AN: Before we begin, Reviewer Replies!

Raidentensho: It won't happen for a while certainly, armor takes time to manufacture after all, but yes Erza would be jaw-droppingly sexy in Karna's armor. Yes there will be music, and lemme tell ya it was a right bitch to find the perfect song for this. WILL Lucy get the hang of Snow Dragon Magic, or now that she's been stripped of her usual Holder magic will a latent Caster magic never seen in canon manifest? Hmmm I wonder... XD

Beruit: Something may happen regarding Wizard Saints and something will DEFINITELY happen before this is all over involving the Council.

Arclight001: Yeah, Levy's about had it with Lucy at this point since Levy is Lucy's best friend and has been trying since they left Mattachu to help her through her heartbreak over losing her keys, only for Lucy to completely ignore or rudely brush off all Levy's attempts to cheer her up. Everyone else had been keeping their distance as much as possible, but Levy tried to help and got burned a LOT, so Lucy had that coming. Yeah, Gajeel's got a MASSIVE crush on Levy, has since Chapter 19 and it's been growing steadily.

dxq897: Hoohoo if that shocked you, then you better hang onto your hat! Those paying attention to the Reviewer Replies would notice that the formula I gave 'the watcher earth C-137' was 20% short of 100%. The two elements comprising that missing 20%? Suspense and SURPRISE!

CitricBlueWolf: Yes, very much so! Can't say too much without spoilers but I think the appropriate phrase is "HOLY SHIT... O.O"

Also, I've decided to include timestamps since this chapter jumps around from place to place a fair bit.

And now, ON WITH THE SHOW!

...


...

Chapter 35 – Jenga


...

11:37 PM, Over the Ocean

Jerry? You there? Levy's voice echoing through my head had never been more welcome.

LEVY! Are you guys okay? I'm tracking your cards, I'll be there soon.

Yeah, we're fine, except maybe Erza. Levy clarified, Apparently Jellal, the guy who attacked us, is her psychotic cult leading ex-boyfriend. He must have her in some kind of magic sealing field because I can't contact her.

Three more reasons for me to fucking KILL HIM, I scowled, Anything else I need to know about this son of a bitch before I get there?

Download incoming.

I paused and hung midair for a second as the little golden bar slid across to blue and the conversation the team had in Levy's mind space played through in my head.

I blinked in confusion as something struck me as off. I couldn't put my finger on it for a moment, then it dawned on me and I went ghostly pale, Erza has a glass eye?

I don't think it's glass, but yeah, Levy replied, I had never found out what happened to her eye, she never wanted to talk about it, but I could never have imagined it was something this bad.

My pulse started speeding up, Levy, how long have you known Erza?

Since she arrived at Fairy Tail, Levy declared, Why what's up?

Can you show me what she looked like when she arrived?

The picture popped into my head a moment later and I felt like I might start hyperventilating, and possibly have a heart attack, a stroke and an aneurysm all in the same go. I actually almost fell out of the air before I caught myself, No…

Then I took off like a shot from a gun, NONONONONONONONO!


...

11:38, In the Middle of the Tower

Natsu and Happy raced through the corridors, setting fire to everything in their wake as Natsu's nose led the way. In the five minutes since they'd been freed from their card prison, they'd set fire to everything along nearly three miles of corridor and rooms. They'd have done more, but Happy was having to go very slow to maneuver in the tight passageways. That said, they were still moving faster than most horses could gallop and everything behind them was swiftly crumbling in the face of the raging inferno left in their wake.

"Left up here Happy!" Natsu yelled, "She's close!"

"She might not be happy to see us!" Happy replied.

"That's why we gotta help her!" Natsu shot back, "How are we ever gonna prove we care about her if we avoid her?!"

"Alright but OH SHIT!" Happy squawked as they turned a corner right into a blizzard and got blown down the hallway like leaves in a whirlwind.

Normally Natsu would've been furious and hunting for Gray to pound his skull in if he'd been blindsided by a wall of snow and cold. Now though, he sat up out of the snow with a grin, "HEY LUCY! YOU FIGURED OUT YOUR ROAR?!"

Lucy blinked in shock at the meter thick carpet of snow and the pink and blue heads poking up out of it. She'd swapped into her battle suit figuring she might at least get some use out of it and hoping that it would protect her from whatever absurd destruction the others were wreaking. She'd then begun trying to summon the dragon slaying magic that blonde girl from Mildian had said she had now. After five minutes of nothing, she'd become so frustrated that she simply screamed. Then she opened her eyes and Natsu and Happy were popping up out of a two foot thick carpet of snow.

