Well, here we are with Chapter Seven. Sorry about the longer than usual wait (unless, you know, you're still waiting on one of my other stories. In which case, this is pretty speedy...) but now I've got my computer back and will be able to update more regularly again! So without further ado, the newest chapter of Tailed Beast Soul. I hope you all enjoy!
There was no heat or any real concussive force from the blast, and just as quickly as it had blinded the occupants of the tower, the light was gone.
On sheer reflex, Naruto had flung himself to the floor and flooded Ethernano along his spine to take on the partial form of Isobu's shell to gain some sort of protection, but there was no need. As the rumbling died away and his senses returned, Naruto rose shakily to his feet and found himself at a loss for words when he noticed a major change in his surroundings. Where there had previously been dark stone walls and eerie carvings, shimmering blue crystal shone proudly.
The Tower of Heaven had become a massive beacon of light.
"What the..." He mumbled in a daze. The sheer amount of power roiling from the crystalline structure was staggering, and Naruto felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise as realization sank in.
"Lacrima." He whispered in disbelief. "The entire tower was a Lacrima? Why?"
"Jellal, you bastard!" Erza's voice cracked through the air, shattering the unsettling quiet that had taken residence atop the Tower. "This was all a ploy, wasn't it? You were betting on the Council firing Etherion all this time, weren't you?" She growled accusingly, lunging forward as two immense blades materialized in her hands, seeking purchase in Jellal's throat.
Huh. Naruto pondered as he slowly trudged to aid Erza. I'm glad someone seems to have an idea of what's going on here.
You never know what's going on around you anyways, so I don't see why you're surprised. Being lost isn't exactly new for you.
"Ignoring that!" The blonde announced loudly, causing several of his 'tenants' to chuckle softly.
Shouldn't you be moving a bit faster? He has already proven that he is capable of going toe-to-toe with your partial takeover, and while certainly impressive, that red-haired female isn't anywhere near your level. The eight-tails stated impatiently. I don't believe you can afford to take your time getting into this fight.
A shockwave rocked the tower as Erza pulled another blade from nothingness and sent it plunging into the crystal floor, narrowly missing Jellal as he leapt aside.
"I think she has this under control." Naruto muttered. So far Erza had kept Jellal completely on the defensive, to the point that it almost seemed... Naruto frowned. "Uh-oh."
A cry of shock pierced the air, drawing Naruto's eyes across the tower where Erza lay on the floor, completely motionless and in obvious pain. Black and red runes pulsed angrily along her spine and limbs, leaving her completely at the mercy of what would no doubt be a vicious counter attack by Jellal.
"Another seal?" Naruto growled, doubling his pace in an effort to reach is adopted sister before Jellal. When did he have time to do that?
He likely finished as you were coming in. If you had been paying any attention, you might have noticed the motions his hands were making.
"Dammit!" He shouted, channeling his rage into focus in the form of flooding his legs with Ethernano. He would launch himself across the Tower and act as a guardian for his incapacitated sister, and then-
Even as his plan asserted itself in his mind, his body failed to adhere to his wishes and his legs collapsed beneath him, completely unused to the impossibly large surge of energy flowing through them.
Without warning, the pent up energy fired off, shattering the crystalline floor in its wake and sending Naruto careening face first along the ground until he came to a rough stop a few feet from his sister, a rather impressive trench furrowed into the crystal to mark his passage.
"…ow." He managed to grumble weakly. Despite his predicament, Erza couldn't help but laugh at his misfortune.
"My hero."
"Shut up, cruel sister."
Odd. It appears your seal was disrupted by the explosion.
If that's the case, why is my magic acting up even more? He whined.
Well… The eight-tails began, sounding a bit put out. It would seem there was an additional, more subtle effect that I failed to notice until now, due to the fact that it's been at work since the seal was put into place.
"Urk!" Naruto gurgled as an iron grip closed around his throat, lifting him bodily from the ground and cutting off his attention to the words of the eight-tails.
