Disclaimer: I own nothing
Chapter 34: "My Fault"
(Year: X784)
Lucy felt soft fingers run through her golden locks. She was completely surrounded by a comforting warmth. A light humming song lightly flowed into her ears. The sound was something which existed only within her memories until this moment. Slowly, Lucy blinked open her eyes to see a face which was nearly identical to her own, "Mom?"
"Hi, sweetie," Layla Heartfilia smiled down at her child. "I was waiting for you. Granted, it happened sooner than I would have liked, but—"
The older blonde was silenced when her child jumped up from her lap to pull her into a hug. For a second, Layla only blinked. She then smiled and gently wrapped her arms around her child. The sound of Lucy's quiet sobs dripped into her ears. While muttering some soothing words of love, Layla gently rubbed Lucy's back.
"Mommy," Lucy mumbled.
"It's okay, baby," Layla whispered. "I'm here."
Lucy glanced around to see that they were in a massive field of flowers, "W-Where are we?"
"The Field of Elysium."
"Does that mean…" Lucy swallowed. "I died?"
"I'm sorry, hon, but yes. You died," Layla noted.
"Oh," Lucy pulled back from her mother. "That's…sad."
"It is," Layla reached up to wipe her child's tears. "Perhaps our bloodline is cursed to die young. At least I almost made it thirty and got to have you. How old are you?"
"Seventeen."
"Seventeen," Layla sighed. "So young. You died before you got to truly experience life."
"I-It's okay," Lucy noted. "My adult life may not have been long, but it was fun. I got to make a ton of good friends."
Layla smiled, "Will you tell me about them?"
"Of course."
Han looked up to see a platform of sand approaching the entrance to the tower. While most of the occupants of the flying foothold were unconscious, the most dangerous of the group was still awake. Gaara stared passively at the juggernaut, but Gray tensed up. Seeing that the ice user was about to attack, he raised his hand, "Don't. We can't take him as we are now. I'm still too tired, and Fu's in bad shape."
Gray hissed. He knew that Gaara was right, but he didn't like it, "So we should just let them go? They're the enemy."
"Not anymore," Han spoke up. "Our job is done. Tower's done. We're going home."
Gaara nodded, "Until next time, Number Five."
"It might not be so long, Number One," Han mentioned.
"Numbers again," Gray muttered. "You're going to have to tell me who the rest are."
"Not now. Fu needs help," Gaara argued.
"I wouldn't go in there right now," Han mentioned. "Things are about to become crazy in there."
"Shouldn't we go to help?" Gray questioned.
Han scoffed, "I don't think that they need your help."
Erza didn't know what was happening. One moment, she was fighting against Han. Then she woke up on the floor to find Natsu confronting Naruto and Jellal who seemed to be fighting. Did she lose? Damn. Now she was injured and next to an unconscious Lucy...unconscious…
"Lucy?" Erza's keen eyesight noticed that the other woman wasn't breathing. "Oh Lucy! No...Oh Kami…"
Tears began to stream out of her one real eye. The fake cornea remained as stagnant as the day she lost her original eye in this same tower. She let out a sob while reaching down to gently cup her friend's face. Yet another victim to this accursed place.
Natsu deflated at seeing a pillar of strength in Fairy Tail break down in front of him. Wendy's empathy got the better of her. Her focused dropped so that her enhancement spells faded from her mentor. Naruto had expected that, though. Not letting his own focus get turned away from his foe, he kicked Jellal away from the less capable fighters. The bluenette bounced further into the massive chamber but swiftly recovered. He grinned upon noticing Naruto's weakened blow. While the hits still hurt, it wasn't close to the seemingly unstoppable attacks from before the arrival of Natsu.
Magical power burst off of Jellal. His Heavenly Body power allowed him to burst forward at the God Slayer and get his first hit in since Wendy was freed. Naruto slid back from the force of the blow. His black wind surged around him to move back in at speeds equal to the wizard saint. Keeping himself between his foe and Wendy, Naruto traded blows with the tattooed man. Each man threw and blocked the traded blows with practiced ease. They moved at speeds that even most normal mages would be lost in watching. Wendy's inexperience and Erza's injuries kept them from being able to interfere. Natsu was not so inhibited.
"Raw!" Natsu burst forward in a burst of fire. He moved at unexpected speeds. His fist rammed into Jellal's face to send the dark mage away from Naruto.
"Woah," Naruto blinked. Natsu had always been strong, but he sensed a new level of strength off of the Dragon Slayer. Had that heat from before come from him? What happened? What kind of fire did he eat to get such a boost in strength?
"I said that we needed to talk," Natsu stared unflinchingly into Naruto's demonic eyes.
