Chapter 12: Finding Allies in unlikely places.

In front of a towering structure two mostly white clad soldiers were given one of the most important tasks they could get. Every soldier knew it was an immense honor to be chosen to guard the entrance to the 4th Custody Enforcement Unit's HQ, as much as it was one of the most boring assignments you could get. Who didn't love standing outside for hours with no end, no matter the weather?

"Hey, Tom!" Asked one guard to another, just to make time flow a little bit faster. "Have you heard? The captain apparently asked the Council for a Blank to join our Unit!"

"Don't shit me! Our captain!? Why would he of all people want the help from a criminal!?"

"Might be a MB in disguise. Hard to tell when they are covered in so much white that my eyes start to bleed the moment, I see them."

Tom could only scoff at this.

"Yeah, sure. You really think our captain would sully the name of the 4th and ask those suckers for help. Aren't we considered the strongest unit the council has available thanks to him?! Surely he knows our strength!"

He could totally understand Tom's outburst.

"I feel you, but I heard a Blank was already spotted leaving his Quarters. Such rumors don't manifest without reason."

"… So it's that serious." Tom was silent for just a few moments to process this. "Well, ok then. I trust our captain with my life after all! Anything else you heard about our newest member?"

"Just what you expect. Covered in white that your eyes hurt. A shiny silver mask to conceal the face. Probably female, not that you could see it through all those robes. Overall nothing interesting, but hear this. "He leaned closer to Tom. "Apparently her MPF value was over 5000!"

"5000!?" Tom's eyes widened in response. "That's high enough to battle Wizard Saints one-on-one!" Tom felt his legs shake in fright. He couldn't believe it. If this was true, who are they going to war against? No. Most importantly who did their captain recruit, that could get even close to that number!


A white robed figure left his chambers and Lahar could only slump back on his desk, reaching for an untouched bottle of whiskey he got from Doranbolt after their graduation.

The taste of alcohol was one he despised and never missed from his younger days. He preferred to be sober and ready for anything, but screw this. After what he's going to do, this bottle will not be enough to calm his mind.

It all began some days ago, when a Transponder Snail was comfortable laying on his desk in his quarters. Not many people had access to his room and the fact one just appeared randomly on his desk put him on high alert.

"Purururu….purururu."

The sudden sound startled Lahar. He has been in his chambers for not longer than a few second and that call was perfectly timed the moment he closed his door. His position was compromised, and he likely had a mole in his unit, that he would deal with later.

"Pururururu….pururu- gacha. Hello, my dear Lahar." Picking up the receiver, the voice of a particular person radiated on the other side.

"Wrack!" There was not mistaking, it was him.

"I love that you still remember me! It has been a few years already. Hasn't it?" The captain laughed for a moment before his demeanor changed a bit. "I have an offer for you that you can't refuse!"

"No, thank you." Stated Lahar firmly, ready to slam the receiver back on the snail. "I don't make deals with criminals, much less accept any offers from you!"

The Finder just chuckled.

"Even if its about your mother?"

This startled Lahar for a moment, before he gathered himself in the next second.

"She chose her life. No one is above the law!"

"Was her sentence lawful in any way? The timelines don't even match and none of our action would indicate the given verdict." You could hear the faintest growl in Wracks voice. "We both know, that neither I nor she would step so low as to encourage slavery! Much less try to actively revive the Dark mage himself!"

"The sentence was given and –"

"The sentence was a misguided impulse of the Council to safe face and straight out their blunder!" This shut him down long enough for Wrack to take a deep breath." Tell me Lahar, is this your ideal justice? Sentencing people harsher than the law allows it?"

"This may be true, but my ideals are not what you are after. So what do you want?"

"It's simple. I want to bust out my crew."

Were Lahar not so serious, he would have laughed mockingly by now.

"And you truly think I will help you, just because of my family ties? You must have gone finally senile, old man!"

