AN: *Sigh* When will I get more reviews? Oh, when, when, when... There was a little mistake last chapter: Erza, Natsu, Wendy, and Makarov have seen Jellal in person before; Lucy and the rest have only seen images of him (I forgot about that magazine Lucy has in Episode 2: Jellal's picture's in it). So I managed to confuse even myself last chapter!

Still, I hope you read and please please please give me some reviews!

Chapter Five

Jellal felt very nervous, waiting for Erza to wake up. Hopefully she'd know more about what Hibiki mentioned earlier (destroying the Magic Council, being made a slave by someone named Ultear), but what if he didn't like what she'd reveal? What if... he had done those things of his own will? No; Jellal shook his head firmly. Natsu wouldn't have defended him if he had been truly guilty.

Finally, after what seemed to be an eternity, Erza's eyes fluttered open. She sat up slowly, stifling a groan and holding a hand up to her head. Jellal stayed back a little bit as Natsu, Lucy, and Hibiki swarmed her. Wendy stayed back by his side, looking very nervous and unsure, like she didn't know if she was welcome to join in.

Erza simply gave a smile at her guildmates and Hibiki, even though she couldn't hear anything over them. With a thought, she Requipped out of her Flight Armor and into her usual Heart Kreuz. Then she stood, albeit still a little shaky, and dusted herself off before turning to Wendy. "Thank you, We-" the Titania started to say, but that was when she finally noticed Jellal.

Erza's brown eyes widened, and her mouth opened in shock. "J-Jellal...? Y-you're..."

Looking at her now, Jellal felt the breath catch in his throat. She was so much more beautiful than he'd first thought. His gaze focused on her beautiful scarlet hair that tumbled down her shoulders and ended a little below her waist. Her brown eyes were light and shiny with the tears that began to fill them.

"Erza..." he finally said.

Without any warning, Erza ran toward him, expression twisted with some unidentified emotion, and her body slammed into Jellal, arms wrapping around him in a tight embrace. Surprised, Jellal embraced her in return without even realizing it. Then the touching moment was over when she punched him in the head, eyes glowering at him. "Ow!" he yelped. "What the hell?!"

"You idiot!" she roared. A lone tear snaked down her cheek as she continued. "You could've died from that much etherion, you stupid moron," Erza choked out. "Why did you do it?" She thumped her fist lightly on his chest. "I-I might not have ever seen you again, Jellal."

"Because I would gladly die for you," Jellal whispered, the words slipping out of his mouth before he realized what he had just said. "You mean everything to me, Erza. Even if I don't remember why."

Then Erza took a step back, eyes wide and surprised. "What?" she asked.

"His memory's gone, Erza," Natsu said. "He can't remember anything but your name." Wendy looked shocked and guilty, and Lucy put a hand on the young girl's arm to comfort her. Jellal nodded, telling Erza that Natsu was right.

"But what do we do now?" Lucy asked. When everyone looked at her, the blond went a little pink but continued. "The Oracion Seis are all still out there! And do we even know what they're after?"

"Nirvana," Jellal said. "It's something called Nirvana."

Erza looked at the blue-haired wizard in surprise, as did Hibiki. "How do you know, Jellal?"

Jellal looked annoyed as he tried to explain. "That was another thing that I knew when I awoke. It was Brain's voice, saying, 'I must have Nirvana'. And, for some reason, I know exactly where to find it."

Hibiki's eyes widened, and he immediately called up his Archive Magic to see if he could find anything related to this 'Nirvana'. It could be a dangerous and powerful artifact, or maybe a code name for a person. What if... what if the Black Wizard Zeref had made it? The Blue Pegasus wizard paled at that thought and shuddered. He'd heard about that Lullaby incident from Master Bob, and if Nirvana was possibly made by Zeref... that was too horrible to think about.

"Why would you know that?" Natsu asked. Erza raised an eyebrow. "Did you forget already, Natsu? Jellal was a Council member as well as a Wizard Saint. And as such, Jellal had access to a lot of information that other wizards don't. And ever since we were children in the Tower of Heaven, Jellal has always had an interest in arcane and ancient knowledge."

