Chapter 4: The Pain of The Past

A good amount of positive feedback from last chapter! I just love the praise! Keep it coming!

So I decided to just go right ahead into the Tower of Heaven Arc because I didn't have anything else in mind. Plus, I figured that I can just make up some original stuff at a later date. Not that I don't have anything in mind, I just don't have anything for right now.

So sit back, relax, and enjoy.

(Magnolia)

"Ahh, it's nice to be back home," Neo sighed as he got off of the train. He would have been back sooner, but he was stuck in Taiyo Town because of an accident along the tracks. The mess took several days to clear, but Neo didn't mind, as he was glad that he didn't have to become the Guild's metal maker for the time being. Not that he didn't mind, he just found the task quite mundane.

As he approached the Guild Hall, he saw that there was a small commotion. He picked up the pace, and saw that the newly christened "Team Natsu" was surrounding Loke, who was rubbing the back of his head with a sheepish expression.

"Hey, what's going on?" Neo asked.

"Oh Neo, you're back!" Lucy exclaimed in surprise.

"What took you so long?" Gray questioned him. "Taiyo Town is not that far from Magnolia."

Neo explained, "There was an accident on the tracks, so the railroad was shut down until everything was fixed."

"Hey Neo, did you know that Loke's a Celestial Spirit?!" Natsu asked as he got up in Neo's face.

The young teen pushed the Dragon Slayer away and asked, "Loke's a what-now?"

"It's true," the orange haired man said. "I was originally a Spirit who was exiled, but thanks to Lucy, I've been allowed back into the Spirit Realm. Leo the Lion at your service."

"It's only natural that a Celestial Spirit Mage would want to help a Celestial Spirit, especially one of the Twelve Zodiac," Neo chuckled. He didn't notice Lucy and Loke cringe a little at that.

"By the way Neo, can I talk to you privately for a sec?" Loke asked. Neo nodded and the duo stepped away from the group for a second.

"Since I got back to the Spirit World, my senses have gone back to being extremely high, so I know about the complete power of your magic," Loke whispered. Neo realized what he was saying and narrowed his eyes. "I'm not saying that you shouldn't use it when necessary, just to be careful with it. You don't want to lose your mind to their madness."

"I know what you mean," Neo sighed. "Don't worry, one day I'll be able to use my full power without any worries." Loke nodded and they walked back to the group. "By the way, shouldn't you be resting?"

"I'm feeling a lot better than I was before," Loke told him. "Besides, I also wanted to see Lucy again," he finished making said girl blush.

"He looooooves you!" Happy teased.

"Shut it cat!" Lucy screamed before turning to the Celestial Spirit. "And you! You need to head back and get back to full strength!"

Loke laughed and waved her off. "Don't worry, I'll be fine. I also came to give you guys something." He then reached into his pocket and pulled out several tickets.

"What are those?" Lucy asked.

"They're tickets to the awesome beach resort, this is just a little thank you gift," Loke explained. The group cheered as they danced around with their tickets, Neo included as he let the kid he really was show for a bit. "I already gave Erza her ticket, so I hope you guys enjoy yourselves."

"Come on! Don't waste any time!" Erza shouted. "She was wearing a floral shirt, shorts, a sunhat, and had an inner tube around her waist while carrying a wagon full of beach supplies.

"Crap! I need to go pack! Don't leave without me!" Neo yelled as he raced home while to get his beach supplies. 'This is gonna be a blast! It's been forever since I've been at a beach!'

(Akane Resort-Next Day)

Lucy was laughing as she rode on a board that was hooked to a large fish. She looked like she was having a lot of fun. Natsu...not so much. Neo grinned as he saw the look of torture on the Dragon Slayers face, it just looked so amusing to him.

"Owie owie hot hot hot!" Happy cried as he hopped along the beach, the heat from the sand burning his small feet. Erza and Gray were bouncing a beach ball around while the Elemental Master was relaxing on beach chair under the sun. The bright red Fairy Tail emblem on his right bicep was now visible for the world to see.

The next thing he knew, he was wacked in the face by the beach ball as Erza missed Gray's spike. He looked up to see the Ice Make Mage laughing his ass off, and gave him a feral grin.

"So, you want to play rough, do you?" Neo asked as he grabbed the ball and reared back. "Well how's this!?" he threw the ball and watched as it slammed into Gray's stomach, knocking him off of his feet. Eventually, they got into their own game of dodgeball before Lucy and Natsu came to shore, and then they started to play some volleyball.