"In exchange," continued Wrack unbothered. "I offer the heads of Oracion Seis and give you an asset that will ensure their capture 100%! And if you're lucky maybe even Jellal himself as a bonus!"

It was a good thing Lahar wasn't laughing or else he would have choked by now. This was quite the claim and being the calm captain of the 4th Custody Enforcement Unit it was only befitting for him to seriously consider that offer. Wrack was never one for empty boasts after all.

"I'll need more details."

"And you will get them. You still remember where your mother once worked? Meet me there. Alone." The call ended and Lahar hated that he was even considering it.

.

.

.

In the end, despite his better judgment, he did come to that old place, dressed in a bright normally eye-catching white attire, shimmering in a certain way to obstruct his presence to the people around him.

Lahar entered the building and after disabling his clothes effect, a partly nervous blue-haired waitress greeted him warmly and brought him directly to Wrack, gurgling down various meals by the minute.

"I knew that you would come!" Food partly falling out of his jaws, the giant greeted Lahar like an old friend, before addressing the waitress. "Balsa dear, could you fetch Nora, please?"

After bowing, she silently exited the giant chamber.

"Take a seat." Said Wrack to the still standing Lahar and only after he complied, did he continue to talk. "My plan is quite simple. I want you to recruit Nora as a Blank in your army and with her help take on Oracion Seis and bring them behind bars. They should be placed on the deepest level for their crimes, just where your mother is." Wrack really wanted to emphasize that point, but Lahar remained largely unbothered. "When you have them secured, Nora will take the place of Angel and without your involvement she will break out of Norton's deepest layers."

"…You're kidding. You really did get senile! That's you master plan?!" Lahar felt as if at any moment someone of the Weekly Sorcerer would jump out and reveal this epic prank of theirs.

"It's the ideal plan for all of us." Loudly proclaimed Wrack, oblivious to what he was even suggesting. "I'll get my crew back. You'll get Oracion Seis behind bars and Jellal as a potential bonus. It's a win-win for everyone."

Lahar was just clutching his head in disbelieve.

"Trust me, Lahar. I assure you the moment you see her, you will understand my confidence in her abilities."

As if on cue, the giant doors finally opened and never could have Lahar guessed who came through it.

There, right before his eyes was the rumored green-haired Erza, the same one who apparently fought equally against Jellal and destroyed Aeraos to the ground in their battle.

This had to be a trick, but before Lahar had any time to think, Wrack suddenly jumped up high from his seat and kneeled right before the Titania look-alike in a submissive position, calling her master of all things.

Lahar felt like he was in a fever-dream and only his training prevented him from storming out.

"Thank you, Master!" Addressed the giant the green-haired girl, before gesturing her to sit down. "Please, take a seat. I will explain everything."

After clearing his throat, the blue-haired waitress quickly left the room. Only when Wrack was sure no one was eavesdropping did he continue.

"You see, Master, I need you to join his unit momentarily in order to break into a prison and free my crew."

"Sure." Not even a moment of hesitation. "If it's just for a moment. Anything else?"

"Wait a second!" Erupted Lahar from his seat. "I did not agree to anything, yet!"

"Are you not convinced?" Wrack was dumfounded. "I mean, you have heard what she did to Aeraos, didn't you?"

"I don't even know if it's really her, nor where Oracion Seis is! And on top of that, why would I ever betray the Council!" He practically screamed at the madman.

"Ah, there's your mistake. You're not betraying anyone. All you're doing is recruit a Blank and ignore a little switcheroo down the process. As for them, I already know where they are and if you agree, the Council will get the tip soon enough." Reaching for his discarded chicken wing, Wrack slurped it down in one swoop. "Just think for a moment and even you will see it's foolproof."

Lahar felt like screaming, but he stopped himself and seriously worked the plan out in his mind. He would have an asset that was allegedly on par with Jellal, have its power to put Jellal and Oracion Seis behind bars and then place that person right alongside them… and see the plan fail to break out Wracks crew.

