Chapter 11 - Gathering Storm

"Blast that kid can really pack a punch." Brax complained; he had no shirt on but long bandages were wrapped around his ribs. He tried to nurse his sore spots a bit but recoiled when he accidently put on too much pressure.

"Was it really necessary for you to put delay magic on yourself?" Xing-fu questioned his subordinate. "All that did was make you feel all of his strikes at once later. I am sure at his level you could have defeated him without relying on your magic."

"True, but who was the one who ordered me to stop them?" Brax huffed in reply, "I was just making sure to keep the dragon slayer beaten down so he would not get in the way."

"Yes I suppose I must commend you for your dutiful attention to my orders." Xing-fu took a look around their hideout.

This time the Xin clan's hideout was actually a hospital in one of the nearby cities, of course the Riesig had been ditched outside but even if someone did manage to find it only Yashe was capable of moving the thing with his very special archive type magic. The thing about a hospital was that they had access to magical equipment, and even if their location was known to their enemies they would think twice about doing damage to a city hospital which would instantly put them on the city's most wanted list. It was a most wonderful neutral location indeed.

It also helped a lot with Yashe's current work on the captured amnesiac, Jellal. "How is the procedure progressing?" Questioned Xing-fu. "Can he be restored to his normal, devious self?"

"It would have been a lot easier if that Dragon Slayer Loretta, had been good enough for your little plan but I suppose I must work with what you got me." Yashe sighed and brought up a data chart in the air to look over. "As I suspected Jellal's circuitry was really messed up, Etherion really did a number on him. Well as you may know, but I doubt it, the human brain works a lot like archive magic really, electric signals course through the brain which can trigger many switches that soon process information, performs actions, and so on. Basically his brain circuitry has been short circuited, so to speak, especially in regards to his memory banks. Really all I need to do is reestablish the connection with my wonderful little devices, plus that one added feature you mentioned, and frankly his brain should be able to heal itself on its own. While I say this as if I am going to do it in fact I have already done so."

"I see, when do you think his memories will return?"

"Well it is a bit hard to say. His memories will still be a bit fuzzy at first, but I am sure when he wakes up a good deal of his memories and personality will be back. A lot less work to be sure than repressing Loretta's brain functions while giving her body new commands so that she would be under our control yet still be able to fight properly, heavens that was a hard order to fill; Jellal by comparison was like baking a cake, which I happen to be fairly good at by the way."

"Only with my help however." Irene piped up from a book she was reading. One thing that could be counted upon, other than her seal that could protect them, was in her spare time, one could almost always find her in some corner with her eyes glued to the pages of a book.

"What are you talking about Irene? All you ever did was read me the instructions, if I remember correctly you turned a lot paler that one time." Yashe teased, causing Irene's cheeks to flare up, indicating that an issue with flour had been involved.

"Humph, and who was the one who mixed up the table and teaspoons?" She fought back through her embarrassment.

Davine came into the room from the outside, in a nurse's outfit that no real nurse would ever dare wearing to work. "Really, you two are an inspiration to couples everywhere."

"Shut up!" The tall and short couple shouted simultaneously causing Davine to laugh behind the back of her hand.

"Oh Davine how cruel you can be at times." Takeshi chided from a nearby hospital bed. Laying on his side with one arm to support his head he had decided for fun to use his magic to make it appear he was lying on thin air in the middle of the room. "Despite your obvious uses seductress, I do believe that Irene and Yashe are more central to the plan, especially if you consider our current one.

"Well you are as uncharming as always Mr. Plain." Davine spoke with a bored expression on her face while Takeshi popped a vein. Her expression turned to one of joy as she waltzed over to Xing-fu and daintily cradled her arms around his neck which of course she could not see because of his heavy black veil. "Do you not find me enchanting, my lord?" She practically purred but Xing-fu remained unflinching.

"Indeed you are my dear but I fear that I am a slave to the love of power and duty." Xing-fu firmly pried her off but in a way that seemed almost regretful. "I cannot find pleasure in the arms of a woman until I take back what is rightfully mine! Once I have all that I need the Xin Clan will rule once again and the world shall bow before my might!" Xing-fu, as he was speaking, had started to make flourishing hand motions in the air, making him look almost like some kind of shaman. He stopped his drama to look straight at Davine, "also quite frankly you are not my type."

"Ha ha ha! Way to go leader, put that broad in her place!" Brax laughed uproariously though not without a few flickers of pain.

"As if you know anything about love you ex-soldier or whatever you were that does violent things for sport."

"I was once a Special Forces member and you'd better remember that woman." Brax crossed his arms and glared at her. "If you ever even think about trying your tricks on me just remember I was trained to endure the worst of torture and even mentally conditioned to block out magic emotion manipulators. You would fail and I would make sure to punish you."

"Oh really and how would you punish me hum?" Davine of course struck a seductive pose which extenuated her rather generous proportions, the nurse costume of course made it look even more risqué than usual.

"Stop trying to fill my mind with crude thoughts you obviously depraved wench."

