Here is the next chapter! Hope you guys like it!

Chapter 53

Doing the Time

WILLY'S POV

When Wendy and I destroyed the lacrima, we felt several other explosions seeming to come from all around us, and we could also hear the sound of something winding down which could only mean one thing and that made my eyes brighten with joy.

"I... don't believe it," I murmured before I let out a whoop of joy. "We did it! We did it! Nirvana's history!"

Wendy and Carla's eyes filled with tears of joy feeling happy too. Carla leaped into Wendy's arms, and she hugged her tightly.

"I'm so proud of you, Wendy," she wept happily. "Cait Shelter's been saved!"

"Yeah! We stopped Nirvana!" cried Wendy, who hugged Carla in earnest.

Then she immediately went up to me and jumped into my arms in a hug. I caught her and hugged back with earnest twirling her around before setting her down.

"Thank you so much, Willy!" Wendy smiled. "We saved Cait Shelter!"

"You bet we did!" I grinned. "And you even used a breath attack on your first try! Way to go, kiddo!"

Then a sudden rumbling rudely interrupted our celebration. Rubble then began to fall as the entire room began to crumble.

"Oh, crap! This place is coming down!" I yelled.

"Then we better get out of here before we get trapped in here!" cried Carla.

The three of us then took off running leaving the lacrima room behind us and into the passageway hoping to find an escape route. As we ran, Carla was dragging Wendy by her hand while I ran ahead.

"Come on, you guys! Hurry up!" I yelled.

"We're going as fast as we can!" cried Carla.

Then the last thing any of us expected to happen happened. I didn't know why or how this happened, but Wendy somehow managed to trip, making herself fall face first into the ground. Me and Carla's eyes widened in horror as the ceiling crumbled and the rubble was falling right towards her.

"Wendy!" yelled Carla as she made a mad dash towards her.

I immediately reacted by dashing right towards Wendy while scooping up Carla. Then just as the rubble was about to crush us, I slammed my hands into the ground and unleashed a spell.

"WATER DRAGON GEYSER WALL!"

A burst of water erupted from the ground and blocked the rubble from falling. It managed to save us, but I couldn't keep it up much longer. The weight of it was going to crush us eventually if something wasn't done.

"Dammit! I can't hold it much longer!" I yelled. "Wendy! You and Carla get out of here! Leave me here and save yourselves!"

Wendy and Carla stared at me in shock.

"No! We won't leave you!" cried Wendy. "We're leaving this place together!"

"Just go!" I yelled. "I'll be fine! Just leave me and go before I completely lose my strength!"

Wendy and Carla stood there unsure of what to do; then a voice suddenly boomed out.

"IRON ROCK WALL!"

Then several pillars of rock suddenly shot up from the ground holding up the rubble and shielding us. I turned around behind me to see that a tall bald man was there holding Wendy and Carla in his arms.

"Who the heck is that?!" I cried.

"It's Mr. Jura!" said Wendy happily.

"But how?! I thought you were done for!" said Carla.

"I simply needed time to recover my magic power," explained Jura. "We must hurry now. Nirvana is rapidly collapsing!"

"But how are we gonna get out of here?!" cried Wendy.

I looked around through the rock trying to find the answer to that question; then a familiar scent wafted into my nose just to the left of me. The smell of fresh air. I immediately turned to Jura.

"Hey! Mr. Jura or whatever your name is!" I yelled. "Make sure Wendy and Carla are safe! And when I give the word, follow me as you run as fast as you can!"

"Understood!" acknowledged Jura.

"Wait, what are you going to do?!" asked Carla.

"This!" I said as I took a deep breath, chuffing my cheeks. "WATER DRAGON ROAR!"

A stream of water erupted from my mouth blasting through the rubble and creating an opening leading towards outside.

"Come on! Run as fast as you can toward that opening!" I yelled.