"And I said that I was in the middle of something," Naruto countered. "He picked a fight with me, not you."
"Lucy died in this goddamn tower," Natsu hissed. "I think that's more important."
The two slayers of a different kind noticed a ball of heavenly magic rushing towards them. Their respective elements danced over their fingers. With a flick of their hands, the elemental mages unleashed a concentrated burst towards Jellal's attack. The wind and flames combined with each other as they moved through the air. Both blasts of the elements obliterated the single attack before ramming into a wide-eyed Jellal. His shouts were drowned out by the massive explosion which followed the conflicting elements finally combusting.
Naruto did not take his eyes off Natsu, "Wendy, go heal Ezra. I think I have enough backup right now."
Nodding numbly, Wendy moved further away from the frightening duo. Both slayers remained still as the smoke from their combined attack floated over them. Natsu growled as the skin around his eyes became scaled. Clenching his fists, Naruto spoke again, "Alright, Natsu, you have my attention. Speak."
"Who is Itachi Uchiha?"
"He's a mass murderer who killed his entire clan except for his brother," Naruto answered. "I'm guessing that he is an Akatsuki member who got into Tower?"
Natsu nodded, "Why did he say that you caused a massive war?"
"I suppose I technically did," Naruto shrugged. "I ran away from home. Dragged eight other people with me. They probably freaked out and started killing each other over us."
Natsu leaned in closer, "Why? You were a kid. Are a super important prince?"
"No," Naruto took a deep breath. "I was a weapon."
Jellal interrupted their conversation by trying to rush around them to get the girls. They intercepted him before he could get to their vulnerable allies. Covered with their elements, they moved in for the attack. Their foe tried to stop them with a surge of magic from his body, but the duo pushed through it to punch the wizard saint on either side of the face. Naruto then followed up by kneeing his enemy in the gut. As Jellal hunched over from the force of the blow, Natsu lifted his leg up before swinging it down to the back of the dark mage's head. The ground shattered as he smashed face first into the crystalized tower floor.
Groaning, Jellal tried to push himself up. He was covered in burns and bruises. Blood trickled down his forehead. Before he could try to get to his feet, the slayers put their feet on his back and pushed him back down. With the weight of two men on his weakened form, Jellal found that he couldn't move. He cursed. This what not what he had been expecting. He imagined that Natsu would become a liability to the God Slayer, but the Fairy proved that he was far more powerful than expected. Uzumaki would have been hard enough in a one-on-one situation, but two wizards so close to his strength was too much. The situation would get even worse as Wendy would finish healing Erza soon enough.
"A weapon?" Natsu questioned. "How was a kid a weapon? You were always super strong, but not enough to warrant that level of attention."
"Magically, yeah. I wouldn't have been able to do anything," Naruto shrugged. "It's hard to explain. Think of another energy. A demonic one that could blow up whole towns or more. That's in me. I tend to not use it, though. My Sky God Slayer is more important to me. Plus the demon energy hurts me."
"So you're a demon?" Natsu questioned. "Is that why Itachi's group is hunting you?"
"No. A demon was put in me. If you fill a glass cup full of water, the glass doesn't become water," Naruto noted.
"So a demon container. You ran away. Why?" Natsu narrowed his eyes. "You've never been one to run away from your problems."
"You don't know the circumstances," Naruto barked. "I was treated like less than shit. Every day of my life was hell. Do you expect a child to just deal with that with a smile on his face?"
"Why not go back and fix things now?" Natsu questioned.
"That place is not my problem."
"It is when people come over to get you and get killed."
"What? I thought that you were pissed because of Lucy?" Naruto frowned. "Did Itachi not kill her?"
"No. Her wounds smell of magic, not that weird chakra thing."
"Then it wasn't my fault at all," Naruto hissed angrily. "So why the hell are you getting up in my face!? Because Itachi Uchiha died? Who cares about that?"
"I do!"
"Why?!"
"He loved his brother!"
"What?! You're not making any sense! I would get if this was about Lucy, but it's not! The people after me didn't kill her!" Naruto pointed down to Jellal. "This guy hired the assassins! Blame him!"
"I do!"
"Then why are you in my face?! Why Natsu!? I'll take the blame when things are my fault, but they're not! I'm the only person on the damn planet that seemed to give Lucy any sort of training. What did you do?" Naruto glared. "You dragged her around on dangerous missions that she wasn't ready for."
"Shut your damn mouth!"
"Oh! But I thought that you wanted to talk! You're the one that barged in here for no damn reason! Guess what? You pissed me off, so I'll tell you how it really is!" Naruto shouted. "You could argue that maybe I didn't do enough to help Lucy, but I never claimed to be her friend! What did you do to make her stronger?! What did you do to keep her safe?! Nothing but drag her into your chaos! If one of us is more irresponsible, it's you!"
