Fairy Tail is taking a stance against E.R.7. Natsu, Lucy, Gray, Erza, Wendy, Gajeel, and Laxus have all decided to take on the unit while everyone else deals with the town, which is being forced to attack them by E.R.7., but with them holding back. Since they have to do that to avoid hurting innocent people, it will go on for a while.
"It would seem we underestimated this guild." Kallie said. "They're going to great lengths to save someone they consider one of their own."
"I think you're overestimating them." Jaccu said.
"Yoho. The beauty of friendship seems to know no bounds." Yonku said.
"Cha-cha-cha. One thing for sure is that they all seem pretty crazy." Foota said. Natalia couldn't believe it herself. All of Fairy Tail is doing this just for her?
"Just hand Natalia over." Natsu said. "Do that and the beating we'll give you guys is going to be a lot less painful."
"Is that suppose to make us feel better?" Sonder said. "What a bunch of nitwits these people are? Do they not understand what's going on? The girl surrendered herself to us with the pointless hope of all of them surviving."
"Are these people just all brawn and no brain?" Kaemin said.
"So it would seem." Rod said.
"You think we're going to hand her over?!" Sonder said. "Think again, you brainless pathetic excuse for wizards. Natalia belongs to E.R. and she needs to face her punishment for leaving us."
"Punishment?! You're thinking of killing her!" Natsu shouted. "What is it with you people? She was once one of you. How could you just go and decide to kill her like that? Isn't she suppose to be your friend too?"
"Friend? Friend you say?" Sonder questioned and started to laugh like a maniac. "You think this pathetic piece of trash is our friend? She didn't even belong in the same unit as us. This affiliation isn't about friendship. It's about complete and utter dominance over others." Hearing that jerk say such things was only making Natsu that much angrier.
"Anyone else just want to shut that guy up already?" Gray said.
"Besides, she originally belonged to us. We can do whatever the hell we want with her." Sonder said.
"Stop talking like she's your property." Lucy said. "She's a living being like you and everyone else here. She's not some item that you think is disposable."
"Oh boy. You really don't know how things work around here, do you?" Sonder said. "It's not really any of your business, but in each of the four units of E.R., there is one person who acts like the commander. I happen to hold that position in this unit. With that position, we get to treat and use other members however we see fit."
"The bastard." Laxus said.
"This guy is just one of those people who think they're better than everyone else in the world." Gajeel said. "I don't know why, but it doesn't really surprise me."
"You said you know the truth of Natalia. Does that mean you know about her past as well?" Sonder said.
"Yeah, we know it. Erza and I were there when you creeps were trying to crush her spirit with her backstory." Gray said. "We know how you bastards destroyed her home and took everything away from her."
"To be fair, she didn't really have that much to begin with." Sonder said. "I was referring to the reason she joined this organization in the first place. She learned that we were behind that attack and she still joined us. You must know she did it so that she could disappear from the world. Natalia's nothing, but a burden to everyone and in E.R. that's actually a good thing. She could have caused so much trouble for so many people. Now, she through all of that away." The more they talked about this, the more torn apart this was making Natalia.
"That's not true." Wendy said.
"Natalia was never a burden to us." Lucy said. "Maybe we weren't too thrilled of having her around, but we saw how wrong we were. We want Natalia to come back to the guild that she belongs in."
"I've had just about enough of all this standing around." Natsu said as he was charging a fireball between his hands and was getting ready. "If we're going to fight, let's fight. The bottom line is that we're taking Natalia back with us."
"If it will make you feel better and leave sooner, you can have the corpse to give her a proper burial after we execute her." Sonder said, but that just made Natsu even angrier. His blood was boiling.
"That does it!" Natsu said as he was about to throw it.
"Just stop it!" Natalia shouted. Natsu heard her and he called off his attack. "Just stop before it's too late to turn back. I don't want to be rescued." Hearing her say that confused him and everyone else. Sonder smirked from hearing Natalia getting them to settle down.
"You heard her. Now go home!" Sonder said, but they ignored him.
"Natalia, I don't understand." Natsu said. "What do you mean you don't want to be saved? You know you're going to be killed. Don't you want us to save you?"
"There's no reason for you all to go through all this for me." Natalia said. "Sonder's right. This was unavoidable for me. I've accepted my fate. I only stayed in the guild because I needed to."
"Natalia, we know you enjoyed being in the guild." Erza said.
"Yeah. So quit acting already. You don't need to pretend you're against us just to protect us." Natsu said. "This was by our choice. You admitted that you're one of us and that's enough of a reason for us to be here and save you."
"I'm not acting." Natalia said. "Maybe I did enjoy being in Fairy Tail, but it changes nothing. This was my fate from the moment I joined Fairy Tail. I knew what I was getting into, but I needed to do it. I've accepted what was going to happen and now there's nothing left for me."
"She still doesn't get it." Gray said. "She doesn't get what it means when you become a member of Fairy Tail. She doesn't see we're doing this because we want to."
"Of course. Natalia has been against the world for a very long time." Erza said. "She probably doesn't know how to open up and trust anyone since her home has been destroyed."
"Natalia, we know all about your past, but that isn't stopping us. We're showing you that we do care about you." Natsu said.