Me and Jura carrying Wendy and Carla ran towards it as fast as our feet could carry us. The opening I made grew closer and closer, and the rubble kept on falling, but with each of us taking a giant leap, we both jumped through the opening, making it outside. The wind whipped at us as we plummeted to the ground making Wendy and Carla scream. Then with a wave of his hand with his fingers pointed, a pillar of rock erupted from the ground. Jura was able to land it and slid on it until he landed on the ground safely. I however used another way to get to the ground safely.

"WATER DRAGON WINGS!"

A pair of water wings sprouted forth from my back and using them as makeshift parachutes slowed down the descent of my fall until I too landed on the ground.

"That was some quick thinking on your part, Sir Willy," said Jura. "You have my thanks."

"I'm the one who should be thanking you for saving us," I said. "If you hadn't come along, I'm not sure what would have happened."

Then we saw a group of people a few feet away from us. One of them was Erza, who was now wearing what appeared to be her casual clothing. Another was a girl with blonde hair wearing pigtails with a blue and white outfit with a skirt. The third person was a young bulky muscled man with spiky red hair wearing nothing, but tattered shorts. And there was also a man that was bare-chested with black pants with spiky black hair. There was also a small blue cat next to the blonde girl.

"I guess that they're the rest of the people that I heard on Hibiki's telepathy," I thought to myself.

"Thank goodness! Everyone's alright!" said Jura.

"Even that silly blue tomcat," added Carla flatly.

Then Jura, Wendy, and Carla went up to them with me following close behind. Wendy then looked around, noticing that someone was missing. Two certain people were not among them.

"Where's Natsu and Jellal? Are they here?" she asked.

"I don't see them, anywhere," said the red-haired muscle man. "Could they both still be inside?"

"I hope he's OK," said the blonde with worry.

"Don't worry, Lucy," said the black haired boy. "Knowing that idiot, he's probably lost in the Woodsea or something."

I. too, was starting to get worried about Jellal and prayed that he would be alright. Suddenly, the ground seemed to shift and rise. From underneath the earth, a stout man with puffy orange hair with a boxy face emerged carrying a boy with spiky pink hair in one arm and Jellal in his other arm.

"Love is what drives us to save our friends!" the man said. "Oh yeah!"

"Who the heck is that?!" I cried. "And where did he come from?!"

"It's that Hoteye fellow from the Oración Seis!" cried Carla. "But I have no idea why he's here!"

When I heard Carla say that, I immediately prepared to attack this Hoteye guy, but Jura intervened by raising his hand.

"It's alright," said Jura. "It's a long story, but he's on our side now. There's no need for you to worry."

I still felt a little uneasy, but I decided to trust Jura's word. Wendy then immediately ran up to the pink haired boy and tackled him in a joyful hug feeling happy to see him.

"Natsu!" she cried, burying her face his shirt. "You did it... you really kept your promise... If it weren't for you and your friends, Cait Shelter would have been gone. You're the greatest."

Natsu was a bit surprised, but then he smiled. "Well, there's no way that I did it on my own," he said. "We all helped out, even you. This calls for a big high five! You with me?"

"Yes!" replied Wendy.

The two then gave each other a very spirited high five. Seeing this sight alone made me smile a little. It made me glad that I took part in saving Wendy's guild even though I was only awake for a short time. Then I noticed Jellal who was standing alone by a log, lost in his own thoughts and the others saw him too.

"Hey. Who's the creepy guy over there?" asked the black haired boy. "Another pretty boy from Blue Pegasus?"

"I don't know," said Lucy. "Never seen him before."

"It's Jellal," replied Erza.

The black haired boy eyes widened in bewilderment while Lucy's were wide with terror.

"You're kidding me?! That Jellal?!" exclaimed the black haired boy.

"Oh, no! Not him again!" squeaked Lucy.

"It's alright now. He's changed," said Erza calmly. "He's not the same man as he once was before.

"He's completely lost his memory," added Wendy.

"Are you sure?" asked the black haired boy, doubtfully. "I still don't think that we can trust that guy."

