high above the clouds by now and are nearing the magic arrays. The ethereal warrior stopped flying further, and instead materialised a huge bow with an even larger arrow loaded on it and pulled the arrow backwards, pointing the arrow to the center of the magic array produced by Etherion.
"Natsu!"
Natsu lit his entire body, and then the entire ethereal warrior was bathed in draconic flames as both Fairy Tail mages combined their powers into one, synchronising with each other like a seasoned duo despite the fact that this is the first time that they are working together in tandem. The flame coated warrior roared its challenge to Etherion, and drew the arrow back in preparation to fire it.
Natsu grinned. This is awesome! This is the first time he used such a powerful attack on such a grand scale!
He turned to Elden, only to see that Elden seems to have a faraway look in his eyes as he stared at the manifestation of their combined powers as if he was reminiscing something.
"El? You alright?"
Elden was brought out of his thoughts as he shook his head.
"Sorry Natsu, it's just that doing this brought back some memories. This is the second time I have attempted a Unison Raid with anyone else, and I used Susanoo for it too."
"Who did you combined powers with?" Natsu asked.
"I will tell you about it later if you are interested."
The magic arrays constructed by Etherion's firing sequence started to increase its brightness as the flaming arrow from Susanoo began to burn even more fiercely. Etherion would be firing at any moment now. Elden put a hand on Natsu's shoulder, grabbing his attention.
"Natsu, on the count of three. 3, 2, 1!"
"Unison Raid: Fire Dragon Warrior's Exploding Flame Arrow!"
"They...They actually did it. They stopped Etherion." Simon croaked out.
"It's El and that flame breath after all, I'm not surprised. If anyone here can stop Etherion from firing, it's them." Gray replied as he took a seat back on the small boat where the lot of them are squeezing themselves in.
Gray had reunited with the Strauss siblings and Yukino. They also found Erza's previous nakama trapped in a barrier prison on the edge of the island where the Tower of Heaven was situated. Together with Loke, Gray shipped the four unwilling prisoners onto the boat they found together with the rest of Fairy Tail. They were forced to set sail into the ocean the moment they spotted Etherion. They were very worried for the remaining three members when they still didn't appear when the tower started to collapse and panicked when they spotted Etherion in the sky. Their anxiety worsened when they saw a huge warrior avatar with wings taking into the skies flying towards where Etherion is. Mira had identified that warrior to be one of Elden's technique, one that combined both offense and defense to ridiculous degrees.
They knew Natsu was with Elden when the warrior was suddenly coated in flames and they realised that the both of them were trying to achieve Unison Raid in their attempt to prevent Etherion from firing upon the tower. They surmised that it was an attempt to protect Erza, who is still nowhere to be seen, and hence she must still be in that tower somewhere.
The arrow that the duo fired pierced through the magic arrays that were stacked upon one another in the sky, leaving a flaming trail of explosions in its wake. The flames from the arrow lit the magic arrays it pierced through with fire, which burned through the rest of the magic arrays that weren't destroyed by the arrow's pierce, leaving nothing in the air but a brilliant display of raging fire that consumed the night, turning it as bright as day.
The ethereal warrior began its descend back to the island where the Tower of Heaven was as it picked someone up from there, presumably Erza. A huge sword materialised in the warrior's hand as it used it to chop the tower up into many smaller unrecognisable pieces, preventing anyone from reviving the R System. The warrior then flew to their boat, and Gray watched with visible relief when their three remaining guildmates landed on their boat just as the warrior avatar dissipated into thin air. Both Elden and Natsu looked a little drained, but otherwise unharmed.
"Did you see that pervy popsicle? Bet you can't do anything like that!" Natsu exclaimed as he pointed at Gray with fire in his eyes.
"Hmph. That was an impressive show of magic, I give you that. But I'm sure that El did most of the work, not you. So you have nothing to boast about. All you did was to add a little fire."
"What did you say, squinty eyes? You blind or something?" Natsu growled out as he butted heads with Gray.
"Are you deaf? Droopy eyes? Are you getting hearing loss in old age?"
