Titania and The Hunter

by Master Attlon

Born as a human. Treated as a demon. Gathered as a slave. Viewed as a leader. Traveled as a Mage. Grew as a Legend. The journey and life of The Hunter, Naruto Uzumaki

5. Freedom Seen By Your Eyes

Titania and The Hunter

Chapter 5: Freedom Seen By Your Eyes

Disclaimer: Those who own these series, own these series. Watch the official release. Whether Sub or Dub. I choose Dub Fairy Tail over Dub Naruto any day. Believe It!

Three cheers for the Mayan Calendar going down like a bitch.

Merry Christmas, or Happy Holidays so I'm not targeted. Another chapter by New Years. Yeah!

########Hunter########

The Tower of Heaven stood at the island's center. Stretching up to well over where the island's base stood. Scaffolds, woods and bricks could be seen far away from where the actual building was. And it was barely even half done.

When he was traveling the world, he had found this sorry excuse for a cult praying to Zeref. They had been taking as many women and children as they could find to give sacrifice to him. He had given the pathetic cult the ideas and plans for the R-System. When they had heard that they could help resurrect their lord and deity, they nearly died from joy.

His conditions for helping to make sure that they could build this masterpiece was that he would be kept informed of all possible information. He would receive changes in blueprints and sheets of how and where they got the materials necessary almost daily. He would just throw them away; they were nothing but glorified statistics from pawns in his game.

What he did keep with him though were files and reports on the slaves the cult had captured. Weekly updates on their statuses and abilities they measured while they worked. He wasn't particularly interested in these reports at first. To him it appeared as nothing more than a growing nuisance from these fools who played the scapegoat like they were the lead. But then, he received the report of a familiar face years ago.

He remembered the sad chuckle he let out at the sight of the man. Rob had grown so old and fragile, a far cry from what he was back in Fairy Tail. Gone was the giant of a man, who could stop charges and heal his wounds in minutes. He remembered when the man was only a teenager, learning Healing and all the base magic to an art form. He had always thought that Rob would never be a great fighter, until he made those weapons from scratch. With the help of some blacksmiths and his own innovative mind, Rob made a weapon that tested his strength, skill, and magic power.

He reminisced of the old days when he would receive reports about how Titan Breaker Makarov and Mad Rush Rob had destroyed a diplomatic building while fending off rogue assassins. He got quite an earful from the magic council about how the ambassador to Ca-Elum was asking for their heads. And how they had to make up for the action by escorting the diplomatic family and insuring their safety. They were almost free of all charges until Bob had gotten frisky with both the daughter and the son of the ambassador. The whole team is still banned from any contact or travel into the foreign nation.

Ah, he almost missed those passed days of ignorance and joy.

Almost.

Now, he had a goal that no foolish dream or pathetic guild would stop. Not the Magic Council, not Damnation, not even Fairy Tail would stop him. And it all started from using these idiots as a distraction from the magic council. They were just fodder to the flames his dream was making. But these fools were making too much ruckus in the underworld when they should be quiet. He was planning to eradicate the half built tower where it stood, killing all the cult members and slaves in an instant. It was easy with the Jupiter cannon they had recently taken. All of his problems would be gone in a flash.

But then, he looked down at the file of the boy he had recently discovered. In the pile of folders and sheets he had pulled out the one that piqued his interest the most. How surprising that in the cell Rob shared with some whiskered trash and a worthless red head, there would be just what he was looking for. He looked at picture of a small, blue-haired child with a tattoo around his right eye. He then preceded to read the information that followed.

Jellal Fernandes

Age: 11

Birthday: January 15, X765

Location: Freesia Town

Family: Parents killed in raid by cult members.

Child shows vast intelligence and will for young age. He gives strong signs of latent magical power. Has large supply of Eternano encircling body at most time, but is incapable of using at moment. Evidence of escape plans found. Possible Threat in the future.

This boy in the file was quite the diamond in the rough. Abilities and smarts, with an attitude that made even some of the jailers fear him.

If he could use this boy to his liking, then he may be able to further his plans in searching for the keys of Zeref. All he would need is a moment of weakness to control the boy's outlook on the world. But he would have to be contained and trained properly if he was going to be useful.

Hades smirked as he thought of asking Brain to train this boy in spells and magic. The shaman scientist was leaving the dark guilds under his control to run wilder than usual. He was in search of children with high potential to be his teammates, so he hadn't been in the leading position of the guilds for very long. But if Hades gave him some of the children with talent from the tower, he could use that as a favor to train this boy.

"Master Hades, some more ships are coming up from the horizon. They must be doing their Bi-monthly drop off of slaves and meals." A foot soldier said while he rested on one knee in front of the old wizard. "Should we keep our position over the clouds of the tower my lord?"

""Yes, keep us hidden. I do not wish to be bothered by those fools." Hades detested when he had to listen to the reports from the cult master. He had held back so many times on flicking his wrist and blowing the man up that he would soon believe himself to be a saint. As Hades daydreamed of the idea of killing that insufferable; annoying sack of shit, another soldier placed himself next to the first one.

"Master Hades, we have reports of the project you were working on with the Tartaros guild."

"Oh?" Hades turned around, his cape following with his movements. "And what do they say?" He questioned as he raised the eyebrow of his one eye.

"He said that he is willing to cooperate and give you access to the Heart sir, but not fully." The soldier looked upend panicked to see that Hades was losing patience and was becoming irritated. "W-what I mean sir is that Tartaros wishes to run a test trial with the eye link magic before giving us the weapon permanently."

"Ah, I see." Hades nodded and turned back around to look down at the tower from the observation deck. "He wishes to test my abilities with a prototype eye before giving me the actual product." Hades chuckled at the blatant underestimating the dark guild was giving him, "Well tell them I will attend the surgery in a few days' time." He dismissed the two soldiers who vacated the deck, leaving the old man to walk back and sit in his chair. 'Hopefully with this new magic system, I won't have to worry about my body taking too much damage anymore.'

Hades settled back into his chair before opening his eye at the new presence. He turned his head to see a young, raven haired girl with pale skin in a custom made uniform looking at him with a questioning look. "What can I do for you today Ultear" he asked as he positioned himself to get a better look at the girl.

"I've been trying to ask you for several days now why we have come to this place." The young thirteen year old marched in front of him and placed her hands on her hips. "You promised to help me work with the Arc of Time some more, but all you have been doing is standing here and watching the water. Help me already!" Hades scoffed and swiped his hand to motion that he was barely listening. The girl grew angry and with a pout raised her hands and rotted the throne beneath him, causing him to fall on his butt.

Hades stood back up and dusted his cape and ass, "Well aren't we angry. Are you going through that time of the month, Ultear?" He questioned as the girl's face grew darkly vacant and the air around her grew ice cold. "Well I can't teach you just yet, we are waiting for now."

"For what exactly, Hades-sama?" She said as she joined his side looking down at the tower. "All we have done for the last two days is watch this tower and see the wave's crash. Are you just going senile?" She said with sarcastic words at the almost century old man/teacher.

"No my dear, we are waiting for the perfect opportunity to present itself to us." The young lady looked up at her master with an inquisitive look. "I happen to know that there is a boy in that tower who is exactly who we need. He will try to make a move to run away because he is the type that hates to be chained down, but I'm going to guess that he will fail. And when the time comes that we can make our move, I'll need your help to strike." He turned to her with a dark smile, "If this works, it will bring us one step closer to the Ultimate Magic World."

Ultear looked surprised at the notion her master was giving. She looked down at his hand that held a file which she took it and looked inside. She saw the photo of the blue haired boy and his summary by the jailers. She smiled at the face of the cute boy and giggled. She lowered the file and saw several others that caught her eye. She flipped through the files of the others that were lying on the table when she found one that caught her eye.

She opened it to see a file photo of a blonde boy with blue eyes that she thought looked right through her. What had caught her eye the most were his whisker marks that gave him the look of a fox with those vicious eyes. She gazed down at his summary...

Naruto Uzumaki

Age: 12

Birthday: October 10, X764

Location: Unknown. Body found in desert by Akane Beach.

Family: Unknown.

The child was found by the road of one of our caravan routes. Does not correspond with orders and most information is taken as a guess about him. He appears to have no magic or latent abilities that we can measure, but does have some unnatural force strengthening him. He is violent and strong, and always ready to attack a jailer if they aren't looking. Potentially dangerous. Consider Executing.

"Oh, he is cute." Ultear said as she ran a finger over his profile photo. "Hades-sama, what about him? He seems like he could be useful."

Hades shook his head, "No, not him. We have no way of controlling this boy. And from the reports and footage I've seen, he is a textbook example of a problem child."

"But I always thought you had a thing for problem children." She said as she held the file over her mouth like a fan, hiding her cheeky smile. "Isn't that why you picked me?"

"Not for a child who would kill me if I looked at him wrong." He said as he realized he had not given her his gift yet. He reached into a pocket in his cape and pulled out a teal orb which he handed to her. "Here, take this." Ultear took the orb and looked at the new present strangely.

"What is this?"

"That is a magical item that I believe you will have much use for. It can be used to relay messages to me and others. You can use that as a vision lacrima to view those you wish to spy on. And also, it is the perfect weapon for you to use with your Arc of Time." He said with a overconfident smile at his brilliant plan.

Ultear looked at the ball and decided to play out her teenage attitude. "You got me a ball. Wow, great job."

"Wow, Ultear, just wow. That hurts. That hurts me right in my old heart."

########Hunter########

Rob had been worried as he returned to the cell. Over the last week, the kids had seemed quite strange in their actions. Naruto had healed from all his wounds from protecting Shō but he didn't play as much. He would just sit around with Jellal and talk for a while. And after Rob went to bed, he could swear that they got together to talk about something.

And today, the kids had been very nervous and wary about something. Like they knew that today was a big day. Rob walked into his cell and yawned, and then noticed that the group of kids wasn't here yet. He had decided to wait for them and leaned against the wall. He could tell by the sunset about an hour ago that it was a least seven o'clock. And they should have come back by now.

After several long moments of waiting Rob grew scared and worried. The children were never this late; even if they were forced to crawl they would have returned by now. Rob then realized what was different about today. This morning he had noticed that the boats had come in and brought new slaves. Which means that they were leaving with the new materials sometime in the afternoon tomorrow.

