Chapter 14

Ultear vs Jellal? Or...

"Hurry up!" Natsu shouted as he ran up the crystallized stairs.

Simon and Ultear ignored him, as they just casually walked up the stairs in their own pace.

"How does he have so much energy when there's a hole in his chest?" Simon asked Ultear.

"He cauterized his own wound to prevent himself from bleeding anymore to make him stable. And him being stable is good enough for him to act crazy. However, I haven't seen him this happy since..." Ultear answered.

"We're almost there!" Natsu exclaimed in glee, he felt so much energy flowing in the tower that he couldn't help feeling energetic himself.

The group finally reached the end of the stairs, they found Jellal patiently waiting for them and a heavily injured Erza was binded to a piece of crystallized lacrima.

"Hey Erza! You're alive!" Natsu waved to get the red-head's attention.

"Natsu? Simon too? You're here?" Erza questioned in disbelief. "Get out of here! It's dangerous!"

"Who do you think you're talking to?" Natsu smirked. "I'll beat Jellal in no time!" He felt Ultear's hand land on his shoulder. "I mean, she'll beat Jellal in no time!"

Natsu looked at Jellal's face, finally realizing who this guy looked like. He looked strikingly like Mystogan...

"Ultear…" Jellal called out darkly. "You betrayed me."

"No I haven't." Ultear stated calmly. "I was just using you for my own goals."

"Is that so?" Jellal's bangs covered his eyes. "Let's see who's using who then."

"I'm ready. But I bet I'll win this battle in under a minute."

"You're bluffing."

As Jellal and Ultear were preparing to battle, Natsu rushed to Erza and pulled her out of the crystal lacrima. "You okay?"

"Yeah…" Erza coughed. Her eyes widened when she saw the state Natsu was in. "Your chest?!"

"Oh that?" Natsu looked at his bloody chest and bloody clothing. "It's nothing I just got stabbed a few times."

"You need help." Erza sweatdropped. "But thank you."

"No problem. Fairy Tail acted all dark and gloomy when you disappeared. It felt like any other dar- boring guild. Boring." Natsu gave her a thumbs up.

Erza gave him a puzzled look until she saw Jellal lunge at Ultear with his body surrounded in heavenly body magic. "Will she be okay?"

"She will. Especially against Jellal, there's no doubt she'll win."

Jellal's speed was so immense, anyone witnessing this battle could only follow a trail of light. Just as he was about charge into Ultear, he missed. No he didn't miss, he just hit a thought projection. His eyes widened and he stopped in his tracks.

"Behind you." Ultear hummed.

Jellal turned around and he was not expecting Ultear's hands to land on his shoulders.

"You know, I was the one who got you possessed in the first place. So if I just un-possess you, you'll lose the will to fight. After all, in the inside, you're a soft-hearted boy." Ultear said as suddenly Jellal started screaming until a dark mass separated from his body and vanished. Jellal collapsed to the floor unconscious. Ultear smiled, "See? Done in less than a minute."

"Lame! I was expecting some kind of explosive fight!" Natsu booed.

"What's your problem?" Ultear barked, annoyed.

"Wait, did she just say that she was the one who possessed Jellal in the first place? Wait, Jellal was possessed?" Erza asked, with the most confused look anyone had ever seen.

Natsu said 'no' the same time Ultear said 'yes.'

Natsu ignored her. "Looks like we finished early. And it looks like no one died either. I call that a win." He smiled. "Ultear-" His eyes widened as he glanced at Ultear. He screamed, "Watch out!"

"Huh?" It was too late, two large fists bashed the back of Ultear's head, her eyes rolled back into her head and she fell forward to land unpleasantly onto the floor. Blood trickled down from her scalp.

And the culprit was Simon.

"Simon? Why did you do that?" Erza yelled as she went to check on Ultear.

Natsu clasped his hands. "I knew there was something wrong with that guy! Usually when I give people death warnings, they usually back off. But this guy didn't care. Now usually people who don't care are the people who have secret evil plans... or people with righteous hearts. But I now see it wasn't the latter…" Natsu trailed off, wondering where he was going with that message.

Simon didn't respond.

Natsu kept talking, "Look, I understand if you're mad about the Ultear possessing Jellal thing, but I was expecting Erza to be the one to get angry."

"Simon? What are you planning?" Erza wondered.

Silence filled the air. Natsu and Erza stared patiently and defensively at Simon.

Suddenly, Simon let out a wicked smile which soon turned into a creepy laugh.

"Well, he sounds possessed." Natsu commented.

Simon kept laughing and laughing and it got louder and louder.

"Simon?" Erza called out his name once more. Natsu slowly moved in front of Erza and he got into his defensive position.

