Point-in-Time: Tower of Heaven Arc
"I think it's time you started explaining yourself, Jellal." Erza said as she held the azure-haired man at sword-point, straddling him so that he wouldn't make any attempts to counterattack. "Even with all your meticulous planning, you failed to truly complete the R-System. While I was away, I researched into the R-System thoroughly – it requires a great deal of Magical Energy. Even if you were to gather all the Wizards on the continent, you still wouldn't have enough Energy to power it!"
Jellal calmly closed his eyes, and answered Erza as if he were talking about the weather.
"You're a very intelligent woman, Erza, but you can be oh-so-narrow-minded. All the pieces are in front of you and you still can't put them together?" He snorted in amusement. He reopened his eyes and stared at her impassively. "… Very well, I will give you your answer. Why do you suppose I needed the Etherion to fire on this place? It wasn't to destroy the Tower of Heaven; it was never about that. Etherion is immensely powerful, capable of annihilating entire nations. That was to be the power source, the 'final piece to the puzzle', as it were."
"That's impossible!" Erza denied heatedly. "You couldn't possibly harness a blast from Etherion, even if theoretically it might possess the power you need!"
"Never judge a tower by its frail outer coating. There's a secret of this tower that not even you are aware of, my dear; it is in actuality a giant Lacrima just waiting for the boundless energy of Etherion to fuel it! But of course, the sight of such a thing would attract too much attention, so the Lacrima was concealed by stone walls; truly, it is a thing of beauty to behold, quite worthy of its title."
Erza froze at this revelation, and even Natsu looked a little freaked out.
"A Lacrima? That's what the Tower of Heaven is?!" The redheaded knight gasped out in shock. Natsu couldn't find the right words to describe it as he simply tried to picture a giant, towering Lacrima; just didn't seem possible.
"The looks on your faces are priceless. Erza. Natsu." Both members of Team Crimson Flame whipped their heads around to see Siegrain striding toward them. Natsu in particular was wondering why he didn't sense the Councilman's appearance. "He isn't capable of putting forth his full power right now, so he had to manipulate the game, you see. The outcome where Etherion rained down on us… That would have been our victory, without a doubt. But now the rules of the game have changed, and your life is no longer needed to resurrect Lord Zeref. We will just select someone else to be the unwilling sacrifice – there are oh so many powerful Wizards to choose from on the continent, after all."
"Siegrain… you bastard…" Natsu growled as the Councilman came to a stop just a few feet away from them. Erza, too, was filled with rage at the sight of Jellal's 'twin', but she was caught off guard when Jellal blasted her off of him and a few feet away. Natsu immediately whipped his head back around and shouted. "Erza!"
Jellal stood back up and mirrored Siegrain's arrogant posture. Yet it was Siegrain who spoke up again.
"You know, this reminds me of when we first met, years ago." Siegrain smirked as Erza picked herself up and glared angrily at him. "Do you remember?"
Siegrain moved until he was standing side-by-side with Jellal, who then proceeded to answer when Erza said nothing.
"You accompanied Makarov to the Magic Council to submit a written apology for destruction of property."
"She attacked me out of nowhere," Siegrain mused. "She must have mistaken me for you."
"I can't say I blame her. After all, we do look an awful lot alike." Jellal chuckled.
"You refused to let up until I confessed to you that I was his twin. But still, you were hostile towards me from that day forward!"
"What did you expect?!" Erza questioned incredulously. "If you truly cared about your brother, you would have tried to stop him instead of helping him cover his tracks! And I know you've been spying on me and reporting back to him!"
"Is that so?" Jellal mused.
"A mistake on my part." Siegrain added. "In retrospect, perhaps I should have said something that would have convinced you I was going to find Jellal and kill him. But my biggest mistake was running into you in the first place, especially after all the trouble I went through to become a Councilmember."
"There's nothing worse than having to come up with excuses on the spot."
"I get it… So the two of you have been conspiring this whole time." Erza accused them.
"Conspiring?" Jellal questioned.
"Not exactly…" Siegrain finished the thought.