"I'll kick your ass!"
"I'd like to see you try, little dragon!"
Both slayers were interrupted when a healed Erza shoved her katana in between them, "Enough. This is not the place to fight each other."
"I'm not the one who started this," Naruto let out a huff and forced himself to calm down.
Erza gave Natsu a stern look, "He's right. What is this about, Natsu?"
"I…I don't know," Natsu clutched at his aching head. "Itachi talked about his brother before he died. I could see that he really loved Sasuke. He would have done anything to keep him safe, but Sasuke died in the war that happened because of Naruto."
"So that's my fault?" Naruto questioned. "Do you think that I should have stayed in Konoha…my village? Should I have let myself be treated like less than human?"
"No! I just!" Natsu flinched in pain. "His story just hurts! I don't know why!"
"Let's calm down," Erza noted. "You captured Jellal. The fight's over. Let's—"
Before she could finish her sentence, magic exploded off of Jellal. The three mages were forced to jump back to avoid getting hurt. When they stopped moving they looked back to see that Jellal had retreated as well. As he moved, he began to form a massive ball of energy above his head. The amount of magic in the spell would tear them to pieces. Naruto glanced over to Wendy to signal her to attack him with everything she had.
"Enough of this!" Jellal roared as the ball grew to the size of an asteroid. The heavenly stars danced inside the orb. "If I can't beat you and use the R-System, then I'll just kill you and find someone else to use!"
Erza jumped in front of her friends, "I'll protect you!"
Natsu tried to pull her back, "No! Erza, don't!"
While the Fairy Tail mages focused on Jellal, Naruto turned to Wendy. The young girl unleashed her full charged Sky Dragon's Roar at her teacher. Upon getting hit with the spell, Naruto began to eat the wind in order to gain its power. As he consumed his student's magic, he also noticed that the air around him had become incredibly rich with Ethernano. There was so much magic around him that he became full within a second. Nevertheless, he continued to eat.
Jellal saw this, "Like hell, Uzumaki! No matter what, I'm ending you! Heavenly Body Altairis!"
The dark mage threw the massive ball of energy. The floor below the spell crumbled without being touch. Ever part of the tower seemed to tremble in fear. Both Natsu and Erza tried to prepare, but the spell was on them in the blink of an eye. Just as they were about to be torn to pieces, though, the ball of heavenly magic exploded into puddles of useless energy.
Everyone's eyes were wide. The bruised and bloody Jellal spoke is shock, "What? Why did it—"
"Sky God's Final Grasp."
Two large hands made of black wind surrounded Jellal. Before the dark mage could react, the sky limbs smashed together to crush him between the almighty palms. Every bone in Jellal's limbs instantly shattered. Blood poured from his mouth. The pressure was strong enough to kill him if it held him for more than a second. Fortunately, the hands faded just as quickly as they appeared to let Jellal to drop to the ground in a useless heap.
Erza blinked, "W-What?"
Everyone stared as Naruto floated between them and the downed dark mage. His appearance had changed drastically. While his skin has always been tanned, it now had a supernatural golden glow. A swirling tornado replaced his legs. The crimson of his eyes had faded to a pupil less all-seeing white. His blond hair gained a darker tint and flowed around freely like it was one with the wind. The air around him seemed to flow over him in an almost loving manner.
"This is…Demigod Mode," Naruto stared at his hands in wonder as they became somewhat translucent. "It's better than I thought. It's almost like I'm one with the sky. So close…"
"That must be like Dragon Force," Natsu noted. "Except…I don't feel anything. There's no overwhelming power."
Wendy resisted the urge to bow to a power which seemed to dominate her element, "It's like…he's on another level of existence. Something no human could ever touch."
Erza carefully stepped around the heavenly God Slayer to stand over Jellal, "Did you…kill him?"
"No," Naruto shook his head. "I didn't see a need to. He wasn't a threat to me. It feels like no one is a threat to me. This is…amazing."
"Good," Erza knelt down next to her childhood friend. "Oh, Jellal."
Jellal coughed to show that he was still conscious, "How…could I lose? Zeref…chose me…he would spoke to me."
"Impossible," Naruto spoke up. "Zeref wouldn't waste any time on commanding someone to resurrect him. He's still alive."
Everyone looked to Naruto in shock. Jellal gasped in pain, "W-What?"
Natsu slowly blinked. His brain buzzed whenever he heard that name, "Zeref…is still alive?"