WHACK!
The unruly pair was silenced by Mirajane, who smashed their heads together viciously with her sweet smile still plastered on her face and let their unconscious bodies fall limply from her grip. Yukino concluded that Gray and Natsu must have irritated Mirajane as well, some of her she-demon personality is leaking out.
"Thank you, Mira. Those two are giving me a headache."
"Anything for you, dear." Mirajane replied as she walked up to Elden and gave him a quick hug. "Are you and Erza alright? And is that Jellal? He sure looks like Siegrain from the Ten Wizard Saints."
"It is a long story." Erza interrupted. "I will tell you guys all about it later but right now we should get moving. We stopped Etherion from firing the first shot, but I don't think Elden and Natsu have managed to destroy it, it may fire again."
"I will row the boat." Elfman volunteered. "Such a task is not difficult for a real man like me!"
"I will lighten the boat's weight with Libra. I have recovered enough magic to summon her for a short while."
"Juvia can help with water magic too."
"Elfman, if you need help, I can summon Taurus to help you too."
"Let us out of here!" Simon pleaded from within the confines of the barrier prison. "We can help as well! Please!"
"Elden..." Erza begged as she let the unconscious Jellal down from her shoulders.
"Fine." Elden grumbled as he willed the barrier prison away with a wave of his hand. "But I still don't trust them in not doing anything stupid. If they try anything funny or stupid again I will feed them to the sharks."
"We managed to establish a link with Master using a communication lacrima we found." Lisanna called out. "He said he will meet us at Akane Beach. He tried to stop the council from firing Etherion, but he was only successful for a short while. Master also said that something had happened to the Magic Council building at Era, but we should prepare ourselves for a round of questioning regardless. We did thwarted the council's attempt in firing Etherion."
"It will be alright even if we really succeeded in destroying Etherion." Elden replied as he sat on a corner of the boat with Mirajane and he closed his eyes to get some rest. "It wouldn't be the first time Fairy Tail had destroyed public property anyway."
"So you are saying that Jellal is innocent for all of his crimes?! This is preposterous!"
Master Makarov had picked us up at Akane Beach like he promised and immediately used a pair of anti-magic cuffs on Jellal as a form of precautionary measure. After knowing what the rest of Erza's previous nakamas did, he advised them to go into hiding for now. The council is now in a mess and desperate to find scapegoats to pin the blame on, it will be in their best interests to escape and run away as far as possible until the whole incident died down.
From what I knew from Master, who got his information from Yajima, Ultear destroyed the council building with her Arc of Time, effectively paralysing the entire council for a short while. Siegrain, who we now knew was an overpowered Thought Projection of Jellal, was forcefully dispelled shortly after the Etherion was primed and ready to fire, which most likely happened when I released Jellal from his possession. Siegrain's sudden disappearance was the trigger that prompted Ultear to suddenly knock all the employees out and she pressed the button herself to fire Etherion and then demolished the entire building without warning. Thankfully (or not, depending on who you asked), none of the council members died from the attack and a temporary building that serves as a makeshift headquarter is set up near to the destroyed one at Era for the council to resume its normal activities as soon as possible.
It is also where a trial is currently held and where I am now. The council members are currently questioning everyone who were at the Tower of Heaven except for Erza's previous nakamas, who had made their escape as per Makarov's advice and thus the council were unaware of their existence. The entire Fairy Tail group who were there insisted that a few of Jellal's lackeys were the ones that kidnapped Erza and Happy and we never knew who they were since we never met them at the Tower of Heaven. It was a cover story that we came up with earlier before Master brought us here for the hearing as per the council's orders.
Jellal had also woken up and he looks very lost as he was escorted away by the Rune Knights by the time we reached Era a few days later. He acts and behaves very differently from when we first met him in the Tower of Heaven, but he had accepted the fact that he was being controlled for the past eight years of his life, and is ready to face the punishment for his crimes.
Right now, I am arguing for Jellal's case, trying to prove that he is innocent as he was unknowingly controlled due to Possession magic casted on him without anyone's knowledge.
