As Erza concluded her tale, we all stood in stunned silence. "I have to fight Jellal. I have no choice. I have to do it." She finished.
"Is it just me, or does the name Zeref sound familiar?" Gray wondered aloud.
"It should. He was a legendary black wizard." Erza said.
"We fought one of his demons, Lullaby." I added.
"I never mentioned it but I suspect Deliora was a demon from the book of Zeref as well." Erza said, and I nodded.
"If this wizard is as evil as you say, why would Jellal want to resurrect him?" Juvia asked. I merely remained silent. I was still processing everything Erza had told me. It was just shocking. I had never imagined her childhood being as traumatic as mine, but it had been.
"I don't understand Jellal's motives either. But my old friend, Sho said something about when Zeref is resurrected how they'll all go to heaven, and the world will be reborn. That they will become its rulers." Erza explained.
"There's one thing that confuses me about these old friends of yours. Why are they accusing you of betrayal? Don't they realize Jellal is the bad guy here?" Lucy asked.
"It's likely that Jellal tricked them, or lied to them about Erza's intentions. He would need them to be turned against Erza and want to remain here in order for his threat to be effective." I stated, and Erza nodded her agreement.
"However that doesn't change the fact that I abandoned them. I guess you could say I did betray them." Erza bowed her head, the sight of her resignation almost terrifying. Lucy argued with Erza over her culpability but Erza dismissed the argument.
"If I can defeat Jellal, it will all be over. Leave it to me okay?" Erza said.
"Bullshit." I said bluntly, calling her out on it, but before she could reply, we were interrupted by one of her old friends, the one called Sho I believe.
"Sister, that's not true. Why, why are you lying to them?" Sho asked, his eyes betraying a desperate look.
"She ain't lying kid. You're the one who's been lied to." I stated, drawing his attention to me.
"No! You think by making yourself the martyr you're going to get sympathy from your friends? Tell them the truth! That's not how it happened and you know it!" Sho exclaimed becoming increasingly agitated. Sho began to describe what the lie Jellal had told them was, and I felt my anger towards him grow. Erza blow up the boats? More likely Jellal did and lied to them. That was a load of bullshit and this kid needed it to be cleared up.
"Did you ever think that he might be lying?" Gray asked with a cold expression on his face.
"If you truly knew Erza, you'd know she'd never do something so horrible." Lucy chimed in, her face filled with steel.
"Face it kid, you've been had." I said, staring at Sho with pity.
He stumbled back, looking as though we'd hit him. "No… you only think you know her. You weren't there back then, you don't know anything about us!" Sho's eyes started to tear as his world began crumbling around him. "After you left, Jellal's words were my only salvation! And that's why I spent all these years working to finish the tower for him. I did it for his sake. Now, you're trying to tell me it was all a lie?! You really expect me to believe you're telling the truth and Jellal's been lying to us this whole time?!" Sho looked like he was on the verge of a mental breakdown as another voice echoed.
"That's right." the masked man shimmered into existence. As Gray dropped into an attack stance, I shook my head and held out a hand to stop him.
"He won't hurt us Gray. He could see through the darkness spell since he cast it, and when he attacked me, I was in my ice form, his spell merely incapacitated me, instead of killing me. The question is, why?"
"Excellent deduction. I'd expect no less from the Icy Damsel." The man nodded, Simon I think his name was.
"I don't understand." Sho whimpered out.
"I had to fool you and the others into thinking that I had killed them. I'd hoped our attack would lure them here." Simon explained.
"So you were lying too? How could you do that to me?" Sho closed his eyes as tears welled up within them.
"I'm sorry. Jellal had you under his spell and I couldn't convince you otherwise. I played along until the time was right." Simon placed his hand on Sho's shoulder, and Sho then recoiled form him.
"So you knew all along?" Erza asked as Simon turned to face her.
"I've always believed in you Erza, and there's nothing that could change that." Simon gently took Erza's and hand and held it, "And I mean those words form the bottom of my heart."
"Simon…" Erza was tugged into a hug and smiled as I watched my partner embrace someone who she never thought she would see again.
"I never knew. I can't believe I blindly followed him all these years. I doubted you, because you left me all alone! You have no idea how much that hurt!" Sho sobbed on the ground, "I don't know what to do. I don't even know which one of you I should believe anymore!"
Erza knelt down beside him and said, "I know it must be difficult to take all of this in at once, but Sho, there's something you should know. Though it's been many years, I have never once forgotten about any of you. I'm sorry I couldn't stand up to him, but I was so weak back then. Please forgive me." Sho threw himself into Erza's arms and started to really cry.
"Now you're stronger and ready to face him. I waited for this very moment all these years. The moment when a group of powerful wizards would gather here." Simon said.
"So, you've been plotting all these years. What's the plan?" I asked, turning to look at Simon.
"We're going to take down Jellal. We can do it if we work together. But first, we must keep Salamander and Wally from clashing." Simon explained and we nodded.
We would do it. We would stop Jellal, and we would restore Erza's friends to the right side.