Jellal smiled triumphantly, holding Naruto's swaying form above the floor.
"There truly is no greater joy than seeing a plan come to fruition." He said slowly, savoring every word as he carried the blonde towards a large crystal at the room's center.
"What are talking about?" Naruto growled, venom creeping into his tone in spite of his disadvantage.
"Honestly," the blue-haired mage continued, seemingly oblivious to the question. "When you ran off on your own, I found it impossible to track you; it was as if you dropped off the face of Earthland."
He stopped suddenly, harshly slamming the blonde onto the smooth crystalline pillar. Naruto stifled a hiss of pain while Jellal carried on.
"Imagine my surprise upon finding you meandering about the forests of Magnolia, flaunting your powers like a child begging for attention." He spat out the tail end of his words with a hint of disgust.
"I prefer to think of it as 'showing off.'" Naruto croaked with a half-hearted chuckle. His easy smirk shifted to a look of surprise as a cool sensation began spread along his extremities, and he found that he could no longer feel or move his arms and legs.
The pressure of Jellal's hand disappeared from his throat, but his position on the pillar remained unchanged. With rising apprehension, Naruto managed to shift his gaze downward and found that his body was slowly being absorbed into the crystal.
Jellal's voice drew his apprehensive gaze upward, giving Naruto little time to process his new predicament.
"It was by pure luck that the seal I placed on you all those years ago has managed to hold together all this time, especially given the amount of power you have flowing through your body."
In a calm tone that belied his frantic state of mind, Naruto cut in smoothly.
"If there's a point to your evil monologue, do you think you could get to it before I'm swallowed by this crystal?"
Jellal paused and gazed at Naruto, as if seeing him for the first time. Across the tower, Erza ceased her struggle against her own seal to listen as well.
"As you say, there is little time." He said slowly, as if in a daze. "The third aspect of the seal was meant to place an artificial inhibitor on the growth of your magical power. Upon the destruction of the Tower, the seal would shatter and allow all of the stored away energy to flood your body. Essentially, the reason you are incapable of wielding your magic effectively is due to the simple fact that you have more magic energy flowing through your body than ever before. Your body needs time and training in order to be able to acclimatize and process the excess energy effectively.
Naruto was dumbstruck as the explanation sank in slowly.
Too much energy? That's gotta be a joke. It doesn't make sense for the seal to have been blocking my growth like he's claiming. From what mom and dad taught me, my power was already developing at a surprising pace… So if my growth was actually being stunted... How is that physically possible?
As difficult as it may be to believe, he does speak the truth. Gyūki pointed out. That seal was blocking your access to nearly half of your energy stores. How did I not see this?
Overconfidence and laziness? His one-tailed brother piped up unhelpfully. The others turned to glare at him, causing him to shudder in surprise. I thought that out loud, didn't I?
Ignoring the rising argument in his mind, Naruto turned his attention to his captor.
"Why?" He asked. "What's the point of blocking my power, just to give it back now?"
Jellal clapped his hands together once, smiling winningly, like a teacher when the dead-last in the class asked a useful question for once.
"I'm glad you asked! You're familiar with the concept of weight training, yes?"
"Yeah…" The blonde deadpanned at Jellal's little display. "Wearing weighted gear when training increases your base abilities when you take off the gear… So what?"
Jellal continued to stare at Naruto expectantly for several seconds before his face shifted to a puzzled frown.
"You don't get it, do you?"
The blonde smiled sheepishly, rapidly shaking his head left and right.
"Nah. Could you break it down for me a bit more?" As Jellal gripped the bridge of his nose in annoyance, even Erza chuckled exasperatedly at her brother's remark.
"Think of the seal acting as a 'weight' by forcing you to put more effort into utilizing your powers. The seal was causing your magic to strengthen inherently through use."
The proverbial Light Lacrima blazed to life above Naruto's head.