Norton was a prison designed to be unbreachable. The rune-knights brightest minds are stationed there, and nothing placed inside it would have even a chance of generating enough power to even summon the tiniest amount of magic. Disregarding the various runes preventing people from even getting out of their cells, with runes specifically designed to shut their magic down, by using the captives own magic against them, all the while having anti-magic shackles planted on both their hands and feet. There was no wiggle room for escape in his mind, even with teleportation magic from the outside.

Then again, Wrack has a devilish mind. He probably found a way, even if Lahar highly doubted it, to get them out. In the end the gains massively outweigh the cons and the non-existent risk. Even if they get out, a controlled outbreak would be more beneficial to show the Council a chink in their armor than a sudden one with untold number of risks. If they don't get out, well it's not his business.

"So be it." Straightening out his back, Lahar lit his hand on fire and held it towards Nora. "But only on the conditions, that you will free only his 21-man crew that were detained not long ago and prevent anyone else from freeing the other criminals down there."

Without hesitation, she took his hand and with a firm shake the deal was sealed.

"Just keep your end of the deal." Was all she said to him, all the while Wrack sported his trademark grin.

Back then Lahar was confident in this matter, seeing it as an absolute win, but now he seriously doubted he made the right decision. He thought logically in terms of wins and losses and betrayed his own ideals in the process. Betrayal was betrayal after all, no matter how much you sugar coat it.


The sudden coldness washed over his body from head to toe, ripping Jellal out of his sleep.

Gasping for air and shaking off the sudden shock, while having trouble with opening his left eye, it was only then did he realize he was strapped to a chair. His vision was blurry, but he could still feel the unmistakable smooth texture of magic canceling chains around his hands, while he came face to face with his captors he instantly recognized, despite his limited perception.

"Finally awake, Jellal?" Brain spoke, surrounded by the other 5 members of Oracion Seis. "We were immensely distressed by your dire state and came to you rescue. 5th degree Magic deficiency is a serious matter and I thought you would have been a goner by now. Thankfully, Hoteye had the necessary expertise to nurse you back to health without lasting damages. Truly a master of his art"

"I did it for the money!" The big orange-haired man intervened, just to remind everyone he was not providing a charity for free.

"Yeah, you did." Chuckled Brain at his antics, before focusing on Jellal's face. "On that note, I'm sorry to say your eye was beyond repair. I really wonder who you were fighting against that gave you this scar."

It suddenly clicked. He couldn't open his left eye, at all. Jellal remembered his last stand with his sin having survived the impossible. Where despite his body screaming for him to fall over already, Jellal lounged at her and before he knew it, he felt the sharp sensation of cold steel caressing his forehead down to his cheek, all the while someone violently tackled him out of the way. Then it all got black.

He really lost that battle, despite all his planning…

Now his last sin was free to wander the world without his supervision, tainting Erza's good name further down the line the longer she existed.

"Not that it matters now." Brain leaned closer, gaining all of Jellal's attention. "Say, you do know where Nirvana is located and how to unseal it, right?"

"Huh?" Jellal was confused for a moment. "Why do you want to know?"

Brain shook his head. "That doesn't answer my question." He gently placed his hand on Jellal's shoulder. "I know it's sudden and I would have asked a lot sooner, but I had to respect Hades wishes to not pester you about it and Ultear wasn't as trustworthy to the Chairman like you were."

Hades and Brain did have a certain relationship. Personally Jellal never met Hades eye-to-eye, but the older man did always help Jellal to a certain extend and even convinced Brain to tutor him to boost his potential. Hades even provided Ultear as a tool to utilize as he saw fit, as long as it served to bring Zeref back with the Tower. Hades never elaborated why he wanted to revive Zeref, and Jellal never asked about it as they shared a common goal, but something felt fishy about that whole ordeal now.

"I do know its location, but it's not like I can or want to show you." said Jellal truthfully, knowing that Brain has already figured this out.