"Everyone be quiet!" Xing-fu shouted causing all other activity to cease, while they did not get along all that well they knew well enough to listen to their leader. They heard some grunting from behind a medical bed curtain where Jellal had been placed and there Yashe had operated on him. "I do believe our guest is starting to wake up." Sure enough, they could hear the bed creak a little as Jellal sat up and then tossed the curtains to the side to glare at his kidnappers.

"Where the heck is this and who are you!" The ex-council member demanded of the Xin-clan. Jellal started to get a migraine, his eyebrows knitted together and he pinched the bridge of his nose. "Arrg, everything is so muddy right now."

"Well that is to be expected after being nearly destroyed by the Etherion you tired to collect in the Tower of Paradise, it was hard work to try and restore your memory." Yashe explained.

Jellal slowly brought his hand away from his face and narrowed his eyes at the semi-transparent armor clad Yashe. "My memory? What are you getting at?"

Yashe was about to explain when Xing-fu interrupted, "For the past few months you were imprisoned for your crimes against the magic council, being your infiltration and personal use of the Council's great magic the Etherion for the purpose of activating the R system. You were about to be executed for your crimes but we, the Xin Clan, decided to save you. Do you remember anything?"

Jellal frowned and tried to think but his mind still had a while to go before he could piece everything together. "Vaguely, the R system was not completed and the Tower of Paradise was destroyed." Jellal jumped off the bed, had to bow and hold his head for a brief moment in pain and then stood up straight. "I will thank you for your assistance but my plans require me elsewhere so before you ask I will not be helping you." Jellal determinedly marched toward a door while Davine gave him a sour look.

"You would just leave your savior without even offering something in return?" Davine angrily accused Jellal and got in his way causing him to stop.

"I gave my thanks and I feel no obligation to help you. Now move aside." Despite his fragmented memories Jellal's presence and magical power were still very much evident, causing Davine to back up in alarm.

"Yes I figured as much Jellal Fernandez but would you still say no if I gave you the opportunity to destroy the one that stopped your scheme, the Salamander?" Xing-fu questioned the powerful mage.

"Such a title has no meaning to me." Jellal opened the door but Xing-fu started to talk again.

"Oh I am sorry of course you would not remember that in your condition. What I meant to say is do you want to pay back Natsu Dragneel for the humiliation he put you through and how he managed to save Erza Scarlet before the sacrifice could be complete."

Jellal's eyes grew wide as soon as he heard "Natsu", the connections in his brain started to work again and he collapsed on his knees, his hands clutching his face. "Natsu…Natsu Dragneel. Erza Scarlet. He, Natsu took her from me. He ate the Etherion and gained immense power equal to my own. Natsu Dragneel, he destroyed my Tower of Paradise. He ruined everything!" Jellal started to breathe heavily as memories flooded back to him. Forcing himself up on one knee, he managed to bring a hand down to push up on his knee as he slowly rose back up.

"Erza Scarlet was to be my sacrifice for the resurrection of the Black Magician Zeref! Yet Natsu interfered! As long as he exists my plans will never come to be!" Jellal's migraine started to go away as his eyes burned with hate. "I will destroy him utterly!"

"Yes I see you remember your hated foe quite well. The thing is we will have to, shall we say; go to war with Fairy Tail soon but it would be most helpful if you would join our cause. To give you some incentive I will make sure that you get some alone time with Dragneel so you can settle your differences. I can assure you this will be your best chance of destroying Natsu once and for all; otherwise it will almost be certain that he will not be alone long enough for you to execute your revenge." Xing-fu probably smiled with delight, knowing that he had Jellal right where he wanted him.

"Only if you can absolutely make certain that I will be the one to finish Natsu. Erza Scarlet should have been mine but he dared to interfere with my machinations! This alliance shall only be temporary; as soon as I have exacted my revenge I will no longer help you as I must construct the next Tower of Paradise as soon as possible." Jellal turned around to face Xing-fu on hand still on the doorknob.

"I am glad for you assistance Jellal, until the time is right I will let you do as you please, just make sure you do not get caught by the council before then. Yashe will contact you when the time is right." Xing-fu instructed.

Jellal smiled, "That suits me just fine." With that Jellal left, leaving the room to silence.

"What an infuriating man," Davine almost ground her teeth in anger, "to give such disrespect to you Xing-fu and more importantly to threaten me!"

"As usual you seem to have your priorities switched around." Irene commented dryly as she flipped another page in her rather large, black leather book with no title to show what it was.

"What are you talking about? Of course I am the most important person here." Davine said as if it was fact.

"Well narcissism always was your strong point." Brax grunted from a position as far from Davine as possible. "I'm surprised you don't carry a diamond encrusted mirror with you all the time."

"As if I would carry around such an expensive thing, it is only silver after all."

Brax coughed, "Ugh, to think I was that close to reality, disgusting."

