I took calming breaths in and out as I sat on top of one of the rocks on the beach.
"Okay, that's good Vez. Now try releasing your magical power all at once!" Tyrus coached.
I concentrated and began building up my magic power. Wind started to swirl around me and my magic power began to leak into the air. My body was surrounded by the red glow of my magic power as well.
I then released my magic power and instantly my body was consumed with red flames. The rock below me started to shake and I could hear it cracking under the pressure of my magic.
I released more of my power and I could feel the flames get larger and move in all directions.
"Ah! Careful Vez, you almost burned me!" I stopped hearing Droy's voice.
I turned my head to see the larger wizard by Jet holding a slice of a watermelon.
"Sorry guys, I didn't even realize you were there." I said sheepishly and scratched the back of my head.
"What exactly are you doing, Vez? Everyone else is training on their spells." Jet asked.
"I'm meditating in order to increase my magic power. The only way to do that is to keep releasing all my power at once." I informed.
"Yep and at this rate you might just double it!" Tyrus piped in cheerfully.
"Wait, so you're just focusing on increasing your magic power and nothing else? Not even on improving spells?" Droy asked confused.
"If I told you that, it'd ruin my secret on how I got so strong so fast when I was little." I stuck my tongue at them and winked.
"Vez!" My attention was caught hearing Lucy yelling my name. I stood up and narrowed my eyes as she and the others ran over to me with Virgo in tow.
"Luce, what's wrong?" I asked as I hopped off the rock.
"Virgo just told us that the Celestial World is in danger!" I looked over at Virgo and she nodded.
"Yes, please we need Fairy Tail's help." Virgo pleaded.
I looked at the others and we all grinned and nodded.
"Don't worry, we'll help." Erza assured.
"Yeah, nobody messes with our friends!" Natsu agreed and punched his palm with his fist on fire.
"But wait, I thought humans couldn't go into the Celestial World?" Levy questioned.
"If you're wearing Celestial World clothing you should be fine." Virgo stated.
That's when our bodies glowed and I felt myself get teleported with the others to the Celestial World. Once the blinding light faded we were all amazed.
"So this is the Celestial World?" Levy asked looking around in awe.
"Hey, our clothes are different!" Tyrus pointed out.
"So this is Celestial clothing and it looks like Virgo is the same as Mira." Levy giggled and pointed to Natsu and I.
I looked at myself then Natsu and he did the same. We were wearing the same style of clothing with just mine being the female version.
"The hell!? Why does everyone want to dress us to match!?" I yelled.
"Yeah, it gets annoying." Natsu said crossing his arms and pouting.
"Well you guys are twins." Gray stated smirking.
"That's not our fault!" Natsu and I yelled at him.
"And it's because you do things like that." Gray added.
"Shut it, ice freak!" We both yelled again.
"Huh?!" We turned to each other and glared.
"Stop saying what I'm saying!" We yelled again but that only added fuel to the flame.
"Stop it!"
"Enough!" Natsu and I let out a yelp as Erza scolded us.
"Yes ma'am!" We shouted as we both froze in an attention state.
Erza let out a sigh, "Now that you're done arguing, does anyone else notice how peaceful it is here?" That's when we all looked around.
"Yeah, what's up with that? I thought it was in danger?" I asked confused.
"Welcome Fairy Tail!" We all spun around hearing that booming voice.
My jaw dropped seeing a huge Celestial Spirit towering over us.
"The Celestial King!" Lucy pointed out.
"He's the king!?" Gray and I shouted in disbelief.
"Whoa, what a huge mustache!" Natsu exclaimed.
"Seriously, that's what you notice?" I said sweatdropping.
"That's Natsu for ya." Happy stated in his usual cheerful voice.
"Friends of Fairy Tail, we invited you here to celebrate your return from a seven year long slumber!"The Celestial King announced.
"It's good to see you guys again!" We turned around and saw all of Lucy's spirits.
"Virgo…" I drawled out and crossed my arms.
"I'm sorry for tricking you like this but we felt this was the only way to get all of you here." Vergo explained.
"You could have just told us from the start." Lucy pointed out sweatdropping.