Rob grew pale as he dashed for the bars and started to pull on them, hoping that they would miraculously open. He had grown so old and tired that his body was just a husk of what it was. He had grown weak again after so long. And now when he needed that strength to protect them, he couldn't muster it.

Rob lifted his head and prayed that they weren't trying to escape. Because that was all he could do anymore.

Just pray.

########Hunter########

The central work room was empty, only the tools of the works and the gravel from their work were there. Jailers were leaving the area and doing their rounds around the tower. As they thought that no one was still around.

As everyone left, seven small shadows crept out from behind the materials around the room. They all rounded up together and followed the shortest figure to the end of the work hall. They all arrived at the end, where the barrels, rocks and wheelbarrows gathered at the end of the rail tracks. The small figure waked forward and moved some rubble, revealing the gate covered hole.

"Okay, this is it." Shō said as he turned on his knees to look up at everyone, wiping the sweat from his brow. "This is the tunnel."

Simon walked forward and looked into the long trench. "It's smaller then I thought it would be." He looked at the small boy "Are you sure this is it."

"Of course I'm sure, I found it, remember."

"Alright, alright that's enough guys." They turned around and saw Naruto standing up to get their attention. "Even if it is a tight fit, we have to use this. Shō said it worked so I trust him." He looked at the little boy who smiled up at him. "Alright, one last time, listen to Jellal about our plan."

Jellal walked up to them and they all got into a huddle. "Alright, the ships bring in a new batch of captured slaves every two months. It spends about a day and a half in the dock. It brings in the slaves and takes back rations and weapons to use in their hunt for more people. The ship came in at six this morning and will leave at six in the afternoon tomorrow. We are going to travel in the tunnel until we reach the bottom near the dock. Then we sneak onto ship and lay low until we arrive at land."

Wally smiled and started to pump his fists, "Then we call the magic corps and they arrest these bastards."

Naruto smiled and laughed. "Alright, we are doing this at night because we wouldn't be able to get away from work if we did it in the day. Hopefully these assholes won't notice our absence long enough for us to hide and run." He took a long breath and stood up straight. "Alright, let's do this."

They all nodded and made a line to go into the tunnel. Shō was about to go in first but noticed that Erza had frozen in place. He turned around and addressed his sister, "Nee-San come on. Hurry!"

Wally hissed at the young boy, "Shut up Shō! They'll hear you if you talk that loud!"

Milliana stared wisely at the older boy, "Wally, you're talking louder."

Wally was shocked in horror before lowering his head in shame. Simon got down and next to the tunnel.

"Erza, we have to go or we'll be caught by those guys." He tried to persuade the scarlet girl who trembled in absolute fear.

"If they find us, th-they'll do to us what they did to the others. A-and-" She grew a dark and fearful look in her eyes until she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned around to see Jellal next to her, giving her a thoughtful smile while Naruto stood behind him.

"It's okay. Don't be afraid." She turned around and stopped trembling. "We're almost out of here. Our freedom and dreams are right through that tunnel. Let's go!" He said as he almost dived into the hole, leading the group by searching in front for a good escape route. The others nodded and followed his example.

Erza had stopped trembling but had kept her worried face on. She wanted to go say goodbye to Rob-jisan and ask him for help but it was too late. She was conflicted until she felt Naruto grab her hand and pull her. She looked up at him to see that he had a thoughtful smile, understanding her fear and worry at the risk they were taking. "It's alright Erza. We're all in this together and they won't be able to stop us. Besides," he turned his head and gave her a giant grin, "we have each other's back, right?" Erza looked at him with wide eyes before she grew confident and smiled back; a light pink hue dusted her cheeks.

Naruto went in next as Erza followed going in last, leaving the work way once again completely silent.

########Hunter########

Jellal had felt his elbows and knees had been scratched to hell after several hours of crawling. They had been passed many exits and tunnels after their trek. Each one lead to a room, empty cell, the main hall or a hallway. Jellal wiped his forehead and looked behind him. Shō and Wally were panting and seemed exhausted, feeling restricted in the small passage way. Behind him Milliana was panting deeply and Simon was lightly sweating, his natural stamina helping him through the ordeal. And finally Naruto and Erza were fairing the best. Both tired but appeared ready to continue.

When they passed a watch room, Jellal saw that the time was about eleven o'clock. They had been crawling for nearly 4 hours. And they still had a long time to go. They were moving fairly slowly as to stop any suspicious feeling a jailer got when they moved past. The bright side was that none of the jailers had even noticed that the kids were moving in the vent like tunnel. All they had to do was endure the exhaustion and they would be freed.

"Milli-chan, are you okay?" Naruto asked the little girl in front of him who was wobbling from exhaustion. She nodded her head with lidded eyes as she pitched forward. They continued until Naruto whispered a question, "Any idea how much further Jellal?"

Jellal shook his head and continued moving until they reached a rest place for the jailers. Several of the cult members had gathered around to discuss what they had done today. Laughing at the fun they had torturing anyone who bothered them. The children all shook with anger from the hurtful actions the men were taking great pride in. They endured the laughs and taunts the men had told until the sound of footsteps approaching reached their ears.

"What are you idiots doing?" A harsh voice yelled rashly at the previously snickering bastard guards. The men had sounded off and stood at attention, trying to gain face again in front of their boss. "The master said that we are on a tight schedule. If we miss our quota, Master Hades will have our asses!" He said with no room for argument."

"But sir, all we have been doing is loading the ships with weapons and cargo. What else could we do?"

"You could watch out for some of those slaves. We don't want a repeat of what happened eight years ago. That little bastard from last week still makes my scar ache." Another voice interrupted the questioning. Naruto's eyebrow twitched at the notice of the voice belonging to the bitch that attacked Shō last week. That man had been watching him over the last week, threatening to attack in retaliation for the still healing scar on his face. Naruto snickered at the self-satisfying pride he had in making a grown man paranoid.

"Silence boy, we don't need to take your personal vengeance at a little brat's actions to heart." The soldier backed down before the leader of the jailers turned back to the rest of the men. "But he is right, eight years ago we were slacking and it destroyed this tower and set us back on finishing. We have a duty and promise to complete this tower. We have been given a great chance by Hades-sama to bring back our lord Zeref. He has helped us make this tower and the master will not be happy to hear that his followers are loitering around like pansies."

The men grumbled in acceptance and started moving out. The children started moving again after taking a break and listening to the conversation outside. Naruto crawled forward with his mind wandering on what they had said. Someone named Hades was making all of this possible. He had headed this tower's construction and had given these men a means to torture and kill them. Naruto clenched he hands in the dirt and stared off at the decision he had just made. If he would ever meet this man, this Hades that had made this tower possible. He would make that man beg for forgiveness, even if it killed him.

As they continued they stopped again as Milliana and Shō had started to sway back and forth. They had reached their limits after so much work in the confined space, their hands and knees bleeding from the travel. They both passed out and fell to the ground, causing a thumping noise to echo through the escape route and out the openings. The jailers had stopped their retreat back to work and listened to the noise in the walls.

'Shit' Jellal thought as he tried to keep Shō conscious. Wally and Simon did the same for Milliana as she panted heavily.

"What was that?" A jailer said to his fellow cult members. The leader lifted his hand to order silence from his followers. He slowly stepped to the walls and placed his ear to it, hoping to hear something move through the concrete. He heard more noise and brought his attention closer to the floor, where a man made ventilation system's grate was. He lowered himself and put his ear closer to the grate, hearing the sounds of stumbling and shuffling ring out through the rock.

"There are slaves in the vents! They're trying to escape!" He yelled out getting the attention of all the nearby jailers and alerting the escaping slaves. Naruto cursed as he screamed out to move. All of them crawled as fast as they could; ignoring the scratches and cuts their hands were gaining as they moved through the passage. Simon cradled Milliana and Wally carried Shō. The jailer roared as he aimed his spear at the vent opening and let out a large fireball, causing an explosion and smoke to rise.

The smoke traveled through the entire shaft, blocking the children's view and clogging their lungs. Erza yelped in pain. "Erza, what's wrong?" Naruto yelled panicking at the pain his friend could be in. Erza looked down and through the smoke could see her feet were burnt and smoking, getting affected by the heat from the attack. They tried to move forward but they couldn't, their vision was clouded and lungs were burning from breathing in the toxic gas. Jellal continued forward, trying to find a safe way out until he saw an opening.

He turned to the shaft, the kid's following behind as they saw his shadow move. Jellal pushed on the grate and had no luck moving. He moved in the space and kicked against the metal, getting it to dislodge. The covering finally fell open as he crawled out into a similar work path, covered in soot and coughing violently. He turned around and helped Wally bring out the barely conscious Shō before helping the dark haired boy. After a fit of coughs they then helped Simon with Milliana before pulling out Naruto. He coughed for only a moment before standing back up and pulling out Erza, her feet stinging as she was helped to the floor. "Are yo-*cough* you okay?" The blond boy asked through his coughing, getting an approving nod from the scarlet haired girl.

The group stayed like that, checking on each other as they dislodged the dirt and soot from their throats and lungs. They finally took in some deep breathes before they heard footsteps from down the hall, "Quickly! I think they are over there." The children froze in fear as they realized that the jailers were closing in on them. They then broke apart and hid out of sight wherever they could. Wally, Milliana, and Simon ducked behind a pile of stacked lumber. Erza grabbed Shō and leaded him to behind several barrels, hugging the terrified boy in fear. Jellal and Naruto ran behind some rubble, around them some working tools and rocks.

A few seconds after they had hidden themselves, shadows started to grow on the floor, symbolizing that the men were growing closer. They waited in breathed silence as the figures started to come into sight. The grown men were not pleased, if the angered expression on their faces was any indication. They viewed the area in front of them and found no slaves, just an open vent with smoke still floating out. Most of them were preparing to leave before the leader raised his hand to stop. He gave them a look that said that the escapees were still here and they should move forward. The guards moved forward and noticed that there were small movements behind some of the objects. The men chuckled darkly as they had found the slaves. They all moved in formation and slowly crept toward them.

"Now, now kiddies there are no reasons to hide. We're not going to hurt you, we just want to talk" one of the jailers lied as he stalked forward, spear in hand. "We just want to talk to you. We want to know why you would run from us?" He stopped moving and grinned evilly as he noticed figures cower behind a group of barrels. Erza and Shō clutched each other as they felt the malevolent presence creep toward them.