"Something's not right. All the energy from the lacrima tower is rapidly getting absorbed by Simon. Erza, I would advise that you stay behind me." Natsu whispered as he also brought Ultear and Jellal to Erza. "Keep an eye on them."

"Natsu? What's happening to Simon?" Erza whispered in shock, while she watched Simon laugh even louder.

"I have no idea. And I don't think this is going to be pretty…"

Suddenly, Simon stopped laughing, which made Natsu and Erza break out in a cold sweat. What was he planning?

"Erza." Simon's voice said.

"What?" Erza sweated in fear.

"I l-loved you."

"Oh boy," Natsu found himself shivering, strange… "You should not confess your love when you're scaring the hell out of us." Natsu still maintained his defensive position while he let Erza talk to Simon.

"Simon…" Erza's voice grew hesitant and worrying. "What are you doing!"

"...Goodbye… Stars…

"Dark Moment."

Natsu's eyes widened as a gust of darkness towards blew past him and his companions and all the stars in the sky disappeared. Even the moon seemed to vanish. Now, the only thing that gave off light was the dimly lit lacrima tower, and even that didn't provide much light.

"Dark Burst." It was Simon's voice again.

Natsu wasn't sure what to expect. Pain? Death? He looked down to the floor to notice that the floor beneath him was black. Darkness? Suddenly the darkness erupted in spikes and managed to pierce his hip, stomach, and arm. He let out a muffled scream and he noticed he wasn't the only one in pain. Erza was screaming too.

"Erza?!" Natsu screeched, he could just barely see the same thing was happening to her.

"I'm fine! I-if it's just pain I can manage it! It's just… Simon!.." Erza bellowed in agony.

"That's right, where's-" Natsu felt Simon stomp on his back. One stomp shouldn't have forced Natsu's body to crash to the spikes of darkness, but it did. He couldn't hold in his earblasting scream. "GAAAAAAAAAH!"

"Natsu!" Erza screamed. She requipped into her purgatory armor and tried slashing the darkness. It proved to work… for a second, the next second, arms of darkness grabbed her and pinned her to the floor. "Damn it! Simon, STOP THIS!" Erza yelled and struggled to get out of the darkness, a wasted effort.

"He's possessed! Erza, let him go for now and try to survive this!" Natsu choked.

"Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!" Natsu casted as he quickly pushed back Simon's foot with sheer brute force and punched Simon's chin in an upwards fashion. Natsu then pulled himself out of the darkness. Natsu managed to find out that only certain areas of the floor were filled with darkness. The safe spots were the parts of the floor that weren't pitch black. "You don't want to do this, Simon." Natsu left his wounds as they were. It hurt like hell. Well, to be fair, everything was hell now.

Simon vanished in the darkness again, leaving the words "Didn't hurt."

Natsu lit his hand on fire, to provide some light, but it barely worked. It was like the darkness in the air took a physical form. He heard a quiet breath behind him, due to reflexes, he turned around and punched the cause of the sound. It was Simon, but Natsu's hand passed right through the image of Simon. "A phantasm?" Natsu gasped.

"Die."

The darkness around Natsu exploded, it caused him to get blown in one direction, but he was caught. By Simon, or whatever he was now. "Damn it." Natsu groaned while coughing out blood.

"Natsu!" Erza screamed as she finally escaped from the hands of darkness.

"Erza! Stop!" Natsu forcefully shut his eyes to speak. "Don't come here! Protect Jellal and Ultear for the meantime!"

"But-"

"Just listen to me!" Natsu snapped.

Erza stepped back. Did his eyes just turn gold for a second? She thought for a second. "I don't abandon my friends!"

"While I'm so glad we finally established that we're friends, I really want you to listen to me! So please!"

Erza stared at him in horror while she also glanced at Jellal's and Ultear's bodies. They were sinking in the darkness. "Damn it!" She yelled as she rushed to pull the two from the darkness.

"Why- - JU5T D1E- - - 4LR3ADY!" The voice came from Simon but the voice was all distorted and hard to comprehend. It wasn't human-like at all.

"*Huff* *huff* It's because... *huff* You Suck At Killing People!" Natsu growled. He noticed his whole body growing numb and not only that, the form that took Simon was now choking him.

Natsu struggled, his legs were weakly kicking Simon's legs, desperately looking for ground but because Simon was much taller than Natsu, Natsu's feet were a foot away from the actual ground.

Soon the kicking stopped, and so did the struggle for air.

Erza noticed noticed the lack of sound and turned her head to Natsu and Simon just after she pulled Jellal and Ultear from the darkness. "Natsu?" He was motionless...