"The evidences are all there, honoured councilmen." I replied with that usual lazy tone that I was known for but I added a hint of disrespect this time when talking to these stubborn bulls. "Traces of Possession magic can still be found on him. My guild master, Makarov Dreyar, also a member of the Ten Wizard Saints, confirmed my suspicions as well when we first brought the unconscious Jellal to him. You guys did your own tests and you arrived at the same results, I know as much. I was there when your mages took Jellal off us and conducted a test on the spot when I told them my suspicions. If I were to hazard a guess, Ultear Milkovich, the one who forcefully fired Etherion and destroyed your headquarters, was the one who planted the Possession magic on him. Such magic needs to be constantly maintained if the user wants to control the victim for a long period of time and it has been eight years since Jellal was first possessed. The only one who have the power, skill, and was constantly around him was Ultear. It has to be her, in case you haven't realised it yet."
"Mind your manners when you speak to us, boy! We are the Magic Council! All we need is your testimony, we don't need your input on how we should run things!"
"I beg your pardon." I replied with a roll of my eyes and made sure that my voice was thickly layered with sarcasm. "Sorry if I cannot be courteous to the ones who nearly killed me and my nakamas by firing a fucking satellite cannon, even when the target was already in a near-destroyed state thanks to our guild's, Fairy Tail, efforts." I made sure to stress the name of my guild to piss them off even further. "It was a very poor judgement on your part, so I'm sorry if I cannot answer your questions politely since I am currently talking to the people who would have been my murderers if Natsu and I did not take any further actions. I have completely lost faith in your ability to lead, and I won't be the only one to feel that way. Your actions nearly aided the true mastermind behind this incident to revive Zeref and could have killed many other innocents, myself included, if we didn't stopped you. I believe Jellal had already come clean and informed you the specifics of how the Etherion was instrumental in reviving Zeref, the R System could have been activated by your hands. You guys are just incapable and a bunch of morons. Why should I answer your questions?"
"You-!"
"Since we are discussing about Jellal, we might as well clarify a few things." I cut off what's-his-name before he could talk my ears off. "We have already established that he was being controlled, as unbelievable as it sounds since he had the strength of a Wizard Saint, but it's the truth. Don't you dare tell me he wasn't controlled, the evidences are all there, if you try to hide any evidences of the truth it will only show the world how corrupt you guys are." I said the last sentence as a warning to them. "According to the Criminal Law for Mages, section 25, part 1a, if a convicted mage was proven to be controlled or possessed by another through magic from another individual, thereby robbing away any sense of freewill from the controlled mage or caused the mage to be controlled without the victim knowing, the controlled mage is innocent, and all charges will fall onto the mage who was doing the controlling. In Jellal's case, he was being unknowingly controlled by another individual, which we all know is most likely Ultear, and thus any and all charges of the crimes that Jellal had committed should fall on her. Jellal is a victim as well, he may have committed crimes, but it was done without him knowing that he was being possessed. You should have seen how he acts around others now that his mind is cleared, it is a far cry from his usual self. According to the law that was written since the founding of the Magic Council, Jellal is innocent."
"Such insolence! There's no way-"
"Michello, he is right." The current Chairman, Crawford Seam, said as he held up a hand to stop the cat-man from ranting. "According to the statutes and laws written by our forefathers and predecessors, we cannot convict Jellal of anything." The Chairman gazed at me, before continuing.
"Even if Jellal is innocent, we cannot let him run free. An individual with the strength of a Wizard Saint who was involved in dark magic and rituals that were closely related to Zeref, even if he was being controlled, needs to be closely monitored. The council will need to take Jellal in-"
"Actually." I interjected once more. "I have a suggestion regarding that issue..."
"I can't believe you talked to the Magic Council the way you did and get off with nothing but a slap on the wrist." Master Makarov grumbled as he walked up to my side the moment I was finished with the questioning. He was spectating everyone's questioning and I was the last one to be questioned, so he got out of the room with enthusiasm that rivaled my own the moment my questioning was done.
