As Meredy and Ultear were arrested by the Council, Gray's group have to go back to the game. Meanwhile, Gajeel is face to face with someone he didn't expect to meet...

.:: Disclaimer ::.

I don't own Fairy Tail or that great manga's characters. Hiro Mashima, that crazy man who probably comes from another planet, does.

"I'm worried about them..." Juvia said.

Meredy and Ultear had accepted to leave with those two guys from the Council, but it didn't" mean they were safe.

"I don't trust that glasses guy.

"You shouldn't worry, they have a plan." Gray said.

But he couldn't help worrying as well. He felt useless, standing there, not knowing what to do, having let them leave without trying to stop them. And of course, he couldn't forget about Ultear's words. Were they all going to die?

"I hope Ul's daughter..." Lyon started to say. "Ul would have wanted us to help her, what would she say if she could see us?"

Gray understood what he meant.

"Then what do we do now?" he asked.

Everybody looked at each other for a long time, waiting for one person to make a move.

"Keep fighting."

Juvia and Gray shared a quick look. They had heard the same voice.

Mavis.

Gajeel was wandering around the town. Thanks to the commentator, he knew that the blond Dragon Slayer from Sabertooth was not involved in a battle yet. He was apparently hiding for some reason.

"Salamander got them both at once. I'll never hear the end of it if I don't defeat the other Dragon Slayer as well."

He was determined to find him.

"There you are."

Gajeel turned around to see who had just talked.

"L... Levy?"

She looked at him in a weird way and then threw herself in his arms.

"I was so worried!"

"But why did you come? It's not over, I still have to-"

"Why did you do that to me?"

Her voice was different. He looked down to see her face. Her eyes were full of reproach. Gajeel felt a weight in his chest.

"Why did you do that?" she repeated.

Then it hit him. A range of images and emotions crossed his mind. He could see her and his fellow team members unconscious on the ground. Then he saw himself carrying them and hanging them on a tree. He remembered her fragile and light body, so easy to bear on his shoulder. He hadn't been careful carrying her, although her body looked as if it could be broken easily. He didn't even know how many ribs he had broken, how many bruises he had left.

"I will never forgive you," Levy's voice said harshly.

The flow of images had stopped, but Gajeel still couldn't move. She was still holding him tightly, forcefully, with a strength he didn't know she had. But the most unusual about her was the look on her face. It was hard, transpiercing, and even if he wanted to avoid that look more than anything, he couldn't take his eyes off hers.

"Did you think you could join them and forget about me so easily?"

Her lips were still moving but the voice was not hers anymore.

He knew that voice.

"I made you, Gajeel."

He was starting to suffocate.

"So it was you..." Gajeel said.

Master Jose.

He managed to push Levy and she landed a few feet away, her head banging on a pillar. She got up and started talking with her own voice again.

"Really Gajeel? You're still hurting me like you did the first time. You'll never change."

"Get out of her body."

Levy started laughing hysterically. Gajeel could see it now: her body was envelopped in a dark aura like Rogue's was a few moments ago, during their match. He hadn't recognized the magic at that time but it was already obvious that the Dragon Slayer's body was possessed.

"What do you want?" Gajeel said angrily. "Get out, if you want to settle things with me, don't involve her."

"I'm afraid it's impossible, Gajeel-chan," she said, this time with Jose Porla's voice again.

"What is happening on Gajeel's side? Why is he facing a member of his guild? Is it some love quarrel they couldn't wait to settle?"

It was the commentator speaking. The public was following his 'match' against Levy possessed by his former guild master's shadow.

"I can't leave that delicious creature's body. I need her magic, even if I would have prefered a more powerful mage to use. But some little bird told me she can still be useful against you," Jose's voice said.

Gajeel couldn't stand seeing Levy's body used like that.

"Why are you doing that?" Gajeel asked.

"Well, I didn't really care about you and the others, when I was imprisoned. You see, I had others things in mind. But then I learnt you and that useless rain woman had joined the very same guild that disbanded ours. I felt really hurt, you know, Gajeel-chan. All your comrades, how could you do this to them, to all of us?"

"Tch."

Gajeel knew very well that the word 'comrade' never meant much to Phantom Lord. After all, he was one of the those who despised it.

"Of course, I would have tried to escape anyway, but when one of the guards talked about the members of Fairy Tail that 'came back to life' after seven years, saying that you and the rain woman were part of them, I thought the time to leave had come. That's when I arrived here."

"What do you mean? What are you, now? A ghost?"

"Not exactly, Gajeel-chan. I'm not dead. It turns out the only way to escape that prison cell was to leave my body there, but I still have hopes I will get it back eventually. Until that time comes, I can survive in this form. Those useless idiots from the Council don't know what happened to my body, haha! As I said, I can't use magic without someone's body. But in this form, I'm nothing but magic power. And when I possess a mage, my magic mixed with that person's power makes us invincible, or so I thought, until you defeated that stupid brat."

"You're disgusting."

Jose ignored him.

"I really thought I could make something out of him. He wanted to defeat you so badly, I could give him the chance I didn't give him a few years ago. I'm not sure you remember, Gajeel-chan. After all, at that time, you didn't really care about anything but yourself."

"I remember," Gajeel said.

"Of course you do, Gajeel-chan," he answered in a soft voice. I had noticed how you had changed when that brat came into your life. Why do you think I decided to keep him away from you?"

