I'm truly sorry for the long wait, I've been busy lately since school has started but I found a little bit of time to sit down and write some more. I might be more busy as the days continue with school, so expect some slow updates, but thankfully it's my senior year! Just one more year of high school and I'm done!

Disclaimer; I do not own Fairy Tail. It belongs to Hiro Mashima.

Memories

x.x.x

There was nothing but darkness. Pure, pitch black darkness shrouded the Titania's vision as Jellal uttered his last sentence, "I came here to take you, Er-chan." and a twisted, sick grin formed on his face. The unexpected attack caught Erza off guard and she was quickly knocked out, unsure of what was going on. Now, her eyes slowly blinked open and she tired to reach her hand to touch her forehead, but only to find it was being held back by rope. Her wrist were tied tightly together as well as her ankles with some sort of magic that canceled out her abilities and left her unable to escape. The room Erza found herself in was dark and cold, the floor was stone and so were the walls. She was trapped behind bars, making it even more difficult to escape even if she found a way out of the rope.

"Where am I?" She muttered, helplessly to herself. Had Jellal done this to her?

As if on cue, a malicious cackle echoed throughout the room and heavy footsteps followed. Jellal's figure stood before Erza, a smug grin on his pale, tattooed face. He looked proud that he was able to capture Erza without any trouble. Thank you for making this easy, Jellal. Zeref's demonic voice chimed in his head and for a moment, Erza could see a bit of guilt and hurt in Jellal's eyes.

"You are in the Tower of Heaven." Jellal explained, his expression blank as he watched Erza struggle against her bounds, "It's no use, Er-chan, you won't be able to escape."

"Watch me." Erza hissed through gritted teeth, her fiery, brown gaze was glaring daggers towards Jellal. She knew what he said was true, it was impossible to free herself from the rope but she wasn't just going to give up.

"We'll see about that." He snickered, pausing only for a moment before continuing with a serious tone, "I'm going to need my sacrifice for the R-system and you are a perfect match."

"I knew you wanted something from me!" Erza shouted, a deep feeling of hurt and betrayal made her heart ache in pain. She thought Jellal had changed, but she was wrong, "I hate you, I should have never trusted you."

"Now, now, Er-chan." His sick, twisted voice taunted, "You don't want to hurt Jellal's feelings do you? It took a long time for me to regain control, Jellal didn't want to hurt you."

What? Blinking in confusion, Erza stared at this blue haired, darkly clothed man with her mouth slightly gaped. It made sense in a way, Jellal had been acting strange ever since he attacked her that first night. Jellal was being controlled by someone? Or was he just playing with her mind.

"Who are you?" Erza growled, her fingers secretly fumbling with the rope behind her back.

"That doesn't matter." In one swift motion, a hand connected with deadly force against the side of Erza's neck. The blow hit a certain nerve which caused her vision to blur and rapidly fade into darkness once more. J-Jellal?

They were ambushed by a gang of strangers that claimed they knew Erza. Natsu, Lucy, Juvia, and Gray were all attacked and beaten by the surprise. Happy was took by a girl that resembled a cat and the stellar spirit mage was attacked and tied up by the cat-girl but was cut free by one of the resort visitors within a card, who was trapped by another mysterious member of the gang. Lucy began to search for the others, quickly finding Gray and the rain woman from Phantom.

"Dammit!" Natsu growled darkly, his body emerging from the rubble. The group of strangers had seemed to be in search for Erza and as soon as they heard she was caught, they immediately took their leave, "How dare that block man shoot me in the mouth! That hurt like a bitch!"

Just as Lucy was about to explain the situation to Natsu, the fire dragon raced out of the casino with a look of fiery rage in his eyes. The blond stared dumbfounded as her companion raced off, it seemed he didn't noticed that Happy went missing too.

"Let's follow him." Gray ordered, heading toward the exit for the fire mage.

"But he doesn't even know where he's going!" Lucy said.

"He has a nose better than any animal." The ice creation mage reassured, grinning at Lucy with a wink of his eye. The celestial mage felt daggers in her skin as Juvia stared hatefully at her.