Naruto and Jellal looked around the rubble and noticed that most of the men were going toward Erza and Shō. Jellal's breath hitched as he feared the worst, not knowing what he could do at this point. He slowly turned his head and saw Naruto tremble not in fear but in unbridled rage, his teeth clenching so hard his gums were close to bleeding. "Naruto?" Jellal asked his friends in a voice barely even considered a whisper.

Naruto slowly turned his head to look at Jellal, his eyes obviously conveying worry for his friends. He turned his head to look down at the rubble and calmed down. "Hey Jellal," Naruto asked his friend who was looking at Naruto, "I know it is stupid to try to fight these guys. But with everything that is happening and our position we can't do anything else. I don't want them to suffer because I got impatient. And besides..." He lifted his head and looked at Jellal with eyes that showed strong determination even in the current predicament' "I don't think we have a choice but to be stupid, right?" He finished as chuckled lightly. Jellal looked at him and smiled weakly.

"Remember all those stories Rob-jisan told us, when we run out of options, all you can do is fight." They both nodded as they turned their attention back to the men steadily moving toward their friends. They steeled themselves and reached out their hands, grabbing the excavation tools around them.

"Now if you just come with us, we promise not to hurt you." The man finally reached the barrels and peered over them, seeing the form of two huddled figures against the wooden object. "Gotch- huh?" He lifted his head to see what the sudden noise was.

He was met with the form of a flying blond that had vaulted off a pile of rubble. He had a pick-axe in his hands that was reeled behind him in a prepared swing. He was screaming at the top of his lungs and had heated eyes set on the jailer. The man grew a cold sweat as the boy's shadow enveloped him. "HAA!" The boy swung the axe in an arc into the man face, crushing the man's nose and piercing his face until pressured blood erupted from the new orifice.

The hidden slaves and jailers all stared in shock as the boy killed the jailer approaching his friends. He landed and removed the pick from his face, a feeling of disgust washing his mouth as he steeled himself again. He charged forward and swung the pick again, crushing and destroying a shocked jailer's knee. He reeled back and swung again, causing the jailers to momentarily retreat. They stepped back before moving forward again but heard another noise. Behind them another jailer had his skull crushed by a tattooed boy with a shovel. The boy removed the shovel and charged with his friend, beating and killing several shocked jailers.

The men backed off as the boys fought back, taking revenge on all abuse and pain they had felt over the many years. The boys made the men retreat in fear before they were hit by two large fireballs. The boys were sent flying back, their shirts burnt and smoke coming off their bodies. The boys flew back and bounced off the floor, coughing up spit and blood. They looked up to see the leader of the jailers glaring at them, the scarred cult member snickering behind him. He approached them and stood between their fallen bodies, changing his sight between the two of them. He lifted his leg and kicked Naruto in the gut, causing the boy to buckle in and cough up blood. Jellal tried to retaliate only to be kicked in the stomach as well, causing him to throw up. As the two were stunned by the pain, the man tapped his spear on the floor and an electrical current attacked both the boys.

He turned to his men, the electricity still covering the boys, and motioned them to move forward. They followed his example and reached behind the wood and building equipment. They found several slave children all scared and trembling, trying to escape the grasp of the harsh jailers grip. They were thrown near the center of the path, where the two previously electric covered boys were now lying. They all looked up and shook at the looks of pure hatred and disdain the cult followers were giving them. Naruto tried to stand back up but was stopped as a booted foot belonging to the scarred jailer pushed on his back.

"We can't let this go unpunished." The head jailer said as he looked at the quivering children. He looked between all of them and then toward the two boys on the floor. "I would ask who it was that directed this sad attempt, but I feel like I know who it was." He kneeled down and roughly grabbed the hair of the two boys and lifted them, stoically gazing at the both of them. "Now, which one of you started this?" Jellal growled in pure contempt at the old man while Naruto spit in his face. He breathed in slowly before fiercely smacking their heads back into the ground, causing them to gasp in pain. "We're going to have to punish these brats for insolence." He turned to the other men and lifted the children by their hair and threw them at the members who caught the boys and restrained them.

He slowly turned to the other children. He lowered himself and looked the red haired girl in the eye, "You will never leave this place. These pathetic attempts will only get you killed." She welled up and quivered in place in front of the man. He stood up and turned around, passing his followers and referred back to the men. "Those children will not be fed or nourished for several days as punishment for their insolence. As for these two," he looked at the boys who had lifted their damaged heads to glare at the leader. He turned back around and made and evil smirk, "we'll put them in the detention center for a while. See if that teaches them."

Erza and the others paled at the treatment chosen for their friends. She stood up, ignoring the ghost pain remaining from the singed skin, and tried to grab her friends' hands. She was abruptly stopped and thrown back with the others. She saw them drag her friends into the hallway, tears spilling for her eyes. Naruto noticed that she had looked at him while he was being carried off. He knew that nothing good ever happened to slaves taken to the detention cells. They were broken and beaten when they came back out, mere husks of what they once were. And he knew that she was going to worry about him and Erza. He lifted his head and got her attention, having a faint smirk on his face that silently relayed a message to her.

'I'll be fine. Don't worry.'

She just knew that if he could speak then, he would try to say something like that. But she just knew that that was a lie. She silently cried as she and her friends were led back to their cell. She felt great shame and fear that she had just let her friends get taken away. She silently regretted in pain as she tried to think of what she could have done.

She wished she could have helped them. She didn't want to be this weak anymore.

########Hunter########

Rob waited in fearful silence as the hours passed. It was now close to midnight and the children were still gone. He had heard rumors passed by the jailers that said that some slaves had tried to escape. He tried to control his rapid, worried heart at the possibility that the children may be dead. He remembered the first escape attempt eight years ago that had resulted in the tower almost being destroyed. He remembered the couple that seemed so confident and powerful, and had trusted him with the most important promise of his life. He did not hear from the couple again, believing that the pair had possibly escaped from the tower or may have been killed. He prayed every day after that night that they would still be alive. Because he could not bear the idea of telling her what happened.

Rob heard multiple footsteps approach the cell door, scuffling noises coming from the boots walking across the floor. Several jailers stood at the bars and opened the door, then moved aside as the familiar children were pushed in. The children stumbled forward before falling on the floor. They weakly brought themselves to their knees as the guards all laugh manically before shutting the gate doors and walking off.

All of the children lifted themselves up and looked down in despair. Rob moved forward and rested in front of all of them. They looked up at him and waited for him to say something. He only raised his hand before slapping all five of them across the face.

All of the children were stunned as they raised their hands to stop the fresh stinging feeling across their cheeks. They looked toward Rob who now had his eyes covered by his hair. Erza moved forward and stood in front of him. "I told you," he said as he lightly sniffed. He raised his head to show open eyes with tears streaming down them. "I told you I never wanted to see you hurt like that."

Erza silently sniffed in return. Before she slowly but surely started to break down, her tears falling uninterrupted and body shaking in fear. The other children were not fairing as well as they slowly became overwhelmed by their worry. They all charged Rob and hugged him as he wrapped his arms around all of them and tightly squeezed them. Never wanting to let go.

They spent nearly an hour crying in each other's embrace. After the group had cried until their eyes' were puffy and red, Rob had asked them what had happened. They all took turns explaining their escape plan to head to the ships. How they had moved inside the tunnels and vents towards the dockyard. When they were spotted and attacked which forced them to retreat and. And finally about how Naruto and Jellal were taken into the disciplinary cells after attacking and killing some of the guards.

Rob paled in fear at the knowledge that the two confident boys had been taken to the chambers. He tried to calm himself down but found no result I easing his worry. After helping the children to calm down and telling the, that it would all be alright, he had gotten them to try to fall asleep. But even then, the children still cried silently and rustled in their sleep. All except for Erza, who had just sat against the wall staring at the bars.

"Are you alright Erza-chan?" Rob asked the question even though he already knew the answer.

She sat against the wall and brought her knees to her chest. "I'm fine Rob-jisan. I'm just going to stay up for a little bit."

Rob looked at the girl as he turned around on the floor. He stood back up walked toward her, taking a spot next to her. "You don't have to stay strong anymore you know." He said as the girl just lowered her head into her knees, blocking her eyes from view. "You can just tell me."

He got no answer in return from the upset redhead. He waited in silence and stared at the bars in her place. He continued to do this until he heard a light sniffle from beside him, turning his head to the attention of the little girl.

"It hurts so much Rob-jisan." She lifted her head out of her knees and let her tears fall into her lap. "Why did they h-have to do that? Those i-i-idiots have thems-selves t-taken away for us. We just had to watch as they got t-taken away. I-I had t-to watch h-him smile a-and l-lie to me that h-he would b-be fine." She said as she stuttered in pain and sadness as she tried and failed to hold back her tears. She stayed like that until she felt her grandpa embrace her in a warm hug.

She was surprised until her eyes couldn't keep open anymore and she cried in his chest. "I want to help him!" He quietly shushed her as he patted and rubbed her small back, telling her it would be okay. She continued crying until she passed out; overcome by the exhaustion and emotion the day had piled on her.

Rob shifted and placed her on the floor. He looked back at the bars and let his mind wonder. Despite all his effort, his mind only wondered on the state that the two boys would be in. He slowly clenched his fist as he wished he could have been there. To help and protect them as they tried to run to freedom.

'Please god, let them be safe. I can't even dream of them getting hurt again.' He breathed out and settled into the rock wall. 'I promise that this will never happen again. I will protect them until I die.' He looked up with resolve in his eyes. He stayed up and watched the bars all night, hoping that the boys would be safe.

########Hunter########

The jailer continued to push forward with his whip. Chambering his arm back and forth as the separated roped slapped and shredded the boy's skin. He continued on until he felt his arms get tired again and lowered his arm. He took a deep breath and looked at his work.

The blond boy was hanging from the hook by his tied hands. His whole chest and back covered in lacerations and cuts. Several points on his body were cut deeply by when the torturer had cut the boy with a knife. Blood and scratches covered his whole frame and some of his blood had dripped to the floor.

Several guards were all sitting around as they watched the torture play out. Despite the boy reacting and moving with the attacks, he did not yell or scream in pain. Holding back his howls from excruciating torture as the men grew impatient.

"Damn, why won't this kid beg? We have been whipping and cutting him for hours but no fucking results!" He grabbed the boy's head and lifted him to look him in the eye, "Why won't you break."