Later, everyone was in the resort getting ready to have fun at the casino. Neo had put on his regular clothes, as they looked nice enough, and was now waiting for Erza. He would have stayed with Natsu and Gray, but they had gotten into another fight and didn't feel like playing peacemaker.

"Oh, you're not downstairs?" Lucy asked as she walked up to the door. Neo opened his eyes and saw that she was wearing a red dress along with a red bow.

"Nope, I decided to be a gentleman and wait for Erza," Neo replied. "And now that you're here, you can go in and check on her."

Lucy raised and eyebrow and asked, "Why didn't you go in and check on her?"

Neo gave her a look and said, "Do I look like I want to be impaled? What if I catch her in a moment that's for women only?"

Lucy giggled nervously and replied, "Well I guess you have a point." She then knocked on the door and opened it. "Erza, get out of the room and have some fun! Natsu and Gray are already downstairs."

"That's right, there's a casino here isn't there?" Erza said.

"Yup, I'm gonna go and rob everyone of their money," Neo called out.

"Very well then," he then heard her Requiping into something. As soon as she was done, Neo peeked in and saw that she was wearing a purple dress with red flowers on the side. She was wearing white gloves that went past her elbows, and her hair was tied up in a bun. "So how do I look?" she asked as she posed.

Neo gave her a thumbs up while Lucy said how she was a bit glitzy. When Lucy left, Neo saw that Erza was looking at herself in the mirror.

"You okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, just relaxing," Erza replied as she gave him a reassuring smile. Neo returned the smile and began to head downstairs to the casino. He saw that Natsu and happy were playing some kind of magical roulette game, and were constantly losing. Of course, it didn't help that they were picking the same number over and over again.

He looked over and saw Gray with a blue haired lady that had a golden necklace of the Fairy Tail insignia. She was also wearing a blue dress. Neo instantly recognized her as Juvia of Phantom Lord, but saw that she wasn't displaying any negative feelings. Rather, she was displaying positive ones instead.

The red and gold haired youth sat down at a Blackjack table and began to play with the other patrons. Neo was enjoying himself, especially as he was winning most of the games.

Eventually, one of the patrons had enough. He slammed his hands down on the table and shouted, "This guy is obviously cheating! There's no way he can be winning this much!"

Neo raised an eyebrow and asked, "And how am I cheating? Please, tell me. Because I highly doubt that you can cheat at Blackjack, where the dealer is the ones with all the cards." With that, Neo collected his winnings and left the table. He walked over to where Gray and Juvia were and sat down next to the blue haired lady.

"You look like you've had it rough," Gray remarked.

"I've been accused of cheating just because I have an insane amount of luck," Neo replied as he presented his winnings. "So Gray, you already found a friend for the night?"

"Yeah, Juvia's been hoping that she could join Fairy Tail once the whole situation with Phantom Lord cools down," Gray explained.

"I'm sure that Gramps will be fine with it," Neo said. "After all, Juvia's been known as the least violent of the Element Four."

"Gray Fullbuster?" a voice asked. The trio turned around to see a tall man with tanned skin wearing a white turban and a metal jaw along with an eyepatch over his left eye. He had a green shirt that covered one side of his body. A silver magic seal appeared from his right eye and caused an explosion where the three of them stood.

"What the Hell do you think you're doing?!" Neo demanded as he and Gray glared at the man.

"Where is Erza?" he asked. "Where is she?"

"You think I'd tell you?" Gray asked as a stream of water came a formed Juvia.

"I won't so much as let you lay a finger on my beloved!" Juvia declared. If the situation wasn't so serious, Neo was sure that he would have fallen over in laughter from her words. "Go to Erza, I fear that she is in grave danger."

The man then placed his left hand on his temple. "Ah, you've already found her. Very well, I'll clean up things here." Suddenly, his eye began to glow red and all of the lights went out.

"Dark Moment," The man's voice said. "Dark Burst!"

There was then an explosion that sent rubble flying everywhere. When the dust cleared, the man had vanished and Gray and Juvia could be seen lying on the floor. But Neo was nowhere to be seen.

Neo regretted leaving those two lying there, but he had no choice as they were going after Erza. And he knew that they were both safe, as he saw Juvia pull the real Gray to safety. The S-Class Mage stuck to the shadows as he followed the mans magical energy, he obviously didn't know how to hide it properly, neither did his companions by the energy he felt. But what really confused him was that he could tell that Erza wasn't even fighting back, that her energy was fluctuating in a nervous manner.

