Earthland-2, Tower of Heaven, X784: Erza

"Requip!" Erza chanted, her Flight Armor allowing her to pull Gray, Lucy, and Juvia away from Shou's capture cards – barely. The power that emanated from his deck was greater than she'd ever known from her little brother. "Shou, fight it!"

"Juvia doesn't understand," the water mage blurted, hands clasped as though in prayer. "Isn't card-wizard part of Fairy Tail?"

"M-Master Daphne has made us all strong," Shou cackled, choking on his own words as he twitched. "We're not in your shadow any longer, nee-san!" He summoned another five cards to hand. Erza gaped. Daphne? Why?

Then a wire-thin tendril of shadow struck at the back of Shou's neck. Simon appeared at the card mage's side, holding Shou as he thrashed and screamed. "It's okay, Shou. I've got you," Simon assured the younger wizard. Erza watched flakes of blood-red lacrima fly through the air, splintering as they flew from her adopted brother's back.

"Simon!" Lucy exulted, her smile almost as broad as one of Natsu's. "You escaped!"

Simon shook his head. "No. Jellal saved me. He managed to break my crystal before Siegrain ambushed him. I played along." Gently, he helped his friend sit. "Come on, Shou-kun, we need you."

"Siegrain?!" Gray blurted. "I knew he was a creep, but I never thought he was a monster!"

Shou groaned, holding his head. "Nee-san? Simon? What happened?"

"It's all right, Shou," Erza insisted, requipping back to her basic Heart Kreuz and striding over to offer Shou a hand. She helped both men to their feet. "Jellal rescued Simon, and he saved you."

"But – but they captured him! We captured him!" Shou blurted. Erza went pale, Lucy gasped, and Gray snarled, making a fist. "Siegrain and Daphne, they made us fight Jellal, and when we had him cornered, Siegrain – he – !"

"The jerk was dressed as Mystogan," Simon shrugged. "Not sure why."

"What better disguise than a friend who conceals himself completely," Erza muttered. That doesn't seem reason enough, though, she mused, her stomach at war with itself. "We need to split up. Millianna and Wally are likely still under Daphne's control, and we must rescue Jellal before she can overcome his defenses." She looked around. "Gray, Simon, you look for Wally. Lucy, Juvia, try to find Millianna. If I'm not mistaken, Happy will be with her, so either you'll find Natsu or he'll find you. Shou, you're with me. We'll rescue Jellal. Enchant one of your cards to remove the crystal from his neck, in case it's needed."

"Right!" her friends all agreed.

"Though Juvia wanted to go with Master Gray, not Love Rival..." Juvia muttered as they split up. Erza hid her smile beneath a curtain of scarlet as she rushed down a flight of stairs. You're going to need that resolve to break through Gray's shell, she thought, following the sensation tingling in the back of her mind.

"Nee-san? Do you know where we're going?" Shou asked, though he didn't hesitate to keep up with her.

"Mm, mm," Erza insisted with a pair of nods. "I can sense Jellal, somehow. He's more or less unharmed, in the lowest depths of this...betrayal." She waved at the Tower around them with her free hand. "Is your deck still enhanced by Daphne's magic?"

Shou shook his head. "Sorry, Erza-nee. I guess it was something in the crystal." He flipped cards between his hands as they ran, not a single one slipping out of place. "That's okay, though. I'm a Fairy Tail wizard, just like my sister." He flashed her his carefree smile. "I'll be enough." Erza smiled back. Shou. You've grown so much. The corridor at the end of the stairs led to a large chamber with a long bridge over a pond. Cherry blossoms rained down around them. It's in the style of Shou and Simon's homeland, Erza realized.

"No," a woman in a kimono replied, "You will not." Slowly, the pink-haired sentinel strode forward on enormous clogs, carrying a long sword almost like it was her child. "Greetings. I am Ikaruga."

"Stand aside, Ikaruga," Erza commanded, watching her foe with cool resolve. "I will reach Jellal. If you do not interfere, then I have no quarrel with you."

Ikaruga smirked back. "Do you really think so little of my resolve?" Her blade flashed out, Erza barely parrying in time. "Or my skill?" Erza gasped, then flinched as a cut blossomed on her left arm. Her Heart Kreuz armor shattered, leaving both Titania and Shou gaping in disbelief. "Do-you-now-gaze-on...a-ter-ri-ble phan-ta-sm...from-bey-ond-the-void?"