Despite all the punishment and anguish, the boy did not lose the fire burning in his eyes. Staring at the man with unyielding anger and will. The man actually backed off at the intense look the boy was sending off at him. He grumbled and stomped back toward the others. "Well, what now?" He questioned as he sat down. The cell doors opened and in walked the master of the cult. The men stood up immediately and saluted the dark haired man with his entire body covered in eccentric robes.

He walked in and spotted the boy hanging from the hook. "Is this him?" He asked a soldier who nodded in return. "You know you have caused quite a lot of trouble" he said as he walked forward and lifted Naruto's head "attacking my men and trying to escape. What should I do with you?" He finished as he lightly tapped the boy's cheek, the boy feeling like he was touched by a burning rod with the feel of that man's disgusting hands in him.

"Sir, should we kill him? If we make another public execution, it could put the rest of the slaves in their place once and for all."

"No no no, that will never do." The master said as he tilted his head on his hand, questioning his choices. "If we just kill this boy it will mean nothing. He has caused a little panic in the guard system and has been seen by those other kids as a leader. If we just kill him, his memory would be strong. Causing the others to continue to try and run." He said as he let out a deep breath. "If we want to really affect them, we should break this boy. Put him in such a state that he will be nothing but a pathetic slab of meat."

The other guards looked between them at what he was implying. "W-what did you have in mind sir."

The master grew a gruesome smirk and dark aura, "We just have to leave a mark, plain and simple. Something etched into him that he will never forget, and will let him know we control this situation." The man leered at the tools lying beside him and picked up a sheathe. He slowly grinned the handle as he pulled out the knife. "And I think we just have to make sure he can 'see' just that." The man said as he turned the blade, the reflection of the metal coming off over Naruto's right eye.

The hallways became deathly quiet. Not a single guard moved or spoke as the noise echoed throughout the entire hallway. The sound of a bloodcurdling scream that made their bones shake in fear.

########Hunter########

As it had come to about eleven in the morning, all of the slaves in the cell were awake. They could barely sleep as they had worried too much as they tried to rest. Shō and Milliana still cried as they had blamed themselves for everything that had happened. Simon and Wally tried to calm them down while Erza continued to stare at the bars.

"Ne-Nee-San?" Erza turned her head and saw Shō sniffling and rubbing his eyes. "I-I'm sorry. This is all my fault. Nii-San and Jellal are probably hurt because of me. If I didn't try to get us to that vent, this wouldn't have happened. I'm sorry." He sobbed as he felt Erza stand up and embrace him. He looked up at her watery but focused eyes.

"Don't be sorry Shō. Naruto and Jellal wouldn't want you to blame yourself. If we gave up a chance like that, they never would have lived it down." She lowered her head and put her face in his hair, he could feel her tears coming onto his scalp. "They'll be fine, I promise." She said to assure herself more than him.

They all stayed in silence, hoping that their friends would be safe. Then, after an entire night of fearfully waiting, the bars creaked open.

The group looked toward the cell door with breathed silence. The jailer kept a stoic face as the bars creaked open and crashed against the stone wall. He looked at the man and the children for a few moments before slowly letting an evil smile grow on his face. He moved aside as a pair of men walked forward "Don't worry; the other one will be ready by tomorrow." The men threw in a small body before closing the doors with a metallic crash and walked away.

The group all gazed in horror and silence at the motionless body lying on his face. His pants and clothes were ripped and torn to shreds. Cuts and bruises evident even with the patches of blood with several deep gashes across his body. His haired was ragged and matted with dry red blood. Even with the stay of fear they were in they could notice that his chest was barely moving, showing that he was still breathing but with small unnoticeable breathes. Erza didn't react. She did not tremble or cry as she slowly approached the unmoving boy. "Wait Erza-chan, I'll-" Rob tried to interject to no result.

Erza slowly reached down and grabbed onto his shoulder. She slowly and gently turned him over on his back to see him. Her eyes slowly widened in horror and she could feel tears begin to fall. She felt her breath quicken and her hands tremble in fear.

"AA-AAHHHHHHHHH!" Erza screamed as she let her tears fall on his damaged face. Trying to hold him as she stared at his empty right socket and screamed in pain. Her screams echoing through the walls.

########Hunter########

"C'mon, say something you little bastard! How did you do it?" The bulky cult man said as continued to beat and punch the small frame of the boy with his hands tied behind a pole. He had decided to use his fists to beat the child instead of the whip and knives. He looked at the little blue-haired boy who did not open his mouth. "Oh I'm going to make you cry you little bastard" the man said as he wiped his forehead. He was prepared to continue when he heard the disciplinary cell doors creak open.

"Well, looks like this one is a problem as well. These little punks just won't give up will they" Jellal lifted his beaten head and looked to the new voice. It was the jailer that had attacked Shō and was beaten by Naruto. The man had a menacing grin as he walked toward them, his hands behind his back.

"What are you doing here?" The larger man said as he looked down at the bony man who chuckled lightly.

"Oh I just wanted to come see how it was going with this one. The other kid was causing some trouble as well so I just thought it was a shared trait." He walked forward and met the bound boy in the eye, happily leering at him. "So you aren't going to talk are you?"

"N-no. I won't give up." Jellal lifted his eyes and glared at the cult man. "We are never going to give up, no matter what you do."

"Yes, your friend downstairs had the same mindset." The man stood up and took a few steps "But that got fixed pretty easy. Now he will probably never try something like that again since he is well broken."

Jellal tried to attack the cult member as his hands were bound to the pole. "Naruto would never give up! You could never break him!"

"Yes I think break isn't the right term. I think separated would be more appropriate term I should use." The man chuckled as he brought his hands out in front of the stunned boy. He opened his closed hands and showed the boy what lied in them, earning widened eyes of horror from Jellal.

In his palm was a severed eyeball, ripped out of its socket by a tool. The severed ball laid in the cult members hand and covered it in blood, the man uncaring if the fluid covering his fingers. But what Jellal had noticed almost immediately was that the eye was blue in color. Jellal felt his stomach drop as he knew only one other person with blue eyes, and that he was being tortured downstairs.

The man extended his arm and angled his hand, letting the eyeball drop in front of him and the boy. He raised his foot and stomped, feeling a squish and hearing a squelching noise. Jellal felt his blood turn to ice as the man bent down into his face and leered at him with a menacing grin. "It is time for you to give up. Every chance, every move you make, we can stop you. You will never be free from this place. Your freedom is just a faded dream that you will never reach. And when you see finally see that, you will know that you are doomed." He stood back up and walked away, passing his fellow guard who smiled at the state the boy was left in.

Jellal heard the sound of footsteps and the shutting of the bar doors. But his eyes never left the floor, where the blood and juice from his friend's eye still rested. He felt his fingers dig into his palm and blood dripped down his arms. He felt a sense of dread fill his chest as he let several tears drop from his eyes. Believing that his friend was dead and that his other family would be punished because of his failure.

For the first time in many years, since he lost his family and came to this hell, Jellal could feel his sense of hope die.

########Hunter########

"Quickly, give me some more rags! We have to cover his wounds and stop the bleeding!" Rob could feel the weight of the situation push down on his shoulders. He tried to cover the open and aching wound of the unconscious boy as he lay on the floor. The other children were doing their best to keep their tears, only letting a steady stream fall down their faces instead of a metaphorical waterfall.

Shō and Milliana kneeled down and made sure that both the guards didn't interrupt and that no one tried to stop them. The youngest of the group were failing to hold back their tears. Their Nii-San/Na-chan was beaten to a pulp and hurt beyond belief. And with Rob-jisan unable to heal him, all they could do was try to help him and hope for the best.

Wally and Simon were both faring well but were still having trouble. They were moving back and forth from their ration supplies to Rob, giving him water and anything else he asked for. They had ripped off their shirts and parts of their pants to give him as impromptu bandages for Naruto. Anything they could do to help their friend get through this process.

And finally, Erza was right beside Naruto and Rob as he tried to fix up his wounds. She held the cloths in place and applied pressure where he requested her to. And while she did this, she held back her tears that clouded her eyes.

Rob was succeeding in covering most of his wounds but could not close them. Without the proper tools and in a rock cell with rationed water and a surplus of rags to use, he could not fix the boy up properly. Now more than ever he had wished he could fix people up without magic, like how Porlyusica had learned to do. He continued to patch up his wounds but could only stop his bleeding.

"Rob-ji-jisan, I-is it wo-orking?" Erza asked as she held back her sobs as best she could. Rob could only continue to try and help him but to no avail. Without a proper way to heal him and close his wounds, Naruto would get infected and sick. And within days he would die. The cuts and opening on his body were too much, and he was still unresponsive after having his eye taken out.

"I'm-I'm sorry Erza-chan" he said with a regretful tone as the girl felt her breathing hitch "I don't think I can help him." Erza could no longer hold her tears; she felt her body tremble and shake as she clutched he knees. The others were still trying to do what they could, but had stopped after hearing what Rob said. They felt a sense of hopelessness rise in their hearts as the idea of their blond friend dying.

"The-re h-h-has to b-be so-somet-thing we can do." Erza tried to reassure herself in a quiet tone.

"I'm sorry Erza-chan, I can't do any-"

"PLEASE HEAL HIM! I DON'T WANT HIM TO DIE. THERE HAS TO BE SOMETHING." She said as she lifted her red eyes and yelled at her grandpa. "WE CAN HEAL HIM! SAVE HIM! EVEN IF HE DOESN'T HAVE MAGIC WE SHOULD STILL TRY! PLEASE, WE CAN'T JUST LET HIM DIE LIKE THIS! HE WANTS ALL OF US TO BE FREE TOGETHER, SO WE CAN'T JUST LET HIM GO! PLEASE!" She pleaded as the others felt their hearts sink.

Rob couldn't help but feel that he had let his pseudo-granddaughter down. The children were crying, Erza was losing hope, Jellal was still gone and Naruto was close to passing. Rob couldn't think of any ways to save this situation. He wanted to tell Erza that he couldn't heal him, but felt that trying to explain would only cause more pain. If only his magic coul...

Wait.

Could that work?

Rob urgently took the rags off the boy's body and piled them under his head, making an adaptable pillow. He started to apply his magic and roam his hands an inch over the boy's injured body. Erza had slowed her sobbing and had watched Rob diagnose Naruto. "Wh-what are you doing Rob-jisan?"

