Tower of Heaven

James sat sequestered under a beach umbrella reading a magazine about the latest in mechanical developments as the rest of his teammates ran around enjoying themselves. Lucy and Natsu were out wakeboarding, Natsu was looking ill; Happy was prancing around in the hot sand; and Gray and Erza were tossing a volleyball back and forth. Loke had given the team a bunch of tickets to Akane Resort after thanking them for looking after Lucy and revealing he was the Celestial Being Leo.

"Hey James, why don't you join us?" Gray asked.

"That's alright. You have fun. I'm okay over here," James called back.

"Come on man, we're supposed to be enjoying ourselves. This is the first time in a long time that we've been able to cut loose," Gray whined. James sighed and replied, "But I am having fun. This is my kind of fun." He propped up the magazine so Gray could see. Not letting up, Gray and Erza came and dragged James out so he could join in a game of beach volleyball with them and the rest of the team. Soon James found himself having plenty of fun as he joined Team Natsu in their antics.

The sun began to fall and the sky darkened. The team packed it in for the day and retreated to their hotel rooms. James changed into dark jeans and a black shirt that opened at the collar. He went out and watched the waves crash against the beach for a bit as the sun slowly set. He frowned as the scene brought back painful memories for him.

"Mom, Dad, I miss you so much," he whispered tearfully.

A sudden gasp to his right drew his attention and he turned to see Erza reclining on her balcony in her black bikini.

"Hey you okay?" James asked concerned.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Didn't realize I had fallen asleep," Erza said brushing him off. James could see she had been shaken up by something though. Erza disappeared back into her hotel room leaving James alone on the balconies. A knock on his door drew his attention. Opening it he saw Natsu, Happy, and Gray.

"Hey," James said by way of greeting.

"We're headed down to the casino," Gray explained. "Want to join us?"

"I'm not sure," James stated reluctantly. "Crowds really aren't my thing."

"Dude, cute girls," Gray stated teasingly. James couldn't help but smirk and nodded. "Sure let's go."

The casino was full of people dressed in expensive attire: suits, dress clothes, cocktail dresses. Gray hadn't been kidding when he said there would be lots of cute girls. They were all walking around with their arms bare or in long gloves, their faces and hair done up, and were showing off their legs. The room was large, spacious enough so that James didn't feel crowded despite being surrounded by people. Rollercoaster and amusement park rides ran through areas of the large gathering hall and casino games were dotted throughout along with bars selling refreshments and food.

Natsu and Happy immediately headed for a large lottery ball machine while Gray headed over to one of the blackjack tables. James decided to follow him, because Natsu was already whining about how the lottery game was cheating him.

They're rigged you idiot James thought shaking his head.

"Shall I deal you in sir?" the cute dealer at the blackjack table asked James.

"Um, no thanks. I think I'll just watch my friend for the moment. Pretty soon Gray was raking in a large deal of money. James suddenly realized someone was at his shoulder. He looked down and saw a shy, but beautiful young woman with blue hair and deep blue eyes. She was wearing a navy blue cocktail dress that tied at her neck leaving her back bare, with a plunging neckline that revealed much of her ample chest. Around her neck was a large golden pendant of the Fairy Tail crest. The dress stopped just above her knees and she had on matching high heeled shoes.

"Gray, my darling, I'm Juvia. Do you remember me?" the girl asked in a subdued, but sweet voice.

"Yeah, you're that chick from Phantom!" Gray snapped annoyed.

"What?" James asked confused.

"She's one of the Element Four!" Gray explained. "I had to fight her when we were saving Lucy."

James grunted in acknowledgement and Gray withdrew from the game with his substantial winnings so they could talk more privately. The trio headed over to one of the bars and James ordered a round of drinks. He was starting to get a headache from the noise and lights and needed something to tide him over.

"I heard Phantom was disbanded," James stated, relaying information he had heard via his many trips.

"That had to have been tough on you," Gray sympathized.

"Yes, but now I am a free wizard and can join any guild I want to!" Juvia stated excitedly.

"I see," Gray mused. "And I take it you want to be a member of Fairy Tail, huh?"

"Oh yes! Very much so!" Juvia squealed.

"I don't know if that's a good idea," James said over his drink. "There's still a lot of bad feeling and grievances over what happened."

"I don't mind," Gray stated. "But the others might not be as forgiving and who knows what Master will say." James grunted and took a long draft of his drink before ordering a second.

"I promise I'll do whatever it takes!" Juvia said with a determined smile.

"If I were you I'd be careful about making promises like that," Gray smirked. James suddenly tensed as he sensed someone behind them.