"Yes. He is the God Slayer of Death. He has the blessing…or curse if you look at it in a different way…of being immortal. He cannot die until he fulfills his purpose or if he's taken out by a power equal to or beyond death," Naruto explained.
"Lies!" Jellal roared. "Liar! He spoke to me!"
"Someone must have tricked you," Naruto shrugged. "Killing Zeref is one of my top goals, so I've researched it a ton. If you have any doubt, ask any other God Slayer. They'll tell you the same thing. You've obviously had your mind tampered with."
Erza's face grew soft, "So it isn't your fault."
"What? Of course it is. Even if he was manipulated, his actions are what matter. He enslaved your friends. Built this tower. Hired the assassins that killed Lucy," Naruto shook his head. "He's definitely a terrible person by even my standards."
"But you didn't kill him," Wendy approached her mentor. "Why spare him? Do you think being in jail is a more fitting punishment?"
"No. While the R-System can't bring back Zeref, it still is a magic that can be used to bring back the dead," Naruto turned back to look at Lucy's corpse. "With the tower complete, all we would need is a sacrifice with the power of a Wizard Saint."
"You…" Natsu gulped. "You want to sacrifice Jellal?"
Erza jumped to her feet, "You can't do that!"
Naruto blinked, "Why not? Don't you think that Lucy deserves to live more than Jellal? Even I know that Lucy is a good person with all the potential in the world. Compare that to him. He's scum that will either be executed or imprisoned for life. After all this, the Magic Council won't care if we deal with him personally."
"It's wrong!" Erza argued. "He's defeated. It's wrong to kill him!"
Naruto shook his head, "So you want Lucy dead?"
"No! She's my friend! I want her alive and happy!" Erza clenched her fists. "But this feels so wrong! I mean… giving Jellal's life to Lucy? Doesn't make your stomach turn?"
"Not really," Naruto shrugged. "I mean, Jellal enslaved, tortured, manipulated, and murdered people. Why is it fair that he gets to live while Lucy stays dead?"
"What about redemption!?" Erza argued. "What about justice!?
"What about Lucy?" Naruto questioned. "What about you, Natsu? I may not be your favorite person right now, but this is your friend."
"I…" Natsu was staring at Lucy's corpse. "I don't know. Of course, I want her back, but would Lucy even want that? I don't think so. She's too nice. I could hear her telling us to let her go."
"I see…" Naruto nodded. "You've given me a lot to think about. I'll take that into account when I make my decision."
"Make your decision?!" Erza's eyes narrowed. "This isn't your decision! Despite how you feel right now, you're not a god, Naruto! You don't get to decide who lives and who dies!"
"So you're willing to just forgive him?" Naruto inquired. "After everything he's done? Shouldn't we use him to do something objectively good for the world? The only way for Jellal to be redeemed would be to wipe away his entire identity and start over."
"Maybe, but…" Erza stared down to the silent Jellal. She remembered the little slave boy who had been one of the few good things in her life. He used to be so kind. She would love to see him like that once more. "I want to try."
"I see. You care too much for him. Very well. I'll be the objective party in this."
"Like hell!" Erza pointed her sword at him. "I won't let you. You with me, Natsu?!"
The Dragon Slayer was silent.
"Natsu?"
"I could go either way on this," Natsu admitted. "I'm really pissed off at Naruto right now, but…Lucy could live. Even if she wouldn't want it…isn't this a good thing? She's a member of Fairy Tail. We look after our own."
Erza looked ready to speak up once more, but Naruto didn't let her, "I need to think alone for a moment. Wendy, please go heal Fu. She really needs it."
With a wave of his hand, Naruto dismissed the three other mage. Black wind rushed through the room and grabbed onto Erza, Natsu, and Wendy. They were carried out of the room despite their protest. None of them could fight against Naruto's current power. Within seconds, they were back to the bottom of the Tower of Heaven. Now that they were gone, Naruto ordered the air to lift Jellal and Lucy over to a large crystal.
He eyed the key to bringing Lucy back to life. Despite his words, he wasn't completely sure about this situation. There were several different factors. On the positive side, Lucy was a good person who didn't deserve to be dead. She would be a valuable ally in the future. The process would permanently get rid of a threat which tried to hurt one of his precious people. Plus, he wouldn't exactly face any negative consequences politically. The Magic Council would never bring up their own failure again.
On the other hand, Lucy may not like the idea of having someone else die for her to live. Then there was the issue of messing with the flow of death. Zeref went down a similar path and got cursed because of it. Of course, he did have a goddess's blessing on his side, so he would probably be fine. Other than those two issues, he didn't particularly mind the morality of it. How would a bad person being dead instead of a good person be a bad thing?