"I'm going to do the best I can to heal Naruto." The surprised Erza looked up at him. "I'm going to implant him with my magic."

"H-how?"

"I couldn't heal him before because he didn't have any magic. And his chakra or even his limited use of Kurama's can't make up for the gap by healing him. But I can give him my magic and use that as a base to create an origin. Then I can use that to use my magic to heal him. And then with that he can gather eternano so he can receive and use magic."

"H-how?"

"I'm going to implant him with my eye." Erza gasped at the concept he had told her. The others were also surprised as they looked toward him. "If I use my Healing magic I can implant my eye into him and that will be used as a medium to gather magic. His body will adapt and form a magic source with the rest of the magic in the air. And I can use that to heal him, even if only partially."

"B-but if you lose your eye, you won't be able to see and help Na-chan?" Milliana said as she and Shō wiped their eyes with their arms.

"Yes, it will be difficult if I implant my own eye, but it is the best choice." He was raising his palm to his eye when he felt two small hands grab his. He lifted his gaze at little Erza reaching out and stopping him. "Erza-chan, what are you doing?"

She looked up at her grandfather with dried and puffy red eyes. "You can't do it as well if you give your eye right?"

"Yes but I don't care. I'll do whatever I can to save him."

"Rob-jisan, he needs you at your best to heal him." She looked at Rob as he gave her a worried look as he followed where she was going with the concept. "Give him my eye." She stated plainly with no change in her voice or expression, even as Rob grew pale white.

"W-what? No!"

"Please Ojii-San, you said I can use magic too, so it should work as well." She said as she tried to persuade the older Fairy Tail Mage.

"B-but Erza-chan, if you did, t-then" Rob lost his words as he felt his reasoning fall.

Erza smiled and tilted her head, her eyes shut. "Rob-jisan, I want to help him with this. He has helped me through a lot and needs my help." She said as she ran her hand through his hair. "I want to show him that I will always have his back. And, more than anything, I want him to see the freedom he has been fighting for. Even if I have to give him my eye."

Rob looked at the girl in shock, knowing that her resolve was firm with how she did not fear the ideas of losing an eye. He swallowed and lowered his head in quilt. He looked at the injured boy once more before steeling himself and raising his hands.

Erza saw Rob lift his hands and hold them in front of her right eye. She closed her eyes as she saw his hands get covered in a light blue magic aura. And she felt her right socket go empty.

########Hunter########

Naruto found himself in the darkness again, nothing in any direction. He remembered the last time he was in this place, six years ago when he first came to the tower. He couldn't wake up again, just like before.

'Erza. Hey Erza!' He yelled in every direction and got no reply. 'Jellal, Simon, Wally, Shō, Milli-chan, Rob-jichan!'

He received no reaction again. Naruto growled and pulled his head back.

'Dammit, anyone!' Silence

Naruto sighed and tried to remember the last thing that happened to him. His friends were captured by the guards, while he and Jellal were put into the disciplinary cells for punishment. And then he remembered the man that pulled out his eye.

Naruto then started to jerk around in slight panic.

Was he dead?

Was this it?

Would he never see his friends ever again?

Naruto stood in the darkness unmoving, with his face shadowed by his hair. He lifted his head and wished he would come out. Not for himself or his safety anymore. His safety wasn't important anymore; he would probably put himself in more and more dangerous situations if he was free. But he did care about the state of his friends.

'I won't go like this. They need my help. I need to help them. I don't care what I have to do anymore; I'll do whatever I have to to help them. I'll bear the sin I preform..'

'But please, let me help them'. He said quietly in the darkness.

Then, a brightly light started to spread around him, covering the once dark space he was in. He felt his whole body covered in the light before he had to close his eyes for protection.

########Hunter########

He could feel the sensation of stone, feeling that he was lying on his back. He felt his whole body was stiff and sore, almost becoming a task to move. He tried to open his eyes but felt that even the faint light around him could burn his eyes. He slowly opened his eyelids, seeing faint shadows through the clouding in his eyes.

He finally opened his eyes to see all of his friends looking down at him in worry. But as he felt himself move and readjust on the floor, they all felt tears in their eyes and thankful smiles grow on their faces. Naruto tried to lift himself up as a faint pain coursed through his body. But felt new jolts of agony as two torpedoes crashed into his chest at Mach speed.

"Na-chan/Nii-San!" Naruto grunted as Shō and Milliana tackled him back to the floor, hugging his heavily bandaged body and never letting go. Naruto coughed and laughed as he slowly brought his hands up and tapped their backs, letting them know he was here and that they were killing him. They let him go as he sat back up. Wally and Simon came next, both giving him a hug as he returned it.

"Naruto-kun." Naruto turned his sore head and saw that his grandfather had addressed him. The old man had teary eyes as he saw his young friend look up an beam a smile at him. Rob leaned down and accepted a hug from his grandson. "I was worried there. I thought you wouldn't make it."

"How am I alright? I feel like I should be dead." He looked down at the large amount of bandages and rags covering his arms, legs and head. He felt sore and painful from any excessive movements he made.

"You almost were. But I healed you enough so that you can move. Now your body is still sore and hurt but you should be fine if you give yourself some time to heal." Naruto looked up at Rob in well believed surprise, already asking the question before even saying it. "I was able to heal you with by transplanting an object from someone who could use magic. It will start to form a magical reserve for you after a few days. With it, I can now use my magic to heal your wounds. And, if you give it a few days to form properly, you will be able to use magic." Naruto slowly grew a smile at what Rob said, becoming excited with the idea that he could use magic.

But as fast as his grin had formed, it slowly faded with a look of worry in his face. "Wh-what was the transplant?" Rob shifted his gaze with a sight of quilt and pain evident in his eyes. Naruto saw a small puddle beside him, which had grown from all the water and blood Rob had used to cover Naruto's wounds. Naruto looked at the small puddle and could see what his grandfather had done.

In his reflection he could see his head and body was covered in bandages. He had some scratches and rough marks still evident but was otherwise fixed up entirely. But what had caught his eye instantly was...his eye. What was now in his right socket was not his old blue eye but a different color all together. His right eye was now a strong, solid brown color instead of the blue pool it once was. Almost instantly, Naruto recognized the color as he had seen it almost every day for most of his life.

He looked up from the puddle and turned his head between everyone he could see. They all tried to avoid his gaze as they knew they wouldn't be able to look him in the eye if he asked. Hidden behind Simon and Wally was a figure trying to make herself scarce. Naruto's eyes widened as he saw her hiding her face behind them. They saw that he had spotted her and slowly moved out of the way.

Erza knew she was being watched and looked toward him. She had a makeshift eye patch over her right eye made from leftover rags. She looked in his eyes as realization slowly dawned on him. "Why?" He asked her as he slowly moved toward her, making sure to not stimulate his wounds too far.

"Because you would have died if I didn't. And you probably would have done the same for me." He looked at her as his eyes continued to widen at the sacrifice she made for him. He lifted his injured hand and covered his new right eye.

"Take it back."

"What?"

"Take it back, please. I don't want this eye if it hurts you like this. Every time I'll see you, I'll think that I took this from you. Why, why would you-" Naruto questioning was stopped as Erza embraced him in a tight hug, causing him to look at the girl at his chest surprisingly.

"I was scared. We were all scared." Naruto looked around as he saw that all of them had lowered their gaze to the concrete. "We thought we were going to lose you. We had to watch as you almost bled to death as we tried to help you. And all I could think of was when you saved Shō and I from those men." She started to shake as her voice seemed to break and lose strength. "We don't want to lose you or Jellal. We want to stay together." She lifted her head form his bandaged torso and looked at him with a watery eye. "Don't ever leave us, okay?"

Naruto felt his heart break and couldn't think of an argument. While he had given up on himself, they were worried about him. She had actually given him her eye to keep him alive.

How could he say no?

He lowered his arms and hugged her back, putting his face in her hair to cover his tearing eyes. "Thank you." Erza nodded her head as she continued to hug back. The others had all moved in closer and joined the two in the embrace.

Even if they were scared and incomplete, their family was here. And they didn't want to lose each other again.

########Hunter########

"Well, it looks like he hasn't broken, huh? Oh well. We've been beating him for almost half a day now. Hahaha." A guard said as he laughed with the other guards as they looked at the source of their attention for hours now. The bloodied tattooed boy had bruises, cuts and whip marks all over his body. His eyes were heavy and he was tired beyond belief. But he could feel his heart fall heavy and his mind cloudy with thoughts. The man stood up once again and started to whip him, "What do you say kid, tell us how a lowly slave like you is sorry and I may stop."

"Shut up you fucking pig."

"What did you say?" The man dropped his whip and started to roughly grab the boy's chin and face. "You would disrespect me, your superior, because you hold on to some foolish concept of your freedom. We will make this R-system and resurrect our god. Then you shall see just what he can do."

"What kind of god dies, exactly?"

"Why you ignorant little-" the man reeled his fist back but was stopped by another cult member who smirked casually.

"Forget it, he isn't worth it. C'mon, I think we should go punish those other kids and check on the blond punk. He probably died out from all the wounds. Besides, the ships are leaving soon. And I would like to see their hope sail away with my own eyes." He led the other cult member out of the cell as he started yelling at the bound boy. The cell doors closed and Jellal was left alone in the disciplinary cell.

"God, pfft. What kind of bullshit is that? What kind of god would let something like this happen? Let children be killed and tortured by his followers? For what, so his grace and love can be spread through force and pain?" Jellal started to shake as the realization of everything that happened to him and his friends was because of these bastards search for their almighty god. "I hate them. I hate all of them. This place, the people, this world. I hate it."

Hate strengthens me...

Jellal felt a sense of fear and dread creep up on him as he hung by a post. He quickly turned his head in every direction trying to find the voice. He then felt a cold wind gather around him.

Those poor, arrogant fools have no idea. They want to revive me but I was never gone. I was just here, watching them as they threw away such great chance and material.

"Who-who's there? Show yourself you bastard!" Jellal screamed as he started to kick the air around him, trying to stress the rope and wood.

And they think that I could be revived into bodily form. It's laughably pathetic that they think I could be revived with just their faith. But without a powerful, oppressive hatred I could never truly be formed. I suppose I should thank them, giving me such a great tool such as you.