"Oohh! I get it now! I can't use my magic because I'm having trouble manipulating the right amount of energy for my techniques. The reason I can't manipulate the proper amount of energy is that I'm having a major influx of energy because your seal broke and unlocked all of my reserves. And, the reason you set the seal to unlock my reserves is that-" The light sputtered and died, leaving Naruto with a frown dominating his features.
"I'm lost again."
But Erza understood. She had spent the past few years studying the R-System, or the Tower of Heaven as Jellal seemed to enjoy calling it. The Tower utilized massive, near impossible to gather, amounts of magical energy to resurrect a single person. However, resurrection cannot be achieved without a sacrifice, and a powerful one at that. Which would mean…
Erza gasped at the realization, even as Jellal took it upon himself to explain himself to Naruto.
"I did it to make sure you would be strong enough to satisfy the requirements of the Tower as a sacrifice to raise Lord Zeref." Jellal stated off-handedly, as if he were commenting on something as casual as the weather. "Which is why you're in that crystal; you'll be acting as the catalyst for a new era, Naruto.
He smiled warmly, taking a firm grip of Naruto's hair.
"Thank you for your contribution."
Naruto's eyes widened at the realization that he had played right into Jellal hands. He could only watch wide-eyed as Jellal forced his head beneath the smooth crystalline surface, cutting off Erza's helpless cry of anguish as it was joined by a roar of outrage from an unknown party.
"Naruto!" Erza cried out, forced to watch helplessly as her brother's head was forced into the crystal. The moment his full body occupied the crystal, it noticeably darkened from a light, clear blue to nearly opaque black. She could no longer see him inside the pillar.
Jellal turned to face her with a smirk, but rather than the helpless form of the bound swordswoman, he came face-to-face, or rather, face-to-fist with a very angry Dragon Slayer.
The surprise blow sent him careening across the Tower, followed so closely by Natsu that to the untrained eye it appeared that the blue-haired mage had a pink-haired shadow.
Jellal's flight was rudely interrupted by an impressive fiery axe kick, allowing himself to become better acquainted with the crystal floor.
Natsu gave the dark mage no breathing room, and followed him relentlessly to the ground with enough force to send the two of them down another floor.
Before Erza had time to process what had occurred, the ground several meters to her left exploded upwards as Natsu was brutally assaulted by flashes of golden light from every direction. It took only a moment for her trained eyes to recognize the flashes as Jellal, moving so quickly that he appeared to be everywhere at once.
The blue-haired mage came to stop a good distance away from Natsu, relaxing where he stood as he waited for the boy to stand.
The Dragon Slayer rose to his feet steadily, bringing his hands out to his sides and engulfing the two in flames so hot, the air around him shimmered and the floor beneath him steamed.
"What the hell do you think you're doing to Naruto?!" He roared, his flames growing even brighter and the air becoming stifling hot. The fire spread across his entire body, and the crystal around him nearly began to melt from the sheer power in his emotion fueled flames.
He brought his clenched fist crashing into his open palm, sending the flames spiraling around him.
"Anyone that picks a fight with Fairy Tail is picking a fight with me!" His boisterous voice resounded throughout the cavernous room.
A cold chuckle answered his proclamation, and Jellal clapped slowly to humor the fire mage.
Natsu glared in response, and impossibly, his flames grew even brighter.
"What's the joke, you worthless bastard?" He growled angrily. He could feel immense power flowing in him, probably the most he had managed since his fight with Erigor the Reaper a few weeks back. The fact that the man before him thought his display was worth laughing at was… unsettling.
"Nothing at all, Dragon Slayer." He deflected with a smirk. "I simply find it amusing that you would challenge me now, given that the only person who had a chance of facing me is now far beyond any aid you could render."
Natsu snarled at his words, and the flames covering his body concentrated in his hands.
"Natsu, don't do it! He's too powerful, even for me!" Erza shouted at him, trying to deter him from his foolish act. "Jellal's brother is one of the Ten Wizard Saints, just like Master Makarov! You can't hope to match him… He's at least as strong Siegrain!" She trailed off, seeing that Natsu was far too focused to pay her words any mind. With a start, she realized that he was more focused on the man in front of him than anything she had ever seen before.