Natsu slowly reached Simon's arm in hopes to yank it away from him. Unfortunately, with the lack of energy in his muscles, it probably only felt like a small tug. Natsu struggled to open his eyes. He looked directly at Simon with a pale face. Simon looked completely human. But there was no way a mere human would reek of this much dark energy. The only person Natsu knew that had this much darkness was an immortal.

"tHI5 T1ME W0n'T B3 L1K3 L4ST T1mE!"

Like last time? Last time as in just a few seconds ago or… Natsu immediately threw these thoughts into the waste bin of his memory because this time, Natsu might actually die if he did nothing. He screamed internally, his lungs were dying for air. Damn it. Not strong enough! I'm still not strong? Time to use… Arggh I can't keep showing off!

"NOO!" Erza yelled and chucked a sword at Simon.

Simon quietly chuckled and moved to use Natsu as a shield from Erza's attack. Erza's eyes widened as she feared that her sword was about to pierce through Natsu.

Except it didn't.

The sword suddenly burst into flames and melted into liquified metal just before it hit Natsu.

Then the temperature in the area suddenly rose up to dangerous heights.

Simon and Erza shared looks of confusion as they just realized that Natsu had another trick up his sleeve.

...

"Fire Dragon's.. Afterburn…" The words themselves already sent waves of heat from Natsu.

Simon's grip around Natsu loosened. This is a new spell...

Natsu's whole body was then instantly coated with bright red flames. Simon had to immediately let go of the fiery dragon slayer, for his skin was already get scorched by undying flames.

As soon as Natsu's feet touched the floor, all the lacrima around him turned into the color of a mix of majestical yellow and orange. The transformed floor banished all the darkness away and it glowed beautifully. The floor also started to make a beating noise, as if a heart of flames was in the lacrima tower.

Erza sweated, not only because of the heat but at the sight of Natsu. He wore a look of serenity, while his eyes gleamed a fierceful gold. Actually, she might just get heatstroke.

Natsu wiped his chin of blood and noticed how there were now scales on his hands. Not good...

Silence filled the air. Natsu stared into the deep voids of Simon's eyes.

Complete darkness...

Simon growled and lunged at the fire dragon slayer. He missed however, as it seemed that Natsu disappeared from his original position. "Above." Simon looked up to see Natsu was in the air above him, preparing a fire attack.

"Dark Burst!" Simon yelled frustratingly.

"-Below."

While Simon's spell cause Natsu to explode in the air above, Simon looked below. He realized that the fiery lacrima under him was gathering energy. Simon's eyes widened as he felt the energy transform into flames and erupt from below him. The sudden eruption of fire magic gnawed on Simon's skin and eventually launched him up in the air. Natsu, who supposedly got hit from Simon's magic, seemed unharmed and spiraled downward to Simon's chest.

Natsu successfully plunged into Simon, causing Natsu to get the upperhand for once.

"Fire Dragon's Spiraling Kick!" Natsu roared as flames wrapped around his foot and then spread to Simon. Simon's eyes widened and he couldn't hide a scream of pain when he noticed the significant change in Natsu's power. Just before, it didn't hurt that much. Then after that spell, the damage felt considerably more painful and lethal.

However, Simon didn't lose this opportunity to damage Natsu. "Dark Burst! Dark Burst!" While the spell was solely meant for Natsu, Simon himself was inflicted with damage because of the close range. Simon kept repeating his spell until they crashed back onto the surface of the top of the tower. They crashed with Simon taking most of the fall damage because he was beneath Natsu.

Natsu was breathing rather quickly and heavily, he actually had to grab his neck to help him breathe just a bit better. And the damage from all of Simon's attacks didn't go unnoticed. His clothing was all torn and ripped, showing all the cuts and huge bruises all over his body.

"It hurts. It hurts! It hurts!" Natsu couldn't restrain himself from screaming. He pointed his rage to Simon, so his fist lit up in flames, preparing to finish off Simon.

"Don't kill him!"

Natsu turned around and remembered that Erza was still here. Suddenly Natsu let all the heat cool down. The lacrima and temperature was back to what it was used to. Blue and normal temperature. Since the temperature was so hot just seconds ago, normal temperature felt like a blizzard to everyone.

While Natsu was distracted even for a second, Simon decided to chant another 'Dark Burst!' towards Natsu. However, Simon was stopped when a sword stabbed right through the lacrima floor just one millimeter away from his neck.

Erza looked at him with sorrowful eyes. "Simon, what happened to you?" While she knew that Simon was most likely possessed by something, she still had to ask the question.

"E- Erza…" Simon coughed out, his voice was back to normal.

"Can you hear me?" Erza asked, her eyes were still cautious.