"You're…hesitating…" Jellal gasped.
"Talking isn't a good idea, Jellal," Naruto mentioned. His supernatural powers had completely faded back into the air. "It makes me lean towards killing you."
"What…do I have…to lose?" Jellal glared at his foe. "My dream…my purpose…my life's work is gone no matter what."
Naruto sighed. He could feel the power of Demigod Mode fading. The fatigue which would come afterward would make this process more difficult. It was time to make a decision, "I do pity you. Having a dream whispered in your ear for so long, just for it all to be bullshit. I would be devastated."
"And…what makes…your dream different?"
"My dream never involved enslaving people or bringing a madman back to life," Naruto argued.
"But you…do hurt people…"
"Not this time," Naruto glanced to the still form of Lucy. He remembered when he first saw her, she had just been some spoiled, rich girl. His actions set her down the path to be far more than that. She even defeated one of Phantom's top mages. For some reason, he felt responsible for her. Despite what he told Natsu, he knew that he easily could have done more for Lucy. He got involved yet didn't invest himself like he did with Wendy. Without him, she probably wouldn't have died in this damn tower. "This is my fault. I'll take responsibility."
With a wave of his hands, he moved the bodies towards the crystal. The rock rippled as they passed into the stone. At first, only the single part of the rock glowed but the shimmer soon transferred to the rest of the tower. As Demigod Mode began to fade, Naruto placed a hand on the front of the crystal. He forced his will into the R-System. Everything shook for a few moments before the entire tower exploded into a burst of light.
Naruto blinked as he appeared in a setting that he had not seen a long time. He stood in the darkness of his old prison. For the briefest of moments, he thought that he might have been teleported home. The sight of a younger version of himself told him that this was not the present. His younger self was curled up into a ball at the end of the room. The soft sobs from the child were drowned out by the old man in front of him.
Danzo stared down at the tiny jinchūriki, "Really? Again? You should know better."
The past Naruto continued to cry. His older self scowled in rage at the sight. He began to angrily growl at being reminded of his past. Was this the cost of using the R-System? Did the cursed magic bring out the worst thoughts possible for the user?
"This can't keep going on," Danzo noted. "You are Konoha's sword. You need to be as sharp as possible, but there's no point if you cut yourself. Things need to change. You need motivation. You need to know the reason you exist. Tomorrow, we will go outside so that you can see what you live for."
Without another word, Danzo stormed out of the cell. The door slammed shut behind him to leave the room in darkness. Child Naruto continued to cry while the real jinchūriki stared down at his memory. Slowly, the child moved his arms out to show that the inside of his arms were covered in blood. Naruto remembered when he first learned about vital arteries and veins. One solid cut could cause a person to bleed out in minutes. Yet it never worked on him. His cuts always healed too quickly for him to die like that.
"Why?" young Naruto's blue eyes trembled in despair. "Why can't I die? I don't want to live in this hell anymore…"
"You little piece of shit!" the real Naruto exclaimed. "You want to die?! Tomorrow's going to change your goddamn life! The sky is right before you, and here you are cutting yourself! I hate remembering you! You are so pathetic! I was so pathetic!"
Despite the anger in his voice, Naruto's crimson eyes shared the dismay of his younger self. The sight of his old room made him feel like the helpless little child weapon that he used to be. Without anyone to see him, he unashamedly allowed tears to roll down his face. He looked down to his own arms to see his unscarred flesh. The sight of his shame was at least hidden from others.
"Damn it," Naruto cried. "Wanting to give up like that. It makes me sick. I spent my whole life moving away from you. From this. From feeling like there's nothing worth living for."
The God Slayer openly sobbed without inhibition. For once, he did nothing to stop the tears from rolling down his face. Why was it? Even after so many years, why did this still hurt so much? After becoming a God Slayer who could activate Demigod mode, why did he still feel like the tiny child sobbing in a cage? Why was there always some anchor keeping him from touching the sky?
Releasing a roar, Naruto violently kicked his past self with all the force that he could muster. The image fade into a burst of smog. Just like the child, the room faded to show a white emptiness. Growling, he glared up to the sky, "Is this a sign, huh?! Or are you just mocking me!? Like I care! You pissed off that I brought Lucy back to life?! So what?! You're the ones that chose God Slayers to take your place, so you shouldn't get pissy if I make a decision like this! I don't give a single shit about being a god, but I'll do anything to achieve my dream!"
With his speech down, Naruto heaved out deep, uneven breaths. His crimson eyes shined with a mix of pain and rage. He trembled uncontrollably. The tears dripped off of his chin to fall onto the white floor. Taking a shuddered breath, Naruto spoke one final time to the void.