Xing-fu watched the exchanges between his guild members with some amusement though his thoughts were preoccupied with his latest success in his grand scheme. "Now that I have my key piece it will not be long before everything can be accomplished and I can assume my birthright. Not long at all."

xxxxxxxXXXXXXxxxxxxx

Fairy Tail was used to getting a lot of complaints from the Magic Council, stacks of complaints, lists and piles so high that if a mage was unfortunate enough to topple them and they crashed down, it would be hard to rescue them from the paperwork catastrophe. What was happening now though was completely different from the norm. A Council messenger had been personally sent over to rebuke Fairy Tail for their involvement during Jellal's kidnapping from the execution grounds.

"You were implicitly instructed not to interfere with the proceedings!" Unlike the usual messengers this one was human so at the very least they did not have to listen to any croaking. "Your rash actions have caused a great disturbance in Magnolia and once again you have put the council in a bad light! There have been charges made against you, implying that those fiends may have in fact been hired by you to prevent the death of one of the foulest criminals in the Council's history!"

"What the heck! We were trying to beat up those guys!" Natsu objected resoundedly to the messenger's accusation. Makarov warned him to stay silent with a hand and a hard stare.

"Or you were trying to make it look like you had not part in it." The messenger responded haughtily but then changed his tune a little, "in any case suspicion has been cast on this guild and it is required that you make amends for your disgraceful conduct."

Makarov blew a smoke ring from his pipe, causing the messenger to have to scoot to the side to avoid what appeared to be a smoking arrow. "I can see where this is going, if I am following this right, the council wants us to recover the criminal for them." The messenger looked annoyed but in no way challenged the guild master's statement. "As I thought."

"The council does wish for you to prove your loyalty to the system by returning Jellal Fernandez to custody. I would suggest the sooner the better for your own sakes."

"What kind of crap is this?" Lucy venomously interjected, "It is the Council's fault that the Xing Clan had been able to so easily get under you in the first place!"

"The Council admits to nothing young mage! You have been warned, the council expects results soon!" His job finished, the messenger huffed away under many eyes that threw invisible daggers into his back.

"Keh, the council is as heartless as ever I see." Grey frowned; the scar above his eye seemed more prominent than usual because of the slight furrowing of his eyebrows.

"Juvia agrees whole-heartedly with Grey-sama!"

"Why did they have to go so far as to put the blame on us when we clearly had no relations with the kidnappers?" Levy asked, voicing the inner thoughts of many of the other Fairy Tail members.

"The Council's political maneuvering." Erza stated quite firmly, barely concealed rage hiding just beneath her skin.

Mira decided to elaborate, "Indeed Erza. You see Levy, Lucy," she added Lucy's name as she could tell her thoughts were closely aligned with Levy's, "right now the Council's approval rating in the public eye is at an all time low thanks to the Tower of Paradise Incident. They were hoping to gain back some trust with the execution of Jellal but with what has just happened, in order to ensure they are not seen as powerless, they needed a scapegoat to cover their latest mishap and we just happened to fit the bill."

"If only I could have stopped Wendy from reviving Jellal back then this never would have happened," Carla thought to herself from her position, standing on a table next to the petite Air Dragon Slayer.

"That's just not right!" Lucy slammed a palm on a nearby table in frustration.

"No it is not but I am afraid we cannot ignore the Council this time." Makarov sighed as he ran low on tobacco. "We have been in the spotlight too much as of late in these kinds of incidents."

"Well all of this doesn't matter one bit! I was going to find and pummel those guys down anyway and get Jellal back from them!" Was Natsu's fiery response to the situation.

Grey grinned, "I have to agree with you Natsu, and after what has happened I certainly cannot leave those idiots to be after they humiliated us in that last battle."

"I agree with Grey and Natsu-san!" Quite a few people turned to Wendy, not expecting her to suddenly speak up with such strength. The sudden attention caused the poor girl to start fidgeting with the hem of her dress. "Be-besides, we have to save L-Loretta-san too."

"Well said Wendy!" Lucy grinned. After seeing Wendy's resolve her own was boosted up quite high. "We'll definitely give it everything we got!" A chorus of encouraging yells raised the roof as the whole guild got pumped up for the hunt.

"Hmmm, I am glad to see everyone so worked up but the fact is that we have no leads on where the Xin Clan might be hiding." Makarov noted rather sagely.

Natsu was about to interject when Erza cut him off. "That is true Master, but judging from our last encounter with our foes I suspect that it is their intent to find us. Our confrontation cannot be very far off in the future."

"We'll certainly be ready for them when they show their faces!" Natsu smirked while cracking his knuckles in anticipation, more than eager for a rematch in the near future.

Author's Note: Literally an aftermath chapter so not too much going on. A few things were hopefully explained and as you can see Jellal, having all his memories come back has gone back to his old ways. Having been brainwashed for so many years of course he is still going to be angry about what happened, he hasn't had years in jail yet to mellow out since this is before the time skip. Well hope you enjoy it, while this chapter mostly concentrated on the villians the next chapter will focus more on the main Fairy Tail characters before I feel I can have the next battle happen. Need to flesh out some feelings, thoughts, maybe a cameo or two. Well hope you enjoyed this fairly short chapter so until next time.