A wicked grin spread across her face as Natsu's words registered, "Let's find out." Her expression twisted into pure fury and she shouted, "SNOW DRAGON ROOOOOOAR!"

If Natsu and Happy hadn't ducked back under the snow, they would've been knocked flat as a fresh wall of wind and snow roared down the hall towards them. It was rather short lived as far as such attacks went, but it wasn't bad at all for a second attempt.

Lucy took a moment of satisfaction at her handy work and then Natsu popped up out of the snow, "THAT WAS AWESOME LUCY!"

Lucy's expression fell back into cold disdain and she sniffed and turned her back on him with her arms crossed, "Whatever. Let's finish tearing this place down so I can go home."

She started to stalk off down the hall and suddenly a scorching hot pair of thoroughly muscled arms wrapped around her from behind. Lucy froze in surprise and then she scowled, "Natsu, let. GO."

Natsu actually did and he stepped back, but he kept one of her hands gripped firmly in his as he looked her dead in the eye, "Lucy, I'm sorry."

Lucy's face twitched, "Oh you're sorry? Well I suppose that totally makes up for the fact that I just lost the friends I've had since I was a child who got me through years of parental neglect and loneliness all because of your stupid plan to try and be S-Class!"

Natsu blinked and averted his gaze, scratching the back of his head, "Um, yeah…about that…I actually didn't care very much about the reward when I came to talk to you about that."

Lucy's eyes narrowed, "Excuse me? Then why did you do it?"

Natsu blushed the color of his hair and looked for all the world like a scolded puppy, "Well, I couldn't afford to buy you dinner, and I heard beach vacations were a popular da…" Lucy's eyes narrowed as he caught himself a syllable too late, "…uh, popular thing! Popular thing to do! With girls! Um, with guys too, um I mean it's a popular thing to do with friends. Ah, yeah, and we're friends and I heard it was a good thing to do with girlfriends… NO! NO! NO! Not what I meant! Not what I meant!"

Lucy was staring now, "I meant, uh… girls who are friends! Yeah that's right, and um, and I heard I should try to make things exciting and fun and missions are exciting and lots of fun, and I couldn't find any flowers and I couldn't afford chocolates and they melt if I get near 'em anyway and when Happy found that poster with the key for the reward I knew you like those so I thought it might be better than fl…?"

Lucy cut his babbling off with a finger to his lips and a dry glare, "Natsu, are you trying to say that that entire mess with Galuna Island was your idea of trying to take me on a date?"

Natsu gulped and nodded cautiously.

POW! Lucy left an almost glowing crimson handprint on his cheek, "IDIOT."

Natsu nodded, "Yeah, that's what everybody's said."

Lucy froze halfway into considering the revelation, "Wait, what do you mean everybody?"

Natsu's eyes went wide as he realized maybe he shouldn't have told her that, "Um, Jerry kinda figured it out on the train right after it happened and Erza punched the hell out of me because she was sitting there next to me, and when Gajeel found out he said I was a dumbass, and Levy was upset and said I screwed it up really bad and even Mira was mad at me and Gramps and Gildarts both looked like they wanted to smack me and…"

Lucy raised a hand again, "Natsu, how many people know you were trying to take me on a date?"

"Probably the whole town at this point," Happy mused, "It was kinda big news. Natsu hasn't even looked at a girl that way since…" he trailed off as Natsu flinched.

"Since what?" Lucy asked, torn between irritation, nervousness and curiosity.

"Lisanna," Natsu said quietly, "She was Mira and Elfman's little sister, my best friend aside from Happy."

Lucy's eyes widened slightly at the tone, "You're not talking about her like it was just a bad break up…"

"She died," Happy explained quietly, "It was an S-Class quest with Mira and Elfman. Mira lost her magic and stopped fighting with Erza, Elfman turned into a muscle head so he'd never be too weak again and Lisanna..."

"Lisanna never came back," Natsu finished quietly.

Lucy stared at them in horror, but before she could respond…

"BWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Wailed the massive and heavily muscled man with the owl face, "THAT'S SO SA-A-A-AAAD! YOUR POOR GIRLFRI-I-IEEEND! AND HER FA-A-AMILY!" He hiccupped a few sobs and the tears looked like waterfalls pouring from his eyes as the three Fairy Tail wizards gawked at him in confusion, wondering how the hell someone so big had gotten within arm's reach of them.

It was suddenly very much not lost on Lucy that Natsu's immediate instinct was to get between her and the owl man immediately as he demanded, "Who are you?!"