"Yeah, we wouldn't have minded for a party." Gray added grinning.
"Then what are we waiting for? Let's party!" Natsu cheered and pumped his fists in the air.
We all grinned and cheered alongside Natsu. Almost immediately Loke made his way towards us.
"Hey man, haven't seen you in a while." Gray greeted Loke by clapping his hand on his shoulder.
"Loke!" Tyrus yelled and landed on his head. Ever since Tyrus found out Loke was a "bigger cat" he was always excited to see him.
Loke let out a light laugh, "It's good to see you guys too. Especially you Lucy." He flirted towards her.
Lucy sighed, "You never change, but it's good to see you too." She said smiling.
"How've you been Loke? I hope those seven years of not being summoned wasn't too bad." I asked.
"Nah, time passes a little bit differently to us spirits so it wasn't that bad." Loke assured with a smile.
"Really? I never knew that." Lucy said surprised.
"Eh? You're the Celestial Wizard, shouldn't you know these things?" I pointed out and put my hands on my hips.
"Actually, we don't know much of the Celestial World or how the spirits live." Lucy said sweatdropping.
"Then you can't call yourself a Celestial Wizard." Tyrus stated bluntly.
"Zip it, cat!" Lucy threaten Tyrus who just laughed at Lucy's outburst.
The party lasted for the rest of the day then it finally dwindled down to us having to go back home.
"Alright, I'm ready to get back to training!" Natsu exclaimed.
"Hey I've been thinking guys. Loke mention that time passes here differently. What if we trained here?" I brought up.
"That's a good idea Vez." Gray praised.
"Yeah, maybe one month in our world is a year in the Celestial World!" Natsu guessed.
"We could get some serious training that way." Levy pointed out.
"Not quite." Virgo retorted.
"Okay, then what is it?" Lucy asked.
"Well one day in the Celestial World is three months in the human world…" We let the words sink into our heads. Utter dead silence.
The games were in...three...months…
"What!?" We all yelled angrily at Virgo.
"Why didn't you tell us before you took us here!?" Gray yelled.
"Sorry, it slipped my mind." I felt my eye twitch at that.
"Slipped...your...MIND!? How the hell does that slip your mind!?" I yelled as my fire engulfed me due to my rage.
"Virgo, send us back now!" Lucy yelled at her spirit.
A blinding light covered us and the next moment we were back on the beach.
The anger finally subsided in us and we were in shock. We just stood there in disbelief.
"Finally, you're back!" I heard Jet say behind us.
"Yeah, the games are in five days!" Droy added.
Simultaneously me, Erza, Natsu, and Gray all fell face first into the sand.
"Why did this happen to us?!" Lucy whined.
"That's it, we're totally screwed for the games." Levy said sadly as she fell on her knees.
"Three months wasted." Juvia said sighing sadly.
All poor Wendy could do was cry and the exceeds (minus Carla) were freaking out.
We were all lying on the sand depressed and Virgo was actually being punished for once. She had cinderblocks in her lap and occasionally we added more weight.
"What are we gonna do now?" Lucy asked depressed.
"Princess, I have a suggestion." Virgo spoke up, "More weight." Lucy sweatdropped.
"Just go home." Lucy ordered.
"Very well, Princess." With that Virgo disappeared in a golden light.
"I guess we won't be able to compete." Levy stated and sighed.
I heard a growl come from Erza and she suddenly stood up with flames around her.
"We can still make it! We're gonna have a five day crash training from hell! You won't even have time to sleep!" I slowly backed away from Erza. She's lost it…
That's when a pigeon suddenly landed on Erza's head and started to do a little dance. I looked at it confused that's when I noticed the paper it had tied to it's leg.
"A pigeon?" Wendy asked confused.
"Hold on, there's something tied to it's leg." I stated and walked over to Erza. I untied the piece of paper off the pigeon and opened it.
"It says, "To Fairy Tail, come to the suspension bridge deep in the west woods." I read outloud.
"If you ask me it sounds like a trap." Gray advised.
"We still have to check it out. It might be important." I retorted.
"Vez is right. Let's get going everyone." Erza ordered.