"Aren't you going to reprimand me for giving out a suggestion like that without consulting you first?" I replied as I raised an eyebrow at the wrinkly old man that I held in great respect. "In my defense, I only thought of it halfway into the questioning, so I couldn't consult with you beforehand."
"No, your suggestion was fine." Makarov said as he patted my back. "It is a splendid idea, a good idea that can help a victim that was ensnared by the dark to walk in the light again. Good job on that." Makarov cleared his throat before looking at me again. "Although I have to ask, when did you learn about criminal law?"
"I read a lot." I replied with my trademarked shrug. "I happened to come across that particular legislation by accident and I once joked to Levy that it might be a useful excuse to get out of the council's wrath in case one of our guild members destroyed some property that is too expensive to be ignored. I wasn't expecting for it to come in handy, to be perfectly honest, but it worked."
"You have a good head on your shoulders, Elden, and you know your way around politics." Master complimented me as I took a gulp of water from my water flask, all the talking I did to convince the Magic Council left my throat parched and dry. "Have you ever considered in becoming the Fourth Master of Fairy Tail?"
I spit out the water that I had been drinking and Master had to step aside to avoid getting drenched. What? Me? Fourth Master of Fairy Tail?
"No damn way." I said as I crossed my arms in an 'X' and faced Master. No way am I going to be swarmed in paperwork and deal with complaints of property damage 24/7. "No offense, Master, but I don't want to live the rest of my life dealing with paperwork. You will have better luck asking Gildarts instead." I suggested. "Actually, Erza and Mira could have been possible candidates as well, they just need more experience. Laxus can be a wonderful guild master too, once he got over his rebellious phase."
"Erza and Mira is too young, and none of them are as strong as you, at least not for a long while yet." Master said as he shook his head and continued to walk forward towards the exit of the building and I followed as I walked behind him. "And don't talk about Laxus, you know how he is."
"I believe he will be someone who is comparable to a Wizard Saint once he got over his issues, not only in strength, but also in both the heart and mind." I said as I took another sip of water from my water flask. "He loves the guild deeply, in his own way."
"Maybe." Master muttered. "Have you thought of how we are going to break the news to the rest of them?"
"Well..." I trailed off as I scratched my chin in thought. "It couldn't be too hard, right?"
"WHAT?!"
"Yeah, you guys didn't hear us wrongly, he's coming back to Fairy Tail with us." I said.
The compromise Master and I had with the Magic Council ended up in us taking custody of Jellal. It's like what the Magic Council said. Although Jellal may be argued as innocent and free of all criminal charges, and that legally, such a scenario would not warrant him an imprisonment behind bars, we have to take into account that he was being manipulated for eight long years without anyone the wiser. It does not help that Jellal was an ex member of both the Ten Wizard Saints and the Magic Council who knew many of their secrets even if his title had been stripped the moment we brought him to the Rune Knights. There's also the slight possibility that there may be unknown lingering side effects of the Possession magic that may lead him to do evil acts again, and it was the main reason why the Chairman was adamant that Jellal needs to be closely monitored. The council was of the idea of simply throwing Jellal behind bars until they are sure the Possession magic is truly gone, and I am of the opinion that if they had their way, Jellal will never see the outside world again. Hence, my suggestion was that Fairy Tail will be the one in charge of keeping an eye on him. Fairy Tail had capable mages to do so. We had proved that we have the capability to restrain people of Jellal's strength given our display back at the Tower of Heaven and nearly destroyed Etherion.
Oh right, I forgot to mention that the Unison Raid I performed with Natsu actually nearly destroyed the Etherion cannon. According to the council members, the cannon would have been toast if we have aimed the arrow a little bit more to the right. As of now, the cannon had nothing more than a long scratch on its side and is still in working condition. The council did not press any charges against us for property damage. They knew that they had fucked up big time and is willing to close the issue about the Etherion as fast as possible, not wanting the public to know more about their failings. This also allowed me to argue Jellal's case in his favour as much as I could possibly do.