"It's OK. I promise, he's a good person," reassured Wendy.

"And it's not just him who has lost his memory," said Erza. "There's someone else here who's had his memory wiped clean."

She then looked towards me, causing the black haired boy and Lucy to look at me too, making my heart skip a beat. The moment the two saw me, Lucy looked confused while the black-haired boy's eyes widened in shock.

"Wait a sec... isn't that..." began Lucy but then she trailed off.

The black-haired boy didn't answer. He just continued to stare at me in disbelief as he slowly walked up to me. "Willy... is it really you?" he asked. "The real you?"

I felt a little nervous unsure of how to respond, but I slowly nodded my head. "Yes. That's my name," I replied.

Gray then came up to me and embraced me in a hug surprising me along with Lucy and everyone else who was watching. "Willy... you're back," he said, hugging me tightly. "I can't believe it... you're back! After all his time... you're back!"

I could only stand there while Gray hugged me seeming to be in tears, but I still felt a little puzzled about this boy.

"Um... excuse me," I said. "But... who are you exactly?"

Gray then looked at me in surprise. "Come on, man, you know me," he said. "It's me, Gray."

"I'm sorry, Gray, but... I don't know you," I replied, shaking my head.

"It's like I said, Willy doesn't remember anything either," said Erza sadly. "Most likely, it was due to being under Brain's control."

Gray sighed seeming to be disappointed, but then he looked up smiling. "I guess that doesn't matter," he said. "What matters is that you're finally back to your old self again. Besides, when we get back to Magnolia, everyone's gonna be happy to see you."

"You... really think so?" I asked, still feeling unsure. "Even after... everything I did? I mean, I did cause a lot of trouble by letting that Zero guy control me. Not to mention, I don't remember anything or anyone."

"It wasn't your fault young Willy," said Jura. "You were nothing more, but a puppet. Besides, you're a kind and courageous soul. If not for your quick actions, we never would have made it out of Nirvana alive."

"You also taught me how to use the dragon roar," added Wendy. "And you helped me destroy the lacrima. I'd say that makes you a good person in my book."

I couldn't help but blush from the compliments. "R-really? You think so?"

"Of course everyone thinks so," said Natsu, spoke up. "Memory or no memory, you're our friend, and we think it's high time you came home. Gramps and the others have been worried sick about you."

Everyone smiled and nodded in agreement. I looked around, feeling a bit awkward, but I was happy to be around such kind people. Just then, I heard a cry of pain, causing me along with everyone else to look. The muscular red-haired man stood a few feet away, his face pressed against on what appeared to be an invisible wall.

"My handsome face!" he yelled.

"What's going on with you, man?" asked Gray.

"I wanted to go make a letter of the alphabet," said the red-haired man. "But I ran into an invisible wall!"

"Look at that," said Wendy pointing to the ground. "There's some weird writing here."

Sure enough, was some strange writing on the ground, which was glowing purple as it encircled around us in the shape of a square. I then put my hand out and then felt something like a wall beside me.

"What... is this?" I wondered.

"An enchantment!" everyone cried.

"Who is the world would do something like this?!" demanded Carla.

"And how come we didn't notice who cast it?!" cried Happy worriedly.

"I don't know," said Gray. "Could this be Fried's work? No, this enchantment's way more powerful than his is."

"Then how are we gonna get out of here?!" asked Lucy.

"Alright! Who did this?!" demanded Natsu now looking angry. "Show yourselves!"

Then we all heard the sounds of footsteps. Next thing we knew, we were immediately approached by an army of men. They were all wearing strange garish outfits that were white with purple sleeves and aqua-marine aprons with white cross symbols on them. They also wore white hats and had metal staffs with spheres at the end. I had no idea who these people were, but even I knew that they had to be some kind of army unit. A young man then stepped out from the crowd of men. He appeared to wear the same outfit as the others, but he wore a blue suit, had black hair tied up with some bangs hanging, and wore glasses.