"Gray Fullbuster? James Price?" a deep voice asked. James, Gray, and Juvia turned around to see a very large man wearing a turban and black eye-patch over his left eye. His lower jaw was covered in a large metal plate and he wore an open vest over his heavily muscled chest. Billowing pants covered his legs. A pale blue magic circle appeared over his eye and suddenly the bar exploded.

Crap! James thought. What now? He activated his Jaeger armor, just covering his right arm. Gray and Juvia were caught in some of the rubble. Juvia looked hurt and Gray was just pissed.

"What do you think you're doing?" Gray snarled.

"Who are you?" James demanded.

"Where is Erza?" the mountain man simply asked.

"Don't know who you're talking about," James lied.

"Erza?" Gray whispered confused.

"Where is she?" the man asked again.

"You think we'd tell you?" James growled. His fist started to glow as his anger mounted. A swirl of water appeared next to Gray and then condensed into Juvia.

"I won't allow you to so much as lay a finger on my beloved!" Juvia stated in defiance. She threw her arms out to protect Gray. "You'll have to go through me first." Then to Gray she whispered, "Erza needs your help right now. I fear she's in grave danger."

"Go Gray. We can handle Metal Mouth here," James ordered. Gray nodded and started to run to look for Erza.

"Ah, you've located her," the stranger stated in a distracted tone. His hand was to his temple as if he was concentrating on something else. That stopped Gray cold.

"Gray go! Now!" James snapped.

"Yes, I see," the man continued. "So shall I clean things up here? Understood."

Suddenly the entire room went dark.

"What happened to the lights?" Gray cried out.

This is bad James thought. "Mech Magic form Schnitter," James whispered. He became enclosed in black armor. His helmet gave the appearance of a hooded, masked figure, the faceplate a smooth opaque surface that absorbed light. A small cloak covered his left hip and the armor plating covering his forearms was thicker than the rest of his armor.

Despite the darkness, James could see clearly now.

"It's magic of the dark lineage," the man explained. "Dark Moment." He moved so fast James momentarily lost sight of him. James turned around and saw the man behind them forming a large powerful magic circle. James threw himself into his friends as the man attacked them. A second explosion rocked the trio as they were thrown into more rubble. James groaned and saw the man turn to leave.

"You won't get away," James whispered. He raised his right arm and a black pellet shot from the thickened armor plating. It adhered to the man's pant leg before he vanished again and the lights came back on.

"What the hell?" James asked confused. Suddenly everyone was gone. The only people around were him and Juvia. James groaned and let his armor deactivate. James groaned in pain and struggled to move. The rubble had collapsed on top of him. He pushed it off and went over to Juvia.

"Juvia! Juvia wake up! Juvia where's Gray!" James growled. She moaned and got up. As she sat up, Gray was revealed to be hiding under her.

"I pulled him inside me to protect him," Juvia explained. Hiding his look of momentary disgust, James helped them both to their feet.

"Yeah, but I couldn't do anything and the creep got away," Gray stated.

"Not really," James said. "I tagged him with a magical tracer. Now let's go find the others."

Suddenly a large blast of fire drew their attention to the remnants of the lottery machine Natsu had been playing earlier.

"Natsu what happened to you?" Gray asked.

"What kind of jerk shoots people in the mouth?" Natsu cried indignantly. "I mean someone could get really hurt."

"I think that would kill anyone who wasn't insane like you are." James shook his head. "Come on let's go find Lucy." The team took off and soon found Lucy bound in some kind of orange rope. Surrounding her were playing cards, but inside the cards were people, trapped.

"Lucy what happened?" James asked. "Mech Magic form blade of Schneider." He summoned one of the small blades from his armor and used it to cut Lucy free.

"A bunch of people came and took Erza and Happy. They sounded like they knew her, too!" Lucy explained.

"Come on! I got a score to settle!" Natsu roared. He took off running at a great speed.

"Follow him!" Gray cried.

"What does he even know where he's going?" Lucy asked.

"Natsu's got a nose for prey that would put even wild animals to shame," Gray explained.

"Plus, if that man who attacked us is with those who took Erza I can track him," James added. They took off after Natsu as he exited the resort and took off down the beach.


AN: Sorry if you felt like you had to wait. I have been busy. I am curious: Do you guys want me to include Erza's backstory during the episode occurs? Do you think its is important to write it all out or can I just summarize? I don't feel like it will add or take from James' story, but the readers come first. So PM me your opinion. I started a poll, but I am not sure if it will work. Just let me know what you think somehow. Thanks for reading.