Back to the topic on Jellal. After much debating and arguing, the council was willing to let Jellal to be on probation for five years, with me and Erza being the main ones keeping an eye on him. Jellal can take part in jobs like any normal mage, but at least one S Class mage have to be with him whenever he is out of the guild building. He will also have to stay with one of our members, preferably S Class or someone close to that level, to allow us to monitor him. He is also not allowed to be given an S Class title until the five years are over, and it is only after the five years are over that he will truly be a free man once more.
Five years of being closely watched, that is the price that Jellal have to pay in order to regain his freedom once more. It is a lot better than what happened to him in canon, so I agreed. It would not be wise to push my luck any further than this.
"That Jellal guy is going back with us?! He tried to kill us for Mavis's sake!"
"He was being controlled, Gray. I believed we have told you that." Master said as he stood beside me with his arms crossed, facing the rest of the group. "All we have to do is to make sure that the Possession magic within him is truly gone. Jellal is not a bad person at heart, it was the Possession magic that tainted him with evil, he is a victim like everyone else."
"Eh, I think the arrangement is fine." Natsu said as he put his hands behind his head in a relaxed manner. "Do you think he will fight me if I asked for one? He was a Wizard Saint, that guy ought to be strong!"
"Anyone else have other disagreements to voice out?" I looked around the group. "None? So am I right to say that we can finally go collect tattoo-face and then head back to Magnolia? I don't know about you guys, but all I want right now is to go back home and lie on my bed and sleep for the next thre- OOF!"
"T-Thank you, Master, Elden." Erza sobbed as she grabbed Master and I into a tight hug and slammed our heads onto her breastplate. "You don't know how much this means to me."
I wriggled my way out of Erza's clutches and nursed my bruised forehead. "It's nothing much, really." I replied on Master's behalf, seeing that he is currently lying on the floor and unconscious from the impact of hitting his head onto Erza's armour. "But you have to watch Jellal for the next five years, which is a pretty long probation period. I can help too, but I can already foresee that you will be Jellal's watcher most of the time."
"It's fine." Erza said as she tried to wipe away the tears of joy from her eyes. "It is a small price to pay for his freedom. I'm just glad that he is finally back, and that he isn't evil."
"Oww... what happened?"
"Welcome back to the world of the living, Master." I replied dryly as Yukino and Lisanna tried to help the small aged man get back up on his feet.
"Erm..." Juvia, who was silent this whole time, fidgeted uncomfortably as she made her presence known. "Can Juvia...canJuviajoinFairyTailaswell?" Juvia spoke the last part of her sentence so fast that we all had trouble trying to make out what she said.
"Of course, why not?" Master apparently caught onto Juvia's words where the rest of us had failed as he replied Juvia while rubbing his forehead at the same time, which is now nursing a huge growing lump. "Welcome to Fairy Tail, Juvia."
Juvia gave a squeal of joy and she immediately latched on to her Gray-sama with literal hearts in her eyes, saying how she can finally spend time with her Gray-sama for eternity. Wow, I thought the hearts in the eyes was just an anime thing, I never thought it will be possible in real life. Lucy wisely dodged out of there and hid herself behind Mira and Lisanna, much to their unconcealed amusement.
"Alright, we have dallied here long enough." Master said as he gave a stretch and an audible pop of his bones could be heard. "Let's collect Jellal and go back home to Fairy Tail."
"AHHHHH! I DON'T WANT TO SIT ON THE TRAIN!" Natsu exclaimed before suddenly kneeling by my feet and giving me a very pitiful look with tears in his eyes. "EL! USE THE WARRIOR THING TO FLY ME HOME! I DON'T WANT TO SIT ON THE TRAIN!"
"You really are hopeless, you know that?" Lucy said as she put her hands on her hip. "You can go up against anyone but you cannot even handle a measly train ride."
"Make sure to sit far away from me." Gray grunted. "I don't want to be drenched with your puke."
"Juvia can sit beside Gray-sama! Forever~~~" Gray shivered in cold sweat as Juvia latched onto his left arm in a death grip, and Gray looked as if he was pondering whether sitting beside Natsu would be a better option instead. Sitting beside his long time rival on the train journey back home suddenly sounds like a very enticing idea.