The owl man blinked as the tears suddenly stopped. Then he struck a pose, "I AM FUKURO, A KNIGHT OF TRUE JUSTICE!" Then he raised a finger with what seemed like it might've been a smile, "That said… CAPTURE!" His jaw suddenly unhinged and he slammed his face to the ground, completely enveloping Natsu in his mouth with one enormous chomp.

Lucy and Happy sprang back and the owl man straightened up, a tuft of disturbingly familiar looking pink hair now jutting from his forehead as he crowed, "NOW HIS FLAMES ARE MINE!" He slid into a stance and his fists ignited, "SO FEEL MY FIREY JUST- where'd they go?"

One had to give Happy credit, he knew when to book it in a hurry.


...

11:41 PM, The Top of the Tower

"You really threw my plans for quite a loop leaving the country like that Erza," Jellal mused from his throne to the faintly smoking armored form in the anti-magic cage. He'd only lasted through about ten repetitions of 'The Song That Never Ends' before he'd elected to silence the gleefully irritating Fairy Queen, "And now your friends are here trying to destroy the Tower as well. Maybe I should've just cut your tongue out and kept you here all those years ago. It would've made things simpler don't you think?"

Erza stirred slightly, and Jellal sighed with a small smile, "Oh well. It hardly matters, the final preparations for the R-System to activate are in place, and the Trinity Raven assassins of Death's Head Caucus are on their way to eliminate your friends. I'm sure they'll manage to stop them before they can do too much damage to the Tower. It's actually a little bit bigger than it needs to be. I had originally planned to have you here a little bit earlier and figured you'd try to make a mess of it, so I made sure it could handle a bit of damage without impairing its overall function."

Erza didn't answer and Jellal cast his gaze to the ceiling, "You know, I kind of wish you had stayed all those years ago. You would've made a fine queen when Lord Zeref makes me a king among men. It's too bad you couldn't see the beauty of my plans."

Erza snorted and Jellal's gaze flicked down to her, "Something to say?"

Erza cracked open her left eye, her prosthetic right had been shut down by the cage's magic sealing properties. There was no telling if it would reactivate once she was out. "Tell me something Jellal…If you could go back in time…" she winced as she forced herself upright into a sitting position, "with the power you have now, what would you do? Would you have still saved me? Would you have saved anyone?"

Jellal was quiet for a moment and then he snorted, "I'd rip those idiot cultists limb from limb so that I could take control of the island sooner."

Erza sighed, "That's what I figured you'd say. You know, I never lost faith in you for even a second while they were torturing me. The thought that you were coming to save me was the only thing that let me hang on."

Jellal winced ever so slightly as Erza continued, "I was so relieved when I opened my eye and you were there. You may think it sounds silly, but for just an instant, I felt like a princess out of a fairy tale."

"Which makes it somewhat ironic that you grew up to be called the queen of Fairy Tail," Jellal noted.

Erza snorted and closed her eyes, "I have no idea who started that or why, but it's rather beside the point. I always believed that if you were there, everything would be alright. I guess that's why it hurt so much for you to turn on me like that." She sighed lightly and Jellal's eyes went wide as he noted that she actually sounded relieved before asking, "So now I have one more question."

"Go on," Jellal replied, suddenly nervous at the calm assurance in her voice.

"What would you do to the men torturing me, if you walked in on them while it was happening, and you had the power you had now? If it were me saving you," she added, "I'd have put so many swords through them that there'd be nothing left but some scattered chunks of meat."

Jellal blinked in surprise, "Well that's violent. Did you really care about me that much?"

Erza cracked her eye open and gave him an extremely dirty look, "If you honestly have to ask me that, then you don't deserve to know."

Jellal flinched like she had punched him and then thought quietly for a moment, "I'd crush every bone in their bodies with my bare hands and keep beating them until there was nothing left but a pile of jelly, then I'd set the jelly on fire and listen to it scream." He paused for a moment, "I'd probably put the fire out before they could die, then throw alcohol on them. When they woke up, I'd roll them in broken glass and light them again. I'd keep coming up with ways to hurt them until they stopped waking up and then I'd feed whatever was left of them to the crows. Oh, maybe set hungry rats on them while they were helpless blobs of broken bones. No, no," he mused, "I'd cut them open and stitch a sedated rat up in their stomachs. Let the rat chew its way out."


...

11:42 PM, Magic Council Headquarters…

Master Makarov's old teammate Mr. Yajima, now a member of the Magic Council, nodded grimly as Master explained the situation to him, "I see. Yes, Siegrain just called for the emergency meeting a few minutes ago. I'll see what he says, don't worry, once the others know that there's a team from Fairy Tail involved, I'm sure they won't fire it. If Siegrain turns out to be as you say, then we may be in for some trouble here. I don't like to admit it, but the little prick's surprisingly powerful. If he decides to make a mess, he stands a pretty good chance of succeeding."