"There's no need to panic," the man said. "I promise we mean you no harm, but I must ask that you stay in there for a short while. It's the only way we can restrain you."

"And who the heck are you?!" demanded the blue cat.

"I am the captain of the new Magic Council's Fourth Custody Enforcement- Lahar," replied the man. "And this is my army."

Everyone eyes seemed to widen. Natsu and Gray especially appeared to be terrified.

"No way!" they gasped. "There's a new magic council?!"

"Sure didn't take them too long," gulped Lucy.

"It is my duty to uphold the law and preserve justice across the land," continued Lahar. "We especially will not tolerate evildoing of any kind and those who do, will be arrested."

"What do you mean by that?!" demanded Carla. "We haven't done anything wrong!"

"We're not here to arrest you," said Laral. "I've been ordered to take the Oración Seis into custody, so therefore I must ask that you cooperate and hand over the man code-named 'Hoteye' "

Everyone looked at Hoteye feeling worried.

Jura then stepped forward. "No! Please wait..!" he began hoping to try and reason with Lahar and his men.

"It's alright Jura, my friend," interrupted Hoteye. "I'll surrender peacefully."

"But why, Richard?!" asked Jura incredulously.

Hoteye then smiled sadly. "Even if I've turned to the side of virtue, there will still be some transgressions that will continue to haunt me," he said. "This is my chance to atone my sins. It's better this way. That way I can start with a clean slate and have nothing to hide for when I find my brother. Wouldn't you agree that would be a great thing for me to do?"

Jura stared at Hoteye, then he smiled. "Indeed," he said. "If that's the case, then allow me to search for your brother in your stead."

"You'd do that for me?!" gasped Hoteye happily.

"Yes. It would be my honor," replied Jura. "I just need his name."

"His name is Wally," said Hoteye. "Wally Buchanan."

The moment his name was heard, Gray, Lucy, Natsu, Happy, and even Erza gasped in shock.

"The blockhead?!" Natsu, Gray, Lucy, and Happy exclaimed.

"No way...he's your brother?" Erza murmured.

"Yes, and I miss him dearly," said Hoteye smiling nostalgically. "In fact, he was the best little brother a guy could ask for. He and I would struggle daily just to get by after we lost our parents. We worked hard daily in the hopes of growing vegetables in our garden. Unfortunately, the harvest turned out to be less than we hoped, but there was one potato that survived. We cooked it and then we shared it. I can still remember the taste of that potato even after all these years."

Erza then came up to Hoteye. "I know your brother, Richard," she said.

Jura and Hoteye immediately turned towards Erza in surprise as the red-head smiled.

"He's an old friend of mine," continued Erza. "He's happily traveling the content as we speak and doing exceptionally well."

Hoteye stared at Erza with wide eyes. Then his eyes began to overflow tears, but I could see that they were tears of pure joy. He collapsed to his knees and sobbed into his hands quietly.

"All these years... I kept praying... I kept telling myself that if I stayed positive... a miracle would happen," he wept. "And now... it has... Thank you... Thank you..."

I couldn't help, but feel happy for the man, feeling that things were starting to look for him even though he was being arrested. After Hoteye calmed down, he was then cuffed in chains and led towards a carriage. We all watched him being led away, feeling a bit sorry for him

"I feel kind of sorry for him," said Lucy.

"Well... it can't be helped," said Gray. "Not much we can do about it."

"Yes, it was difficult, but I feel that he made the right decision," said Carla.

Then the red-headed man groaned again still pressed against the invisible wall.

"Come on! Let me out!" he begged. "If you don't undo this enchantment, I'm gonna wet myself!"

"Don't you dare!" yelled Lucy. "You're so disgusting!"