"What did you tell him to make him leave?"

"Oh, things like 'Gajeel is using you', 'he'll never let you surpass him', 'one day you'll be strong enough but all he did was play around and you're still too weak to join the guild'... I didn't need a nice Gajeel in my guild, and eliminating that useless kid was the best way to keep a heartless Dragon Slayer at my disposal. Think about it: if I had let him join, do you think you would have been able to hurt a pure and defenceless mage like this blue-haired woman?"

Gajeel laughed.

"What's so funny?"

"It's not as if what I did helped you defeat Fairy Tail. And for your information, she's not defenceless. Not at all," he added, remembering the several times Levy had punched him.

"She's not? Then let's see!"

Levy – or rather Jose – started moving very fast, like Rogue did a few moments ago when he was also possessed. Gajeel tried to keep him away without hurting Levy but it was difficult, and he was soon on the ground, blocked by Levy's body who stabbed him with a shadow dagger.

"Payback for last time," Levy's voice said.

"Incredible!" the commentator said. "Gajeel, who has just defeated Sabertooth's Rogue, is now KO because of one of his guildmates? Isn't it against the rules, Yajima-san?"

"I don't know if it's against the rules, but I think he needs some help..."

Gajeel couldn't move. The shadow left Levy's body.

"So it was you," another voice said.

Gajeel turned his head with difficulty. Rogue had just arrived, followed by his Exceed. But he wasn't talking to him. Suddenly, Rogue transformed into a shadow as well, and followed Jose's shadow until the two combined. Then he turned into his human form back.

"You..." Gajeel started to say.

Rogue's face was the last thing he saw before he passed out.

"I can't believe it..." Shelia said.

She was barely walking, carrying Lyon who couldn't move anymore.

"And why am I carrying you? You're not even wounded, Lyon!"

She had dropped the honorific.

"N... naked..."

"Yes, I saw that," she said with a sigh.

"I couldn't do anything, she was... naked," Lyon repeated.

"If you had at least let me finish Gray off, he was as dumbfounded as you when Juvia took her clothes off! I could have won that fight! But you wouldn't move, and Juvia managed to defeat us both... Geez, hope Jura will get revenge for us."

"N... naked..."

They stopped when Shelia saw two people, one of them unconscious on the floor.

"Who's that? It's Fairy Tail, right?"

"Please, someone help us... He's bleeding and he's not breathing anymore..."

It was Levy, bending over Gajeel's body.

"You!" she said when she saw Shelia and Lyon. "You can heal him! Please!"

"What happened?" she asked while trying to heal Gajeel.

"I don't know, I don't remember, when I woke up, he was already like that..."

"Why isn't there any guard?"

"I think they are all in Mercurius right now... Is he okay? I don't know how much time passed, please tell me it's not too late..."

Shelia had used most of her magic, but she still managed to heal him. He opened his eyes. When he saw Levy who was crying and smiling at the same time, he let out a sigh.

"I was so afraid," she said. "I don't know what happened, why was I here?"

She tried to help him get up but he didn't let her touch him. She seemed a little hurt but she didn't flinch.

"It's Jose," he said, ignoring her. "But it's all right. Ryos, he took care of... Where is he?"

"Who?"

"Ry... The Shadow Dragon Slayer."

"I don't know, he wasn't there when I woke up. Maybe we should ask the judges, they probably saw everything, even if they didn't do anything to help us, those useless-"

"Hey! We didn't want to get involved in your lover's quarrel," the commentator said, making Levy blush.

"Did you say 'Jose' ?" she asked, trying to ignore Chapati Lola's remark. "You mean, your former guildmaster?"

"Yes, he took advantage of..." Gajeel started to say, but looked at her and stopped. "Well, never mind."

"What's wrong?"

He didn't answer, and just got up and left.

"You could at least thank me!" Shelia said. "I just saved your life, you know!"

But he was already out of sight.

Hello guys!

First, thanks for the reviews ^_^

It's already been one week since I last updated but I didn't stop writing, I needed some time before I'm sure about that version of the chapter, because I've been thinking about the end of my story so I didn't want any loophole in my fanfiction ^^ Anyways, new chapter very very soon ! As usual, don't forget the reviews, and don't hesitate to point out anything that seems weird, including grammar or spelling mistakes, but also things that don't seem clear in the story itself!

Double Cheese : I don't really know which one - the Council or the King's army - has more legitimity, that's an interesting question, I guess it's as you say : the Council administrates everything related to magic... But let's say that this time, as they are right next to Mercurius, it was relevant to have them deliver the prisoners to the King (at least, that's what Doranbolt will say to justify why he did that XD ). And I agree with you, the Council is usually useless, I really wonder how they can be unaware of something like Eclipse, but I guess that when they find out about it, with all the dragons threatening everyone, they'll just say "Wait, we just came here to catch Jellal!" Naah kidding they'd probably be among those who'll try to evacuate the town. Or evacuate themselves first, don't know yet.

PS : I love Gale, I already wrote a fanfic about them, and I just wanted to tell you that there are other more interesting Gale parts upcoming in my story. More importantly, I already wrote a flashback about Gajeel and Rogue, I loved writing it XD it was supposed to be in this chapter but it was too long (the chapter's already quite long imo) so I'm waiting for the right time to include that flashback, and I'm sure you'll like it (anything involving a little Rogue is something to look forward to, right?).