"I'm afraid it's more complicated than that." Jellal taunted her, and in the next moment, Siegrain became transparent, and they spoke up at the same time. "We're not twins, but two faces of one person! And we have been from the start!"
Siegrain then stepped into Jellal, and the man began to glow as his appearance seemed to change slightly by absorbing all of his power once again. He now looked a cross between Siegrain and Jellal as he smirked at Erza and Natsu. Natsu's jaw was touching the floor at this point.
"WHAAAT?!"
"How is that possible?!" Erza questioned. "Was he just a projection?!"
"You never suspected for a moment we were one and the same." Jellal sneered, as it became crystal clear that 'Siegrain' had simply joined the Magic Council in order to fire the Etherion when the time was right. Jellal continued to taunt Erza with dark amusement. "I hope you enjoyed that freedom I granted you all those years ago! Your release and everything after was all part of my plan to resurrect Zeref. Or rather, that was the plan, for as I said… I was not able to fire the Etherion, and thus power up the Tower of Heaven. Therefore, you are no longer needed, and will be brought to a swift end here and now!"
"How can you live with yourself, knowing your entire life has been one big lie?!" Erza growled out as she clenched her free fist in frustration.
Jellal, however, did not seem perturbed by the furious faces of his opponents.
"Magic Energy… I can feel it surging through my body!" A purple aura seemed to envelop his body before he struck his fist out precisely just as Natsu came flying at him with a lightning-infused punch – which sent Natsu soaring back until he burst through one of the walls and brought down a huge section of it. He ignored the blue flying cat that went after the Dragon Slayer, and instead focused his attention on Erza, who came swinging at him again with her blade, which he blocked with one arm and then sent her crashing into a wall with a violent roundhouse kick. "My, my! You both are looking a little worse for wear! Don't tell me Ikaruga wore both of you down! What would you have done if everything had gone according to plan?!"
Erza punched at the floor furiously before Requipping a giant sword, pulling it out of a Magic Circle that hovered over the floor. She charged him again with an enraged shriek.
"JELLAL…! YOU'RE THOUGH!" She managed to land a hit on him, but Jellal didn't seem fazed, so she pulled out an even bigger sword from her pocket dimension and began swinging at him with both blades; pretty soon, though, Jellal was dodging her strikes with fluid ease.
"It's such a shame things didn't work out! Had they went without a hitch, you would have been sacrificed, and the Magic Council would have been obliterated in one fell swoop! I had a faithful pawn even on the Council, but it appears she became self-aware recently and subsequently ruined everything! It just goes to show that the only person you can ever truly trust… is yourself."
Erza growled again as she shook with uncontainable rage at Jellal's actions and words.
"Curse you…! I'm taking revenge for all the people you've abused! This is the end, Jellal! I'll kill you!" She punctuated each statement with the slash of a blade, which Jellal continued to dodge nimbly.
Well. Until Natsu came flying up in a burst of speed with Happy, using flames on his fists to propel him faster and faster.
"You think you can just use 'n abuse everyone else in the world?!" The Dragon Slayer screamed as his fist of flames connected with the side of Jellal's head and sent him bouncing until he crashed into the Lacrima in the center of the room, making some of it crumble as a result. Happy then detached from Natsu's back and went off to go hide, and the Dragon Slayer conjured up lightning and fire Magic in his mouth before he unleashed it on Jellal in a devastating blast. "Lightning Fire Dragon's… ROAR!"
The ensuing explosion proceeded to take out a good chunk of the room, thankfully away from Erza. Natsu laughed as that seemed to do the trick. However, amidst the roaring flames and raging lightning, the silhouette of Jellal stood, now jacketless and in a black sleeveless shirt, and seemingly waved his hand in a motion that cast the flames away from him. Though with the lightning added in, Jellal was glowering at Natsu. Half the room was now revealed to have a crystal-like floor, ceiling, and pillars, while half of it was still covered. The Lacrima jutting out from the center of the room was absolutely wrecked.