Natsu had to concede the point. He may not be intelligent in the way Levy was and could be dense some of the time, but Natsu was smart in his own way. He knew very well that it wasn't just how much magic power he had that made Jellal so dangerous; it was the sheer knowledge of magic the slightly older man possessed. If Jellal hadn't been fighting against Ultear's control, if he had actually wanted to win that fight, and if Natsu hadn't thought of eating that Etherion for a power boost (though he had regretted it later when he ended up really sick), the Wizard Saint probably would've ended up winning that fight.

"I think we should still head there," Jellal said. "Brain wanted me revived so that I could lead him and the Oracion Seis to Nirvana; I can just as easily lead our group to its location. And we can dispose of anyone tailing us."

Erza, Natsu, and Lucy look at each other, communicating silently about whether they would do it or not. Hibiki continued tapping away on the Archive keyboard while Wendy stayed close by Jellal's side, looking a little uncomfortable.

Finally, Erza nodded. "I believe that would be the best course of action for now. But we will need to keep an eye out for the Oracion Seis, especially the one called Cobra."

"You mean the one who injured you?" Lucy asked. Jellal's eyes narrowed. He did what? "Why?"

Erza looked disgruntled. "He can hear our thoughts; that's why I had such trouble with him. Brain might send him to follow Jellal." Lucy nodded in understanding.

"Let him try," Jellal muttered darkly. "I doubt Cobra could take all of us on at once." With that, Jellal turned and began walking off into the woods. "Let's go," he called back to them. "Nirvana is this way."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

The walk to Nirvana was very quiet and tense; Natsu, Jellal, and Erza were keeping their senses peeled for any sign of Cobra or another of the Oracion Seis following them, Hibiki was still using Archive to try and find information on Nirvana, and Lucy and Wendy were making sure the Blue Pegasus wizard didn't trip over a tree root while walking. "Where's Gray? And the other Blue Pegasus members?" Erza asked quietly.

Natsu shrugged. "Popsicle's probably still fighting that Racer guy."

"I don't know where Ren and Eve are," Hibiki said. "They might have gotten cornered by some enemies. And Ichiya vanished a while ago."

"I hope they're okay," Lucy said worriedly. "All the Lamia Scale members went off somewhere a while ago; do you think that they could've been found by one of the Oracion Seis?"

As Erza was about to reply, Jellal and Natsu froze. The Dragon Slayer and Heavenly Body Mage turned around at the same time, both men snarling in anger. Natsu leaped behind them and Jellal followed; in a few moments, with a short scuffle, Jellal and Natsu heaved a very familiar figure over to the rest of the group.

"Cobra!" Erza growled, snatching a sword out of thin air. "So I was right."

Cobra sneered, but when Jellal let out a growl, sounding similar to Natsu, the Oracion Seis member stopped. "What now, Fairies?" he spat maliciously. "Gonna leave me tied up? Leave me here so I can't fight you for Nirvana?" Natsu picked Cobra up by his jacket and brought his fist back to punch him, but then there was a furious hiss and the large purple snake Cobra always had with him leaped out of the bushes, fangs bared.

Natsu yelped in shock, mouth dropping and eyes bugging out as Jellal, of all people, leaped over the group and tackled the huge snake. Cubellios and Jellal tumbled over each other, the wizard grunting as he tried to pin the snake's head down and prevent Cubellios from biting him. Cubellios was hissing and spitting in rage, writhing in the Master of Death's grip, until Jellal finally lost his patience.

~Settle down!~ Jellal bellowed, unknowingly slipping into a strange language. Cubellios finally stilled as she was overwhelmed with shock; this man was a Speaker? But how? Their audience, even Erza and Cobra, openly gaped in absolute confusion. What had he said? All they'd heard was some hissing.

~A Ssspeaker?~ Cubellios hissed, confusedly. ~I thought that the Art wasss lossst long ago.~

Jellal slowly straightened, wondering what the hell he'd gotten himself into now. ~A Speaker? What is that?~

~Sssomeone who can ssspeak the Ssserpent Tongue!~ Cubellios hissed angrily. ~Most humansss can only hear hissing when we ssspeak; but ages ago, there were magesss who could talk like usss.~

"Jellal...?" Erza called, deciding to cautiously approach, keeping a wary eye on the snake and one hand on her sword. Jellal turned to look at her, looking just as confused as her.

"I... think it's alright, Erza," the blunette said. "Apparently I can speak to all snakes, which is a Lost Magic according to her." Cobra could only look at the Heavenly Body mage in shock, eyes wide.