"… I see." Brains eyes became a lot more agitated, but he remained in control." I understand your first point, how your mind is protected from all forms of mind-invasion tactics, with an automated self-destruction sequence embedded in it, if you ever spilled the beans unwillingly, but why wouldn't you want to show us its location? We are all friends after all."

"Drop it. I'm not obliged to tell you."

"So be it." Turning around Brain was about to leave the room, before tilting his head back slightly. "This is your last chance. Are you going to unseal Nirvana for us? We could help you get revenge against that green-haired imposter if you help us now."

"…" Jellal remained tightlipped, despite how tempting the offer might have been.

He could probably rid his last sin with their help but doing so would only bring forth a bigger problem. Another sin. He already promised himself he would no longer give the dark anything, that might affect Erza anymore than he already has.

"What a shame. Angel. Cobra." Hearing their codenames the two of them stepped toward Jellal. "He's all yours. I expect results in five days. Do whatever you must."

Cobra alongside his snake were grinning like madman, all while Angel was entirely unenthusiastic about it. Their combined shadows rained down on Jellal, who remained entirely composed, ready to face the consequence of his decision, he knew was the right one.


A spiral of purple flames was hurled towards a panting Natsu, who in an act of impulse tried to take them into his belly to get re-energized. Slurping it down like wet noodles they disappeared without a trace despite their sticky qualities, before spitting his own out.

"Fire Dragon: ROAR". Instead of the expected giant pillar of flame that power boost should have given him, a pitiful smaller one the size of a watermelon emerged instead.

"This was more of a Fire Dragons: Purr." Flying above the battlefield, Happy was proud of his joke, bearably contain the laugher with his little paws.

"SHUT IT, HAPPY!" Distracted by this little remark, Natsu failed to dodge a ground-slithering fire snake grabbing him by the ankle and launching him towards the closest tree as punishment.

"Did you have enough for today Natsu?" Macao emerged out of the dust cloud.

"Are you kidding?! We just starte- (blergh)." Suddenly on his knees, Natsu puked out a blue-colored mess, while he grasped for air.

"I think that is enough." Said Makarov overseeing the training.

Erza listened his request and re-equipped to her usual attire. "You have already improved a lot since last time. Tomorrow is also a day."

Natsu quickly pushed himself up. "Are you kidding!? I'm in top form!" He then plunged back towards the ground, to push out another colored mess from his body.

"Laxus had the same issue at this stage. Your body is fighting against a foreign substance, but you are holding up better than he was." Declared Makarov, while concealing the fact that Laxus was only 10-years old at that time.

Natsu weekly held a fist out in victory before he had to empty his excessive contents again. Despite this he was fired up more than ever to get back to top form.

The first days of training were a lot tougher than he initially realized. The lacrimas in his body were messing around with his magic intake and even when fully rested, Natsu could feel as if an iron bell was lounged deep into his stomach.

The day he was finally in working fighting condition, he was thrilled to learn he would fight against Erza to gauge his limits. Oh, how fired up he was, but the issues started faster than he could have predicted.

Each time he deployed one of his magic attacks, he felt part of its power just disappear into nothingness. Each next roar he used, got smaller. Each time he consumed Erza's flames, the less energy he got in return. It didn't take long for him to fail summon even the tiniest of flames and fall to the ground like a stone, despite knowing he could have gone for longer.

Gramps told him, that those particular lacrima in his body were extremely reactive to magic, and the more active they got the more magic the took into themselves. So over the next week with the help of both Macao and Erza, he learned to control his magic flow more.

It was still difficult to properly control his magic. It was against his whole nature as the Fire Dragon Slayer to fine tune his destructiveness. He was the go-to lash out guy. If he was to solve a problem, his answer would be to just use more flames. Now, he's forced to control its flow, resulting in weaker, but more precise attacks he didn't know he was able to.