Makarov nodded, "I'll send reinforcements that way in case things get hairy."

Yajima shot a glance in the direction of the meeting room, "Alright Maky, I'll let you know how it turns out. Call me as soon as you get word that the kids are finished, I'll try to keep you updated on the situation here. Be ready to tell your kids to evacuate if the others are idiots about this."

"Good luck Yaji," Makarov said as he shut down the screen.

Mr. Yajima quickly turned and strode past the toadie worker, pausing to shoot a glare at her utterly flabbergasted expression, "Not one word of this to anyone, understand?" Without waiting for an answer he took off towards the meeting room.

The toad faced receptionist gulped and nodded, quickly hurrying along behind him, "Yessir Mr. Yajima, but do you really think it could be true? A member of the Council involved in something like this?"

"We'll know in a few minutes," Mr. Yajima declared before shoving open the door and stepping onto the magic stairs that led him to the Meeting Circle. The Meeting Circle was a magical platform suspended high up a shaft in the center of the Magic Council's Headquarters at Era. Aside from being twenty feet in the air and stabilizing the projections of those Council members who couldn't be there in person for whatever reason, the glowing platform had several privacy seals woven into its matrix, making sure that nothing the Council said could be eavesdropped upon.

Mr. Yajima huffed lightly as he reached the top of the stair and stepped onto his circle. "Now that we're all here," the chairman Crawford Seam mused, "What's this about Sieg?"

"I have just received a report that a tower has been found in the Ka Elm Sea not far off the coast," Siegrain declared, "Our local investigators have discovered that this tower is home to the forbidden magic known as the R-System."

"YOU'RE SAYING THAT THE R-SYSTEM STILL EXISTS IN THIS WORLD?!" Councilman Org demanded in horrified shock, "THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE!"

"Eight years ago a religious sect that worshipped black magic gathered a vast amount of money, their intention was to build the R-System," Siegrain explained.

"You're talking about those seven towers right?" Councilman Leiji asked, "The Council destroyed those, not even their rubble should remain."

"It would appear there was an eighth tower," Councilwoman Belno declared grimly, the report from the investigators in her hand.

Org looked at her in shock and horror, "They couldn't have built it already could they?"

"The investigators in that area aren't prone to joking," Belno declared firmly as she held up a picture of the tower in question.

"So it has been built?" Ultear asked warily.

"But why would anybody be working on the R-System now?" Chairman Seam asked in frustration.

"The Tower of Heaven," Siegrain corrected, prompting everyone to look at him. He glanced around, "It isn't called the R-system. It's the Tower of Heaven, right?"

Mr. Yajima's eyes narrowed as Org erupted, "IT DOESN'T MATTER WHAT IT'S CALLED SIEG! THE R-SYSTEM IS FORBIDDEN MAGIC! IT HAS FAR TOO DISRUPTIVE AN EFFECT ON THE PUBLIC, IT'S USE COULD CAUSE MASS PANIC! WE HAVE TO DEPLOY THE MILITARY RIGHT NOW AND GET THIS UNDER CONTROL!"

"However until we know who we're dealing with," Councilman Leiji mused as he perused the report.

Chairman Seam shot a glance at him, "We don't know who we're up against?!"

Leiji shook his head, "The force in control of the R-System doesn't seem to be the old religious cult, according to the report it's some mystery man calling himself Jellal."

"Jellal?" Org asked in confusion.

"I've never heard of him," Belno declared as she looked over at Leiji.

Leiji looked up from his copy of the report, "We don't have any information on him other than the name."


...

11:49 PM, Near The Bottom of the Tower

Gajeel raced through the tower, his arms encased in enormous iron pillars tipped with colossal sledge hammer heads. Every swing crashed through metal, wood and stone like a runaway freight train as Gajeel put his full strength and momentum into every move. Less like a charging bull and more like a tornado of iron, he tore through the tower like it was made of matchsticks. He was spinning, running and jumping in such a way that if he hadn't been demolishing everything that got within six feet of him, you might've thought he was doing ballet.

Silly though it might've looked out of context, the hammers and destruction left in their wake lent plenty of credibility to the logic of Gajeel's movements. When he reached the end of a corridor, he inhaled and unleashed his Iron Dragon Roar, the hurricane of iron shards and raw force bulldozing the weakened corridor and blowing out both sides of it. The ceiling of the corridor collapsed as its support was blown away.