Shou drew two hands, preparing to throw. "More like a cheap carnival act," he snarled, letting his cards fly. They multiplied tenfold as they sliced at the mercenary. Ikaruga parried them all with insulting ease, slicing them all edgewise. Then Shou smiled as the card halves all exploded. "Impressive trick," he continued, their foe obscured by the blast, "but I expected you to attack my cards. Whichever way you cut them, all you accomplished was to double the force of my attack."

The explosive cloud dispersed from a sudden gust. Ikaruga stood there, unharmed, having half-sheathed her sword. "You're more than you seem, blond toy," she replied, "but double your power is not half of enough to face me." Shou gaped again, blinking.

"Shou, slide past her," Erza ordered, requipping into Heaven's Wheel. "Ikaruga. I am your opponent." Again, the swordswoman smirked, sliding into an aggressive stance. "Now!" Shou dumped half his deck over the side of the bridge, the cards spilling out and flying past Ikaruga in a spiral. Erza flew upward, summoning the full might of her Circle Sword.

Ikaruga sliced through Shou's card spiral and Titania's entire Circle Sword arsenal, Erza herself barely evading the sword mage's counterattack. "Resorting to such cheap tricks?" Ikaruga sneered, taking in Erza's side of the bridge with a sweeping wave of her hand. "It appears to have cost your little friend his life."

Erza didn't allow her eyes to leave Ikaruga's. That made it an effort to watch Shou appear on the opposite side of the bridge, emerging from the card he'd sent beneath the water. Shou flashed her a smile and a Fairy Tail salute, then silently darted off on a platform of cards. "Don't underestimate a Fairy Tail wizard," Erza warned, eyes narrowing.

"Oh? You were quick enough to evade my strike, even with all your armor," Ikaruga noted, sliding into a new stance Erza didn't recognize. "The great Titania is no match for me. You already know it. Karuda-en!" she chanted, and a burst of world-slicing flame roared toward the requip mage. Where's Natsu when I need him? Erza wondered, smiling in spite of herself as she requipped into her Flame Empress armor. She parried the blazing spiral and the cutting magic that followed it. Then her body shuddered from multiple blows as her armor and sword both shattered. "You see?"

Erza looked up again. Shou was gone. "Requip!" she cried, and the remnants of her Flame Empress armor vanished, replaced by her sarashi, hakama, and Crimson Sakura blades. "So. You can damage my armor." Her smile matched Ikaruga's, cold and mirthless. "Then there is little point in wearing any." Ikaruga raised an eyebrow at the Erza, sliding into a neutral ready stance. The assassin poured magical power into her blade, reinforcing it. Erza followed suit with her twin swords. "My armor is for my friends. For you, all I need are my blades."

The world itself rippled as if struck. Both warriors glanced up, but Erza couldn't sense the source of the blow, and based on her uncertainty, neither could Ikaruga. The two faced each other once more, and the sword mage's smile returned. "Prove it, Titania." They raced at each other, Ikaruga's single sword locking with Erza's two. Both swords thrummed with the force of the blows, their wielders' magic clashing with enough power to shatter the pillars and stones around them.

Pain shot up Erza's shoulder, and she was forced back, gritting her teeth as blood trickled pas her ribs. Ikaruga laughed again. "Doubt-coils-deep-with-in, steal-ing-a-war-ri-or's-might, know-ing-you-lack-worth." She shook her head. "When Master Siegrain said that your courage was counterfeit, I thought he was deluded, but clearly there was some truth in it." Erza hissed at her foe, sliding back as Ikaruga stalked towards her. "It's not that you're afraid without your Jellal. It's that you're weak without him. Of course your armor is no match for my sword." She shifted into a thrusting stance, preparing to charge. Erza's eyes widened. "Farewell, Titania." Ikaruga came at her in a blur, Fairy Tail's knight raising her weapon in a desperate effort to parry –

– until memories flooded through her, the voices of her friends, the faith of her family –

"No one's as strong as Erza, except Gildarts and the Master!" Natsu roared.

"You're the bravest person I've ever known," Lucy insisted.

Jellal smiled. "You are Titania, the Fairy Queen."

Music Cue: Erza's Theme

"REQUIP!" Erza roared. Her magic swirled around her with a power that wouldn't be denied. Ikaruga's blade stopped cold against the breastplate of her Purgatory Armor, not leaving so much as a scratch. The knight hefted Perdition, her massive blade, and thrust it overhead.

