Here's the next chapter! I hope you all enjoy!
Virgo had come from the Celestial World to tell them it was on the verge of destruction… In actuality, it was a ruse to bring Lucy and her friends, sans Jet and Droy, to their realm to celebrate their release from Fairy Sphere. Unfortunately, even though they were only in the Celestial World for one day, when they all got back three months had passed and the Grand Magic Games were a mere five days away. Everyone was handling this turn of events fairly poor.
"… Lucy?" Zale spoke up.
"Yes?" Lucy responded.
"I know your spirits were trying to be helpful… but why couldn't they tell us this BEFORE we went in the Celestial World?!" Zale almost screamed.
"I'm just as pissed as you are, Zale!" Lucy growled. "Don't push me!"
"Grrr! It isn't too late yet!" Erza shouted. "Five days of hellish training! I want you all to prepare! There will be no time for sleeping or eating!"
"What about-" Zale was about to ask.
"Even that!" Erza replied without a need for Zale to finish.
Out of nowhere, a pigeon perched itself on Erza's head and they all noticed a note tied to its leg. After removing the note, Erza read it aloud.
"'To Fairy Tail. Please come to the broken suspension bridge on the hill to the west.'"
Everyone, even Jet and Droy, went to the forest and stopped at the broken bridge mentioned in the mysterious note.
"Are you sure we should be listening to a note that just came out of nowhere?" Zale questioned.
"There ain't nobody here!" Natsu said as he punched his palm.
"Just a prank…" Gray muttered.
"I really regret coming here…" Lucy mumbled.
"Mr. Natsu, why do you look like you're picking a fight?" Wendy asked.
Suddenly, the bridge started to repair itself as if it was going back in time. Everyone was shocked to see it was now fully repaired.
"Are they telling us to cross?" Erza wondered.
"I think it's a trap." Levy said.
"I'm kinda scared." Wendy said.
"I don't know who did this, but I'm gonna go." Natsu said.
They all crossed the bridge and continued walking until they saw three figures wearing black cloaks standing in their path.
"Who's that?!" Lucy gasped.
"Everyone, brace yourselves!" Juvia almost ordered.
All three figures approached them and slowly removed their hoods.
"Thank you for coming." The middle figure spoke in a man's voice. "Fairy Tail."
They revealed themselves as a man and two women. Two of them were easily recognizable, Jellal and Ultear. The other woman was a pink-haired beauty in a red short dress.
"Jellal…" Erza gasped.
"You haven't changed a bit, Erza." Jellal smiled. "Perhaps… you've already heard about our escape."
"Yes…" Erza answered resolutely.
Zale knew all about Erza's history with Jellal and how he had escaped while Fairy Tail was stuck on Tenrou Island.
"I didn't want it to turn out that way." Jellal said.
"Meredy and I broke him out." Ultear said.
"I didn't do anything." The pink-haired woman said. "Ultear did most of it on her own."
"Meredy!" Juvia exclaimed.
"Juvia! It's been a long time!" Meredy smiled cutely and cheerfully.
"You two know each other, Juvia?" Zale asked.
"We met on Tenrou Island." Juvia answered.
Zale recalled when he found Juvia with a strange young girl with pink hair back on Tenrou Island before Acnologia attacked.
*THIS is that girl from Tenrou Island?* Zale thought and then blushed. *She… I didn't think one could get cuter with age… Dammit, Zale! Stop ogling at women that aren't Juvia!*
"Meredy, this is Juvia's boyfriend, Zale!" Juvia pulled Zale closer to her. "Most people think he's not that attractive, but Juvia digresses!"
Meredy began examining Zale intently, making him a bit uncomfortable.
"... Who's asking that?" Meredy questioned. "I think he's pretty cute. But don't worry, Juvia. I won't overstep my boundaries, for you."
Zale wasn't sure how to feel about this. It was incredibly rare to hear someone compliment him on his looks. All he could do was blush and stare at the adorable face she was making. However, he missed a bit of the conversation because Ultear was responding to something Gray had said and continued from there.