Gajeel turned, his face split with a grin like kid in a candy store, and immediately jumped in surprise as he realized Levy was standing almost close enough to reach out and touch him with a bemused grin. Gajeel blushed slightly, fully aware of how his 'charge' must've looked. Ah crap she's gonna laugh at me ain't she…

"Having fun Gajeel?" Levy asked with that crooked little grin.

"Um, yeah actually," Gajeel admitted, surprised by the lack of apparent teasing.

Levy nodded, "Good, come on. I think I found one of the support pillars. We break it and there's no telling how much of this place'll come down!"

A minute later Gajeel's jaw dropped as he took in the size of the pillar in question. The pillar was a massive thing, big enough to qualify as a tower in its own right, and it rose through a massive shaft that soared higher than the top of several castles Gajeel could think of. Gajeel could tell at a glance that it was bound to be thoroughly reinforced and mostly made of concrete. That this was a mere support column spoke volumes about the size of the R-system. All of that really begged the question, "HOW DAMN BIG IS THIS PLACE?!"

Levy nodded, "You see why I came to get you to break it. If it's got iron mesh and rebar networked into it, which I think it kinda has to in order to be this big, do you think you can convert and eat the entire web in one go once you unearth it? If you can, then the pillar's own weight coupled with the sudden voids inside it may crush the whole thing and bring down everything it's attached to as well."

Gajeel blinked at her and then a downright evil looking grin spread over his face, "I bet I can. Stand back, I'm about to make a mess."

Levy nodded, "I'll guard the…" She paused and Gajeel heard it. The scream of an electric guitar echoed down the hallway. "That's, not one of ours is it?" Levy asked as the screaming guitar grew closer.

Gajeel settled into a boxing stance as he heard the insane laugh mix in with the guitar, "Nope."


...

11:51, Upper Part of the Tower

Dimaria actually stopped obliterating rooms the instant she was through them as she stepped into the large garden room. She had to stop and blink in confusion as she took in the trees and large red wooden bridge across the pond. The ceiling and walls were painted to resemble a beautiful mountain landscape and Dimaria took a moment to inhale the scent of the pink flowering trees and clear cool water.

"What kind of evil Zeref-worshipping lunatic makes such a pretty garden in the middle of his doomsday device?" she asked the empty room as she ran her hand over the smooth and beautifully carved handrail.

She looked around and tapped her foot as she mused, I really hate to destroy something this nice, but it'll get wrecked anyway when the tower comes down. I shouldn't waste magic to preserve it and even if I could I'd need my material and Lord Kronos's magic… She sighed, "And since I've only got a finite amount of that I can't waste it on this. Mmm…" she eyed the beautiful trees longingly, "I wish I knew what kind of trees these are so I could plant one when I get ho…when I find a new home," she corrected herself a little bitterly.

"Oh, you like the cherry blossoms? If you're planning to join Fairy Tail, I'm told the area around their Guild Hall is home to the most fascinating cherry blossoms which turn iridescent rainbow colors when in bloom rather than such a simple pink." Dimaria whirled and saw a woman with long pink hair and a white kimono standing at the other end of the bridge, her hand on the hilt of a sword at her waist as she gave Dimaria a very cold smile, "It's a shame you will never get to see them."

Dimaria's eyes widened and then the blade of magic slammed into her gut and tore her wounds open a new in a very credible bid to cleave her in two…


...

11:54 PM, Near The Tower's Main Support Pillar

The long haired assassin strutted into the room wearing an outfit like he was auditioning for KISS while playing a riff on his guitar and screamed, "AAALRIIIGHT! VIDALDUS TAKA IS IN THE HOUSE! LEMME HEAR YOU SCREEE-KAK!" He was promptly met with an Iron Dragon Log right to the face that he only narrowly dodged. "Well aaalriiight! This is getting interesting! Looks like I have the honor of confronting the one and only Black Steel Gajeel!"

Gajeel narrowly dodged the thirty foot long tentacle of hair that shattered the stone where he had been standing. "What's it to ya?!" he shouted as he grew his Iron Dragon Swords and charged, carving through the maelstrom of hair tentacles flying at him like a whirlwind of weed whackers.

Vidaldus danced back as he felt his hair being cut at an alarming rate, "Oh nothing much…" Then his gaze landed on Levy, "But since your little girlfriend's here, why don't we make this fight a little more interesting?" He pulled back all his hair and sprang into the air as he dragged sparks from his strings with his pick, "ROCK OF SUCCUBUS!" His guitar's mechanical elements suddenly proved they weren't just for show as they roared to life and unleashed a wave of sound magic that made Gajeel freeze as the name of the spell registered with him.