When he got to the upper floor, he saw that Lucy was tied up by some kind of rope and in a painful position, and that Erza was in the arms of the man from before, unconscious. There was also some blocky man with a purple suit, a young man with dark skin in a dealer's outfit, and a young woman with cat-like features who was cuddling with an unconscious Happy..

'Why is it that the bad guys are always full of weirdoes?' Neo asked himself.

"We got what we came for, let's go home," the man said.

"You're not going anywhere," Neo declared as he stepped out of the shadows. "Now put Erza down, and I may let out walk away without any serious injuries."

"Neo!" Lucy cried out happily.

"Who's this guy?" The blocky man asked as he raised up his arm, which had turned into some kind of gun.

"He was at the bar with another member of Fairy Tail," the man with the eyepatch explained. "I did not expect him to recover so quickly."

"I won't ask again, put her down. Now!" Neo demanded.

"I'm afraid that we can't let that happen," the man said as he hefted Erza over his shoulder.

Neo glared at him and said, "It's not often that I use a certain part of my magic on my opponents. But I don't care right now as you've made me very angry!" He then slammed his hands together as a pitch black seal appeared before him.

"Elemental Soul: Darkness!" Neo exploded in a pillar of shadows. Meanecing red eyes opened up and stared into the souls of the strangers before him. When the darkness faded, Neo was gone, and in his place was a figure made entirely out of darkness. Both his eyes and mouth glowed with a red light that made him look terrifying.

"Ebony Blast!" Neo thrust his right hand forward and released a beam of darkness that struck the dark skinned youth in the chest and sent him flying back.

"Take this ya creep!" The blocky man shouted as he raised up his gun arm and released a blast at Neo. The transformed teen burst apart into smaller shadows that joined together again a small distance away. In his hands was a large orb made out of shadows.

"Perish! Dark Obliteration!" Neo threw the orb forward at the man, but he broke apart into cubes as the spell tore a hole through the wall and flew straight into the sea.

The large man raised his free hand and created a magic seal. "Dark Moment!" he cried as the room was plunged into darkness as his visible eye glowed, allowing him to see through the darkness. His eye grew wide as he saw Neo darting right towards him and gave him a shoulder tackle, causing him to drop Erza and take several steps back.

"Nightmare Claw!" Neo roared as his hands morphed into claws and he slashed at the mans chest, causing him to cry out in pain as he stumbled back, the darkness fading. He raised a hand to his chest, but didn't feel any blood or cuts.

"Confused? I bet you are," Neo said. "See, my Darkness Form doesn't leave any physical damage to you. I can touch you and knock you back like I did to your friend, but I can't damage your body. My attacks will just drain you of your magic."

"So a prolonged fight against you in that form is very unwise," the man said as he got up. Neo nodded and prepared to attack him again.

"Hold it right there shadow boy!" the blocky man shouted. Neo looked over to see that he had his gun pointed straight at Lucy, who was trembling in fear. "One more step and this dame is gonna get a not-so-dandy ending."

'You IDIOT! How could you forget about Lucy!? She was RIGHT THERE!' Neo berated himself. Neo growled as he backed away from the large man, who picked up Erza and rejoined his allies, the dark skinned teen joining them as well.

"A wise choice," the tall man said to Neo.

"Bye bye! Meow!" the female waved as she clutched Happy tightly. The four of them vanished with a teleportation spell. As soon as they vanished, Neo banished his Darkness Form and rushed towards Lucy.

"Lucy! Are you alright?" Neo asked.

"No!" she grunted, "this rope keeps getting tighter!" Neo morphed his right arm into a metal blade and swiftly cut the rope, freeing the Celestial Mage.

"Thanks! But what about the other people?" Lucy asked.

"What other people?" Neo asked. He looked around but only saw cards scattered along the floor.

"The people trapped in the cards!" Lucy told him. Neo picked up a card and his eyes widened as he saw a moving image of a man in a costume.

"I...I don't know how to dispel this kind of magic!" Neo exclaimed. "Card magic is not something I understand, no matter how many times Cana tries to explain it to me! Come on, we have to check on the others!"

Lucy nodded and followed Neo as he raced downstairs. They found Gray and Juvia right where Neo left them. Apparently Juvia had saved Gray by enveloping him in water. The four of them then found Natsu lying among the rubble of a broken game.