"No matter what I do, the crimes I committed in my youth cannot be paid for, even in a lifetime of atonement." Ultear said grimly. "Yet… at the very least, my wish is to save some of the lives my actions have warped. At least, that is my intention. Jellal, for example."
"Do not worry about me." Jellal said "Both you and I were possessed by the darkness. That is the past."
"Jellal…" Erza muttered loudly. "Your memories…"
"Fully returned." Jellal slightly lowered his head in melancholy. "Every last one. They started… to return six years ago, while I was still imprisoned. Erza… I truly… don't know what to say to you…"
"I was responsible for Jellal's actions at the Tower of Heaven." Ultear stated. "So I hope you won't hold it against him."
Erza remained silent.
"My life was supposed to end in a cell." Jellal said. "And I came to accept that. At least, until the moment Ultear and Meredy broke me out."
"Was it then you managed to find something to live for?" Wendy asked.
"Wendy, that reminds me." Jellal finally had a smile on his face. "The Jellal you know was-"
"Don't worry, I already know it wasn't you." Wendy said.
"Actually, 'something to live for' isn't the term I would use." Jellal continued. "My goal I not so lofty. The three of us have formed a guild that is neither official nor dark. The independent guild Crime Sorcière, Witch's Crime."
"Independent guild?" Levy asked.
"What does that mean?" Happy asked.
"They just said it." Zale answered. "They're not a legal guild, but not a dark guild either."
"Crime Sorcière? I think I've heard of it…" Droy said.
"Something about a guild that's been going around destroying dark guild after dark guild!" Jet stated.
"We have but a single goal." Ultear said.
"We are a guild formed to root out Zeref… the dark guilds… all who would turn this world to darkness." Jellal said.
"Ohh!" Natsu looked at them with glittering eyes.
"That's amazing!" Lucy smiled.
"So you're vigilantes." Zale said. "As long as it's for a good cause and innocent people are left alone, I don't see a problem with it."
"Yeah, it'd be nice if the Magic Council recognized you as an official guild." Gray said.
"I'm a fugitive and Ultear and Meredy were originally from Grimoire Heart." Jellal pointed out. "Also, at least publicly, official guilds are prevented from any acts of aggression against other guilds, even dark guilds. Being independent suits us better."
"Now… We didn't actually call you here to introduce ourselves." Ultear said. "We hear you're participating in the Grand Magic Games."
"Y-yeah…" Natsu replied sadly.
"We cannot go near the stadium." Ultear continued. "Therefore, we have a favor we'd like to ask of you."
"Ya want somebody's autograph?" Natsu guessed.
"Nothing of the sort." Ultear replied. "Every year during the festival, we sense odd magic within the area. We'd like you to find out what it is."
"What do you mean?" Natsu asked.
"It's a gathering of all the guilds throughout Fiore, right?" Lucy surmised. "There's bound to be SOME trace of suspicious magic."
"At first, we thought as much." Jellal said. "But the magic we sensed felt… evil, like Zeref's. Perhaps only we have noticed it, since we were so close to Zeref once."
"Zeref…" Natsu gasped.
"We want to know what's behind that magic." Ultear said.
"It might even be a clue to tracking down Zeref himself." Jellal said.
"Of course, this request has nothing to do with the games." Meredy still retained her smile. "We'll be rooting for Fairy Tail from the shadows. But if you could investigate when you're not competing, we'd really appreciate it."
"It sounds as difficult as tying down a cloud, but we'll do what we can." Erza said.
"Thank you very much." Ultear said.
"Are you sure, Erza?" Gray asked. "If all the guilds in Fiore are gathered in a place where there's strange magic, then it'd affect us, too."
"We'll pay your reward in advance." Ultear stated.
"Food money!" "Rent money!" Natsu and Lucy became excited at the prospect of a cash reward.
"No, you're reward isn't monetary." Ultear clarified as she pulled out her crystal ball. "I've improved my Arc of Time. It can help advance your abilities as well."