Vidaldus landed and laughed, "Whoever wins gets to keep that fine little groupie o' yours!"

Gajeel's expression was like a stone carving for a moment and then he pulled a pair of sunglasses from his pocket and put them on, "Oh hell no you did not just challenge me to a rock off for the Shrimp's soul."

Levy, completely unaffected by Vidaldus's spell because she'd put on her Absolute Silence Earphones that she normally reserved for reading in the Guild Hall the instant she'd heard Vidaldus coming, rolled her eyes. Oh joy, now they're going to have a dick measuring contest with their guitars instead of their fists, she sighed. Then she looked at the immense support pillar and an idea flashed into her mind, splitting her face in a massive mischievous grin. She looked at the two guitarists, "Rock on!"

That was all the incentive Gajeel needed as he snapped his fingers and all the lights in the room went out. Dammit Gajeel! Levy thought as she pulled out a small Shine spell to act as a flashlight so she could start quickly scribbling runes around the base of the pillar.

She spared a glance as a spotlight came on over Vidaldus who exclaimed, "Oh you're letting me go first? Your funeral but fine!" He closed his eyes and started plucking out a melody, "Oh I can be nice…but don't test me…I CAN GET WIIIIIII-IIICKED!"

Meanwhile, unseen by Vidaldus or Levy, Gajeel was quietly running around completely unhindered by the dark, stealthily setting up his own performance to blow Vidaldus out of the water.


...

11:54 PM, The Tower's Sakura Garden

The pink haired assassin's sword was back in its sheath before her attack even landed. Dimaria was hurled back by the force of the blow, slamming into the door frame and crumpling to the floor. Dimaria's breath was gone and wouldn't come back as her mind shorted out from pain. What…WHAT THE HELL?!

The assassin said something Dimaria couldn't hear through the ringing in her ears and a moment later another arc of pain slammed into her. Dimaria screamed as she was cut open from shoulder to hip. Lord Notus…she thought weakly, please…I don't…I can't die yet…everyone's…everyone's counting on me… she scrunched her face up and strained to call on her magic to heal her wounds, but then a shadow fell over her.

"Still alive?" The assassin asked, "You are very strong. My strikes normally carve through steel and flesh as easily as the air itself. You should have been cut cleanly in half, but I didn't even get halfway through you. It's quite embarrassing for someone like me who prides herself on killing her victims before they realize she's struck. I apologize for my sloppiness." Dimaria's eyes went wide with horror as the assassin's hand went to the hilt of her katana,

"Don't worry, I'll make

sure to finish you this time,

with these two haiku.

May your afterlife

have many such beautiful

sakura blossoms."

Time seemed to slow down as the assassin shifted her stance to draw and finish it. Dimaria closed her eyes, bitterly resigning herself to the fact that she was about to die.

"GET AWAY FROM HER!" In a blur of black, white, and blue, Lucy and Happy erupted out of the hall behind Dimaria. Dimaria saw the assassin's eyes go wide as Lucy shrieked, "SNOW DRAGON IRON FIST!"

The world suddenly went white before them as Happy pulled up short and Lucy's white wrapped punch slammed square into the assassin's face. The instant it did, what seemed like a concentrated avalanche exploded forth from her hand and sent the assassin flying across the room like a cannonball. Dimaria could only stare in shock as the wall shattered from the force of the impact and the river of snow collapsed to the ground.

Lucy and Happy were both equally stunned as Lucy exclaimed, "HOLY CRAP!" She looked at her hands in shock for a moment, then remembered Dimaria, "ARE YOU OKAY?!"

"Well…no," Dimaria breathed, "…been stabbed." She smiled for a brief moment at her joke and then began coughing. That's definitely blood, she thought as something hot and sticky welled up her throat and made her start to gag, Oh shit… she leaned forward to vomit and saw red staining the bridge in front of her. "Help?" she panted as she flopped back against the door post.

"I THINK NOT!" shouted someone from behind her, and Lucy shot whoever it was a murderous glare. Once again time seemed to slow down and Dimaria had just enough time to register that a massive man with a huge mouth and flaming metal barrels on his back was shooting out of the hallway, "CAAAAAPTUUUUUUURE!"

The man with the huge mouth looked like he was in slow motion, but Lucy moved at normal speed as she snapped, "I'VE HAD JUST ABOUT ENOUGH OF YOU! SNOW DRAGON IRON FIST!" Lucy slammed the massive man to the floor with a tremendous punch and jammed her fist into his gaping maw as the flood of snow erupted forth.

