I'm back! Chapter fifty two... wow. We're getting pretty far, aren't we?
Happy suddenly woke up in a room filled with cat stuff. Cat balloons, cat furniture, you name it - it was there cat-style. "I'm totally surrounded by kitty cats! Where am I? Creepy…"
"Meow," Millianna said. Happy screeched.
"A creepy cat girl!"
"So how are you feeling?" she asked.
"Well, I've been better." She squealed and cuddled him tightly.
"I got a talking kitty!"
"You're gonna hug me to death!" Wally appeared in the doorway.
"Milly, doll, better let go before ya knock off that cat." She obeyed and put Happy down. "It isn't a talking cat. It's a cat because it talks. You know?"
"That makes no sense!" Happy shouted. "How'd I end up in this place? And what happened to Natsu?"
"Don't get mouthy," Wally warned. "Or you'll end up six feet under just like your helmeted friend." Happy was horrified for a moment, but consoled himself with the thought that there was no way that Natsu - an S-class wizard - would ever be beaten that easily.
"We got bad news," a guard panted as he ran up. "Erza Scarlet has escaped her cell."
"She did?" Millianna giggled. "That's Erzy for ya!"
"Well, ain't no way the broad's bustin' out of this tower again." Erza's here too?
"Talk," Erza ordered. She had beaten up all but one of the guards, killing their dog-like creature. "Where can I find Jellal?"
"That's a lot of lookouts," Gray muttered.
"Be careful," Natsu warned. "They have Erza and Happy. If we alert them to our presence, then not only do we lose the element of surprise, they could kill them."
"Man, this is going to be tricky…"
"I found any underwater passageway into the Tower," Juvia said, surfacing from the water.
"Seriously? Way to go!" Gray said. Juvia lorded his praise over Lucy for a few moments. Lucy just waved it away.
"We can swim there in ten minutes."
"Sounds easy enough," Gray said.
"It's not humanly possible!" Lucy shrieked. "I don't think even Natsu could do that!"
"Actually, I -"
"I don't care!"
"Please wear these," Juvia said, creating a water bubble. "There's oxygen inside, so you can breathe underwater with them."
"Pretty smart, er… whatever your name is." Juvia sweatdropped.
"It's ok. He's always like this." Lucy couldn't help but glance at Natsu as they swam. While his horns were sticking out from the bubble, he seemed comfortable enough. He was also an excellent swimmer, despite his dislike of getting wet.
"So we're underneath the Tower, huh?" Gray commented.
"They may look silly," Lucy said, holding her water hat. "But they sure do work!"
"I'm impressed you made it here, because I purposely made your shell smaller so you'd have trouble breathing."
"Gee, thanks."
"Intruders!" a guard shouted. Soon, the room was flooded with guards. "Identify yourselves!"
"Oh, sorry, we just stumbled in," Natsu said. "Say, Jellal had a meeting with me. You wouldn't happen to know where he is, do you?"
"A meeting?"
"Yeah, with a demon from the pits of Hell." Natsu lit his fist on fire. "You'd better tell him that I'm waiting." Slamming his fist into the ground, a large cloud of smoke covered them. "Let me handle this," Natsu warned them.
"Like hell I will," Gray snarled. Lucy had to marvel at how easily they moved together, covering for the other, and dual attacks. Natsu might have said that he didn't want help, but he accommodated to the others very easily. She and Juvia joined in. The guards drooled over her for a moment as she summoned Virgo.
"Did you summon me?"
"These pervs need to be punished."
"As you wish…"
"That seems to have done the job," Juvia observed. One of the giant heads' mouth opened, the tongue extending as a bridge. After exploring some of the levels, they discovered a table laden with food. Natsu sat down at the head and glared at the others until they also sat.
"The door that let us in was controlled by a magic user," Natsu said. Lucy found it odd that he had pulled the lower half of his mask down and was eating in front of them. "It appears that they are completely aware of our prese- What the hell are you staring at?!"
"Your mask…" Lucy stammered. "It's down."
"Yeah, so? I'm hungry, and you guys have already seen my face. Now, the real question is, why did they let us in?"
"You think they're trying to provoke us?" Gray asked.
"I don't know," Lucy said.
"Not to be rude," Virgo said, "but your bikini leaves little to the imagination."
"Should I change?" The spirit got a gleam in her eyes.
"Yes! I'll help you!"
"Wait! You mean right here?!" Gray blushed a little as he saw them.
"Holy…"
"Please stop looking at her!" Juvia wailed.
"Perv," Natsu commented as he resumed eating.
"I brought this over from the celestial world," Virgo explained.
"So, boys," Lucy said, modeling a little. "Do I look super cute in this outfit or what?"
"You look great," Gray approved while Juvia sulked.
"No, not really. It looks like a maternity dress," Natsu said. Lucy shot daggers at him with her eyes. "What? Some women look good in maternity dresses."
"And how would you know that?" Gray asked. The corners of Natsu's mouth turned down as he grimaced.
"I don't want to talk about it."
"I wish you luck, Princess," Virgo said as she went back to the spirit world.
"Thanks for the help," Lucy smiled. "Oh, did you guys want me to ask her to bring you a dry change of clothes?" Natsu burst into flames, his robes flapping a little. Gray began to dry himself off in the heat.
"Nah, this does the trick."
"He's not a dryer, you know!" A bunch of guards stormed the room. Before Natsu could act, however, Erza took them out.