"I don't really give a damn about how strong you are. No matter what, I'll show you why you shouldn't mess with Fairy Tail!" Natsu charged forward and unleashed a punch with enough force to shatter a stone wall. "Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!"
Jellal dodged the blow so easily, Natsu might as well have been throwing the punch from a mile away. The blue-haired mage's foot twitched and Natsu was thrown back by a monstrous kick that nearly cracked his ribs. Natsu recovered quickly, but Jellal hadn't pressed his advantage and merely stood waiting for the next attempt, smiling.
"Is that all you can muster up? Or are you saying that I shouldn't mess with your guild because it isn't worth the effort?" He asked snidely. Natsu's entire body erupted in response to his goading.
He flew into the air suddenly - fast enough for Jellal to be moderately surprised, though not caught off guard – and brought his fists crashing together. "I'm gonna make you regret those words! Fire Dragon's Brilliant Flame!" He roared, and the overwhelming heat evaporated the very air around it as it burned a blazing path towards the dark mage.
The spell made direct contact with its target, going so far as to evaporate the crystal surrounding Jellal and bathe the entire room with enough heat to even make the water at the base of the Tower hiss and steam.
Natsu returned to the ground roughly – he'd poured everything he had into that attack and the lack of magical energy left him staggered. But he smiled as he gazed the still raging inferno.
"Not so smug now, huh? Never mess with my friends! Never mess with Fairy Tail! And especially, don't underestimate me…" He intoned, mostly to himself. Now, I just need to find a way to free Naruto, and then-
"So," A voice called out mockingly from the depths of Natsu's firestorm, freezing the pinkette in place. "This is the full scope of a Dragon Slayer's power? I'm disappointed." The voice chuckled darkly, without a hint of mirth in its cold tone.
The flames died away without warning and before him was Jellal, no worse for wear, if a little singed at the edges of his clothing. He smiled a smile that sucked the warmth from the room, and Natsu shivered at the sight.
"Consider yourself properly estimated, Dragon Slayer. Meteor!"
Without any further prelude, Jellal simply ceased to stand in front of Natsu. Before he had any opportunity to even process that his opponent had so much as twitched, he doubled over as Jellal buried his knee into the Dragon Slayers gut, sending him flying backwards.
Natsu managed to right himself in midair, digging his feet into the floor and launching back towards the dark mage even as his body throbbed in protest. Without so much as a flicker of movement, Jellal redirected him – by way of fist – face first into an unforgiving pillar.
He's so fast! Natsu conceded, rising from the floor and launching of flurry of blazing punches towards his foe. To his surprise, each strike was diverted and parried with the ease of a master martial artist sparring against an untrained child.
Natsu frowned, ceasing his assault and breathing heavily. He appraised the man in front of him in a new light. Keeping an aggressive stance, a plan began to form in his mind.
This bastard is strong… probably as strong as me, and way too fast for me to keep up with him… And he's obviously skilled in hand-to-hand; I can't even touch him. Gah! I'm gonna wipe that stupid grin off his face! He snarled to himself, going on the offensive once more.
Deciding for another angle of attack, Natsu took to the air only to come crashing down in a blazing explosion, shattering the floor where Jellal had been standing. The blue-haired mage snarled at the failed strike and delivered a forceful kick into Natsu's side, sending him flying once more.
As the pinkette rose to his feet again, Jellal couldn't help but notice the smirk spreading across the boy's face.
"Hoh? Find something amusing to laugh about, Dragon's Son?"
If possible, the grin widened, showcasing the extended canines of the Dragon Slayer. "Yep." He stated simply.
His hands blazed once more before he flew towards Jellal again.
Just as the mage prepared to throttle the smug boy a third time, he was thrown back by the immense explosion resulting from Natsu's attack. Dusting himself off, he growled murderously when he saw what had been the Fairy Tail mage's true target.
"What the hell do you think you're doing, you worthless punk?!"