"Im-impossible!" Ikaruga stammered, backpedaling. "I can slice anything! The inside of a diamond without scratching the surface! The very fabric of space! I have cut magic itself!" Erza couldn't help feel a fierce satisfaction in the killer's widening eyes and trembling jaw. "How can you stop Mugetsu-Ryu – with armor?"

"I," Erza replied, the very essence of calm, "am a Fairy Tail wizard. Perdition Roar: Armageddon!" Ikaruga darted aside, bringing her sword up to parry even as she dodged, but Erza's blow filled the chamber. Mugetsu-Ryu shattered, and Ikaruga slammed into a wall, then slumped to the floor. "Still, you were formidable," Titania admitted to her unconscious foe, requipping back into her Flight Armor and rushing to catch up with Shou.

Her little brother turned from a wall of steel bars to gape at Erza as she approached, appearing untouched. "Nee-san?" he blurted, a few cards falling from his fingers to orbit his wrist. "I'm sorry, I couldn't get through the..." he beckoned the cards, and they returned to his hand. "I was worried."

Erza smiled. "I understand. Fortunately, I remembered the most important rule when leaving the guild." Shou's eyes bulged, and she chuckled. "I'll always be a Fairy Tail wizard, ototo. But I had become accustomed to thinking of my life as insignificant. Worse, I thought it was possible for me to be alone."

Shou blinked. "I don't get it."

Titania ruffled Shou's hair, then readied Perdition. "I'll explain later. Step back." Shou obeyed, and she destroyed the security gate with a single blow. "Come. Jellal must be close." She strode past the shattered chunks of iron, Shou rushing to keep up.

As she predicted, Jellal was in the first cell they found. Shou gasped, while Erza forced herself not to. It wasn't the Capture Tubes, the Sealing Stone collar, or the bandages wrapped around him from shoulders to ankles. There were several places where the bandages were stained crimson. Gods! Erza thought, smashing the bars of his cell like twigs. "Jellal!" She requipped back into her basic blouse and skirt, her Heart Kreuz armor still in pieces, and rushed to his side.

"Er...za...trap..." Jellal hissed through clenched teeth. When Erza drew her swords, he shook his head with twitching desperation. To no one's surprise, Erza ignored him, freeing Jellal with four swipes of her blades. "...no..."

"Jellal." Erza sheathed her swords and caught him before he could collapse. "I've got you."

Shou summoned the card Erza'd asked him to prepare, commanding it to fly behind Jellal. It quivered there, its spacial magic pulsing hungrily. "Erza, the crystal's in his neck, but my card's not pulling it ou–"

All at once, Jellal moved. His fist landed in Shou's stomach, the boy crumpling like a house of his own cards. Then he turned on Erza, hand outstretched, his namesake Starburst firing a dozen golden bolts at her. The weird reality-pounding thing from her fight with Ikaruga returned, redoubled. "Requip," Titania breathed, her Flight Armor allowing her to dodge – barely. His speed was phenomenal, even without magic. "Fight it, Jellal."

"Try...ing..." Tears welled in Jellal's eyes, but his body erupted in the familiar aura of Meteor. His fists lashed out awkwardly, with hesitant spasms showing Jellal's resistance, but he still struck Erza three times before she managed to retreat back to Ikaruga's bridge room. Every blow was like a sledgehammer shot from a cannon. And I should know. Chronos spit on Dark Unicorn and their insane weapons. The world itself hummed as some force from beyond struck at the Tower's wards, but there was no other reaction. I see. The Voices can help no more. Very well – up to me, then. I will manage. I must.

She darted away, constantly moving and feinting to get behind him. Nothing worked. I can be fast, or strong, or tough, or piercing, to nearly any degree I wish, Erza thought, taking two more blows and barely dodging two dozen, but Jellal is all those things at once. I can surpass him in any one area except speed, but he'll exceed me in every attribute I do not master. Right now, that's more than enough. She landed on the remains of the bridge, watching in awe as Jellal froze in mid-air, his entire body quivering. That crystal. It's in his body. His mind. His soul. And somehow, he's resisting.

Erza's face set into stony, furious resolve. Jellal has saved me so many times in so many ways, and none of my efforts to protect him have ever been enough. This time, I will not fail. I refuse! All at once, inspiration struck. "Requip!" she chanted. Flight Armor vanished, replaced by her Adamantine Armor. Jellal's body raced at her, his eyes bulging in horror. "Trust me, Jellal!"