"You don't understand!" Natalia shouted. "You have no idea what I've been through. You didn't see my home burn to the ground. You never saw the children be afraid of me. You didn't see the countless times I only made things worse with everyone telling me to disappear. You can say you know about my past all you want, but you can't understand how I felt. My entire life, my very existence, was like a crime. Becoming part of E.R., despite how they were the ones that did this to me, was the only way for me to escape. The fact that my life was spared the day my village was destroyed was the only sign that actually someone actually cared about me. Even so, it just seemed like something the world wanted. My voice always went unheard. Nothing I ever did or said ever really matter. Nothing about what I wanted mattered at all and you can't change that without knowing the feeling."
"You might be right!" All of them look further down and saw Makarov wheeling his way near the cliff. "We can't sympathize with how you're feeling, but I don't want to hear that kind of stuff like how what you wanted never mattered. Natalia, you can make excuses all you want, but the decisions you've made was of your choice, of what you wanted. You joined Fairy Tail because you wanted to. You joined E.R. because you wanted to. Where you are right now and through your whole life was because of the thing that you wanted."
"Master Makarov…." Natalia said.
"There's something else that's bothering you. A parent knows when their children aren't happy." Makarov said. "You love Fairy Tail and you can tell how much we all care about you. Why else do you think the whole guild is here? Just tell us what's really bothering you."
"Good grief. Why is everyone talking so much?" Sonder questioned. Natalia knew these would be her last moments and that's the only reason she is saying what she's saying.
"I'm afraid okay!" Natalia said. "Someday you'll all see me as a burden. That's what I'm most afraid of. Look at what I've already done. I brought E.R.7.'s wrath upon all of you all because I joined Fairy Tail. It be much easier, just like everywhere else, for all of you if I just disappeared, but I can't go back to E.R. this time. There's nowhere in the world that I'm wanted and needed now. This was all bound to happen to me. I'm going to die and there's nothing anyone can do to stop it!" All of them continued to hear all the trouble Natalia has been through and their hearts continued to bleed for her.
"I had no idea she was going through so much." Lucy said.
"Don't worry about it, Lucy. We're going to make sure to free her from all that suffering." Erza said. While it's sad to some, it's only giving Fairy Tail reasons to fight even harder to save her.
"Enough of all this!" Sonder said. "No matter what you try, Natalia is forever bounded to E.R. She's trapped here and there is no escape for her even if she continues to live. Do you want to know why that is? Just look up. Take a look at the flag above." He pointed to the flag that flowed at the top of the tower with E.R. right on it. "That flag is one of E.R.'s symbols. You see, when a new member joins this organization, they make a pledge on that flag. We pledge our very lives on that flag. It's as if our very souls are stitched into that flag. Natalia broke that pledge when she swore her life on it just like anyone else. That is why she is being sentence to death. Leaving E.R., even for a moment, or anything like that is a sign of betrayal and that is always looked down upon. So no matter what you try, Natalia is forever trapped here. Her life is in our hands and she can't escape from it." Natsu stared at the flag and was beginning to understand.
"Natalia's soul is stitched into that flag, huh?" Natsu said as he thought he might have a way to free her. He turned to Lucy. "Lucy, I need you to do something." He was telling her something, but E.R.7. couldn't hear him.
"What are they doing now?" Sonder said.
"Got it." Lucy said and used Star Dress and went into Sagittarius Form. Lucy aimed her bow and arrow and was about to take a shot.
"Have they not been listening to a thing I said?" Sonder said, but Kaemin was seeing something different.
"Wait! That angle and trajectory!" Kaemin said. Lucy fired an arrow and it sored straight through the air, but it didn't hit anyone. It pierced right through the flag itself. It was a shock to everyone.
"No way!" Natalia said as she couldn't believe they just did that.
"Oh man! Now they've done it!" Jaccu said.
"Those fools. Shooting at a flag like that is the same as declaring war." Kaemin said.
"You're all going to die! You morons can't challenge all of E.R. and expect to live afterwards!" Sonder said.
"Yeah? Bring it on!" Natsu shouted at the top of his lungs with every member siding with him.
"They're insane!" Sonder said as he couldn't believe how far they're going to free Natalia. Natalia couldn't hold her tears back any more.
"Natalia!" Natsu shouted. "I still want to hear something from you. Tell us! Tell us what YOU WANT!"
'What I want?' Natalia thought. 'That never mattered before.' She remembered all the hard times she's been through. 'The world pushed me away. My voice was forever lost. No one ever cared.' Natalia believed it was all done by fate and that there was no hope for her being lost in shadows. That was until she just remembered her mother's words.
"The world is a vast so I know that one day you'll meet real friends." She began to see she has with the seven just across from her that are helping her and everyone else who are fighting for her sake. They were casting her out of the shadows and back into light and yet they still wish to hear what it is that she desires after everything.
'But now, for once, what I say does matter, what I want does matter. And I….I…..' Natalia thought, but couldn't hold it back anymore. "I WANT TO LIVE! Take me with you! Take me away from here! Take me back to the guild!" She declared. That was more like it. Natalia finally said what she truly desired and her friends are going to make sure it happens.
"Don't worry. We'll take you back." Natsu said. The real fight begins.