"Oh, you know, doin' what we Fairy Tail wizards do best…" He grinned devilishly, and his eyes took on a dangerous gleam as he crushed an outcropping of crystal beneath his feet. He turned to face Jellal head-on, titling his head slightly to the left as he did so.
"This sure is a nice Tower you've got built for yourself here, ya prick. It'd be a shame if something were to-" The crystal floor beneath him shattered as he exerted even more force on it. "Oops."
"Why you little-" Jellal's rage was cut off as Natsu connected for the second time, staggering him and leaving him open for a follow-up. Natsu grinned maliciously.
"Eat this! Dragon Slayer Secret Art!" Jellal's eyes widened in surprise; the block-head had played him and left him vulnerable to an attack that might actually be able to harm him. There was no way he'd be able to recover in time to escape, and the sheer amount of energy building in the Dragon Slayer made it clear that blocking would be futile. "Crimson Lotus Exploding Flame Blade!"
Jellal's entire world became fire.
Erza watched on, awestruck when Natsu's attack engulfed himself and Jellal. The entire Tower attempted to shake itself apart under the force of the explosion, and despite his strength, even Jellal felt the effects. He flew from the blast decidedly charred and landed in a heap unceremoniously after colliding with a sizable chunk of falling Lacrima, dislodged by the attack.
Natsu himself was clearly drained and nearly dead on his feet after expending so much magic in a single attack, and he too collapsed to the floor, bone-weary and unable to move. But the smile on his face lit up the entire room when his eyes met Erza's.
"How- how about that… Erza? I – phew – I totally mopped the floor with 'im." He grinned infectiously, and Erza found herself smiling as well. "And you were… so… worried…" His smile faltered when a shifting noise reached his ears. The sound of someone rising from the ground. "N-no way…"
Jellal stood unsteadily, fixing Natsu with a glare that could have set lesser men whimpering. Natsu met it with a glare of his own.
"I… I can't believe you got up from that. I put everything I had into that attack…" He muttered in disbelief. "How are you this strong?"
Instead of answering, Jellal divested himself of his ruined cloak, leaving himself clothed in a tight, dark sleeveless shirt and a pair of dark pants. If his face betrayed any of the emotions he was feeling, the best one to describe it would be fury.
"You… you dare?!" He snarled, his face contorting in rage. "Eight years. I've spent eight years building this Tower, and you would dare try to destroy it?!" His visage calmed, and then darkened as a smile tugged at his lips. "Very well. If you are so keen to see my plans dashed to oblivion, who am I to stand in your way? Allow me to… ease the process along."
He fell into a stable stance, feet spread shoulder width apart and arms at his side. His hands began to glow with the golden light of his Heavenly Body Magic, and then he brought them high above his head to form an 'x'.
The entire Tower shuddered.
Wha- what is this magic power? It feels terrible… Natsu wondered. It's… it's even drawing my shadow to it.
"Fall into the endless darkness, Dragon Slayer!" Jellal shouted, as if announcing to the heavens that he would put an end to the man before him.
"And would you kill me as well, Jellal?"
"Erza?!"
Without Jellal having paid it any mind during the battle, Erza's seal had disappeared and she now stood as a barrier between Natsu and Jellal.
"Sho said that you had originally intended me as your sacrifice. Can you truly afford to risk killing me along with Natsu?" Erza asked, hoping to buy time to find some way for Natsu to escape. This opponent was beyond them.
"While it is true that the Tower requires a sacrifice with power comparable to that of one of the Ten Wizard Saints, you seem to forget that Naruto was already kind enough to fill that role for me." He stated condescendingly. "At this point, it makes no difference with or without you."
Erza's eyes widened at the implication of his words.
"The two of you…" He continued with a sadistic smile. "Are going to be smashed to bits!"
"Erza!" Natsu yelled, still unable to stand. "Get away!"
She turned part way to face him, smiling. "Don't you worry, Natsu…" She faced Jellal once more, prepared to emulate her savior all those years ago. "I'll protect you."
