Sorry to keep you waiting. I was busy with some other things including my exam. The current batch of my exam is finally over. Another one coming in another week time. Meanwhile, I will update.

Thank you ahuna67for beta reading my fic and sereneskydragonslayer for the one and only review :)

Chapter 15: Miracle of Unity

Back to the mission, Tsuna and friends were working hard to prevent the crashing of the floating island on Extalia.

During this mission, Gajeel and Pantherlily had become friends. Although Extalia was Lily's hometown, he did not want to poke into their affair. Gajeel was the same but when he saw everybody working really hard to save Extalia, he wanted to lend them his power too. Pantherlily needed to have his own mind even without his Master around for instruction. Pantherlily was annoyed at Gajeel for reading his mind literally.

"Master Jellal, what will you do if you are around…"

"Please stop!" Wendy cried as she used her strength to push the incoming island.

"I'm not giving up! I want to protect Extalia!" Charles declared in determination. Happy looked at her in awe. "Charles…" How he wish he shared the same sentiment. He was not born and brought up in Extalia. Fairy Tail was the only family he had.

"STOP!" Tsuna cried.

"Hang in there, everyone!" The Exceeds appeared from all over Extalia, flying to assist despite their small strength. Even Lily was amazed. The Queen who had removed her robe had come in to help despite possessing only one wing. Lily caught her when she lost her flight.

Suddenly, the island stopped moving catching all of them by surprise. It reversed and dissipated.

A man who held up his staff appeared to them. It was Jellal. He managed to break the magic down.

"Thanks for buying time for me to deactivate the magic. The mission is accomplished." Jellal declared to everyone involved in the feat. Jellal had guessed that this was caused by the Lost Magic: Time of Arc which was why he had been making preparations for to resolve this situation.

Everyone was elated as they managed to save Extalia from destruction.

Jellal smiled at Tsuna who looked at him gratefully. He did not expect his teacher to lend them his hand as he had been wondering what he was up to all these while. Jellal spoke up, "What do you think it is the morale of this mission, Tsuna?" The demonic teacher decided to test Tsuna. It had been a long while since he did that when he first guide Tsuna in magic. Through this mission, he realised he should not underestimate him anymore.

"Look around you, Tsuna!" Tsuna did as instructed. He saw group of Exceeds surrounding and cheering for them and of course his former classmates, his comrades, Lucy, Gray, Erza and Ciel who was wiping her tears on the ground.

"This is the power of unity."

"Unity?"

"You understood earlier that human as an individual is weak. Being weak is not a sin. Human will feel uneasy being alone, that is why guild existed. People will be able to stay strong. Human are not perfect, there are always tasks one alone can't complete, that is why we need help and support from comrades. Today, you shall witness the miracle resulted from the power of unity." Jellal started grinding him with words of wisdom.

Tsuna nodded in awe. He himself had experienced a number of missions which required assistance from his comrades in order to complete. The incident with Laxus was one where the whole guild worked together to destroy the thunder palace, the next one with Nirvana required them to trust one another and destroy the respective Lacrima in the given time simultaneously. All these could not be achieved by one alone. This time, the number of comrades who came in was magnificent.

"Tsuna, you have witnessed the power of unity in this mission. What I want to say is, you don't have to carry the burden alone, and you have comrades who you can always trust around you. I'm sorry for coming late and being an incompetent teacher to you. I should have realised earlier, who you are".

"Are you referring to…"

"Thanks to Lucy, I found out about your background on top of other information I discovered. Don't blame her, she have been a great help. You are lucky to have a comrade like her around. Do you believe me if I said that Zeref is not the one behind these incidents? Same with Cait Shelter." He turned to Wendy's direction. Wendy gasped in response. "The real culprit behind these incidents just wanted to push all the blames to Zeref and get his attention. You don't have to reproach yourself for what had happened."

Jellal was glad that he was able to prove Natsu's innocence. He had read enough to understand how the vessel worked. Natsu was in Zeref mode attracted to places filled with grievance but it seemed that he was not even within the area this time to sense it. He believes that Grimiore Heart is behind all of the incidents and he was very sure that Natsu was not with them thanks to all of the clues he had uncovered so far. If this was the case, they would want to retrieve him back for their purpose sooner or later as Zeref was the result after years of experiments, sacrificing many in return. What they did not know was that it wasn't a coincidence for Zeref to awaken in Natsu which had been sleeping within him as he always have been a container for it.

Speaking of Grimiore Hearts, Jellal had been wondering what had he done to incur Ultear's wrath to be double crossing him, wanting him to pay with his life and even hurt his disciple. Hence he consulted Pantherlily who always have been with him ever since he could remember. It then hit him that it was some kind of incident many years ago which he could not remember. He was told that it was his existence to begin with. Jellal clenched his fist in frustration after hearing what Lily had to say about her. He knew that Lily knew more than what he had told him but he did not probe further. If it was possible, he would like to believe in her, his partner whom he could work very well with. If it wasn't for it, he would not be able to save Extalia from destruction.

"Ultear, why are you doing this? Why are you involved in Grimiore Hearts if you are after me in the first place?"

Lucy who was being carried in the air by Nadi, Minister of the State. She watched Jellal who was talking to Tsuna in doubt. She had some questions unanswered in her mind. She recalled her last conversation with him when she reported what she found out in the late Elie Dragneel's book, Daybreak. She did not understand the underlying meanings of his words.

*Flashback*

"Why are you and Tsuna looking for Elie Dragneel's book?" Lucy did not know of Tsuna's real identity as the son of Elie Dragneel back then.

"Thank you for your help, Lucy. You can say that I'm trying to play a part as his Teacher. I thought I knew Tsuna well but I was really wrong. He is carrying a really heavy responsibility on his own, more than anyone of us can think of. I let Tsuna down. I can't even protect Natsu from harm. I failed as their teacher. This is as much as I can do for Tsuna."

Lucy was stunned to hear what he had to say. That was so unlike the proud and arrogant Jellal she had heard about. "Don't say that! My Brother-in-law respects you a lot. By the way, since you are well and alive, why don't you stay with Erza? She was really worried about you. She actually thought you had sacrificed yourself to stop the Etherion explosion back then!"

"I'm sorry. It was hard for me to explain my situation. Please understand I need to do this in order to find out what was hidden as the enemy is lurking in the dark. It is not that I don't want to stay by Erza's side but I can't do it now. I don't want her to get hurt because of me. Can you understand how I feel? I will believe he does." Jellal explained and he was determined not to let Tsuna face this alone.

*End Flashback*

Jellal gazed afar to the night sky, "Natsu, I will find a way to save you."