"I must say you are living up to your reputation, Dragneel… if just barely. I think it's about time for playtime to be over! METEOR!" He shouted as a golden glow shrouded around him, and he began to float as he burst forward with great speed to strike at Natsu. He was visibly surprised when Natsu caught his fist and pounded his face with his free fist that was once again ablaze.
"FIRE DRAGON'S IRON FIST! WING ATTACK! SWORD HORN! FLAMING ELBOW!" Natsu proceeded to dish out attack after attack, but was forced to stop when Jellal pulled back and fly around 'aimlessly', gaining speed the entire time.
"I hope you're happy you got those hits in… Because it's time I showed you the depths of my power!" Jellal came at him from side and pummeled Natsu with many rapid punches; yet he was forced to withdraw again when Erza tried to cleave him in half with her swords. He floated just out of their reach and made a hand motion as he prepared his next spell, which took the form of seven lights that formed a constellation of sorts above him. "I shall rain down judgment upon you… Seven Star Sword! GRAND CHARIOT!"
As he called this out, the seven lights came crashing down on Erza and Natsu, forming the same constellation on the ground and devastating them both. When the dust settled, the rest of the throne room had crumbled, revealing the top level of the Lacrima in its entirety. Natsu and Erza were both lying on the cracked ground, unmoving; this got Jellal to touch back down on the Lacrima with overwhelming arrogance.
"Hmph. Grand Chariot strikes with the devastation of an actual meteor; frankly, I'm surprised they're still in one piece. Though I suppose they are S-Class mages of Fairy Tail…" He crouched down to get a feel of the Lacrima, frowning at the damage he caused to it. "Nothing that it can't take, but I can't afford to unleash anymore attacks of that magnitude without irreparably damaging the Lacrima… It needs to be as intact as possible to eventually contain the Magical Energy of Etherion."
As he was saying this, he was forced to do a double-take when a tiny Lacrima chunk was thrown at his leg. Natsu was now moving, albeit shakily, as he propped himself up and glared at Jellal. In determination, he punched the Lacrima floor with an intense Fire Dragon's Iron Fist attack, which garnered an enraged reaction from Jellal.
"What do you think you're doing?!"
"You need this Lacrima thing intact, huh? Well, let's test its durability then!" He punched the floor again, causing the already existing cracks to lengthen and deepen. Jellal seethed and dashed forward to punch the Dragon Slayer into a wall angrily.
"I WON'T LET YOU! NO MORE SETBACKS!" There was then a violent tremor from below, which caused Jellal to stumble back as he lost his balance. "What now?!"
"Sh-Sho and the others…" Erza wheezed out as she got to her feet in determination. Feeling Jellal's eyes on her, she glared back at him. "Simon contacted me a little bit ago; when I told him the truth of what the Tower was, he understood and promised they would wreck this place while we deal with you. It's over, Jellal! Gray and Mira are just as good as destroying things as me and Natsu. You should know that as an 'esteemed' member of the Council!"
Jellal gnashed his teeth and glared at Erza with a look of pure hatred. His fists were clenched, and he was visibly shaking.
"You would dare… I WILL KILL YOU ALL TO MAKE YOU PAY!" He screamed as he rushed Erza, but was kicked harshly to the side with a flaming kick and sent smashing into another Lacrima wall. Natsu smirked as his feet touched the ground, and he punched his open palm smugly.
"Now I'm all fired up, even more than I've been before!"
Another violent tremor rocked the Tower, and Jellal pushed himself off the wall with his feet to propel himself toward the Dragon Slayer.
"I won't let you fools spoil my plans so completely...!" Jellal then launched a barrage of energy beams with his Heavenly Body Magic that Natsu simply weathered before igniting both his fists and bringing them together.
"FIRE DRAGON'S BRILLIANT FLAMES!" Natsu held the massive fireball over his head before unleashing it on the airborne Jellal.
Jellal quickly conjured a similarly massive attack of his Heavenly Body Magic that blasted toward Natsu and set off the fireball prematurely while also sending the Dragon Slayer skidding backwards.