"Where are you?! Come out!"

You are very lucky child, very lucky indeed. You have a chance to meet a god. Someone worshipped by the masses as the messiah that will revolutionize their feeble existences.

A cold wind started to pick up around Jellal, forming a barrier of air. The wind changed shape and formed a grotesque skull that floated through the violent winds and met Jellal face to face.

I am Zeref. And your hatred is the reason for my existence. So... Let me help you change this filthy world.

########Hunter########

Naruto continued to look at his feet with absent emotion. He was thinking of everything that had happened over the years. Forced to maim and kill without his will or consent. Losing Kurama and ending up in the tower. Meeting Erza, Rob and Jellal. Finding family in the slaves he met and worked with. And now how he had almost lost it all.

"Are you okay?" Naruto looked up to see Erza watching him. She sat in front of him as he raised his gaze.

"I was just thinking about what I should do. The ships are leaving soon and I can't help but see where this has led us. I'm beaten to hell, you gave me an eye and Jellal could still be hurt."

"So what can you do anymore?" Erza asked her oldest friends as he kept looking at her.

"You know, I've been in places like this my whole life. I was never given a choice of what I could do or where I could go. It has always been just do what I was told or get beaten and killed." He looked at his hands as he drifted off, "So if I could leave here, what would I do? That has always been something I was excited to find out." He said with a smile as he looked at Erza.

She smiled in return and felt her eyes wander down to her toes. "I still want to be free, but I don't know what to do anymore. Escaping feels like a useless effort and we will probably be killed once the tower is done. But I'm sick if this. Watching Shō and everyone get hurt. Seeing them laugh at us because they have weapons. And watching them do this to you. I try to think but-" she clenched her teeth in anger and closed her eye, "but I don't know what to do."

Naruto looked at her, and then tilted his head back and gazed at the ceiling. "We fight."

Erza looked at him surprised as she opened her eyes at what her blond friend had said. "Jellal and I thought that once we reach a point where we can't think of what to do anymore, we stop trying to flee and fight. We may face trials and problems; we could do stuff that would send us to hell but anything better than this place."

Naruto looked at Erza with determined eyes. "We fight for our freedom."

Erza was about to reply but heard footsteps coming toward their cell. She helped Naruto to his feet and brought him to the center with the rest of them. The doors opened and the jailers walked in with smug smiles. The leader of the gang of bastards was the same pussy jailer that had it out for Naruto after the scar. "Well well, look who his up. And dressed like a mummy, classic!" He leered down at the blond boy who shook and growled at the man who condescendingly belittled him. "And how's the eye? Must be hurting right? A horrible ache that just won't go away?" He snarled as he felt his scar throb from his anger.

Naruto continued to shake in barely controlled anger. "Well don't worry; your other little friend must be hurting to. But I doubt he will be a problem anymore." Naruto felt something snap as a growl formed through his clenched teeth. "Now, how about we get another round of hearing you and the kids scream, huh punk" the man yelled again as he raised his weapon to attack again.

Naruto snapped as he jumped from his crouch position at the man, ignoring the screaming pain throughout his body. He impacted against the man and grabbed his staff, then placed his feet against the Nan's torso and pushed off harshly. He spun the spear in his hand once before lunging forward and shoving the weapons main blade deep into the man's chest.

The man felt cold as blood leaked from his sternum and his heart stopped. The man fell forward dead as Naruto panted heavily on one knee, feeling his body's condition catch up with him.

"Yo-YOU FUCKING SHIT!" The other guards pulled their weapons back in preparation to turn the boy to mince meat. As Naruto was about to guard and attack, he felt the staff in his hands pulled out of his grasp. He turned his head slightly to see Erza charge forward with his stolen weapon and moved toward the cult men.

"HAAA!" She swiped the staff in a grand arc and crushed their faces. The men fell back and twitched in agonizing pain as the girl landed between all of them. Erza stood back up and faced all of her friends, who were still shocked at the action her and Naruto had taken. She reached out her hand and motioned for Naruto to take it. "We fight back. That is all we can do." Naruto had a small smile at what his friend had taken to heart as he took her hand and stood back up.

He bent down and picked up another staff and a small sword from one of their sheathes. He turned around and noticed that several other salves form other cells had their heads out of the bars to see what the commotion was. He turned back to the only people he knew after so long. "Our options are gone, but we are left with a choice. We can either wait out our days and die" his eyes hardened as he raised the sword over his head "OR WE SHOW THESE BASTARDS WHY THEY SHOULD BE AFRAID OF US!"

Erza leapt away and swung the staff at the locks of cell doors, letting them creak open and the slaves to walk out. "GRAB A WEAPON AND FOLLOW US, TODAY WE WILL HAVE OUR FREEDOM!" She joined the side of her best friend as all the slaves started to grab whatever they could and held them like weapons. "WE SHALL FIGHT!"

"HAAAIIIIII!" All the slaves yelled as they followed the bandaged boy, eye patched girl and several other children as they charged forward.

########Hunter########

"Hades-sama it worked, I think I have Jellal in our hands." Ultear said as she held the teal orb between her hands, a form of a tied boy with an expression of realized enlightenment on his face. Behind her, the tall bearded dark Mage smiled pleasingly at the new information.

"Good Ultear. Great job. Now, let us see how this plays out." The man silently stood behind her until a loud alarm blared throughout the entire observation deck.

"Master Hades, we have a request report from the tower below us. There is a revolt going on and they need our help. What should we do sir?"

"Ignore it."

"Sir?"

"It is not our concern what those pitiful fools have led them to. They set this fire, now let us watch them burn."

"That's surprisingly dark of you Hades-sama."

"Well I thought those words you relayed to that boy were surprisingly true. So I think I will let them stew in their own filth for a while."

"What about Jellal?"

The old man stopped his retreat to his throne at the question. "Now that we have warped his perspective, I say we watch how it plays out. Let him fend for himself and show what we have to look forward to now." He said as he took a seat at the throne.

########Hunter########

"REVOLT! THE SLAVES ARE REVOLTING!" That was the only warning the man got out as he felt his body be smashed by the mob of slaves beating him.

The slaves charged forward and mauled every jailer they could see, beating them to death and taking their weapons. The slaves grabbed swords and spears and threw them at the cult members, getting the men to retreat. The slaves gathered around any closed cell they could find and broke open the locks on the bars, freeing more of them.

Naruto charged with his spear in hand, jumping in the air and taking out several charging guards. He landed as more of them prepared to attack him. He dove out of the way as Erza appeared above and slashed them with her swords. She turned to Naruto and threw her sword as he tossed her his staff, grabbing the weapons and using them interchangeable to attack between short and long ranges. As more men charged the two front runners of the slave army, two figures jumped out of the group and tackled them.

"This is what you get for messing with Mad Dog Wally." The black haired boy swung his staff and knocked a group of men down, blood spilling from their injured mouths.

Simon charged forward like a bull and jumped in the air, his knee outstretched. "Thanks for making us so strong you bastards." His flying knee collided and knocked down a large cult member as he rolled off the man and continued to punch anyone he saw as an enemy.

Shō and Milliana grabbed two 2x4s and proceeded to stun and injure anyone they could as the older slaves finished the job.

"These slaves think they can win against us! Kill them! We will gather more just stop the rebellion!" A member of the cult guards said as the remaining members charged forward to interrupt the assault.

"Don't be afraid! We outnumber them. Take away their weapons and they are nothing but fools in dresses. We will have our freedom." A slave said as he encouraged the group of stampede of rebels to charge forward. The group met the cult members as they fired low level spells at close range, knocking back some of the slaves. But soon enough they were overpowered, their weapons ripped from their hands and the slaves ending them there.

"Everyone, we must charge the 8th sector now. Don't stop." Erza yelled as most of the slaves cheered in agreement. By her side she saw Naruto stand tall even as some of his bandages were bleeding again and his body grew weaker. Even if he was in no state to fight, Naruto was going to lead this army with her.

Simon pushed passed the other slaves who marched forward to reach the two. "Are you sure? The soldiers are piled up most there." He stood there as his friends followed close to him.

"We have to. Jellal is most likely there and we have to save him." Erza reasoned.

"She's right. We have to save him, he's our family and we will not leave him behind." Naruto said as he straightened himself to look taller and uninjured.

"Are you scared Simon?" Wally teased the bulky boy as he pouted and pushed his nosy friend away from him. He stepped forward and looked Erza in the eye.

"Erza... Do you like Jellal?" Simon asked with a nervous tone as he shocked all of his friends with his question. Wally, Shō and Milliana all had their jaws open from shock. Naruto had stumbled slightly but balanced himself almost immediately, but could feel his heartbeat accelerate. Erza was just staring at him shocked, uncomfortable from the question with a slight blush on her cheeks.

"Why-why are you saying that now?" Erza said as she shifted at the uncomfortable, eerie stares all of her friends were giving her. "Now isn't the time for that." She said to adjust the attention from her to the rebellion.

"Well, I was just wondering if you liked Jellal or Naruto?" She gasped at the inclination he was giving as this time Naruto plainly tripped. She stuttered as she couldn't find the right words to use. Simon noticed this moment of hesitation to step forward and earn her attention. "Erza... I-"

*BOOM*

A loud explosion echoed throughout the battle as everyone looked toward the cause of the noise. Naruto, Erza and everyone looked in wide eyed shock as Simon was sent flying by a massive fireball. The concentrated magical burst had impacted on his jaw and rattled his whole brain as a smoke cloud formed around his chin. He landed roughly as he laid there unconscious.

"SIMON!"

Naruto dropped his weapon and made a mad dash toward his smoky friend. He dropped to his knees as he tried to wake his friend up. As this happened, all of the slaves looked toward the more talented magicians that had fired the first shot. They started to gather up magical energy toward their staffs and fired at the rebellious slaves.

"Oh god! It's the magicians! Run or you'll be killed!" A slave said as he was caught in a flurry of magical attacks from the slave drivers.

Erza stood shocked as she saw all of the slaves just run away from the fight. "You can't give up! We have to fight or we will die!" Erza's words went unanswered as all of the slaves retreated from the battlefield. The only ones left at the center were her and her friends; who were all checking on how badly Simon's condition was. "Please! Come Back!"