"Yes ma'am!"
Minutes Later
We stopped at the bridge and nobody was in sight.
"What the hell? Nobody's here." Natsu said pounding his fist into his palm.
"We're not here to fight, knucklehead." I correct as I lightly pounded my fist onto his head.
"Fighting is the only thing on his brain." Tyrus said shrugging and sighing.
"Aye!" Happy agreed.
"Was this a prank?" Gray questioned as he looked around.
A bright light suddenly shone above the bridge. The light vanished and the bridge was putting itself back together.
"The bridge..!" Levy yelled out in surprise.
"It's repaired! Only magic could do that!" I exclaimed as we all stared at the newly formed bridge.
"This might be a trap after all." Levy warned.
"I'm getting scared." Wendy said as she cowered behind me.
"I don't know who is could be, but let's go for it." Natsu encouraged.
We walked across the bridge and kept following the path. As we got deeper into the forest, I could feel Wendy tighten her grip on my shirt. I instinctively put one arm around her shoulders in a protective manner.
We came to a sudden stop when we saw three hooded figures in front of us.
"Someone's here!" Lucy announced.
"Keep your guard up, everyone." I added, as fire surrounded my fist that wasn't holding Wendy.
The figures started to walk toward us and that's when the familiar scents his my nose. My fire vanished and a look of shock was replaced on my face.
"Thank you for coming, Fairy Tail." All of our jaws dropped seeing Jellal, Meredy, and Ultear remove their hoods.
"Jellal!" Erza exclaimed in shock.
"You haven't changed a bit, Erza. I'm guessing you heard about my jailbreak by now?" Oh yeah, I remember Erza mentioning that to me after I got back from the job with Natsu and Lucy.
"Yes, I have." Erza answered.
"It wasn't what I had planned." Jellal informed.
"Meredy and I broke him out." Ultear interjected.
"I didn't do anything. You did it mostly by yourself, Ultear." Meredy corrected.
I narrowed my eyes at Ultear and Meredy, I still didn't trust them completely. They were part of Grimoire Heart.
"Hold on! Jellal I'm fine with, but these two were part of Grimoire Heart. I don't trust either of you." I informed.
"I agree with Vez on this one. That makes you guys are enemies. Right?" Gray said looking at Ultear.
Ultear let out a sad smile, "Yes, it is. There are many sins I have committed in my life. Even if I spent my entire life atoning it, it wouldn't be enough. So, I want to save as many people as I can. An example here is Jellal." Ultear informed.
"It's fine, we both have dealt with darkness." Jellal countered.
"Jellal, has your memory..?" Erza started out.
"I've remembered everything...to the last detail." Jellal admitted.
"Six years ago, the memories came back while I sitting in my cell. Erza, I don't what I'm supposed to say…" Jellal trailed off and looked at the ground.
"Please, don't blame Jellal, Erza. You need to know that I was really behind everything in the Tower of Heaven." Ultear informed.
"How were behind the events in the Tower of Heaven?" I asked suspiciously, and crossed my arms.
"I tricked him into believing I was Zeref and corrupted his mind from there." Ultear explained, facing me. I clenched my jaw and I glared at her with nothing but hate in my eyes.
I felt a hand clap on my shoulder, I turned my head to see Gray. I relaxed and sighed. I knew Ultear was Ur's daughter, and for Gray's sake I wouldn't do anything to Ultear. That is unless she crosses a line…
"I thought I was going to die in that prison. They had sentenced me the death penalty. That is until Ultear broke me out." Jellal informed.
"So does that mean you've found some reason to live now?" Wendy asked.
"Wendy, I should tell you that the Jellal you knew and me are not the same person." Jellal stated.
"Oh yeah, I already know about that." Wendy corrected.
"We knew about Mystogan when the whole Edolas thing went down." I added.
"And to answer your question Wendy, my reason to live is something not that wonderful. We created a guild, it's not a legal guild nor a dark guild. We are an independant guild called named Crime Sorcière." I furrowed my brows at that.
"I've never heard of such a thing before." I stated.
"Neither have I." Levy agreed.