"Natsu!" Erza called out in worry, but gaped as the pink-headed young man split the Heavenly Body Magic attack in two and dashed toward the Jellal, who was still speeding toward him.
"You afraid to wreck your precious Tower?! Sorry to break it to ya, but if you don't go all-out, your attacks ain't gonna work against me!"
"Shut your mouth…!" Jellal unleashed one more abrupt energy beam that hit Natsu square in the chest and sent him flying back again. Then, Jellal stopped and began to prepare something more… thorough to destroy the Dragon Slayer. Crossing his arms above his head, a black orb of Magic was beginning to swirl into existence and grow in size; all nearby shadows were being pulled toward it, and inside the orb there were many white lights, giving the attack the appearance of the nighttime sky. "You'll fall by Altairis, Dragneel! This is the price you pay for your defiance! Now, disappear!"
Erza looked on in horror and moved on pure instinct as Jellal put the finishing touches on his devastating attack. He hadn't thrown it yet, so there was still time to shield Natsu!
'That attack could kill Natsu… I can't… I won't let him die because I involved him in this mess…!' Erza thought grimly to herself as she slid a meter in front of Natsu, who was standing up once again, with her arms outstretched. In the next moment, Jellal threw Altairis, and it bore down on them with incredible speed. Needless to say, Erza was not expecting Happy to glide in and snatch her out of harm's way. She shrieked in horror as nothing was standing between Natsu and Jellal's attack now. "Happy…! PUT ME DOWN! NATSU!"
"I'm sorry, Erza…" Happy sounded truly sad as he took the redhead to a safe distance. He recalled the brief talk he and Natsu had when he'd gone to pick Natsu up after Jellal had sent him flying through that wall earlier; he'd made Happy promise him something.
"Happy. There's something I need you to do for me…"
"What is it, Natsu?" Happy asked as he carried his pal back up to the throne room.
"Not right now, but if it looks like Jellal's gonna kill Erza… I want you to get her out of the way." Natsu remarked with a fierce expression. "No matter how it may look at me, you do not let Erza die, got that? No matter what she says, no matter how much she screams for you to put her down… You save her."
"B-But… Natsu…" Happy trailed off uncertainly.
"PROMISE ME!" Natsu demanded of the blue cat, to which the cat further looked downcast.
"I promise, Natsu…"
As Happy looked back toward his best friend, however, he was shocked to see Natsu preparing a counterattack to Jellal's Altairis. His hands were coated in flames and lightning, and he was swinging his arms about in a vortex, generating a devastating force that rivaled Altairis as the two surged on toward a headlong collision. There was then a giant explosion as the two attacks lost their forms and released a great force of Magical Energy.
Crimson Lotus: Exploding Lightning Blade. The attack he used to overcome Laxus in the S-Class Trials two years ago. Except this time, Natsu had put a great deal more power behind it, because Natsu didn't have to hold back against Jellal.
"Natsu…" Erza whispered, completely stunned and no longer fighting Happy's rescue. When the dust settled, both Natsu and Jellal were revealed to be okay – though Jellal looked quite livid that Natsu was somehow able to counter even Altairis.
No one died from that exchange.
"You… have that much power…?" Jellal seethed furiously, once more clenching his fists. "You are a COCKROACH, Dragneel! DAMN YOU!"
In that moment, the most violent of tremors rocked the Tower of Heaven, and ever-so-slightly, everyone at the top could feel the structure leaning in one direction. It didn't take much brains to deduce that the others had gone and taken out a huge chunk of the tower, somewhat akin to chopping down a tree. Cut into it deeply enough, and eventually the structure will lose its balance and crash unceremoniously to the ground.
"HAPPY! GET ERZA OUT OF HERE!" Natsu shouted even as he and Jellal began to slide along the floor at an increasing rate of speed. Erza looked like she was about to begin resisting again, but Happy quickly acquiesced to Natsu's demand and flew down from the top level in the opposite direction that the tower was falling.
Jellal, meanwhile, was too distracted by the fact that the fools from Fairy Tail, as well as his former friends and slaves, had knocked down his precious tower. His plan had completely fallen apart.