"I'll do anything to never feel like a caged animal ever again."
"Oh," Layla blinked when a light surrounded her daughter. "This isn't something that's happened in a while."
"Mama," Lucy began to panic as her body began to fade. "What's happening?"
"It seems like you're being given more time," Layla smiled warmly at her daughter. "That's great. You get to live the life that you deserve."
Lucy blinked up at her mother, "What about you?"
"I'll be fine," Layla noted. "Time is a bit different here. Go live a long life, my baby. Don't worry. I'll be watching you."
Tears welled up in Lucy's eyes as the field began to fade around her, "I love you, Mommy."
"I love you too, sweetheart."
Lucy felt herself violently pulled from her mother's arms in a burst of light. The peace of death was quickly replaced by the weight of life. Like with her mother, someone was holding her when she woke up. She blinked her eyes open to see a sight that she never thought that she would see, "N-Naruto-san?"
Naruto didn't look down at her. His crimson eyes was locked on the horizon to watch the setting sun. Unashamed tears rolled down his face, "You know, I've always been fascinated by the value of life. How much does it cost to make a saint kill? How much would it cost to bring someone back from the dead? How valuable is my own life? Both to myself and to others."
"I…" Lucy didn't know what to say.
"A long time ago, I didn't value my life much at all. No one else did either, other than as a killing machine. What kind of life is that though?" Naruto finally looked down to the woman in his arm. "It took a long time for me to value my own life. It took even longer to find someone else that would care if I died. After everything that I've been through, I can honestly say that I'm glad to be alive. I hope that you can look in the mirror and feel the same, even if there doesn't seem to be any hope at first. Because even if it's hard…even if everyone hates you…life is worth living."
Brown eyes stared up at him in awed silence. Lucy felt like she was staring at an exposed nerve that Naruto allowed anyone else to see. His eyes danced in a profound silence that she couldn't begin to understand. She tried to find the right words but was at a complete loss. Weakly, she reached up to wipe the tears from his eyes.
"Lucy! Naruto!"
With his face now free of its previous wetness, Naruto turned to see his friends, the members of Fairy Tail, and the recovered members of the Tower of Heaven's slave ring rushing to them. They stood in ankle high water without much around to draw their attention. In the distance, he could see a beach which was close enough to walk to from their position.
"Sensei!" Wendy rushed in for a hug. Naruto carefully placed Lucy back down on her shaky feet in order to hug his student. "I healed Fu like you said."
Naruto glanced up to see that a partially recovered Fu was being held up by Gaara, "Good job."
"Lucy!" Natsu rushed in to hug the revived girl. "You're alive!"
"I…" Lucy found that her voice was hoarse. "What happened? I thought that I died."
"You did," Natsu hugged her. "But now you're back."
"How?"
"He used the tower," Erza glared at Naruto. "You used the R-System. You sacrificed Jellal to bring Lucy back to life."
"Yeah," Naruto nodded. "I did."
"So…" Simon stared at the man who had so easily defeated him. "Jellal's dead?"
"Yes," Naruto glanced to the larger man. "He's dead."
"That's…good, right?" Wally questioned.
"I, uh, don't know," Millianna crossed her arms and fidgeted uncomfortably. "It turns out that he was a pretty bad guy, nya."
Shô placed a hand over his face, "I don't know how to feel."
"He enslaved you and tricked you for all of your lives," Gaara noted. "Do you honestly feel sorry for him?"
Simon shook his head, "It's just…we've known him before he went nuts. I can't say that he didn't deserve to die, but…feelings are complicated."
"Wait," Lucy pushed Natsu away. "You used…the R-System to bring me back to life? You sacrificed a human life for me? I'm…I'm only alive because I stole someone else's life?"
Naruto nodded, "Yes."
"I…I don't," Lucy grew incredibly pale. Her body shook in disgust. She raised her hands over her mouth to help fight back the vomit crawling up her throat. "I didn't want someone to die for me like that. I mean…human sacrifice…"
"What was I supposed to do? Let you stay dead?" Naruto questioned.
Erza stepped forward, "You should have taken what she would have wanted into consideration."
"Are you two really mad at me? A bad person is dead while a good person is alive," Naruto blinked in confusion. "Isn't that technically a happy ending? Karma or something?"
"That's not the point!" Erza shouted. "You used a dark magic! You killed a person! You played god! What are the consequences to that?! How will this affect Lucy?! Her body might degrade for the rest of her life for all we know!"
"Zeref hasn't been known to have faulty magic," Naruto argued. "Besides, even if there are consequences, isn't living worth it? If you ask me, you're just pissed because it was Jellal who died. Tell me, would you prefer him alive more than Lucy?"