The jailers looked to see a young, scarlet haired girl that they presumed to be the leader. Several of them aimed their magical staffs at her and unleashed a massive charge of fireball magic at her. She could only watch in terror as the balls of fire closed in on her. Her friends looked up from where they were taking care of Simon to see Erza being attacked.

Naruto instantly jumped up and sprinted as fast as he could. His legs almost gave out as he felt a rage and anger form in him at the idea of losing Erza. But then, he felt a similar power fill him up like when he was just a child. Some of Kurama's chakra was strengthening him to fight. He continued his charge as he saw a figure get in between Erza and the rapidly approaching fireballs.

########Hunter########

Rob guarded Erza as the attack closed in on them in slow motion. He could feel the girl take in a breath to yell at him to run. He could feel some of the gazes of the other slaves on him as he protected his granddaughter. He had already made his decision.

To keep his promise, he would protect her. Even if it meant he died. He closed his eyes as the attack slowly inched toward him. He opened his eye to see a figure put itself between him and the approaching attack.

Rob felt his wary eyes open in shock and dread as he recognized the figure in his way. Naruto had jumped in and put himself between the old mage and the fire attack. His feet were off the ground as he did a dive before righting himself in the air to cover more of the two precious people behind him.

Rob could feel a sense of dread well up in his chest. If Naruto took an attack like that, with his body as bodily injured as it was. He would most definitely die. But Naruto probably knew that, he could feel the bad shape his body was in. And yet, he still jumped in to protect them. Rob felt a small smile form on his lips at the action his grandson had taken. He remembered how he was as brash and crazy back in his younger days as well. Rob steeled himself as the balls came close to impacting on Naruto.

He wasn't done being crazy just yet.

Naruto felt a pair of old slender arms wrap around his flying form and pull him back. Rob had grabbed Naruto while there was still time, abruptly turning to cover the boy and girl with his body. But with the position of the flying balls, they impacted against his right side and blew up.

*BOOM*

Another massive explosion as Rob was sent flying as a smoky heap as Erza had watched as her grandfather flew. The body fell to the ground with a thud and she just looked with wide, horror filled eyes. Was her Ojii-San? Was Naruto dead? Was she alone again? She felt herself begin to hyperventilate as swords and spears started to rattle.

"Get ready to attack again!"

"Nee-San, get out of there!" Shō said as he and Wally looked on in fear as the men aimed their weapons at her again. She fell to her knees and clutched her head, trying to make all the pain stop. She cried out in pain as more of the weapons started to shake as well, earning the attention of everyone that could see her.

"AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!" She screamed out as the ground underneath her broke apart and a magical seal appeared beneath were she was sitting. The others looked on in amazement as every sword; spear and weapon within a large radius floated up and started to swing. The weapons were moving out and swinging themselves at rapid speed towards the jailers who tried to run away. The jailers were quickly defeated and forgotten as Erza moved the blades to attack any other soldier she could see.

"Uh. Oh god. *Cough cough* rob-ji-" Naruto got out from underneath the protective heap over him to see his badly damaged friend. "Jii-chan!" Rob had burn marks and singed skin over most of the right side of his body. His skin was burning and his right arm had been reduced to nothing but a stub from where it was blown off. "Can you hear me?! Are you okay?!" The burnt body coughed and laughed.

"Okay may not be the right word for this but yes, I'm alive." He said as Naruto breathed out a breath he didn't know he was holding as he went to hug Rob but then thought that wasn't the best idea. He then noticed the sounds of screams and crushing rock behind to see Erza using swords to fend off the jailers.

"Wow! Is Erza using magic?!" He excitingly asked his older friend nodded as he cringed in pain. "Ah, Jii-chan, we need to get you help."

"Don't worry about me Naruto-kun, I'll be alright." Rob said as he clutched his stump to mask the pain. "Just worry about Erza-chan. And Jellal-kun, they need you." Naruto looked back at him before nodding his head and dashing to Erza.

Erza continued to make her blades dance as she tried to get revenge for all the damage these men had done to her. When she felt a person come from behind her and hug her tight. She turned her head to see Naruto's blond hair on her back. "Na-Naruto?"

"Don't worry, I'm right here. And Rob-jichan is okay as well. Well... not really okay but he his alive." She turned her head in his embrace to see Rob on his knees, being helped by Shō and Milliana as Wally lifted Simon on his back. She looked at Naruto as he held up a confident look. "We're all here, and we'll all make it out. I'm going to make sure Simon and Jii-chan are all right, so can I trust you to grab Jellal." He said as he lifted his arm with a fist.

Erza wiped her tears and smirked back at him. She raised her arm and they both tied their arms together in a promise. "I'll see you here again right. You've got my back." Naruto nodded and they both went their separate ways. Naruto slinging Rob's only arm over his shoulder as Erza grabbed two swords and charged toward the cells.

########Hunter########

Naruto ran forward holding onto Rob for dear life. Rock breaking and dust explosions from stray magic blasts from jailers clouded his eyes. He saw Wally and everyone take Simon in a different direction. Towards another ship as they had been separated from each other by the explosions. Naruto arrived at a boat and saw that some of the slaves were already preparing to take off. He boarded the ship and brought Rob with him. He was about to let Rob down as another older slave interrupted him.

"Hey, hey no! We can't take someone as injured as him with us. He'll take up most of our supplies."

"Just let him stay here for a minute dammit. We wouldn't be here right now if he didn't save us!" Naruto yelled leaving no room for argument from the older man. He grumbled and left the boy to take care of the old man.

"Stay here Jii-chan, I'll be back as soon as I know Erza and Jellal are okay." He got a slight nod from the mage as he left him propped on the rafting. Naruto ran off the deck as several other children watched him leave. One of them was the same child he had argued with last week. Erik huffed as he started to prepare the ship for departure.

########Hunter########

"W-Wait, let's not be too hasty now." A guard said as he and some other jailers backed away in fear at the approaching figure. "Ca-can we say we're sorry. Please." He sweated bullets as the red haired girl slowly walked forward with two massive swords in her arms. She looked up and glared.

"Move."

She barely whispered as she charged forward and cut them down, sending them flying and turning in the air in pain. The men fell down and cried as they were left to writhe in pain at the circumstances for hurting the slaves. Erza ran forward and saw Jellal with his hands tied to a post. She dropped her weapons to lighten her load and sprinted forward. She arrived at the boy and stood on her toes as she untied the rope around his hands.

"Jellal, oh thank goodness you are here. We are fighting back so it's alright now. We are winning. We'll be free by the end of the day." She let the boy fall on her as she hugged him to make sure he was alright. He slowly lifted his arms to return the embrace, hugging her tightly. Erza smiled as she was happy to know her friends was okay. Then she noticed that his grip was slowly strengthening.

"Er...Za..." He said tiredly as he felt the girl try to back away from his hug. "We don't need to run anymore." Erza tried to look at him as he continued his embrace. He lifted his head to look at the hallway in front of him, his eyes grew evil and a wicked smirk was on his face. "Our true freedom is right here, in the tower." He let her go as he stumbled forward, swaying from his exhaustion.

"Je-Jellal what are you talking about? Naruto, Ojii-San and everybody is waiting on the ships. We have to-"

"Erza, there is not freedom in this world." Erza stopped as she listened to her friend's words. "That thing that Naruto, you and I and everyone has been striving for is nothing but a dream. The freedom outside is poor and fleeting, but that doesn't mean we can't make our freedom." Jellal turned around and looked at Erza as his grin showed all of his teeth.

"I seek the only True Freedom in this retched world... I seek Zeref's World."

Erza felt her breathing stop as her friend approached the fallen guards. "I think I know what they were looking for. This world they were looking for is there but they just can't reach it. These pitiful fools could never reach the world their god was aiming for." He marched forward to the master of the cult and laid his foot atop his skull. "And you said useless trash wasn't needed, right?"

He crushed the man's skull in an instance as blood jetted out and covered his foot.

Erza felt dread fill herself as she saw the boy she had known disappear as he walked forward and massacred all the cult members that begged for mercy. He easily swiped his hand and sent the men crashing into the walls, instantly killing them. He laughed like a maniac as the blood followed down to his feet as Erza cried silently. A member stood up and tried to run.

"You hate these guys right Erza?" She nodded her head in fear at his question. "Well I've seen that you and Naruto have already killed some of them to stop them from killing everybody. So what is wrong of when they try to beg for freedom, I just ignore and continue." He pushed his hand forward as an invisible force shot out and obliterated the man entirely.

"Je-Jellal, not like this. We have to escape. Come with us and we'll help you."

"There is nothing wrong with me Erza. In fact, I couldn't be better. I've seen the light and it shows me that freedom is so close at hand. Stay here Erza." He extended his hand to the quivering girl "Help me change this world."

"N-no!"

Jellal chuckled before lifting his hand and pushing the girl back with his magic. She was sent flying from the force and fell down the path to the work section again. She lifted her head but felt another powerful force explode behind her, crumbling the rock wall behind her. She looked out to see a ship leaving the dock. Jellal slowly walked in front of her and lifted his hand covered in his magic.

"Look at that, people are fleeing from our freedom. I guess I should punish them."

"No don't!"

A massive push shot from his palm and exploded the back of the ship, killing dozens of slaves and sinking the ship. Erza looked in horror as she heard screams coming from the sinking vessel. "Wh-what have you done?! You could have killed our family!" She said as a pair of shadow hands came from beneath her and choked her.

"It's alright, no one we knew was on that ship. Okay maybe Jii-San but that's alright." Erza felt her eye widened and tear as she heard her friend say he did not care for their guardian's death. "It's all right Erza, I'll take everyone we know and keep them here. We will build this tower and save ourselves. And you can join us if you wish."

Erza shook her head. "Alright, then. Maybe I should throw you out or kill you. Use that as a way to- MHHUU?!" Jellal felt a fist crash against his face as he was sent rolling down the hill. The shadow hands released Erza as she gasped for fresh air. She looked up and saw Naruto wheezing as his fist was extended out where Jellal once was.

"*Huff huff* WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING JELLAL?!" He screamed as his friend stood back up and wiped his chin of blood. "What do you think you are doing, attacking Erza? If I didn't stop you, you would have killed Erza!" He quickly walked down the hill to help Erza up but was forced back with a blast of wind, sending him crashing against a wall and shouting in pain.