"DRAGNEEL!" Jellal howled with unbridled fury and proceeded to use his Meteor Magic to launch himself toward Natsu.
Natsu smirked and prepared one last repeat performance of his last attack to end the fight. Generating the vortex of lightning and flames, even as Jellal sent another barrage of energy beams his way, Natsu called out the name of the attack for good measure as he unleashed it without hesitation.
"CRIMSON LOTUS: EXPLODING LIGHTNING BLADE!"
Jellal shook in anger as he had no route of escape, even with Meteor activated around him. He wouldn't get fast enough in time, and there was no time to prepare a counterattack powerful enough to meet Natsu's attack head-on. All he could do was float there as the attack exploded and overwhelmed him, screaming in pain as he did so. This time when the dust settled, the golden light around Jellal faded, and he collapsed to the ground, writhing in agony, and he was sliding back due to gravity still taking the tower down, slowly but surely.
Natsu rushed forward and took hold of him by the arm, hefting the azure-haired man over his shoulders with some fatigue clearly visible.
"Let's go, pal… Despite all the crap you put us through, I'm not gonna let you just die on us. You need to face justice for what you did, and we need to look into freeing you from that evil spirit." Natsu knew Jellal couldn't hear him, but he felt a lot better saying that out loud. The Dragon Slayer then rushed up the Lacrima until he reached the edge that was quickly approaching its zenith. From there, he took the uneven 'ramp' that was the spiky Lacrima wall and rushed down it. He couldn't afford to be picky as the floor below him was progressively getting flatter.
Before long, there were two winged silhouettes quickly approaching Natsu, and the Dragon Slayer smirked when he realized it was Mira and Happy. Who knew the day would come when he would be glad to see Mira in her demonic form? When they got close, Natsu handed Jellal's unconscious body over to Mira, and allowed Happy to fly him the rest of the way down. Soon after they touched down where the others were, the huge chunk of falling tower resounded with a deafening crash on the island.
Though they all looked somewhat haggard… the nightmare was finally over. They had defeated Jellal and destroyed the Tower of Heaven. No one on their side had died, so it seemed like an ideal resolution to the incident had been reached.
Shortly after the members of Teams Crimson Flame, Mira, and Jellal had departed from the island on a small lifeboat, they were stopped by the military, which had set up a perimeter around the island, waiting to see how the incident would unfold. Jellal was taken into custody, of course; and though it was questioned what role the members of Team Jellal had played in the conflict, they were spared time in prison for helping to construct the tower because they were more victims than collaborators, and really, they did aid the members of Fairy Tail (Juvia provisionally counted amongst their members until Makarov officially approved of her membership), and they wouldn't have been nearly as well coordinated had it not been for Simon and his telepathy.
The Rune Knights dropped them all off at Akane Resort, and then spirited Jellal away from there to stand trial and face judgment for all the crimes he'd committed over the past eight years. Obviously, no one was in the mood to celebrate despite right when they got back, so they resolved to have a celebration the following evening and just use that night and the following day to rest up in their rooms. Natsu and Erza provided money for Team Jellal to afford two rooms for the night, and Mira just accepted Juvia into her own room.
No one objected to the arrangements; they just crashed the moment they got to their rooms. Well, except for two people, who still had enough energy to talk at least…
Natsu and Erza were lying flat on the hotel bed, both of them in a similar position of having their heads tilted toward one another, staring into one another's eyes in utter exhaustion. After a while, Erza broke the silence in the darkened room, the only source of light being the moon shining through the windows.
"Natsu… That was one hell of a thing you did…" Erza's voice quivered with raw emotion, tears staining her eyes as she stared at Natsu.
"I know…" Natsu answered quietly, not even bothering to defend his actions. He knew Erza needed to vent. They were exhausted, but that didn't stop Erza from glaring at him with a mixture of anger, worry, and relief. He didn't even know those three emotions could go together in one glance.