Erza's eyes went wide, "What kind of question is that?!"
"One that needs to be answered," Naruto glared at her. "I can see the affection in your eyes. You loved him…or you loved the concept of him that you remember. Is that worth more than an innocent soul with all the potential in the world to make the world a better place?"
"Stop that!" tears began to roll down Erza's face, even from the fake eye that had not cried since its creation. "You don't know how I feel!"
"I do. Do you think that I'm an idiot? That I never noticed how you looked at me?" Naruto shook his head. "Just like those books that Levy says you read. You love concepts. Naruto, the valiant defeater of dark mages. Jellal, the best friend who was corrupted by darkness. Earthland, a world filled with magic that should make every problem a good or bad issue. None of those things exist."
"You…" Erza clenched her fists. "If that's just a concept then who are you, Naruto?! It's not just Natsu that wants to know! Tell us, was everything that you ever showed us an act?! Were you hiding your real personality like you hid your eyes! Are you a monster like those red cloud guys said?! What's real!?"
"Real? You want to know what's real? Because I'll tell you what's real. I don't give a shit anymore," Naruto scowled. "My name is Naruto Uzumaki. My parents died cursing me into a pathetic excuse of an existence since the day I was born. A demon was sealed inside of me. The Kyūbi. The Nine Tailed Fox. From that point on, I was raised to be a human weapon. A jinchūriki. The power of the human sacrifice. So if any of you are pissed off that I used a human sacrifice for the Tower, then you should know that you're looking at one right now.
"Every single day was hell. I bled, cried, and soiled myself in a tiny cage in an attempt to suck the humanity from me. I didn't see the sky until I was mid-way through my childhood. At first, I thought that I would just have to accept my fate…until I was given a choice by a literal goddess. I could escape my personal hell as long as I willing to bring the other eight jinchūriki with me. And guess what? Not one of them hate me for making that choice.
"So I came here to become a Sky God Slayer. I didn't care about the world I left behind, and I still don't. Every last one of them can die in their fourth world war, and I wouldn't even feel anything for them. They made my life shit," Naruto hissed. "It shouldn't lie on nine people to bear the weight of the world. That place was already going to hell. We just got out before they started yet another pointless war."
"You don't care at all?" Natsu growled. "People are dying there! Innocents! Children! Families! Brothers! All of them are suffering, and you're just going to ignore it!?"
"I'm not a saint. I refuse to bear an entire world's sins," Naruto argued. "And I don't want to hear anything from you with that brothers crap, Natsu. Itachi was a mass murderer, and his actions were the decision of the village I grew up in. They ordered him to kill every last man, woman, and child in his clan. Should we really forgive all that because he loved his brother? The kid died, right? Well that sucks, but if Itachi really loved his brother so much, then he would have chosen family over his home. It turns out that he was a terrible brother that—"
Natsu hit Naruto with a sucker punch. Everyone gasped as Naruto splashed into the water. Wendy immediately jumped in between her downed sensei and the raging Fire Dragon Slayer. Natsu glared over the girl to the blonde's downed form, "He wasn't a terrible brother! He wasn't! He loved his little brother! So what if he made mistakes! Is it so wrong to mourn someone you lost!? Is it so wrong to want them back! Even if the world hates him, Nii-san did what he did because he loved his brother! How is that…wrong…"
His eyes clouded. He stared down to his trembling palms. Natsu muttered under his breath, "Nii-san? Who's that? I only had Igneel—GAH!"
"Natsu!" Lucy reached out to grab Natsu as he clutched his head and screamed in agony. It only took a moment for him to calm down. His eyes were dazed as if the thought process had been violently ripped from his mind.
"I…I'm okay," he whispered. With the threat to her teacher gone, Wendy moved to help Naruto sit up. He was completely uninjured by the blow.
Gray decided to speak up for the first time, "Okay…I'm definitely out of the loop, but I think that I have the gist of this. People you refer to as Numbers are 'jinchūriki.' People with…demons sealed into them. What are the chances of the demons escaping?"
"Nonexistent," Fu noted. "The process of removing them could take days. The seals were perfected a long time ago."
Gray nodded. He seemed satisfied with knowing that no random villages would be killed by rampaging demons. There was no point in blaming the containers for something they never wanted. At least, that's what he told himself to try to shut down the fear bubbling in his gut, "And those Akatsuki guys are after the demons. They probably want to use the demons to hurt people, so they're the bad guys. So I don't care about them. The same with Jellal. If I had to choose between a friend and a bad guy, I'd go with a friend every time."
"Gray!" Erza turned to glare at him.