The pink-haired boy sat aghast at her statement. "No…" He whispered.
"Heavenly Body Magic!" Jellal proclaimed. "Altairis!"
The odd, starry black orb that had been forming over his head shot forward at unheard of speeds, sundering the Tower floor as it passed. Within seconds, it would strike down its targets.
Erza closed her eyes, accepting her fate, thankful that Natsu would live on.
The sphere closed in, buffeting the Tower with near gale-force winds as it did.
Natsu cried out, begging Erza to save herself.
The heavenly body closed to a scant few feet away, too close to dodge.
Without warning, Simon stood before Erza as a barrier himself, too late for Erza to stop him.
Jellal's attack struck, tearing apart the very space around the body of its unintended target, shattering the Tower floor beneath it, and exploding.
The dust cleared, and Erza was unable to stifle the gasp of shock as it slipped between her lips.
In front of her with his clothes torn to shreds, battered, bloodied and standing on his last legs, was Jellal.
. . .
The blue-haired mage managed a choked gurgle before he collapsed to the floor, and across the room, Erza could see Simon standing in the place previously occupied by the dark mage, looking as confused as Jellal looked injured.
Natsu, to his credit, recovered his ability for coherent speech first. "No way! Simon and Jellal were really Jellal and Simon?!"
Before either Erza or Simon could respond, another voice, familiar and foreign at the same time caught their attention.
"Seriously? That's the first thing you came up with?" The strange voice huffed irritably, and the Tower itself seemed to shift as it did so. "Sometimes I really wonder how you survived being raised by a dragon, Natsu…"
That voice! Erza thought, her surprise evident on her face. "Naruto?"
The Tower shuddered in time with the chuckling voice.
"Yep, that would be me. In the… flesh? Er, so to speak." His tone came off as confused, matching the feelings of the others in the room. "Let me see here… Ah, got it."
The light given off by the Tower faded by a fraction and a mesmerizing show of light motes danced from every nook and cranny of the cavern, gathering into a shapeless form before Erza, Natsu, and the unconscious form of Jellal, along with Simon who had moved to join them.
The flecks of light continued to dance and sway in the air before settling on a form and becoming solid. Naruto grinned at them mischievously upon seeing their awestruck expressions, though he couldn't blame them.
"Pretty cool, right?" He asked rhetorically. He knew that it was cool. It was him, after all.
"Naruto…" Simon began, at loss for words from the events of the past few minutes. He had been prepared to lay down his life for Erza in an effort to allow her and Natsu to escape. Instead… That strange sensation of nothingness. That wasn't like any sort of teleportation magic I've ever heard of… What did you do, Naruto?
"What happened to you?" He asked instead. "What's up with that peculiar form?"
Naruto grinned meekly, his hand rising to rub the back of his head nervously.
"Yeah, about that…" The Tower shook violently without warning, and Naruto scowled in response. "Dammit, we're just about out of time…" He mumbled to himself, though Erza still heard his words.
"Out of time? What are you talking about?" She asked suspiciously. Naruto was acting strangely, even if she ignored the fact that he was glowing, his behavior indicated something she couldn't quite put her finger on. "What's going on, Naruto?" She asked, even as the Tower continued to rumble and shake.
He frowned at her question before replying. "It's impossible, even by magical standards, for this much ethernano to remain in one place for long. Even as we speak, the Tower is attempting to shake itself apart and release the magic energy back into the atmosphere." His expression turned grim. "As it is, only my willpower is holding the structure together right now. My body is in stasis inside that crystal over there while my consciousness is working to hold the Tower back from exploding, very violently." His gaze drifted to Erza and his eyes locked with hers.
"The three of you need to escape while I disperse the power myself, otherwise… Well, the Etherion has the power to wipe out entire nations. Certainly not something you wanna be caught up in, yeah?"
Erza's eyes narrowed at his words, and he flinched visibly at her expression.