"Then… why did you do it…?" Her voice was strained; it clearly hurt her to think of what might have happened in that one moment, where she had nearly lost all hope. Her voice was very hoarse as she tried shouting at him, squeezing her eyes shut tight as the tears kept coming. "Why did you have Happy get me out of the way?! Jellal could have killed you…!"
Erza gasped as she found herself suddenly scooped up in a hug. They were now on their knees on the bed, and Natsu was holding her tight. Though it was a little hard to tell at first, Erza could feel tears moistening her shoulder as Natsu buried his head in it, his teeth clenched together.
"Because I'm a selfish bastard…" Natsu whispered hoarsely. He shook with deep sadness as Erza just sat there, unmoving in her shock. "Because I couldn't let the man who tormented you with nightmares for the past eight years take your life… I'm sorry I was so reckless, Erza, but I couldn't let it happen…! I went with my gut and met his attack head-on with one of my strongest attacks, not knowing for sure if I could stop it. I had to stay optimistic; I made you a promise that I wouldn't die, so the sensible thing to do was get you out of harm's way… I'm so sorry, Erza…"
Erza's eyes softened, but the tears continued to fall down… even out of her artificial right eye. She returned Natsu's hug affectionately and massaged his back.
"N-Natsu… I was just so worried… I… I thought my heart shrank in on itself as I watched you stand your ground. I couldn't breathe. Any movement on my part was a futile struggle of escaping Happy to go after you; I couldn't stand to lose you, Natsu. N-Not there at the same place I lost Grandpa Rob… N-Not to Jellal… I was so scared. You wouldn't believe the relief that washed over me when you did manage to counter his attack. It was a miracle.
They held one another for a brief while longer, before they slightly parted and Erza cupped one of his cheeks in her hand as they stared into one another's tear-filled eyes.
"Natsu, this whole experience has taught me that you don't die for your friends; you live for them. We were both very stupid, and I'm sorry for worrying you, too. Thank you for beating Jellal and keeping your promise. Y-You've done more than enough me enough favors and miracles to last one lifetime, s-so I want to do something for you, too. For all you've done, you deserve a family, and I'm happy to be marrying you. J-Just… please, don't leave me."
Natsu stared into her eyes for several long moments before nodding his head slowly.
"Y-Yeah… I'll promise to stay by your side, Erza. After all the crap you've been through, you deserve at least that much. You deserve a family just as much as I do, and I wanna be able to protect it 'n make it happy. Our kid's gonna be awesome, y'know?"
Erza went quiet at that; Natsu could practically hear the gears churning around in her head. Then, her eyes took on this determined look as she locked eyes with him.
"Tomorrow. After we celebrate with everyone. I won't wait anymore."
"T-Tomorrow…?" Natsu squeaked out and blushed fiercely, but quickly nodded his head to give his consent. Erza then pecked him on the cheek and brought them both back down on the bed before cuddling with him snugly.
"I love you so much, Natsu…"
"… I love you, too, Erza. G'night…" He muttered as they drifted off to sleep in one another's arms.
There would be nothing but pleasant dreams for Erza from now on. Natsu would make sure of it.
Author's Note: Weeell, I didn't want to cut the conclusion in half like this, but this is another good stopping point. A fluffy good stopping point. We'll get to the epilogue next time and see what happens with Team Jellal. I'm lookin' forward to it. :D
And FYI, yes, that means we'll be seeing the third member of Team CF getting 'initiated' to the team, so-to-speak. Not Wendy, 'cause she's the fourth, and Ultear and Meredy will be the fifth and sixth (yes, Guest, you were right on that front). I think you'll be able to guess who's the third member pretty soon; he's not 'powerful' like Natsu and Erza, but he's got a unique skillset to bring to the team. Kinda like how Wendy will bring her healing/support Magic.
I hope you enjoyed, 'cause this was fun to write! :D And Guest who asked if they should make an account: That will be up to you to decide, but it might be nice to respond to you through PM instead of waiting until the next update. Not all members of this site are writers; some just make an account to Favorite all the stories they like to read. I get my fair share of those readers… But I'm not gonna force you to do anything. This works just as well as PMs.