"Sorry, but I'm afraid we can't do that," said Lahar. "Not until we've captured our true objective. He was responsible for infiltrating the Magic Council, destroying it, and forcing them to fire the Etherion Cannon. A man far blacker of heart and even more evil than the Oración Seis themselves." He then looked at the man in question. "I'm referring to you, Jellal Fernandes. Let's go. Please note that if you resist, we've been given orders to kill you. You're dangerous as long as you run free, therefore Jellal Fernandes, you're under arrest for crimes against the kingdom."

My eyes widened in shock. It was hard to believe that Jellal was capable of doing such things. We all watched as two officers came into the enchantment cuffing Jellal.

"Hold on a second!" cried Wendy. "Please don't take him away! He's doesn't even know what he's done! All of his memories have been completely erased!"

"Ignorance of one's crimes is no defense," said Lahar simply. "Penal Code Section 13 states this." He then turned to one of the soldiers. "You may lift the enchantment now."

"Yes, sir!" acknowledged the soldier as he went to work.

"But...!" began Wendy still trying to reason with the man.

"It's all right. I won't try to resist arrest," said Jellal calmly to Wendy. "I'm sorry that I failed to remember you. I wish I could, but I can't."

"When she was lost and all alone, she told me that you found her wandering and saved her life," said Carla.

"I see," said Jellal. "That makes me feel better to know that I at least was able to help one person even though I never will know the harm I've inflicted to countless people." He looked at Erza and smiled. "Erza, I also wanted to thank you and say that I will never forget your kindness."

Jellal was then escorted towards the carriage. As he was, he walked right by Lahar who didn't even look at the man.

"Do you have any parting words?" he asked coldly.

"No," replied Jellal.

"You'll get at least a life sentence if you're lucky," said Lahar. "But most likely, you'll be executed."

Everyone gasped at the word execution, including me, but Lahar took no notice.

"In any case, you'll never see any of these people again," said Lahar.

Wendy was now crying as tears streamed down her cheeks. I couldn't help, but feel a nasty feeling in my stomach. This wasn't right. Jellal was very kind to me when I first woke up and even helped us out destroying Nirvana. Now he was being taken away because of crimes he didn't remember? Before I knew it, I was overtaken by anger, and I angrily stepped forward.

"Wait, just a minute!" I yelled. "This isn't fair! Jellal doesn't even remember what crimes he's committed, and you are arresting him anyway?! Not only that, but you dare say he's facing execution after all he did to help us?! Just what kind of justice is that?!"

Everyone looked at me in shock surprised at my outburst and Lahar looked back at me with a glare, but I glared right back at him not backing down.

"Like I told you," said Lahar. "It's under the Penial Code. Besides, what would you know about justice works? You're just as guilty as he is, Shark of the Oración Seis."

I then felt my blood run cold from surprise. "What do you mean by that?"

"I've read all about you in a report," said Lahar. "You're Brain's right-hand man, so we have reason to suspect that you're a co-conspirator in Brain's plan. In addition, we also have reason to believe that you're a suspect of the destruction of a village close to the coastal region called Nomekop. Therefore, in light of this information, you must also be placed under arrest."

"Say what?! But I didn't do anything!"

Then before I had a chance to react, two soldiers had appeared on either side of me and had cuffed my hands and began dragging me away. Then, I heard Natsu.

"Hold it right there!" he roared as he ran towards the knights. He tried to get to Jellal and me, but the soldiers immediately restrained him much to the shock of me, Jellal, and everyone else.

"Natsu?! What are you doing?!" cried Lucy. "These guys are with the council, you know!"

"I don't care!" Natsu yelled as he desperately knocked down one soldier after another, breaking himself free. "They're both a part of us, and that means they come with us!"

"Subdue that man now!" ordered Lahar.

Some of the men from the army then came charging at Natsu. The fire dragon slayer not being the one to back down came at them, but then Gray joined the fray, punching some of the soldiers to the ground.

"Natsu! Keep going! Get to Jellal and Willy!" he yelled. "This is a lot of crap anyway! Jellal and Willy helped us take down Nirvana and saved dozens of lives, and this is the thanks you're giving them?! Bull!"

