Chapter 66

The City of Nirvana

Gray

We were travelling through the forest towards where the purple magic was released. Although we weren't sure what the magic was, we had a feeling it was related to Nirvana. Juvia was leading us, and for that I was thankful. I'd never admit it to Natsu, but I had absolutely no idea where we were going. Natsu proved that without his nose he wasn't very good with directions either, so having someone confident in navigation was a relief.

"Hold on!" Natsu called out.

"What?"

We all stopped where we were. Natsu stared at a tree, I was about to repeat myself when a certain someone stepped out from behind the tree. It was none other than Angel of Oracion Seis. She put her hands up and cautiously approached us.

"Alright, alright, you got me." She replied.

Natsu ignited his fists on fire and I fell into my stance.

Her eyes widened and she frantically yelled, "Hold on! I promise I don't want to fight!"

"You poisoned our friend!" Natsu accused her.

Angel looked down…in shame?

"I-I'm sorry…I had no idea."

Natsu looked to me and Juvia in confusion. Not that Juvia knew who she was, but neither of us knew what was going on, she seemed different.

"What's gotten into you?" I asked.

"Do you know her?" Juvia asked.

"That's Angel." Natsu explained, "She's with Oracion Seis."

"Nirvana…that purple magic just now, that was Nirvana being released."

Our eyes widened in horror. Angel went on to explain what that purple magic did, and it checked out with our experience with Phantom Lord.

"And you were affected by it?" Juvia asked.

Angel paused for a moment before saying, "All I wanted was to find my little sister. That was my prayer. I wanted to find her and protect her."

"Like a guardian angel." Natsu replied in realization.

"That's how I got my codename." Angel explained, "My really name is Sorano, Sorano Aguria."

"So, what do you want to do now?" Natsu asked, sounding a lot more understanding than before.

Tears began to build up in her eyes, "I can't meet her like this…I can't meet her as a dark mage. So…so I want to stop Master Brain!"

"Juvia doesn't trust her."

"Neither do I." I echoed her sentiment.

"Well, I do!"

"Aye!"

I looked at Natsu. We may not get along all the time, but even I knew how much it hurt him to almost lose his sister. No doubt Angel's story weighed heavily on him.

"Alright, we'll let you travel with us." I began.

Juvia piped up and shouted, "Gray!"

"But!" I continued, "You have to hand over your keys."

Angel repositioned her hip so that we could see the case that her keys were stored in. I looked over to Juvia, silently asking that she disarm her. Juvia relented and carefully approached Angel. The Oracion Seis woman gave her no trouble and Juvia was able to retrieve the container.

"Please take care of them."

Lyon

We were travelling through the forest towards where we believe Nirvana was released. We were in a rush to get there. The chaos one could cause with the ability to shift someone's personality would be astronomical. The thought of Sherry suddenly turning on us flashed through my mind. It was a scary thought, but not nearly as scary as the thought of Jura turning. I could handle a crazed Sherry. She was strong, but not considered S-Class material in Lamia Scale. A crazed Jura though, I doubt I could handle that. There was also the chance that I would turn. Like Jura, I was an S-Class in one of the top guilds in Fiore. I may not be a Wizard Saint, but I would still be a problem. Provided Hoteye really did turn to our side, that was a little comforting.

"Richard, do you mind me asking what happened to your brother?" Jura asked.

"We were separated from each other, yes." Hoteye explained, "We were both slaves in the Tower of Heaven. In exchange for power, the master of our tower traded me and the others to Master Brain, yes."

"You were in the Tower of Heaven?" Sherry asked.

Hoteye nodded his head, "The very same Tower that Jellal commanded."

I remember hearing about that incident. Ur was beside herself in worry when it got out that Gray was involved in that debacle. It was made worse when we discovered that Ultear was involved as well.

"There is no Love in that Tower."

Hoteye shook his head in agreement, "No love indeed."

"Say, you wouldn't happen to know what the deal with Ultear was, would you?" I asked.

"You don't know?" Hoteye replied, "She's a member of Grimoire Heart, yes. And she's a high-ranking member at that."