The massive man flailed but Lucy screamed with almost primal fury as she drove her heel down on his throat and jammed her other hand into his snow filled mouth. "YOU ARE GOING TO SPIT HIM OUT RIGHT NOW!"

Dimaria side eyed the massive man's flailing form as it began to swell rapidly, "Um Lucy, I think he's about to-" BOOM!

"FREEEEEDOOOM!" Natsu roared as the man Lucy had pinned exploded and disturbingly red snow went everywhere.

Happy and Dimaria stared in horror as Natsu looked around, "Whoa, what's with all this bloo-HOLY SHIT! DID I JUST KILL THIS GUY?!" he exclaimed in horror as he realized he was standing in the middle of a corpse.

"No kill stealing!" Lucy snapped from where she'd landed upside down in a snowdrift halfway down the bridge.

Natsu turned to look at her in shock as she rolled back to her feet and crossed her arms with a huff. If her battle suit and face weren't splattered with blood, the pout and cat ears would've actually looked very cute on her Natsu's shock addled brain mused.

"Lucy's scary…" Happy muttered, "Natsu's worn off on her way too much…"

Dimaria's eyes went wide with horror as she spotted something the others hadn't. She hacked and spat so that she could scream as best she could, "BEHIND YOU!" Once again, time seemed to slow down as the sword wielding assassin seemed to materialize out of the snow drift Lucy was in front of while a sound that Dimaria would only realize later to be a guitar riff began to shake the tower.


...

11:53 PM, Magic Council Headquarters

Org growled, "The R-System ignores the rules of life and death. It's forbidden magic that gives rise to dangerous thinking! No matter who is controlling it, we must consider them an enemy and destroy it! We must send out the military at once!"

A chorus of murmuring broke out as the Council members started to argue and mull the idea over, then Siegrain snapped, "You bleeding heart doves." All conversation in the room ceased immediately as everyone turned to glare at him, but his own face was screwed up in fury of its own, "Only doves would send out a peacekeeping force! We need hawks! That thing is dangerous! TOO dangerous! You people have no idea what you're talking about! There's only one way left to eliminate the Tower of Heaven now right?!" He threw his hands wide, "The Satellite Square Etherion."

"WHAT?!" Org demanded.

"You're wanting to use cross dimensional destruction magic?!" Councilman Michello shouted.

"Are you out of your mind?!" Belno snapped.

"Have you even begun to think of the cost in lives and property damage?!" Leiji asked furiously.

"The Etherion is our weapon of last resort! It's even more dangerous than the R-System!" Chairman Seam declared, "It can take out an entire country in its blast radius!"

"The Satellite Square can affect any target on Earth," Siegrain argued, "There's no other weapon aside from Etherion that can take out a structure as large as the tower!"

Ultear raised her hand and opened her mouth, but Mr. Yajima cut her off with a loud piercing whistle that silenced all conversation and turned all eyes on him. Mr. Yajima smiled thinly, "Everyone calm down, the situation's already under control."

"WHAT?!"

"Are you out of your mind?!" Siegrain demanded.

Mr. Yajima turned his grin on Siegrain, "Not at all. Just perhaps a little bit better informed on the doings of my old guildmates."

Every eye in the room went wide as the implications hit them, all except Siegrain and Ultear who were too young to remember that Mr. Yajima was a former Fairy Tail mage. His grin grew as Siegrain's expression fell into uncertainty, "I actually just got off the horn with Makarov. A team consisting of Natsu Dragneel, Gajeel Redfox, two of their newest recruits who are also dragon slayers of approximately equal strength, Levy McGarden, and Erza Scarlet were abducted less than an hour ago by Jellal. They are already at the tower and have broken loose. Erza Scarlet knows Jellal and has been being blackmailed into keeping quiet about his plans since before she rose to prominence as a wizard with the lives hundreds of hostages on the line. Now her team is loose in the R-System and they are all hell bent on turning it into the biggest pile of property damage Fairy Tail's ever created."

Everyone stared at him for a moment and then Org burst out laughing, "OH THE LOOK ON THAT JELLAL GUY'S FACE MUST BE PRICELESS RIGHT NOW! FINALLY FAIRY TAIL'S DESTRUCTIVE HABITS ARE BEING PUT TO GOOD USE!"

Belno chuckled as well, "If Gajeel's there, then that Tower is as good as rubble already."