Always. His single thought echoed through her mind, and Erza braced herself. Meteor threw Jellal into her with a force that reminded her of her battle with Porla. You are my miracle, she decided, remembering how that battle ended. Though the force of his assault pushed her back into the wall, she did not relent. Instead, once his body was still from the effort of driving into her, Erza locked him in a fierce embrace.

The twin halves of her Adamantine Shield slammed together, holding Jellal in place. "I've got you, Jellal. And I'm never letting go again." Tears ran down his cheeks as his captors forced him to strike at her with all the force he could muster. Of course he knows the One Inch Punch, Erza sighed, hands reaching along his back, up to the base of his neck. Even through her gauntlets, she could feel every straining muscle, knew every inch of skin – so when her fingertips brushed against the small, knife-sharp wrongness at the base of his neck, Erza knew what to do.

It was no ordinary household crystal. The lacrima was tougher than she'd imagined. It doesn't matter. This thing is the last chain holding Jellal captive. I will not tolerate its existence a moment longer! She squeezed the foul device while Jellal was forced to pound at her.

At last, the lacrima shattered, disintegrating between her fingers. Jellal thrashed, then screamed, the welling tears pouring free as he threw back his head and howled. "Requip," Erza chanted, switching back to her regular clothing and holding her love as he collapsed. "Jellal! Speak to me!"

"I...hurt you..." Jellal went limp in her arms, shuddering as he wept. "I swore...I would never..."

"You did not," she insisted, her hatred for Zalty or Daphne or whatever the Grim the woman was aflame in her heart. "That was your captors. It was no more your fault than your bruises were when that tentacle wizard threw me at you. Remember?" She pulled his face around to meet his eyes. "I wanted you to punish me, but you said–"

"–'nature is stronger than any mage,'" Jellal conceded, "I remember." He nodded, and she helped her love steady himself. "I'm sorry, Erza. That was just...every nightmare I've ever had, all at once. I'll manage."

"Good." She let him go, only to gasp when he nearly fell. "Jellal!"

"Urh." The star mage wobbled, keeping upright with notable effort. "Apparently, stealing my free will wasn't enough. The Tower drained my magic the moment you broke my life-bond."

Erza frowned. "Life-bond?"

"It's Zal-um, Daphne's latest trick," Jellal sighed, surrendering with rare obedience to Erza slipping his arm over her shoulders. "She developed a variant of Body Link Magic. It's why the others sound so creepy when she controls them. She's learned to override personalities, not just motor control. I'll come up with a counter once we're home."

Erza smiled at him. "It obviously wasn't working on you."

"Stronger emotions are harder to overcome, but she was still able to force me to use my own skills against you," Jellal hissed. He looked down at his knuckles, his blood mixed with hers on them. "I'm going to have a hard time forgiving myself." He shuddered, baring his teeth. "I'm not even going to bother trying to forgive her."

Every alarm Erza had rang as one. "Jellal, you're the one who always says that nothing is unforgivable," she insisted. "Inexcusable, perhaps, but never unforgivable." Please, Jellal. Don't give up now.

Jellal turned away, eyes squeezed shut. "I'm sorry, Erza. It's...it's too much. So many years, so many deaths – too much pain. I can't, I just – can't. Not now." He held the bridge of his nose between thumb and forefinger. "Can we discuss this later? I need to concentrate to scrape together the energy to heal you."

Keep him focused, Erza decided. "Later. For now, Shou first." Jellal gasped, tried to use Meteor, stumbled when he failed, then ran back towards the cells. Erza easily kept pace, guarding Jellal's back as he swallowed gulps of air. After nearly a minute of this, her Starburst held his hands over Shou's abdomen, hands glowing teal.

Shou coughed and came to. Erza and Jellal both offered him hands. After a brief effort to manage without, he accepted both. "Ow. You hit hard, nii-san." He grinned and rubbed his belly. "Thanks for the healing, though. Why does it still hurt?"

"Siegrain and Daphne drained his magical power," Erza explained. Shou gasped, then scowled, remaining cards flying around his hands again. "It seems more complicated than usual."

"What's 'usual,' nee-san?" Shou asked, grinning. "Let's go kick them in the teeth."

"You've been hanging around Natsu too long," Jellal sighed. "Do you have enough power left to carry me in a card?" Shou's grin vanished, eyes widening, and he nodded. "Good. Do it. I'm not much physical use right now, but I can still analyze."

Erza watched, trying not to worry, as Shou obeyed. Fury replaced horror in an instant. You will pay for this, Siegrain!