Merry Christmas everyone! Wherever you are, either the day just started, in the midst of it or ending soon. Hope you have lots of fun.

Here I come with a new chapter. I haven't been working much on the fic at the moment. Updates will be slow so I will try to remind readers on some settings from this series as and when I need to. Thanks for the faves and follows.

This chapter will introduce a character named Elsa Knightwalker. Of course if you are fans of Fairy Tail, you might have guessed that she is based Erza Knightwalker. As for who exactly she is, you will have to read on. She is a weapon mage of the former Dragneel Clan.

Thank you ahuna67 for the beta. Fairy Tail is not mine. Please read and review.

Chapter 3: The Rescue and the Decision

The group who remained in the guild gathered around Jellal. Jellal sighed. He had no clue, no access to any updates the Magic Council might have on hand. He regretted having forfeited his Wizard Saint status thanks to the sinister scheme by the Grimoire Hearts.

Mest had asked him if he was willing to come back to the Council (in respect that Jellal may not want to reveal himself in public yet despite all allegations against him had been lifted) after escorting him out from his visit with Natsu. Jellal decided to give it a thought but deep down, he had decided not to return as he had a much more important mission to fulfill: to keep his guild strong and ongoing even without the core members. They couldn't collapse of the weight of the tragedy, they needed to hang on, and Jellal had to be there for them.

Jellal knew that Natsu might be the answers to his doubts and the Council knew that. The Magic Council would not let him off because of this. He had been pacing around the guild deep in thought. Natsu looked too weak and frail to be able to endure more of the torture from the Council. What could he do in order to save him? The crime Natsu had committed and liable to was too much for him to be able to fight for his freedom.

The book he had been holding to fell off from the bundle he carried. That was the book he managed to get from Elsa, the woman Master Makarov had asked him to meet up with. The key to the removal of the Zeref magic. Despite that, Elsa had warned Jellal against using it on Natsu.

*Flashback*

"I hate to admit. You are good! Still as cunning as ever." Elsa whose face reminded Jellal of his ex-wife panted looking down in defeat. She was caught off guard when she heard of the survival of the Dragneel Twins.

"You are pretty strong too. How many years had there been? I didn't expect that you were studying magic weapons under the Dragneel Clan. You kept your secret well." Jellal approached Elsa Knightwalker and offered his hand to her who accepted a bit reluctantly. "You know I had always wanted to defeat you. I despised you." Elsa muttered bitterly. "I trained hard for this but you are indeed as powerful as people had described, Jellal. It still pisses me off that you flirted with me because you like my hair colour which resembles the apples." Elsa passed Jellal the book. With that, her responsibility towards the clan she served had ended.

"Thanks for the book." Jellal lifted the book up to have a good look. Mission accomplished. "Let's talk again to catch up. I need to rush." Jellal smiled. He would love to apologise to her but he didn't have the luxury of time that day. He took off immediately.

"Is it really true that Young Masters, Natsu and Tsuna…"

"Yes. They survived." Jellal stopped in his path and replied. "Natsu, he…" Elsa cut him off as she knew the rest as Makarov had briefed her during their communication. She was not told the detail other than Zeref was awakened in a new vessel. Elsa had more or less understood what her mistress Elie was trying to say in the book. Hence, she knew the complication.

"It's the best if Young Master can get through this and gain control of this magic. If not, probably it is better to put him out of misery."

*End Flashback*

"You know Elsa, I'm not going to end Natsu. I will save him." Jellal smirked as he picked up the book. Enlightened on what he was going to do next.

Jellal Fernandes appeared before the Council well and alive. Mest stood behind him.

"We should have expected you to appear before us after your case had ended." Org sighed and eyed him cautiously and continued. "You understand that even so, your status as the Wizard Saint had been revoked. If you want it back, you have to go through THAT again. Since you are here with us, can I assume you intend to return to the Council? "

"No, Sage. I'm here with another purpose." Jellal looked up to Org. The other Council members wanted to protect but was stopped by the chairman, Gran Doma.

"Spill it out, Jellal. You wouldn't have called for us if it is not for something important enough for you to show yourself to us as soon as the allegations against you had been lifted."

"Pretty direct of you, sir. Well, let me give you some updates on my findings since my last mission and on the Dragneel Clan…"

Natsu Dragneel moaned in pain. Because of the damn frogs draining his magic, he slipped in and out of his consciousness.

"I'll not give up." Natsu murmured in inaudible voice. He could barely keep himself awake. He wonder how long had he been locked in here. Natsu had been undergoing pain from the tortures from the beatings and the draining of magic power. Natsu was glad somehow. Because he would not have enough power to activate Zeref and let the whole world learnt the fact that he was the vessel of the most evil magic in existence. All they wanted was the details of Tenroujima and why was he there? Yet, they were not able to get anything out of him.

"Ahhhhhh!" Natsu screamed when the frog sent another waves of thunder shocking him. He smirked when the frog approached him.

"Do you think that we're not going to kill you?" The frog snarled angrily. "You will be here till the end of your life anyway."

"No… I won't…" Natsu mumbled. He could foresee himself being saved. Meanwhile, he got to endure. He was never wrong in his vision so far. The frog got so flared that he picked up his staff proceeding to hit him really bad. Before he could do that, Jellal's voice ranged through the torture chamber.

"By the order of the Council, I ordered you to release Natsu, of the Dragneel Clan!"

With that, Natsu was released from his chain. Natsu collapsed and his fall was broken by Jellal who caught him in the nick of time. He could see the wounds all over Natsu and blood flowing out from many areas of his torn and worn out clothing. That just showed the brutality of the Council if need be. Jellal knew it very well. He gritted his teeth in anger. He wished he could tear the Council apart. He cradled Natsu who struggled to open his eyes.

"You really came for me." Natsu mumbled in weakly.

"Yes, I did." Jellal looked at Natsu in concern. Natsu smiled before losing his consciousness. He knew he would be in safe hands.

"NATSU!" Jellal shook him. He had no time to lose. Natsu needed medical attention. With Mest's help, they were teleported out of the Council.

"This is as much as I can help you. Stay out of trouble! Good luck!" Mest's voice was heard in Jellal's head once they re-materialised outside the Council.

The healing mage, Porlyusica was not someone easy to deal with. She hated humans and she would throw them all out if they showed up at her house. However, after the Tenroujima incident, she had dropped her mask. Despite what had happened, she was still concerned of the well-beings of Makarov and his kids.

"Leave him on the bed!" The pinked hair mage ordered Jellal and got to work. She scanned him for a while. This was the first time she saw him as a well dressed young man who was used to known as the Wizard Saint and Erza's ex-husband in person.

At one glance, she knew Natsu was in critical condition. He was already briefed by Jellal before he headed to the Council. She should have expected his condition to be that bad. It was the power of Zeref which kept Natsu alive so far and still was.

She wiped off the sweat from the unconscious boy and cleaned his wound with Jellal's help. It took them one whole night to fix him up. After a week, Natsu's condition did not improve.

In fact it had worsened. One day, Porlyusica came back from her trip to pick up some herb. To her horror, she saw Natsu sprawled unconscious on the ground trying to reach for the door. She turned him over and was horrified at the sight of his face. Natsu had been vomiting out blood, overflowing especially from the side of his mouth. He was sweating really hard. He could barely opened his eyes before falling unconscious again.

This time, he stopped breathing.