"Y..you can understand her? You can hear Cubellios?" he rasped.

"Well, I can't read thoughts, human or otherwise, but I can understand what she speaks," Jellal said, shrugging. Cobra only gaped at him, unable to speak or move due to the revelation he'd witnessed. After all, it was not every day you witnessed someone with a Lost Magic practice that ability. (Wendy was an exception; Healing Magic was apparently part of the domains of Sky Dragons. Didn't really make sense but then again this was magic.)

"So what do we do with this guy?" Natsu asked, one lip curling up as he looked at Cobra. He wasn't about to forget that it was Cobra's fault Erza almost died.

Jellal looked at Cobra, then locked gazes with Erza. The two silently communicated for a few minutes, then the blue-haired wizard said, "We'll take him with us. I do not trust you, Cobra," he looked at the man in question, "But I will not give you a chance to harm Fairy Tail again. Get up."

Cobra got to his feet. Part of the Oracion Seis or not, he was very outnumbered. And Jellal Fernandes was a Wizard Saint (even if formerly), which was almost unbelievable due to his young age. And for some reason, he couldn't hear Jellal's thoughts at all. Just...silence, which was unnerving.

He was surrounded by Fairy Tail, none of them relaxing near him. Cubellios curled around his shoulders, hissing quietly to herself. But Cobra was more focused on listening to Jellal and Hibiki's quiet conversation. The Archive Mage looked a little panicked. "Nirvana is... it's unbelievable," he gasped. "It's supposed to be the result of an entire tribe's work, when the world was engulfed in the terrible wars 400 years ago. There are a few notes from well-known scholars that the name 'Nirvana' comes from the tribe's name for peace."

"What was the tribe?" Jellal asked.

"They were called the Nirvits, apparently. But shortly after the wars stopped, there's no mention of the tribe. It's like they vanished from Earthland completely."

"And what did you find out about Nirvana?"

Hibiki grew very solemn. And even Cobra, who had heard a little of Brain's plan for the ancient weapon, found that he didn't precisely want to know what the Blue Pegasus wizard would say next. "Nirvana was made to switch light with darkness. I'm not sure how, but the few ancient texts that survived revealed that there are three different stages to Nirvana's magic. I... couldn't find any details, though."

Jellal shook his head. "The ability to switch darkness and light... no wonder Brain wants to use it so badly. He could convince every single guild in Fiore to attack each other and tear themselves apart. And even those who can't use magic would still fight. I don't think there is any defense against this."

"Look!" Erza said, pointing ahead. There was somebody unconscious on the ground in front of them, but when Erza turned the body over, they discovered it was Erigor the Reaper. "What happened to him?" the redhead asked.

Natsu laughed. "I fought him, of course! Can't believe he's still unconscious, though; I thought he was tougher than that!"

Jellal was looking at Erigor contemplatively, head tilted to the side. Erza raised her eyebrow, and Jellal said, "My clothes are torn, and he looks about the same size as me..." Erza sighed but nodded. Soon the once-feared Reaper was stripped down to his light blue boxers and Jellal moved behind some trees and bushes to change out of the ripped clothes.

"Well, it's a little snug but it'll do for now," Jellal said, adjusting one sleeve. The shirt was still short-sleeved and a deep shade of purple, but the pants were pale gray instead of black. The jacket reached all the way down to his knees and was trimmed in bright yellow, with white bands around his arms near the elbows and two red medal-like ornaments on both sides of his chest. Erza nodded. Jellal looked a lot more in charge now that he wasn't wearing torn and ripped clothes.

Funny, but Jellal had always been their leader, even back in the Tower of Heaven. He'd never proclaimed himself as such, it had just happened. He helped them, protected them however he could, and did his best to reassure them all. He cared for them, genuinely.

"How far is it to Nirvana from here?" Natsu asked, eyes scanning the trees for anything out of place.

Jellal gave a small, mischievous smile. "It's where the tree glows silver." Then he started walking again, leaving the young Dragon Slayer gaping in disbelief.

"What is that supposed to mean?! Jellal!"

You know, I never understood why Hibiki kept his knowledge of Nirvana from the group. He knew more of what they were facing than anyone else, so why did he just keep silent? So in this AU, Hibiki had no knowledge of Nirvana from Master Bob.

I hope you guys like this chapter! Don't forget to send this story some love!