The ice mage shrugged, "That's just the way I see it. I get that Jellal was a big part of your past, but he was doing some messed up shit. I'm going to be honest with you. If I were in Naruto's place, I would have made all the same choices that he did."
"Well, I wouldn't!" Erza whipped her head to look down at Naruto. "Forsaking a whole world. Manipulating people. Killing a man. It's all so wrong! There has to be a better way!"
"A better way?" Naruto shook his head. "What are you? A child? Not everything works out perfectly. The universe doesn't bend so that you can win. Life's about compromise and sacrificing for everything you want. I did that when I was a kid, and I'm still doing that now."
"Hey, what about some type of compromise?" Gray tried to calm the situation. "What's done is done, but we can move past it. Let's build a grave for Jellal, and then we can work on planning a way to helping Naruto's home. How does that sound?"
Naruto forced himself to his feet with Wendy's help, "I have no interest in memorializing the man that kidnapped Wendy, and I have even less interest in going back home. They should sort out their own problems."
Lucy blinked at him, "Don't you care about those people?"
"No. I don't," Naruto's gaze was hard. "Everyone has their own problems to deal with. It shouldn't be my responsibility to save the world. I'm done with that past. I just want to forget it."
"What about the Akatsuki?" Gray questioned. "Will they let you forget it?"
"We're dealing with them," Gaara noted. "Four of them are gone now. With how powerful and boisterous they were, there shouldn't be too many of them. Too many of them, and the organization would collapse. That should be close to half already."
"So you're just going to ignore people suffering?" Natsu growled now that he had recovered. "How would your teacher feel about that?! Gildarts told me about her! She would be disgusted with you!"
Naruto stepped up to get to right in Natsu's face, "Don't talk about Kazen-sensei."
"Or what?!"
"Or…" Naruto paused. "You know what…nothing. I don't care anymore. The past is the past. I was just a substitute for Arashi anyway. I'm tired of playing pretend."
"Naruto…" Gaara gazed at his best friend in concern.
Slowly, Naruto reached up to remove his headband. He stared at it for a moment before he let it slip through his fingers. It crashed into the water with a tiny splash, "No more playing pretend. No more hiding who I am or building up strength and reputation. It's time to set down the real path to my dream. I already know who the people that will stick by me are. You want to give me shit for doing what I think is right and what's best for me? Fine. Today, I saved a precious person, defeated the bad guy, and brought an innocent back to life. You can judge me if you want. I never claimed to be the hero anyway. Go ahead and be mad at me. Hate me if you want. I'm sick of trying to live up to other people's ideals of who I am. You can even go back to Fairy Tail and tell them that I'm done. I won't be visiting or digging you out of problems anymore."
"So that's it?" Erza glared at him. "You're forsaking the guild?"
"By the looks of things," Naruto met the eyes of everyone from Fairy Tail. Erza showed disappointment. Natsu was filled with rage. Gray viewed him like a dangerous animal. Lucy shifted in discomfort and sickness. "The guild is forsaking me. So do me a favor and get the fuck out of my way."
With nothing more to say, Naruto began to move. His first step trampled on the headband which had hid his eyes for so many years. Once he was passed that, he shoved his way past Natsu and Erza. As he stormed off, Gaara, Fu, and Wendy trailed after him. No one called after them, even if Fu was technically a member of the guild. As she watched the jinchūriki and Sky Dragon Slayer move away, Lucy reached down to pull the headband out of the water. The metal plate was completely cracked from the force of Naruto's stomp. Tears rolling down her face, Lucy couldn't help but wonder how broken and wrong everything seemed to be compared to yesterday.
Normally, I have a strong rule about not bringing back characters from the dead. But I literally had the R-System waiting for me to use it. To my knowledge, no one's actually used the Tower of Heaven like this before. Couldn't resist putting that into my plans, and I mean my beginning plans. I always intended to have Lucy die and come back in this arc. What surprised me was the backlash I got for killing Lucy. People raged quit, insulted me, and told me that I hated Lucy. Hate her? She was in my top five favorite characters in FT. I just wanted to take her in a new direction. I now understand why Hiro-senpai refused to kill these characters. If a fanfiction can get that much hate, I can't imagine what the reaction to canon would be.
As always, big thanks to my Beta Night Times.
Recently, a person I admire told me that if I didn't show passion for my work, then no one else would. It really struck me, so I'm going to try to show that with my original work instead of shying away from it. So from now on, I'm going to have a tiny shill at the end of each chapter. If you like my fanfiction at all, please consider taking a look at Caged Demons: Entrapment on Amazon. I'm very proud of that story and want as many people as possible to read it.
Thank you all for reading and please remember to...
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