I was stunned to say the least. I was wondering why she would be involved with Jellal. According to Ur, Ultear went missing when a magic research facility that she was staying at when she was young was destroyed. Ultear was a sickly child and apparently had a lot of magical power, which was the source of her sickness. When she reappeared years later, her official statement was that she was that the head scientist at the facility was abusing her, so she was kidnapped by a rogue scientist and put into hiding.

"How the hell did she get involved with them?"

"Master Brain." Hoteye replied, much to my surprise, "He needed help from Master Hades, and offered Ultear to him, yes."

"I take it Hades is the Master of Grimoire Heart?" Jura asked.

"Yes,"

"So Oracion Seis and Grimoire Heart were working together as far back as that, huh..." I mused.

"Even Tartarus was involved. They mediated the whole thing, yes."

"Hold on, but how did Brain have Ultear in the first place?" I asked.

"He was the head scientist at the research facility she was staying at, yes!" Hoteye replied, "He wanted her in Oracion Seis, but Hades wanted her for Grimoire Heart as well."

"Interesting…" Jura mused.

We continued travelling through the forest towards where we believed Nirvana to be located. This information was invaluable to say the least. While Ultear was declared a criminal and a dark mage, there was no official word on if she was affiliated with a dark guild or not. This was something I felt should be brought up with Ur before anything else.

"Jura and Sherry, do me a favor, don't mention anything about Ultear to the Rune Knights. Ur should be the first one to know…and I should be the one to tell her."

"I will respect that." Jura replied, "But this information must be conveyed to the Magic Council. I understand why you want to do it this way, but you must make sure they find out as well."

I took a pause for a moment before replying, "I know. That's why I want her to know first."

I was glad that Jura understood. He probably knew how devastated Ur was after the whole Tower of Heaven incident. Hopefully breaking the news to her this way would soften the blow. She was going to find out one way or another, and I'd rather it be through me.

"Get down!" Hoteye suddenly screamed.

Hoteye grabbed me and threw me to the ground as gale flew by me. The wind but into the tree and knocked it down. Jura used his magic to knock the tree away from us.

"Heh, well if it ain't the Guild Alliance!" a mage said, stepping out of the bush.

A bunch of other thug-looking mages followed him out. They were adorned with a variety of weapons and looked like they were ready to fight.

"Stand down!" Hoteye shouted at the dark mages.

The dark mages were visibly shocked to realize Hoteye was among us.

"Wha?" The first dark mage began, "Sorry Hoteye, didn't realize that was you."

"That's okay!" Hoteye exclaimed, "Turn back now. There is no need for you to fight these mages."

"A-are you sure? We were hired to stop the Guild Alliance."

Hoteye fished out a very hefty looking bag from his jacket. He handed the bag to the dark mage.

"We must spread LOVE, not hate!" He told them, "That should more than cover for your payment, yes!"

The dark mage opened the bag and his eyes lit up, "Uh…yes sir! We'll uh…leave now!"

"Good!" Hoteye replied, "And remember to spread LOVE!"

"That's right!" Sherry chimed in.

The dark mage looked at Hoteye with a confused expression, "Uh…yeah sure."

The dark mage turned to his comrade and instructed them to leave us be. They then just up and left. Part of me felt that we should have chased them, but we all had an unspoken agreement that it was more important to find Nirvana than to take down some lowly dark mages. There were bigger fish to fry. In the meantime, I was beginning to warm up to Richard. If he was only pretending to be on our side, he would have used those low-level dark mages to rough us up a little. Letting us escape from that encounter without a fight probably wouldn't be a good thing for him.

We continued on our path to Nirvana, until we came to a great canyon. Or at least that's what it should have been. The canyon was completely filled in by what looked to be an ancient city! Stone, clay, and metallic buildings rose from the ground the around the forest. The city was "sunken" into the canyon. It looked like it was buried and dug itself out. The ground in front of us looked unstable to say the least, and then led to a sharp drop, most likely to the streets below.

"How…how did we not know there was a city here?" Sherry asked.

"There wasn't." Jura replied.

"This must be where Nirvana is hidden." Richard replied, "They say Nirvana was sealed away by the Nirvit people about three hundred years ago. They must have sealed the city away with it."

Jura got down on his knee and placed a hand on the ground. With his magic, he cut a path through the cliff down to the streets below. He got up and gestured to us to head down. Without question, we all descended down into the city.

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