"I want to sit next to Mira-nee!" Yukino said as she bounced to Mira and hugged her. She turned around to give me a stink eye. "El-niichan always snores when he fall asleep on the train! I can't even rest properly whenever I sit next to him. Mira-nee, do something about it!"
"Eh, I can't help it." I replied as I stretched my neck. "For some reason I only ever snore when I am sleeping on the train."
"Maybe you can bring along some ear plugs with you the next time you go out on a mission with El?" Mira suggested as she patted Yukino on the head.
"PLEASE! EL! FLY ME HOME!"
"Nah, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. Sorry, Natsu, but this is for your own good. Think of it as training to be an S Class mage."
"EL!"
"Just be a real man and take the train ride!"
"Aye!"
"Elf-niichan! It's not like Natsu didn't try before! He is just really bad at transportation!"
Our entire group had made our way to the area where we were supposed to collect Jellal by now. Jellal is currently in a temporary holding cell with anti-magic cuffs around his wrists and is heavily watched by many Rune Knights stationed to keep an eye on him. The moment they spotted Master, they saluted him and let him through into the cell while the rest of us waited outside. A few moments later, Master returned with Jellal in tow, who is still looking a little bewildered.
"Erza...I..."
Erza said nothing as she dashed forward to hug Jellal while trying her best not to cry again. Jellal was stunned for a moment, but returned the hug the moment he regained his senses. They both sobbed for a short while as they hugged each other, and we stood aside in silence to let the both of them enjoy their much needed privacy.
Erza slowly let go of Jellal and took a step backwards, and at that moment, I saw the brightest smile that Erza had ever gave.
"Welcome back, Jellal."
AN: Surprise, surprise. Sorry if this chapter felt a little disjointed, I wrote bits and pieces of it here and there whenever I had the chance to do so. I think that many of you may have been disappointed for not reading about a big fight, but I feel that not everything has to be resolved with your fists. The world will be a much better place if there were less fighting and more understanding towards each other. If there is an easier way to solve things without fighting, why not? I also have to give Elden some sort of defense against mind-reading type of magic at some point in case I wanted to write about the Oracion Seis arc due to the presence of Cobra and Angel, and I thought that if Elden did know magic that is able to protect his mind, it would make sense for him to know how to dispel a possession. He is an S Class mage after all, and most S Class mages knows at least a few spells or other types of magic. The ToH arc is just a good point in time to introduce a form of mind protection magic.
I have always thought that Jellal is a very unlucky person. To be finally freed from slavery, only to be possessed and live in a life of lie for the next eight years, got himself into a coma, then arrested and imprisoned, then was broken out again by the very same person that caused him to be a prisoner in the first place. He then lived a life as an escaped convict for more than seven years before getting pardoned. That's nearly twenty years, two decades, of living the life of an escaped convict. Jellal wasn't totally in the wrong, nor was he truly evil, he was forced by circumstances. What was wrong was the world and government that did nothing to prevent these things from happening. If you think about it, I can't believe that the Tower of Heaven managed to stay hidden from the council's eyes when it was located near the border of Fiore. Any country would keep a keen eye on their borders and somehow the council and the royal family missed it. If that does not explain their incompetency, then it means that someone high up in the chain of command is involved as well.
Given how sad Jellal's life is in canon, I thought that it would be good if I could spare Jellal all the agony and misery. In the end, he is a victim just like every other slave that were kidnapped to the Tower of Heaven.
I just hoped that the addition of Jellal into FT will not make FT too op, but then again Hiro Mashima always made the FT members too op, and it is kind of hard to nerf them when you knew what kind of mages they will grow up to be in the end.
The future of this story is not yet set in stone, but I already have an idea on how I want to write a different future for FT with this story. I just hope that my idea will be a good one, and that FT can win their battles not only through the 'power of friendship', but by their own strength and wit as well.
I hoped you enjoyed the story thus far.