Still, it sucked that his magic got partly eaten by those stupid rocks in his body, but gramps assured him, that if he got a good enough grasp on his magic flow, then he would teach Natsu how to access them.

Of course Natsu wanted to learn it right now, but Makarov was against it. He said that he learnt from his mistakes with Laxus, and he would not repeat them.

"Fairy Tail!" Out of the blue, a lizard-headed person walked towards them. "I'm a messenger from the council."

Makarov was the first to respond, hiding his distaste behind his lucky-go demeanor. "Yes, what can I do for you?"

"On behalf of the Council, I was sent to ask Fairy Tail to join the alliance of Guilds that are tasked with the destruction of a certain Dark Guild."

This peaked everyone's interest.

"An alliance?" Erza proclaimed mostly to herself.

"Yes." That frog person apparently heard her." Blue Pegasus, Lamia Scale and a small local guild called Cat Shelter have already accepted, but the Council decided that Fairy Tails destructiveness would make a fine addition."

"I'm fired up!" Announced Natsu ready to bash some skulls. "I do need a little exercise."

The Frogperson was less than pleased, before he added. "It is for the Master of the guild to decide who joins. Depending on how many members you send you'll get a greater percent of the dark guilds bounties. Additionally." Then the frog pulled out some big papers, emptying his entire bag and handed them to Fairy Tails Master. "I was tasked to deliver those to you."

Makarov's eyes grew dark and only Natsu heard him mutter something about 'damn Gildarts', before he quickly was full of energy.

"Which guild is it?" asked Makarov with a lot more fire in his eyes.


"I here by ask for a vacation." A large muscular bi-pedal feline, wearing a full-plate armor with a certain number on it, was standing before his superior.

The person he talked to, was none other then the dreaded Manager of the Magic Busters, having found time in his busy day to hear one of his longest acquaintances out.

"That's fine." His deep voice echoed inside his massive chambers, while he was looking over a stack of papers. "You have positively impacted this company and I believe you deserve a break, but why so sudden?"

This was a reasonable question. "I have almost found all the missing exceeds that where entrusted under my care and I'm thankful that you have taken them under your wings, when they had nowhere to go. Despite this, I have found at least four of my kind that have bonded with humans, and I was conflicted to separate them at the time." He clutched his fist. "I feel now is the time to see if my judgment was correct."

The Manager just laughed hearty, while stamping a particular set of papers in rapid succession. "You had always a soft heart, Zero. Now, how long do you think it will last? A week? A month?"

"I was thinking more of a year."

The giant stopped stamping for just a moment.

"Huh…" He stroked his short white mustache and pondered. "This will be a massive loss. A Giant Star of your level doesn't come by often and you are also the glue that holds the exceeds in line…"

The armored feline remained silent. He knew that what he was asking for was a tall order, but he had confidence in his old friend to see reason and not pursue money just for the sake of it.

"Very well." The Manager proclaimed, while stamping the last paper forcefully. Shaking the entire table, before handing the stack towards his old friend. "You have earned it. A full-year of paid vacation!"

The older exceed was stunned. He only wanted a normal vacation, but he quickly changed his expression into a delicate smile. "Thanks, old friend."

"Don't mention it!" The armored exceed was suddenly inside a heartful embrace. "How could I ever say no to you, Panther!"

The black furred exceed returned the embrace as much as one could, with his arms trapped under the massive abs of his friend. "Don't get so sentimental. The year will go over quicker than you might think."

The embrace tightened. "He-hey, hey, hey, stop it you damn geezer!"

"But you're so cuddly!" His friend protested, while ignoring that his exceed friend was dressed in full-plate armor.

'Next time I'll do it in a letter.' Though the exceed to himself, before just letting his friend do as he pleased. It was not unpleasant, after all.

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Look, I'm still alive, even after 2 months.

To my surprise this chapter turned out to be my shortest one, yet. I don't know how, but life is full of mysteries.

I hope the next chapter comes out on schedule, but you know the drill.

Till next time and have a happy new year.

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