"Love... Rival..." She hissed just before Lucy dashed off to catch up with Gray, Lucy didn't really understand what the former Phantom Lord member meant but it frightened her.

They followed the fire dragon slayer, his nose led him towards the shore and they quickly hitched a ride on a small boat. Gray was clearly disappointed as he realized they were drifting off to nowhere and Natsu couldn't lead to way anymore since he was clinging over the side, sick.

"Are you sure it's around here?" Lucy inquired with a slight worry, they had to find Erza as soon as possible before anything bad happened her. She knew the Titania could take care of herself but with an ambush like this, she wasn't sure if her friend was alright. Not to mention, they stole Happy as well and the blue cat was nearly defenseless.

"To think, a great mage as Erza was defeated ..." Juiva muttered.

Clenching his fist tightly, anger surging through his body, Gray stood up and glared down at the rain woman, "There was no way Erza was defeated, you don't know anything about her!"

"Gray, calm down!" Lucy warned. Juvia apologized quickly, fear in her blue eyes at the sudden change in Gray's personality. His reaction made it obvious that Erza was more important to him than Juvia in her mind, she flinched a little with a hint of sorrow in her blue eyes but didn't say anything else.

They drifted onward, the salty air of the sea began to burn Lucy's nostrils and the sky was darkening, signifying an approach of a storm. Casting her gaze ahead, Lucy spotted something in the distance. It appeared to be a desolated island with a single, looming tower. The celestial wizard noticed a twitch of Natsu's nose, he seemed to have picked up a stronger trail of Erza's scent.

"Why are they at this tower?" Lucy questioned aloud to no one in particular. The ice mage only shrugged, his dark eyes filled with determination.

"Whatever the reason, we will save Erza."

Their tiny bodies shook violently as the large, muscularly built guard loomed over the six children. A spear gripped tightly in his fist, pointing threateningly towards the kids. They had attempted to escape once more from this tower of hell. However, like past missions, it ended in failure and soon to be punishment. The tip of the weapon pointed at each individual, landing on Sho, Erza, Jellal, Wally, Simon, and Millianna. It paused slightly at each person, they waited agonizingly for the spear to choose it's victim but it repeated the cycle after it landed on the last person.

"Listen, kids," He began, after drawing back his weapon but a sadistic grin appeared on his smug face, "Why don't you guys tell me who the mastermind of the plan was? If you do, the rest of you kids get off with a slap on the wrist."

An eerie silence settled between them, their round, fearful eyes gazing at each other as they were unsure of what to do. Sho's body trembled the most but his mouth remained shut, he didn't have to courage to take the blame for his failed escape plan. Large tears formed around his eyes but he still said nothing. Sorrow welled within Erza's heart as she watched her friend in such a terrified state, Sho wasn't strong enough to survive the punishment. In a quick mental decision, Erza decided she was going to take the blame for Sho's sake.

"I ..." Her meek voice began but was quickly interrupted.

"I did it!" Jellal's voice spoke, he stood and gazed fiercely into the guard's eyes. Erza blinked in surprise and the rest was taken aback by Jellal's sudden confession.

"Tch, is that so?" His black, soulless eyes scanned the children again but it lingered on Erza. He stepped forward and grabbed her roughly by the shoulders, "It was the girl, wasn't it?"

"No! It wasn't Erza, it was me!" Jellal called out in panic, but to no avail. Erza's body was dragged off by the guard, she was uncontrollably shaking even though she wasn't cold. All she could do was smile softly towards Jellal and her friends as best she could.

"D.. Don't worry about m.. me." She reassured her friends but the unevenness of her voice betrayed her words, "I.. I'll be fine."

I.. I'll be fine.. Erza reassured herself as she sat within the darkness of her prison cell in the tower, memories of the past flooding into her mind as tears rolled down her cheeks.

A/N ;; Sorry if that seemed kinda rushed but unfortunately school has been getting the best of me, I have to sign up for the SATs and scholarships. Excuses, I know, but I'll try to get the next chapter up soon as I can. Thanks for reading and leave a review if you will!