"Yes..." Simon smiled.

Tears started to form around Erza's eyes. "Simon…" she started to sob.

"So… so sorry." Simon also started crying. "The darkness… it reached me… The next thing I knew, I couldn't control myself and…"Simon's eyes suddenly widened and his voice trailed off. Some sort of inked characters started to spread out around Simon until it eventually covered his whole body.

"SIMON?!" The scarlet haired mage gasped, as it seemed like the characters were choking Simon until he breathed his last.

Erza shot one last look of horror at Simon as she recognized those characters. Those looked like the exact same characters she saw in the underground ruins of Galuna island. But she didn't have time to dwell on that. Her sobs were heard by all the reappearing stars in the sky and she collapsed on to her friend.

Simon's heart was un-beating, his mouth was not breathing. He was gone.

The next thing the world knew was a tearful scream from atop the Tower of Heaven.

...

If only the world would let her mourn longer.

The whole lacrima tower started shaking terrifyingly. Erza was brought out of her misery and realized that the tower was unstable from all the damage that was done to it. She looked at Natsu who was coughing uncontrollably.

"Natsu!" She rushed to the severely injured dragon slayer. "What's wrong!"

"C-Cant Br- breathe!" Natsu huffed and hacked dangerously. His pupils shrank as he was trying to focus on the lungs of his body.

"What should I do?"

Erza frantically looked around to find if she could do anything.

"The tower's getting out of control, the least I can do is buy you some time to catch your breath!" Erza muttered, she was thinking about fusing with the lacrima. "Besides, I'm tired of taking your orders today."

"Y-ou C-a- can't!"

Erza smiled gently at Natsu. "It's my turn to save you. Accept my sacrifice."

"You C-can't!" Natsu repeated. "I-I mean, t-tow-wer w-on't accept- anyone- at th-this point." Natsu pushed his head up to look at Erza. Despite his whole respiratory system panicking, Natsu grabbed Erza's arm. "G-get Ul-tear and- Jellal-. I -another- -trick- up my sleeve!"

Erza was reluctant to obey Natsu. Whatever trick Natsu had up his sleeve probably included magic. And using magic in his state was probably not a good idea…

"No." Erza made up her mind and she wiped away her tears. "We're getting out of this my way."

She requiped into her black wing armour and a rope appeared in her hands. Quickly, she tied herself, Jellal, and Ultear to the rope. Finally, she picked up Natsu who still had not recovered his breathing.

She smiled. "Together."

Natsu coughed out a smile.

And together, Erza ran on the unstable tower, Jellal and Ultear tied to her back, her black wing armor included wings and she prepared for flight. With enough momentum, Erza thrust herself with the others off the building. Her wings caught wind and flapped hard and it was enough to keep all four of them in the air.

Eyes closed, Natsu muttered with a look of embarrassment, "F-friends?"

"Friends." Erza smiled. "Which means you're going to spill the beans when you recover!"

Natsu pretended not to hear her. His breathing finally returned back to normal.

A woman, carrying a man in bridal style with two people tied behind her back, flying under the night sky full of stars.

"How stupid this must look." Natsu chuckled.

"As long as I get to save my friends." Erza smiled, before looking back. The Tower of Heaven glowed brightly and exploded in silence. She thought of Simon… The force of the explosion pushed Erza in the sky, towards a the mainland.

"Argh!" Erza tried to steady her flying while Natsu wore a peaceful look.

Look at me Igneel! I can touch the sky without wings! Natsu laughed at the thought, which made Erza give him another worried glance.

Wait a minute, I'm being carried throughout the air by a person. Isn't that transportation? Natsu got sick at the thought. They finally officially established their friendship, yet he was still getting sick. He guessed that there was no one who could carry him quite like Happy could.

Oh no… He's going to hurl…

"Natsu?"

*Barf*

(A/N: I hope when you read the word 'characters' from many paragraphs ago, you thought about the symbols, like kanji or chinese characters. Not characters as in people.)

All props goes to Jalis for the idea of "Fire Dragon's Afterburn." If anyone else reading this message doesn't know what this move is, then that's good because you're not supposed to know yet. :P (Although I hope I did use this move accurately and it lived up to its expectation. It's too bad my writing skills are imperfect.)

Review Please~

Reviews~~~

Tobias97:Oh great I feel bad for not getting that reference! Sorry (Even though I shouldn't apologize for no reason). Don't worry, saying "Great Chapter" is great. I would understand, I'm lazy too. :D

Guest: Yep, Angel just did that xD

Jajs: Aw... You have motion sickness too?

Ysyzudu: I will, thanks for the extra motivation! It'll be like running a marathon!.. Well after my test.