"Come on you flame head! Wake up!" Neo shouted as he shook the Dragon Slayer.

"Blocky!" Natsu shouted as he shot up with a start and uppercutted Neo right in the chin. The Elemental Master was sent flying back and stared up at the ceiling in a daze. "Where are ya you blockhead!?" Natsu shouted as he looked around.

"Natsu!" Lucy shouted, getting his attention. The Dragon Slayer looked around and saw Neo on the floor.

"Hey Neo, whatcha doing on the floor?" Natsu asked.

Neo's head snapped forward and he yelled, "You're the one who sent me into the floor! Watch where you're throwing those fists!"

"Hey, where's Happy?" Natsu asked as he noticed the lack of his best friend.

"One of the people who took Erza had him," Lucy told him.

"WHAAAAAT!?" Natsu yelled. "Where are they, I'm gonna burn them!" he began to fiercly search the room for any signs of Happy. "Wait a minute, they took Erza too?!"

"Yeah, and they seemed to know her. One of them called her 'sister'," Lucy explained.

"Impossible, she told me she was an only child," Neo said.

Lucy then told him, "Yeah, but these guys looked so different from each other."

"Maybe they formed a bond and refer to each other as siblings," Gray offered. "But what I don't get is what they want with Erza."

"I'm gonna get them, they ain't taking Happy and Erza from me!" Natsu shouted as he ran outside.

"Follow him!" Gray yelled. "His nose is sharper than most animals!" The group quickly raced outside and saw Natsu heading towards the beach.

"I can smell them," Natsu said, "they're out on the sea."

Neo grunted in frustration. "Then this might be bad for you, especially if we have to fight them on a boat."

"No, they said something about a tower," Lucy told him, "the Tower of Heaven or something like that."

"A place like that sounds like it should be full of angels or something like that," Gray remarked.

"Well, based on our attackers, then they must be fallen angels," Neo joked.

"Gray-sama, Juvia has found a boat that we may use to cross the ocean," Juvia said.

Neo pulled Gray aside and whispered to him, "Get the girls on the boat first, then you and I will throw Natsu on board before we shove off. Ain't no way he'll get on willingly, even if it was the only way to save Happy and Erza."

Gray nodded in agreement and quickly ushered Lucy and Juvia onto the boat before he and Neo snuck behind Natsu. They quickly grabbed his arms and legs before throwing him onto the boat. Natsu flailed through the air and landed on his head as Gray jumped onto the boat, Neo quickly pushed the boat into the water and turned his hand into a flame and used it to propel the boat forward.

"Hey! What's the big-URK!" Natsu instantly became sick the moment the boat moved.

"Alright flame-brain, which way?" Gray asked. Natsu weakly pointed in one direction before he limply hung over the side of the boat once more. Neo altered his course and pushed more power to his flame, making the boat go faster, and Natsu sicker.

(Later)

"There it is," Neo said as he and the rest of the group, sans a still sick Natsu, looked up at the large tower built upon a remote island.

"Are you sure this is the right place?" Lucy asked.

Gray turned to her and said, "His nose works even when he's like this," as he jerked his thumb at the sick Natsu.

The boat stopped at the shore and both males heaved their incapacitated friend onto the shore, where he instantly became better.

"Anyone see an entrance?" Neo asked as he went and hid the boat.

"Yeah, but it's guarded," Gray told him as he spied masked guards with demonic looking guard dogs.

"Then we just go and smash our way in!" Natsu declared as he went towards the entrance. Neo quickly grabbed him by his scarf and dragged him back.

"We need to go in there without alerting the whole place that we're there!" Neo hissed.

"Gray-sama," Juvia said as she popped out of the water, "Juvia has found an entrance into the tower underwater."

"Great job Juvia," Gray said as he gave her a thumbs up, causing the woman to swoon at him.

"Elemental Soul: Water!" Neo transformed into his water form and slipped into the water as Juvia made air bubbles for everyone.

'Hang on Erza, we're coming!' Neo thought as he and everyone made their way inside.

And done! The start of the Tower of Heaven Arc is complete! Next chapter we head inside to rescue Erza and Happy!

Not really much to say here, only that I'm shocked at the revelations in the manga, though I had a feeling about one aspect that I won't reveal until I'm sure you all know what I'm talking about.

Please Review! Ciao!