"I've heard of Crime Sorcière…" Droy started.
"They've destroyed many, many dark guilds over the years." Jet finished.
"Our guild is here to drive all of the evil brought into the world by dark guilds and Zeref, so that never again dark mages like us will be born." My eyes widen in surprise.
"Woah!" Natsu yelled excitedly.
"That sounds amazing!" Lucy added.
"That definitely helps legal guilds already trying to get rid of the dark guilds." I said smiling.
"But if that's the case, then why don't you become an official guild through the council?" Gray questioned.
"Because I'm a fugitive." Jellal stated simply.
"That and because we're former Grimoire Heart members." Meredy added.
"Besides, official guilds are prohibited from going after dark guilds." That took me by surprise.
"What are you talking about? Fairy Tail has taken down several dark guilds." I questioned.
"Yes, but that's because the council asked of Fairy Tail to take it down or the dark guild brought the fight to you." Ultear informed.
"Anyway, our guild is fine the way it is." Jellal stated.
"Would you mind telling us why you asked us here? It couldn't be just for a reunion." Erza questioned.
"The reason we summoned you here is because we found out that you will entering the Grand Magic Games." All of us exchange looks and sweatdropped. We almost forgot about that…
"We can't come near the event but we need to ask a favor of you." Ultear asked.
I rose an eyebrow, "What would you guys need at the Grand Magic Games?" I asked confused.
"Every year during the event, I've felt a strange magical source coming from the arena. I want to identify the source of magic." Jellal informed.
"The hell?" Natsu said confused.
"But there's a whole bunch of Wizard Guilds there. Odds are there's going to be one or two suspicious magical powers." Lucy stated.
"I thought the same thing before, but this magic has an evil presence to it, like Zeref's. Perhaps the presence comes from us since we've been so close to Zeref." Jellal informed.
"Zeref..." Natsu exclaimed.
"We want to know the true source of this magical power." Ultear further stated.
"From that we might be able to track down, Zeref." Jellal added on.
"Of course winning or losing is a different story. We'll be cheering for Fairy Tail from the shadows, but meanwhile please search for that source." Meredy informed.
Erza and I shared a glance and nodded, "It sounds like a wild goose chase, but we'll do it." Erza committed.
"It might not even be Zeref, but rather something he's created. His demon's and artifacts will give off the same magic." I added.
"We appreciate it." Ultear thanked.
"Wait, you guys sure about this?" Gray asked us.
"I don't like the idea of that type of magic being around so many Wizard Guilds." Erza informed and I nodded in agreement.
"We'll make sure to tell our Master as well. He could help us with the search." Jellal nodded.
"It would be great if you could tell Makarov."
"Now that you've agreed to help us, you'll be given your compensation up front." Ultear informed.
"Food money?!"
"Rent money?!" I sweatdropped at Lucy and Natsu's questions. Money is all they can think of right now?
"I didn't mean money. With my new improved Time Arc, I can increase the level of your magic." Ultear informed.
"Eh?" We all said confused. How the hell could she do that?!
Ultear then explained how we only have so much magical power in us but there's a hidden second source. She said that she could basically use her Arc Time Magic to evolve what she called, our Second Origin's, thus giving us a huge power boost.
"Yeah!" We all cheered. This was a great way to catch up with others that trained for those three months while we were stuck in the Celestial World!
"But, you're going to be feeling pain greater than your wildest imagination…" Many of us stopped cheering at that.
"Of course, there always has to be a catch." I whined and hung my head.
"I don't care! Thank you, thank you!" Natsu yelled and tackled Ultear.
"Oi, Natsu! Don't just tackle her like that! Get off her!" I yelled and stomped over to Natsu and forcefully pulled him off.
"But it's so great, Vez!" Natsu yelled, now clinging to me.
"What is it with you and clinging?!" I yelled, using my arm to try and push him off.
The rest of our group started to laugh at our antics. There's never a dull moment with our team.
Now that Second Origin will be released, Vez will definitely catch up to that seven year gap and be ready to represent Fairy Tail in the games! Thanks for reading everyone! Stay tune for the next chapter, until then. See ya! :D