"Wha?" Natsu asked as he, Lucy, Gray and Zale had deadpan faces.
"I could call it something tempting like a 'power-up', but it's not necessarily that." Ultear said. "Wizards have something like a 'container' within them that limits the amount of magic power they can maintain. Even if you use up all of your magic, the ethernanos in the atmosphere are automatically absorbed into the body, and, given a little time, the container fills back up. However, recent research into wizards has revealed a portion of the container that usually goes unused. A latent potential that everyone has, the second origin."
"I've heard about that." Zale said. "It can take decades to develop it, but I suppose that's where your Arc of Time comes in."
"Correct." Ultear responded. "My Arc of Time speeds up the development of the second origin, allowing you to use your magic for an extended period of time or even cast more powerful spells requiring exhausting amounts of magic energy."
All of the Fairy Tail wizards cheered with joy, even though Natsu didn't understand a thing Ultear had said.
"However…" Ultear looked at them with a scary look in her eyes. "You will endure pain beyond imagination."
"If it makes us stronger, then we've got no choice, do we?" Zale shrugged.
"Fine by me!" Natsu shouted as he hugged Ultear. "Thank you! Thank you! Bit by bit, I'm starting to think you're a real woman!"
"I AM a woman." Ultear said.
"You're still on about that?!" Gray questioned.
"I doubt you'd think of her as anything else considering your position." Zale was referring to the fact Natsu's head was almost pressing against Ultear's breasts.
Ultear was correct; the pain the Fairy Tail wizards had to endure was worse than they could comprehend, but they had to bite the bullet if they wanted to become strong enough for the Grand Magic Games. By the end of it, Zale, Natsu, Lucy, Gray, Wendy, Juvia and Levy had all progressed their magical abilities, but could still feel the pain for the next few days.
After leaving the training camp, Zale went back to Hargeon to tell Callista and Flynn about how it went at their home.
"Three months in one day?!" Flynn questioned.
All three of them were sitting at the kitchen table.
"I guess that means you didn't hook up with Juvia, doesn't it?" Callista asked.
"No, but there is SOME progress." Zale replied. "We, um…" He started blushing. "We went skinny-dipping one night."
"Woohoohoo!" Callista laughed. "Must have been the first time you saw a naked woman… Outside of a book."
"I always slammed the book shut even if it words anything pertaining to female nudity." Zale said.
"Snrk!" Callista tried to hold in her laughter.
"Anyway, sorry I have to leave so soon, but I should really check in with Master Makarov about who's going to be in the games." Zale stood up. "Don't want all those painful… painful… painful last days to go to waste."
"Why'd you use 'painful' three times?" Flynn asked.
"You don't want to know." Zale answered in a hushed tone.
Zale was walking toward the not-so-grand guild hall for Fairy Tail and entered to see Makarov sitting on the counter alone.
"Ah, Zale, what brings you here?" Makarov asked.
"Guess." Zale said.
"Dating tips?"
"… No."
"Then I'm stumped."
"Master, as you know I've been training just as hard as Natsu, Erza and Gray over the past few weeks-er, I mean months, or… it's complicated. The point is I want to participate in the games. I finally want to prove my worth to the guild."
"I… I see…" Makarov lowered his head.
Zale's enthusiasm began draining quickly. "… Master, is there something you need to tell me?"
Makarov sighed. "Nothing gets past you, does it? The Grand Magic Games allow each guild to have two teams participate. Unfortunately, I just selected who would participate in both of them. I'm sorry, Zale. I can see in your eyes how much you want to prove your worth to the guild… just don't think any lesser of yourself."
"… Th-thank-k y-y-you for l-letting me-e know…" Zale barely uttered as he left the building.
A/N: I was originally planning to have Zale in the games, but I thought I would make his arc more interesting by doing this… or I just let a roll of die select it, although, this does put Zale's faith in his abilities into question. I know some of you wanted him to team up with Juvia in the games, but I feel this is a bit more unpredictable. Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed! Stay tuned for next time!