"That was my intention Naruto, I had to state my point." He stretched out as he threw another attack and cracked the foundation again, causing rubble to fall close to Naruto and crush him. "I was just telling her that we have to finish this tower if we wanted to earn our true freedom. And that I was helping those people out on the boat by sinking them and letting them be free" Jellal said with a smirk. Naruto looked out at the wrecked boat and felt his heart sink.

"Th-that was the boat with Rob-jichan! You killed him! Why? Why would you do this Jellal?!"

"Because I'm going to change this world." He said as more rubble fell from higher levels as the foundation of the scaffolds started to break down. "I will continue this work, complete the tower and revive Zeref. I will change how we treat everyone of course; fear is no way to control people. But I do think sacrifices will need to be made." He then turned his cold eyes on his friends, "And I think you two will be perfect."

Naruto and Erza stared in horror at what their friend had become. Erza felt tears fall from her eyes as despair sank in. Naruto shook as he clenched the dirt and felt anger boil in his center. The same rage and power filled his blood and body. His hair started to become rough and his whiskers became rough and scarred. He lifted his head to glare at his former partner in crime. His right eye brown but his blue eye had seemed to change to crimson red.

"You think I'll let you do that?" Naruto said as his nails grew longer and he felt a rage unlike any other since he was a child. He launched himself off the floor and straight at Jellal, landing a devastating punch to his friend's gut. "I'll beat some sense into you! THEN WE'LL SEE WHAT YOU HAVE TO SAY!" Jellal was hurled back from the attack, his body crashing against a stone pillar and breaking it, Jellal's body feeling numb from the attack.

He stood up and swayed a little, even as his blond counterpart threw himself at him again. Jellal lifted his head and supplied magic to his hands again, smacking Naruto away and sending him crashing. "YOU THINK YOUR FALSE SENSE OF FREEDOM AND HOPE DOES ANYTHING! YOUR IDEA OF FREEDOM IS NOTHING BUT A FALSE NOTION IN THIS DARK EXISTENCE! I SHALL SHOW YOU WHAT TRUE FREEDOM IS!" Jellal used his magic to propel himself and meet the boy where he had been stuck in a crater.

The two of them exchanged several hits and blasts with each other. The walls and support of the cave's standing falling as the two exchanged fierce attacks. Erza watched in fear as her two closest friends fought each other like monsters. Naruto becoming strong through his anger at what Jellal was saying while Jellal seemed to have gained abilities through his fractured mental state.

Naruto viciously uppercut Jellal in his chest, earning a long painful groan from the blue boy. But Jellal repositioned himself and blasted Naruto downward, making his body crash to the floor and create a crater. Naruto ignored the state his body was in and tried to stand up again. He felt two arms encircle him and keep him in place. "E-Erza?!"

"Naruto, that's enough! We don't have to fight him! We can leave and find a way to help!" She lifted her head and looked to Jellal who was standing on one of the only remaining sodden supports as stones fell around him. "Jellal, please let us leave! Let the slaves go and be free! Please!"

Jellal smirked as he looked down at her as the walls crumbled around the three of them. "I'm sorry Erza, I can't let them go. I want them to see the new world with me?" He said as Erza lost hope and Naruto glared at him. "But it's all right, I'll let you two go" he raised his hand and gathered as much magic as his injured body could.

"I'LL LET YOU TWO GO DOWN TO HELL FIRST! GO ON, BE FREE!" Jellal threw down his hand and let a massive invisible force sail down toward them. Naruto's eyes widened as he released the hug Erza had on him and pushed her back, out of the blast's way. Erza was shocked as she saw Naruto push her back. She got her balance and shot her hand out but it was too late.

*BOOOOMMMM*

A massive eruption occurred where Naruto was kneeling, causing the ground to break apart and a shockwave to burst forth. Erza was caught in the resulting blast and thrown out of one of the holes the fight had caused. Her body flew out of the tower's dust cloud, injured and unconscious as she fell into the crashing ocean's waves. Naruto had passed out at the center if the attack, eyes rolled into the back of his head as blood came out of his mouth. His motionless body followed along with the falling rubble as he was sent down into a dark abyss.

Jellal stood on the swaying support beam and let out a sigh. "Well this just won't do. I think I may have ruined all the work and set us back a little." He looked from the crumbling tower to the last sailing ship he could see. Already well over a few thousand yards away. They must have left after they heard the first ship sink. "And there goes all the work force." He was about to move but cringed in pain at all the damage the torture and Naruto did to his body caught up.

Jellal thought through his options. He pounded his closed fist into his palm as he got an idea. He used his magic to propel himself forward and closer to the sailing ship.

########Hunter########

"No please, we have to go back! Nii-San, Nee-San and Jellal are still in there." Shō tried to persuade the older salves as tears fell like hail from his eyes. Wally and Milliana also sobbed as they watched over an unconscious Simon with a bandaged head and chin. The older slaves had already sailed the boat after the first ship sank, even at the protest of the children.

All the slaves ignored the childish pleas as they sailed forward. A slave was reeling up the rope at the side as he saw something floating in the water. He focused his eyes as he saw that the figure was a small boy. He raised his hands and cupped his mouth "Man overboard!"

The other slaves all stopped and grabbed whatever life preservers they could find. They reached the side of the ship and threw the floats toward the floating boy. He weakly reached out his hand and grabbed it as the others pulled him in. The boy was pulled to the deck as he threw up and coughed up a cup of seawater.

Shō pushed through the crowd and saw a familiar face clearing his lungs of fish piss. "Jellal!" He shouted as he dove forward and hugged the older boy. The boy did not hug back as Shō tried to get his attention. "Jellal did you see what happened? Are you okay? What about Nii-San and Nee-San? Are they-" he saw Jellal shake in place "Jellal?"

Jellal tried to hold back his sobs but failed as tears fell nonstop from his eyes. "S-she killed him."

"Wh-what Jellal? W-who killed who, what happened?"

"Erza! Erza killed Naruto! She went crazy and killed him as they tried to rescue me!" He buckled down and sobbed in his hands; Shō had an expression of horrified shock but did not change. "They saved me from the torture but she just killed him! Then she blew up the other ship with Jii-San on it! She went crazy from the pain and tried to kill all of us! She is going to destroy this whole world! She betrayed us! Erza betrayed us!"

Shō fell to his knees as Milliana and Wally looked on in horror. Soon enough, all three of them started to cry. They all sat there as the other slaves began to panic as well, wondering what was awaiting them at shore. The ship then descended into a party of screams and uproarious laughter.

On the floor of the deck, Simon watched with a heavy eye. He turned his head to see his friends crying. He wanted to ask what was wrong but he already knew. Even if the pain was supposed to knock him out, he was still awake for everything that had happened. He wanted to scream in agony like everybody else but noticed something. While everyone was distracted with the turmoil playing out, Jellal still had his face in his hands. But instead of the emotionally damaged hero they thought he was, he had slightly lifted his head to show off a maniacal grin.

Simon furrowed his only eye in suspicion. Whatever had happened? Whatever really occurred on that island? One thing was certain in Simon head.

Jellal was lying.

########Hunter########

"Sorry master, I suppose he may have gone too far with the fight. The tower is broken. What shall we do now?" The raven haired to said as she played with her teal orb in front of the former guild master.

"We will use this as a chance to scare the slaves back to that island. But I suppose I should use this as a chance to get him to start training." He shifted in his thrown and looked to his servants. "Did you really the message to Brain? About the arrival a mile off from Hargeon dock."

"Yes sir, he has arrived at the spot and is awaiting the arrival of the tools you promised him." Hades nodded his head as he looked down at the wreckage. The tower's top had crumbled down and caved in on itself. The wreckage from the first ship was still floating around near the coast of the island. And if you would look around the wreck, you would see the figure of two sailboats sailing away from where the ship once stood. One carrying the package to his fellow dark guild master, the other carrying something else.

"I suppose we don't need to stay here any longer. Set course back to land. Prepare a channel lacrima for when Brain makes contact with us again. I need to make good on the favor he owes me now."

Ultear looked down at the wreckage of the once incomplete tower. "It's a shame about that blond boy. He was quite cute and feisty. I wouldn't have mind to keep him around with us." She then saw how her master was paying close to no attention to her. "Especially with how he almost threw your plans back by himself, even so close to death."

Hades stopped his think and remembered what he saw the blond boy do near the end of the projection. "Yes but it is for the best. If he had survived," Purehito thought of the consequences "I dread to think how he would have stopped us if he could."

########Hunter########

The waves pulled back and forth upon the sandy beach. Only about a thousand yards away from Akane Resort, a figure washed up on the sand. A beaten, damaged red head girl with torn rags and a wrapped eyepatch soaked off her head.

Erza felt the cold salty water crash against her back as the waves moved over her. She felt some strength return to her limbs as she crawled out of the water. She coughed up some sea water and wiped the stinging sensation out of her eyes with her wet arms. She took a few deep breathes in as she tried to remember the situation she was in.

She felt her arm shake as tears fell down her face and onto her hands. The pain and loss of everything that had happened building up on her. The loss of the closest thing she ever had to a parent. She didn't know what had happened to her friends or even if they were still alive. Jellal's decent into madness in the tower. And how Naruto had possibly given his life away to save hers.

Erza looked up and saw the moon hang in the sky. It was larger and more brilliant then she had ever seen it before through the bars. The stars and clouds filling the horizons as all that was left for her to see was the massive rock. It then dawned on Erza that she was finally free.

She remembered what her whiskered friend had told them to do when they were finally free. Even at the loss of everything she knew and loved. She was out. She lifted her head and let out a long, painful cry and scream. Everything that had happened in her life, the pain and suffering, poured out of her as her tears fell to the ground.

Erza Scarlet was finally free.

########Hunter########

Done.

Okay, now this is the longest thing I have ever written in my whole life. Even my essays at school would feel inadequate and tiny at the sight of this massive giant.

So, that is how Erza got off the island. Next chapter will hopefully come out by the end of the year. And then more chapter after that when I can get 'em out.

And before you start flaming me about how I killed him off and how this story is just going to be Erza with the memory of Naruto let me say this.

NARUTO. ISN'T. DEAD. Everyone just thinks he is. But he is still alive, just let me write the next chapter.

On a lighter note, I hope everyone enjoys their individual holiday season. May your times be merry and sweet and here is hoping the egg nog doesn't go bad.

RxR Please

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, etc.

Goodbye.