"That's a valid point!" agreed Jura, who was now looking cross. "You would choose to punish these men for their misdeeds, but not choose to reward them for their good deeds? That is highly unjust!"

"It may pain me to say this, but I agree!" said the muscular red-haired man. "If you take those two boys away, it will hurt Erza more!"

It had now turned into an all-out slug-fest as all the others joined in the fight too, including Wendy. It made me feel stupefied as to why they were going so far just for us, especially since we hardly knew anything about them. Natsu continued to run straight towards us through the commotion. He was almost to us when two more soldiers restrained him.

"Listen, you two," he yelled as he struggled to break free. "Jellal, you can't just leave Erza like this! You owe her big time! She needs you to stay by her side! She did it for you!" He then looked at me. "And Willy! You've got people that care about you waiting for you at home! You've been missing for six years, and they've been waiting for you all this time to come back! You both have to stay! Cuz whether you like it or not, you're both one of us now!"

At this point, Lahar had enough. "Arrest them all!" he yelled. "Arrest them for aiding fugitives and obstruction of the law!"

Another wave of knights had charged in, and one by one the wizards were either cornered or restrained. Feeling worried and not wanting Natsu and the others to go through any more trouble for me, I was about to scream for them to stop when suddenly...

"THAT'S ENOUGH! STOP THIS AT ONCE!"

Everyone immediately stopped at the sound of Erza's voice and looked at her. Erza then spoke lowly her face turned towards the ground.

"I apologize for this disturbance," she said. "I'm the one to blame and take full responsibility. Now please... take them away."

"But why?!" demanded Natsu.

"Yeah! We can't just let them get away with this, Erza!" added Gray. "Especially since that we found Willy!"

Erza then glared daggers at the two. "Sit down! Both of you!" she ordered.

Natsu and Gray immediately sat down in a heartbeat. "Yes, ma'am!" they squeaked.

Jellal and I were then escorted towards the carriage. We both were just about to enter the carriage when Jellal gasped coming to a stop.

"Wait... I remember something," he said. He then looked back at Erza and smiled. "It was the color of your hair."

Erza seemed to be shocked at Jellal's, and I could have sworn that I could see tears beginning to form at the corners of her eyes, but then she quickly turned her head down looking away as Jellal stepped into the carriage.

I was about to walk into the carriage myself, but then I saw Wendy. She was still sobbing as tears streamed down her face, and seeing that made my heart ache. I couldn't just leave her like that after what we've been through. I then looked back towards Lahar.

"Please Mr. Lahar, may I say a couple of words to someone before you take me away?" I asked, trying to sound as polite as could.

Lahar looked at me coldly, but he replied. "You may," he said. "Make it quick."

I then walked forward. "Wendy? Could you come over here, please?"

Wendy sniffled still crying, but she came towards me until she was in front of me. I then got on one knee.

"Listen to me, Wendy. I need you to be strong for me," I said gently. "And not just for me, but Jellal too."

"But... you and Jellal are going away," sobbed Wendy. "And... and Jellal... and Jellal might be..."

I then gently wiped away Wendy's tears with a thumb causing her to flinch a little.

"I know, but you still need to be strong," I spoke kindly. "I know things look bad right now, but it's going to be OK. Jellal and I will be fine. I promise. Until then, wait for us to come back, OK?"

Wendy sniffed again and nodded. "OK. I will," she said.

I smiled as I straightened up. "Good girl." Then I turned to look at Natsu and the others. "As for the rest of you guys, I may have lost my memory and have only just met you, but I'm grateful to have met you all. You all have very kind hearts and are good people. I only wish that I had my memory, so I know who you all are. Until then... I hope we all meet again someday and thanks for everything."

I then turned my heel walking towards the carriage. I took one last look at Natsu and the others and then I walked into the carriage with Jellal as the doors shut behind me.

Willy and Jellal are taken into custody of the Magic Council!

What's going to happen to the two?!

Dragomaster out!