"And Salamander is no slouch either," Ultear mused, "Throw in Erza Scarlet on top of that along with two more dragon slayers? I believe Mr. Yajima is correct. Whoever this Jellal fellow is," she added as she shot a small coy grin at Siegrain, "he must be an IDIOT to have actually taken THEM to his tower."

Siegrain's face was indeed a sight to behold for a moment before he protested, "Well that's great and all, but we can't just trust half a dozen wizards with something this big! We need to tell them to get out of there and use the Etherion!"

Everyone looked at him and then Mr. Yajima sighed, "Well Siegrain, I hate to dash your hopes, I know you want to see the big pretty lights," he added with a smirk before continuing as Siegrain's face twitched with narrowly restrained fury, "but according to the Fairy Tail team, the entire tower is one giant absorption lacrima. An interesting little tidbit Erza found when researching it to find out the best way to stop it, is that it requires approximately two and a half billion Edeas to activate. The only source of magic that strong is the Etherion, which the entire tower appears to have been designed to use as a power source. Long story short, it can't activate unless we fire the Etherion at it."

"And that makes me wonder why you're so invested in firing it," Ultear declared with a look of concern at Siegrain.

Mr. Yajima nodded, "Once again, Fairy Tail's got an answer for that. Or did you not want us to know that Jellal's your twin brother?"

Siegrain flinched like Mr. Yajima had punched him, and as his eyes were going wide with horror, Mr. Yajima continued, the hand behind his back subtly flattening itself into a razor edge, "Or even better, did you not want us to realize that your real name is Jellal?"

Jellal, for now it was revealed to all and sundry, went pale and then crimson very quickly, "YOU LITTLE…WHAT THE- BELNO!"

Belno eyed him coldly from the other end of the magic chains extending from her hand that had instantly shot straight through his projection to reveal it as the illusion it was, "So we have a traitor in our midst. If Fairy Tail brings you in alive, then I will personally ensure you receive maximum punishment."

Jellal's eyes darted around and because everyone was focused on him, nobody else noticed the lightning quick and very subtle wink that made his eyes go wide. Before he could say anything, Mr. Yajima spoke up, "Oh I wouldn't worry about that Belno. You see, Jellal here miscounted. There aren't six wizards from Fairy Tail. Jerry Granger is on his way as well."

"The one who wrote us that odious letter after the Lullaby Incident?" Org asked in surprise.

"Yep," Mr. Yajima grinned, "But you might know him better as 'that wizard who bounced the Etherion into the moon a few weeks ago to brand Fairy Tail's guild mark into it'."

Jellal went ghostly pale as the others gaped in shock. Yajima continued, his grin growing ever larger, "You actually already met him Jellal, and as you can imagine, he's rather upset with you."

"What happened?" Ultear asked curiously as what little color was left in Jellal's face evacuated it immediately.

"Apparently Jellal there sucker punched him while he was drunk and tired, and proceeded to hit him with a meteor and the Abyss Break," Mr. Yajima explained smugly, "It knocked Jerry out for a few minutes, but now that he's stopped the two trains that Jellal set to crash as a distraction, he's in route to the Tower as fast as he can go for a rematch. Maky says he's never seen the man so furious."

"HOW IS HE STILL ALIVE?!" Jellal demanded, "HE WAS NOTHING BUT A SMOLDERING CORPSE IN THE GROUND!"

Mr. Yajima frowned as Chairman Seam asked coldly, "So you admit it then."

Jellal flinched as he realized he had inadvertently just confessed, "Fine. Yes, everything Yajima has said is true." Then his face twisted into a psychotic grin as his Projection flickered out, "Not that it's going to help any of you."

Then an explosion rocked the building.


...

11:58 PM, At the Top of the Tower

Erza gave Jellal a look of dry disgust as he finished detailing the horrors he would inflict on their old tormentors and then she asked quietly, "You really have turned into a monster haven't you?" Jellal started to protest and Erza's sudden smirk cut him off, "At least you know how completely and utterly screwed you are."

"And why's that?" Jellal asked nervously. That smirk couldn't mean anything good.

"Because of a man named Gerard Sieg Granger, and a little girl named Erica Walker," Erza replied with a knowing smile that made Jellal's gut feel like it was encased in ice.

Then every mental signature in the building except his, Erza's, Trinity Raven and our team suddenly disappeared right as Mr. Yajiima revealed…

"HE'S STILL ALIVE?!" Jellal bellowed in horror right before I came through the wall like a bullet, completely cloaked in Blackout Mode, and beyond ready to kill something as a drum and guitar beat that I at first thought to be my imagination began to rock the tower.

...


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NEXT TIME on Mad Little Slice of Heaven...

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GRIMOIRE HEART