"What exactly are you saying? Are you telling me that you expect me to leave my little brother here to let himself get blown up while I make my merry back to Magnolia…?" Her expression was extremely dark, and Naruto suddenly had the sensation of two beings staring him down; one was his own sister, daring him to confirm her question.
The other was a being clad all in black, a ridiculously large and menacing scythe draped lazily over its shoulder, gripped loosely in a single hand. The other was clenched in a fist and extended towards him in the fashion of a 'thumbs-up.' It appeared that only Naruto could see the ghostly figure, its hooded form nodding at him slowly. "Ten out of ten." It rasped slowly. "Best plan ever." With that it faded away and his focus shifted back to Erza.
"...Uhm, maybe?"
Before Erza could offer any form of retort, a portion of the ceiling collapsed, tumbling down and crushing a large portion of the floor with it. Simon and Erza barely managed to keep their feet, whereas Natsu seemed to have resigned himself to another intense episode of motion sickness.
"There isn't any time to argue!" Naruto hissed, and immediately regretted it as a hurt expression flashed across Erza's face. More gently, he continued. "Look, there's no guarantee that the Tower will explode. I just need to focus on venting the structure safely, and I would be more at ease if you weren't putting yourself at risk here. I'm the only person who can do this because I'm linked to the Tower. Don't worry!" He smiled that goofy grin of his that showed every tooth in his mouth, his eyes squeezing shut. "I'll be right behind you, that's a promise, Erza."
Erza still looked unsure, but the Tower shuddered again, and any further argument she might have made was shot down. "Fine!" She huffed, put out by the lack of any other options. "You'll be right behind us?"
"You bet!" That silly grin of his put her at ease, but there was something bothering her still, though she couldn't put her finger on it.
She crossed her arms in an intimidating fashion. "You had better!"
The Tower shuddered again, and Naruto snapped his fingers loudly, causing Erza to flinch in surprise. When she opened her eyes, she found herself on the coast of Fiore along with Simon, Natsu, and all the others, along with Jellal who had surprisingly regained consciousness, though he still couldn't move.
He muttered something lowly, so quietly that it was likely that he hadn't intended for anyone else to hear.
"What the hell are you talking about?" Natsu growled, his heightened senses picking up his words just fine.
The entire group turned to look at the blue-haired mage with a mix of emotions ranging from wariness to anger, but he spoke anyways.
"That was foolish of you, Erza." His voice came out hollow, and he sounded nothing like he had in the Tower. For a moment – a fraction of a second – Jellal's mind was free of the domineering darkness and he was able to think for himself again. "Didn't you see his eyes?" He asked, as if that one question held the key to unlocking the secrets to the universe.
"What are you-" Erza's question was cut off as the sand beneath their feet shifted and all the water along the coast was suddenly drawn away from the shore, like some massive hole had opened in the sea and the water was rushing to fill it. A blinding white light blotted out the horizon, and seconds later the group was thrown from their feet as an impossibly powerful shockwave rocked the ground.
It was only thanks to Juvia that the group wasn't washed away as the sea surged forth again, driven by the explosion. As the waters calmed once more, Erza stared blankly out to sea. The tall silhouette of the Tower was completely absent from the horizon.
"No…" She managed a choked whisper. "He said that… he promised me!"
"Naruto…" Natsu grunted in disbelief.
Gray started at the implication of their words. "N-no way! You don't mean…"
Lucy collapsed to the ground in shock, caressing Happy in her arms even as a tear slid down her face. "He couldn't really be…"
"Dammit!" Simon shouted, his fists clenched in anger at his own helplessness.
"His eyes…" Jellal muttered again, even as the darkness began to creep back into his mind, and he slipped back into sleep. "He had his eyes closed so you couldn't see him cry…"
Erza collapsed to her knees, staring forlornly out over the calm coastal waters – her brother's grave, she thought absently – and couldn't even bother to be surprised when tears rolled down both sides of her face, even from her artificial eye that hadn't shed a tear since the day she had received it.
"Naruto… you liar…" She muttered, succumbing to her wounds and her grief, and passing into a dreamless sleep.