"Erza! Thank goodness you're alright!"
"It's you!" she gasped. "What are you doing here?!"
"What do you mean, 'why'?" Natsu asked crossly. He took her chin in his hand and gave her a once over.
"We're looking for you," Lucy added.
"Go home!" Erza ordered. "This place is far too dangerous!" Natsu snorted.
"After all this time, you really think they'll listen to you? Besides, I told you. I don't take orders from you."
"You have to go!" Erza insisted.
"But why?" Lucy asked. "They've got Happy!"
"They got Happy too?! It must have been Millianna… You don't have to worry about him; she's an avid cat lover. I can't imagine her ever harming him. I'll bring him back with me. But you four need to leave immediately."
"Fat chance," Natsu said.
"Don't be ridiculous, we can help you!" Lucy agreed.
"This is my problem. It doesn't involve you." Natsu grabbed her forearm roughly, jerking her closer.
"Well, I'm getting involved. Besides, it's a bit too late for all of us to back out."
"Erza," Lucy said. "What is this tower? Who's Jellal?! If you don't want to tell us, that's fine. They said they were your old friends, right? But we're your friends now. We'll always have your back, no matter what!"
"There you have it," Gray said with a grin.
"Leave," Erza growled, trying in vain to pull her arm from Natsu's iron grasp.
"Come on!"
"You're freaking me out," Gray said, "cause this ain't like you, Erza. What happened to the woman that'd tell us to 'shut up and come along', whether we wanted to or not? We want to stay here and help you out. Master taught us that even the strongest warriors need a little back up every once in awhile." Erza turned to them with tears in her left eye, startling them. Erza never cried.
"I'm sorry," she said. "But you can't help me now. I'm going to vanish from this world whether I win or lose this battle."
"What is that supposed to mean?" Natsu said.
"There's no point in fighting what's inevitable. I can't. But what I can do is share my story with you… while I'm still here. This is the Tower of Heaven, also known as the R-System. Over a decade ago, a cult dedicated to black magic began its construction. It would be used to cast a forbidden spell that brings the dead back to life. The spell required many human sacrifices, so the cult abducted citizens from the surrounding areas, and forced them to build the Tower as their slaves. The only reason I know this is because I was one of those people. Anyone who dared to resist the cult or tried to escape the Tower would mysteriously disappear. We never had any peace of mind; we lived in constant fear. But we bonded and made friends we could trust despite that. Even though we knew we wouldn't be together long. One of my friends in the Tower was a boy named Jellal."
"Erza!" Jellal shouted as he stormed the room where she was. He had attacked guard after guard to find her. "Hold on!" He stabbed his sword into the ground and untied the shaking girl. "Don't worry, I'll get you out of here." Jellal caught Erza as she collapsed from exhaustion and pain. His eyes went wide as he saw her missing eye. "Your eye…! They've gone too far," he cried against her. "What did she do to deserve this?! What did any of us do?!" His restrained sobs broke forth as Erza's remaining eye opened.
"Je… llal…?"
"That's right," he smiled through his tears. "It's me. You'll be safe now. I'm here with you."
"H-How will we get out?"
"Well," Jellal said as he escorted her down the hall. "There's no turning back now. "We're gonna have to fight." Red magic circles surrounded them as an alarm was set off. "Oh, no! Magic soldiers!"
"I hope Sister's gonna be alright," Shô said.
"Grandpa Rob," Simon said. "You came back from punishment alive. You think she'll be okay?"
"I'm sure she's going to be fine. They can torture her all day and night, but they'll never be able to take her soul away from her."
"What do you mean by that?" The door opened.
"Get in there," the guard snarled as he threw Erza in.
"Sister…"
"Erza!"
"Wait a minute, where's Jellal?"
"Time to get to work," another guard said.
"Don't upset her anymore," Rob said. "We should just be happy that she's come back to us alive."
"But Grandpa!"
"I can only that they've chosen to keep him in her place."
"I can't take it!" Shô sobbed. "I can't take it anymore!"
"Quit your crying, kid," a guard warned.
"Calm down, Shô!" Simon said, trying to protect him.
"There's no need to cry," Rob soothed. "Everything's going to work out just fine."
"Shut it, you little brat!" the guard shouted.
"Leave me alone!" Shô sobbed harder. We're gonna have to fight, Jellal had said. Erza's eye widened with rage.
"What are you doing?!" the other slaves heard Simon shout just before there was an explosion in their cell. Both of the guards were knocked out.
"No way…"
"Could it be…?"
"Mutiny!" a guard shouted. Erza turned, her face contorted with anger.
"What's gotten into you?!" Simon shouted.
"Find a weapon!" she ordered. "We can't escape and they're not going to set us free! So if we want out of here, we'll have to fight! For our lives! For our freedom!"
"So we took a stand for our freedom," Erza said softly. "We hoped to save our dear friend Jellal. He was like the leader of our group back then. He had a strong sense of justice that I truly admired."
"But something changed up there," Natsu concluded.
"Yes… Something happened to him. It's almost as if he became an entirely different person. There's only one way I'd describe Jellal's new persona… Pure… unadulterated… evil.
I'm trying to figure out why I ship GaLe and Jerza so hard. Gajeel and Jellal are jerks! I think it's the fanfiction... Who knows?
Somebody tell me why, and review!
Edit: If I'm not replying to your review, it's not me. For some reason your reviews aren't showing up on the website.
